Happy New Year My Beautiful Butterflies!!!
Holy Moly to the Nth Degree!!! I can't believe we're here in 2025. As I approached Leonora's first birthday at the end of November I started to reflect on where I was the previous year. Then, as we approached the Holiday season, that reflection and nostalgia truly kicked into high gear. Last year at this time we spent the Holiday season in Houston with a newborn. Our family lives in Ohio, and while we got some lovely visitors, we mainly cozied up just the three of us (plus Frankie) and navigated this life with a newborn. The holidays didn't feel like the holidays being so sleep-deprived in baby mode. So, this year everything felt extra special. We went to Ohio to be with family and celebrated as though this was Leonora's first holiday season. We watched Christmas movies, lit the menorah each night of Hanukkah, snacked on yummy holiday treats, and enjoyed the chilly weather amongst friends and family.
We're now back in Houston and I'm finding my bearings for 2025 and looking back at 2024. It was the year of change and adaption. After maternity leave, I had to learn how to create a better work-life balance and learn to embrace moving at a much slower pace. I had so many setbacks with work due to the gazillion illnesses that come with daycare and emotional pauses with my mom's stem cell transplant. But every time I felt behind Ricky would remind me this is a year of new standards and my best is different each and every week. I too had to remind him of this sentiment when he felt like he wasn't doing enough.
Despite all of these major changes and pivots, I dug into my creativity and tapped into my imagination for so many fun projects.
I painted the illustrations for the second book of the ABCs of Grief series and saw the first book make its way into the world and little hands all over the country.
I created 12 new paintings for a wall calendar that sold out before the end of December (Thank you to all of you who bought one for your walls). I navigated time with my family during and after my mom's treatment (she is in remission and her hair is growing back!!).
We took a trip to France with our sweet baby Leonora (with a few mini weekend trips along the way to prepare ourselves). I created beautiful chalk art, and adorable illustrations for clients and myself.
I worked on my children's book (while I didn't finish it I made so much progress and can't wait to wrap it up this year).
It was a year that moved at a slower pace but was a year that I learned how much can still be accomplished when you're moving at an intentional and deliberate pace. I'm hoping to carry this into 2025.
Looking forward I'm working on my hopes for the year. Amongst the list is of course finishing the book I wrote. I'm seriously so close ... at this point, it's more about getting this project out of my flippin' head so I can move on to other things. It's been a pet project that has ebbed and flowed in excitement...coming in and out of focus when I was inspired or needed a break.
I'm also excited to receive my copy of the ABCs of Grief: Emotions and Feelings later this year and work on Book 3 of the ABCs of Grief series.
I'm hoping to work on some back-of-house items that are less exciting from an artistic perspective but oh-so-necessary for growth. I'd love to hear what you all have in store for your year. I like to think of the new year as a mere continuation of the last. A way to build upon things that already exist or remove a few blocks from the pile of life to better focus on what matters. The New Year feels a little more hopeful and a little less stressful when I think of it that way.
Cheers to your 2025 my lovelies!
I'll chat with you soon,
Rachel
Hello, my Beautiful December Butterflies!!
Wowzie Wowzie Wowzie, this year has flown by. Truly being a new parent this time last year it was hard to picture one year let alone one week into the future. I took things hour by hour (or minute by minute) at the beginning, so suddenly looking up and realizing how much time had actually passed is just ming boggling. But my friends I am so excited for the holidays. We just celebrated Thanksgiving and Leonora's first birthday and now we're in full swing of the holidays. I know your inboxes are so heavily bombarded with all the things right now, so I'm keeping it relaxing and cozy for you. I filmed this super cute holiday illustration (it's the December painting from my 2025 wall calendar) and I put it to some chipper holiday music to get you in the spirit.
Speaking of the 2025 calendar, thank you so much for all of the pre-orders!! These are officially being mailed out this week!! If you would like to purchase your calendar before 2025 hits, the pre-sale has ended and it's officially available for immediate purchase here (yay to calendars!!).
I hope you have an amazing rest of year and I can't wait to see you in your inbox in January!!
Happy Holidays, Rachel
It's been months in the making, but holy bananas I did it. I hand-painted 12 new illustrations to make a wall calendar for 2025!!
So......let's talk the talk. I have a running list of things I would love to make or do. And every year I revisit that list and decide in January which ones I want to focus on. Because I'm terrible at doing things minimally I end up throwing ALL of these pipe dreams on my to-do list for the year and come December I've done just a few of the thirty things I set out to do. I end up feeling like a slacker despite all of my other accomplishments. This year, was different though. After maternity leave, I wrote on my to-do list that I would work smart and simple this year. So I looked at the massive pipe dream list and highlighted just 5 things to focus on. One of those five things was a wall calendar. I have wanted to make one of these for ages, but I run out of time every year.
This year though, I decided to begin in the summer. I started sketching, doodling, painting, filming, and now printing!!!! I never really knew what I wanted the theme or style to be in years past, but this year being a new mom, things hit differently. I remembered this Campbell's soup calendar that my Grandma had when I was a kid. It had such fun nostalgic and very seasonal illustrations. I loved flipping through it every year to see what each month would bring (images below of some of the calendars)
So, this year, I decided to make my own version of it (minus the soup). For most of the illustrations, I leaned into the snacks and the seasonal vibes pretty hardcore, and I LOVE what I put together.
The best part, I had SO much fun painting these. So much fun, that I've been filming them come together and sharing a few of them on youtube (you were getting sneak peeks and you didn't even know it!!!).
There was definitely a moment I didn't think I was going to finish this calendar in time, but to my surprise I pulled it off. I officially have this little baby available for PRE-ORDER so I can get a proper gauge of how many to order.
I cannot tell you how excited and proud I am of this project. It was a project for my inner child, for my little baby girl, and for all of you to inspire some imagination each month. Below are some sneak peek pics!!! And a link to pre-order the calendar!!! I plan on shipping all of the pre-orders out at the beginning of December. Just in time to hang them up on your wall for January 2025.
I will see you all sooooooooooon
xoxo
Rachel