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Happy November my Beautiful Butterflies! The air is V cozy out and I just cannot explain how much I want to bake around this time of year. Is it because of the Great British Baking Show and all of the subsequent holiday treats.... most likely. But alas, I have embraced it and have been oohing and aaahing at a few recipes to make. To get us all in the seasonal cozy swing of things, I decided to paint a pie and share the subsequent making of this painting. I'm also including a pie recipe I've been admiring to go with said pie painting at the bottom of the post (along with a little freebie).


Okay let's get into it...

I decided I wanted my little characters making a massive apple pie and I wanted them all to be wearing super cozy attire. After penciling in the design, which took a little bit of fiddling with, I started painting in some of the colors and blocking out the apples.

I quickly realized that the colors were reading quite warm and I was loooving how it looked, so I made sure all subsequent color choices matched that vibe.

It was time to start filling in the pie.

I have to tell you, these apples were so fun to make.

Now that all of the colors were blocked in, it was time to add the finishing touches and faces of my little bakers.

After I wrapped up the bakers' scene I wanted to make some ancillary objects to edit into the painting in Photoshop. So I started painting apples along with baking tools.

After it was all said and done I wound up with two cute lil' paintings.

After scanning both pieces in I rearranged the ancillary items in Photoshop over top of the bakers' scene to make a cute little print. And because I couldn't resist I also made a little Thanksgiving layout that will fit perfectly as your phone wallpaper. I included a link to download the wallpaper number below.

And in keeping with the Pie theme, I wanted to share this delightful recipe for mini apple pies here to get you in the cozy vibes for the rest of November.


I'm currently expecting a little babe on December 4th, so you may see me in your inbox in December...or you may not. If you don't, enjoy the rest of your year and all of the coziness the holidays bring. I plan to take the rest of the year off once my little one gets here and I will pop back into your mailbox sometime next year.


Cheers and talk soon, Rachel






Spooky time is Officially here!! Yippeeeeeee!!!


I'm coming to you one week later than usual, but still in the knick of time to share some Halloween fun. I'm super duper busy with several work projects, life projects (hello bun in the oven), and just generally not enough time in the day syndrome. So, I've decided to keep this post light, quick, and fun. I painted this a while back and I don't recall sharing the timelapse for how it came together. Soooooo, I decided it was the perfect little video to share this month as we all gear up for Halloween!!!!!!


Hope you all enjoy this and hope your spooky season is perfect, quirky, and cozy. And because I want you all to get all ready for Trick or Treating I included a coloring page download below as a special treat :)


See you in November

xoxo Rachel




Here's a spooky Trick or Treat Coloring Page Download to Print out and Enjoy!!!

Download directly from the link below.






Happy September to all of you Beautiful Butterflies out there!!!


Holy Moly this year is flying by, but I have been very busy working on a new project that I have been keeping under wraps for the past several months. I was asked to illustrate a new book by Jessica Correnti of Kids Grief Support exploring and explaining Grief to children at an age that doesn't fully understand what grief is. The book is called The ABCs of Grief and I have to say I've really enjoyed Jessica's words in this book along with creating illustrations to accompany them. She explains the universalness of grief in such a kind and approachable way. This lovely book is going to be such a great resource for little ones, parents, and caregivers alike. We're currently wrapping up the color/layout phase and will soon find our way into working on the cover for the book. For this post, I thought it would be fun to show you a few little sneak peeks of this upcoming project and some behind-the-scenes photos.


Pictured above are the thumbnail sketches I made to find what look and layout I liked best for each illustration.


Below is one of my favorite little sketches for one of the letters of the alphabet.

After each sketch, I went back through and tidied up each one (essentially layers upon layers of sketches). I love doing this on my iPad. It gives me so much more freedom to edit.


This book has required so many illustrations, so I am bursting at the seams with painted paper. It has been so fun to see them all pile up.


What I love about the illustrations so far is how much they show grief in a realistic way. When we grieve we aren't always sad, sometimes we are happy too.


A little in-process shot of one of the illustrations.


One final sneak peek for the road. Below is one of the first illustrations I painted. And if you scroll back up, you can see this piece in the sketching phase :)


Without giving too much away, I'm going to sign off now. I just wanted to share a little preview to get you all excited. This project has been and continues to be such a treat and I can't wait to share it with all of you when it's finished.


Cheers to September, and I will chat with all of you soon, Rachel


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