Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Goodbye 2009

I can't believe that this year is almost over. I feel like so much has happened in my life this year. I thought I'd take a look back on the 2009 Goals I wrote last January to see how I did...

1. PORTFOLIO SITE: I relaunched rachelbeyer.com last February. Now of course, it needs some major updating for 2010...

2. CAMP SMARTYPANTS: Quitting my fulltime job and moving to Portland to focus on my own business really helped me come a long way with Camp Smartypants! I went way beyond opening my shop on Etsy. I developed tons of new products, worked at craft shows in both Portland and Seattle, and managed to get a few blog features!

3. PORTLAND: After living in Seattle for 5 years, I moved back home to Portland last June. I have to say I absolutely love it here. There are certain things I definitely miss about Seattle, but my heart has always stayed in Portland. And it feels so good to finally be home.

4. GYM: This I have to say feels like my biggest accomplishment. I know everyone has "Lose Weight" on their New Year's Resolution lists, but this year I actually did it! I totally bit the bullet, hired a personal trainer and hit the gym 3x per week (no excuses). And after 6 months of working out and relentless calorie counting I lost 30 lbs!! I am truly amazed with myself because I've tried doing this in the past and had always failed. I found out the key to making it to the gym is routine (going the same 3 days at the same time every week). Moving to Portland pretty much changed my whole life and I totally lost the routine I had when I lived in Seattle. I still make it to the gym but not as regularly and I stopped calorie-counting for a while... which resulted in gaining 6 lbs back.. ugh! So my new goal for 2010- find my new routine and stick with it.

5-6. WATER & COOKING: Drinking 8 glasses of water every day is SO HARD! I did really try, but felt like I was constantly running to the bathroom to pee! I swear it goes right through me. As for cooking, the calorie-counting really helped with that. I completely changed my eating habits (which in 2008 tended to be a lot of eating out and a lot of alcohol). I definitely decreased my alcohol consumption and increased my cooking-at-home nights as well as packing my own lunches to take to work. Again, my eating habits have changed since moving to Portland. Now that I live with my family its way harder to control what I eat and who could resist mom's amazing cooking!

7. TAKE AN ART CLASS: I took a drawing workshop last June with Jill Bliss. It was a lot of fun and really great to meet a local artist I truly admire.

8. START & FINISH A PAINTING: This is the only thing on my list that I didn't get to. BUT- I did do a bunch of other creative things this year like:
Make a set of embroidered skull pillows for my friends Cari and Nick:


Let's not forget my amazing Lion costume I made for Halloween:

And I did some art journaling/collage work in an old book called, Just Be Yourself. The perfect book for defacing, in my opinion:






Overall I have to say that I'm pretty proud of my 2009. Not everything about this year was painless or easy, but I was able to overcome obstacles, grow/change as a person, succeed in my goals, and be happy. What else could you ask for really?

Thanks to everyone who has supported and encouraged me this year, I couldn't have done it without you!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Hey guess what?

I just found out I was featured on the Try Handmade Blog. Pretty cool, eh?

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Fashion Inspiration

Reading through my blog list this afternoon... found some pretty fashion photos to share.








via dressdesigndecor

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Friday, December 11, 2009

Bye Bye Butterfly...

The Orange Butterfly Shoulder Bag is off to a new home! I hope the receiver loves her xmas gift this year :)

Oh, and by the way- I've lowered the price on all my shoulder bags again, now only $60 (originally $85)! Check them out!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Some More Winter Inspiration...


via trio of love songs
via trio of love songs
via unicornology
via unicornology

Multnomah Falls

I wish I could make it out to Multnomah Falls this weekend. Everything is turning to ice and is really beautiful. If anyone's up for a trip anytime soon, let me know! I'd love to take this photo.

Photo taken by Mark Schroeder

Some Winter Inspiration

I love collecting old issues of Needle & Craft magazine. They're so much fun to look through for inspiration. I'm loving these winter styles from 1973.



Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Today I'm Loving

Jill Bliss' new Anima series. She's having a show opening this Friday at Land. I will definitely be there!


See more of her work here.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Some photos

Here are some photos from this week's events...
Show opening at Reading Frenzy. My products will be for sale in there shop for the entire month of December!


My booth at the Russell Street Holiday Festival @ Icon Tattoo.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

So, There

My friend Alison has just opened her Etsy shop and is selling some amazing letterpress cards! Check it out. All ordered placed before Dec. 15 get a free bookmark!




www.etsy.com/shop/sothere

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Wow.





Loving the work of photographer Ellen Rogers.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Working away...

This week I am working to get ready for my upcoming craft shows. Here are the results from my tie-dying last week. This will soon be cut, embroidered and sewn into more zipper pouches.

I finally got more colored hemp twine! Even though I had to go all the way up to Seattle to find it..

My little camp helper :)

Just came in the mail! I'm so excited to sit down with a big cup of tea and read it!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Shows shows shows

Here are the posters for the upcoming shows I will be at. If you're in town, definitely stop by at one or all of these fun events!


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