”Around here, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney

So this might be the hardest blog post I’ve written to date. I’ve been writing and rewriting it in my head for weeks, no, months. Always changing it, tweaking it so it sounds right. I figured in the end the best way was just to be blunt and say it in as few words as possible…

Starting June 15th, the Art School Dropout shop will be temporarily put on the back burner. At least in my head. I will not be creating new products and I will not be taking any new custom orders. The shop will be paired down to just Home Decor and Party Supplies (minus custom listings). All orders placed will be shipped out by my husband, not me, on Saturdays. From now until June 15th, all Accessories, Jewelry / Juxtapose Necklaces and Craft Supplies will be 40% off to help clear them out. Everything else will be 25% off just because. (discount will be applied in the cart, no coupon code needed) Shipping may be slow at first while we switch over, so please have some patience with us!

Now I will explain a bit about WHY I’m doing this…

For the past 6 months or so, my mind has been going a mile a minute with ideas and things I would like to create. It usually goes fast, but lately its just out of control. At times it was getting to be a bit overwhelming and was causing me to forget important things, mess up on orders and such. I have been writing all the ideas down in hopes that I will one day have the time to try them all out. Well, when I realized Art School Dropout was turning 11, something just clicked in my head. I love creating for the shop and I love seeing my goods out in the world, however I have been doing the same thing for 11 years. I love learning new processes and I feel like I could be improving my skills. I have more unfinished personal projects than I do finished. I am my own boss, I have the power to cut back on business related stuff and work on personal stuff for once…

So that’s what i’m going to do. This may be a temporary situation, it may be permanent. I’m not sure yet. It’s scary to walk away from something that you’ve put so much of your life into. Actually it was almost my entire 20′s. Most of my adult life. The fear is what’s making me hold on just a little, and with the help from my husband (who’s been offering for years and I just never took him up on it) I think I can start chiseling away at my “Things To Try” list.

In a nutshell, I want to see what I’m capable of when I’m not tied down to a brand.

In the coming months I will be prepping for BlytheCon. I am scheduled to learn how to quilt using a longarm machine (and be certified to rent one). I will finally finish all of those quilts I’ve been working on for years. I am signed up to properly learn Illustrator. After that I would like to learn more about customizing wordpress properly. I would like to finally write patterns for all of those quilts I made. I want to paint CT’s room. I’d like to finally decorate our bedroom and bathroom. I want to build some furniture… and so so so much more.

I plan on sharing all of it here on the blog. So I won’t be disappearing into the mist, but possibly instead I’ll be around MORE!

I feel like I forgot so much that I wanted to say, but I also feel like this is good! I know it will be good for me, and that really is all that matters, making myself and my family happy.