Category Archives: Shop Update

What I’ve Been Up To…

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It’s been super crazy in my house lately!

- My baby sister graduated high school, a whole year early! so there was celebrating that! I’m beyond proud of her.

- Heidi had another crafternoon, though only one of my photos came out! So I decided against a blog post about it. I promise to talk about the next one, which is very soon.

- CT has taken up bouncing as a hobby. Which basically means I’m constantly having to keep an eye on her because it seems bouncing on and around everything is a pretty dangerous hobby. She seems to be getting hurt at least 5 times a day. Were going through a lot of band aids.

- Lots and lots of spring cleaning. I keep bringing all these awesome finds into the house, but I never really put them where their meant to go. So I’ve spent the past two weeks doing just THAT! no more thriftining until I put everything in its place.

- We started painting the house. the ENTIRE HOUSE! We bought ten gallons of paint during Sherwin Williams Memorial sale. I have four rooms, a stairwell, a very tall entryway and a hallway to paint. I’ve only finished the kitchen and half of the living room. I may be painting for awhile.

- During the off time from painting (or when my husband is doing it) I have been slowly getting ready for a shop update!!! finally!! I have several new designs for this update and over TWENTY new pieces for next months update. I’m so excited to finally change things up a bit. Same old colors, brand new designs!

and to end this post off right, here are some sneak peeks of what will be in the update later this week…

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Monster Buttons and Plastic Bezels…

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Here is a nice sneak peak at the other new item coming to Art School Dropout soon!

I have been scouring the internet for the past few years for the perfect bezel that would perfectly fit fabric covered buttons. I didn’t want scalloped edges. I didn’t want thin metal edges. I wanted something with thick sides and a loop on the top, and I wanted them in every single size that buttons came in. I had ZERO luck!!

So I was about to send off the files for my new necklaces to be printed and I thought “well, I’m already paying shipping, why not try out a round bezel too”. So I whipped up a protoype and sent it off with the other files.

The first one that came in wasn’t perfect, the walls were too thin, too rough and the loop on the top was too fragile. I pumped up the design a little and had it printed in a smoother, glossier plastic. The second piece was exactly what I wanted!

I made a mold and cast it in a few colors to try it out. I used a size 36 fabric covered button that didn’t have a loop on the back. they fit so perfectly that I still can’t get the first one out!

I hope to have these BLANK bezels for sale in the coming weeks, I’m still perfecting the mold to make them as clean and user friendly as possible.

For now I do have a few necklaces for sale that use this bezel and my own fabric that I had printed by spoonflower.

Oh and if anyone is interested in trying out these bezels themselves, let me know! I’m looking for testers!!!

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New Fragmented Necklaces!

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I decided to update just a few of the new Fragmented Necklaces I made this past weekend. I’m still waiting on some more designs from the printer, but I’ve already received a few inquiries about the new line. So this is kinda a soft launch, like when a store has a soft opening before the grand opening?

I also have never really “launched” a line. I get too excited and want to show everyone RIGHT AWAY!

So here I go, showing everyone…

Up first is the Fragmented Necklace – V1 (Version 1) – $28 for any of the color combos

Next up is the Fragmented Necklace – V2 (Version 2) – $20 for any of the color combos.

These pieces were designed by me and were 3D printed. Their two separate pieces, one a custom bezel on the bottom and the other the crazy thin piece in the middle. I made the piece in the middle a little taller than the bezel to give it a little more depth, so it has a nice sculpted look.

I made a mold of the original printed pieces and cast these new parts in a durable but lightweight plastic. They are attached with an awesome and strong waterproof epoxy and are strung on silver plated chains.

I haven’t cast any blue or green tones yet, but I hope to get to those sometime this month. I also have a few more necklace designs and earrings en route to my house as we speak. As usual, I’ll probably be too excited and I’ll post about it here as soon as they arrive!!

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I’m Keeping Myself Busy…

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I woke up this past Sunday morning with the plan to spend an entire week working on “me projects”. aka: sewing or crafting projects that only benefit me and no one else but ME.

I wanted to work on a zig zag quilt that I’ve been dreaming about for weeks. I wanted to play with some clay and maybe make some tree’s. I wanted to make a skirt. A huge list when you also factor in that CT’s second set of molar’s are coming in and she’s in her clingy stage. I’d be lucky to finish one project.


By Monday I finished cutting out and sewing the blocks of the zig zag quilt, and sketching how to put it together. I’m good at laying out patterns, but I’m not that great at putting it in piles and remembering how it all goes together. I need a visual aid.

I also like working with squares way more than triangles. So I was super excited when I found this great tutorial on Pinterest… “How To Make a Zig Zag Quilt (without piecing triangles)“. It makes a decent sized quilt. It took up all the free floor space in my bedroom to lay this thing out.

I was beyond excited to start piecing this thing together, it was going to be awesome when it was done! My very own chevron quilt!!!!

Well… Tuesday rolls around and I get this awesome email about a huge opportunity for Art School Dropout. Great News… I just had to put all my “me projects” away for awhile. 2 months to be exact.

So I piled up all the squares of the zig zag quilt and put them in baggies and pinned them to my inspiration board. I’m hoping it’ll inspire me to finish them when I’m done actually working.

Wednesday and Thursday were crazy with spreadsheets, supply shopping, researching and trying to find some family to watch CT every so often (so I could work while my husband was at work).

I’m about to spend the next 3 to 4 weeks casting and assembling loads of pieces. I decided that today (Friday) I would sew a little bit more before I didn’t have actual time to do so.

What came out of the sewing was a few more pouches for the site. They may be the last ones for a few months, unless I find time here and there.

I also apologize for the fact that I probably won’t have too many tutorials or DIY-Book-A-Holic posts until I’m finished this massive order. But I will post progress shots here and there, you all can finally see what goes on behind the scenes in my “casting dungeon”. HA!

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Shipping Deadline!

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I’ve made a habit of closing up shop after my last standard shipping date. I can’t do express shipping before the holidays because that’s when I make gifts for my family.

Again, I’m a little behind.

Today is the last day for shopping on www.artschooldropout.net. To make up for being behind, all orders placed today will be 15% off! Just use code “WHOOPS15″ during checkout.

I will be closing up shop at this time tomorrow morning, 10:30 am EST. We will reopen after the holidays are over and we’ve rested.

Happy Shopping!