My Etsy Shop may not be stocked full, but that doesn’t mean I have to break tradition and not have a Cyber Monday Sale, right?

RIGHT!

So here goes, all FIVE items in my shop are 25% off all day. That’s 2 paper piecing patterns and 3 quilts! WOOHOO! Just use code: CYBERMONDAY during checkout to receive the discount.

I wish I could have stocked up my shop more, but I’ve been super duper busy behind the scenes. I have so much planned for 2015!

 ”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.

However, I’ve been so crazy busy, I forgot to post about the sale outside of Instagram!! SOOOOO…

I’m extending the sale until May 22nd (midnight EST).

22% off until the 22nd. It has a nice ring to it.

To help raise funds for travel to BlytheCon and to celebrate SPRING, now until tomorrow night (Tuesday, March 25th at midnight PST) EVERYTHING in the shop is 20% off! No coupon code needed, discount applied during checkout.

This applies to all banner pre orders too!! So if you had your eye on one of those sprinkle ones, now is the time to grab one!! (current turnaround time is 1-2 weeks)

I decided to initially keep the sale separated in an Instagram shop. Somewhere where I could just snap the photos quickly and upload them with out a whole bunch of work. I’d add them every Tuesday and Friday morning before CT woke up and then go about my day. This system has worked out perfectly so far and I’ve cleaned out a small chunk of pieces, but I realize not everyone who may want these pieces uses instagram. Which made me think that if something is still available after three sales I can just delete it on Instagram and add it to the SALE section of my shop. I will probably do this with pieces I have a large quantity of and some loose pieces too.

You can see all the pieces I’ve added so far HERE.

Now about the sale…

30% off everything in the shop until midnight tonight! Just use coupon code “cyber” during checkout.

Also, I’m continuing the deal from friday where any order over $50 will also receive a free gift! I have a little box full of arrow necklaces, star hairpins, triangle rings and more that I haven’t taken photos of yet. My daughter will help me choose the free gift for each order, so it will be completely random!

I hope that everyone has a great day! I’m off to sew a bunch of goodies for CT’s birthday party coming up, and I’m hoping to finish up some of my holiday swap gifts today too. My lists are never ending.

I have had a sale during my birthday week since I started Art School Dropout 10 years ago. Each year the percentage off is whatever age I will be. My husband says I should probably stop at some point because the discount will be HUGE soon (not too soon, it’s not like I’m aging faster than everyone else or anything) but that doesn’t concern you guys now!

I have updated a few more smaller pieces to the shop and am quietly working on more. So if there’s something you have been eyeing now is the time to get it!!!

Oh and the coupon code expires Friday at midnight EST!

I originally set up this sale, and talked about it on Instagram and Twitter, to help fund much needed sewing machine repairs. The goal for the repairs has been met (which is awesome!!), but I figured why not share the sale here too for anyone who doesn’t follow me other social platforms!

I have been adding a few new items here and there over the past month, so you should check out the shop and see if there’s anything you’ll love!!

25% off everything in the shop from now until Friday afternoon (around 2pm EST). Just use coupon code “springcleaning25” during checkout. Nothing is excluded in this sale. EVERYTHING is on sale! Jewelry, Home Goods, Blythe Accessories, Crafting Supplies… Everything!

Right when the sale ends is when the first batch of new pieces will be in the shop. I already have a big chunk of Blythe eye chips ready to go, along with some glitzy zig zag necklaces and a few of those dipped arrow pins!!

Please note this is not an April Fools joke or anything, I just happened to post about this ON April Fools Day! Ha

Like I said, Saturday was at our house and I had this huge plan to have a beautiful set table. Well, I forgot about a tablecloth, and it started to get a bit hectic before setting the table so everything was kinda just thrown together. Oh and to add to it, I had my camera set on a high ISO and my camera battery died after taking the above photos! Grrrr. So I was unable to get all the pictures I wanted. (I did also get the Instagram photo below before my phone died too!! haha!) I was told all the food tasted great, (I was only able to eat the foods that were gluten free) and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, so I’m guessing that means we did everything right as hosts!

I’m very thankful I was able to spend time with all our families, and I’m also very thankful for a reason to clean the house! It’s so clean I’m afraid to do anything to make it a mess again. CT on the other hand has no problem making messes.

The rest of this week I plan on sewing, sewing and sewing some more. I have huge plans for handmade Christmas gifts this year and I’m only halfway through finishing the first one. I also need to start putting together everything for CT’s third birthday in two week. It’s her first themed party, and were planning on a bunch of kids coming. So I need to make it all super fun!!

Oh and a friendly reminder, our Cyber Monday sale is still going on! 25% off everything in the shop, and all orders over $50 will receive a free accessory set!! It all ends tonight at midnight EST.