Blog — "etsy shop"

With a large amount of time available to really sit down and think through my designs, I have been able to be much more productive. I feel as though the quality of each design is getting better, leaving me wondering whether or not to do a complete overhaul of my shop. There are many designs that I am phasing out and replacing with some fresher items. This change is good, I think.
While I love these new items, I still feel as though a cohesive nature of my shop doesn't really exist. I tend to jump around from one thing to the next. I am inspired by so much that I have a hard time sticking to just one concept as a base in my design. Sometimes I wonder if this is a bad thing, but at other times I think it's good because I'm able to offer a variety of products to you all.

If you own a small design business, do you struggle with creating a cohesive feeling within your product line? And to those who are just customers, do you like having a variety of design styles to choose from?

If you're following me on Instagram or Facebook, then you'll already know just how obsessed I am with a new line of cards that I've been working on and slowly releasing in the shop. Inspired by a few conversations about geometric patterns with my friend Kristen, I decided to play with triangles in bold colors. This isn't the first time I've used this concept and you can see my first take on triangles and stationery here. But I wanted to try something that had even more of a pop. The result is a line of thank you and hello note cards in three different color schemes that will all soon be available in both single greeting cards and sets of four with accented solid colored cards. Each card has been paired with 100% recycled Speckletone Kraft envelopes from French Paper Co.-- my favorite! The quality of these cards as a whole does not get any better.

These cards are currently already in the shop with the rest to soon follow. I love how each color schemed turned out, and I continue to indecisively move from one to the other as my favorite. It is an amazing feeling to have something turn out just as you had envisioned in your head, and this is truly one of those types of projects.

What do you think of the new line? Are you obsessed with the current fad of bold colored and modern triangles like me?

Yes, it has been a while since I have set foot in these parts. Almost a month, to be exact. In truth, sometimes you just have to put something on the back burner until you actually have the time for it, and with a lot going on in my life in the past month, there really wasn't time.

Yesterday, I spent a final day in the classroom. I had spent three days tearing down my room, giving away six years worth of materials, supplies, and other odds and ends, and it all came down to two black milk crates filled with a few things that I decided to keep. It's amazing how long it takes to build up a stock of all of these materials and supplies, and how quickly they disappear after you send an email blast to your entire school proclaiming "FREE STUFF!"

Two hours. Yup, two hours was it and all of the markers (except for my Sharpies! You can't take those from a Sharpie addict!), crayons, colored pencils, bulletin board borders and letters, books, construction paper, paper towels, and everything else you can imagine was gone. These things are GOLD to teachers and despite it all, it felt good to know that a lot of people left my room super happy with some amazing supplies for next year.

When I decided to stop teaching it was the easiest decision I had to make in a long time. And while the past week has been extremely bittersweet, I don't feel a bit of regret. In Baltimore City, six years is a long time for someone like me that came through an alternative teaching certification program. I had never intended to teach for my entire life, but just for a couple years. A couple years turned into six, and those six years were fabulous. But times change and your heart no longer feels happy or something just feels tiring about going into the classroom every single day. And then one day, you realize that summer break isn't going to be enough. That you are just too tired to think about returning.

Today is the start of a new era. I know that I am done for good, that I'm moving on to my card business. At the same time, nothing about it feels strange. I am usually free with all the time in the world to work on my business during this time of year. My brain has been buzzing with all sorts of new ideas and projects like it usually does as the school year winds down. It feels normal. What won't feel normal is when August rolls around and I'm not setting up my classroom. Summer is a good transition period. It's a great time for me to change, but I am still unsure of how I will feel when I truly realize that this is it. I'm not going back and I'm stuck with myself in my studio until I decide otherwise.

I think it is only natural to have fears amidst all of the excitement. The unknown is scary. I've crunched numbers what feels like a thousand times, but what if I forgot something? What if people stop buying my cards? What if I fail miserably? What if all of the friends I've made at school never speak to me again? These are all seriously legitimate fears that I've had roaming around in this head of mine over the last two months.

On the other hand, how will I ever know whether or not I can accomplish what I dream of if I never try? The fear of regret of what could have been, if I don't do what I feel pulled toward in my life right now, is bigger than all of those other what ifs. Wondering whether or not my business could have been a success later on in life is not something that I want to be thinking about when I'm old, feeling as though my life passed without me truly doing what I love.

Not taking this risk is the greatest risk of all.

Ever have one of those blog posts that you dream of writing, but you have to wait until that right moment? Well, people, that post is happening today. And what is that post about? It's about how I quit my day job. Yup! You read that right. After over a year of contemplating, I finally did it!!! Woot woot!!

I have always known that I wasn't meant to be a teacher my entire life, that I'd eventually want to move on to something new. Over the past two years I started really feeling burned out and found myself much happier with my handmade business. Then there was that pivotal moment when Andrew and I went out to dinner on a Friday night in January and we just sat there talking about school and how much I hated it and how stressed out I was about it and how stifled I was feeling. We were also talking about how happy I was when I was working with my hands in my card business, how much creative energy I was able to use in my designs. Ultimately, Andrew said, "You remember when we were in college and we were dirt poor? Those were some of the most fun moments of our lives. Wouldn't you rather be poor and happy than rich and unhappy?"

It was a moment of reality-- one that made me understand just how unhappy I was with my teaching job, and a moment in which I realized Andrew's happiness was at risk because of my own unhappiness.

I decided in that instant that I would be moving on. It had been in the works for a while. I had planned on coming back for one more year of teaching, long enough for me to totally pay off my student loans to provide a little more financial stability. I couldn't imagine having to give up another year of my happiness just to pay off some loans that will be manageable anyway.

If you're unhappy, you are the only one that can change that. I was unhappy, so I decided to change that.
I am turning 30 in September. I am not afraid of getting older. I am afraid of not living my life to its fullest potential. There are so many things that I want to do in my lifetime that I know change needs to happen now.

Before my Spring Break, I spoke with both my Principal and Assistant Principal and let them know I would be leaving at the end of the year. A couple weeks ago, I handed in my letter of resignation, and this past week I told my students that I would be leaving. While a huge weight had lifted off of me, I also had a very rough week dealing with the emotions of breaking the news to my students. Some of them wanted to know why I was leaving them, which was the toughest part of all. One of my closest students sat in the classroom with tears in his eyes. One of my basketball players made me promise her I would still come to see her games. They did not make it easy for me and I hadn't expected they would.

After sharing the news with one of my former students, I felt better. He said, "Ms. Shenk, all I want is for you to be happy. If you're happy, then I'm happy. Life isn't fun if you're not happy." Here I had spent a good three years dishing out advice to this kid and here he was dishing it back at me. Being happy. That's what life is about.

So where does life lead me next? My card business! At the end of the school year, I'll be taking a quick break and then return to work being self-employed working from home. I have a lot to be thankful for and a lot of you to thank because I know my business wouldn't be what it is today without all of you! Aside from working full time with my business, there will also be a few other crazy things to look forward to in my future! Let's just say that 30 is going to be an amazing year!

And to celebrate and thank YOU ALL, for the next few days you can use the code WOOTWOOT25 to get 25% off everything in my shop and 25% off all blog ads. I'm looking forward starting this new adventure in the coming year!

P.S. 24 school days til I peace out from Baltimore City Schools! And yes, I've been counting down. You know that's how I do! ;)

Last week I finally had some time to sit down and just draw. I felt as though I hadn't been able to do that for years. I know that's an exaggeration, but I really hadn't had much time to do anything related to design. I sort of felt as though I was finally getting back to my roots. It was like I was that four year old girl again with a brand new set of markers she got for Christmas, getting busted by her mom at 4am after she was so excited to use them she decided to climb out of bed, turn the bedroom light on, and start drawing.

Never underestimate the exhilaration a stack of blank paper and a drawing pen can generate.

On the other hand, drawing is also relaxing. That pen and paper gave me a chance to forget about my school day and do something that had no rules. After being in an institutional environment for a long week, something about playing outside those bounds is freeing.

I took all of my doodles and used them for several new card designs. Here are the end results.


I love how the baby bump cards turned out-- super simple and fun! Which is your favorite?

In other news, I'm going to try blogging more regularly again. Jenni came up with these fantastic blog post ideas for the month of May that are quite inspiring. I may not be able to follow along for the whole month, but I'm going to try!