Black Friday + 2014 calendar + Christmas cards!

Last night I stayed up until 3am finishing my 2014 calendar and it's FINALLY complete and listed in my etsy shop. Phew! This is the latest I've ever posted it and everyone in the universe probably already purchased their 2014 calendar, but I'm just happy that I actually finished. I felt so creatively stunted this year.. every single time I started drawing the illustrations for this I'd come up blank. I took my sketch pad with me every time I was in the car, I took it to Disney World, down the shore, and always came back with empty pages. Then somehow in the last week I cranked out almost every single drawing and I love how it turned out! And even though it's super late to be debuting a calendar at least I know my grandmom wants one, lol :)

The calendar is available here. I'll be listing all of the new drawings as prints later today!

I also have a 20% off black friday sale going on in my shop.



















I also decided to turn the drawing for June into a Christmas card, it just seemed so warm and cozy! The greeting reads "Wishing you a storybook Christmas" and they come in packs of five cards.



And I don't usually send out Christmas cards that I design myself, but... I think I need to this year. My dad gave me the idea for this one and I love how it came out! If you're an Office fan hopefully you'll love it too ;) They're available here.

new new new

I have some new items I've made recently that I'm really excited about! First is this printable Halloween card.. it's blank inside so it can be used as a greeting card or party invitation, or it can be framed for seasonal decor! :) It's available as an instant download here.


I'm VERY excited about this one! I've been wanting to do some silent movie title card inspired items for Flapper Doodle for the longest time..  it's such a perfect fit for my 1920's artwork! This printable Halloween banner was hand-lettered with a white art deco border and grainy black background to mimic 80-year-old-film. I have all kinds of related ideas.. birthday banners, note cards, calendars, the possibilities are endless :D For now though, there's just this one little banner.. available as an instant download here.



Voila! The first drawing for my 2014 calendar (coming soon!!) I had to release this one early since it's just so perfect for October! It's available as a print here.


One of my best friends, Sarah, recently moved into a new apartment so I made this little card for her housewarming gift! I liked how it came out so much that I had to make it into a printable, too! ;) The download comes with files for printing it as a note card or an art print, and it's available (you guessed it) as an instant download here.



Last but not least, a digital printable blog planner! This year I got really off track with my blogging schedule and felt like I needed something to get organized, so I created this kit and decided to share it as a printable, too! It includes sheets for keeping track of giveaways, product reviews, deadlines, brilliant ideas and more. It also includes two different perpetual calendar designs that can be used for blogging or just keeping track of a busy life :) It's available (drum roll..) as an instant download here.

ps. I took the photo of my Happy Halloween banner at my new apartment! Words can't describe how exciting it was to finally have access to a plain white wall for product pictures. yay!! :D

oh by gosh by golly

Yesterday my room was no place for taking outfit pictures (as is evidenced below) so I took this quick mirror shot in my closet. I love red and mint/teal together but always feel a little too Christmassy (if there is such a thing) so I threw on some yellow to balance it out a bit, and I love how it turned out :) Of course, I've been playing Christmas music a lot this week so I'm sure that factored into my gravitation towards the red and green hues in my closet, despite any feeble attempts to disguise my premature holiday cheer ;)



If you ordered any dollar print sale artwork your envelope is probably in this photo somewhere! The first batch is going out this afternoon and then I'll hopefully get the rest out tomorrow :) I always feel a tad bit overwhelmed by this sale each year but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I rather enjoy packing up all the orders and seeing them all spread out like this. To continue with the whole Christmas theme, it makes me feel a bit like Santa Claus! :)

dress- modcloth | cardigan - forever 21 | shoes - urban outfitters | brooch - vintage

high score

Last night we had a very-mini-celebration for making daily sales for 2 years straight in my etsy shop. We went to cracker barrel for dinner (I'm kind of obsessed with the eggs in a basket right now. I tried making it at home a couple times but nothing compares!) and then spent almost an hour playing arcade basketball. And I beat my high score! I played so many rounds I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to use my arms again for a week, but it was so fun! My dream home definitely includes an arcade basketball game. I almost don't even care if I have a kitchen or living room, I just want the game.

I made one of my wooden brooch misprints into a pendant for myself (I stamped the image on too low, so I couldn't sell it, but I rather like how it came out!) and I thought it was fitting for the occassion :) I really need to devise a better system for making them because I tend to misprint about 10 for every 1 that I get right. Honestly though I think that's one of my favorite parts about making stuff... trial and error, and that "ah-ha!" moment when you finally get it :)

dress and cardigan - forever 21 | shoes and belt - asos

necklace - flapper doodle | tights - target

merci beaucoup!

When I got my first etsy order of the day today I was a little more excited than usual. Because that means I've officially gone 2 years with at least one sale per day!! Pretty exciting! I wore this sweater in an outfit post when I blogged about my one-year-streak in 2012 (looking at those pictures is making me miss my pink hair something awful! ahh!) so I thought it would be fitting to wear it again today! I'm really so thankful for every order I get, and I never cease to be amazed when somebody wants to buy something that I made!

My sales this year have been averaging about 30% less than last year, so I really didn't think I'd keep this streak going for two years. I'm positive it isn't going to last for three.. I don't even think I'm going to keep track anymore after this. I'm totally cool with it, though. I'm in the process of figuring out a new career (elementary school art teacher, if you missed that post) so I'm not going crazy. I'm just happy and grateful that I've had this much good luck so far and that even with a 30% decline in sales I'm still managing to stay afloat and wrangle up at least 1 order a day :)

If you ever purchased anything from my shop or have supported Flapper Doodle in any way, from the bottom of my heart -- thank you so much!! :)

dress - emerging thoughts | sweater - asos | shoes - c/o bait footwear

the 4th annual $1 print sale

It's hard to believe this sale is in it's 4th year already. Yikes! That also means Flapper Doodle is turning 5 next May! I don't usually celebrate my shop anniversary but that one might call for some cake or cupcakes, at least :)

Anyway! Here's the deal -- every single print is ONE dollar. Buy 1 or 100, they're still one dollar each. Perfect for tackling your Christmas lists a little early or maybe just getting some inexpensive art for your bare walls! Or buy 50 of them and make a DIY flapper doodle headboard. The possibilities are endless.

The prints are available in my new Flapper Dollar shop, which will remain open until the sale ends on Tuesday the 27th. It'll reopen again next year when the sale rolls back into town! I listed all of the Flapper Doodle prints I have available at the moment as well as some that are currently discontinued and won't be available again until the next dollar sale. The shop also includes this special listing, which can be used to purchase a print of any drawing or painting I've ever posted online, like my puns intended paintings or my sweet and lovely art.

If you're interested you can take a peek at the shop HERE! :)

I'll start printing and packing orders after the sale is over, so most orders will ship the first week in September. This offer only applies in the Flapper Dollar shop. Items in my etsy store will remain at regular price. This offer cannot be applied retroactively to orders that were already placed.

a new chapter

Well, as of today I am no longer a full-time etsy seller. My flapper doodle sales have been on a steady decline for the last several months, and no amount of frantic title tweaking, advertising budget increases or new product releases seem to have made any difference. I'm still trying to keep things afloat, but I also faced the inevitable and decided to apply for a real job.

And yesterday I got the call that I was hired, by my favorite local ice cream parlor! I think it's a perfect fit for me, and I'm really excited about working there. It's a part time job so I can still maintain my (albeit floundering) shop. It'll be so nice not to have to worry about my loss of income and I really think it's a job that I'll enjoy. Flapper Doodle will remain open (as long as my sales are still trickling in, I suppose!) as will Sweet and Lovely. The only obvious change will be that I'll probably have more interesting things to blog about than the weather and my tv viewing habits ;)

I was really lucky to have had a successful etsy shop for as long as I did -- I can't even express how thankful I am that I was able to work from home the entire time that I had Hypatia, since it enabled me to spend so much time with her. She was a special needs cat and needed a guardian who could care for her constantly, and I'm so grateful that I was able to do that. I treasure every single second I had with her, and thanks to Flapper Doodle I had so many more seconds than I would have had if I had to leave for work each day.

I'm incredibly sad that Flapper Doodle is losing steam and that reviving it seems to be out of my control, but I'm also very excited about this new chapter in my life! I've been self employed (before etsy I sold my art at outdoor street fairs full time) for ten years so this is going to be quite an adventure! But I'm really looking forward to hopefully making some new friends and having some wonderful new experiences! I'm also a teeny bit scared since my decade of self-employment has turned me into a bit of a reclusive hermit but maybe this was just what I needed to come out of my shell :)

dress- modcloth | lamb brooch - c/o sugar cookie 

cardigan - forever 21 | shoes -asos (similar) | belt - h&m

postcards from the happiest place on earth

Tomorrow morning bright and early (well actually, dark and early -- we go to the airport at 5am!! yikes!) I'll be on my way to Disney World! yay! My shops are staying open while I'm away so I thought it would be fun to do a little Disney-themed promotion! The first 30 people to use the coupon code "DISNEY15" in my sweet and lovely shop will receive 15% off* and a hand-written postcard from The Magic Kingdom! The orders have to be placed before April 16th at 12:01am est in order for me to mail the postcards before I come home.

If you want the discount but don't want a postcard (or on the off-chance that all 30 coupons have been used up by the time you place your order) you can use code MINNIEMOUSE for 15% off* without a postcard. I'm also offering 15% off in my flapper doodle shop with code DISNEY.

I came up with a really fun idea (at least I think so) for my scheduled blog posts while I'm away so I hope you'll stop back here tomorrow and see what I have up my sleeve!! ;D See you when I get back!

*Does not apply to blog design, bridesmaid cards or printable items.

sweet and lovely update

I've wanted to keep busy lately, adding lots of new products to sweet and lovely, flapper doodle and kitschy digitals. You can view my latest flapper doodle updates here. For sweet and lovely I've added a lot of new jewelry and sweet and lovely versions of some of my flapper doodle best sellers- best friend items and bridesmaid cards. You can view all of the new products in my shop here!

And to celebrate Jurassic Park's return to theaters on April 5th, I'm offering 5% off plus free dinosaur temporary tattoos with any order! Just use code "rawrrrr" at checkout ;) This offer is good through April 5th. You can view all of my dinosaur products here!



home sweet home locket necklace



wooden cat brooch



ice cream cone earrings



ladybug earrings



pink lips earrings



red lips earrings

best friend art print set --- available as shown here, or customized here. In the custom sets you can change hair colors, add glasses and even add cats and dogs!



My new bridesmaid cards are SUPER customizable. I have four different dress options for each girl, countless hair color options (including fun ones like pink and blue and purple!) oodles of dress colors and 10 different hair styles. You can choose between thank you cards or "will you be my bridesmaid" they're available in my shop here.



I just re-listed the birthday version of the book fair kit! I had this available back when the book fair was its own shop, but for some reason I never listed it when I transferred the products over to sweet and lovely! The birthday version of the kit includes all of the items in the regular one, except the pencil says "happy birthday" on it and it comes with this cute BSC personalized card!





I also added two new digital kits to my Kitschy Digitals shop! These scalloped kits include patterned papers, scalloped borders and scalloped frames. They're perfect for digital scrapbooking or use on your blogs and websites. They're available here.