Fun Spring Digi work!

Here is some fun digi work from Design Team member Mendy Mitrani. Please visit her fabulous blog for further inspiration!!

Happy Springtime Ya'll!

Instructions:

Mendy used photoshop 6.0 for this digi art piece. First scan the Rodeo Cowgirls from the TJ Designs Saddle Up & Ride Collage Pack. Play with the black and white image by using paint brush colors and adding digital embellishments. Add a faded vintage style background. Add the words using a vintage type font. Print out your digi artwork for use in altered and collage work or attach to an email to brighten a friend’s day!  

Keep on creating!

Tweety’s Week…

TweetyJill had a fabulous weekend over Valentine’s Day at StampFest 2009 in Clearwater, FL! The show had an amazing turnout and we were fortunate to gain exposure for our latest TJ Designs product line. Our sales were high and the response was great! Everyone keeps asking–we love your new product line but when is the next book coming out? 

Our previous publishing projects, French Inspired Romantic Creations, Collage! Anyone Can Do It! and Seasons & Celebrations have been put on hold, as we have been focusing our time and energy on the product line. We are looking into publishing 3 volumes of Collage! Anyone Can Do It! featuring the TJ Designs product line and art projects with these products. Each volume will focus on certain themes featuring collage artwork. Stay tuned into our blog for future details!

Setting up for the show can be quite a task… But here’s a sneak peak at part of our booth (pictured preshow– setup in the garage!) and smiling staff! 

Jill is smiling and holding up a display board featuring one of her favorite themes–Rodeo Sweethearts!

In other news, I have been busy setting up my own personal art studio in my new house! After a long and hectic move in January I have finally started to nest. Future pictures to come! Here is a peek at some vintage bird pieces I’ll be sure to include in my nest! Birds and birdie accessories have become quite an obsession with most of our stuff! I have to say it’s even rubbed off on me…

Creatively Yours, 

Lindsay Haglund

Managing Editor

New product from TJ Designs!!

Hello blog world! After a couple months with no blog posts I’ve decided this is unacceptable. Who wants to read a blog that isn’t updated? Well let me update you on TweetyJill: these last few months have put us in such a whirlwind and the phrase “we have some catching up to do” is quite the understatement. But I suppose the holidays, presidential election and ever fluctuating economy is effecting more folk than I can imagine. TweetyJill has spent a good month relocating to a new studio. With our expanding product line from TJ Designs our desire for more space turned into a necessity. We’re still searching for the “perfect place” so our staff and working environment is quite spread out at the moment working from several locations. Thank goodness for technology!!

TJ Designs is taking a surprising leap for TweetyJill Publications, causing our focus to shift. Our entire staff is involved in product design and development for TJ Designs, putting several of our publishing projects on hold. But the beauty of a company is that things ARE always changing! We are so excited about our new product line from TJ Designs! The product line consists of rubber stamp sets with companion collage pack papers and card kits! The product line is designed around several themes including: Travel to Paris, Songbirds, By the Sea, Alice in Wonderland, Retro Roosters, Backyard Flowers, Wild West and much more! Please check out our website for more details.

The Alice in Wonderland product line is doing very well and we added a Mad Hatter card kit and rubber stamp set recently!

Our latest collage packs include Backyard Flowers and Birds and Nests. Here is a sneak peak at the contents of these two collage packs. 

As you can see, each collage pack contains 15 beautiful colored pages featuring hand-selected images and papers designed by TJ Designs. Hopefully soon I will have some creative blog posts featuring our latest products from Design Team members!

By the Sea Cards

Here are some cute Seaside cards submitted by Design Team artist Vickie Kammerer. I know it is a bit late for summer-themed projects, as we have delved into the autumn season some time ago… however, I thought it would still be a nice project to feature on the blog! 

MATERIALS:

Rubber Stamps:  Starfish Document, Printed Starfish, Sand Dollar & Postal Shell by Stampington & Company

Pigment/Dye Inkpad:  Shabby Shutters Tim Holtz Distress Inks by Ranger Industries

Papers:  Christine Adolph Tide Pool Collection by Creative Imaginations, Turquoise card stock

Adhesives:  Double stick tape; Small Glue Dots by Glue Dots International

Embellishments: Sea Foam Magic Mesh, White Mesh, Christine Adolph Tide Pool Collection Epoxy Stickers, Starfish

Other: Bleach, Foam Pad, Sponge or Paper Towels

Tools: Scissors, Paper Cutter 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Soak foam pad, sponge or layers of paper towels with bleach. 

2.  Press stamps onto bleach pad and stamp onto 2 different pieces of scrap turquoise card stock.  Let set until bleaching process is complete.  Clean stamps thoroughly with soap and water.

3.  Tear edges of card stock around stamped design and rub edges with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink. 

4.  Cut chosen Tide Pool papers to size with folds at the left.

5.  Layer stamped designs to card fronts with double stick tape.

6.  Embellish with magic mesh, white mesh, starfish and Tide Pool Epoxy Stickers. 

Announcing new product!

TweetyJill Publications has officially launched our new product line from TJ Designs, a division of TweetyJill Publications. This product line features rubber stamp collections along with card kits for the creative-at-heart crafter! The card kits include everything you need to create eight cards featuring four different designs. Each kit contains cards and envelopes, assorted papers, cardstock images, ephemera including ribbons, buttons, brads, charms and tags, as well as 2 pages of phrases and quotes printed on vellum. You can follow the suggested designs or simply manifest your own unique creations! The rubber stamp collections coordinate with the card kits with themes such as By the Sea, Wild West, Remember Paris, Retro Roosters, Wedding and Bride, Vintage School Days and much more! Check out our website for these new products! Also, keep checking the blog for Design Team contests with these new products!

Remember Paris Card Kit

Rodeo Sweethearts Card Kit

Vintage School Days Card Kit

In addition the card kits are designed around rubber stamp kits to accompany each set. These stamp sets are individually cut red rubber stamps mounted on cling foam and ready to use for precise stamping with acrylic blocks. Themes include: Vintage School Days, Retro Oceanside, Wild West, Italian Artists, Journey to France, Alice in Wonderland and much more!

Rodeo Sweethearts Stamp Set

Check out TweetyJill’s website for more information about new products and ordering.

Back to School Project

Yes, we survived the hurricane! Just a few days ago our studio hometown Sarasota, FL, had one of the first hurricanes of the season barreling towards us. Luckily, we were spared with no more than a little wind and rainfall. Our local school kids enjoyed the prolonging of the first day back to school however! Instead of Snow Days our kids look forward to Hurricane Days!

This altered art project was submitted by Design Team member Linda Beeson. Check out Linda’s blog for more of her creative art! The project is a small, metal locker she found at a thrift shop, which she sanded, painted and then altered! It stands about 12″ tall and is decorated with lots of crafty papers and rub-ons!

Materials:

• Papers: School Writing Tablet and Back to School Alphabet by Bo-Bunny Press
• Embellishments: Li’l Trinkets Rub-ons by Li’l Davis Designs; Spectrum Rub-ons by Heidi Grace Designs; Impress-on Graffiti by Creative Imaginations; Fortunes and Elements Rub-ons by 7gypsies; Date Rub-ons by Autumn Leaves; Yellow Tag by Making Memories
• Other: Rubber Stamps by Catslife Press; Colorbox Charcoal Fluid Chalk Ink by Clearsnap; Glossy Black Paint; Sand Paper
• Adhesive: Mod Podge Decoupage by Plaid

Instructions:

•  Sand down your thrift store find and cover with glossy black paint. Use two coats for complete coverage. 
• When paint is dry, cut and paste patterned papers as shown. Adhere with Mod Podge. 
• Add Rub-ons as shown. 
• Stamp tag and tie with ribbon snippet. 
• Cover entire project with final coat of Mod Podge if desired. 

This project can be used as a storage tin for just about anything: pencils, pens, photos cards, special notes and much more.

French Inspired

This French Inspired mini book was created by Design Team artist Wayne Dieleman using TweetyJill stamps and papers. Each page is unique and features vintage photos of the artist’s family. Thank you for this creative piece Wayne!

Materials:

• 6 pages cardstock 3.5″ x 7″
• 1 strip cardstock 3.5″ x 10″
• Journey to France Rubber Stamp Collection TJ Designs
• Scrapbook & Collage Papers the European Collection by TweetyJill Publications
• Redwood and Coal Black Ink Pads by Ancient Page
• Background stamps by Hero Arts
• Ribbons
• Vintage photos

Instructions:

• Fold 6 pages of cardstock in half.
• Cut and tear scrapbook papers and collage to cardstock pages.
• Add stamp images in assorted inks. 
• Add vintage photos. 
• Create mini labels on computer, cut and adhere to pages.  
• Cut ribbons to size, fold over pages and staple in place. 
• Create cover with long strip of cardstock, tearing at the end. 
• Decorate with scrapbook papers and stamps. 
• Fold cover around pages and adhere with glue or staple. 

A Summer Update

It is about time for a blog update! After a much needed two week vacation in the northern woods of Minnesota, I am back in the studio, as well as back in sunny Florida, and in working mode! Here are a couple of fun photos from my trip…

For those of you that are lucky enough to live in this area, I truly love your beautiful summer times… too bad the sunshine is only around for about 4 months out of the year! I must say I also love my FL beaches and year-round warm weather. 

Here is a creative beach-themed project by Vickie Kammerer. These pocket bookmarks would make the perfect gift for a friend. 

Materials:

• Patterned Papers from Narratives by Karen Russell for Creative Imaginations
• Shimmer Foil Paper by Heidi Grace Designs
• Mini Crustaceans and Tinsel by Heidi Grace Designs
• Blending Box Shades of Orange, Marvy Dee Gruenig Signature Series by Uchida
• Rubberstamps: Summer Clear Stamp Set by Impression Obsession
• Adheisves: Double-sided tape and Glue Dots by Glue Dots International
• Embellishments: Raffia, twine, Sea Foam Magic Mesh, Clear Quote Stickers by Cloud 9 Designs, Sea Glass Chipboard by K&Company, Sea Glass Charmers, Sea Glass Grand Adhesions
• Tools: Scissors, Paper Punch, 1″ circle punch, Bone Folder, Coluzzie Library Pocket Punch by Provo Craft

Instructions:

• Trace library pocket template onto background paper and cut out these images. 
• Fold and score flaps and tape these closed with double-sided tape. 
• Layer a strip of background paper/Magic Mesh diagonally across front pocket. 
• Punch out a half circle from the middle of the top edge of the pocket envelope.
• Add and adhere embellishments onto pockets as shown. 
• Trace and cut out pocket inserts onto scrap paper. 
• Add stamp images to inserts.
• Adhere clear stickers to inserts. 
• Punch hole in the top center of pocket inserts and knot raffia or twine and split open strands. 

Have fun with this easy breezy beach project–make a dozen and pass them out to friends!

Mendy’s French Girls!

This project was sent to me by Design Team member Mendy Mitrani. She used TweetyJill papers and stamps and some cute vintage French girl images to create three darling ATCs. Thank you Mendy!

Three Friends in Paris ATCs

Materials:

• 3 playing cards
• Patterned papers from The European Collection Scrapbook and Collage Papers by TweetyJill Publications
• Vintage Collage and Journey to France Rubber Stamps by TJ Designs
• Clear embossing ink pad
• Gold embossing powder
• Fine tip black marker
• Assorted vintage images from Enchanted Merchantile
• Glue Dots by Glue Dots International
• White cardstock
• Tools: Scissors, Embossing Heat Tool

Instructions:

• Cover the front of the three playing cards with assorted scrapbook papers. 
• Stamp each card with a variety of stamps in clear ink. 
• Apply gold embossing powder and emboss with heat tool. 
• Rub the ink pad along the edges of the card and repeat embossing process. 
• Download vintage images and print on white cardstock. 
• Cut out images and attach to cards using Glue Dots.
• Add small black dots with marker for an accent. 

Vintage French Girl

 Thank you again Mendy for this fun project!

Altered Mini Book

This project was created by design team member Sue Roddis. Sue is one of our many international artists, living and working in the UK. She calls this project, My Heart Has Wings Folded Book.

Materials:

• 8″ x 8″ square piece of paper for each section, from Lynn Perrella Series by Somerset Artist Papers
• Purple and Cream Cardstock
• Black Inkpad
• Pronged Book handle by 7gypsies
• Smitten Heart Pillow Stickers by K&Company
• Watercolor Crayons
• Watercolor Brush
• Die Cut Letters 
• Ribbons
• Heart Punches
• Rubber Stamps: Roof by Paperbag Studios; Many Birds by Hero Arts; Fly Away by Catslife Press; Blackbird and Bird Tags by Invoke Arts; Newsy Bird and My Heart Has Wings by Stampers Anonymous

Instructions:

• Fold each square of paper according to the following sequence of photos. 

• Cut 4′” squares out of colored cardstock to fit in corner flaps. Put these in place for support. 
• Cut slightly smaller squares to fit on top of the larger squares. 
• Stamp and color each small square with a bird image. 
• Add a stamped tag to each section along with a punched heart and several pillow heart stickers. 
• Die cut the word BIRD and add one letter to each section. 
• To join the sections together cut squares of cardstock and fold them in half diagonally. These cards should fit into the sides of each section and when glued in place will join the sections. 
• Stamp 8 roof images and cut them out leaving a point on the bottom of four of them. This is to tuck into the top of each section. Cut open the small window on each one of them and add a small image in the window. Color 4 of these images and leave the others black and white. 
• Fasten the roof images in place in each section and glue a black and white version to the reverse side. 
• Stamp the quote on the front of the book and color around it. Adhere to front with a bird cutout and decorate with stickers. 
• Add the book handle for embellishment. 
• Glue lengths of ribbon inside the back section of the book, keep them long enough to wrap around and tie. 

Thank you for this cute project Sue!