History of TweetyJill

 

TweetyJill Publications sprouted wings in 1997 when The Complete Guide to Scrapbooking became an overnight success. TweetyJill president Jill Haglund worked her way up the direct sales ladder at Creative Memories several years before she launched her own company. She taught hundreds of classes on scrapbooking and was thrilled to see the excitement generated by them. She found that people loved learning how to preserve their precious photos and memories while creating artful books they were proud to display. 

Right about that time, manufacturers started picking up on the scrapbooking trend, offering products such as acid-free photo albums, page protectors, decorative scissors and punches, stickers, paper cutters and the like. Pretty soon everyone was on the scrapbooking bandwagon! On more than one occasion, Jill observed these eager scrapbookers in craft stores zealously scooping up all the trendy products, only to plop them back down in discouragement and walk away muttering, “I have no idea what to do with these!” 

For Jill, it was nothing short of magic… fireworks went off in her head and a brilliant idea was born. What these scrapbookers needed was a basic “how-to” book! She quit her job with Creative Memories and immediately went to work on the concept. A meager budget afforded her a simple printer that she kept in her closet; she made color copies at a local office supply store and assembled and bound the pages herself. Jill advertised her book on the Internet, and sold it for $25.00 per copy. One day she realized the back seat of her car was piled high with these homemade books! She had painstakingly worked to hand-fill more than 80 orders, cramming them into her car so she could ship them out to their anxious recipients. 

Jill thought, why don’t I really do a book and hire a professional graphic designer and have it published? Within six weeks, The Complete Guide to Scrapbooking was off the press! She presented it at the world-famous Craft & Hobby Association Trade Show, where she was invited by an exhibitor to show her book to a large chain store. The chain bought the entire press run of 10,000 copies. As they say, the rest is history. 

To date, The Complete Guide to Scrapbooking has sold over 150,000 copies. The Idea Book for Scrapbooking and Scrapbooking for Kids (Ages 1-100), subsequent publications by TweetyJill, proved just as popular. The company currently has eleven active titles, with three in production. TweetyJill books are unique and specialized guides to various scrapbooking styles, as well as idea sources for card making, rubber stamping, gift ideas, fabric art, altered art, photo projects, Artist Trading Cards and even more. 

Jill’s love for memories, photography, books and art is what has given her the passion over the last ten years for TweetyJill Publications.