Twitter background, Free personal templates

So I have been using twitter now for a couple months to promote and tweet with other twitter users. The journey so far has brought views to my Etsy shop and I have more and more followers each day. It really is a fun way to chat quickly with other people who have the same interests. 

Since I am not only using Twitter for personal use, but also for business and promoting purposes, I decided to personalize my background. Before changing my background, I first started researching how to do this on the internet. Many forums said to use photoshop, but I do not have photoshop because I have a Mac and I use the photo editing software that came with my computer. So I googled how to create one without using photoshop and came up with a few sites that have preloaded templates and ones that you can start from scratch. 

The site I used was http://www.mytweetspace.com/ and it was very easy to use. This site is great for a business twitter account because the main aspect of the background is a photo and information box. You get to upload an image, your logo, and choose a background template that matches. What I chose is pictured below. I also chose to have a purple border placed around my information box.

Once you choose the design aspect of the template, you get to add in all important text information including our e-mail, shop links, social networking links, and any other text that involves your business. The picture below shows the information that I added.

I am very happy with the finished product which is below and can be viewed at http://twitter.com/missjuliaart

and feel free to follow me for art updates and fun tweets.

 

There are many other sites that have free Twitter templates to use as a background. Some are...

http://tweetstyle.com/

http://freetwitterdesigner.com/

http://www.twitbacks.com/

http://www.twittergallery.com/

But if you google free twitter background you will come up with many sites to choose from.

Trick or Treat and a Halloween Party!

So I know that Halloween is over, but I just realized that I never posted anything about that night. My husband and I dressed up like 40's people. He is obsessed with this blue suit and would probably wear it on normal days if I let him. =)

We were home in Buffalo that weekend, so we passed candy out at my parents house. I was so disappointed though because we only got like 20 kids. It was kinda rainy and cold, but my parents neighborhood usually gets at least 100 kids. They just keep coming and we always run out of candy. My mother bought 10 bags this year, and we only went through maybe 2. 

I asked around a few of my friends if they got many kids, and they too only got a few. So I am not sure if it was the weather, which I doubt because it's Buffalo and we do not let weather spoil our fun. I think that it could have been because of the flu scare. They had it on the local new to be careful and cautious because Buffalo, NY does have a lot of swine flu cases. But other then that I am not sure why we had so little kids. 

We then went to a halloween party at my friend new house. We had a lot of fun and the food was good. They dressed up as Beetlejuice. And look at their puppy. His name is Gus Johnson and he didn't like his costume to much. 

Oh and look at those orbs following my friend up the stairs. Chris, my husband, took pictures all night and those same 2 orbs were near her the whole night. Spooky!

Ebay auction listing, original painting

I just listed an  Original painting on Ebay. 

'The act of deflowering'

It is up in the Auction section for bidding. It starts at $250 with FREE shipping.

Thanks for viewing.

BOGO sale on prints in Etsy store.

BOGO Sale!

In my Etsy store.

( Friday October 30 - Sunday November 1 )

Buy 1 print and get 1 free. 

Buy 1 ACEO print and get 1 free.

Prints are $18 with free shipping and ACEO prints are $4.50.

Just tell me which print or ACEO print you want free in my 'message to seller' section.

DIY Screen Printing at Home

I have always wanted to learn how to screen print, but the process seemed so hard to do. I was shown the process back in school, but it was so complicated and a lot of space was needed to print. We had a very large printing classroom and I have no space in my apartment so I thought that I was out of luck with screen printing. I was wrong!

I searched for DIY (Do it Yourself) screen printing and found some great resources on how to screen print easily with materials you can get from the craft store. Also I can print things in my tiny apartment. =)

I found many tutorials and blogs explaining the process and all seemed to be very similar. I took all those instructions into consideration.

Materials....

embroidery hoops - 1 for each design

Image to use printed out in B&W - you can draw one or create one on the computer.

Sheer curtain fabric - go to a local fabric store such as JoAnne's in the home decor section.

Mod Podge - this is a water soluble glue

Old paint brush

Speedball Fabric ink

piece of plastic to squeegee with - try an old plastic card

Oh and a t-shirt or something to print on.

Directions....

1. Create a design to Screen print. You can draw one or use your computer to make one. Make it simple and B&W so it is easier to Screen print it. 

2. Take embroidery hoop and place the sheer curtain tight into it. 

3. Turn the hoop upside down and trace the image onto the bottom of the fabric with pencil.

4. Turn the hoop over and with the paint brush put the Mod Podge all over the negative area. Make sure all the parts that you don't want printed are covered.

5. Let dry completely.

6. Once dry, you can practice printing on a scrap sheet of paper to make sure it comes out to your liking. 

7. When ready, take the hoop, place it on the t-shirt, put some ink at the top of the design, and use the plastic card to squeegee it down. 

8. That's it and your DIY home Screen printing is done.

Halloween is Coming!

Halloween is so close and I still need to find a costume. I was going to be a rag doll and bought some pink polka dot ribbon, but I didn't buy enough to make the size bow I wanted. 

I am supposed to go to a party this year, so I want my costume to be good. I also want my husband and I to have a couples costume and he won't be a doll with me. =)

So I have been thinking hard about costumes. I always make my own because they come out just so much better and more creative. My next adventure in researching is masquerade costumes. I have masks from New Orleans that we could wear. My husband has this bright blue suit that he bought down south when he was in the army years ago and he loves to wear it for Halloween. He insisted on wearing it so I need to come up with something that goes with this suit that is not a pimp or gangster costume (he's down those to many times).

Well off to thinking!