Designer of the Month

Introducing our Designer of the Month for October: Jill of Jilbert’s Bits of Bytes! Jill is one our most talented Designers, especially when it comes to make Photoshop sing. She can create anything, literally anything, digitally. It’s amazing to watch her work. Her Photoshop Actions are always a must-buy for me. Read on for a little more about Jill, in her own words.

Hi … I’m Jill Schwegel. I live with my husband (Steve) and daughter (Shawn) in Roseville, California. We’ve only been here for a little over 3 years. Prior to moving, we lived in Livermore which is in the San Francisco Bay Area. Up until our move, I had lived almost all my life in the Bay Area as did my husband. It goes to say, so did my daughter.

We have 4 children … a son (Scott) who lives with his sweet southern belle in Virginia and has 3 children (2 boys, 1 girl). All of their kids are currently in college, so my son and his wife are enjoying being empty nesters, even if it is just part time. My two other daughters live in Sacramento. The oldest daughter (Julie) and her husband have 4 children (2 girls, 2 boys) who have also moved out on their own. My daughter lost no time in moving into the empty bedrooms making one an office/craft room and the other a gym room. My other daughter (Shannon) lives on her own and is a parent to 4 furbabies … 2 dogs and 3 cats.

My youngest daughter has cerebral palsy. She is non-verbal (but definitely gets her point across) and non-ambulatory. She’s what keeps my husband and I on the straight and narrow. She’s our princess and she knows it. She used to go to a day program, but it’s been shut down due to Covid with no idea when they’ll be able to re-open. We do have a video conference craft with the staff 4 days a week and, while she loves it, she really misses her time out of the house.

As for scrapbooking, I never did it. Both my oldest daughter and daughter-in-law did it when they started having kids, but for some reason I never got started. I am a computer geek through and through and I guess not having an “undo” button intimidated me. I spent most of my career on the computer and, towards the end of it, created visualization tools for our engineers. While most of my work was 3D, I definitely loved the time spent creating things in Photoshop and Illustrator. It was only natural that in retirement I gravitated towards playing with those apps. I was active on a site where one did online photo montage art and, in looking for some items to use, stumbled upon digital scrapbooking. It definitely caught my attention and it wasn’t long before I was doing it rather my montage work.

In 2012, after a few months “scrapping,” I saw the Next Designer and Layout Artist contests that theStudio was having and, not knowing any better, joined in. It was fun, and I learned a lot. I didn’t win either contest, but made some wonderful friendships that continue through today. During the layout contest, Karen Schulz (formerly SnickerdoodleDesigns) and I started talking and she asked if I was interested in being a part of her creative team. Of course I said yes. She patiently showed the “business” of scrapbook design and I started giving away freebies on my blog. I was mainly interested in creating “tools” and, while I did some mini kits, I definitely wasn’t sure I could do a whole collection. Karen kept telling me that I needed to quit giving away all my stuff and finally took it upon herself to contact Toiny to see if she was interested in taking me on as a Commercial Use designer. Toiny, remembering me from the contests, said yes and the rest is history. After a couple of months, I finally got brave enough to start doing collections.

In my free time, I paint … mainly mixed media abstracts. I also decided to improve my watercolor painting abilities by taking some classes at the local college. Unfortunately, Covid shut down everything. I also love gardening and have ample opportunity to do it with a new house. However, seems I’m learning the hard way, through my epic fails, just what will grow around here.

I am honored to have been chosen Designer of the Month for October … actually, blown over would be a better term. I love theStudio and the wonderfully talented designers here. Toiny has done a fantastic job of creating a family atmosphere. It’s basically what’s been keeping me sane during the lockdowns.

Jill is one of our most talented CU Designers. Her brushes & Photoshop Actions are eagerly anticipated and quickly become top sellers. This week Jill has some of our favorite brush types available as a FREE CU Brush Sampler

Jill is also one of our top Scrapbook Collection Designers. Her recent Anthology: The Sea was one my personal favorites. I’m a beach baby & this collection scrapped like a dream!

This week only her entire store is on sale for 50% Off! It’s a great time to shop & pick up some incredible scrapbooking treats just for you. These are a handful of my favorite kits by Jill: