To regift or not to regift, that is the question

Good morning friends,
I hope your holidays are going well, and you have a prosperous new year.
As you know we are designers and garment printers, but I have also worked in signmaking for a company in western Ky. If there are any sign professionals out there there that would like to contribute, let us know.

Bamboo clothing seems to be picking up speed as the new "green clothing", but before you decide to use this product, check out this article http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/09/is_bamboo_cloth.php

In the spirit of after Christmas rush, here is a neat article on regifting.

"Making" Money by Regifting

By Bob Cox

The basic concept of regifting is simple: You get a gift that you don't want, and you give it to someone else. The obvious benefit is that you avoid the hassle of returning it or the guilty feeling of knowing it will never be used. And it saves you money.

So that's regifting in the classic sense. But you can also "make" money with regifting. Here are two ways:

1. Instead of giving it away, sell it. If you have a platter you'll never use... a sweater you'll never wear ... a chess set you'll never open... sell it on eBay or CraigsList. Someone else will get a bargain, and you'll have some extra money in your pocket.

2. Turn an unwanted gift into a tax deduction. Donate it to Goodwill, the Salvation Army, or another charitable organization that can sell it, auction it, or use it. Ask for a receipt when you make the donation, and file it with your tax-prep papers.

[Ed. Note: Bob Cox is the creator of The Billionaire Way and the voice of ETR's Total Success Achievement Program. Members get weekly motivational Power Surge Messages packed with advice on how to accomplish their goals... twice-monthly teleseminars with Bob and Patrick Coffey... and personal coaching calls. Click here to learn how you can achieve all your goals in 2008.]

This comes from the newsletter, Early to Rise, and is a daily newsletter.
Have a great New Year.
Jeff and Kat

Have a Merry Christmas

From our family to yours, have a safe and happy holiday season.
Jeff and Kat

Sustainable "green printing"

Good morning friends,
Here at TamedLyon designs, we will lean towards "green" ways to do things, especially printing. On the T Shirt froums, contributors have referred a good article on green printing which I will print here in part.

Most of us try to be aware of the environmental impact of the choices we make in our daily lives — and that extends to our professional lives as well. Who doesn't want to make a positive impact? It may be as simple as taking mass transit or as complex as tracking our carbon emissions and trying to live carbon-neutral. The point is that the environmental movement has become a mainstream, ongoing and important part of society and commerce...
Screen printed T-shirts have doubled as billboards for pro-environmental sentiments as far back as the first Earth Day in 1970. Because T-shirts have been so closely associated with environmentally conscious lifestyle choices, it only makes sense that our customers look to us to lead this movement. Thus, our impact on the environment becomes especially important to our businesses. Not only do we want to make responsible ecological decisions because of our sense that it is the right thing to do, but we are learning that it will help our businesses to be more successful and profitable...
The inks used in screen printing generate the most concern, but they also provide the most opportunity to use green processes and sustainable materials. Plastisol inks are generally considered the easiest and most versatile inks for printing apparel. They also are commonly considered the least "green" ink option available.
While there is some genuine debate about this, my opinion is that plastisol inks are probably the least sustainable ink system used. These inks are made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins. This material is often considered objectionable to the sustainability movement because it is a heavily manufactured, non-natural material. PVC is persistent in the environment as it does not easily break down into natural components...
An entirely different approach is to use water-based inks. There are many types of water-based inks available and each has very different performance characteristics. Some are very eco-friendly and can be used as part of a highly sustainable printing process. There are, however, some performance limitations with all water-based systems — so you have advantages and disadvantages.

This is part of an excellent article. Click on this link to read the full story.

http://www.impressionsmag.com/impressions/content_display/screen-printing/e3ie03af3d9f69cae9947016c75fdeb05eb

Marketing tip from T-Shirt forums contributor Wombat.
What I would suggest you do is bring some of your shirts to your local pub and bring your camera...Find some of the hottest females/males in the place and ask them if they would be your model for you....It should cost nothing more then a shirt and most "younger" people would just think it was cool to be a tshirt model... You could even have alittle more fun and hold a model search down at your local pub...Most pub owners will also do that for nothing...Don't pay the models any money...Its just unnessary...You could probably find a release for them to sign somewhere on the net...The more people you have do this, the better...What will happen is these people modeling your shirts will tell all their friends to check out your site to see them...They will actually be advertising your site for nothing..

Any comments or guest posts? Feel free to e-mail us at tamedlyondesign@yahoo.com or visit www.shubibroom.com
Jeff and Kat

Screen printing as a hobby, or career?

Good morning friends,

Kat and I would like to welcome you to our forum. If you haven't been here before, we are Graphic Designers, as well as Screenprinters and would like to spread interesting tidbits on these topics as well as marketing your shops. We are members of t-shirt forums as well as threadchat forums and have gleaned a lot of information there as well as other business related forums. You can click on the zazzle store on the right, or view our linkedin profile also on the right. We would love to hear your comments on any of these topics.

Screenprinting is a business that a lot of weekend biz owners have turned into a full time career after starting as a hobby.

To cold call or not to cold call, that is the question. There are many proponents of both, and I have been somewhat successful with cold calling although it is time consuming. The best way is to develop a reputation with quality and unique work to get the masses to come to you. Social networking is a good way to achieve this.

Feel free to post your comments. See ya next Monday,

Jeff and Kat

A New Direction

Good morning friends,

I hope you have enjoyed previewing "The Amazing Shubi Bird" as well as the adventures of Shubi. As some of you may know, Shubi has his own blog and will be posting his adventures there. As for this blog, we at TamedLyon Designs, will be focusing more on the graphic design aspects. Kat is an award winning graphic designer, and I am a screenprinter by trade. We hope to open our own screenprinting operation in the near future, but for now we will be posting along those lines. Feel free to comment or maybe guest post. Either way we would love to hear from you out there. Oh, Shubi's blog is at http://gotshubi.wordpress.com/ We look forward to putting up some useful content in the near future.

Our plans are to post to this blog every Monday, so stay tuned.

Jeff and Kat

Shubi finds comfort in the arms of strangers

Good Morning Friends,

It has warmed up a little, but looking for food is getting harder and harder. I'm up on a 5th story stoop looking in the window of a family just sitting down to a family breakfast. The small girl looks out the window and exclaims, "Look at that pwetty birdie at the window". The mom replies, "Yes, that is a birdie and he looks cold". They gently open the door so as to not scare me, but they do not know that I am "The Amazing Shubi Bird". I fly in the window and around the breakfast table, startling all the people in the room. I land on the little girl's shoulder and chirp out, "Hi, my name's Shubi". Everyone is amazed that they have found a talking parakeet. Boy is it nice and warm in here, and that food sure looks good. The little girl senses my apparent hunger and offers me a biscuit, which I accept gladly. "Thank you, precious little one", and she smiles with amazement.

Well, I have to go for now, but come back for the latest developments.

Your Friend,

Shubi

Give the Amazing Shubi For Christmas

Good Morning Friends,

I have a dilemna this, the beginning of the holiday season. I'm used to staying in a warm friendly home, but since I ran away in July, I have ventured far away. So I am looking for a home for the holidays and hopefully someone reading this post will find me. The only problem is I don't know where I'm at but I will be giving out clues in the next few weeks. I'm in a large town with what looks like bricks for a road. The buildings are very tall, but I'm able to fly to the top of them. Find out more about me and my adventures at http://www.shubibroom.com/

See ya soon,

Your Friend,

Shubi

Have a great Thanksgiving

Good Morning Friends,
This Thanksgiving Day I have a lot to be thankful for. Even though I am a small bird far from home and out in the cold, I am thankful for my freedom. In my adventures as "The Amazing Shubi Bird" I wasn't subjected to the cold and as a parakeet, I am used to being in a warm house with loving family, who shower me with gifts. On my travels, I have seen many people who are in trouble that I am unable to help. I ask you today and throughout the holiday season to have some compassion for your neighbor that may not have enough to eat, or a warm place to stay. Heck, why not make it a year long thing. Peace to all.
Your Friend,
Shubi

Amazing Shubi

Good morning friends,

I hope you have enjoyed the preview of the book, "The Amazing Shubi Bird", which is available at http://www.shubibroom.com/ This compilation of original drawings and easy to read text, makes it an interesting read for small children and even teens. As some of you know, I escaped from my owner's cage on July 3rd in Waitsburg, Washington and have been on the lam ever since. I like my freedom, but it puts me at more danger that I am faced with in the book that bears my name. Since it is snowing right now and I am a tropical bird, I need to find a warm place to stay, but I will be journalizing my adventures right here on this blog.

Bye for now, come back soon,

Your friend,

Shubi

Watch out for that Mountain Lion

Good Morning Friends,
As we return to the adventures of "The Amazing Shubi Bird", Shubi has met Lauren and Jude, two children lost in the woods. Shubi tries to comfort them and assure them that he will help them get back home. But there is danger on the horizon. Lets continue with the story.
Suddenly, they heard a loud, scary growl! Startled, they turned to see what
the noise was, and saw a big, angry mountain lion crouching right behind
them!
Shubi flew away so quickly that the children did not see which way he went.
The children thought Shubi flew away because he was afraid.
They did not know what to do without him. "If only we had wings, too,"
Jude said to Lauren as his voice shook with fear.
"What should we do?" Lauren cried. "The lion can run faster than us and I
don’t think he wants to be our friend!" "GRRRR," growled the mountain
lion, as he came closer and closer to the children.
He walked back and forth in front of them, growling. He angrily flipped his
tail from one side to another as he watched their every move.
Jude and Lauren knew they were in serious trouble. The mountain lion was
not a vegetarian like they were. He was a meat eater, and wanted to eat them!
They both wished that they were home helping their mother with chores,
and doing their schoolwork. They wanted nothing more than to be home!
Suddenly, as the mountain lion was about to pounce on the children, he
was startled by an earth-shaking roar!
The lion was too afraid to look behind him because he just knew it was a huge
bear. A bear much bigger than he! The lion thought he was the one in
serious trouble then, and must run away as fast as he could!
Jude and Lauren could not believe it! Shubi came back to save them!
It was true that Shubi could indeed growl like a bear!
He really was The Amazing Shubi Bird!
Now the children knew that everything would be just fine.
If Shubi could protect them from a lion, he could
surely help them find their way back home.
The children were so relieved that Shubi had saved them.
They watched Shubi chase the scared lion far away.
It was the funniest thing they had ever seen!
The lion ran very fast and Shubi flew just as fast right behind him,
roaring all the way.
Shubi loved any chance he got to pretend to be a bear. He giggled between
every roar. Finally, he decided that he should get back to the children.
Flying around in a big circle, Shubi turned back to the children. Jude and
Lauren were still laughing as they waited for his return.
Shubi will continue to bring you updates when he has a chance, but in the meantime check back for future developments.

Shubi meets Jude

Good Morning Friends,
As we continue our story from "The Amazing Shubi Bird" Shubi has met up with Lauren in the woods where her and her brother Jude are lost. In this segment Shubi introduces himself to Jude.
Shubi flew to the little boy to talk to him. "Hi Jude," Shubi said, as he landed
on the top of his hat. It took Jude a minute to realize that a bird was talking to him. "Wow!" Jude said with excitement. "Where did you
come from?" "My name is Shubi. Your sister told me that you two are lost. I’m going to help you get back home."
"How are you going to do that?"
Jude asked. "And, why am I talking to a bird? I must be dreaming." Jude
mumbled.

Shubi replied, "No, Jude, you are not
dreaming. I am a real, talking bird. I can help you get home by finding help and
telling them where you are. That’s why they call me The Amazing Shubi Bird."

Well, that's all for today. Stay tuned for the next segment of "The Amazing Shubi Bird"
Your Friend,
Shubi

Shubi meets Lauren

Good morning friends,

As we continue our preview of the book "The Amazing Shubi Bird", Shubi sees two kids lost in the woods. He first sees Lauren, and flies up to her and lands on her shoulder. Here's what happens next.

While Cody and Tanner were plotting their scheme, Shubi flew as fast as he
could and landed on the little girl’s shoulder. He told the little girl, "My name
is Shubi. What is your name?"
"I’ve never heard of a bird that can talk!" The little girl giggled and then
replied, "My name is Lauren. My brother Jude and I are lost."
Shubi smiled and said, "Nice to meet you Lauren. You have never heard a bird
talk before? All animals can talk, but most do not because they are shy, and
no one takes the time to listen. I’m not shy though I talk all the time, whether
someone is listening or not!"

Thats it for today. Keep checking back for the next segment featuring my adventures.

Your friend,

Shubi

No laughing matter

Good morning friends,

This morning Shubi and the gang see two lost children in the woods. They form a plan of action.

Meanwhile, at the top of the tree, Shubi was surprised to see two
children, in the forest, all alone. He shouted, "Children are not supposed to
be out here without their parents!"
Tanner and Cody both agreed. Tanner warned, "Children are not
supposed to be out here because they throw rocks at us and try to trap us."
Cody nodded his head and agreed, "Yeah, and when they catch you they
pull your hair." Cody started laughing and laughing at his joke because hair is
another word for rabbit, spelled "hare."
Cody laughed so hard that he couldn’t even stand up anymore, and rolled on
the ground laughing and kicking his feet.
"I don’t get it," Tanner thought, as he shook his head while watching Cody
savor his joke.

Stay tuned for future developments

Your friend,

Shubi

Amazing Shubi, Amazing Parakeet

Good morning Friends,

It's Saturday morning here and I am taking the day off from sending you excerpts from the book. If you are new to this blog, my name is Shubi, and I am the subject of a childrens book called "The Amazing Shubi Bird" which we are featuring here, a little at a time. You will see some art from the book as well as writings. Feel free to comment on the book, that is available at http://www.shubibroom.com/. There is also a less expensive, full color, downloadable version. Anyway stay tuned for the adventures I face in everyday life.

Your friend,

Shubi

"The Blue Guardian" cont.

Good morning friends,

Shubi here; I hope you all are enjoying the snippets from "The Amazing Shubi Bird". Today we are continuing the story with Tanner, Cody, and Shubi in the woods.

Tanner and Cody watched Shubi fly to the top of the tree, flapping his wings
very fast as his body floated to the top branch.
Tanner shouted "Wow! I do wish I could do that. I would have so much
fun if I could fly like Shubi!" Grumpy Cody said, "It’s just not
normal. I would not want to do that even if I could!"
"Boy, Shubi is right," Tanner said to Cody. "You are grumpy."
Cody snarled at Tanner and told him that he would be grumpy too if he
was attacked by Hermit Harry’s big mean birdie.
"Well, you shouldn’t have snuck into his cage to run off with his treats!"
Tanner scolded.

Stay tuned next time for more adventures of Shubi and friends.

Your friend,

Shubi

"The Amazing Shubi Bird"

Good afternoon friends,

Here is a new installment of "The Amazing Shubi Bird."

"Shubi chuckled and then asked Cody, "Will you climb to the top of the tree and fly off with me?" Cody did not have a very good sense of humor when someone was joking with him. He only laughed when he told a joke, or kidded around, so he got mad at Shubi and asked, "Do you see wings on me?" Shubi laughed at Cody and said, "I am only joking. Why do you have to be so serious all the time? You are just grumpy, Cody! You are just grumpy!" Shubi seemed to enjoy kidding around with both Cody and Tanner, just to lighten the mood. He was always playful and lively, and would do anything for a laugh. Still, Shubi's friends were not always in the mood for his silliness."

Stay tuned for more excerpts from "The Amazing Shubi Bird".

The Blue Guardian

Good morning friends,

Here is the next installment of "The Amazing Shubi Bird". This is the start of chapter one, titled "The Blue Guardian".

"Shubi the bird, Tanner the rabbit, and Cody the squirrel were all friends in the wild. Although they were once someone's pets, many years ago Tanner and Cody were mistreated and left their homes. Shubi once had a home too, but his little girl grew up and moved far away, so he started a new life in the forest.

One afternoon Shubi jokingly said to Tanner, "Lets go to the top of the tree and fly away!"

Tanner knew he was not a bird and could not fly, so he replied to Shubi, "I do not have wings. If I tried to flywith you, I would get hurt!"

Thats the segment for the day, stayed tuned till next time when the next part is revealed.

Sheba's Story Time

Good Morning friends,

Here is the first installment of "The Amazing Shubi Bird". The book starts off with Sheba, Shubi's dear friend, introducing him.

"Hello Children! Myname is Sheba. Someone told me that you want to hear about my special friend, Shubi. He became known as the Amazing Shubi Bird because he is unlike any other bird in the world. Sure there are others that can talk, but Shubi is the smartest, funniest, and bravest of them all, as you are about to see.

There are many stories I could tell you about Shubi, but let me first start at the beginning. This is how Shubi and his friends were adopted."

This is the first part of the book. Stay tuned for more.

Preview the Book

Good morning friends,
Now that you have met the characters in "The Amazing Shubi Bird", we will, in the following postings, give some excerpts and some artwork from the book right here in this blog. Shubi believes in perserverence, honesty, integrity, and He tries to instill in readers the importance of these qualities. So stay tuned as Shubi reveals parts of the book “The Amazing Shubi Bird”, or you can look at the preview at www.shubibroom.com

New blog for Shubi

Good morning friends,
Just a reminder that Shubi has set up his own blog. Since he is on the run, and we don't know where he is at, we will have to keep in touch with him through his blog. If you would like to talk to Shubi go to http://gotshubi.wordpress.com/ and leave a message. I'm sure he will be glad to hear from you.

Blog Action Day

Good morning friends,
Today is national blog action day. We are suppose to comment on environmental issues in this world. In taking a course on global ecology I learned of the many foreign countries that do not have laws in place to prtect this environment. Although they are mostly poor countries, some are wealthy. The problem with this, I learned, is that their pollution rises in the air and forms clouds that go on other parts of the world and dump "acid rain" on our country as well as others. Thats my 2 cents worth, what about you?

Shubi has his own blog

Good morning,
Shubi has set up his own blog. Since he is on the run, and we don't know where he is at, we will have to keep in touch with him through his blog. If you would like to talk to Shubi go to http://gotshubi.wordpress.com/ and leave a message. I'm sure he will be glad to hear from you.

There you have it

Good morning friends,
We have introduced you to the major characters in "The Amazing Shubi Bird", but that is not all that we do here at TamedLyon Designs in beautiful northwest Oregon. We do all kinds of digital art that can be viewed at http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fStoreID=726635 Kat has a degree in Computer graphic Arts, and isn't afraid to use it. She has won several awards for her work and we are hoping to make this childrens book a success, but we can only do it with your help. So go preview the book at www.shubibroom.com
Cheers!

Meet Sadi

Good morning Friends,

Today we will introduce Sadi. Sadi is an important character in "The Amazing Shubi Bird". She takes her helicopter, and searches for the lost kids and Shubi. She selflessly does this after putting aside her own plans for the evening. Peek into the book at http://www.shubibroom.com/ by looking at the preview section.

Meet Cheeky

Good Morning friends,

Meet Cheeky the duck. He is a minor character in "The Amazing Shubi Bird", but this is one of the best illustrations in the book. The framed graphic of this character was donated to a raffle to help a disabled Veteran and his family pay some medical expenses.

Meet Shubi

Now its time to meet the star of "The Amazing Shubi Bird". You may be wondering, who is Shubi? Kat and Jeff Joyce purchased a parakeet after one of our pomeranians ate the one we had. When we brought him home, in the car, he was bobbing his head to the music, so Kat named him Shubi. We spent several months trying to get him to talk, but to no avail. We had a friends young daughter staying with us for the summer, and she spent every day talking to him. One day just before she went back home, Shubi started saying a couple of words over and over. Shortly thereafter his vocabulary started increasing at a phenominal rate and we began to realize that we had a special birdie. He began to put sentences together. At first they were incoherent, but then they started to make sense. Shubi has given us years of non-stop entertainment as well as making others laugh. He truly is special, and amazing.

Shubi scares lion

Shubi scares away the mountain lion in the book, "The Amazing Shubi Bird".

Mountain Lion

Good Morning Friends,

The mountain lion in the book "The Amazing Shubi Bird" has an important part. He tries to scare the kids, but Shubi intervenes on their behalf.

Meet Jude

Good Morning friends,

This morning we are going to meet Jude. Jude and his sister, as we learned yesterday, are lost in the woods and Shubi is trying to help them. Shubi is going to enlist the help of his friends Cody and Tanner to get the kids safely back to their parents, but there is danger lurking in the distance. Tune in tomorrow to see the danger they are facing, and how they overcome this danger with Shubi's help.

Meet Lauren

Good afternoon friends. Today we are introducing Lauren. Lauren and her brother Jude are lost in the woods, and Shubi is trying to help them find their parents. Tomorrow we will meet her brother Jude.

Meet Tanner and Cody

Good Morning friends,

Today we are going to introduce you to Tanner and Cody.
Tanner the rabbit and Cody the squirrel are dear friends to Shubi. They all live together in the wild, and are the main characters in "The Amazing Shubi Bird". Shubi is a natural kidder and likes to joke around with his friends, however Cody didn't like it when Shubi picked on him. Tanner was different. He was in awe of Shubi and coveted the fact that he could fly. Tanner and Cody were both very fond of Shubi and glad they had met him. Shubi enjoyed his friendship with all of the creatures in the wild. Stay tuned tomorrow for our next character in the book.

Meet the cast

Good morning friends,
Just in case you haven't met the cast of "The Amazing Shubi Bird", we will introduce you to each of them in the next several days so stay tuned.

"The Amazing Shubi Bird"

Good Morning friends,
Kat and I, as always, would like to welcome you to our site. Shubi is truly an amazing bird. To see his story, check some of our previous posts. Shubi has been on the lam since July 3rd, and the owners, Jeff and Gail Broom, as well as Jeff and Kat are putting up reward posters this week to try to locate him. Shubi is not just any parakeet, he has an extensive vocabulary, as well as imitating various noises. His book showcases his latest adventure, and is sure to have an impact on children as well as adults.

Shubi and Friends Calendar

Hello Friends,

The Shubi and Friends Calendar is available now at http://www.shubibroom.com/.

Enjoy,

Shubi and Friends Calendar

Our Shubi Calendar proof has arrived, but there are a few technical issues that have to be addressed before we can offer it for sale. Please be patient, it is agreat looking Calendar.

Shubi and Friends Calendar

Kat has ordered a new calendar for approval, and once it is approved, it will be available online. It is reasonably priced and contains artwork from the book. Lulu does a very nice job of printing, and we have been happy with the work they do.

About Shubi

You may be wondering, who is Shubi? Kat and Jeff Joyce purchased a parakeet after one of our pomeranians ate the one we had. When we brought him home, in the car, he was bobbing his head to the music, so Kat named him Shubi. We spent several months trying to get him to talk, but to no avail. We had a friends young daughter staying with us for the summer, and she spent every day talking to him. One day just before she went back home, Shubi started saying a couple of words over and over. Shortly thereafter his vocabulary started increasing at a phenominal rate and we began to realize that we had a special birdie. He began to put sentences together. At first they were incoherent, but then they started to make sense. Shubi has given us years of non-stop entertainment as well as making others laugh. He truly is special, and amazing.

False alarm

Kat and I went to see if we could capture Shubi. When we arrived, however, it was not Shubi. It was a much smaller parakeet with a band on his leg. We will keep up the search.

Shubi missing

As of July 3rd Shubi is missing. He was in his cage outside and the cage fell apart and he flew up in a tree. The next morning he was gone. The neighborhood was scoured and an ad was placed in the Waitsburg Washington newspaper. Friday the 13th a citizen of Walla Walla Washington, about 40 miles away, was reading the paper and she called saying "I've seen that bird feeding at my bird feeder". Gail rushed down to check out the situation and wait for the Amazing Shubi. We are waiting for news as this is being written.

The Amazing Shubi Bird is available

The long awaited childrens book by Kathelene Joyce is available at www.shubibroom.com or www.lulu.com/shubibroom
Thanks for your patronage.

The Amazing Shubi Bird is available

Hi all,
The Amazing Shubi Bird is now available at www.lulu.com/shubibroom or you can check out www.shubibroom.com We believe you will be as excited about this book as we are. There are excerpts from the book as well as a downloadable copy. Enjoy. E-mail Shubi at amazingshubi@yahoo.com

Milton Freewater Muddy Frogwater

Kat has designed the frog that will be on tshirts and posters for the Muddy Frogwater Country Festival. If you are in town on August 17 -19, stop on by.

Shubi book

Kat has received an actual copy of "The Amazing Shubi Bird" for review and some minor revisions. Stay tuned for our publication date when the book will be offered for sale. The illustrations look great, and this book would be an excellent addition to any childs collection.