Some Big Changes

December 18, 2013 by carina 1 Comment

It’s been a busy holiday season this year. I’ve been determined to get all my Christmas decor up with time to enjoy it, find time to share some special things with my kids (i.e. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), and make them some things as well (I’ll show soon). In the midst of this, somehow my website decided it was revolting against the holidays. So for the last two weeks, I have been working with my programmers to wrangle anything that has gone awry.

The good news is that it helped me make some very important decisions. First is that all of the classes will be going SELF-PACED as of January 1, 2014. Yes! That means you will be able to get Fabric Design, Digital Design, and Paper Design anytime you want. Neat, huh?

To help the self-paced classes, a new forum is available to all self-paced class members. That way you have access to each other and to me. If you already have purchased a class, you already have access to this forum. Feel free to go in and take a look.

Illustrator Basics 2 will be no exception. It went up for registration today, but the class will be available self-paced on January 1, 2014. Be sure you go and check out the syllabus and take advantage of the 20% off on it for the END OF YEAR SALE while you can.

The final cool thing happening to the classes over the next two weeks is a transition of all of our videos to a new system that will be easier for your viewing pleasure. The new streaming video from the site will allow you to watch easily on your mobile devices as well as from your computer. I am hopeful this will resolve any problems we have had in the past trying to troubleshoot the classes and allows students more freedom. This platform will allow you to sneak in a 5 minute video on your phone while you are waiting to pick up kids from school, sitting in an airport, or even if you want to watch the videos on your mobile device as you work on Illustrator on your computer. The possibilities!

Hope you like all the upgrades around here!

Carina

Happy Thanksgiving

November 27, 2013 by carina

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! My little family will be having an intimate family Thanksgiving today and go to my in-laws tomorrow. My turkey went into a homemade brine yesterday for a 24 hour bath. Usually I like to use the William and Sonoma Turkey Brine but I never got around to picking it up so this year so I improvised. Fingers crossed my salt-allspice-brownsugar-peppercorn-sage-thyme mixture works!

In our family we don’t have any set Thanksgiving traditions unless you count getting a tree the day after Thanksgiving. This year we invited the cousins over for a glamper movie night so the grownups could play games. I also made these little turkey take out boxes for Siri and Felicity to give to their cousins.

Hope you have a spectacular Turkey Day! Are you doing anything special or sticking to your family traditions this year?

Carina

So This Is Christmas Cards & Albums

November 26, 2013 by carina

I’m pretty horrible about posting all the wonderful things happening at Carta Bella. I guess I just assume that you check into our amazing blog to see what the designers have been creating. I hope you had a chance to check out our October release Wildflower, which is ever so modern and fresh! This month we released my Homemade with Love which is a nostalgic baking/cooking/in-the-kitchen collection. And as always, we are in the midst of preparation for the Winter Show. I think you will love!

In honor of Christmas (just around the bend), the lovely Smitha Katti of Smiling Colors blog put together some gorgeous projects using my So This is Christmas Collection that I’ve been dying to show you.

Enjoy the eye candy here and just because I can’t help but be completely out of order (wink, wink), I’ll show you what I projects I’ve been putting together for Thanksgiving tomorrow!

All holiday-jumbled-up,

Carina

Glamper Renovation Part 4- Exterior Finished!

November 24, 2013 by carina 5 Comments

It’s been so busy I haven’t had a chance to post the finished exterior of the glamper! And just in time too! I was watching the weather closely to paint the exterior and parts of the interior.

The polka dots turned out to be a bit of a chore. At the end of the day, I’m glad I did it because it gives my glamper such a fun look. To get the polka dots I cut 5 inch circles out with a circle cutter with an 18mm blade. I then spaced them out 5 inches apart both vertically and horizontally. Because I was using a spray, I knew the circles wouldn’t come out “clean”. Once the paint was dry, I just figured that I was going to be able to use a stencil to outfit the edges with my white paint.

Because of all the crinkles on the glamper, this turned out to be an impossible plan. I ended up hand painting every single dot! Eek! Thankfully I got a little help (see photo below).

I did a touch up coat of white on the top of the glamper and a tiny gray stripe between the top and bottom. It was two days of torment well worth it!

Here’s a quick view of the other side of the glamper:

I’ve also been working hard on the exterior and finally finished painting the bathroom, touch-ups, most of the hardware is in, the fridge installed, tv hardware installed, the cushions all sewn, and most of the curtains finished. I’m still a bit out before I can show you all of it. In fact, I have a hankering to decorate it for Christmas so the first shots of the interior you might see all “Christmas-ed up.”

If you haven’t seen the previous posts on the Glamper, here are some quick links for you:

Glamper Renovation Part 3
Glamper Renovation Part 2
Glamper Renovation Part 1

Carina

Evening Blooms Quilt Tutorial with Andy Knowlton

November 18, 2013 by carina 3 Comments

Today I have a special treat for you! Andy Knowlton of
A Bright Corner created this beautiful quilt using my Evening Blooms fabric collection. To top it off, she has agreed to give you all a tutorial on how she made it. There is even a pdf download at the end (scroll to the bottom to download).

So without further ado, here is Andy:

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I love the timeless look of classic black and white and these fabrics don’t disappoint! This quilt is made entirely from half square triangles (HSTs) but don’t let that deter you! I have a fast and easy way to make a ton of HSTs in no time at all.
First I’ll show you how to make your HSTs then I’ll show you how to assemble one block. I’ll add a quilt layout diagram at the end and you’ll be on your way to finishing your own Evening Blooms quilt!
First of all, here’s what you’ll need:

1/4 yard of 7 various dark prints
1/4 yard of 5 various light prints
2 yards of white/background fabric
1/2 yard binding
3-1/2 yards backing fabric

From each of the prints (7 dark and 5 light) cut 3 squares that measure 8″. You’ll need 36 total.
From the white/background fabric cut 8 strips that are 8″ x width of fabric.
Subcut those strips into 36 @ 8″ squares

To create your half square triangles, pair up each print square with one white square. Match edges, keeping right sides together.

Sew around all four outer edges using a consistent 1/4″ seam.

Using your rotary cutter, cut diagonally through each block twice as shown in the photo.

Being careful not to stretch it, press each HST. I prefer to press the seam allowance toward the print. Trim the little tails off of each HST.
If you are consistent with your seam allowances and careful to not stretch the HSTs you should not need to square them up. If you find your HSTs to be varying in size, then square them each up to the same size (either 5.25″ or 5″ each).
Create all of your HSTs and then move on to the block layout.

Layout all of the HSTs you need for one block. Notice in the quilt layout diagram that not all blocks are the same. The dark and light prints are alternated for the main part of each block and the corner HSTs are different depending on where in the quilt the block will be located.

Sew together into rows using a 1/4″ seam.
Sew rows together, matching seams.

Your block is done!
Now use the layout diagram to make the next 8 blocks.
In the layout diagram I used just two prints – one dark and one light so you can clearly see the placement of each HST.

You can find a printable version of this tutorial here Evening Blooms Quilt Tutorial

Carina Gardner Exclusively for Deseret Book!

November 15, 2013 by carina

I’m so excited to announce my Winter Collections for Deseret Book! Just in time for Christmas, DB has stocked a collection of inspirational bangles that I have designed! The sets come in Navy, Red, Black, and Gray. They each have a different engraved inspiration on the inside. You can find them online here:

Navy
Stand As a Witness
Believe
So Lucky to Have a Friend Like You
Cherish Life’s Little Moments

Black
Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful
Faith Makes Things Possible
Believe in Yourself
Live. Laugh.Love

Gray
Love Surrounds You
Enjoy the Ride
Reach for the Stars

Red
Be Wise, Be Kind, Be True
Choose Happiness
Live a Happy Life
Everything Happens for a Reason
And just in time for Christmas—New Christmas Dishware! I’m SO happy with how these turned out! Santa will certainly be getting his cookies on one of these beauties!

CG Dish Towels

CG Dessert Plates

CG Christmas Tray

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And last but not least, I have a new darling line of Canvas Art! Lots of good stuff going on here!

Family Rules

We All Have Our Best Guides

Our Family

There is Always Something to be Thankful For

All Things are Possible

Don’t Try Too Hard

(The ones without links I was unable to find on their site).

Hope you have a chance to walk into a store to see these! The packaging is hard to miss!:).

Carina

This and That

November 12, 2013 by carina

November is zipping by and I’m considering putting up my Christmas stuff this coming week. I know, I know. It’s a little early but I like to enjoy the season as long as I can! I’m also considering cutting out a bunch of these for all my nieces and nephews for Thanksgiving and letting Siri and Flissa pass them out.

If you have been watching my instagram feed then you know I have been working on my glamper all week. The polka dots were their own special kind of purgatory but the final result was worth it. I’ll take photos today and post the finished outside in the next couple of days. (Note I say finished outside...).

Today I am sewing curtains and cleaning windows on the glamper. That will have to count as my exercise (hee hee!) because I’m also trying to finish out my February collection for Carta Bella a little later today. Did I mention I finished my next fabric line this morning? It’s been a productive day.

While I am thinking of it, I wanted to make sure and give you a “things-you-should-check-out” list. It’s short and sweet:).

* The Rini Doll on the Pleasant Home—Jodi sewed up this darling doll and is giving away a pattern!

* Thankful Leaves Free Download—It’s a fun way to remember to be thankful! This year, I’m cutting out the leaves in advance and taking it to Thanksgiving dinner so we can fill it out as a family.

* Christmas Advent Calendar—This is one Christmas goody that I would recommend getting a head start on. Our Advent calendar comes out the same day as our Elf-on-the-Shelf does. This year I’m considering writing a note to each of my kids in some of the envelopes telling them some of my favorite things they did this year. Then we’ll staple them into their smash books. Journaling and advent calendar in one…done and done!

Off to sew some curtains!

Carina

New in the Silhouette Shop—Clothing diecuts for your 18″ Dolls and more!

November 5, 2013 by carina

I’m back from a lovely sisters trip in St Louis (see my instagram feed) and happy to be home. The last two months I have been on the road a lot, and I’m ready to start thinking about the holidays. I spent the day decluttering my house in anticipation of holiday decorations. I’m planning on getting out my Thankful Leaves (feel free to download it for free too!) and letting my family take advantage of November to remember why things are so good in our lives.

With the holidays in mind, I’ve been trying to create digital scrapbooking and diecutting projects that will help me celebrate creatively. If you have been checking out my new Silhouette shop you’ll see that I have introduced several fabric projects, Thanksgiving goodies, and new this week are my Essentials Album Collection!

Carina’s Essentials Album 4×6 Vertical Bracket
Carina’s Essentials Album 3X4 Horizontal Basic
Carina’s Essentials Album 3×4 Horizontal Scallop
Carina’s Essentials Album 4×6 Vertical Rounded
Carina’s Essentials Album 4×6 Vertical Scallop
Carina’s Essentials Album 3X4 Arrow

My lovely assistant Susan (queue the Wheel of Fortune music) created a fun Halloween album that spotlights her kids costumes using the Carina’s Essentials Album 4×6 Vertical Bracket. She placed a picture on the cover of her kids in their costumes. On individual pages she added a picture of each child with some journaling.

Susan also placed pictures from her Halloween dinner into the album. She added the menu and guest list on the cards then tucked them in the pocket.

I’m loving these new Essential Albums. Make sure you check out the video (Episode 9) on the CGTV channel so you can see how to put them together.

Here are some of the other products I came out with over the last couple of weeks:

For fabric

Pants for 18″ Doll
Shorts for 18″ Doll
Sleeveless Blouse for 18″ Doll
Everyday Pincushion

For Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Accordion Album
Thanksgiving Take Out Box
Turkey and Fall Leaves
Fall Accordion Album
Fall Scallop Bag

More on the My Life Collection

My Life Month Tags
My Life 4X6 Journaling Cards Birthday Boy
My Life 4X6 Journaling Cards Birthday Girl
My Life 4X6 Journaling Cards Snowflake
My Life 4X6 Journaling Wedding Cards
My Life 4X6 Journaling Winter Cards

Hoping to get to some great projects this season! I should be revealing new Deseret Book collections soon and have you checked out my new line for Carta Bella Homemade with Love? It’s perfect for the holidays.

Revving up for the holidays,

Carina

The BIG SALE is here!

November 1, 2013 by carina

This is my biggest sale of the year! Take advantage of it this weekend only! This sale includes EVERYTHING in the shop including classes, wallpaper, sewing patterns, containers & notions, diecuts, fabric, and kits. Did I mention that the sale is 90% to 30% off? Seriously, there are some amazing deals in the shop! Be sure and order before Sunday. We will be shipping everything out Monday morning!

And have you checked out our new FREE DOWNLOAD category? Not only is there an amazing freebie that goes along with the sale (you can find it here), but now it’s easier to find all my free downloads and tutorials. But grab it this weekend, because it goes to regular price after Sunday!

Have a happy weekend!

Carina

Kimono Skirt Cuteness

October 31, 2013 by carina

Happy Halloween! I have a bit of eye candy for you today! Andrea from Knitty Bitties put together my Kimono Skirt pattern in my Evening Blooms and Songbird fabrics.

How cute is her little niece modeling this skirt? Something about an itty bitty darling wearing those fun fabrics makes me smile. I can’t help it.

I love this pattern because it cuts like a quilt. Yes, that’s right. I’ve never done a pattern quite like this before but it is meant to be simple, sweet, and quick to sew up.

And have you seen how cute the double band of elastic is on the back of this skirt (see photos below). Probably my favorite part.

Go over and check out her post on it here.

As for me, you can check out my crafty doings for Halloween over at my instagram feed.

Today we are preparing the warehouse for tomorrow’s big sale. And I mean BIG! You won’t want to miss it! More info coming to you via social media tomorrow!

Trick or treat!

Carina

Introducing the Toodaloo Back Pack and Little Sweet Lola Outfit

October 27, 2013 by carina

At the moment, I am writing from the Denver Airport. I got on an early morning flight to come home from Quilt Market this morning (for a few pics of this, visit my instagram feed: carinagardner). I taught a schoolhouse, talked to distributors, and reconnected with others in the industry. It was the perfect in-and-out trip.

I also introduced two new sewing patterns that are now available in my shop and hopefully in a quilt shop near you with in the next couple of weeks!

First is my Toodaloo Back Pack. This is part of our Beginner Sewing Series and is sooo easy to put together! I specifically designed it so that there where no hard closures so that you can do this project with your tween or teenager. It’s also darling in boy fabric (see the back of the Toodaloo cover below).

I also came out with a new 18 inch doll pattern. I ADORE this pattern! It’s called the Little Sweet Lola Outfit and comes with a pattern for the blouse, ruffle shorts, drawstring pants, and ruffle pants.

Now that I’m headed home, Susan and I are working on getting together the schedule for the spring Glamper Tour. I also plan on painting the outside before the weather turns on me. Fingers crossed I can get it done!

As for today, I’m going home to snuggle my baby and girls. They had the croup last week and there were a few tears when I left on Thursday. Josh has been holding down the fort, which has been no easy job with all those sick kiddos.

Happy to be headed home,

Carina

More of My Life, Calendars, Journaling Cards in Diecut Land

October 23, 2013 by carina

I’ve been working hard to get out some new diecuts at the shop at Silhouette America! That is between binding quilts, checking fabric strike-offs, and working on the glamper.

As always my diecuts are .99 cents and you can save 25% on all of my Halloween shapes through October 31st!

Here’s what we came out with this last week:

4X6 Christmas Journaling Card Set
4X6 Halloween Journaling Card Set
4X6 Thanksgiving Journaling Card Set
Fabulous Frame Set 2
Happy Halloween Pillowbox
My Life Tabbed Calendar
My Life Bracketed Calendar
My Life Monthly Cut Outs
My Life Folder Inserts 4
My Life Folder Inserts 5

Yes, yes, I will post this week’s new items soon (if you want a sneaky peeky go here). If you sew and have a silhouette, I think you will be excited about what I have up!

Tomorrow I’m headed to Quilt Market, and I’ve been meaning to announce my new sewing patterns, but of course I haven’t gotten around to it. That and all the great stuff coming out from me at Deseret Book. Soon, very soon…

Be back in a jiff,

Carina

Episode 8: How to Use Sewable Interfacing with your Silhouette Machine

October 15, 2013 by carina 1 Comment

With all the new fabric files hitting my Silhouette Shop, I thought it would be helpful for you to see how I sew with the Sewable Interfacing. I show you a couple of my tricks for sewing with the stuff and how I set up my mat. Enjoy! -Carina

Easy Costumes on a Budget

October 10, 2013 by carina

I love costumes that are homemade and quick to put together. You may remember Siri’s favorite Octopus Costume that was made from socks and a t-shirt. For Halloween this year, my kids chose costumes with stuff we already had around the house and in the dress up clothing. Felicity will be a little Chinese girl, and Siri asked to be Medusa. Other than making a snake tiara for Siri, it’s going to be an easy year for costumes at our house!

Charlie is going to wear this little skeleton bones outfit that I made using my Silhouette machine. You can get my new Skeleton Bones diecut for this in the Silhoutte Shop for 99 cents! Not a bad price for a costume if I do say so myself.

I have tips for working with this diecut on my extremely-oh-so-very official silhouette page here: https://carinagardner.com/silhouette/. Susan and I are hoping to tape a video for that page sometime next week to teach you a few awesome things about your machine! Be on the lookout for that!

And if you are looking for more from me, this week we also released the following diecuts (for 99 cents as always!)

Halloween Skeleton Bones (above)
Cupcake Pencil Case
Monster Pencil Case
Halloween Bat Accordion Album
Sweet Life Accordion Album
Dahlia Fabric Flower
Monster Life Set 1
Monster Life Set 2
Monster Life Set 3
Fabulous Frame Set 1

Will show you a little more on the pencil cases soon! What are your kids going to be for Halloween?

Carina

Glamper/Camper Renovation Part 3

October 6, 2013 by carina 7 Comments

It’s been a busy couple of weeks with the glamper. Brandon has been working on it nonstop with his team over at Camper Reparadise. The list of things he has taken care of goes on and on. All the electrical was wired, new tanks, brake work, new wood installed with flooring, new water tank and pump, and outside replacement lights to name a few. It’s been amazing to see it come together on my trips to drop off flooring and fixtures.

Speaking of lights, lighting has been my nightmare conundrum. I spent several days looking at lights. I finally decided on one from Home Depot (without the long bottom piece) shown to the right (number 1). Turned out that the top part wouldn’t fit in some of the spaces. Then I bought the second light shown to the right (also from Home Depot) and although they fit, we realized that the trailer was set up for lights that each had an individual switch. I was totally heartbroken (because I was in love with the second lights by this point) and in trouble! I looked for a few days and finally settled on a light that I will have to repaint. A facing-down light, white, small, and with a switch is pretty well impossible to find. I couldn’t find a link for the one I found at Home Depot (despite all the online searches I ended up with one I found there!), but I’ll show you it in the final photos.

These lights are for the 120 volt power. I still had to buy lights for the 12 volt battery. Once again, not a chance you will find something cute out there. Thankfully, these lights are sort of hidden so I bought some run-of the-mill lights from the State Trailer Supply in SLC.

I also learned my lesson with flooring. I purchased regular laminate wood planks at first and then had to return them in favor of vinyl planks. Apparently, they are waterproof and necessary. I purchased mine from my local Lowes. I didn’t have time to special order (the flooring needed to go in before other parts of the trailer could be finished) and Home Depot didn’t have anything dark enough. Brandon suggested we put the flooring under all of the chairs and in the bathroom to keep everything waterproof. After seeing the water damage in the floor before, I was only to happy to have him put it in anywhere he could. He also put down a layer of concrete (I think?) in the bathroom to give it some extra durability.

Even though it is such a little thing, I have to share one of my favorite surprises with the camper renovation. See the photo below? That’s of my 12 Volt Battery and everything it is hooked up to. And yes!!!! Those are LABELS next to it. Brandon put labels here and on the entire water system. I was like, seriously? I love it when someone takes pride in their work and really goes the extra mile. It makes you feel like every little thing they are doing is top quality.

The list of stuff that still has to be done is getting shorter although there is still plenty to do (note photo below. Eeek!).

This week, I started getting my part of the glamper/camper renovation underway. I cleaned and primed all the drawers and picked up laminates for the cushions. Brandon still has the trailer so I’m trying to do anything I can while he is still working on it. Here’s my to do list for the coming week:

+ Sew all the cushions
+ Sew all the curtains
+ Finish painting all the drawers
+ Make pillows
+ Choose and order wallpaper
+ Put trim on the built in mirror
+Buy a showerhead

And once I get it, I have to do the following:

+ Some of the windows need to be replaced
+ Prime and paint the interior
+ Wallpaper
+ Prime and paint the exterior
+ Add laminates to the kitchen counter tops and table
+ Tile the shower

Of course, there are lots of other things I need to do, that can wait (like make fabulous quilts and other such niceties), but those will have to wait.

I also wanted to pass on the information for Chad and John who I purchased the trailer from. They have a facebook page that shows the trailers they currently have. I loved working with them, and you shouldn’t be afraid to send them a message if you are interested in a trailer or airstream. They will LOOK for one for you and are super reasonably priced. Plus, the most invaluable part (for me) is they are willing to point you in the direction of people they have used, where to buy parts, ect. Since I was coming into this cold, having these guys walk me through what I needed to do was amazing. John even went with me to the hardware store to buy the hitch to my vehicle. Ya, they are that nice.

Looking forward to the projects ahead!

Carina

PS: Here are the links to Glamper Part 1 and Glamper Part 2.