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Tips for Rockin' Illustrator—New Class Series

2 Comments / Classes, COURSES, DESIGN, Illustrator / carina

Today registration for my newest Illustrator class series opened up—Tips for Rockin' Illustrator! I'm so excited for this course format because it is more technique-base, and I get to share many of the best and most useful ways for using Illustrator. Most of the techniques shown are new to the Illustrator series (as in NOT shown in Illustrator 101(beginning), 102(drawing), or 201(patterns)).

The brilliance of this series is that even people who have never touched Illustrator before will be able to do the lessons BUT advanced users of the program will STILL find the techniques helpful (and hopefully help create a faster workflow!)

The subscription price for all 20 episodes is $50 and the individual episodes will be just $2.99! It's a steal-of-a-deal! And if you have any interest in Illustrator, you are going to want the entire series!

Check out the episode list:

1. Building dot and scallop brushes
2. Designing patterns using the Distort and Transform
3. Illustrating a bird silhouette using shapes
4. Designing a film strip photo frame
5. Using shapes and type to build a simple card
6. Creating a chore chart
7. Moving work between Illustrator and Photoshop
8. Manipulating type
9. Creating a calendar mask/template
10. Creating symbols
11. Using the scissors tool
12. Creating brushes from lines
13. Designing banner templates
14. Creating a perfectly spaced photo montage
15. Designing simple flowers from the pattern brush
16. Warping and twirling
17. Grouping vs. uniting objects
18. Illustrating a simple ladybug
19. Using clipping masks in Illustrator
20. Using the glyph tool

Each episode video is between 6 to 12 minutes long with detailed pdf notes. The hope is that you will be able to master the technique or project in less than an hour.

Also at JessicaSprague.com, my Designer's One-on-One Workshop began today. This is basically a a mentoring program to help those who are venturing into the digital, paper, fabric, and marketing world clean up their portfolio and get some insights into what an art director wants to see in their work. It's basically set up as two sessions—the first is a verbal critique and the second is a phone call.

I love personal interaction with my students and it's one of the things I miss from university life...seeing people's work and getting excited about all the bubbling creativity! It was nice to get a splash of that at Designer Workshop this year!

I hope you are having a fabulous Monday (despite it being Monday)!

XOXO-Carina

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Well Traveled Mini Travel Album

DIE CUT PROJECTS (SILHOUETTE & CRICUT), Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials / carina

More fun to inspire you today! Check out Creative Team member Laurel Flechtner's tutorial for creating a Mini Travel Album!

Enjoy! Carina

Mini Travel Album

NAME Laurel Flechtner

FROM Norfolk, Virginia, USA

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO MAKE THIS PROJECT OR WHO DID YOU MAKE IT FOR? We took a trip to NJ & NYC to see family and I always make mini-albums of each of our trips.

MATERIALS

Carina Gardner Well Traveled Paper Set 1

Carina Gardner Well Traveled Paper Set 2

Carina Gardner Well Traveled Paper Set 3

Carina Gardner Well Traveled Paper Set 4

7 Gypsies black binder ring

Cricut & Sure Cuts A Lot 2 for cutting album pages

Adobe Photoshop CS5

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut and adhere a front and back paper for each page of the album.

2. Select, print and adhere photos

3. Add embellishments and journaling

Well Traveled Mini Travel Album Read More »

Well Traveled Scrap-o-Dex

DIE CUT PROJECTS (SILHOUETTE & CRICUT), Digital Scrapbooking / carina

My amazing creative team has been working on hard on creating some lovely Hybrid Projects to inspire you using the Well-Traveled Line now at JessicaSprague.com. The line will continue to be released during the month of February, so keep your eyes open! In the meantime, check out this eye candy!

XOXO-Carina

Well Traveled Scrap-o-Dex

Name Joyce McCall

Hometown Oklahoma City

Inspiration for the project... I am inspired by inspiration! I like having altered art and dimensional memory keepers around me so I'll see them even when I'm not pulling out an album to look through.

Digital Supplies:

*Carina Gardner Well Traveled papers and elements

Other Supplies:

*Claudine Hellmuth sticky back canvas

*Matte presentation paper

*Adhesive and embellishments

*Tiny alphabet stickers (Making Memories)

*Tim Holtz ornate plate with brads

INSTRUCTIONS

1.Print desired patterned papers onto sticky-back canvas. Use software to size your pieces to 4X6

vertically/portrait orientation. You’ll need 4 total. Adhere to the base unit of the scrap-o-dex.

2. For the cover card print patterned paper at 4X6 horizontal/landscape orientation. Add stamped

title and attach ornate plate to frame it. I also added a travel path to the map with a marker, and I

added glossy accents over the compass on the patterned paper. Cover the back of the card also!

3. Select patterned papers for the chipboard cards. Embellish with digi elements before printing, or

with physical elements after printed, or do a little of both! 4X6 horizontally was the right size for

mine. On the tabbed cards, add a small strip of patterned paper to the tab before adhering the main

piece. Use a craft knife to trim out the bottom notch. Sand outer edges if you have paper that

overhangs. Use alphabet stickers to add titles to the tabbed cards. (tip:cover fronts, sand edges,

carve out notches, THEN work on the back sides.)

4. Assemble your finished chipboard cards back into the scrap-o-dex!

Well Traveled Scrap-o-Dex Read More »

Paper and Digital Designer Workshop Review February 2012

8 Comments / Digital Scrapbooking, Illustrator, Scrapbooking, Workshops / carina

This last weekend was the Paper and Digital Designer Workshop. I obviously wasn't thinking straight when I scheduled it the weekend after CHA. Despite the back-to-back scheduling, we had a fabulous time and it went off without a hitch.

Truthfully, it doesn't matter how many classes I have taught, I always get a little nervous about getting in front of a group. Thankfully, the group dealt with all the Illustrator techniques I, ahem, made them participate in relatively well!

I was so impressed with the doodling, papers, textures, techniques, and elements that these ladies came out with during this workshop. (I was equally amazed at the amount of food I managed to eat during the two days.) The group was a wide range from beginners to industry designers. You'll recognize some faces and names from this group (and might I suggest some up-and-coming designers?). Though I was the teacher, I learned so much from them as they shared their tips and tricks.

A huge thank you to Riley Blake who donated fabric to the swag bags. We had a number of Riley Blake designers in attendance, which made the event that much more fun! I also need to thank Susan Haglund for taking all of these pictures over the two days of the workshop.

Lots of thinking, thinking, thinking (picture below). Mostly of how we could all get Diet Coke IVs inserted. Since Roxanne came up with the idea, I'm expecting a patent from her soon. You've gotta love Samantha Walker's monster computer screen (she was banished to the back row)!

A few of the ladies posing in one of the Little America Hotel Rooms.

The picture above looks pretty serious. That's the only reason I included it.

I know that all these pictures give the illusion that we had our heads stuck in our computers the whole time. However, there was a lot of unruly behavior from the blonds at the back of the room (aka mischief-makers assistant Susan Haglund and Heidi Swapp). It seemed like every time I left the room to do a portfolio review with someone, those two had everyone in an uproar.

Other surprises? That Samantha Walker can tell a great embarrassing story on command.

We had lots of locals (Deena Rutter was in-and-out since her boys were battling it out for the hockey state championships.) as well participants from as far away as Canada (Thank you for the maple syrup, Melanie Ritchie!). Meg Stocks, a mentor at JS.com, came all the way from Atlanta (I do love my southern girls!).

I was also thankful that Pam Meeks and Rachel McPeek (do you like how their last names almost rhyme?) made it in right before the Colorado snowstorm hit. I was also grateful that it didn't make it's way up to Utah! Kathy Sierra-Fernandez came from Washington and became our resident Illustrator expert (we all learned a thing or two on how she magically builds patterns!). Roxanne Bergener of Close to My Heart cracked us up with her wit and dazzled us with her industry experience.

The picture above is of Audrey Hanks (traveled from Wendover) and Christine Chodil(traveled from Chicago). It was fun to chat with both since they came from your non-typical designer backgrounds (Christine's degree is in Musical Theater and Audrey has a MA in Mathematics).

Heidi Swapp gives her two cents on our typography exercise. We will certainly take her two cents along with any other change she has on her.

And who knows what I am explaining here? Obviously something to do with the itsy bitsy spider.

Don't let the cool appearance of this one fool you (Kasey, Casey, Kasie, Casee...who knows how to spell her name?). She'll slice you with her witty comments. And putting her next to Heidi wasn't our smartest move.

You gotta love the work of Lori Whitlock. I just felt lucky that she came!

For our final dinner, we let a few guys crash our girl party. I'm pretty sure that I'm saying something extremely important here (photo below). Thank goodness for that pretty damask pattern behind me.

First off, there was no possible way to shrink down the picture of this slice of cake (scroll down, it's hard to miss). Secondly, I thought it best for you to see the size of it in relation to Susan's head.

Yes, we ate like that for many meals the entire two days. And yes, I was sick afterwards.

Lori Whitlock's husband Doug, Eric Swapp of JessicaSprague.com, and Jody Hunt of Echo Park overseeing our picture-taking.

In review—we ate a lot, designed a bit, had a number of "aha" moments (even me!), and had a pretty fantastic time.

Cheers to girl-design-time,

Carina

Paper and Digital Designer Workshop Review February 2012 Read More »

CHA January 2012 Review

5 Comments / CRAFTS, Scrapbooking / carina

Get ready for an image-heavy post! Lots and lots of eye-candy! Here we go!

I really didn't even plan on going to CHA until the last minute with Designer Workshop being just around the bend. So I was in-and-out in a jiffy (I flew in Saturday morning and left Monday bright and early). However, I still managed to take a plethera a photos. This is easily the longest post I've ever done. I tried really hard to tell you whose booth I took the photo at so that you can go check out their new products. So much fabulous stuff at this show!

I know some of you are going to ask, so here it is...there are NO products from me at this show. That's right. But don't worry. I'll let you in on the fun in just a few short months.

I spent a good portion of the weekend hanging on with fellow Riley Blake designer Samantha Walker. Love Samantha and love her design work. She has stuff at Creative Imaginations and Spellbinders.

Here's me happily Hanging out at the Waverly booth of crocheted chairs. We managed to read AFTER I took the picture that you weren't suppose to sit the chairs. Oops. Sorry Waverly. The felt bear, monsters (photo below), and puppets (photo 2 below) are from the Kunin Group.

I failed to grab the name of the yarn company that had this adorable crocheted animal photo.

Once again, I dropped the ball on both of these. I usually take a photo of the company logo right after the image but I can't find any such photo for these two. The paper flowers are gorgeous and I love the white frames and layouts!

October Afternoon and some Prima.

This is Lori Whitlock, who designs for Echo Park and Riley Blake. It was a blast to finally meet her in person.

Here's Laurie's new line This and That. Totally adorable!

The cupcakes were from Echo Park and the photo of paper flowers from Making Memories.

Lots and lots of accordion flowers at this show.

Paper chains adorned Glitz Design's booth.

More from Glitz Design and then a fun photo of Heidi Swapp and me.

I can't rave enough about how awesome Heidi's products are. I love the embellishments especially the newspaper-y banner pieces. These folders and papers can be colored any color and they have the pattern color resistant. It makes for some amazing layouts.

Like this one (love!).

More of Heidi's products below and a gorgeous table set up by Pink Paislee.

This was the funniest thing I saw at the show. And of course I can't remember the name of the company. These are CHAIR SOCKS! Aren't they hysterical?

Sei had some awesome displays.

More Sei and crayons & glue from a cool company EcoGreen Crafts. I was really impressed with their kid-friendly products.

Adornit created this darling banner...

and accordion flowers.

I was loving this from Maya Road....wooden spools! I just bought a jar from an antiques shop but I need more for my tradeshow booth at Quilt Market. This may be a way to supplement!

I believe this is Tim Holtz.

More October Afternoon (paper and cute jars below).

Prima

I have so many pictures from this booth but have no idea what company it is. But examples were fabulous!

More accordion flowers. I thought this one was clever though with the use of several papers.

This was Tim Holtz but for a different brand.

DCWV had great paper trees.

This is from Paper Quilt Creations. I thought the concept was really cute.

A little Anna Griffin.

I loved this company—Little Pink Ladybug. They make bow templates that were seriously so impressive! other than being an ultra nice company, I thought the product was pretty amazing. Check them out if you get a chance!

The bird paper is from October Afternoon (love!) and the layout came from somewhere near that booth:).

And that's all I've got! Putting together the blogpost felt longer than the actual time I spent in California. Hope you enjoyed and sorry if you fell in love with a product that I managed to forget who made. A girl can only do so much when surrounded by such awesomeness.

Hope you have a crafty day! Carina

CHA January 2012 Review Read More »

Dainty Blossoms Is Here!

Dainty Blossoms Fabric Line, Fabric / carina

Yesterday I went to Christensen Wholesale's new beautiful warehouse. First, it's closer to me (which is always a plus), but the space is so lovely that I would have loved to wander among the racks for hours. I picked up all my cottons a few flannels and laminates for Dainty Blossoms™ to boot. My kids are hoping for pajamas. I think they are going to get their wish. Now to carve out time to sew.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Carina

Dainty Blossoms Is Here! Read More »

Paris and Company Fabric Line

Fabric, Paris and Company Fabric Line / carina

Here it is! A sneak peek at my newest line Paris and Company for Riley Blake! This line has a certain home decor feeling that I love. The colors are soft and oh so fabulous!

This line is currently on presale to quilt shops and will be available to everybody in April 2012. I'm pretty excited about this line since it is so different than any other fabric line I've designed so far.

Click on the image to see all three colorways of this line! It comes in 100% cottons and laminates. Yummy!

Hope you enjoy and I'm hoping to be back soon with some amazing projects by my creative team and a whole lot of photos from CHA. I'm flying in on Saturday and just staying the weekend. I'm sure I'll have plenty to share.

Cheers! Carina

Paris and Company Fabric Line Read More »

Quilted Pillows Using Dainty Blossoms

CRAFTS, Dainty Blossoms Fabric Line, Fabric, Family / carina

If you haven't had a chance to check out the Cutting Corner, you are really missing out. It's a blog sponsored by Riley Blake Designs with all sorts of free tutorials and patterns. I just found this darling pillow tutorial using my Dainty Blossoms™ fabric line and had to share.

I myself have yet to make it down to the warehouse to pick up my bolts of this new line. I know that it is currently being shipped to stores. Have you seen it yet?

I know I've been a bit MIA this January, but 'tis the season for sickness. My family can't seem to get healthy. So much has gone to the wayside as Flissa has been fighting a week-long fever that also involves strep. We've never seen anything this bad and ended up in the ER one night with her. Turns out she is just a kid that can run high fevers (107 degrees!—ya, we were freaked out.). Hoping that everyone starts feeling better before I head out to CHA this weekend...and here's to hoping I don't catch anything either!

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First of the Year

4 Comments / FABRIC & QUILTING, Family, Sewing Patterns / carina

It's a couple of weeks into the New Year and it feels as if the busy from Christmas never really ended. I'm hankering to slow down, and with my little sis in town and my own health a little down, I'm planning to get a little more rest over the weekend.

I'm sure you've noticed that we had a much needed makeover here at the .com. I'm sighing with relief that it is mostly finished although there are still a couple of formatting things that are bugging me. But for the most part, the site is making me happy, it's easier than ever to find stuff, and it absolutely feels like a fresh new year!

So here's what we've been up to:

- Siri turned 8 (Just writing the number made me feel my age!). The pic to the left is her with all her wild-woman hair. That little face makes my heart smile! I haven't even pulled all the pics off my camera to show you the party we threw. Soon...

- I've been preparing for Designer Workshop like mad! I've been happy that we have an even portion of seasoned designers with new designers. It's going to be awesome!

- We have been shipping the new sewing patterns for a week now. If I thought that we had a lot of patterns before, well, I've probably reached my sewing pattern limit at the moment as my basement is currently overflowing. My very good husband got all of those patterns in and organized—no small task.

- I've had comments on whether I'll be spilling the beans of my secret paper project at CHA. The sad answer is no. I will be attending CHA though for a couple of short days. And really, there are only a few months left before I will be opening up about my goings ons. I think you will enjoy! It's taken me a long time to figure out my path in paper, and I'm excited to be able to open up in a few short months about what I will be doing.

- I have a new mentoring program available at JessicaSprague.com. It's call Designer's One-on-One Workshop. I thought it would be the next best step for those who are seeking to work more on their fabric, paper, marketing, and digital scrapbooking designs. It's also a great intermediary step between Art of Digital Design 2 and whatever else I may decide to teach.

Hope your New Year was full of fun new resolutions and plenty of happiness!

Carina

First of the Year Read More »

Excuse the Mess

1 Comment / UPDATES FROM CARINA / carina

I'm in the midst of making over this website and we should be finished with the renovations over the next couple of days. I promise, it will all work very soon!

Thanks for your patience! Carina

Excuse the Mess Read More »

Happy Holidays

2 Comments / Family, Holiday Projects / carina

Wishing you the most wonderful holiday season and with hopes and wishes for a beautiful 2012! Thank you for being a part of our lives!

XOXO—Carina, Josh, Siri, and Felicity

Happy Holidays Read More »

Dainty Blossoms Sling Sewing Pattern

Dainty Blossoms Fabric Line, Sewing Patterns / carina

Here it is! Introducing our final pattern the Dainty Blossoms™ Sling! This is a multipurpose, easy-going bag!

It’s a bag that makes toting all your necessaries easy for the mom-on-the-go or the carry-it-all professional. Have fun mixing and matching fabrics for the flower accessory.

The Dainty Blossoms™ Sling is fully-lined for a professional finish.

Wheww! And that concludes the introduction of our next four sewing patterns! Want to see them all again? Here's our sewing pattern page: https://carinagardner.com/sewing-patterns/.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! You'll see these patterns in quilt shops soon! I expect to see the shipment any day now. (Yippeee!)

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Winner of Sweetwater Frame and Pinfeathers Fabric

Giveaways / carina

Thank you all for your comments on the kitchen countertops. It's definitely made me rethink my color choice. I'll let you know what I decide...

Okay! To the giveaway! Thank you everyone for your comments. The winner of the pinfeathers fat quarter bundle and sweetwater frame is comment #21:

Ava-J says:

Absolutely yummy fabrics, thanks for the chance! Love your Christmas family photo too.

Congrats Ava! But because I'm in charge here, it's almost Christmas, and because I have a couple more fat quarter sets laying around I'm also sending a blue Pinfeathers set to:

Heather says:

Oooohhh….lets hope I win, because I just learned how to use my sewing machine!!!

and a pink Pinfeathers set to:

erica K says:

That’s a beautiful family portrait. And the stockings on the piano, it’s all so lovely. Wish me luck!

Hope you all get a chance to sew in this busy, busy season! Please email me your address at carina@carinagardner.com.

I posted photos of my Christmas tree here because 1. I couldn't think of anything else to post, 2. I just took pics of my tree yesterday, and 3. It seemed festive.

Every few years I pull out these frames and fill it with photos from the year...sort of as a way to remember the past year. And I always place my tree in a huge pot. It's filled with bricks to hold the tree up. I love how easy it is to place presents under (and how it makes it easy to sweep the needles out from under it).

Hope you are having a wonderful final week before the big day!

The countdown begins...

Winner of Sweetwater Frame and Pinfeathers Fabric Read More »

Kitchen Before and Afters

8 Comments / Stuff I Love / carina

I'm always amazed at the changes brought on by a coat of paint. You can check out the before post here.

Talk about a huge change, right? I've been basking in the airiness of my little kitchen. The cabinets were done in a white lacquer (which meant a lot of spraying as well as all being fully cut off from the kitchen). It took about 2 days for a handy crew to come in and do it.

The last cosmetic change is to have the counter tops removed and changed out. I'm thinking of having them done in a slab of absolute black granite. Right now this surface is red-dyed concrete...and no matter how faddish it is, it does not keep up well. Acid from lemons and limes soak into it and the seams create cracks that water can drip through.

Ya. It has to go.

It will take me a couple of months, but I plan to getting around to this sooner (rather than later:).

And then there's the issue of a curtain. I believe some fun fabric is in order. Pictures to come!

Cheers—Carina

Kitchen Before and Afters Read More »

Dainty Blossoms Fabric at Riley Blake Studios

1 Comment / Dainty Blossoms Fabric Line, Fabric, Sewing, Sewing Patterns / carina

I spent a little time in Alpine last week with my art directors working on some new concepts for fabric lines. I walked into the office and saw this GORGEOUS quilt Jina Barney had made with the Dainty Blossoms™ line. It totally took me by surprise! And even though I knew the fabric was going to beautiful in a quilt, actually SEEING it in a quilt made me want to make one ASAP.

Seriously, this photo doesn't do this quilt justice. At. All.

And if you are quilter, you KNOW how difficult it is to photograph a quilt decently (Definitely, not on my list of things that are easy to take pictures of).

I made sure to grab some scraps so that I could put one together over Christmas break with the kids.

I also found out that two more of my lines are on presale so I will be introducing them to you pretty soon here.

Oh ya, and I promise to introduce the final sewing pattern this week (But while you wait you can check out how darling the mermaid doll pattern is with the Dainty Blossoms™ fabric for the tail...Yipp-eek!).

Happy sewing!

Carina

Dainty Blossoms Fabric at Riley Blake Studios Read More »

Chic Mademoiselle Outfit Sewing Pattern

Dainty Blossoms Fabric Line, Sewing, Sewing Patterns / carina

Sorry I've been away so long. Last week got away from me and I had so much to post (and will now have to play catch up all week). Among other things, our little family came down with some nasty viruses, which put me in bed all day Saturday and put Josh on sick-kiddie-duty all weekend. But we are mostly recovered now, and I'm back to the computer again.

Among the many things I've been needing to do is continue to announce our new sewing patterns. Up on the list is the Chic Mademoiselle Outfit.

This an outfit that I plan on making alot of. Siri and Flissa loved wearing the samples, and you can bet that the Dainty Blossoms™ fabric will be used for this springtime outfit. The outfit shows yardage for no ruffles, a single neckline ruffle (shown), or three ruffles (across the front of the blouse). The ruffle pants and ruffle barrette are pretty fun as well.

The blouse has an invisible zipper down one of the sides and is fully-lined for a professional finish. I think it is one my easiest patterns to make (even if I do say so myself) and if you don't like making ruffles, it's just as cute without a ruffle on the neckline.

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And because I have decided to hijack my own post (don't mind if I do), here are a list of other things going on right about now:

+ The four new sewing patterns are due out the first week of January 2012 (okay, that wasn't much of a hijack since I dedicated this post to a sewing pattern).
+ Photos of my finished studio are coming soon...da da dah.
+ Our Dec-Jan newsletter is in the works
+ Two brand new fabric lines for Riley Blake Designs (out March and June of 2012)—announcements to come!
+ Lots and Lots of new digital lines (BTW, have you seen the awesome sale on THESE and THESE over at JessicaSprague.com?)
+ Lots of awesome new projects with Dainty Blossoms™ (due out in less than a month!)
+ Our family has a serious obsession with the Muppets right now.
+ Mah na Mah na
+ Siri played her harp in public for the first time (Silent Night at church...I count that :).
+ I've been very good about keeping my December clear and empy-ish of work-ish type things this December.
+ Which means I am thinking about starting a holiday puzzle on my coffee table for kicks.
+ Or doing some much needed sewing.
+ Either way, I'm pretty happy with the pace of things in the studio.
+ Just a reminder you have another week to enter the giveaway here.
+ As well as a reminder to have a happy holiday season!

Cheers, Carina

Chic Mademoiselle Outfit Sewing Pattern Read More »

Fauktail Party Recipes

2 Comments / Cooking, Holiday Projects, UPDATES FROM CARINA / carina

fauk tail /fok-teyl/ noun 1. a faux-mock-cocktail party;
2. a festive event where non-alcoholic beverages and appetizers are served to adult friends as they mix-&-mingle in their christmas best; 3. involves dressing up in your favorite faux-mock-cocktail clothing for general hob-nobbing and chit chat; 4. a cocktail that does not require taxi service at the end of the night.

And yes, I threw my made-up-name party this last weekend. Good friends, sugary drinks, and lots of food...it makes a girl happy! We tried to invite folks that we have been friends with in different walks of life—friends from Minnesota who had also relocated to Utah, roommates from our undergraduate days at BYU, and people we work with. It was a wonderful group and it made me pretty happy to see friends that I haven't seen for over 5 years!

It was a great way to kick off the holidays and I find myself wanting to throw another one!

If you want to throw a non-alcoholic but adult-like event, here are my biased rules for getting it done—1. Don't have your cabinets laquered a day before the party (your house will be very cold from airing it out); 2. Buy all your food and flowers from Costco (It's one trip and all the appetizers are easy to make); 3. Spend most of your time shopping for cute glasses (the part I enjoyed the most!); 4. Designate someone to take pictures (what you are seeing here is about all I got!); and 5. Once the first couple walks in, let it all go (as in I hadn't finished cleaning my daughters' bedroom and I knew people were going to walk through it. I got over it.).

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Want to throw your own fauktail party? Here are my recipes...but be warned, I made these up and the quantities are simply estimates of how I made them. They are all super (may I add dooper?) delicious. Feel free to add or subtract from these faux-mock-cocktails. Most make about ¾ths of a pitcher (about 4-6 glasses depending on the size of the glass).

TROPICAL FIZZ (inspired by Planter's Punch)

2 ½ cups orange juice

2 ½ cups sprite (or ginger ale)

1 ½ cups pineapple juice

2 cups of orange sherbet (you can also substitute pineapple sherbet)

½ cup of sweetened lime juice

garnish with 2-3 cubes of fresh pineapple on a skewer

Blend all the ingredients together and garnish with the pineapple skewer.

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TOMMY COLLINS SLUSHIE (inspired by Tom Collins)

1 package of slightly melted Edy's Lemonade Fruit Bars (Use all 6 Popsicles in the box)

4 cups of Minute Maid Lemonade

2 ½ cups of Ginger Ale

½ cup of Wildberry Martini Mixer

Raspberries (dropped at the bottom of the glass)

Blend all the ingredients together. Drop a few raspberries at the bottom of a glass. Pour in the blended drinks.

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3 cups of Martinelli

3 cups of Ginger Ale

¼ to ½ cup of Sweetened Lime Juice

Granny Apple wedge

Stir together the ingredients and garnish with a Granny Apple wedge on a martini glass.

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CARINA'S SHIRLY TEMPLE (obviously, my take on this recipe..because I didn't feel like mixing sprite and gingerale:)

4 to 5 cups of sprite

½ cup of Maraschino cherry syrup

2 Maraschino cherries on a pick or 1 Maraschino cherry with it's stem dropped in the bottom.

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My fifth drink was just a number of different bubblies from Costco and the supermarket that was garnished simply with a strawberry on the rim of a wine glass. That gave guests another option and freed me up to make more of the other drinks.

At the end of the day, "fancying up" a fauktail is all about the garnish or some salt/sugar to the rim of a party glass. Messing around with recipes just made it alot more fun for this hostess.

Hope you get to make a fauxtail for yourself soon!

Cheers! Carina

Fauktail Party Recipes Read More »

Pinfeathers Fabric and Sweetwater Frames Giveaway

44 Comments / Fabric, Family, Giveaways, Holiday Projects / carina

Monday morning after a long weekend of fun (tomorrow I'll post about it). But for now, I wanted to help you win some more fabric and a lovely frame from Sweet Water Frames.

On the giveaway table today is a full fat quarter set of Pinfeathers Peacock Blue fabrics (9 fabrics in all) and Sweet Water Frame's 3x3 Rasley Ornament in Green apple (shown below). All you have to do is leave a comment on this thread to be entered to win BOTH of these.

I believe I have talked about Sweetwater Frames here before. Last week I finally ordered our family pictures for the custom 24" x 36" frame I purchased from them. It looks amazing over my antique piano (See my frame below). I purchased the Powell in antique white, but I'm so in love with the black frames, I can see myself coming back for more!

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That green apple is ADORABLE isn't it? And my frame isn't bad either:). Btw, because I know you are going to ask, the family portrait was taken by my lovely assistant Susan.

So leave a comment to get the green frame and some Pinfeathers!

XOXO-Carina

PS. This giveaway ends on Sunday, December 18th!

Pinfeathers Fabric and Sweetwater Frames Giveaway Read More »

Renovations

1 Comment / UPDATES FROM CARINA / carina

My house has been under going some happy (but chaotic) changes. I got the wallpaper for my studio in the mail yesterday and put it up today (custom made by Great Wall Custom Coverings). All I could say was, "wow!" when I unrolled it. The print is from my fabulous Songbird line (coming out in June for Riley Blake).

Not only is my studio getting a makeover, but it was (finally) time to get my kitchen painted. I've been meaning to get the cabinets done for, gulp, 2 years now.

The cabinets are getting lacquered a cool white.

I'm doing the happy dance!

And I'll be sure to show you the makeover and new curtains when they are done.

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For now you are stuck with the before photos.

Oh ya, and there is no way that cement counter top is hanging around, but I'm going to make myself wait a couple of months to put new countertops in.

Back to work...more photos later!

Hugs-Carina

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Me and Bertoia

2 Comments / UPDATES FROM CARINA / carina

Despite all the holiday madness, I am giving myself some time to do a few things I want to do (emphisas on "I"). One of those things is renovating my studio (It's almost there!) and buying myself something I've been drooling over eying for about 10 years now.

And that would be a Bertoia chair. I'm a bit intrigued with Mr. Bertoia himself and his affiliations with those Eames folks and any other number of other mid-century modern designers. Almost makes me want to take a semester at Cranbrook (I said almost!). What an era!

So I purchased said vintage Bertoia chair as an early birthday present to myself at a dealer called the Green Ant (cue Siri—"If it's call the Green Ant, why aren't the letters green?").

It's the perfect addition to the studio since it visually doesn't take up much space, but is still comfy in front of the sewing machine tables.

It was the perfect gift to celebrate my day of birth and I now see the beauty of giving yourself a gift for your birthday. I might have to make it a yearly thing...

Better photos to come! We are working on getting up some fab wallpaper from my Songbird fabric line (not due out until June 2012). The wallpaper was printed by Great Wall Custom Coverings and I'm on pins and needles to see it!

By the way, the picture up above is simply because i heart pink Christmas trees, and I had to show off one of the many fabulous photos from our Christmas card photoshoot (photo taken by Susan Haglund).

Pushing ahead to December...

XOXO-Carina

Me and Bertoia Read More »

Rini Doll and Mermaid Sewing Pattern

9 Comments / Fabric, Sewing, Sewing Patterns / carina

Introducing our second new pattern due out this January—The Rini Doll and Mermaid. Yep, that's right. At the request my own little mermaid-fanatics, I incorporated a mermaid tail option into this pattern.

And I don't think you'll be disappointed with all the other options: 4 different hair styles, 4 different bang styles, an optional mermaid tail, a ruffle dress, skirt, and plenty of accessories!

The face is an easy embroidery project (as is the tail). The dress and skirt are fun accessories that your little sewer could make too. Make multiple clothing items for this little lovey up! Or simply sew a fun fabric into the body as the outfit.

The finished doll is about 22 inches long and the finished mermaid is about 15 inches long.

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I can see myself making a lot more of these in the coming month. I love using scraps of fabric, felt, and fleece for this doll (measurements come in yardage AND scrap fabric sizes).

I'll be introducing the third sewing pattern in a couple of days...

Rini Doll and Mermaid Sewing Pattern Read More »

Winners for Dress Up

1 Comment / UPDATES FROM CARINA / carina

I'm a little behind from this sleepy, turkey-feasting holiday, but here are the winners for the two Dress Up Fat Quarter Stacks by Random.org: #3 & #5

Gwen Windham says:

My favorite Thanksgiving food is my Mom’s dressing! I love it SO much and have tried to replicate it, but can’t ever get it “just right”… I think it’s because nothing compares to food that is lovingly made for you by your Mom… Thank you for this wonderful giveaway– LOVE it!!! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!!

Kimberlee says:

Roasted sweet potatoes with cinnamon pecan crunch, a recipe by Mccormick is a holiday staple in our family. The orange & cranberry touches make the house smell heavenly!

Simply email me at carina@carinagardner.com with your address and off I will send them!

Winners for Dress Up Read More »

Winners of Baby Safari and Giveaway for Dress Up Fabric

17 Comments / Fabric, Family, Free Digital Downloads-Freebies-Free Digital Printables, Giveaways, Sewing, Stuff I Love / carina

Thank you to everyone who entered the Baby Safari Giveaway! Reading what everyone was doing this holiday season was so inspiring and touched my heart! I had a horrible time deciding, and I implore you to continue to enter the giveaways during this month since I wanted so badly to give every one of you a fat quarter set!

Here are the winners from the blog:

Rosemary says:

This is THE BEST pumpkin pie I’ve ever tasted. It’s the one my family requests to have for Thanksgiving from now on. Happy Baking {Pumpkin Praline Pie Recipe in the comments! I might have to give this one a try! Thanks for sharing Rosemary!}

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April says:

This holiday we are trying to have a homemade Christmas. One of my daughters is helping me make quilts for almost everyone . . . a big project. It is hard to find things to make for men so we are really thinking hard on that one. We have a new baby in the family so I thought your fabrics would be fun to do something with. Have a great holiday and thank you for sharing your creativity with us and all your fun ideas and art work.

That's a big project April! Men's fabrics are so DIFFICULT (Believe me as I have been trying to work on a fabric line for "big boys.") Hopefully, these fabrics help a bit with the "little boys" in your life!

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Vanessa B says:

A few years ago we started a new family tradition in the spirit of giving and the holidays that each one of us would do at least 1 good deed and then speak about it during Christmas Dinner…so Im looking forward to the holiday meal and hearing what each has done out of the kindness of their hearts for someone they know or a complete stranger. Turns out my family is very kind, even to strangers :-) I would luv to win these fabrics, Thanks for the chance!

Vanessa, your family tradition melts my heart! Oh, if we all could just be a little kinder during the hoildays (and throughout the year!). What a sweet tradition!

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Martine says:

Hopefully ithis year it will be a fertile Christmas…Just before Christmas our IVF program will end, maybe next year there will be a small family under the tree!

Martine, I'm wishing you the best of luck in this!!!

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Here are the winners from the Facebook Page:

Jasa Clos says:

We will just be enjoying having Jake home this year, he was in Iraq for Christmas last year and opened gifts over skype. I have a new little neighbor that sure would enjoy a new quilt and the fabrics are just great.

Bless your heart! So happy for you will have Jake back and I hope you enjoy the fabrics!

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Gemma Robillard says

Beautiful - what a nice giveaway!! I would love to give these to my mom since she's a new quilter and making gorgeous quilts. Hey, that's a nice Christmas gift! ;).

How sweet are you? I hope you both get to enjoy them!

Winners: Please email me at carina@carinagardner.com with your address and we will have these sent out ASAP!

Thank you again for all of your comments—for sharing how you plan to slow down, your recipes (Meg, I WILL be trying to make that apple crisp!), how you are going to cuddle with the ones you love, travel, and play in the snow! (We are also enjoying the recent downfall here in SLC.)

It was so hard to decide on who to choose for this last giveaway, that the rest of the upcoming freebies will be chosen by the random number generator:). lol. Less pressure on me! Just keep those wonderful, inspiring comments rolling!

This week I'm giving away two FULL sets of Dress Up—yep, that is 11 juicy fat quarter fabrics in each set! This giveaway will end on Friday. (That would be Nov. 25, Black Friday, Sale Day, National Standing-in-Line Day, Left-Over Turkey Day, and any other name you can give it..)

Tell me your favorite Thanksgiving Food in the comments below to be entered!

Winners of Baby Safari and Giveaway for Dress Up Fabric Read More »

Introduction to the New Sewing Pattern—Garden Party Outfit

1 Comment / Fabric, Sewing, Sewing Patterns / carina

I've been keeping secrets for months and now it's time to spill the beans! Here's the first of my next four sewing patterns! Get ready to check these out at your local quilt shop January 2012.

Ready to pull out your sewing machines? Because you will want to when you see all the pretties I'll be showing you the next few weeks!

What's new in these patterns? The best new feature is that the patterns now span 2T to 10. They also feature the European sizing equivalent. As always they have a metric conversion chart and glossary of terms.

Susan's daughter Paige and my daughter Siri got dolled up to help me photograph My Garden Party Outfit! The front cover is one of my personal favorites since I have a soft spot for these two girls.

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All my new patterns feature my new line for Riley Blake Dainty Blossoms™ (also due out this January!).

The Garden Party Outfit sewing pattern features 2 dresses, a blouse, and skirt. The V-shaped neckline makes this outfit delicate and unique all at once.

Paige is rocking the blouse and skirt while Siri is wearing Dress B—a simple V-necked dress with a sewn-in sash. The third outfit is a V-necked straight dress with a seperate sash you tie on (Dress A).

You can check out the back of this sewing pattern here.

If you are a retailer, you can check out our list of distributors here. This list may be changing in the near future so check back often.

Want the fabric or sewing patterns at your local retailer? Make sure you call them and ask for the lines!

Last thing—make sure you have entered for the fabric giveaway below and watch for the next one!

Happy sewing! Carina

Introduction to the New Sewing Pattern—Garden Party Outfit Read More »

Giving Thanks-Free Thankful Banner Download

73 Comments / DIE CUT PROJECTS (SILHOUETTE & CRICUT), Free Digital Downloads-Freebies-Free Digital Printables, Holiday Projects, Scrapbooking / carina

Last year, we did a thankful tree on Thanksgiving day. This year, the girls have a jar of leaves that they can write or draw on whenever they want to add to this banner in our kitchen.

I'm hoping it's a great way for them to see what their parents are grateful for and encourages them to remember to be thankful too.

This is the simplest banner to make, and it changes as you add more leaves or birds! I hope ours is squished to the brim when the month is over.

I threw on a little glitter mist because it was lying around (so it's completely optional). I liked the Forever Red Perfect Pearls Mist for the brown and orange leaves and the Tattered Angels Glitter Mist in Sweet Clover for the olive green leaves.

If you aren't into the Glitter Mist, just let your little ones scribble away to add their "thanks." Get bigger kids to help you cut out the leaves (or sit in front of your favorite show as you cut them out).

Hang the banner in a place that you'll see often (ours is in the doorway between our living room and kitchen) so that you'll see it often and remember to add to it.

I'm hoping ours is an opportunity to really remember what this month is about (rather than a jump start on Christmas). If it's successful, we may just change up the colors for Christmasand use it place holder for "good deeds done" during December to encourage friendship and giving.

Here's the full tutorial plus pattern for you to download! Hope you have fun and are able to give thanks at the same time!

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Giving

70 Comments / Free Digital Downloads-Freebies-Free Digital Printables, Giveaways, Holiday Projects, Sewing, Sewing Patterns / carina

It's November, and I've told myself that this year the holidays are going to be a little different. Instead of the rush, rush, rush, I'm hoping to really live in the present this holiday season and remember to be grateful for what I have. I've cleared out my schedule of any "hard" deadlines and while I certainly will be working, I hope to work at a more relaxed pace.

So maybe it's a change in attitude about the holidays?

Either way, I have been thinking alot about being grateful and generously giving. And as always, my thoughts have turned to this blog and how I can share with you—make your life a little more pleasant or a little more beautiful.

...and that's when I decided that I wanted to spend the next couple of months sharing with you more craft ideas and more "stuff" on this blog.

So there you have it—it's officially the season of "giving" here on my blog. And to kick it off, I have 6 fat quarter packs of Baby Safari that I am giving away! Four packs (there are 6 fabrics in a pack) will be given away to comments on this blog post and two packs will be given away on the Facebook thread that links this post. Tell me what you are doing this holiday season. Maybe it's a tradition or something new. Maybe it's a scrumptious holiday recipe or the time you plan on cuddling with grandbabies. Whatever it is, share it! Winners will be announced on Sunday evening on both the blog and facebook page.

More fat quarter packs to come, announcements of new sewing patterns, more holiday craft tutorials, and lots of eye candy!

Hoping you also find a lot of joy this holiday season! -Carina

Giving Read More »

Delicious Fabric

2 Comments / Fabric, Sewing, Stuff I Love / carina

I'm a sucker for fabric all lined up, ironed, and folded pretty (who isn't?). So I took this picture of some freshly cut fabric my lovely new intern cut up for me to send to my mother. My mom, who is an amazing seamstress and quilter, is (thankfully) testing my next quilt design for our January newsletter. Doesn't it look pretty all ready to be sent off and happily quilted? Lucky fabric.

And now I'm going to drop a hint. Next week begins a really wonderful, really giving kind of thing on this blog. You are going to want to watch for that post...

Delicious Fabric Read More »

Sweetwater Frames

3 Comments / Stuff I Love / carina

It's the time of year when I scramble to make sure our family Christmas card photo is taken. I've been organized on just about everything...but actually getting the photo. Susan (yes, Susan does our family photos:) and I had tentatively scheduled a fall photo, but I kept pushing it back since we were fighting some major deadlines in the studio.

Here's how excited I have been about our family photos this year. I already bought this AMAZING frame all the way back in September to hang over my ever-so-popular antique piano. I custom order my frame from Sweetwater Frames at Swiss Days in Midway, Utah for the sole purpose of trying to put a family photo in my living room.

The frame is hung...

with nothing in it.

Sigh.

We are now thinking about a snowy family photo. I just hope that Siri and Flissa agree.

The frames are really just as amazing in real life as they look in these photos. I bought a 24" x 36" antique white Powell frame. I promise to show you should we ever get around to that photography shoot!

Sweetwater Frames Read More »

Hybrid Project Submissions Now Open!

Digital Scrapbooking, Scrapbooking, UPDATES FROM CARINA / carina

We've had such a tremendous response to the hybrid section of the Quarterly Newsletter that I have decided to open it up to anyone who would like to submit projects they have done using my fabric, digital, or paper. This is very exciting for me since I love seeing everyone's creativity!

Our first deadline is for Issue No. 6 Dec 2011-Jan 2012, which we expect to release mid-January. Submission Forms are due by December 15, 2011. Please download the form and look over the project guidelines. You can also check out previous hybrid projects done by the Creative Team in Issue No. 5.

Deadlines for future issues will be published on the Newsletter Page (as well as the download forms).

We'd love to publish your fabulous fabric, paper, and digital work so submit!

Hugs! Carina

Hybrid Project Submissions Now Open! Read More »

Looky-Looky

1 Comment / Stuff I Love / carina

So of course I should be working, but amid my procrastinated wandering on the 'net, I ran into this

and this

and I seriously had to share.

Love. Sigh.

Looky-Looky Read More »

Red Blanky

2 Comments / Fabric, Family / carina

I've been working in an amazing mess, but finally the shelving is up so I am no longer walking on fabric. And yes, that sewing machine is sitting in it's new spot, but no, I cannot show you anything else because the mess around that one spot is in-cred-i-ble. Seriously.

Plus we're only in phase one of the studio makeover so everything else now gets to come down (one mess at a time!).

So the picture at the top of this post it really to highlight the project I have been working on. I have a new favorite website— Spoonflower. It's a site that lets you uploaded your own custom designs to be turned into fabric. It has saved my life since Siri wanted me to "recreate" her red blanky.

I've mentioned Siri's red blanky before here. Last year, red blanky was so ragged and beaten (partially because it was my red blanky first before it got passed on to Siri) that my mom cut it up and placed it into a quilt so Siri would still be able to snuggle it.

Apparently, good intentions have turned against me. Siri has been pretty weepy since we "preserved" red blanky.

She can't understand why I won't just have one of my manufacturers make me some new red blanky fabric, but as you can see, this is not the, um, prettiest fabric in the world. Okay, I'll say it—it's downright hideous. But I love it and she loves it, so forget pretty.

I scanned in the old fabric (now in quilt blocks) and reworked the pattern in Photoshop to make it repeat. I sent it off to Spoonflower and whola! New red blanky! The top photo is the new blanky and you can check it against the "before" photo there with Siri five years ago.

Not a bad match—even if I do say so myself.

Red Blanky Read More »

Studio Renovation Continued

6 Comments / UPDATES FROM CARINA / carina

The shelves are up, and I finally have my second Low-Boy Farmhouse Dresser. Josh had to drive to St. George to pick it up (a very nice guy, isn't he?). I still have a mile to go with support shelving and, well, the other 3 walls of the room.

So here's a question—I have an outlet behind one of the dressers and I use it as my main plug. Because of this, it pushes the entire dresser out an inch or so. I only have one other outle,t and I would prefer not to use it (because it means running a cord along ¾th of the room). Anybody know of a three-pronged plug that doesn't make a piece of furniture push out too much? Right now I'm using the Ikea plug set (that I bought so long ago that I'm not seeing it on the site).

Studio Renovation Continued Read More »

A New Flickr Group

Sewing, Sewing Patterns / carina

I'm finally getting around to some things that have been sitting on my backburner for some time now. One of those things is a new flickr group for all you fabric and sewing pattern fashionistas! Yes, yes, I know it's taken me a year to get around to creating such a group, but I'm doing it now, right? Better late than never?

The new flickr group is called Your Carina Gardner Fabric and Sewing Pattern Projects—as to imply, if you make something with my fabric or with one of my sewing patterns, I want to see it! Sure I get google alerts, and I can see that you are making things and just putting them on your blog. But it would be so nice if someone about to make the blouse from the Playdate Outfit could see how fabulous your blouse turned out! If you've made a darling blanket with my Baby Safari line, I'm going to want to see it!

So will you please, please do me a favor and shower me with all your fabulous sewing and put your photos in this new flickr gallery?

And if you are a scrapbooker, be sure and check out the layout flickr gallery (and add yours!). It's bejeweled with The Raven line just in time for Halloween!

Oh, and you can always go to the flickr galleries by checking out the links on the sidebar (ya, over there on the right...and yes, you will have to scroll down alot!)

A New Flickr Group Read More »

Design Workshop Workbook Mailed!

1 Comment / Design Lessons, Workshops / carina

I finally got everyone's packets mailed out for the Paper and Digital Designer Workshop. I've been promising myself that I was going to get these workbooks mailed out before the end of the month and I'm patting myself on the back because I did! Whoo Hoo!

I'm pretty excited about the stuff we are going to be working on and although the workshop isn't until February, I managed to give the everyone a good amount of work before they even show up! (That's the college professor in me.) Hope the participants all enjoy and have fun with it!

We still have a limited number of spots left open for this workshop, and you should check out the coupon from the most recent newsletter (page 4) if you are in Utah.

Tchau, Carina

Design Workshop Workbook Mailed! Read More »

Studio Update

4 Comments / UPDATES FROM CARINA / carina

I've been slowly adding things to my studio, moving things around, and generally dealing with the space. I contemplated moving Josh and me into the studio space and moving the studio into the master bedroom (Josh nixed this idea. I can't imagine why.). We've considered finishing the basement and making the family room my work space (I nixed this idea because I don't have great access to the kids and light).

So that has led me to try to think creatively about how I can get better use out of what I already have (and it saves me the trouble of having to call a electrician to move my red chandelier, which I can't live without). Which has led me to this. Messy. Studio. That I am currently sitting in the middle of. Writing this blog post.

Updates on the progress soon. Lucky for me, my bright turquoise desk makes the mess not feel so bad.

Studio Update Read More »

Issue No. 5 of the Newsletter—Spraguefest and Tutorials

3 Comments / Fabric, Free Digital Downloads-Freebies-Free Digital Printables, Jessica Sprague, Scrapbooking, Sewing Patterns, Stuff I Love, Tutorials / carina

Wheww! Here it is! Our fifth issue of the newsletter. This thing just gets bigger and bigger! This one is 39 pages long with a huge section on Spraguefest, an introduction to Susan, a quilt pattern, a coupon code for Designer Workshop, and tutorials galore!

Be sure and check out the calendar at the end...it's a sneak peek into the "big stuff" coming up the next few months here in the studio.

Here's you link to Newsletter Issue No. 5:

https://carinagardner.com/newsletter/carina-gardner-newsletter-issue-no-5/

Enjoy!

Carina

Issue No. 5 of the Newsletter—Spraguefest and Tutorials Read More »

More To Come...

2 Comments / Fabric, Jessica Sprague, Quilt Market, Quilts, Sewing Patterns / carina

It's been so busy since I got back from Vegas that I haven't posted anything (well, much of anything) about Spraguefest. In fact, there was so much to show and write about that we decided to just add it to our newsletter.

In fact, we've got a lot of great stuff coming out in this quarter's newsletter including an introduction to the fabulous Susan (many references, but never a formal introduction). How about a new quilt pattern? Simple and modern...you know me! Keep your eyes out for the 5th issue of our newsletter coming in a couple of days! Never seen our newsletter? You can check them out (and sign up for) them here.

So what's been keeping me so busy? I just finished Art of Digital Design 2, which was critique-heavy. Everyone did a great job and it is sad to see that class end:(. The other thing I have been working on has kept my sewing machine a-humin'. If you attend Quilt Market, keep an eye out for my goodies in the Riley Blake booth. So what is it you say (the suspense is killing me!)? Four brand-new patterns! They won't arrive until January, but I'll give you lots of sneak peeks and Riley Blake will be showing off these new patterns in Dainty Blossoms™ at Quilt Market in Houston.

Lots of good things coming...get ready!

Carina

More To Come... Read More »

Spraguefest

4 Comments / Jessica Sprague / carina

Still recovering...

More to come...

Spraguefest Read More »

Quilting, Er, Napping Cat

1 Comment / CRAFTS, Fabric, Quilts, Sewing / carina

Rosy and I agree about many things.

Sleeping is good. Eating is good. Snuggling is good. Back scratches are really, really good.

Where we disagree is our take on quilting (and oh! the contention!). Rosy believes half-finished blocks are perfect for napping on. I, personally, like to see the quilt get finished before it is napped on.

I guess we have to disagree about something.

Quilt sent to machine quilter...check.

House completely wrecked...check.

Half packed for Vegas...check.

Siri has new glasses right in time for picture day...check (will show off soon!)

Ready to fall into bed...check!

Quilting, Er, Napping Cat Read More »

Quick In and Out

3 Comments / CRAFTS, Fabric, Sewing, Sewing Patterns / carina

Stopping in rather quickly so you get my take on the display I had at Mormon Handicraft Quilting Shop on Saturday night.

-I literally ran around my house 20 minutes before grabbing everything in sight (including the wreath on the door) for the display.
- It took three trips from car to store to haul in all my stuff in.
-I realized I was missing the stand with all my clothing.
- I frantically called Josh
- Who saved the day.
- I was sweating.
- Not from forgetting the stand but because of all the trips from the car into the shop.
- I hope I didn't stink.
- But everyone was so polite that I doubt they would have told me if I did.
- I've never seen so many women in the shop at one time before (See photo below!).
- I had a blast chatting it up with everyone.
-Everyone was in love with the wreath and those darn easy-to-make flags (no there isn't a tutorial on it, but grab the pattern from the Love Nest™ Flag Quilt if you want!).

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-You are getting a sneak peak here of the doll pattern coming out in January (think mermaids!)
-No, they aren't coming out before then and
-Yes, the pattern includes removable clothing (should you make the doll rather than the mermaid version).
- I got more oohs and ahhs over the lamp than anything else (And it's just gathering and hot glue!)
-DeAnna (above left) has convinced me that a trunk show is in order (Maybe January?)
-Elise and Jessica (also above right) were awfully nice to let me take this picture of them.
- I'm not sure if I've ever shown my sketches of my designs before they hit fabric (See the paisley from Coquette™ below).
-So there it is:).

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- And last and very unrelated (but important for those of you who like free fabric), there is a giveaway of Pinfeathers fabric over at the Craft Girls Workshop Facebook page. All you have to do is add your comment to the post! Check it out here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crafty-Girls-Workshop/174744046778

Quick In and Out Read More »

Mormon Handicraft

1 Comment / CRAFTS, Fabric, Jessica Sprague, Sewing, Sewing Patterns / carina

The last couple of days I've been running around getting ready for Spraguefest and the launch of my new line of sewing patterns. My friends Susan and Ashley spent a couple of nights helping me package up these fat quarters and coupons for the Spraguefest grab bags. Stacks of eye candy!

Speaking of eye candy, I'm going to be hanging out tonight at the Fort Union Mormon Handicraft Quilt Shop for their semi-annual event with lots of samples from my sewing patterns and sneak peeks at my new ones! I'll be talking about fabric and generally hanging out! Come by if you are in the Salt Lake area from about 5:30pm to 8pm. Mormon Handicraft is located in the Deseret Book at 1110 FORT UNION BLVD, MIDVALE, UT 84047-1804. I'm told that it is a crazy event with lots of giveaways, sales, and general fun for the ladies.

Hope to see you!

XOXO-Carina

Mormon Handicraft Read More »