Feast Your Eyes on This! Photo Extravaganza at Park City

img_5262Josh and I spent the weekend in Park City. I was doing a site check of a property (The Canyons). Talk about a wonderful (and very full) weekend. We had dinner at Lookout Cabin on the mountain. The weather was delightful and the seven course dinner wasn’t bad either (they certainly take care of you!). The view was a feast in and of itself!

img_5242There is something really fun about sitting with 45 people that you have never met before for a dinner like this. We got to know about 10 of the people surrounding us pretty well after 4 hours. The ambience and the company made the pink sunset even more beautiful and the food that much tastier!

So what did we have? I have a photo of the menu  here…and some pictures of the the food. Beautiful, huh?

img_5249img_5264

My favorite was the Artichoke bisque with scallop. Another favorite was this fennel salad, tuna, and toasted crab.

img_5267 img_5247I also have to show of few more photos of the table setting and view. Very beautifully done!

img_5252

img_5250img_5270Are you drooling yet?

The next day we had a number of different activites (I had to tour the property while Josh studied for the Nevada Bar). That afternoon though, we attended the Wine Festival held right there in the Canyons. We were probably the only two people there who didn’t drink a bit of wine! The food was FABULOUS though! This cute little candy shop from town called SugarBuzz (located in the heart of Park City) gave out little vials of jelly bellys that you were suppose to eat at one time (and was suppose to taste like wine). It was yummy, although I would have no idea if it tasted like wine or not.

img_5284Also check out this amazing cheese tasting held by igourmet.com. They all tasted so unique! I was pretty impressed with their Oregon bleu cheese which was a little harder than a normal bleu. It also had a slightly different texture.

img_5305These yummy little sausage sandwichs were being made by Tillamook and had a thin slice of yellow squash on them. Clever, huh? And OH so yummy!

img_5314We got home to our kids completely exhausted (so much for a relaxing weekend away!) but very happy (happy to see our darlings and happy to have had a weekend to ourselves).

img_5294

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Feast Your Eyes on This! Photo Extravaganza at Park City Read More »

It’s Another Thursday…

I’ve been meaning to post this link for some time now, but have managed to forget with all the craziness (and loveliness) in my life! The winner of the PhotoCuts Giveaway on my blog posted some layouts using the Overlays on her blog called http://paperscissorsandglue.blogspot.com. You can check out she uses the overlays there:). The whole blog is very scrap-a-rific with tons of digital and paper layouts.

This will very likely be my last post of the week. I’m getting my 2peas submissions in today and getting ready for a lovely weekend in Park City with my husband. It’s been a long time since it was just the two of us and I’m pretty excited about the break. I know I’ll have tons of things to post next week. I have big announcement to make, pictures from the weekend, and an awesome post I’ve been working on that you won’t want to miss!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

It’s Another Thursday… Read More »

4th of July Photos

img_5101

img_51304th of July is one of my favorite holidays. In Minnesota, we always went to Bunker Beach during the day and landed in Stillwater for the spectacular firework show over the Croix River. Since we moved to Utah over a year ago, we are still trying to “find” our 4th of July tradition. This year, we went to Toole to be with my in laws for a BBQ. The kids had a blast and Uncle Nate did a fantastic job of lighting off the fireworks. They also liked the baby preying mantises we found on the porch.

Somehow, we managed to forget the “snakes” (Siri’s favorite kind of firework). To satisfy her need for these, we will be lighting them all this week in our driveway.

Photos | 1: Siri and the baby preying mantis, 2: My niece Lola, 3: My sister-in-law Liz and 6 week old baby 4: This kids playing with a lighted magic wand in the dark. The shutter speed was so slow I got this long string of light.

img_5182 img_5226

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

4th of July Photos Read More »

PhotoCuts Layouts—The Collection Team Does It Again!

photocutslayouts

My fabulous Collection Team has done it again! These layouts feature two of the newest PhotoCuts products that came out last week and this week. This popular collection has more kits coming out this month along with a few special items. For example, tomorrow starts the Christmas in July special at 2peas! You’ll find a couple of holiday paper packs from me.

carinagardner_2ps_sproutletsprevI’m also excited for you to check out my new kit Sproutlets (which now has a preview!) which will hit 2peas in a week. It’s jam packed with all kinds of goodies! The papers are darling and the elements are yummy! Katherine even already sent me this darling layout from the kit. I’m pretty excited to use this kit in my own scrapbooking!

katherine_growing-up-400x4001This easily could be the most “layout heavy” post I’ve ever had! I hope it inspires you in your own digital and paper scrapbooking!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

PhotoCuts Layouts—The Collection Team Does It Again! Read More »

The First Steps to Becoming a Designer

I get asked alot “how to become a designer.” There’s really no straight answer to a question like that. I think people are so interested because creativity is an essential part of all our lives. Trying to figure out ways to channel that creativy into a career seems possible by becoming a “designer.” With a little bit of luck and a WHOLE LOT OF WORK, becoming a “creative” is possible. When I say a whole lot of work, I really mean it. Learning the tools of the trade and bettering your eye for building beautiful work are only the first steps. Then comes execution, execution, and more execution. Sometimes I make, make, and make with nothing to show for it.

I received an email from someone asking how they could get started and I thought I would share my advice. I have repeated this advice many times to others who have asked (which is why I decided to share:). I taught graphic design for 5 years at the University of Minnesota and practiced as I taught. My insights might be tainted as a “trained” designer, but I find that raw talent is far and few between and most of us (myself included) needed training to do what I do now. So here’s my email:

Hi,
Thanks for your comment on my blog. The number one thing I can tell you to do is go take a class—get a little more school. It will help you learn the programs you need to get started. Learning Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign is not for the faint of heart, but completely worth it to become a competent (and fast) designer. Second, you need at least ONE (if not more) theory class. Something that will really help you to SEE like a graphic designer. Building your visual skills is SO important. Night classes can be taken at your community college or local university.  From there, you’ll sort of figure out what you are good at, how much more school you really need, and how best to approach a career change. It will not be easy, but if you love design, it will be fulfilling.

Good luck!
Carina

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

The First Steps to Becoming a Designer Read More »

Sproutlets

sproutletsMy Friday is feeling a lot like a Saturday:). Working on some designs today—specifically finishing a mega kit I’m working on called Sproutlets…It’s like 6 kits or more wrapped into one big kit! After I’m finsihed submitting this to 2peas today, I’ll be all set for a fun-filled, laid back 4th of July weekend! I have dinner with my bestfriend Jen tonight who is in town from San Fransico (always a treat!). Our favorite hang out is the Cheesecake Factory (the avacado rolls have some kind of addicting drug in them). Tomorrow, we’ll be heading to Toole for a BBQ with my in-laws. But most of the time, well, I’ll just be chilling with my little girls and having a slow weekend—just the way I like it! Hoep you have a Happy 4th of July! Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Sproutlets Read More »

Side Bar Upgrade

sidebarI finally got around to upgrading my sidebar. I’ve been meaning to add these easy links for a while now, but just managed to squeeze in making the icons and putting it all up this morning! I still have to make some adjustments to the posts themselves (so some things can be downloaded directly from this site), but for now I’m just happy to have this up! You can now click on these links: free downloads, (the ever-so-popular) favorite fridays, tutorials, and giveaways. Check it out on the right-hand side! Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Side Bar Upgrade Read More »

Golfing

img_5060I don’t golf. Not even a little bit. I stepped onto my first golf course (as the planner) a year ago, and ironically enough, have been planning golf tournaments ever since. I hardly ever post about my “day job” as an Event Director, but it would be hard not to mention it today because my camera is jammed pack of golf tournament photos and my head is still buzzing from the long day in the sun yesterday.

img_5074Since I don’t golf. Sarah (my co worker) and myself spent the day in our little golf cart driving around taking pictures of the foursomes. We had a good time (Sarah was a bit snap happy with the camera—I believe there was even a moment she was pretending to be the paparazzi) and even putted a couple of holes with some of the guys.

It really was a beautiful day. The wildlife was friendly. We even saw this deer walk across the course. Check out that view…

img_4977I’m also suffering from a sugar-hangover from yesterday. Sarah and I loaded up the cart before we left the clubhouse. Somehow, all those starbursts were gone by the end of the day. How did that happen?

Other tidbits I’m all about:

* At 2peas my new Photo Frame Clusters were released today.

*I’ve been working on a special design collection and will be able to let everyone in on it soon (secrets, secrets…)

* Check out the project girl, Jen Allyson’s blog today…there’s a free download! Always fabulous AND useful.

*Stop by 2peas next week as there will be a huge Christmas in July special going on there!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Golfing Read More »

Making it Funky

img_4793I got two gorgeous old frames at Emily Jane a week ago and decided they needed to be “funkied” up. So I painted them pink and love them! Siri drew me two sketches so I can display her artwork. The sketches are sweet and just right img_4806for these frames. Right now they are in the living room, but they could also move the girl’s room because of the color.

I was actually hoping to have time this week to dig into my own products and work on a digiscrap book…but, *sigh* I don’t think it will be happening this week. I’ve been working on a big project (I’m jumping up and down with anticipation of telling my little secret!) that I can’t reveal QUITE yet. Soon…so soon! How’s that for a clifthanger?

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Making it Funky Read More »

Winner of the Garden Vignettes Collection is…

randomDoing my early morning announcement of the winner via Random.org. And the winner is… COMMENT NUMBER 11.

Gennifer says:

Since I said Midnight Blooms on 2Peas, I’ll go with Cards here.

Seriously, though, love them all!

Congrats Gennifer! Just email me at carina@diginirvana.com and we will get you hooked up with those cards!

Thanks to everyone who played and be sure to check out the new collection at 2peas today!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Winner of the Garden Vignettes Collection is… Read More »

Layouts of the Garden Vignette Collection

jenny_feb-09-gardner-villageWell, it was a rainy weekend for us in Salt Lake. Once again, we had to postpone going camping, which really turned out to be okay as I had a big design submission to deal with, a work pool party, errands, errands, and more errands, and a Father’s Day dinner to boot (my in-laws included). So it was a full (but as always) a fabulous weekend (because it was a weekend:)).

So here it is Monday, and I’m dragging. I finished the design submission and will have it FedExed off by this afternoon. I’m always happy when the initial first designs are finished.

loriweb400_sweetbabygirlAnd, I probably wouldn’t have even blogged today, but I felt like it would have been an incredible injustice to my team to not post these FABULOUS layouts they made last week of the new Garden Vignettes collection. You’ll be able to buy it at 2peas tomorrow. There are 9 digi kits total with 5 element packs and 4 paper packs. All the papers are yummy and distressed as are the elements. IN FACT, the giveaway ends early tomorrow morning, so get your name in quick here.

Here’s who made these gorgeous layyam_sweetness400carinaouts. The first one is by Jenny, second, by Lori, third, by Yam, fourth, by Susan, and fifth by Katherine. These ladies really know how to make a layout! I am completely inspired by these and will probably be getting together my own mini album with the Garden Vignettes collection of my family’s last vaca or outing.

Hope you are having a more fast pace Monday than me and I’ll be sure and post tomorrows winner of the giveaway!

susan_mothersdaygv-copy

katherine_my-garden-carina

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Layouts of the Garden Vignette Collection Read More »

Garden Vignettes Collection Giveaway!

It’s here! Another collection and another giveaway! On Tuesday, the Garden Vingettes collection will premier at 2peas. There are 4 paper packs and 5 accessories. I wanted this to be a super-digi-scrap-friendly collection so you’ll find that I’ve made multiples of the accessories like the buttons (even in grayscale so you can recolor for other layouts), easy to use brushes (like the alpha, which makes life SO much easier! Plus there are .abr upload instructions!), and fun cards in both color and black and white. The papers are very distressed and absolutely delicious! There are 10 unique papers in each of the sets.

gardenvignettescollection9_1

So how do you enter the giveaway? Easy-peasy! Just comment on this thread the “item” that you want. Winner will be announced Tuesday morning as the products hit 2peas! You can also go and enter the 2peas digi blog giveaway for a second try at this giveaway!Go here to enter it:

2peas Digi Blog

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Garden Vignettes Collection Giveaway! Read More »

A Few Photos

img_47461I just thought I would post these photos of my daughters and one of our friends’ daughter’s. We took take out to their property and I snapped these photos of the girls. We also went to the Movies in the Park, but managed to get rained out from Mama Mia.

img_47481img_47502

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

A Few Photos Read More »

Introducing the New Collections Team!

I had an outpouring of applications for the Collections Team call I posted a couple of weeks ago. It was such a hard decision but I knew I could only take on 5 more people. I think you’ll agree that the talent here is outstanding! I was blown away by these ladies! To introduce them, they each submitted a cg layout  (if you want to know about the products they used here, ask in the comments below! These products can all be found in my digi scrap shop at 2peas.). And here they are:

Katherine

This layout has been removed for publication! You will just have to see it when it is publish:)

Lori

web400_weddingkiss_lori

Jenny

oct-08-5-months_jenny

Yam

the-family-men250_yam

Susan

rexsmile_susan

gardebvignettes_logoBeautiful work, ladies! You can see why I’m so excited to have them on the team! They will be doing layouts for their first collection, Garden Vignettes in a week. I’m excited for you to see the collection and their beautiful layouts! There will be a give away starting on Thursday for this collection, so be sure and check back for a sneak peek and a chance to win!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Introducing the New Collections Team! Read More »

Bright Eyes

Yesterday during lunch, Josh had his computer on the kitchen table and Siri was singing, “I Need a Hero.” She only knows the song because of Shrek so that got us wondering who sang the original (which I love). Turns out it is Bonnie Tyler. We were both surprised and Josh brought up the YouTube Video. So, of course, I decided we needed to check out the Total Eclipse of the Heart Music Video too. It’s one of my favorite songs and has now led to this post which is now a “Where’s Waldo” of the Total Eclipse Music Video.

Read my list to get a very important and completely RELEVANT visual list. I think I said “WHAT?!!???!!!” every five seconds while we watched this video. My favorite moment? When several swimmers get splashed with water from the side. Very relevant to the song, of course.

Warning: The is not an all inclusive list of the horror flick you are about to watch!

Here’s the play by play: Cue the music candles, romantic wind blowing sheer curtain, moon, and then…possessed man with the “bright eyes,” school boys (which oddly enough are shown when she says “dream of something wild), swimmers with water splashing on them, dancing ninjas, fencing, dancing rockers, football players, flipping gymnast, a porn moment, possessed satanic choir, ballet cavemen, a winged cherub molesting Bonnie Tyler, and last but not least, an EXTREMELY creepy guy (also possessed) that shakes hands with Bonnie Tyler.

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Bright Eyes Read More »

Caterpillar Project

buttoncaterpillar Siri and I made a caterpillar from our button jar yesterday and I thought I’d share it. It’s a fairly easy project although it tends to break in little hands (we had a “re-glue” situation a couple of times). Basically, you just need to make 5 sections of 7 buttons each. THe 5 buttons need to be 1 big, 2 semi-big, 2 medium, and 2 small. We used hot glue to put the buttons together. We also alternated colors (3 pink sections and 2 blue sections). We added a pearl button for the nose and 2 pink pins for antenna. All and all an easy project! Siri loved putting it together. Warning: you WILL have buttons all over the floor once you are done! Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Caterpillar Project Read More »

Siri’s Dance Recital

Siri’s first dance recital was on Saturday and I couldn’t resist posting some pictures. And yes, I did cry (but just a little!). One thing I couldn’t believe was how tall Siri was compared to the other kids. I knew she is going to be a tall girl (due to her daddy’s height), but seeing her with other kids made it real. So induldge me with a little family photo opt:). I’m using my PhotoCuts filmstrips here.

sirifilmstrip_dance1

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Siri’s Dance Recital Read More »

My New ACMoore Paper Pads! Bella Bella and Paris and Co.

img_4663My new AC Moore paper pads have arrived! They are exclusively at ACMoore (I don’t think they have hit the stores yet). There are two pads: Bella Bella (which includes many of the original Bella Bella line papers) and Paris and Co. (also found digitally at 2peas). Here’s a card I made this afternoon using the papers (alpha rubons from the Laundry Line and Crochet flower from Bohemia).

I’m always amazed at the mess one grown woman can make to create a simple card like this (granted, both of my girls helped with the mess, but most of it was mine). It’s positively amazing!

img_4650 img_46401

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

My New ACMoore Paper Pads! Bella Bella and Paris and Co. Read More »

Join me at DSE for Tips and Tricks in Illustrator

tipsandtricksinillustrator_1Finally! I can post one of my news bits that I haven’t been able to post until now: I’m teaching a Tips and Tricks in Illustrator Class at DSE, Digital Scrapbooking Experience on September 24th in Provo, UT. Come join me for this very cool course! It’s an Al La Carte Course on Thursday from 2pm-3pm. See the course description here. Course Description

If you’ve had an urge to learn more or refine your digital scrapbooking (or even product building for digital designers) skills, Illustrator is a tool that can really help you build better product. I’m excited to teach this little course and get people started on my favorite Adobe program! I’ll be going through the ins and outs of the program, drawing tools, building templates, and so much more. I’ll have tools and handouts to help you get started. I’m really excited about the course and I hope you’ll join me!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Join me at DSE for Tips and Tricks in Illustrator Read More »

It is Favorite Friday, but…

Usually I would be posting my favorite things that I have seen this week, but it’s been such a busy week that I haven’t had a chance to blog or, well, just about do anything! The Collection Team calls have been streaming in (I’ve been so flattered by the entries!). Thank you to everyone has been applying! I’ll be announcing the team early next week! It’s blessed Friday, because also managed to get my digi kits in to 2peas this week this morning….no late Saturday night craziness for me this week, thank you. I’m hoping for a family filled weekend of biking (my new Madsen bike is coming any day now!), dance recitals, and swimming. A bonfire too (my favorite) if I can work it in! lol. Check back for peeks of my new collection that will hit in a couple more weeks. It’s super grungy and in yummy, yummy colors! It’s called Garden Vignettes. Hope you all have a happy Friday!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

It is Favorite Friday, but… Read More »

Giveaway Winner for PhotoCuts and Collections Team Call

Hooray! It’s Tuesday morning and as promised I have the giveaway winner along with some other news. I do this the old fashion way so I was up this morning cutting out the paper and writing out names. lol. And the winner of the blog giveaway for photocuts is:

img_44631

siriandherflower1Just email me at carina@diginirvana.com and I will try to get a hold of you as well and we’ll arrange for you getting your free product! You can find all the new PhotoCuts Collection digi kits at twopeas here. Here’s a layout I did using a mask from the new collection and a paper from a collection that hasn’t been released yet called Garden Vignettes! Look for it in a few weeks. Here’s a peek:

More business to attend to! I am finally opening up a new creative team call for a collections team! Yes, this is big news as I haven’t done a call for a long time. My wonderful publications team has been amazing (you guys rock!) and I’ve decided that I need a second team to take care more of the layouts for this blog and for new collections. You’ll love my darling CT Manager Theresa and you’ll get a collections team blinkie to boot:). What does it involve? Read this:

collectionsteamcall

So how does it work? You will receive 1-2 kits per collection along with some started kits to give you some “goods” to get going. The collection team will know about collections that will be released and will have a week or so to put together a layout to be posted at 2peas, etc. It will be no more than 4 layouts a month with the average being about 2-3 layouts a month. We are a friendly group at the studio:).

Oh, and speaking of blinkies, grab this one for your everyday wear:

and keep an eye out for the publications team and the collections team wear:

Here’s the html for the fan blinkie for you to copy:

<a href=”http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/shop/digital-kits/carina-gardner/” target=”_blank”><img class=”alignleft” style=”margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px;” src=”http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee297/diginirvana/fan_carinagardner.gif” alt=”” width=”150″ height=”50″ /></a>

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Giveaway Winner for PhotoCuts and Collections Team Call Read More »

Hair Clips

Siri, Flissa, and I got in a craft mood this afternoon and made a bucnh of new hairclips. It’s easy and makes the girls look so cute. We are espeically into silk flower clips right now because we ALL end up wearing them:). We also made a bunch of button clips. Here is Siri posing with them:

carinagardner_hairclips You’ll also notice Siri’s little bird that we decorated. We were at the craft store and I found a couple of little birds for 69 cents. The girls each got one and with the glue gun out, Siri HAD to decorate hers. I love the glue gun!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Hair Clips Read More »

We Believe in Art

Saturday afternoon, I was working on my digikits and Siri decided to do an art project. Josh was suppose to be watching her, but managed to fall asleep on the couch. When I went to check on her (and realized that Josh was asleep), I found her in COMPLETE artistic mode:

img_4405The entire white table was painted red, blue, and green. Not on purpose, of course. She’s just, ummm, able to make that paint go far.  (Honestly, this picture does NOT do it justice!) My favorite part was that she had taken several of her paintings and made them into this ball of paper (think PeeWee Herman tin foil ball). It was actually very inventive, and I see sculpture in her future:).

In other news, there is one more day of the giveaway (see the post below!) so add your comment to be entered in!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

We Believe in Art Read More »

PhotoCuts Giveaway!

My new line Photocuts hits 2peas on Tuesday, but I thought to introduce the line, I would do a giveaway! So here’s a peek at the first four digi kits of the line:

firstfourrelease_carinagardner So what do you need to do in order to win one of these great photo-enhancing kits? All you need to do is comment on this thread which one of these kits you would REALLY like to have. Easy-peasy!

Top-Left : Filmstrip Frames

Top-Right : Taped Off Frames

Bottom-Left : Masks

Bottom-Right : Overlays

I’ll announce the winner of this blog giveaway on Tuesday morning!

And, if you want another try at winning one of these, I’m doing a seperate drawing on the 2peas blog. So go over there and enter too! Good luck!

Also be sure to check out the new PhotoCuts digi kits during the next several weeks of 2peas releases as there will be plenty more!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

PhotoCuts Giveaway! Read More »

Memorial Day and Madsen Cycles

tinlizzieWe had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. The highlight for the kids was the Memorial Day breakfast we attend in the neighborhood at the church. There’s a 5K (we didn’t participate), pancake breakfast, and one of the neighbors drove the kids around in this…

img_4305

The best part for me; however, was that I got a chance to try out Jared’s Madsen Cycle. I am SO in love this this thing and will be buying one in the next couple of weeks because it is so fantastic! I was sort of worried that it was going to be too heavy or hard to ride, but I was completely surprised at how light it is and easy to balance. There’s also a cool feature were the kick stand is UNDER the bucket to hold the bike up when you aren’t riding it. Then, when you kick off to go, it rotates up. Love the design!! One of the best parts is that the kids LOVE it. I mean, really, really love it. For us, we live near the library, both grandma’s houses, the grocery store, etc and having a bike like this would save us on gas and help me and Josh get in a little exercise. So I was SO happy to test ride this one. 

I also found out that there is a giveaway going on over at MadsenCycles. They are giving one of these away for FREE! I’m not sure how you enter, but you should visit here to check it out: http://www.madsencycles.com/contest/. Jared (the owner and inventor of the Madsen Bike) img_4267lives in our neighborhood, and he told me about it. If you have little kids, you should seriously think about entering this giveaway! Wait, did I already mention I love this bike? lol

win-a-madsen-lp-header

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Memorial Day and Madsen Cycles Read More »

Crocheting and Preschool Graduations

img_4248I’ve picked up the crochet needle this week. I usually start to crochet again out of sheer necessity: I can’t live without a crocheted wash cloth. Seriously, they are the BEST for washing dishes and our other one is seeing it’s final days (something that happens often since we don’t own a dishwasher). I’ve never even tried crocheting anything else. One of my graphic design students a couple of years ago made Siri a crochet octopus (known at our house as “Purpie” because of his lovely purple hue). It  really is one of the most adorable stuffed animals (is that what you call a crocheted animal?).  Maybe one day I’ll get away from the crochet washcloth and move on to grander and nobler projects. lol.

img_4055In other news, this week Siri graduated from preschool and even had a class program in lovely red gowns and hats.

This is it. The beginning of the end for me. My baby is going to kindergarten next year. It’s cliche but I know I’m going to cry that day. She looked so old at her little preschool graduation. The great part is that summer has officially begun, which means…vacation! And I’ve already begun calendaring the camping trips and vacations I hope we have time to go on. Last summer was vacationless with Felicity being so young and Josh taking the bar. Not that vacations won’t be hard this year: Josh is taking another state’s bar this summer (we’re marathon bar taking) so that he can be licensed in two states. Good stuff.

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Crocheting and Preschool Graduations Read More »

Creative Juice Photography

img_4383_smThere is always a little bit of discomfort when I post pictures of myself on this blog or on the website. For the most part, it’s been hard because as the principle photographer in my home, there really aren’t many pictures of me (moms, you know what I am talking about!). So I had Creative Juice Photography come over to do a few headshots with me and my products so I could put them up on the about page, etc. They did a FANTASTIC job! I was really happy with their work! Jess was so professional, we took the photos at my house (this one was taken on my front porch).  Go over and check them out when you get a chance and also take a look at my new pics on the about page.

The paper shown here is from my Bella Bella line from My Minds Eye. You can also see the entire line here.

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Creative Juice Photography Read More »

PhotoCuts Collection—Photographer’s Tools

photocutsadI just wanted to give you a preview of the line coming in two weeks! I’m so excited about it because it will be a photographers tool set! These digital kits will be SO much more useful than for just scrapbooking…it will include overlays, masks, filmstrips, and frames of all kinds. It’s the kind of set that will really be useful for any type of photography! So the countdown is just 2 weeks away….

BTW, you’ll be able to pick them up at TwoPeasinaBucket.

[ad]

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

PhotoCuts Collection—Photographer’s Tools Read More »

New Baby Grace

img_3795_smOur family had a new addition this week and I haven’t had a chance to blog about it! My sister-in-law Liz had her third little angel, Grace Judy, this week. She is such a sweet little thing. I always forget how small newborns are! I took pictures of the new little one the day after she was born.img_3745_smHere she is with her big sister Caroline and cousin Siri. Siri was VERY fascinated by the whole thing. The nurse put the BIGGEST dob of Elmer’s glue on Gracie’s head to keep the bow on. I mean ridiculous. I did take a picture of it…but it also looked ridiculous so I refrained from posting it. I would also like a big thank you from Liz from refraining from posting pictures of her the day after she had a baby (which by the way would just make you angry anyway because she looks so good).  

Well, welcome baby Grace! We are so happy to have you in our family!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

New Baby Grace Read More »

Jen’s Wedding & Kelly Nicole Photography

picture-40

As promised, I am posting Jen’s wedding photographer’s info, Kelly Nicole. Her work is SO beautiful, and I was really impressed with the variety of photos she had for this wedding. One of the things that Jen and I both agree on is that you can NEVER scrimp on your wedding photos. I mean, if you pay a mint for dresses, flowers, and reception hall to make everything beautiful, but scrimp on the photographer then how can you remember any of it? I think I’ve already posted a little bit on the bachelorette party and wedding, but here’s a bit more on the day.

First of all, I think one of the most fabulous things you can do is be the matron of honor for a designer bride and designer groom! These two had it all together…the colors were amazing, the reception was amazing, the dresses were amazing….

 Okay, down to the dirty details. Jen’s wedding was at the Salt Lake Temple and reception was held at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building’s Empire Room. One of the things I loved was that they had an entire program. It was a flexible program, but it provided 

jsstructure to the whole event which was REALLY nice. When I wasn’t chasing the flower girls (my Siri and Felicity and Jen’s niece Emma), I was chowing down on the filet mignon, giving the nerve-racking toast, and dancing with my girls. Jen’s didn’t have specific “colors,” I guess you could name them: plum, pink, ivory, green. What she REALLY had was a theme, which was antique. So everything went together without being matchy-matchy. The tablecloths and linens were an antique pink/champaign in silk and the flowers were plum and pink peonies, antique pink and ivory roses, and ivory hydrangea, and baby ranunculus. And by the way, how fantastic are those shoes with the plum dresses (and the yummy salmon peony silk flower?)? The dresses were a great find from Shabby Apple (one of my favorite places to shop for modest dresses)picture-44. The 5-year old flower girl dresses were pink and Flissa’s was ivory. Oh, and I’m sending you to Kelly Nicoles blog to see her most recent photographs. I just hopped over there for a second to grab this link  for you to view more pictures of Jen’s wedding. 

One last comment…the picture of Felicity and me in the top photo really strikes me. Sometimes I am completely amazed that this is my child because our coloring is so different! Some seriously strong recessive genes…

All of the photos in this post are copyright of Kelly Nicole Photography.

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Jen’s Wedding & Kelly Nicole Photography Read More »

Another Parfait Day…

Last night we had parfaits again…a new tradition as of a week ago at the Gardner house. Siri was watching a Pee Wee Herman episode where he makes parfaits. She told me that SHE wanted to make a parfait, which sparked an outing to the grocery store. Our parfaits are made of vanilla pudding, bananas, cookies, and whipped cream. A whole lot of healthy.

img_3491 And last night when we had parfaits again, Siri declared the parfaits inedible due to the bananas. So, I guess my attempts to get some fruit in this dessert are now thwarted. Besides, Felicity really only eats the “cream” part anyway. Like daughter, like father. Well, maybe next time we’ll just make ice cream parfait and call it good! Then everyone will eat the cream! 

 

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Another Parfait Day… Read More »

New Studio Website!

blogimage1You’ll notice a couple of changes around here:). While not all of the blog is finished (the links to my free downloads, tutorials, and  new flickr groups are not up yet), the studio site is! I’m so excited to introduce this great new resource for those of you looking for my designwork. The Studio is place to find my newest paper crafting releases from My Minds Eye, digital scrapbooking collections at Two Peas in a Bucket, where to buy my designs, and the latest design news! There’s also a fantastic new project gallery that will be updated with design projects regularly! Probably my favorite new thing that will be coming to the blog in the next couple of days is an open group on flickr for you to upload photos of your projects using my paper craft supplies and digital scrapbooking kits! The group is called Your CG Creations and you can go ahead and start uploading stuff…it just hasn’t hit my sidebar yet. I’m excited to see what you create! 

So go ahead and take a gander at the new site!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

New Studio Website! Read More »

New Website

If you’ve noticed an absence of blogging it is because I have been trying to get together a new website that hopefully will be up and running at the end of this week! It will be a great resource for my design news, projects with products, new paper crafting products, digital scrapbooking products, and where to buy them. The blog will get a new makeover as a result as well! There will be new flickr groups and more:). So excuse my absence a bit for this coming week and I’ll have this new website up and running! I’m pretty excited about it! You’ll even get sneak peeks of my new products coming out WAY before they actually hit CHA and stores! 

Happy Sunday!

[ad]

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

New Website Read More »

In Place of Favorite 5 Friday…

In place of Favorite 5 Friday, I am going to show you what’s coming up at 2peas next week! This is my new Paradise Line…it’s so very bright and happy!:) 

carinagardner_2ps_paradise_avaprev

carinagardner_2ps_paradise_edenprev

carinagardner_2ps_paradise_eveprev

carinagardner_2ps_paradise_flaunaprev

carinagardner_2ps_paradise_islandprev

And of course the party pack:

carinagardner_2ps_paradise_partyprev

I’m not finished with the line and you’ll see these two come out the following Tuesday with a few others:

carinagardner_2ps_paradise_tropicsprev

carinagardner_2ps_paradise_utopiaprev

My creative team has been putting together some great layouts that I will post next Monday!

[ad]

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

In Place of Favorite 5 Friday… Read More »

Crate and Barrel Placecard Holders

The UPS truck showed up at our door today and dropped off a Crate and Barrel package. I asked Josh (jokingly) what he bought from Crate and Barrel (he laughed…I don’t think he’s ever ordered anything from there…me on the other hand, well, that’s a different story). So I open the little box and on the top is a card from my darling friend Jen and her new husband Spencer! The card was SO sweet (the gift was a thank you for helping with her wedding), and I couldn’t believe it when I saw THESE:

cbplacecards1If you’ve been reading my blog, you know I’ve been searching for these little darlings since this Favorite Friday post! They are even MORE beautiful in person! What a FANTASTIC bride!!!! Thank you, thank you Jen and Spencer!!!! I can’t wait to use them!!! What a great surprise!

If you are looking for these same place card holders, you can pick them at Crate and Barrel here.

cbplacecards2

[ad]

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Crate and Barrel Placecard Holders Read More »

Felicity’s Birthday and Paradise Collection Party Kit

Felicity’s birthday was on Thursday, but we celebrated yesterday with Josh’s family. It was a really fun time with an easy dinner of soup, salad, and breadsticks, chocolate cupcakes with pink icing and sprinkles for the kids, and coconut cake for the adults. My extra treat was the white chocolate suckers (see the post before this one). Everything looked beautiful! I used my new Paradise Collection to make all the accessories for this party. The new collection is happy and bright with vibrant colors. It hits two peas on May 5th! I will be sure to give you a few sneak peeks in the coming days. You can also buy all the party stuff I put together in a new digikit that is also part of the collection (also coming May 5th).  Here’s a peak at the printable digikit:

carinagardner_2ps_paradise_partyprev

Here are some photos of the fun night celebrating Flissa’s second birthday! Here’s the birthday girl wearing her pink party dress and wrapped in her blanky.

img_3091

These are my cute sisters-in-law:

img_3054

Party food always makes everything better!

img_3026

img_2964

I cheated on the cake—just white box cake (Duncan Hines), but I didn’t skimp on the frosting. I used the Barefoot Contessa’s coconut cream cheese frosting

img_3042

I love these four little cousins!

img_3084

The hats looked so adorable on the kids!

img_2999

img_2932

img_2987

Living Room decorations

img_2914

and party-goers (it’s girly enough at our house that even grandpa is holding a wand).

img_3024

img_30891

More on the new collection soon!

[ad]

 

 

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Felicity’s Birthday and Paradise Collection Party Kit Read More »

White Chocolate Lollipops

My friend Carolyn sent me a picture of white chocolate lollipops she made from molds and I had to try it myself for Flissa’s family birthday party. (Carolyn says that she has a blog but hasn’t updated it for a while. I’m trying to convince her to put her gorgeous little girl bows up…if she does I will be sure to post it here!) So I borrowed Carolyn’s daisy molds and made the suckers. They were SO fast and easy to make. All you do is get white chocolate chips, melt them, add a little food coloring (I used two drops of red in one package of white chocolate chips to get this light pink), and let them cool in the fridge. I was sort of surprised at how fast the entire process was. 

img_3006

img_3021

That’s my short post for the day! I have to get together the rest of Flissa’s b-day party and I am working on a new line for  Two Peas which should hit in two weeks! Not only that but I found out this week that My Minds’s Eye has picked up a Halloween line from me for the July release (CHA). Lots of exciting things happening and so little time! Will post on the party and new line soon!

 

[ad]

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

White Chocolate Lollipops Read More »

Bachelorette Party and Wedding

This weekend was filled with parties and events for Jen’s wedding. But don’t plan on her posting about it anytime soon since she is on her honeymoon. I just thought I would post a couple of tidbits although I don’t know that this will be a very exciting post as I promised to not show any of the riske photos from the bachelorette party. I tried to make the food for the party as easy as possible. One of the ladies offered her house so we nixed going to a restaurant for a more comfortable atmosphere. I ordered sushi (from Happy Sumo) and soup (the Zuppa is my favorite from the Olive Garden). I’ll be using the Olive Garden for easy parties in the future…the soup was only $20 for a gallon and $4 for 12 breadsticks. 

img_2649

img_2651

This is my favorite picture of Aimee and Cynthia (sisters) laughing at  one of the stories being told.

img_2668

As I said, I wasn’t allowed to post any of the ridiculous pictures, so that basically eliminated everything else:).

Okay, a little about the wedding. As the matron of honor (wow, that sounds old, huh?) and with two little flower girls to boot, there wasn’t much time for pictures. I will just say that it was a BEAUTIFUL day—the bride looked beautiful and the groom handsome, and well, it was all a fantastic success. When Jen posts pictures, I will DEFIANTLY send you over to her site because they will be fabulous. I will also get the link to her photographer, Kelly Nicole. Here are a few of my candid pics:

The bride and groom

img_2679

I think this little flower girl is pretty adorable.

img_2696

This next little flower girl ripped the hem of her dress,refused to wear her wreath, and managed to have a blow out in her dress during my toast (Josh missed the toast and a few other things). She looks so innocent…

img_2705

Our fabulous cupcakes from cupcakechicutah were AMAZING! I would highly recommend her! We had the red velvet for the wedding favors and we had the chocolate coconut and chocolate mint at our bachelorette party.

img_27111

 

This cake wasn’t just beautiful, it was YUMMY! Raspberry filled and swirled on the bottom, carrot cake for the middle, and lemon with lemon curd for the top…

 

img_2749

Felicity and me…I loved our bridesmaids dresses and those huge peony’s we wore in side buns in our hair. We also had fabulous green shoes! That’s the fantastic combo you get when two designers get married!

img_2736

[ad]

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Bachelorette Party and Wedding Read More »