Craft Project-How to Make an Easy Octopus Costume

January 14, 2010 by carina 1 Comment

carinagardner_blog1 Yes, my daughter wanted me to make her an octopus costume for her birthday. So how could I refuse? I kept it simple by buying a t-shirt (with the gems already on it) and women’s long socks. Add some filling, a t-shirt transfer kit and my sewing machine and I was set. The only problem? Once I made one for my oldest daughter, I had to make a second one for my youngest daughter. Thankfully, it’s project that can be done in a couple of hours.

Here’s the basic idea. Take a t-shirt and iron-on one of my adorable octopus stickers. Or skip this step entirely. Then stuff 6 women’s socks with filling and sew them to the ends of the t-shirt. Grab a beanie hat (add a flower for fun) and put on a pair of shorts and a final pair of socks (so there are 8 legs in all). Instant octopus!

Want the full instructions and photos? Just download this pdf with my instructions for creating this easy craft project!

Project 365-January Album Kit Now on Sale!

January 11, 2010 by carina 1 Comment

I finally finished a full week of photos! I’m really liking the Project 365 challenge because I am starting to get a sense of what kind of album I’m going to end up with this year. You can sort of see it in this layout—an album full of details, not just the big events and some real insight into what we do as a family.

The one thing that is going to be tricky is keeping the layouts neutral so that the photos shine. I’m using my Distressed White on White papers here. And just to make my life easier, I went ahead and finished out all my layouts ahead of time for the entire month of January so all I have to do is insert the photos and journaling.

One thing I’m noticing is that along with the 365, I want to do pullouts of events. So I created myself 4 layouts for multiple photos that are just for those events (siri’s birthday party, ice skating, and sledding). I wanted them to match my 365 layouts, so I used the Distressed White on White papers for them as well.

And if life is crazy, busy (when isn’t it?), you can just pick up my new January album (released today at 30% off) and insert your own photos without the hassle of actually making the layout. How easy was that?

I’m just glad that for the rest of January all I’ll be doing is snapping photos!

Want to check out my 365 challenge at DHD? Go here.

As for me, I’m working on getting together a new instruction pdf for you on how to make my easy-to-make octopus costume. Sounds silly? My six year old does have some silly demands and sometimes her mama gives in. Keep you posted!

Project 365-I’m On It!

January 7, 2010 by carina

365_carina_1_sm When I decided to head the Project 365 at Design House Digital, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. First off, remembering to take a picture every day is a little harder than I thought it would be! Secondly, I am really proud of myself for moving forward with this—more than I thought I would be. I am excited to really have an entire year of photos of my family wrapped up in a sweet little book. It gives me the opportunity to really give my children something that they will love and enjoy and I can reminisce about in years to come.

Want to check out my 365 Challenge? Go straight to the forums here or go to the DHD blog post here.Want to see my first layout blog post? Go here.

So here’s my first layout of my first two days (I am choosing to do layouts by week-Sunday through Saturday. So this is Friday and Saturday Jan 1-2.) of 2010. The great thing about me doing the layouts is that I am making all of these great little papers and elements for myself to use (and then, of course sharing with you!). I found myself really wanting subtle neutral backgrounds so that my photos could speak for themselves. I also wanted to do a alot of journaling which resulted in journaling and timeline kits. More layouts of 365 coming soon!

I also wanted you all to know that DHD has decided to have two release dates during January! Now you will see new releases on Thursday AND Monday. All the new releases those two days will be 30% off. How fab is that? DHD released 70 kits today! It’s that nuts?It’s only been open 6 days and there are 210 products in the shop.

New Year’s Resolutions-A Day Late

January 2, 2010 by carina 1 Comment

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I’m just getting around to posting my New Year’s Resolutions. Not that they aren’t the same as most of yours…get in shape, give more time to myself, my family, document our lives (I’m hosting a 365 at DHD)…yada, yada, yada. Mostly, I just wanted to post because I am so EXCITED for 2010. It’s going to be a fun year. I can feel it. And I hope it will be for you too.

Here’s what’s on the horizon for designwork this year:

* Two fabric lines will hit quilting shops this year. Coquette will arrive in quilting stores in June (call your quilt shops this month to ask if they will be stocking this beautiful line from Northcott!) and Love Nest will come out later in the year. All of the fabric samples are up for your viewing pleasure!

* A brand new Carina Gardner™ Shop will be opening up! We will be offering limited quantites and fat quarters of the new fabric line and will also eventually carry all kinds of goods from my designs in scrapbooking and fabric. The Shop is set to open in June 2010. I’ll have more information on it as it gets closer.

* I’m at a new digital shop! This has already happened but it is such an exciting venture for me as I get to participate in Jen Allyson’s newest venture! She’s a pleasure to know and a fabulous designer! I think you’ll see that Design House Digital will be the fastest growing digital shop in 2010. It already has had some astonding traffic! I’m just proud to be apart of such a wonderful group.

* I’m pleased to be teaching again. It’s been two years since I stopped teaching at the University of Minnesota. I never thought that teaching would happen to fast for me again. You can find my newest adventure with Jessica Sprague teaching a self paced course—Illustrator 101.

* Keep checking back for my Paper Lines with My Mind’s Eye. I’m sure we’ll have several in the works this year.

And while there might now be a bullet point on this one, if you know me, there will be plenty of other good things happening in 2010 on this blog. I’m already working on a great craft project for my daughter that I’m excited to share with you (give me a week to finish it up!)! And with all the fabric hitting my studio in May, you know we will be sewing like MAD around here!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend and may you be happy in 2010!

Clipping Mask Tutorial in Photoshop Elements

December 31, 2009 by carina 1 Comment

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It’s the opening of Design House Digital today. Check out the plethora of new products I have over there. Oh ya, and a couple of tutorials! Check out my clipping mask tutorial (you can also watch it below) and a little bit of design theory (a little lesson on the Golden Mean) to boot!

You might also want to check out the amazing 30% off sale going on at DHD this weekend on the ENTIRE shop. It’s a heck of a deal! Nice Grand Opening, eh?

I’m also pretty excited because my class at Jessica Sprague starts today!!!! Hooray for Illustrator 101!

I hope you are having a very happy first day of the year! I’m looking forward to 2010!

Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody, Everywhere

December 16, 2009 by carina 1 Comment

Which is what we have been singing at our house for the last couple of days. First, because I think a spick-n-span house for Christmas is nice and second because my girl Jen (aka: the project girl) is coming into town tomorrow! I even bought some fantastic green boxes from IKEA and got my studio organized (quite a task since I have had a dozen projects all over the floor and desk). We have a tradition of going to the Cheesecake factory when she comes into town for some girl time.

I’m doing the happy dance right now because I’m so excited to see her!

The cleaning hasn’t stopped at our house…you should check out my studio site as it is completely updated with all my new ventures coming in 2010. I will be getting up the fabric samples for the line Coquette in a couple of weeks and you’ll see all my secret digital stashes coming out at Design House Digital in just 2 weeks!

Today the girls and I will be putting together our neighbor gifts and will have the download and photos of our project up tomorrow (yes, I’m sharing my download with you!:)). It’s all about easy elegance this year.

Hope you are enjoying your holiday season! Can you believe Christmas is around the bend?

There Are Going to Be Some Changes Around Here! Illustrator Class & New Digital Scrapbooking Site!

December 7, 2009 by carina 8 Comments

It’s a season of change around my house. Josh started work with a new law firm, Siri has lost tooth number 2, Felicity has been trying out her new potty, and I’ve got some great new projects in the works. The first is this brand new online class for Illustrator, which goes on sale TODAY at Jessica Sprague.com! After teaching Illustrator at DSE, this last September, I was overwhelmed by the number of people asking for an online course. So here it is folks! A four week long Illustrator course that is completely self-paced and easy to use. The videos are broken into smaller tasks so it’s easy to go back to a tutorial. I’ve also included 3 Bonus lessons, digital scrapbooking kits, and vectors in the course.

While I created this course initially for digital scrapbookers, I would recommend it to anyone who is even thinking about getting into design. I’ve incorporated everything I would teach on Illustrator in a university-level introductory graphic design course.

So want to see what the class is going to be all about? Go straight to the Jessica Sprague site to see the introduction video, purchasing information, and the Lesson break downs. You can also go to YouTube to see the video. I recommend watching the video because it will show you a short tutorial of a class lesson along with everything you will need (aka technology requirements) to take the course.

With all change, there is also some sad news. I have decided to move my digital scrapbooking store from Two Peas. You will still be able to find all of my 2008-2009 digital designs there, but I will be moving to a new store come January 1st, 2010.

I’m pretty excited to have been asked to come to the new store (which isn’t even open yet) because it will be site with designers that are so amazing! The name of the site is Design House Digital (http://www.designhousedigital.com/) and the list of designers going there is UNBELIEVABLE! I can’t spill anything yet, but you ought to check out the place holder blog to grab the newsletter freebie (it’s FABULOUS!). And while you are at it, sign up for twitter https://twitter.com/designhousedigi since I was told that people will get updated with the new freebies and store updates there.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m working away at a christmas line for fabric and paper and enjoying my little ones during this holiday season. Hope you are having a happy December too!

Christmas Calendar Cones—Free Download

November 30, 2009 by carina 14 Comments

I promised a Christmas goodie and here it is! An advent calendar that you simply clip to a line. Add treats to the cones so your little ones can take one out everyday. This is a LARGE download because all of the 8.5 inch x 11 inch files are PRINT READY (300 dpi).

All you need to do is print (I printed from my home printer) and cut out. Tape each piece into a cone shape and hang on a line by clipping with a laundry clip. I hung 4 strings in one of our front room windows and clipped 6 cones (and seven on the last one) across the string.

I’ve also included a Santa that you can stick in the cones to show your kids what day it is.

We’re getting in the Christmas spirit at our house: We’ve got our tree up and we are heading for the Heber Creeper (AKA The Polar Express) tomorrow for my birthday. I think the kids will love it (which means I will love it…there is nothing quite like the excitement of children at Christmas). Go ahead and download this goodie and it’s okay if you get it up a few days late…your kids will still love it!

25% Off Sale

November 24, 2009 by carina 1 Comment

I can’t believe it is the week of Thanksgiving! My, how time flys! I have two events to report. The first is that my 2 year old and 5 year old officially started fighting over who got what cereal box to look at as they ate breakfast this morning. Do you remember doing that as a kid? I mean, what was so GREAT that we all had to stare at the back of the cereal box at 7:00am in the morning?

The other big event is that Siri has her first loose tooth! I officially feel old (although it may just be the impending 30th birthday that is one week away).

In celebration of just, well, life…my digital scrapbooking store at 2pe as is having a 25% off sale all this week. Yep, all 213 products. Not a bad deal.

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I’m planning on lounging in pjs for the parades and then an early family dinner. Oh, and I have a great Christmas project I am working on this week that I will post over the break! Yes, that means some free goodies for you! So stop by between your shopping schedule for a great download.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Spider’s Web Papers – Batty Wreath

October 23, 2009 by carina 20 Comments

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IMG_7715_sm Halloween is just a week away and I finally have finished my Spider’s Web Bat Wreath. I used my paper version (produced by My Mind’s Eye), but you can also pick it up digitally. I picked up this wreath from Michaels. These twig wreaths are relatively inexpensive ($4, I believe). I then had my silhouette machine cut out these bats for me. I few hot glue gun sticks later, and I was in business!

My kids are going to be a witch and a pumpkin this year (if I can convince her). We are in a new neighborhood, and I excited for the kids to trick-or-treat in this super kid-friendly street.

Hope you have a happy halloween!!!!!

Love Nest at Hobby Lobby – Glitter Happy!

October 21, 2009 by carina 2 Comments

It’s glittery and oh, so pretty! My darling Love Nest Glitter Pad that you can grab exclusively at Hobby Lobby! This is my first glitter pad and I am so excited about all the projects I have waiting for me! There are 18 patterns and 54 papers in all! You can also grab the digital versions of Love Nest (for all you digital scrapbookers!!!) in the Sweetheart, Love Nest, and Love Nest 2 Paper Sets (although some designs have been changed for print). You like this in paper? I’m going to let you in on a little secret…I’m currently getting love nest ready for FABRIC! Northcott will be producing the line (which takes a year to manufacture so this is very early news indeed), but I wanted you to look forward to this happy little line that I will certainly be making lots of little girl’s goodies out of!

lovenest2 Oh, and I haven’t forgotten about Halloween. In fact, I already finished my batty wreath using Spiders web…just need to get around to taking a picture of it! Spider’s Web can be picked up in digital or paper.

Love the Spider’s Web line? Be sure and check out the My Mind’s Eye Blog! They’ve added some of the most adorable projects on that site using the line including some scrap-happy layouts and a haunted house fold out album! It’s all so very yummy!

I am…

October 18, 2009 by carina

…getting settled in my new house.

…loving my new dark wood floors.

…finishing up love nest for fabric (BTW, you can now find love nest in a glitter pad at Hobby Lobby!).

…admiring the awesome new Halloween projects on My Mind’s Eye blog.

…finally ordering myself the Cirrus flatware set that I supposedly got for Mother’s Day.

…loving that the holiday season has commenced (new digi stuff for the holidays from me here).

The Digital Scrapbooking Experience

September 26, 2009 by carina 7 Comments

Finally! After a crazy two days I have a chance to write about DSE! Thursday afternoon I taught an Illustrator class at the Digital Scrapbooking Experience in Provo, Utah. Jen Allyson flew in from San Francisco to help me out.

I had a WONDERFUL time with the students! After teaching 5 years of college, I had completely forgotten how wonderful it was teach students who are eager to learn (and everyone in my class was!). Thank you ladies + Gary for participating in my class! I’m glad I did it because it opened my eyes to what people can do with a little bit of education on the programs. I’m constantly asked about becoming a designers and I may have just had my eyes opened to some new possibilities for these people. I’ll let you know on the developments.

I also hosted a table with a cute little flower make-and-take, candy, and my papers from My Minds Eye (and if you haven’t figured it out yet, papers that get printed can also be bought DIGITALLY from me). Jennifer Allyson and Garden Girl Gennifer Bursett both helped me. In fact, I probably owe Ms. Gennifer since I managed to forget my camera and I all these photos are hers! I showed off my digital book that was printed from My Pic Tales and Silhouette Machine, which made all my make-and-takes (and I couldn’t live without at this point!).

You can make our make and takes too! All you need to do is go to the Paper Flower Wreath post and download the pdf. The flower shape we used can be used as a pattern and hand cut out, or I also provide .gsd files for you to use on your own silhouette. Here’s photos of Jen and Gen sporting the barrette version you could make. We also had laundry clips and pipe cleaner for attaching to badges or making wristlets. The papers we used for the table all came from my Paris and Co. and Bella Bella Paper Pads that can be bought exclusively at ACMoore.

Some of my favorite moments at DSE? I loved meeting the other instructors (I was so happy to see Crystal Wilkerson there!), I throughly enjoyed Jessica Sprague’s Keynote address, and (my most favorite moment of all) when one of my students (of whom I will refer to as the “Atlanta Gelato Queen”) slipped a chocolate gelato onto a box I was carrying out.

Thanks for all the fun everyone! I could only go to one day of DSE (sorry everyone! I just couldn’t get up there yesterday and today is packed!) because we closed on our house yesterday! Yippeee!!!!!! And now, the work begins…or might I say, the true Project Mania begins! September might end (and I have a few projects yet to finish up!) but in October I’ll be posting all my house fix ups.

Printing a Digital Book

September 23, 2009 by carina

I finally did it! I printed my very first digital scrapbook. I remember when I use to explain digital scrapbooking to people, they’d say, “Digital?…does that mean you just look at them on the computer?” And I’d have to tell them you could but the point is to have it printed and have a BOOK. I mean, it is called scrapBOOKing even if there is the word “digital” in front of it.

So after not quite 2 years as a digital designer, here I am with my very first book. I kept it really cohesive by only using certain colors and elements. I stuck to the Sproutlets papers & accessories, the Imprints collection, and the PhotoCuts collection. I was COMPLETELY impressed with the quality of the book (even the hard bound outside looked AMAZING). I had it printed at My Pic Tales. I’ll be sure to be doing a lot of printing with them in the future. I need to do a few books for Christmas and senidng out for books through these guys was a snap!

I got the book just in time for DSE, Digital Scrapbooking Experience! If you haven’t registered for Tips and Tricks in Illustrator, but are attending the event, you can register at the door. I’m also gearing up for Digit Alley on Thursday night. We’ll be doing a fun make-and-take at my table. I’ve been busily having my lovely silhouette cut out little flowers for me. Another surprise? Jen Allyson will be showing up to help me with the class and the make-and-take table!

If Things Couldn’t Be Busier

September 20, 2009 by carina 3 Comments

IMG_7091_sm You’ll notice a little update on the blog and studio site. Specifically, check out the background pattern which will be printed in fabric (Coquette)in two color schemes (plum and moss) in 4 fabrics total (unfortuately not in the background color I have here). Pull the Internet browser out for a good look at this pretty paisley pattern. I also tried to update my nav system on this blog, but unfortuately, my php skills are terrible, and I’m going to need a bit of help on this one.

This week we are closing on our house. No, we haven’t really packed, and yes, I’m swamped with other things. Thankfully, the house isn’t far away and there will be some work done on the house during the first two weeks. So it will be a slow move where we spend as much time as possible messing up TWO houses.

The best part about the new house for me? Finally, a decent studio space! I just found a fabulous conference table at an antique store just waiting to be painted white. And the project pile keeps growing…

For now, I’m dusting off my old syllabi in honor of the Digital Scrapbooking Experience class that I am teaching on Thursday. Also putting together some fabulous make-and-takes for that evening’s Digit Alley. I’m pretty excited to see all you digi scrappers! Updates on this event soon!