Sharing Some Christmas Cheer!

December 27, 2009 by carina

I recieved a couple of gifts that really warmed my heart for Christmas. They both happen to be etsy goodies and I just had to post them because they are the kind of presents that really makes my life a little more beautiful.

My dear friend Jen is the queen of thoughtfulness and very good at checking my Favorite Friday posts. I featured this pin cushion a while ago made by feltmates. Jen brought it into town for my new little studio. It’s even cuter in person if that is at all possible! It’s especially thoughtful as I have had birds on the brain while putting the finishing touches on my Love Nest line for fabric.

The second gift arrived on Christmas Eve from the ever fabulous Jessica Sprague. A total surprise, I was totally enamered by this darling headband made by the Candy Thief! Mine is all dark blues and grays…totally delicious! And of course, I wore it to the party I went to the night I received it! Man, what did we do before etsy?

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that all your holiday wishes came true!

A Merry Christmas To You From Me

December 22, 2009 by carina 2 Comments

christmascard_sm

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas/Holiday weekend! I just barely (gulp!) got my Christmas Cards mailed (as shown here:)) and have had some time to reflect on what a wonderful and exciting year it has been for my family. I have been talking to my girl Jen today and I am just amazed at how excited I feel everyday for the things happening in my life. There are too many things to name, but certainly one of those things is going to Design House Digital with Jen. She has officially announced herself as a designer and as the brain behind the site today (go check it out!). We have more designer announcements to come and I’m just happy to be a part of such a spectacular crew.

I’m also getting more and more excited for 2010! I have so many things in the works right now for fabric, online classes, and more! Everyday is so exciting for me. Thank you for keeping in touch and I hope that in this holiday season you are also happy, healthy, and of good cheer!

Merry Christmas!

Neighbor Gift Tags-Free Download

December 18, 2009 by carina 3 Comments

I just finished up my neighbor gifts—easy-to-make chocolate dipped pretzel rods. The girls helped me and we managed to make quite the mess. All you need to do to make this gift is melt carmel candies, dip pretzel rods in the “goop,” let them cool, and then dip them in chocolate. We also dipped ours in sprinkles and crushed Oreos for the fun of it. Tonight we will be delivering them.

To make them even more special, I bought cellophane bags that were 4 inch x 9 inch and stapled on this bag topper. I like them because they are generic enough that you could shrink them down as place cards or anything else that had to do with Christmas.

Instructions:

1. Download the 8.5 x 11 jpg (below) of the neighbor gift tag. The size is 4 inches x 4.25 inchs.

2.Personalize by adding your family name (we added the GARDNERS) with a san serif font like Arial or Helvetica (I am using Abell Condensed) OR leave the area blank and move on to step 3. To personalize, you will need to use some kind of editing software like Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. ng_cg

3. Print to fit cellaphane bag or shrink for other use.

4. Add a hand written message to the back or sign your family’s name to the front.

5. Fold in half (so the dimensions are 2 inches x 4.25 inchs and staple to the top of your bags.

6. Deliver holiday cheer!

Happy Holidays! Download the NEIGHBOR GIFT TAG here!

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?

Sweet Update

December 9, 2009 by carina 1 Comment

Thank you to everyone for the positive response to the Illustrator class! I’m excited for you guys to all get your hands on it!

I’ve had a design marathon this week trying to get together some Christmas lines. I also found out that two new fabric lines are in the the works (yes, and I know you haven’t even seen Coquette yet). A line called Soiree and another called Love Nest. The artwork from Love Nest will all come from the Glitter Book currently sold at Hobby Lobby. So you have a mini preview by just flipping open one of those books.

In the midst of of all this , the girls and I made gingerbread houses today. Nothing like the good-ole-store-bought gingerbread kits for me….what, you expect me to make it by hand? Hey, I’m not superwoman! So, we had a wonderful time messing up the kitchen and leaving most of it for Josh to clean up.

Okay, done with the blog break and getting back to it!

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!

Happy Turkey Day!

November 26, 2009 by carina 2 Comments

We’ve had a very Happy Turkey Day! With so much to be thankful for, I think it was one of the best Thanksgivings yet. We had our turkey feast at my mother-in-law’s. Two of my sisters joined us, which was wonderful! And with two healthy little girls and a loving husband, my cup runneth over. Siri also managed to (finally) pull out her extremely loose tooth. This means our first visit from the tooth fairy.

I hope your Thanksgiving was equally as wonderful. Holidays are always a hard but happy time for me. I can’t wait to get up the tree (as Thanksgiving is the acknowledgment of the official start of Christmas music and letter writing at my house). I can’t wait to make my neighbors’ gifts (I’m excited to really officially make gifts this year now that we have permanent neighbors). I’m excited for the ornaments, the decorating, and all of the fun events the season brings (bring it on Holiday Parties!). Anyway, hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

thanksgiving

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!

Paint a Tree In Your Kid’s Bedroom-Free Download

November 11, 2009 by carina 14 Comments

I’ve been a busy girl. I’ve been working on my little girl’s bedroom since moving into our new house last month. It has been so satisfying to finally be able to paint! While I don’t feel like it is fully finished, I still thought I’d share what I’ve done with you. And, if you are interested in making your own tree, I’ve provided the stencils I made for myself here for you.

The pdf shown here includes simple instructions and patterns for the flowers and leaves. Making your own tree won’t be hard as long as you have a little time. The process for making the tree takes about 3 days, not because it really takes that long, but because the parts of the tree have to dry before you can start a new color.

Here’s a helpful hint to create stencils: I used my Silhouette to cut these out. You could also cut them out by hand using an x-acto knife and still get the same effect.

Download the pdf stencils.

Want to see the rest of the room? First, I have to show you the BEFORE photo. The budget was tight so we decided to have the floors refinished a dark color, repainted everything, and replace the splinter-inducing pine trim as our “big budget” fixes.

And here’s the after. My favorite thing is probably the floors. Having them this dark really makes the light pink pop.

photomontage_apartmenttherapy

Sharing a Bit of Halloween with You

November 3, 2009 by carina 3 Comments

halloweenmontage_carinagardner

Just thought I’d share a little photo montage of our family’s halloween with you! Tinkerbell and the Fab Witch had a wonderful halloween and I hope you did too!

Dropping In

October 15, 2009 by carina

I’m taking a quick second to drop a line. Hello! I do still exist! And I’m back from my business trip in Monterey (it was lovely), and should be finished up with a lot of wonderful things this weekend.

So what’s next? Going to get together my great Halloween wreath using my Spider’s Web collection (finally!) and get my lovely new house in order. I have some great new things in the works for both designing and teaching:). I’m still in the process of getting things sorted out, but I’m pretty excited! I’ve also been looking at the first samples of Coquette come through!

Busy, busy, busy! And with the holidays coming along…well, it certainly isn’t going to stop! Let the holidays begin!

It’s Just The Beginning…

September 30, 2009 by carina

Just because Project Mania ends today doesn’t really mean I’M ending my project rampage. In fact, although I prehaps didn’t accomplish as much as I wanted to this month, my project days are just beginning. With a new house, you know I’ll have plenty of things to work on (I’ll give you a tour when we get settled) and I”ll want to share them here.

I just got back from my new, very first, empty house (I just got heart flutters!) to meet the guys who will be doing the floor and trim. I’m so excited to see the results!

And after we move in? Well, we are one day away from October so that means the holiday projects will begin, and I have some great ideas using my Spider’s Web line and my new Love Nest glitter pad (hits Hobby Lobby exclusively in January). On the fabric front, I’m just finishing up a couple of new collections. Coquette‘s first round of strike-offs are currently en route! The moment those fabrics hit my door I’ll be a busy little bee getting projects sewn and photographed!

And in the midst of all this, I have told myself that this holiday season is going to be slower than any other we have had. I’m going to rededicate myself to having a little more fun and a little more down time. Sometimes, I just need an evening in front of a campfire (the photo is of Josh and Flissa at a bonfire with family on Monday night) instead of pushing out the next line. So here’s to having some downtime (lol…well, I’ll start that in two more weeks).

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!

When It’s A Birthday

September 19, 2009 by carina 1 Comment

With my fantastic silhouette machine from quickutz, I made these darling die cut happy birthday cards that you can pick up at 2peas. I made them originally for my two brothers-in-law that share a common birthday. These boy-happy papers are from my Bella Bella line. Super easy to make with the files in this folder!

So what have I been up to? I’ve been a busy bee as I have been working on a new fabric collection. It’s been going well, and I’m hoping to be able to wrap it up by the middle of next week. I know, you are asking yourself, “But I haven’t even seen a first line.” Sneak peeks coming very soon! I promise! It’s amazing how long the time line on a fabric line is, but I’m so excited to get those bolts of fabric into my hands to show it all off to you! Patience…

[ad]

A Big Pink Kangaroo

September 17, 2009 by carina 1 Comment

When walking in, I might have felt like it was the state fair (Here’s my annual reference to the Minnesota State Fair and the plethora of deep-fried foods on a stick) due to the carnival-like food and interesting hari cuts. But in fact, Josh and I were attending an Australian Pink Floyd concert. It was a little R&R that I’ve been much in need of and a present from my mother-in-law.

I’m not a huge Pink Floyd fan, but nine years of marriage and a Roger Waters’ Concert will wear you down into submission. Now I can name a hand full of songs, even some obscure ones.

A review on Australian Pink Floyd, you say? I would say they were a very good cover band. But then again, I probably wouldn’t know the difference. But Josh confirmed that they are indeed good, so I’ll give it a two thumbs up and the popcorn and cotton candy a thumbs down (simply because I had too much junk by that time). My favorite song is Another Brick in the Wall Part 2. A bit of irony for you considering the number of years I spent in school…oops, and teaching too. Well, okay, it’s SUPER ironic. I like to fondly call the song, “We don’t need no edu-ma-cation.”

Highlight of the evening? When a huge pink kangaroo jumped on stage. At first I thought it was going to be a pig (like at Mr. Roger Waters’ Concert) but this highly hilarious pink animal was there representing the “Australian” part of this cover band.

Once and a while, an excursion out of my regular routine reminds me of design that I haven’t paid attention to for a while. I’ve been head deep in fabric and paper for so long now, I forgot how amazing the graphics were at Roger Waters’ Concert and the artistry of Rock Band Albums. If you have a chance, you should check out the work of Storm Thorgerson, who did most of the cover art for Pink Floyd.