2015-2016 Carina Gardner and MiniLou Team Calls!

September 11, 2015 by carina 1 Comment

I’m so excited that we are finally able to open up three calls for a creative team, design team, and style team for MiniLou and Carina Gardner, Inc.! I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now so I’m glad we are getting this in before the holiday season commences.

These are small teams where we send you product in exchange for you coming up with ideas, doing a small write up, and taking photos. All submissions need to be sent to our Marketing Director Jill at marketingdirector@carinagardner.com or marketingdirector@mini-lou.com. Here’s the breakdown:

For the time being, we are only taking submissions that require physical products from the US. If you are International and want to apply for digital scrapbooking product and/or silhouette files/svg products, we are happy to receive submissions from you!

Have questions? Feel free to email us!

Looking forward to seeing your submissions!

Carina

Diecuts 30% off the month of June!

June 6, 2014 by carina 4 Comments

Carina is off on her adventure to China to do press checks on the products for her new company Mini Lou

You can follow her adventures on her Instagram (carinagardner). In the meantime I am taking over the blog while she is away so let’s have some fun!!

Today kicks off our HUGE 30% off diecut sale in the shop. The shop is fully stocked with wonderful goodies. Make sure to hit the NEW DIECUTS section where we have all of Carina’s most current releases from her Silhouette Store.

We are so excited to have Deborah from Craftin Chaos working with us now on our Design Team! In honor of the big sale Deborah has worked up some fabulous eye candy to get you inspired for the diecut sale!

Here is Deborah to tell you more about her projects:

“My projects were super quick, that being said I am hoping it still will inspire you to create some awesome projects of your own with Carina’s diecut files. I used papers from Carta Bella’s Alphabet Junction for several cards and one I used a digital paper from Carina’s Soaring Summer Paper Set as well as some of Carina’s elements which are available in her shop at Snap Click Supply.

This first project was super quick to do. If you have a busy schedule…and who doesn’t, these albums are perfect for capturing the moments you spent with family and friends without devoting the time it takes to create a scrapbook album layout. I love that you can get so many configurations from the pockets giving you so many options.

I used the We R Memory Keepers pockets for mine. The cards are Carina’s My Life 4X6 Travel Card Diecuts and I am loving Carina’s Garden Picks Set of 5 Diecuts very versatile as you will see two ways I used them. And you know I made some custom buttons! I used the die cuts from the cards to create a print and cut for the buttons in my silhouette studio

Can you tell where I want to be from my luggage tag?

This project is one of my favorites. I just love anything with cameras on them or camera related. Instagram is something I just started using recently and I am hooked! I wanted this to be very bold and I love these two colors together. That pop of fuchsia on the front against the bright yellow is just my favorite. I used the Instant Photo Camera Album I added the Flag Shape 17 Diecut for the sentiment. I cut a smaller circle for the center to add a fun sentiment to the album.

A nice feature is the slots the file cuts for you to just pop in a cute photo for perfect placement. I added more sentiments to give a little more love to it.

Thanks to Deborah for those awesome projects! We will be featuring more of her creations over the weeks to inspire you.

~Susan

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

November 5, 2013 by carina

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For fabric

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

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

More on the My Life Collection

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

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

Revving up for the holidays,

Carina

Create and Make Class in the Carina Gardner Shop!

June 27, 2013 by carina

It’s up! My new Create & Make Class! This is a Self-Paced class that will be available on August 4, 2013. It is currently on pre-sale.

I’ve been thinking about doing a class like this some time now. It’s hands on, for everyone, and includes your kids. For me, when I can include my kids in my creative process, it feels so much more fulfilling. I loved the quality time I was able to spend with Siri just making these videos! Create and Make: Creating with Kids is exactly what it sounds like—an opportunity to sit down and do. We had a great time filming this class and made sure to make it user-friendly. That means step-by-step instructions, materials lists, and kid-friendly. Watch it with your kids and pause at each step as you work on projects with me!

There are Early Bird (before July 5th — $24.50) and Before the Bell (before August 4—$29.75) prices for this class. The normal price for this class is just $35. This is the first time we have offered Early Bird and Before the Bell pricing on a class because it is also the first time we have a coordinating kit available.

Kits include $120 worth of crafting supplies including scrapbooking kits, fabric, twine, lace and more! Kits are normally $84 but there is also Early Bird ($69.60) and Before the Bell ($74.40) pricing available too. There are a limited number of kits and

they will be mailed on a first-come, first-serve basis. We only ship these kits to the continential USA, but feel free to email us at customerservice@carinagardner.com, and we would love to get you a quote on an international shipping address.

You can also purchase each of the classes separately in the shop (check that out here). We also have extra sets of containers available for purchase outside of the kit. We have limited quantities on these as well. My favorite is the little set of containers we use for the Halloween Advent. We sell it in sets of 31 so you can use it for any month (think Christmas, Easter, or spring). They can be used for any “count-down” craft. We also wanted them to be available in case you wanted an extra set for a gift or for multiple projects.

Want to see more of what we are doing?

Watch the intro video:

Well Traveled Mini Travel Album

February 12, 2012 by 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 Scrap-o-Dex

February 11, 2012 by 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!

Giving Thanks-Free Thankful Banner Download

November 15, 2011 by carina 73 Comments

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!

________________________________________________

Giving

November 15, 2011 by carina 70 Comments

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

Hybrid Project Submissions Now Open!

November 6, 2011 by 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

Pinfeathers Birdie Lace Up Tutorial

August 16, 2011 by carina 1 Comment

Get ready for a whole lot of fabric fabulous-ness! It’s been a lot of midnight sew-a-thons around here to show off this fabulous fabric. Susan and I have been hard at work! Here’s the first tutorial from the studio!

This is a really cute skill-building toy for preschoolers as little fingers will work on gaining their fine motor skills by lacing the strings through the holes! It also makes a darling decorative display item in the home or is a great project for a child’s birthday party.

Materials

Carina’s Partridge Bird Pattern-Free Download
1/3 yard heavyweight fast2fuse, thin piece of cardboard, or heavyweight Wonder Under.
1 fat quarter for a single-sided bird or 2 fat quarters (for an alternate fabric) for a double sided bird
Colorful shoelace or cording 1/8′ to 1/4″ diameter. Length will be vary depending on the size of your bird.
Fabric glue
Paper punch

Instructions

1. Your first step is to download the PDF of the partridge from Carina’s Partridge Bird Pattern. At this point you can decide how large you want your lace up project to be. The smaller the child the larger you may want to make the bird so that they will have something substantial to hold in their hand and lace up!

2. Adjust the percent for the size you need and print your bird.

3. If you are using the Fast2Fuse, you will fuse your fabric onto the Fast2Fuse according to the manufacturer’s instructions on the Fast2Fuse packaging.

4. Trace the bird patterns onto the fused fabric and cut them out.

5. Use a good hole punch to punch the holes for the lacing.

6. Knot one end of the the shoelace and lace it through the first hole pulling it to the knot.

Alternate method

You can also make a Pinfeather’s Birdie Lace Up using a very thin piece of cardboard. Tracing the bird onto the cardboard, you cut out the bird’s shape. Then trace the bird pattern onto the fabric. Use spray fabric glue to glue the fabric to the thin cardboard bird. Use a hole punch to punch holes. Finally finish the project with step #6.

Free Digital Scrapbooking Kits

March 16, 2011 by carina 3 Comments

I have a couple of new free kits that I am giving away to everyone. I love digital scrapbooking, and I haven’t had a lot of time to work on layouts recently! Making these new kits did a world of good for me as I “shabbied” paper to my heart’s content.

Spring Fling is the kit I am giving away to everyone who is part of the Facebook CG Page. Join up and when we hit 1200, I am going to send it to everyone’s inboxes. After that, it will go on sale at Jessica Sprague with the rest of my digital products.

My second kit coordinates perfectly with this Spring Fling kit. It’s called Hippity Hop (do you see the springtime theme going on here?) for the little bunny that made it into the papers.

________________________________________________________________

You can download this kit for free at my upcoming Designer Sale at Jessica Sprague. The sale and free kit will be available from March 25- 27 (Friday through Sunday).

Okay, listen to how good this sale is…All of my products will be 25% off, my Hybrid Projects will be $1, and my Desktop Calendar class will be 40% off! And then of course, you ought to get on and download this happy little free kit!

Hope you all have a chance to download these kits! I loved making them and making myself a couple of layouts for my scrapbooks (that seem to always be incomplete).

Will be around to blog soon!

XOXO-Carina

It’s Beginning to Feel Alot Like Christmas

November 23, 2010 by carina

It’s not even Thanksgiving… and my house and studio are buzzing with all sorts of Christmas fun. We are getting ready for our 4th quarter newsletter, which should be out sometime next week. We might even have a wicked little goodie for you…so be sure and sign up so that you can get access to the newsletter the moment it goes out.

Want to see what kind of fun you are missing out on? Check out our first issue (3rd quarter) here.

Also wanted to be sure and mention One Dollar Wednesday and Hybrid Project Friday at my digital scrapbooking shop. To be totally fair with everyone, you’ll notice that I release only new products on One Dollar Wednesday and New Release Monday. That way, if you buy it on Monday, you won’t suddenly see it on One Dollar Wednesday (ya, that would suck).

There is a 6-12 month lag period on all my products ever hitting a $1 day (and many will never hit the $1 day). So to help you all out, I’ve instituted 25% off on all my new releases on Mondays for the rest of, well, forever. You’ll see this start in January (you’ll want to check out the site-wide sale in December at Jessica Sprague).

As for my new releases in December, can we say Christmas please? I have a new line (featured in this week’s Hybrid Project 4), Santa’s Sleigh that will hit next week.

Now, to buckle down and finish a few projects before Thanksgiving weekend…

XOXO-Carina

Gobble Gobble

November 17, 2010 by carina

Lots of little pumpkins at my house for this little place card that I plan on making for my little family’s Thanksgiving. He’s perfectly pumpkin-ie, isn’t he? He also goes up for sale as Hybrid Project 3: Turkey Placecard at Jessica Sprague for just $1 on Friday. He’s perfectly good way to add a little “gobble” to your Thanksgiving table!

And if you haven’t had a chance, make sure you check on my digital store on Mondays (new releases) and Wednesdays ($1 day!). Today you can grab an 18 paper pack and my lovely Border set from Daisy Jane for just $1. It’s a great deal that comes around only once on my products so be sure and check it out!