Retirement Sale at JessicaSprague.com—50% off Illustrator Classes

November 23, 2012 by carina 1 Comment

That’s right! I’m having a Big Ol’ Sale! Several of my classes are on sale for 50% off until Dec 31st, 2013. These classes are being retired to make way for a brand new curriculum I’ve developed for 2013. It’s going to include design and Illustrator driven courses. Just like any designer/instructor, I learn things all the time that make my life easier and I want to share them in these new courses. I’ll have more on this to come! For now, check out these self-paced classes that are 50% off:
Illustrator 101
Illustrator 102
Illustrator 201
Tips for Rockin’ Illustrator
ABC Inspiration

See all 50% off classes>

These classes will be only be available for purchase until Dec 31st, 2012.

I’m also teaching my last session of Art of Digital Design 2. It starts January 21st, 2013. These will not be an individual critique portion of the class taught…instead we will be participating in forum critiques along the way. Syllabi will be available for download on January 1st in preparation for the class. It’s 20% off since I will not be doing the individual critiques.

Tips for Rockin’ Illustrator—New Class Series

February 13, 2012 by carina 2 Comments

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

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

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

Check out the episode list:

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

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

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

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

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

XOXO-Carina

First of the Year

January 13, 2012 by carina 4 Comments

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

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

So here’s what we’ve been up to:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Carina

Issue No. 5 of the Newsletter—Spraguefest and Tutorials

October 23, 2011 by carina 3 Comments

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

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

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

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

Enjoy!

Carina

More To Come…

October 18, 2011 by carina 2 Comments

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

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

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

Lots of good things coming…get ready!

Carina

Spraguefest

October 13, 2011 by carina 4 Comments

Still recovering…

More to come…

Mormon Handicraft

October 1, 2011 by carina 1 Comment

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

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

Hope to see you!

XOXO-Carina

Just Testing

September 26, 2011 by carina 2 Comments

My favorite little testers did a run-through of the painting portion of my Spraguefest class.

Results: If the testers can mix colors correctly, than so can Spraguelets! However, I refuse to give Spraguelets a bath after said painting mess.

Essentials Plus

September 16, 2011 by carina

I was browsing through my creative team’s layouts that feature my new digital scrapbooking line Essentials Plus. I’m amazed at the way they are using the line! Even though I did intend it to be a paper-meets-elements line, it is way more versatile than I thought it would be. Most of these layouts use ONLY the essential papers (thank you fabulous creative team!).

Layout by Carey Bridges

Layout by Laurel Flechtner

Layout by Susan Haglund

Layout by Stephanie Andre

Baby Bib and More Tutorial from Pink Chalk Fabrics

September 11, 2011 by carina 1 Comment

I spotted this darling tutorial over at the fabulous Pink Chalk Studios using my Baby Safari line. It includes a bib, baby booties, baggie, and taggie. For the full set of instructions and pattern check it out here:

http://pinkchalkstudio.com/blog/2011/09/09/one-yard-wonders-sew-along-%E2%80%93-week-36-finished-projects/

As for me, I’m finishing up Art of Digital Design 2’s critiques today. I might be losing my voice. Thankfully next week’s critique is written!

Oh, check out this blog post over at Riley Blake if you get a chance!

Happy Sewing!

Carina

It’s Been A Week

July 31, 2011 by carina 4 Comments

I think it’s been a week at least since I have blogged. I’m too lazy to go back and check the front page to see how long it has been. Or too tired. Which is ironic since my kids got a sleepover with cousins last night and are getting a sleepover with grandma tonight all for the sake of work. How I can be so tired seems ridiculous given that I’m getting so much help at the moment!

Mostly, I have been working on Art of Digital Design 2. While the class has been fully written and all the images drawn, it’s the videos that have been time consuming. And while students don’t make the exact paper set I make in class (the class is technique and theory based), I couldn’t help but show you what I’ve been up to. For those of you taking the class, get excited! (Or I’ll just get excited for you since I know what you will be up to!)

I’m going to keep plugging away at these videos!

In fabric news, I’m told that my three new lines are on route. My quarterly newsletter hasn’t gone out because we have been holding out for those lines! So June-July won’t get to you until August.

That’s the way we are rollin’ these days.

And by the way, WHERE is summer going? August is a couple of days away and I can feel myself going into shock. Hoping I can squeeze in a couple of visits to the pool and zoo this coming month.

Hugs-Carina

Le Petite Paperie Digital Scrapbooking Collection

July 11, 2011 by carina

Today is the debut of my July collection Le Petite Paperie at Jessica Sprague.com. I feel like this is a line that sort of takes me back to my roots—super sophisticated, super grungy, and easy-to-work with.

(Layout by Susan Haglund)

I’m excited for you to see this collection revealed every week the rest of this month! Check out the release sale of 25% off on Mondays. Enjoy!

Art of Digital Design 2

July 6, 2011 by carina

I’m so excited to finally announce my new class for 2011! Art of Digital Design 2 is my online advanced course on digital scrapbooking design. It starts August 22nd and runs 5 weeks.

I’m so excited to get to teach an advanced course like this at JessicaSprague.com. This is not a class for the faint-of-heart because we design like MAD and I cram as much as I possibly can into these 5 weeks. You know, like vocabulary, rules to design by, design concepts, critiques, smart financial ways to build designs, marketing strategies, making the transition to paper and fabric, dealing with taxes, making your workflow faster, and all of my personal tips for designing in the digi world.

For me, this class is the merging of practical know-how and design theory. Once you leave this class you should be able to TALK and THINK like a designer. One of the things I find in the design world is that even really amazing designers who haven’t had training don’t have the vocabulary to discuss or market their designs.

This class is instructor led with 5 assignments (1 a week) and 5 critiques (verbal and written). I’ve been asked when this class will be offered again, and the answer is, I simply don’t know. I doubt we would run the class in 2012, but I think we would run the class again in 2013. I know that seems like a big break, but we have a lot of crazy, wonderful things planned for 2012 (yes, I know it is still only 2011, but we are working that far in advance these days).

If you want to read more about this class, please check it out here. The class syllabus will be available to registered students on August 1st.

Hugs! Carina

This is the 10th Stop on the Jessica Sprague Bloghop Freebie!

June 24, 2011 by carina 75 Comments

Thanks for making it to my stop on the Jessica Sprague Birthday Party Bloghop! Just click on the image below to get your freebie for me that coordinates with all the other designers at JS!

If you have stopped here first, you can find the beginning of this blog hop at Jessica’s blog.

Be sure and check out the awesome sale going on including 35% off all the digi shops and 20% off the classes.

Once you’ve gotten your freebie here, move on to STOP #11.

THIS FREEBIE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. THIS WILL BE IN THE JS SHOP JULY 11, 2011.

Huge Jessica Sprague Sale!

June 10, 2011 by carina

JessicaSprague.com is FOUR! To celebrate, they’re throwing a HUGE Birthday Bash & Summer Sale. From June 13-26, you can save 20% off of every self-paced class (think Illustrator, hehe), and 35% off of ALL digital products. In addition, grab all 27 episodes of Jessica’s amazing Photoshop Friday tutorials for just $1 each before they’re retired on June 26! As part of the celebration, starting on June 24, you can participate in an incredible 47-person blog hop (including a great freebie from me!), picking up a sweet digital freebie at each stop! Best of all, on June 26 Jessica will be making a special announcement of a brand new class coming up in July. We only put our site on sale two times a year, so don’t miss out on this GREAT savings opportunity! For all the info on the Summer Sale, Photoshop Fridays, blog hop, and the new class, just click here!

Off to finish off my new pattern! Be in next week with my freebie!

Hugs! Carina