Patience, patience

February 22, 2011 by carina 1 Comment

The “patience, patience” is more to myself than anyone else. Josh always has said I’m impatient.

I guess I am.

I’ve been dying to spill all the work that has been going on in my studio for the last month and a half. We have been busy, busy, busy putting together a line of children’s sewing patterns due out in the next month. Fingers crossed I will be able to officially let you in on all the good news, but for now, all I have are little peeks into the process.

Today we took photos for one of the patterns and the photo to the left is the little clutch that goes with the one of the dresses. Both of my girls have been playing with their versions today (Thankfully even the “sample” versions are still great play things for my girls.)

Somehow the photo shoot today has made me more excited than usual to “spill the beans” on this new venture.

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Here’s a few things I’ve learned so far about the wonder of putting together sewing patterns:

* It takes a lot more time than I had any idea…by the time I have proofed it, Jamie’s proofed it, the printer’s proofed it, and then I have proofed it again…wow.
* I spend an awful lot of time looking for props for the photo shoots.
* Much longer than the actual photo shoot.
* I learned that it’s much better just to ask on facebook and the “ask and ye shall receive” effect happens.
* I combed antique shops for the eclectic tea set I put together for today’s photo shoot.
* You can barely see it in the final photo.
* I don’t care because I adore the silly set so much now.
* Antique shops make me think of more patterns I wish I had time to make, but don’t at the moment. Sigh.
* A flower shop has passed through my house.
* I have completely enjoyed having that many fresh flowers in my home.
* I have learned to easily tear apart my living room in 10 minutes or less and put it back together in the same amount of time.
* Siri likes it when I do this because it means she can use her roller blades in the only open space in the house.
* I can sew together samples faster than I had any idea I could at ridiculous hours into the night.
* I’m having so much fun that I’ve having a hard time pulling myself away from my sewing machine.
* Which means my house is a perpetual mess.
* And my studio is much worse.

Excited to show you more very soon!

XOXO, Carina

P.S. All the fans on my facebook page will be getting a new mini digi kit (yet to be revealed) once we hit 120o fans. Have you joined the page yet?

Quilting With Kids

February 17, 2011 by carina 8 Comments

Tuesday, I spent the afternoon in Siri’s first-grade class making a quilt with the students for the Arts Night Fundraiser. As it turns out, even first-graders can quilt…and quilt well!

Turns out that making a quilt has all kinds of math applications too (shocking! educational AND fun!). We looked for patterns and shapes (parallelogram, anyone?). After laying out the quilt, each student sewed together two blocks and then they helped piece together several rows.

You’ve got to love the kids’ reactions to the sewing machine…especially if they have never sewn before. Some were obsessed with seeing how fast they could make it go (we called it “zooming”) and others were trying to figure out how the thread worked it’s way into the fabric. All were obsessed with the string going at the top (really?). The magic of being a first-grader again!

If you want to make this simple quilt, the dimensions are 6.5″ x 12.5″ triangles to create (once sewn) 12″ x 12″ blocks (two triangles to a block). It is 7 blocks long and 6 blocks wide with a 4″ border (4.5″ cut for seam allowance). It is approximately a twin-sized quilt.

I’m just finishing up the binding and this baby will be ready for Arts Night! Once it’s finished I’ll give you sneak peek of it before it goes up for auction!

Haunted Paper in Action

September 29, 2010 by carina 1 Comment

My neighbor Tausha does these incredible gift shows and she used my Haunted™ Paper Collection when putting together her goodies. It’s so cute, and I was totally inspired. If you are in Salt Lake, you can check out her booth at the Jenny Gochnur Autumn Art Show (At the Holladay City Building at 4580 S 2300 E), which starts tonight and goes until Friday (I believe 6pm-9pm Wed, 9am-9pm Thurs, and 9am-5pm Fri). Check out Tausha’s cute booth if you get a chance!

How to Make a Butterfly Chandelier-Free Download

September 2, 2010 by carina 31 Comments

I made this fun little chandelier for my girls’ room a month ago using my Back to Basic’s digital line. It’s been a cute addition to their room, and it was pretty easy to make. Check out the tutorial below.

Want to cut it with your silhouette machine (or any other machine that cuts Illustrator files?). Download the ai file here (not for commercial use or resale).It’s already set up with 6 butterflies to a sheet.

ILLUSTRATOR FILE DOWNLOAD

If you want a pdf version of all six butterflies already setup for you (if you need to cut them out by hand), don’t worry! I’ve hooked you up too.

PDF FILE DOWNLOAD

Download the tutorial with instructions here:

How to Brighten a Skimpy Wreath

July 15, 2010 by carina

I love a white wreath on a black door and I found a really skimpy wreath marked down at my local craft store. Luckily there was also a few white flowers marked down. If you want a cheap wreath (and don’t want to create one from scratch), this is the best way to go!

Start with a wreath with the colors in it you want. I liked this wreath but I wanted something fuller.

I bought these big white flowers (2 bunched) on clearance and simply hot glued them to fill it in.

Easy, instant wreath! It’s different than anyone else’s and so much fuller!

Summer Favorite Friday

July 2, 2010 by carina 2 Comments

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It’s been a long time since I’ve done a Favorite Friday, but I need to get back to it because I’ve seen so many things that I love, love, love recently. Never read a Favorite Friday before? You can check them out here.

What’s Fav Friday all about? It’s stuff I’ve found, oggled over, loved, or bought. Things that have been designed well or things that make life a little more beautiful. Here’s my five for the week:

1-Custom Decorative Tile by ioanab on etsy. I’ve been searching etsy alot recently…even bought a few goodies for my studio. This one is so sweet!

2-Hi. I’m in love with you. ok. by adamcohn249 on etsy. I’m always a sucker for these bold graphic prints. This one is so…honest. Okay, I’m in love with you too!

3-Colefax Chair in Green Geo from Ballard Designs. I’ve been trying to decide on living room chairs for, well, since we moved in. These have been at the top of my list forever. I might have to take the plunge soon because the more me seeie, the more me likie.

4-Battery Paper Lanterns from Pier 1 Imports. I just bought these for a summer night party in our backyard (for which I still have not planned). I saw them displayed in the store on the edges of the umbrella over a dining table. It was too cute.

5-Lonny Magazine is a digital magazine that I’ve mentioned before. It’s my replacement for Domino Mag which tanked when the recession hit. It has a youthfulness and style that my other magazines haven’t been able to give me. A new issue is up (thank goodness!).

Hope you have a wonderful 4th of July this weekend! We are going out of town for a little r&r.

Old School Fun-Paint and Play in a Cardboard Box

June 21, 2010 by carina 1 Comment

I bought a dresser last week and, of course, the best part is that it came in a box. After playing with it for a week inside, we dragged it outside to paint it and let the neighborhood play in it.

They get to use their creativity and it’s free…man, I love a good box!

Also a shout out to everyone taking Jessica Sprague and my course: The Art of Digital Design today! It’s week 5 and you are stuck with me (whaaahaaaaa)! Excited for all the fun we’re going to have this week!

Just a Bit of Love From Me to You

June 13, 2010 by carina 3 Comments

I love peonies. They make me SOOOO happy. One of my friends told me once that when she has flowers in her house, she feels like she is motivated to keep it clean. I totally agree. Who wants a mess around these beauties? So at least my kitchen is clean:). I probably ought to buy flowers for the rest of the house.

Hope you are having a happy day too.

How to Change a Skirt into a Dress

June 4, 2010 by carina 4 Comments

IMG_2549 copy

IMG_2509 copy I found these darling skirts at Gymboree clearanced out. So of course, the only sizes left were 9 and 10…a bit big for a 3 and 6 year old (and I wasn’t about to let these bad boys sit idly in a closet for a few years!). So I made these skirts into dresses.

With just a bit of ribbon and a giant flower (I got mine from The Lace Place), these skirts become dresses for my girls. Here’s what you’ll need to do a project like this:

+ 1/2 yard to 1 yard of ribbon that matches or contrasts your skirt (I went with the pink satin ribbon)

+ 1 yard of ribbon for a bow or silk flower

+ large safety pin

+ Fray check

+ small, squirmy child to try it all on

1. Fit the skirt to your child. Most likely you’ll need to bring it in a little. I’m not the kind to pick apart the whole thing and put it back together. I just turn it inside out and sew an inch (or whatever) into the seam. I don’t even sew the length of the dress! I just taper off after a couple of inches.

2. Cut the ribbon in 1/4 to 1/6 lengths and fit to your child ( you’ll need 2 lengths for each “sleeve”).

3. Sew the ribbon into the skirt wrong side out (You’ll do this four times…one at each point the skirt and ribbon connect). Sew at least two lines of stitches. Put fray check on the raw edges. IMG_2528 copy

4. Put the safety pin through the large flower or bow you’ve made. Then attach it to the dress. I like the safety pin because then you can take it off when you wash the dress or use it as an accessory on other clothing.

I think this project took me an hour from start to finish. Modeling for me is my darling niece Lola (I think my own kids have had it with me and the blog modeling!). She was actually excited about wearing Felicity’s dress (that’s a welcome change!).

Sometimes We Like Alternate Wheels

June 3, 2010 by carina 4 Comments

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Our current wheels of choice. It’s too nice outside to be caught indoors with my computer. Apparently, Siri thinks so too.

Find My Free “Stuff” Easier

May 31, 2010 by carina 2 Comments

Recently, I included a link above called “free downloads.” If you have clicked on it recently, then you know that I’ve now made it a little easier for you to find the free patterns, free downloads, and free printables on this site!

This new little page can be accessed from the top navigation bar (free downloads) or the blog’s side bar (the lovely photo of the Coquette™ flower in that cute little red-head’s hair). It doesn’t include ALL the free stuff that you can find on this site…just my favorites! And with EQ7 in hand (it just showed up this week!), I’m going to have a few more patterns before long for you (I have certainly gotten into the spirit of quilting since going to Quilt Market)!

And if you didn’t see the Design House Digital sale, yet, I’d recommend heading over. Super big kits are on sale for just $1! Have fun!

Chinese New Year Party

May 30, 2010 by carina

This is a flashback post:)! You know how I mentioned that I was going to try and dig up a few things I MEANT to post about but never did? So here’s one of them! These photo are from my Annual Chinese New Year Party. I used to throw a CNY when we lived in Minnesota (in fact, Aimee and Bryant (pictured in the center) were the first attendees of my Chinese New Year Party seven years ago in MN!). This was my first attempt to throw this party in our new, little house in Utah. We managed to squish 20 people into our tiny living room. We moved out most of the furniture and put tables on the floor. It was tight, but cozy.

My cute husband bought me a darling set of dishes that was perfect for this party. I ended up making invitations, menu cards, and and place cards to match (I should dig those out and turn it into a digi kit, huh?).

I spent the day cooking the way my mom taught me (She just recently came into town and fed us our favorite dishes). My sister came over to help cook and manned the camera during the party (thanks, sis!).

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My favorite thing about a party like this? Getting to know new people and catching up with friends. We always invite a mix of new and old friends to a party because it adds variety to the group dynamic.

I’ve already started thinking about next year’s party. Chinese, anyone?

How to Make an Easy Summer Wreath

May 28, 2010 by carina 9 Comments

I think wreaths are one of those things that are really easy to make especially when you can’t find exactly the kind of wreath you want (In my case, an all green summer wreath). Of course, I think the materials are pretty expensive (which is what keeps me from making all of my wreaths), but if you can find a fab sale, then making a wreath is easy (and did I mention fun?). I found such a sale and stocked up with some summer and fall stuff to make a couple of wreaths.
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I like to keep it pretty simple. My summer wreath is made of four types of stems but they are all varying shades of green (so I can’t screw up). Then, I just layer them.

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I just put a little hot glue on the bottom of the stem as I push it into the wreath. Sometimes I put a little hot glue on top, but not always because I want some of the branches to fall out to give it volume.

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The layers for this summer wreath are 1)boxwood leaves, 2) lime green olive branches, 3) green berries, and 4) mini green apples. Group the green apples together (2 or 3 together).

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This wreath took me less than an hour (how do I know? Because I dropped Siri off at dance and finished it before I picked her up again).

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And there you go! An fun and custom wreath for your door!

BTW, if you haven’t taken a look at the sidebar, you’ll notice I now have a new “grab it” button! Please really take it and share it!

Speaking of sharing, if you have any great wreath ideas, please leave your comments here with links to wreaths you’ve made!!! I love hearing what you have to say and seeing what you are making too!

Felicity Fabric Flower Pattern-Free Download

May 24, 2010 by carina 33 Comments

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I’ve been making these fabric flowers for a couple of weeks now and named the little pattern after my sweet little red-head. I first made this pattern for Siri’s ruffle dress that I’ve been working on (pinwheel and pearls in the center), but I also like it with the big button on this shirt featuring Love Nest™ and this cute headband featuring Coquette™. It’s pretty easy to make and super versatile!

The headband uses both the little and large petal patterns and the flower on the shirt just uses the large pattern. I can see a whole string of teeny-tiny flowers hanging like flags in my office. I’ll have to get to work on that!

Think shirts, headbands, clips, and belts. This little flower would be cute on all of those! Okay, enough gabbing! Here’s the easy-peasy instructions for you. Download by clicking on the image below!

Happy sewing!

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Quilt Market Day 2 | Celebrity Sighting

May 22, 2010 by carina 3 Comments

Here’s a recap of today’s celebrity sightings (in between the many meetings I had today!):

Jen Allyson, Heather Baily, me, and Deena Rutter.

With Lizzy House

I went Anna Marie’s book signing at Treadle Yard Goods in St. Paul. She’s really as nice in person as she is on her blog.

Couldn’t help myself! I had to take a photo in the Summit neighborhood while I was on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.

I had a little stop at Cafe Latte while on Grand Avenue. I got a little treat take home via airplane for my sweetie.

If you can’t tell I’m a total foodie. The people to the side of me could only stare at me taking pictures of my food! Sorry folks! I document my food if it looks this good.