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!

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!

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.

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Happy Haunting

October 28, 2009 by carina 1 Comment

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Just dropping in for a sec to wish you a Happy Boo Day! It’s few days early, but my Halloween starts tomorrow with a Halloween luncheon with my girls, Siri’s first Kindergarten Halloween Parade, and of course, trick-or-treating on the 31st. Plus, if you haven’t checked out my studio site recently, I’ve done a couple of updates! If you need a peek at some of the Love Nest papers, go here. I’ve had people tell me they were able to find the paper pad at Hobby Lobby and a couple of people tell me that it was already sold out! So be sure and drop by there if you want to snag it! Happy Haunting!

Dress Design for Shabby Apple dresses

October 27, 2009 by carina 35 Comments

I saw this contest and as I’ve started designing for our first fabric photo shoot, I decided, “What the hey!?” So here’s my entry to the Shabby Apple Dress Contest.

Boooonnnuusss (That is me singing it. Unfortunately you can’t get the full effect via blog.): I’m using fabrics from my new line CoquetteTM for Northcott. It hasn’t hit shops yet so this is a first peek at 3 of the fabrics in the line. This simple-straightforward dress is 50s retro meets modern girl. A little bit of June Cleaver (a flirty flowing skirt). A little bit contemporary (the chic, updated snug “on-the-neck” collar). A whole lot of feminine (an empire waistline and little puffed sleeves with piping)! It’s simple, sweet, and oh so preppy to be sure.

I can see myself racing around on errands or picking up the kids at school in this little sweet thing or just hanging around the house. Throw on a cardigan and take it to work! I’m showcasing 3 different color/fabric ideas here and I’d love to see which you like best. I have my favorite but it’s a secret! Even if these don’t make the contest, there’s a good chance you’ll see these come Coquette’sTM release. Enjoy!

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Have a favorite? Tell me! Read more

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!

A Happy Find – Lonny Magazine

October 20, 2009 by carina 1 Comment

A very happy and accidental stumble as I searched for a few new things for my home…I ran into this FABULOUS magazine that is completely DIGITAL! It’s a fantastic mix of Blueprint and Domino (both of which I still sorely miss!). They even do a nice little feature on Deborah Needleman who was the former editor-and-chief of Domino. Lonny has tons of great ideas for your home and (my favorite part) if you like something, you simply click on it and it takes you to the site. Talk about shopping easy! I was clicking away because I’ve been looking for….well, too many things to list here.

Happy shopping for me!

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.

ABC Book Project-Early Project Mania

August 25, 2009 by carina 4 Comments

It’s the season of change. I’ve been feeling it more and more as my oldest child heads to kindergarten. It seems even more imperative to capture these fleeting moments, and what better way than with an ABC photo book of my little darlings. It seems appropriate considering the time of year.

I like homemade ABC books because they are so personal. They capture a moment in time, and my children adore looking at themselves in a little hand-held book that seems made just for them. It also can be a valuable learning tool.

For this little project, I tried to accomplish two things. First, I wanted a new ABC book that included Felicity, my youngest daughter (I made one for Siri when she was a toddler). Second, I wanted to give Siri a tool to learn new words as she learns to read. I also wanted it to be fun, so the girls and I went on an “alphabet scavenger hunt” to gather the items we photographed.

img_6745_sm This hybrid project uses my ABC templates, which are 4” x 6” templates that you drop right on top of your photo, My Mind’s Eye’s Penny Lane Papers, and pink stamp ink, which I rubbed along the edges. The final book is 5” x 6.5” (that’s the size I cut the papers I mounted the photos on). I got the whole thing spiral bound at Office Max.

ABC books can be used for more than just learning the alphabet…try these fun ideas!
•    Capture a vacation using the alphabet. Not only will it be fun to figure out things to photograph using the alphabet, but the book will be fun to look at when you are finished!
•    Capture a child or family’s year using the ABC’s. It’s a great way to get a snapshot of your year!
•    Use the book as an opportunity to capture things that you love in your home. I made sure to include “red blankey” for Siri and “white blanky” for Felicity because these are their lovies. When do we ever take the time to capture these meaningful everyday items? In 10 or 20 years, long after those blankets are in rags, I know my children will be happy to have these photos.

A couple of helpful hints when taking photos for this project:
•   If you are taking pictures of your kids, a second adult is really helpful because one person can hand the items to the kids and one can photograph.
•   Remember you need lots of foreground/background…aka…empty space to fit your words and letters!
•   Take photos all with the same background for a cohesive look. I used a brick wall in front of my house. If doing a vacation book, you won’t necessarily want to do this so you can capture all parts of your vacation.
•   A mix of closeups and full shots make the book more dynamic and interesting.
•   Laminating your book makes it more durable for little hands.

Want to buy the template I used for this ABC Book? Go here:

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/shop/digital-kits/carina-gardner/_abc_book_/

To see the entire ABC book I made, visit my flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/carinagardner/sets/72157612650193775/

Want to see more Project Mania projects from me or anyone on the blog hop? Or want to join the blog hop? Go here.

Project Mania…An entire month of projects!

August 6, 2009 by carina 9 Comments

img_6708_sm We’re getting started a bit early here (Project Mania officially starts on September 1st!), but I wanted to make sure that everyone has a chance to participate! I’m giving everyone a head start here so that if you have any big projects that need starting or need to clear out your schedule to make way for some great projects in September, you have the time to!

This is a BLOG HOP! Here on my blog, I’ll be posting a plethora of new projects, tutorials, and free downloads to help inspire you. If YOU have been working on some things and want to share OR if you’ve needed a kick start, this is it! Time to get your hands dirty and get going! We all want to see what you’ve done! Whether it is scrapbooking related, sewing, home decor, home organization, crafts…if you’ve been meaning to do it, let’s get it done this September and post it on our blogs! You’ll definitely see plenty from me on these fronts all September.

So you think you want to share what you’re going to be doing September 2009? We’re starting a list right here! First thing you need to do is grab this html code and the little banner to put on your blog. It will relocate you back to this post for the most up-to-date list on blogs/websites participating in Project Mania.

Next, you need to send me the name of your blog and the link you want it to go to so that we can all drop by and see what kinds of things you are getting into! Send it to carina@diginirvana.com.

Here’s the list of everyone participating! Go visit and see what these Project Maniacs are up to!

Carina Gardner Studio (Me)

The Project Girl

Mean Mom Digital Productions

Brought to You By The Letter B

live laugh LOVE scrapbook

Life’s Little Moments

Naomi’s Space

Sophia’s World

My Creative Space

Making it Funky

June 24, 2009 by carina 3 Comments

I got two gorgeous old frames at Emily Jane a week ago and decided they needed to be “funkied” up. So I painted them pink and love them! Siri drew me two sketches so I can display her artwork. The sketches are sweet and just right for these frames. Right now they are in the living room, but they could also move the girl’s room because of the color.

I was actually hoping to have time this week to dig into my own products and work on a digiscrap book…but, *sigh* I don’t think it will be happening this week. I’ve been working on a big project (I’m jumping up and down with anticipation of telling my little secret!) that I can’t reveal QUITE yet. Soon…so soon! How’s that for a clifthanger?

Bright Eyes

June 14, 2009 by carina 2 Comments

Yesterday during lunch, Josh had his computer on the kitchen table and Siri was singing, “I Need a Hero.” She only knows the song because of Shrek so that got us wondering who sang the original (which I love). Turns out it is Bonnie Tyler. We were both surprised and Josh brought up the YouTube Video. So, of course, I decided we needed to check out the Total Eclipse of the Heart Music Video too. It’s one of my favorite songs and has now led to this post which is now a “Where’s Waldo” of the Total Eclipse Music Video.

Read my list to get a very important and completely RELEVANT visual list. I think I said “WHAT?!!???!!!” every five seconds while we watched this video. My favorite moment? When several swimmers get splashed with water from the side. Very relevant to the song, of course.

Warning: The is not an all inclusive list of the horror flick you are about to watch!

Here’s the play by play: Cue the music candles, romantic wind blowing sheer curtain, moon, and then…possessed man with the “bright eyes,” school boys (which oddly enough are shown when she says “dream of something wild), swimmers with water splashing on them, dancing ninjas, fencing, dancing rockers, football players, flipping gymnast, a porn moment, possessed satanic choir, ballet cavemen, a winged cherub molesting Bonnie Tyler, and last but not least, an EXTREMELY creepy guy (also possessed) that shakes hands with Bonnie Tyler.