New Year’s Resolutions-A Day Late
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!
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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.
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: 
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!
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’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.
Just because Project Mania ends today doesn’t really mean
You’ll notice a little update on the blog and studio site. Specifically, check out the background pattern which will be printed in fabric (
When walking in, I might have felt like it was the state fair (Here’s my annual reference to the 
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 
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 
This hybrid project uses 
These are some pictures from the brunch afterwards. I wanted to highlight the little cards I made for the table with Grace’s name. They are so simple and I used the
We had dinner with Liz and Tim (my sister-in-law and brother-in-law) tonight. I love when we plan a last minute Sunday dinner at their house because it is whatever the two families can throw together from their combined pantries. Sometimes it is pancakes and sausage while other nights, we are able to put on a serious Sunday feast. Tonight, Liz supplied the chicken and grilling team (go Tim!) and I provided the marinade. It’s a just a simple citrus and herb combo that I’d recommend letting the meat sit in, but as this was a quick get together, Tim just dropped it on the chicken and grilled away!
Carina’s Citrus Marinade
I don’t care what anybody says, Disney knows how to do it right! My kids had a magical experience which translates into magical for mommy. Yes, I have COMPLETELY BOUGHT INTO THE DISNEY MARKETING MACHINE! I acknowledge it! It’s know I’m being sucked in, but I just can’t help myself! The packaging is too cute (see there are pitfalls to being a designer!)
And, well, what more can say about this vacation? Disneyland is definitely a place to be experienced. We didn’t have a problem with long lines (but then, we used the
on the airplane. I also was inspired by 
It’s just another Monday and my family is still recovering from a weekend at Bear Lake. We’re also recovering from a lingering virus that managed to take captive the last two members of our family this weekend (Felicity and myself). I managed to get over my fever and aches after a day, but Felicity has had a raging fever for several days. I just took her to the doctor today and the virus has managed to give her a double ear infection. Great. And just 3 days away from our vacation to Disneyland.
Be sure and join Jen and me for our Chat tomorrow at 2peas. 8pm CST in the 
Just as Siri, Felicity, and I had finished whipping up the vanilla pudding for our Puddin’Pie, our next door neighbor left this lovely green thing on our porch. I just looked at it and said, “Well, I guess I’m making zucchini bread.”
This recipe was taken from 
Put together vanilla pudding as instructed on the package. Pour into crust and let sit in the fridge for an hour. Top with Cool Whip and cut Strawberries/Berries on top.
What gives this soup all it’s flavor is roasted cauliflower. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. On a baking pan hand toss the cauliflower head (roughly chopped), olive oil (drizzled over it), salt, pepper, and 2 springs of rosemary. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Be sure and move around the cauliflower half way. You’ll get a nice brown color. on the edges. While the cauliflower is in the oven, saute 2 tbs of olive oil, garlic, and onion in a large pot for about 5 minutes. Add the thyme (chopped). Pull the cauliflower out of the oven and add to the pot. Saute all together for another 5 minutes.
Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. I sometimes like to let it sit and simmer at this point for about 20-30 minutes so the cauliflower gets soft. Sometimes I’ll let it sit longer or short though depending on when I started the pot. Add the half and half (or for a creamier soup use cream). Take portions of the soup and blend in a blender or a hand mixer until you get a smooth consistancy.
Josh and I spent the weekend in Park City. I was doing a site check of a property (The Canyons). Talk about a wonderful (and very full) weekend. We had dinner at Lookout Cabin on the mountain. The weather was delightful and the seven course dinner wasn’t bad either (they certainly take care of you!). The view was a feast in and of itself!
There is something really fun about sitting with 45 people that you have never met before for a dinner like this. We got to know about 10 of the people surrounding us pretty well after 4 hours. The ambience and the company made the pink sunset even more beautiful and the food that much tastier!
I also have to show of few more photos of the table setting and view. Very beautifully done!
Are you drooling yet?
Also check out this amazing cheese tasting held by 
These yummy little sausage sandwichs were being made by Tillamook and had a thin slice of yellow squash on them. Clever, huh? And OH so yummy!
We got home to our kids completely exhausted (so much for a relaxing weekend away!) but very happy (happy to see our darlings and happy to have had a weekend to ourselves).
4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. In Minnesota, we always went to Bunker Beach during the day and landed in Stillwater for the spectacular firework show over the Croix River. Since we moved to Utah over a year ago, we are still trying to “find” our 4th of July tradition. This year, we went to Toole to be with my in laws for a BBQ. The kids had a blast and Uncle Nate did a fantastic job of lighting off the fireworks. They also liked the baby preying mantises we found on the porch.
My Friday is feeling a lot like a Saturday:). Working on some designs today—specifically finishing a mega kit I’m working on called Sproutlets…It’s like 6 kits or more wrapped into one big kit! After I’m finsihed submitting this to 2peas today, I’ll be all set for a fun-filled, laid back 4th of July weekend! I have dinner with my bestfriend Jen tonight who is in town from San Fransico (always a treat!). Our favorite hang out is the Cheesecake Factory (the avacado rolls have some kind of addicting drug in them). Tomorrow, we’ll be heading to Toole for a BBQ with my in-laws. But most of the time, well, I’ll just be chilling with my little girls and having a slow weekend—just the way I like it! Hoep you have a Happy 4th of July!
Well, it was a rainy weekend for us in Salt Lake. Once again, we had to postpone going camping, which really turned out to be okay as I had a big design submission to deal with, a work pool party, errands, errands, and more errands, and a Father’s Day dinner to boot (my in-laws included). So it was a full (but as always) a fabulous weekend (because it was a weekend:)).
And, I probably wouldn’t have even blogged today, but I felt like it would have been an incredible injustice to my team to not post these FABULOUS layouts they made last week of the new Garden Vignettes collection. You’ll be able to buy it at 
outs. The first one is by Jenny, second, by Lori, third, by Yam, fourth, by Susan, and fifth by Katherine. These ladies really know how to make a layout! I am completely inspired by these and will probably be getting together my own mini album with the Garden Vignettes collection of my family’s last vaca or outing.
I just thought I would post these photos of my daughters and one of our friends’ daughter’s. We took take out to their property and I snapped these photos of the girls. We also went to the Movies in the Park, but managed to get rained out from Mama Mia.
You’ll also notice Siri’s little bird that we decorated. We were at the craft store and I found a couple of little birds for 69 cents. The girls each got one and with the glue gun out, Siri HAD to decorate hers. I love the glue gun!
The entire white table was painted red, blue, and green. Not on purpose, of course. She’s just, ummm, able to make that paint go far. (Honestly, this picture does NOT do it justice!) My favorite part was that she had taken several of her paintings and made them into this ball of paper (think PeeWee Herman tin foil ball). It was actually very inventive, and I see sculpture in her future:).
We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. The highlight for the kids was the Memorial Day breakfast we attend in the neighborhood at the church. There’s a 5K (we didn’t participate), pancake breakfast, and one of the neighbors drove the kids around in this…
lives in our neighborhood, and he told me about it. If you have little kids, you should seriously think about entering this giveaway! Wait, did I already mention I love this bike? lol
I’ve picked up the crochet needle this week. I usually start to crochet again out of sheer necessity: I can’t live without a crocheted wash cloth. Seriously, they are the BEST for washing dishes and our other one is seeing it’s final days (something that happens often since we don’t own a dishwasher). I’ve never even tried crocheting anything else. One of my graphic design students a couple of years ago made Siri a crochet octopus (known at our house as “Purpie” because of his lovely purple hue). It really is one of the most adorable stuffed animals (is that what you call a crocheted animal?). Maybe one day I’ll get away from the crochet washcloth and move on to grander and nobler projects. lol.
In other news, this week Siri graduated from preschool and even had a class program in lovely red gowns and hats.
Our family had a new addition this week and I haven’t had a chance to blog about it! My sister-in-law Liz had her third little angel, Grace Judy, this week. She is such a sweet little thing. I always forget how small newborns are! I took pictures of the new little one the day after she was born.
Here she is with her big sister Caroline and cousin Siri. Siri was VERY fascinated by the whole thing. The nurse put the BIGGEST dob of Elmer’s glue on Gracie’s head to keep the bow on. I mean ridiculous. I did take a picture of it…but it also looked ridiculous so I refrained from posting it. I would also like a big thank you from Liz from refraining from posting pictures of her the day after she had a baby (which by the way would just make you angry anyway because she looks so good).
And last night when we had parfaits again, Siri declared the parfaits inedible due to the bananas. So, I guess my attempts to get some fruit in this dessert are now thwarted. Besides, Felicity really only eats the “cream” part anyway. Like daughter, like father. Well, maybe next time we’ll just make ice cream parfait and call it good! Then everyone will eat the cream!