Fall ModBee is here and in a world were we all social distance, an online quilting bee is my happy place! This time we have prerecorded classes and I’m thrilled because I was able to give you views of my desk as I sew! This time I am teaching my Scrappy Squares quilt. The pattern comes with the course and I show you a smaller version where I make the border like the middle of the quilt (I love it!).
ModBee will be held from Oct 22-24, 2020 with access to all the classes via a Facebook private group. I hope you have fun! can’t wait to see you there!
To join my VIP group for free, go here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY. I regularly RESEND files so be sure to sign up so that you are getting all my free tutorials!
I sent this little freebie to the Silhouette VIP Group! To join my VIP group for free, go here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY. I regularly RESEND files so be sure to sign up so that you are getting all my free tutorials!
Hi guys! The last month I have been making a Strawberry and Leaf Quilt. Guess what? It’s done! Well, almost. I’m going to machine quilt it and bind it this weekend. Here’s my Live Video on putting it together. I’ve also linked the blocks as well below!
Want to get PDFs for all my projects? You have to become one of my Fabric VIPS! It’s free and you can join here:JOIN VIP.
This video on putting it together was done during my Fabric Live Video (Live video times below).
Today’s tutorial on my YouTube channel walks us through how to make my Mini Table Top Easter Village!
The Mini Easter Village is perfect for putting on a cake plate or as a centerpiece to decorate for the holiday. It adds decorative flair to any Easter display. First, you can give little bunnies adorable places to live. Then, choose from two houses or a bunny den that lovingly overlook the cute Easter garden in this colorful vignette.
Next, which bunny will live in the house decorated with Easter eggs? And which bunny will get the double-decker house with the round windows? Which will dwell in the little domed den that matches perfectly with the nature around it?
But, oh no! The bunnies will surely eat the garden! Finally, adding the picket fence is the perfect finishing touch to keep the leafy greens safe! But will it be enough?
I LOVE halloween, and it is the perfect opportunity to use our cutting machines to make the most fun and unique items to decorate our homes! This mini skeleton shelf sitter is such a cute halloween make, and by adding the bones cut from glow-in-the-dark paper, a square of vellum behind the eyes, and popping a LED tea light inside, it becomes a little spooky too!
As I was putting the first one together I had the idea that three skeletons in a row could become a take on the three wise monkeys; the three wise skellies! Just a little manipulation to the placement and construction of the hands and arms and the were transformed into ‘see no evil’, ‘hear no evil’, and ‘speak no evil’ skeletons! To achieve the different arm configurations, I simply cut a few extra pieces and played around with them until I like the positioning.
Originally designed to sit directly on a shelf, I mounted them onto a single box. It is an enlarged version of one of the I Love America boxes, stretched until it was big enough for the skeletons to sit comfortably side by side. I then added a sign in black vinyl layered on glow-in-the-dark-paper in the lovely CG Posh font, and a stretched label from the CG Pretty Shapes Dingbat set.
The finished group can sit anywhere in the house: shelf, mantle, or just about any piece of furniture. For an even more fun idea, the boxes could be mounted directly to the wall with removable picture fixings. I think they look best after dark. What do you think?
All the cut files used are by Carina Garner and Mini Lou from the Silhouette Design Store:
My name is Janet Packer, a passionate papercrafter from Aberdeen, Scotland. My background is in education and technical instruction and I love to share crafting techniques, new products, and design sources. My craft blog, Crafting Quine, is brimming with ideas for card making, paper craft and home decor, many using the Silhouette Cameo. You’ll find hints and tips galore, as well as step-by-step project instructions, and crafting inspiration with a thrifty bias. For updates and pretty crafting pics follow me on Instagram.
As soon as summer ends, I get right into fall decorating mode because Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year! First on my decorating to-do is our dining room tablescape and I’m so thrilled how well this DIY placemat project turned out!
Now I’ll just need to make a whole set! Making the fabric placemat was the hardest part but that’s because I am a sewing newbie. My favorite part of this project was adding glow-in-the-dark heat transfer vinyl for the dots and spiders! Anything glow-in-the-dark screams Halloween, right?
Hello from Southern California! I’m Christine, the gal behind Studio Xtine, where I share fun project tutorials, free printables, and a tiny glimpse of my favorite things like donuts, tacos, and more donuts. Ingrained in me is a deep desire and joy to create, which is why I love my Silhouette machines! When I’m not crafting, you can find me, my hubby, and my two munchkins hiking, devouring poke bowls, and strapping on a GoPro for our adventures.
The kids and I spent a day at Universal Studios this summer. It was the first time for Charlie (my 5 year old) and the second time for the Felicity, Siri, and myself. Here are our top 5 things that we loved at Universal Studios this year! Make sure and watch through the end to see how lucky Felicity is!
This last weekend I hosted a bridal shower for my sister-in-law. It was a fun get together and I spent the week getting together some fun pieces for the shower!
All of the paper pieces can be found in my Silhouette Shop. There are a lot of different party pieces here so I hope you are inspired by the table scapes and decor!
Clearly, I was inspired by succulents for this party. The actual starting point though was the taco bar. Because there was a Mexican theme in the food, I wanted to carry through a bit of “desert” into the decor.
(The taco bar included copycat recipes from Cafe Rio for their shredded chicken, black beans, and rice. I also included guacamole, cilantro, limes, chips, tortillas, and salsa.)
I stuck to bottled drinks and water to keep things simple.
I have instructions on how to put together my basic succulent in a video at the end of this post. You can also go directly to my youtube channel for it. You can subscribe directly to the channel by clicking here.
One of my favorite projects was this Succulent Wreath! I show you the wire wreath base and an in progress shot in the tutorial video below.
I also love how the topiaries turned out!
Below: Lacy Favor Cards for the gift!
Inspired to watch the video to see how to make these? I also included a few shots from the event as it was going on! I hope you are inspired for your next party!
I’m thrilled to announce the Eek Boo Shriek Blog Tour going on this week! Drop by each of these blogs to see all the fabulous things they are doing with my latest fabric line! What’s more is that on FRIDAY, you should drop back here for fun new announcement!
Hey you! Did you know that starting last week, I’m uploading a fabric related video EVERY week on Thursdays to my Youtube Channel. You can subscribe by just clicking on THIS LINK.
Last week, I showed you guys how to put together my Eek Boo Shriek 18 inch doll panel. This week I’m introducing you to the rest of the line. Take a look!
My new fabric line has started shipping, and I’ve gotten requests for the downloadable instructions (with illustrations) for the new 18 inch doll panel. So here it is!
I also decided to make a video of this one because I wanted to walk you through how I make this panel. I hope you enjoy! Make sure and subscribe to my youtube channel for more great sewing projects!
Sometimes I forget to tell you about projects I’m doing or have loved that are amazing! So here’s a ROUND UP of some favorite SPRINGTIME projects that you can get from my Silhouette Shop.
This week my Silhouette release continues with 2.25 in. x 3.25 in. cards. I’m really loving this size! This week the cards are “layered.” I cover a lot of different themes—wedding, baby, spring to name a few. These Layered Cards are the same size as my Accordion Shadow Box Cards that were released last week. Because of this, I also have envelopes that match up to these cards.
I also have two videos below that will help you make these cards and envelopes. Please subscribe to the youtube channel if you are interested in these tutorials. Many times I am putting up these videos the week before the products are released so you can see what is coming out (your very own sneak peek!)
If you get one of each (layered card or accordion card + an envelope), you will find that it’s a very nice tight fit. Don’t use pop dots because the card will not fit. I may have an envelope come out that allows for a thicker card (tell me on instagram @carinagardnerpapercrafts if you want something like that!).
This week is the last one I’ll be releasing Valentine’s so I’m going out with a bang! I also decided to double dip. These pencil cards are not only my final Valentine’s release but are also Felicity’s class gifts. She’s going to write on each of them, and I’m sure we’ll add a few quotes like “I’m write for you.”
TIP 1: When you are putting these together, I recommend putting your pencil through the slits FIRST and then gluing your pieces into place (see photo below).
There are several designs were two or more papers have slits that match up. Use the slits as your guides. Place the pencil through the slits first and then pull open the edges of the top paper to glue it into place.
TIP 2: I LOVE pop dots with these designs! And glitter. And stamping ink on the edges. I kept them all simple on purpose. So you can jazz them up or use them as a kid activity.
TIP 3: Add a printable. Simply use whatever word processing software you use and write up a cute phrase in a cute font. Print, cut and attach to these Valentine’s cards!
And in case you missed it (haha), I’ve been releasing Valentine’s for the last month. In fact, we have been releasing Valentine’s for both CGInc. and MiniLou for the past several weeks. You can check both shops here:
I’m SO excited about the new village I designed this year for Christmas! It’s called Santa’s Glitter Village and you can download all of it from my Silhouette shop! You can add it to any pieces you have from my original Christmas Village or build these separately! There is even a cool download showing you how I made the snowy centerpiece the either village is made on. You can use that for this village too!
This year it is all about GLITTER! I have a great tutorial for you on how you can put together below. I do NOT have individual tutorials on these houses because many of them are made THE SAME. The tutorial I have below is for the Sugar Plum Fairy’s House and most of the buildings are built in this way. There are also extra instructions below for pieces I thought you might like a little extra help with. So scroll on down to see if there is something there that will help you!
This year, the Santa Glitter Village includes: Santa’s Cottage, Candy Cane Place, a Chapel, Elf Dwelling, Reindeer Stables, Santa’s Tower, Snow Bird House, Sugar Plum Fairy’s House, Tiny Mistletoe House, and the Winter House. Many of these come with openings at the bottom for an electric tea light (or two). The smaller houses do not because a tea light would not fit:).
You can find ALL my tutorials on my main Silhouette landing page here: https://carinagardner.com/silhouette/. I noticed that when I went back to look at previous projects in the Silhouette store, that some of the links are broken. That landing page is your end all for ALL of my tutorials. You can also watch many tutorials I have filmed on my YOUTUBE channel.
I hope you have a wonderful time building Santa’s Glitter Village! Every piece is unique and sweet! I think I’m placing mine on my piano this year.
Happy crafting!
XOXO-Carina
Supplies
-Glitter (we used fine glitter, but you could use more course glitter)
-Mod Podge (we used gloss, but you could use any kind)
-foam brush
-1 piece of copy paper
-SVG card cutouts
Instructions
Note: These instructions work for all of the houses in Santa’s Glitter Village. At the end of the tutorial there are instructions on how to put a few of the more intricate pieces together.
1. Cut out all SVGs provided in the file.
2. Before putting the house together, decide which pieces you want to glitter. I did mine on the green scallop pieces of roof, peppermint swirls, and snow.
3. Once you have all of the glitter pieces and supplies, take a piece of copy paper and fold it in half (this makes it easier to put the extra glitter back in the jar later). This paper will be your working surface to catch the extra glitter and Mod Podge.
4. Next, take your foam brush and dip it in Mod Podge. Cover any area you want glittered with a thin layer of Mod Podge. Put the copy paper underneath to contain any Mod Podge and glitter that goes over the edge.
5. After the whole piece is covered in Mod Podge, take the glitter and sprinkle it over the area the Mod Podge covers. Be very generous with the glitter so it covers everything. Remember, you will be able to put the extra back in the container so make sure everything is covered well.
6. To make sure the glitter to stays in place better, use your finger to tap the glitter lightly. This make sure more glitter adheres to the Mod Podge.
7. Wait for the Mod Podge to dry a few minutes, and tap off the excess glitter.
Tip: If you are worried about the glitter transferring too much, you can put another layer of Mod Podge on top. If you use gloss Mod Podge, the glitter wont lose it’s sparkle.
8. Once you’re done with the glitter, fold the copy paper with the glitter on the inside and pour the excess back into the container.
9. You’re done with the glitter, now onto how to put together the rest of the house!
10. To put the house together, first, take the facades and glue all of the embellishments to them.
11. Next, glue the facades to the side and front pieces.
12. Then, glue the tabs of the back and side pieces to the tabs of the bottom. It should form a “T” shape.
13. To make the house 3D, hot glue the tab on the side of the front piece to the side piece. Do this for all of the tabs until you have a house shape.
14. After the house is done, gather your roof pieces. Hot glue the scallop pieces to the roof piece. Make sure you overlap each scallop piece and switch off between colors as you glue. It’s best to estimate your spacing before your start glueing so the scallop pieces cover the roof evenly.
14. Next, add the long scallop piece to the side of the roof by glueing it on the underside of the roof.
15. Then add the roof by glueing one side, making sure it’s centered and the top creased is lined up.
16. The last thing to add is the chimney! Take the chimney piece and fold it into a box shape. Then, glue the tabs on the angled side to the roof.
Now you have the most adorable Fairy House for your Glitter Christmas Village!
Here’s a few more instructions on some of the parts that are specific to each piece.
Chimney on Santa’s Cottage:
Start by folding all of the score lines.
Next, glue the tab on the long side and glue it so it makes a box.
Then, Glue the tabs on the open part to the house.
Front Door piece on Chapel:
Start by adding all of the embellishments to the facade.
Then, glue the facade to the front/back piece.
Next, take the long bottom piece and glue the tabs to the front/back piece.
Add the roof/snow like you would for the other houses.
To finish, glue the front door piece to the front of the chapel.
Reindeer Stables:
Start by assembling the house.
Then, take the green piece and glue it to the bottom of the house. The green piece will cover the entire bottom of the house and then extends into a yard.
Next, glue the reindeer and tree tabs to the yard area.
Hello! Kelly here from Finding Time To Create. I absolutely love making paper crafts with my Silhouette CAMEO, so I jumped at the chance to use Carina’s fun Halloween designs this season.
I used designs both from this year’s tiny Halloween village set, and from last year’s Halloween haunted village set. It was fun to mix and match the two sets.
[photo: Halloween Village – Finding Time To Create]
I wanted these to catch your attention in the dark, so I made a couple of the houses with materials that would really pop when it’s dark.
I used vellum as my base for the spider house, which has an opening in the bottom for a battery-operated tea light. That spider on the door looks pretty creepy, don’t you think?
[photo: Spider house night – Finding Time To Create]
On the tiny village haunted house, I backed the windows with glow-in-the-dark sticker paper. It really makes those windows pop! (This house was my kids’ favorite.)
[photo: Glow in the dark sticker paper and glitter heat transfer accents – Finding Time To Create]
[photo: Tiny village haunted house – night – Finding Time To Create]
Glitter makes every paper craft better, so I also used glitter paper for some of the rooftops, and glitter heat transfer for the spider web and some window frames.
[photo: Spider house day – Finding Time To Create]
You may also notice I cut all the ghosts from vellum, and added a few cats from the cat house throughout the set.
This was such a fun project to make! Thanks for letting me share it with you!
These adorable box card were released in my Silhouette shop this week! They are so fun to give and receive. You can write an note on them or give them with a present. They fold flat and fit in an A2 envelope so you can mail them easily. They’re pretty simple to put together, and so fun to give! Below is the tutorial for how to put them together.
There are several designs hitting the store for these so be sure to always search MiniLou and box cards!
Instructions for putting together Foldable Box Cards
1. Cut out all SVGs provided in the file. Glue on all the accessories to the box as indicated in the photo.
2. Then, to make the core body of the box, fold the box together, and glue the tab on the inside and fold the flaps down.
3. Next, Take the inserts and fold them into a “Z” shape. Fold one tab backwards and one tab forward.
4. To attach the inserts, use a glue stick for the tabs and place it in the box without sticking the tabs to the sides. When you are gluing the tabs, make sure to keep it in the “Z” shape, so each tab has glue on the opposite sides of each other.
5. When you have the insert where you want it, fold the box flat so the tabs attach. Make sure the top and bottom line up as you do this.
6. Next, glue the second tab on the same way.
7. Add any embellishments, and you’ve got an adorable card to put in the mail!
I know it’s early September but Halloween is around the corner and I know I’m gearing up for some serious decorating. I’m releasing a Tiny Halloween Village, this week on Silhouette. I think you will love it, especially if you did last year’s Halloween Village. Yes, All the pieces in the new set WORK WITH the Halloween village from last year! So mix and match!
This set (as the name suggests) is a little smaller. Why you ask? Because it all fits neatly on 8.5 in. x 11 in. paper! Yep! No sizing down for the Silhouette Portrait users! Hooray!
I have a new video with the tutorial of how to put together each of these new Tiny Halloween pieces here!
Today is the start of our wonderful BlogHop with Riley Blake Designs for my new collection Posy Garden! I can’t wait for you to see all the amazing goodness that is about to be unveiled over the next two weeks! It’s going to be awesome!
Along with that! My new (and first!) eBook called Simply Modern Patchwork Quiltsgoes on presale today! Eeek! I’m so excited! It will release on August 15th in the Kindle Store on Amazon. I’ll add links here as soon as the presale goes live! I know we are doing a HEFTY discount for the presale so keep your eyes open for it!
***NOTE: It’s on PRESALE NOW! Go to Amazon to purchase it here. The presale price is $4.99. which is 50% off the regular price of $9.99 through AUGUST 15th when it becomes available! That’s less than 50 cents per pattern! Make sure and grab it during the presale period!
There are also four contributing pattern designers to the book including Amy Webb, Amanda Neiderhauser, Christine Cook, and Angie Tackett! These ladies did a fabulous job and I can’t wait for you to see what they have done!
As for the Bloghop, here is the list you are going to want to visit everyday! Come back to this post to link over to these ladies blogs!
I’ll also be reposting their projects over the next two weeks on instagram if you want to follow over there.
I’m so excited to see all their amazing projects! It’s going to keep myself from sewing all week!
Carina
Psst! If you are in Utah, make sure to come visit me at Elaine’s Quilt shop this weekend on August 6th! I’m teaching a free class in the morning and the Clean Star Quilt in the afternoon. My glamper will also be there to tour all day!
Looking back, I’m not sure I even did a blogpost on the Audrey Sewing Collection that premiered in the shop last month. It’s my first knit collection and includes 4 patterns for Misses and 4 patterns for Girls/Teens. The whole collection makes me pretty happy…easy-to-sew, easy-to-wear clothing.
So here’s my first hack with the collection. First of all, I’m a big fan of a summer dress or tunic (hence those lengths throughout the collection). Second, I’m a huge fan of a Maxi! For those of you who have already bought the sewing patterns, you can see that making a maxi seemed out of the question. There are already SO many pieces for you to tape together to make your pattern.
So here’s your hack. Simply add 28 inches of length to the front and back tunic pieces at the bottom. I’d also purchase an extra yard of fabric. Easy right? I don’t get all crazy about straight lines, ect. You just need the length. Longer is always better since you can hem it down.
The fabric you see pictured is Riley Blake’s new ikat knit in navy. I’ve made the short versions of this pattern before but never the maxi and it took me about an hour and a half to make. I used the Misses Style 3 Pattern and used a gold zipper I got from my local craft store.
We took these pictures near one of my favorite restaurants in Las Vegas (we were there for a toy show for my kids company MiniLou) called Eat. It’s a brunch place and the eggs benedict on the weekends is to die for. Or the cinnamon biscuits. Or the egg truffle sandwich. Or the…well, you get the picture.
You can check out the video where I show you how to put together the Style 3 zipper (It’s easier than it looks!) although I did manage to break 4 stretch needles on the zipper because I wasn’t careful about where I was going.
I like using a stretch interfacing when making this. It holds the zipper and fabric together nicely.
And that’s it! I plan on making this with several of the other Riley Blake knits. Comfortable summer clothing, here I come!
We started working on this collection in December. I’ve never been so ambitious before and tried to release 8 sewing patterns at once! But it was an idea that came from loving and wanting to produce a knit collection that was simple to sew and beautiful to wear. Easy enough of a concept….quite a bit more difficult to execute.
And I couldn’t have done it alone! My pattern production assistant worked tirelessly on this collection and made edit after edit as I pinned, cut, and tried to find the SIMPLIEST way to put these patterns together. I hope you love the results!
This is the first time I have released MISSES and TEEN sizing! You’ll notice that as my family changes in age, I find myself wanting to make what my own kids are wearing.
So here’s the run down on these patterns.
There are 3 styles of knit patterns. ALL are easy to make but Style 1 is the easiest and Style 3 the hardest. As you can guess, Style 2 is right in between the other two.
Style 1 is short in front and longer in the back. Style 2 is an A-line with a gusset in the back. Style 3 features a zipper in a yoke on the front. Each of these variations changes the look and styling of the patterns.
There are two lengths on each of the tunic patterns. There is a “blouse/tunic” version (shorter) and a “dress” version (longer). Here’s the deal: they are both LONG. These tunics are meant to be worn with leggings and if you are anything like me, I won’t wear leggings unless they cover my bottom! In the picture above, Felicity (white) is wearing the TUNIC length Style 3, Siri (yellow) is wearing the DRESS length Style 1, and I (stripes) am wearing the TUNIC length Style 2.
The sleeves are INTERCHANGABLE. There is a 3/4 length sleeve on Style 1, an elbow length sleeve on Style 2, and a cap sleeve on Style 3.
The patterns come in TWO sizes: Misses AND Girl/Teen. The Misses size include 4,6,8,10, and 12. The Girls sizes include 6,8,10,12,14. If you are a size 2 in Misses, you can easily move down to the 14 in Girls/Teen.
Did I mention the final two patterns are a Miss and Girl/Teen legging? Yep! SOOO simple to sew together since there is a single seam. We love using the Riley Blake knits for these!
I know some of you are probably afraid to work with knits, but it is a lot simpler than you would think! I have a few pointers for those of you getting started and made a couple of videos to make the process so much easier! Check them out below.
Here are a couple of “important” things that I always do when I start to work with knits:
Change my needle to a STRETCH needle. These can be bought for ALL brands of sewing machine and is meant for knits. This will make your sewing go SO much smoother!
Use the thread that matches the fabric content. So if I have a 60% Polyester and a 40% Cotton fabric, I use a Polyester thread. The only time I do not follow this rule is when I have a cotton based fabric with a small percentage of stretch (like a 5% spandex like a Riley Blake knit). Then I will use a polyester thread because it has more give then a cotton thread.
Surprisingly, you do NOT have to serge knits. It looks nicer and will last longer, but you shouldn’t fret just because you don’t have a serger. You should take a chance on knits with just your regular sewing machine!
(Here are the two videos: Getting Started with Knits and a Tutorial on Style 3!)
Make sure and take advantage of the 20% sale going on right now on PDF patterns in the shop in honor of the new collection! Put in code AUDREYNEW20. The sale should last through February 2016. it includes ALL PDF patterns including Kid cottons and quilt patterns!
I’d love to hear what you are doing with knits! Join my Facebook page to tell me or my Private Sewing Group on Facebook! As always, I love getting feedback on the patterns and projects I am working on.
Finally, there is a good chance we will have handmade Style 1 in Misses S, M, L available for sale in a couple of weeks. We will have a very limited few since these are being made inhouse. Keep your eyes out for these!
The Wiltshire Daisy™ Around the World Quilt has been my Sunday sewing for quite a few weeks now. This is one of those quilts that it didn’t seem to matter how I photographed it, it still looked better in person than through the lens of my camera.
And I am SUPER excited to share with you a really great contest that I’m teaming up with Emily Taylor and Riley Blake for you to do!
First of all, everyone WINS because each of us has a free quilt tutorial for you to download. Mine is the Wiltshire Daisy Around the World Quilt and Block (scroll down to the bottom of the post). Riley Blake’s Tulip Chain Quilt and Emily’s Florabella Fancy Quilt are so adorable! To make it easy for you guys, for a short period of time, you can just go to the PatternJam site (click here) and download all three patterns at once.
Second, we are throwing an amazing contest so that you can win the FABRIC TO MAKE YOUR QUILT AND $100 VISA GIFT CARD. I know, right?
Here’s what you get to do:
Go to PatternJam.com and customize the Floribella Fancy Quilt, Around the World Quilt, and/or Tulip Chain Quilt using the Emily’s Florabella, my Wiltshire Daisy, and/or Riley Blake’s Solids. It’s seriously so fun to do! There you will see instructions for making the quilt using the Pattern Jam software and you can pin it to the contest Pinterest board. The most pins wins the contest so make sure and spread the word and get people to pin your quilt!
Here are a few steps to help you if you want to enter:
1. Be a part of the Pinterest Board—http://love.patternjam.com/design-contest/
2. Go to PatternJam.com and register: https://patternjam.com/ by clicking on GET STARTED NOW.
3. Click on DESIGNER PATTERNS> Choose Either Around the World, Tulip Chain, or Fancy Florabella.
4. Once you have chosen a quilt, then choose FABRICS and choose either the Riley Blake Solids, Wiltshire Daisy, or Florabella fabric (or a mix of them).
5. Once you have designed a quilt, save it to your library. Click on MY ACCOUNT and you can see your library and PIN it from there.
6. Join the contest board here.
If you just want to download my Wiltshire Daisy Around the World Quilt, you can do that below:
The Pinterest Contest goes until April 24th! So go and make some fabulous quilts!
Carina
48 hours in New Mexico and West Texas isn’t a lot of time to do much, but I made time to eat a lot of Mexican food and take pictures of the livestock (haha, see below). I flew into Lubbock, TX and drove to Portales, New Mexico—a charming little town that houses Eastern New Mexico University. There I was greeted by the host of Creative Living’s Sheryl Borden, who is probably one of the nicest people I have ever met. (photo above: It was too hard to pass up taking a photo of a pink bug. Slug Bug!)
Sheryl and I taped three segments for her PBS show Creative Living. I believe the segments should air at your local PBS station (check your local listings) sometime in the third and fourth quarter of the year (more on this when I find out air dates). I’ll also post our segments on my youtube channel when I get my hands on the videos. (photo below: Sheryl and myself on her set).
Obviously some super important explaining happening above. ^^^
I always love to see behind the scenes of something like this and two members of Sheryl’s crew was nice enough to snap photos for me with my camera. The set has a full kitchen and living room area.
Serious control room. ^^^
The foodie in my was pretty happy on this trip. There is something so fun about discovering places I have never eaten before. A couple of places to mention: I loved the carne asada tacos at Taqueria Jalisco. I also stopped by the Taco Village and loved their beef tacos (near the airport—a plus!).
I’m on my way home now and it should be a busy weekend including the Yard Sale at The Cottage! Be sure and check it out for some amazing deals. I also get to attend the wedding of a college girlfriend and maybe even stop in at our neighborhoods big band dance. I’m looking forward to getting home!
And although it has only been 48 hours, I’m excited to go home and snuggle my Charlie-boy and girls.
I braided Felicity’s hair today. It’s a rare feat because I’m so enamored by her curls that I hate putting it up.
So here it is and you can be amazed (as I am) that this child is 1/4th Chinese. Who would have guessed I could get two red heads?
To get this “do”, braid a side-french braid and then tuck “up” the remaining hair on the side. Flissa’s hair is pretty long so there was a lot to “tuck up.”
I’m kind of digging the back bit all braided up these days. You can see I don’t get super precise about my braiding—I sort of let it all be loosy-goosey.
I think I may also try to bring back french twists…
We ditched our usual Fourth of July traditions to hang out at home. I’m going a little slower these days and a middle-of-the-week holiday seemed like a good excuse to stay at home, enjoy the neighborhood breakfast, and family BBQ.
Breakfast date + Dinner date = Lunchtime nap.
Other than napping, Siri and Felicity helped me make peach ice cream and shuck corn. Sounds rather summer-y, right?
We also decorated bikes to be in the two minute neighborhood bike parade. Crepe paper and my fringe scissors were a cheap way to get by (Yes, the bike below is NOT one of my kids’).
I made a quick run down to Christensen Wholesale’s new warehouse last Friday and I had the wits about me to remember my camera! The new warehouse is really great. I love walking in and seeing this (Dainty Blossoms™):
Something about all those bolts of fabric just makes me happy!
I went down to pick up my bolts of Paris and Company™. The line turned out so fun! Thought I would drop by to show you the goodness before I get back to work. Lots of good things happening and only a couple more weeks before the reveal…
I’m always amazed at the changes brought on by a coat of paint. You can check out the before post here.
Talk about a huge change, right? I’ve been basking in the airiness of my little kitchen. The cabinets were done in a white lacquer (which meant a lot of spraying as well as all being fully cut off from the kitchen). It took about 2 days for a handy crew to come in and do it.
The last cosmetic change is to have the counter tops removed and changed out. I’m thinking of having them done in a slab of absolute black granite. Right now this surface is red-dyed concrete…and no matter how faddish it is, it does not keep up well. Acid from lemons and limes soak into it and the seams create cracks that water can drip through.
Ya. It has to go.
It will take me a couple of months, but I plan to getting around to this sooner (rather than later:).
And then there’s the issue of a curtain. I believe some fun fabric is in order. Pictures to come!
Thank you to everyone who entered the Baby Safari Giveaway! Reading what everyone was doing this holiday season was so inspiring and touched my heart! I had a horrible time deciding, and I implore you to continue to enter the giveaways during this month since I wanted so badly to give every one of you a fat quarter set!
Here are the winners from the blog:
Rosemary says:
This is THE BEST pumpkin pie I’ve ever tasted. It’s the one my family requests to have for Thanksgiving from now on. Happy Baking {Pumpkin Praline Pie Recipe in the comments! I might have to give this one a try! Thanks for sharing Rosemary!}
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April says:
This holiday we are trying to have a homemade Christmas. One of my daughters is helping me make quilts for almost everyone . . . a big project. It is hard to find things to make for men so we are really thinking hard on that one. We have a new baby in the family so I thought your fabrics would be fun to do something with. Have a great holiday and thank you for sharing your creativity with us and all your fun ideas and art work.
That’s a big project April! Men’s fabrics are so DIFFICULT (Believe me as I have been trying to work on a fabric line for “big boys.”) Hopefully, these fabrics help a bit with the “little boys” in your life!
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Vanessa B says:
A few years ago we started a new family tradition in the spirit of giving and the holidays that each one of us would do at least 1 good deed and then speak about it during Christmas Dinner…so Im looking forward to the holiday meal and hearing what each has done out of the kindness of their hearts for someone they know or a complete stranger. Turns out my family is very kind, even to strangers I would luv to win these fabrics, Thanks for the chance!
Vanessa, your family tradition melts my heart! Oh, if we all could just be a little kinder during the hoildays (and throughout the year!). What a sweet tradition!
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Martine says:
Hopefully ithis year it will be a fertile Christmas…Just before Christmas our IVF program will end, maybe next year there will be a small family under the tree!
Martine, I’m wishing you the best of luck in this!!!
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Here are the winners from the Facebook Page:
Jasa Clos says:
We will just be enjoying having Jake home this year, he was in Iraq for Christmas last year and opened gifts over skype. I have a new little neighbor that sure would enjoy a new quilt and the fabrics are just great.
Bless your heart! So happy for you will have Jake back and I hope you enjoy the fabrics!
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Gemma Robillard says
Beautiful – what a nice giveaway!! I would love to give these to my mom since she’s a new quilter and making gorgeous quilts. Hey, that’s a nice Christmas gift! ;).
How sweet are you? I hope you both get to enjoy them!
Winners: Please email me at carina@carinagardner.com with your address and we will have these sent out ASAP!
Thank you again for all of your comments—for sharing how you plan to slow down, your recipes (Meg, I WILL be trying to make that apple crisp!), how you are going to cuddle with the ones you love, travel, and play in the snow! (We are also enjoying the recent downfall here in SLC.)
It was so hard to decide on who to choose for this last giveaway, that the rest of the upcoming freebies will be chosen by the random number generator:). lol. Less pressure on me! Just keep those wonderful, inspiring comments rolling!
This week I’m giving away two FULL sets of Dress Up—yep, that is 11 juicy fat quarter fabrics in each set! This giveaway will end on Friday. (That would be Nov. 25, Black Friday, Sale Day, National Standing-in-Line Day, Left-Over Turkey Day, and any other name you can give it..)
Tell me your favorite Thanksgiving Food in the comments below to be entered!
I’m a sucker for fabric all lined up, ironed, and folded pretty (who isn’t?). So I took this picture of some freshly cut fabric my lovely new intern cut up for me to send to my mother. My mom, who is an amazing seamstress and quilter, is (thankfully) testing my next quilt design for our January newsletter. Doesn’t it look pretty all ready to be sent off and happily quilted? Lucky fabric.
And now I’m going to drop a hint. Next week begins a really wonderful, really giving kind of thing on this blog. You are going to want to watch for that post…
It’s the time of year when I scramble to make sure our family Christmas card photo is taken. I’ve been organized on just about everything…but actually getting the photo. Susan (yes, Susan does our family photos:) and I had tentatively scheduled a fall photo, but I kept pushing it back since we were fighting some major deadlines in the studio.
Here’s how excited I have been about our family photos this year. I already bought this AMAZING frame all the way back in September to hang over my ever-so-popular antique piano. I custom order my frame from Sweetwater Frames at Swiss Days in Midway, Utah for the sole purpose of trying to put a family photo in my living room.
The frame is hung…
with nothing in it.
Sigh.
We are now thinking about a snowy family photo. I just hope that Siri and Flissa agree.
The frames are really just as amazing in real life as they look in these photos. I bought a 24″ x 36″ antique white Powell frame. I promise to show you should we ever get around to that photography shoot!
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.
There are two spectacular events that I plan on attending in the coming months. The first is Spraguefest! This is an annual event hosted by Jessica Sprague to further build (the already awesome) community. I know there are going to be a lot of awesome people at this event, and I’m pretty excited to attend! I’m teaching a class on color (it’s going to be messy!).
Spraguefest is October 7-10, 2011 and there is a registration fee of $80 for classes and materials. I know there are going to be goodie bags (yum) and some fantastic teachers! This year we are in Las Vegas and I’m sure that whatever happens in Vegas will stay in Vegas. That means a lot of late night craziness. Oh alright, maybe some daytime craziness as well (I might have done a little dance in the street last year).
The second event is my brand new Paper and Digital Designer Workshop! Think elegant girls-trip-meets-intense-design-school. Yep, it’s going to be that kind of weekend!
We’ll be in Salt Lake City working on your paper and digital designer skills (and possibly your shopping skills, manicure skills, nunchuck skills…). It’s going to be a super intense experience that will help you explore your creativity! We are staying at the Little America Hotel , who will also be catering nearly the entire event. The Little America is well known for being a luxurious Four Diamond Hotel and their menus and decor are impressive! Get ready for a glammed-up girls weekend that will also define your design career!
Registration for this event is capped at 20 people and is first-come, first serve.
Here are some of my favorites taken from the photoshoot with Susan that didn’t make it into the newsletter. I hope you enjoy too!
Getting ready—I was pleased when Susan walked into my house and said it wasn’t as bad as she expected it to be! (We fixed that only moments later).
Years of girls’ camp practice and having three younger sisters finally pays off!
This one just warms my heart.
Secrets, secrets…
Hmmm, could Felicity have jumped into this photo at the last minute to give us a cheesy smile? Yes. Yes, she did.
Someone thinks she is SO funny.
Obviously, bribery is in order. (You can’t see it, but I’m wearing a ring pop to stick in her mouth between photos).
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Bribery is apparently not working.
Okay, it’s obvious we are going to need to focus on someone else willing model. Meet Sophie. One of next door neighbor’s daughters. She was a perfect angel on this shoot. I MIGHT have started making her dress two hours before the shoot. Ya, it was that kind of day.
This is Paige, Susan’s daughter. I don’t think we got a bad shot out of her.
Speaking of the devil—here’s Susan herself.
My other child (much more willing, but not by much) to let us take pictures.
If you get one of each (layered card or accordion card + an envelope), you will find that it’s a very nice tight fit. Don’t use pop dots because the card will not fit. I may have an envelope come out that allows for a thicker card (tell me on 
This week is the last one I’ll be releasing Valentine’s so I’m going out with a bang! I also decided to double dip. These pencil cards are not only my final Valentine’s release but are also Felicity’s class gifts. She’s going to write on each of them, and I’m sure we’ll add a few quotes like “I’m write for you.”
This year it is all about GLITTER! I have a great tutorial for you on how you can put together below. I do NOT have individual tutorials on these houses because many of them are made THE SAME. The tutorial I have below is for the Sugar Plum Fairy’s House and most of the buildings are built in this way. There are also extra instructions below for pieces I thought you might like a little extra help with. So scroll on down to see if there is something there that will help you!
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