Tutorials

from photoshop to projects…find your tutorials here!

48 Hours in Texas and New Mexico

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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!)

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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).IMG_6696_web

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Obviously some super important explaining happening above. ^^^

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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.IMG_6793_web

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Serious control room. ^^^  IMG_6807_web

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!).

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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.

Carina

 

 

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Evening Blooms Quilt Tutorial with Andy Knowlton

photo 1Today I have a special treat for you! Andy Knowlton of
A Bright Corner created this beautiful quilt using my Evening Blooms fabric collection. To top it off, she has agreed to give you all a tutorial on how she made it. There is even a pdf download at the end (scroll to the bottom to download).

So without further ado, here is Andy:

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I love the timeless look of classic black and white and these fabrics don’t disappoint! This quilt is made entirely from half square triangles (HSTs) but don’t let that deter you! I have a fast and easy way to make a ton of HSTs in no time at all.
First I’ll show you how to make your HSTs then I’ll show you how to assemble one block. I’ll add a quilt layout diagram at the end and you’ll be on your way to finishing your own Evening Blooms quilt!
First of all, here’s what you’ll need:
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1/4 yard of 7 various dark prints
1/4 yard of 5 various light prints
2 yards of white/background fabric
1/2 yard binding
3-1/2 yards backing fabric
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From each of the prints (7 dark and 5 light) cut 3 squares that measure 8″. You’ll need 36 total.
From the white/background fabric cut 8 strips that are 8″ x width of fabric.
Subcut those strips into 36 @ 8″ squares
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To create your half square triangles, pair up each print square with one white square. Match edges, keeping right sides together.
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Sew around all four outer edges using a consistent 1/4″ seam.
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Using your rotary cutter, cut diagonally through each block twice as shown in the photo.
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Being careful not to stretch it, press each HST. I prefer to press the seam allowance toward the print. Trim the little tails off of each HST.
If you are consistent with your seam allowances and careful to not stretch the HSTs you should not need to square them up. If you find your HSTs to be varying in size, then square them each up to the same size (either 5.25″ or 5″ each).
Create all of your HSTs and then move on to the block layout.
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Layout all of the HSTs you need for one block. Notice in the quilt layout diagram that not all blocks are the same. The dark and light prints are alternated for the main part of each block and the corner HSTs are different depending on where in the quilt the block will be located.
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Sew together into rows using a 1/4″ seam.
Sew rows together, matching seams.
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Your block is done!
Now use the layout diagram to make the next 8 blocks.
In the layout diagram I used just two prints – one dark and one light so you can clearly see the placement of each HST.
Evening Blooms layout diagram
You can find a printable version of this tutorial here Evening Blooms Quilt Tutorial

 

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Remember Pinwheel Tutorial

Pinwheel-Table-Runner-Tutorial-Close-Up-2_webI know you are going to love this little project made with my Remember fabric! Andrea from Knitty Bitties made this lovely pinwheel table runner that I am swooning over. What’s that? You want a tutorial? Luckily for you, Andrea has one on her blog here: knittybitties.blogspot.com.

I love the way this pretty little thing is quilted together and the pinwheels are sweet. I can see making an entire quilt with these babies. But if you are like me and big projects start to wear you down, this is the perfect little project.

Speaking of projects, have you done any this summer? Or have you filled your days with library outings, pool time, and vacation?

I’ve been able to work on a few sewing projects but am now full swing into fall sewing pattern season. And winter scrapbooking designing season. But that’s another story.

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Later this week, I am heading to a retreat with my BYU college roommates. It’s the first time we have had a chance to get together since, well, I’m not sure when. Follow my instagram feed if you want to sneaky-peeky into our doings. I promised to bring up scrapping and fabric supplies for some crafting fun. And while there will be some of that, I suspect there will mostly be a lot of catching up, reminiscing, baking, and then, um, eating.

Happy Sewing!

Carina

 

 

 

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Laminate Bag Tutorial

I’ve been meaning to post this tutorial for a month now. My kids took a neighborhood art class and the night before I had the hair-brained scheme that they both needed new art bags. After making them, I sketched up the steps for anyone else who is interested in experimenting with these said “hair-brained” schemes.

I’ve sketched up a similar tutorial for my girls’ ballet bag, but this time the bags are substantially larger, made of laminates, and have a single strap. I used the Dainty Blossoms™ laminates (shown in the photos).

Working with laminates was not as hard as I originally anticipated. I like to use Lila Tuller’s oil method for running laminates through my sewing machine. It works like a charm!

A few notes about the sketches for this tutorial:

* They are by no means comprehensive:). That means that I give you sizes, and you can customize as you wish.
* Yardage for the bag does NOT include the “cutout” (in my example I show an ‘S’). Either use a scrap of contrasting laminate or skip altogether (see more notes on this below).
* You may want to adjust the strap’s length for the intended use of the bag. My strap is meant to comfortably fit across the chest.
* I don’t use fusible material for the letters/cutout. I simply carefully laid the letters on the front of the bags and appliqué  stitched the letters directly to the front. It was absolutely an experiment in progress since I had never used laminates like this before. Amazingly, it worked (but was not easy!)

After a month of use, turns out these bags are pretty strong and can take a beating. I attribute it to the laminates, which helped my wipe away all the paint my kid’s left undone in the bag. Perfect art bag.

Hope you also get a chance to experiment!

—Carina

 

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Double Ringed Pincushion Tutorial and Free Download

If you head over to Riley Blake’s Cutting Corners today, you will find my brand-new Double Ringed Pincushion Tutorial.

All of my pincushions are made using my Dainty Blossom’s line for Riley Blake. I now have these pincushions scattered all over my studio 1. because they are useful, but also 2. because my kids like to play with the “donuts.” It works for me.

The actual pincushion is relatively fast to make. The stand is made from wood supplies found at my local craft store (spools, doll heads/spheres, and a flat circle for the base).

Head over the Riley Blake here to download the pdf instructions, pattern, and for a quick look at the instructions in the blog post. You can also download the instructions here.

Happy sewing!

Carina

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Dainty Blossoms Camera Strap Tutorial—Free Download

Want to bring life to your camera strap? Here’s a quick and easy tutorial of how to make one. There are step-by-step photos and then I suggest embellishing it with something fun! This strap is made with Dainty Blossoms™ to infuse a little spring into this long drawn out winter.

What else do I like about this project? It’s a short, quick-and-easy project. I sometimes like a tiny project like this because I feel inspired and fulfilled when I finish it, but it only took me an hour.

Download the pdf here.

Hope you get in a little stitchin’ time too!

XOXO-Carina

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Dress Up Quilt—Free Quilt Pattern

As promised, the Dress Up™ Quilt Pattern in a more “bite-sized” pdf. You can also see it shown in our 6th Newsletter Issue.

I wish I had more fun things to show you, but other than a fun stop down at Riley Blake earlier this week (to grab some Paris and Company for a photoshoot & talk about a new line) and the quick recover of my kitchen table in Dainty Blossoms™ laminate (shown through instagram on my facebook page), I’ve been doing the thing I dread most…my taxes.

There’s something about having to sit over my computer crunching numbers for my tax consultant that makes me feel like Bean (boring, boring, BORING!)—that’s the second grader in me speaking.

Thankfully, we are making the transition in software this year, and I’m hoping that it limits the time I spend hunched over my computer in March.

Wait, did I say March? My how time flies when you are having fun!

Enjoy the quilt pattern!

XOXO—Carina

 

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Well Traveled Mini Travel Album

More fun to inspire you today! Check out Creative Team member Laurel Flechtner’s tutorial for creating a Mini Travel Album!

Enjoy! Carina

Mini Travel Album

NAME  Laurel Flechtner

FROM  Norfolk, Virginia, USA

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO MAKE THIS PROJECT OR WHO DID YOU MAKE IT FOR?  We took a trip to NJ & NYC to see family and I always make mini-albums of each of our trips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MATERIALS

Carina Gardner Well Traveled Paper Set 1

Carina Gardner Well Traveled Paper Set 2

Carina Gardner Well Traveled Paper Set 3

Carina Gardner Well Traveled Paper Set 4

7 Gypsies black binder ring

Cricut & Sure Cuts A Lot 2 for cutting album pages

Adobe Photoshop CS5

 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut and adhere a front and back  paper for each page of the album.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Select, print and adhere photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Add embellishments and journaling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Issue No. 5 of the Newsletter—Spraguefest and Tutorials

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

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

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

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

Enjoy!

Carina

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Pinfeathers Rosetta Wreath- Free Download

My sister-in-law walked in as I was making this wreath and said, “Weren’t you just complaining about the number of wreaths you have?” Ummm, yep. I might have too many wreaths. But this one is just SOOO cute! (justification, justification).

So this is definately a time-consuming project but with only a couple of steps. I recommend doing it in front of a really good movie (We were watching Howl’s Moving Castle when I made this one).

The final result is so adorable that I could get a little crazy with this idea—cone shaped trees, ornaments…okay, I’m just going to stop right there.

Download the instructions by clicking on the photo!

Have fun! -Carina

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Exciting New Upcoming Events!

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.

Check out our workshops page to learn more and register!

I hope to be able to hang out with you at one or both of these events!

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Bike Basket Tutorial

Check out my bike basket tutorial on Celebrations blog! I made these for our bikes for the Gardner family reunion/triathlon. A triathlon, you say? Yes, I feel like I should explain that it is not a REAL triathlon. It kind of goes something like this:

Run, Eat, Bike, Eat, Swim (it seems like we should eat after that too)

Really, it’s an amazing extended family event to help us all get in shape. And we do eat between all the event (Run at 10am, Lunch, Bike at 2pm, Dinner, and Swim at 7pm).

Anyway, back to the bike basket. In order to have Siri and Felicity participate, I ordered them bike connectors. Felicity and I did 8 miles. Josh and Siri made it the entire 12 miles. I was pretty proud we made it as far as we did because it was a horribly, hot day and I managed to get sunburned (go figure!).

Thank goodness for the baskets holding our water and goodies!

Fabrics shown here are from my Pinfeathers collection.

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Carina Gardner Quarterly Newsletter (Issue No. 4)

FINALLY! We’ve finished our fourth issue of our newsletter! Better late than never, right?

I think this is our best issue so far. First of all, there are a LOT of photos. And tutorials. And photos. And an announcement (which links to ANOTHER digital magazine). And did I mention photos?

It’s seriously delicious!

Susan has already posted a bit on getting ready for this crazy photoshoot (see it here). I can tell you right now that we had so many amazing photos that I’m not going to be able to resist posting them.

But first, click on the newsletter to the left here and take a peek at all the fun we were up to in the studio.

https://carinagardner.com/newsletter/carina-gardner-newsletter-issue-no-4/

More photos to come!

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Pinfeathers Birdie Lace Up Tutorial

Get ready for a whole lot of fabric fabulous-ness! It’s been a lot of midnight sew-a-thons around here to show off this fabulous fabric. Susan and I have been hard at work! Here’s the first tutorial from the studio!

This is a really cute skill-building toy for preschoolers as little fingers will work on gaining their fine motor skills by lacing the strings through the holes! It also makes a darling decorative display item in the home or is a great project for a child’s birthday party.

Materials

  • Carina’s Partridge Bird Pattern-Free Download
  • 1/3 yard heavyweight fast2fuse, thin piece of cardboard, or heavyweight Wonder Under.
  • 1 fat quarter for a single-sided bird or 2 fat quarters (for an alternate fabric) for a double sided bird
  • Colorful shoelace or cording 1/8′ to 1/4″ diameter. Length will be vary depending on the size of your bird.
  • Fabric glue
  • Paper punch

Instructions

1.     Your first step is to download the PDF of the partridge from Carina’s Partridge Bird Pattern. At this point you can decide how large you want your lace up project to be. The smaller the child the larger you may want to make the bird so that they will have something substantial to hold in their hand and lace up!

2.    Adjust the percent for the size you need and print your bird.

3.    If you are using the Fast2Fuse, you will fuse your fabric onto the Fast2Fuse according to the manufacturer’s instructions on the Fast2Fuse packaging.

4.    Trace the bird patterns onto the fused fabric and cut them out.

5.    Use a good hole punch to punch the holes for the lacing.

6.    Knot one end of the the shoelace and lace it through the first hole pulling it to the knot.

Alternate method

You can also make a Pinfeather’s Birdie Lace Up using a very thin piece of cardboard. Tracing the bird onto the cardboard, you cut out the bird’s shape. Then trace the bird pattern onto the fabric. Use spray fabric glue to glue the fabric to the thin cardboard bird. Use a hole punch to punch holes. Finally finish the project with step #6.

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Reversible Ballet Bag Tutorial

I woke up this morning and ached for a bit of sewing. Just a little.  I just wanted a quick little project that would brighten my two little girls’ day. Here’s what I came up with:

Using the samples I have from Love Nest™ (due out Jan 2011), I made both Siri and Flissa a reversible ballet bag. It was ever so easy and would also make the perfect church handbag, travel bag, goodie bag,… (you get the idea).

You don’t need much fabric (remember, all I have are tiny samples). It does help to have two fun coordinating fabrics so that you can flip the bag inside out for a little change-a-roo.

When I say “simple” I really mean it. You basically need 4 pieces of fabric (a piece for the outside, a piece for the inside, and two straps). My girls love it and I loved getting in a little project this morning.

Here are my little notes if you want to make this bag with a few extra pieces of fabric you have lying around your house:

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Here’s a picture of the birdie-brown bag reversed out (the blue flower calico print) and a peek into Flissa’s heart-circle baggie.

I think I counted 10 straight lines to sew to make this bag. In the words of Ina, “How easy was that?”

XOXO-Carina

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Coquette Quilt-Free Pattern

It’s taken me a little longer than I wanted it to, but here it is! Instructions for putting together the Coquette™ Quilt. It’s meant for the beginner to intermediate quilter. I love this quilt because it is very forgiving for us newbie quilters. None of the seams line up and all of the blocks are nice and big.

The final patchwork is very pretty and sweet without being pink. Not that there won’t be a lot of pink in the future….

I have to admit that this is the first big quilt I’ve made. I desperately have been wanting to make a queen-sized quilt for my own bed and have been waiting for Coquette™ to come along.

 

What a little flirt of a quilt! The two of us snuggle very happily now as I watch Glee or Project Runway (I’m so excited about tomorrow’s finale!)

Of course, you can mix and match fabrics (especially if you are having trouble finding Coquette™ at a local quilt shop near you). It’s a very easy patchwork with fairly large blocks.

Download the instructions for this quilt below. I hope you have as much fun with it as I did!

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How to Make a Halloween Countdown Calendar-Free Download

carinagardner2010_halloweencalendar_MP_bannerIt may seem a bit early, but Halloween has come to my house this last week. I’ve been happily crafting with my Haunted™ Paper Line. Lots of white pumpkins and scarecrows are visiting my living room (Photos coming soon!).

Here’s a fun project that you really need to do (and can easily do) in advanced. You will specifically need the Haunted™ Line because the reason it is so simple is because the journaling page in this line has this Halloween Countdown already to go! (simply cut it out!)

IMG_4846_1Once this fun little calendar is finished, all you’ll need to do is let your kids stamp a fun shape (The Haunted™ Acylic Stamps will be what we are using. I’m thinking we will be using white ink and that creepy, crawly spider.) or just draw a mark on each day as you countdown to a very spooky Halloween! It will be a fun way to start October 1st!

I have the tutorial for you to download below (seriously, this is a 20 minute project at best and the hardest part is making sure you have a photo of your family to add!) and you can certainly expect some more haunted crafting happening ’round here this week. Those cute, um, I mean spooky crows just love getting photographed!

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How to Make a Butterfly Chandelier-Free Download

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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:

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Hybrid Card Tutorial

I’ve been meaning to post this awesome tutorial from CT Member Joyce. This is a fantastic tutorial showing off how easy it is to take digital products and turn them into cards. Take it away, Joyce!

1.Create your cardstock pieces with a program like Photoshop Elements. I created 4×4, 5×5, and 4×5 shapes and clipped the patterened papers to them. I flattened the image and printed it onto white cardstock.

screenshot_BasicsHybrid

2. Next I trimmed my patterned paper pieces and used my Quickutz Epic
to cut out the butterfly and label shapes from the patterned paper. I
gathered up a few more supplies like green cardstock, butterfly
ribbon, Maya Road stick pins, and some buttons.

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3. I embellished my butterfly by adding 3 tiny buttons to the front,
foam tape to the back, and stick pins pushed into the foam tape for
antennae.

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4. I cut my green cardstock to 5×10 inches, folded in half at the top,
and layered on my elements. Brown patterned paper trimmed to a 4.25″
square, then yellow patterned paper that was cut into a label diecut,
and butterfly in the corner. Another embellishment technique I used
was to add a butterfly flight trail with my punch tool and dot the “i”
of precious using a rhinestone.

Now I have the perfect unisex card for my next baby shower! The Basics
papers
are so versatile you can create something for most any occasion!

precious_hybrid

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How to Brighten a Skimpy Wreath

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!

IMG_3673Start with a wreath with the colors in it you want. I liked this wreath but I wanted something fuller.

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

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

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How to Make an Easy Summer Wreath

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.
wreath1

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.

wreath2

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.

wreath4

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!

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How to Create a Layout From A Quick Page or Album in Digital Scrapbooking

quickalbum_icon

Here’s a easy 7 minute tutorial if you want to see how to use any of the quick albums. My quick pages and albums can be found at Design House Digital. This tutorial shows you how to drag and drop photos on pre-made quickpages, how to size and crop photos, and shows you some general use instructions for using albums. The video is 7 minutes long and is demonstrated in Photoshop CS3. If you are interested in the products used in this tutorial, the links are here:

The Ultimate Album-Mocha

Distressed Collection-Pastels

I hope this tutorial helps you so that you can make pages quickly when you are in a pinch! Want to watch it bigger? Go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3VGn8Jlxow

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Craft Project-How to Make an Easy Octopus Costume

carinagardner_blog1Yes, my daughter wanted me to make her an octopus costume for her birthday. So how could I refuse? I kept it simple by buying a t-shirt (with the gems already on it) and women’s long socks. Add some filling, a t-shirt transfer kit and my sewing machine and I was set. The only problem? Once I made one for my oldest daughter, I had to make a second one for my youngest daughter. Thankfully, it’s project that can be done in a couple of hours.

Here’s the basic idea. Take a t-shirt and iron-on one of my adorable octopus stickers. Or skip this step entirely. Then stuff 6 women’s socks with filling and sew them to the ends of the t-shirt. Grab a beanie hat (add a flower for fun) and put on a pair of shorts and a final pair of socks (so there are 8 legs in all). Instant octopus!

Want the full instructions and photos? Just download this pdf with my instructions for creating this easy craft project!

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Easy T-shirt Project-How to go from Digital Product to Iron-On

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Creating great projects from digital products is easy! For example, my daughter’s birthday party was last week and we did an underwater theme. So my gifts to all the little guests were mermaid shirts with matching hair color for each girl. My daughter wanted to be an octopus, so I simply ironed-on an octopus illustration I made onto the simple costume I created for her (to see how to make the octopus costume, please visit the octopus costume post).

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So here’s how I created this cute little gift idea.

blog21. I bought a package of Dark T-shirt transfers and a few t-shirts in blue and dark pink. I picked them all up at Target but many places would have these goods.

2. Choose an illustration from your favorite digital kit…stickers work best because they are png (no background). I used my Tiny Mermaid line for this project.

3. Print your illustration onto your Transfer Sheet (follow the instructions from the back of tha package.). I just used my inkjet printer at home and bought inkjet transfers. If you want to maximize space, create a 8.5″ x 11″ document in Photoshop and place several stickers to cut out.

4. Cut out your printed transfer VERY CAREFULLY. Because it is on a dark T-shirt, you will want to cut out all the white and get as close to the edge of your design. For example, on the octopus sticker, I had to cut out a couple of the legs seperately because they were seperate from the body and I didn’t want white to show up between the legs.

4. Follow you transfer paper instructions to iron on the design to the t-shirt. For mine, I laid down a pillow case on a hard surface and laid a sheet of paper (provided by the iron-on packet I bought) down over the t-shirt and ironed for 1-2 minutes.

And that’s it! I great project that my children adore and made Siri’s party special.

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Clipping Mask Tutorial in Photoshop Elements

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It’s the opening of Design House Digital today. Check out the plethora of new products I have over there. Oh ya, and a couple of tutorials! Check out my clipping mask tutorial (you can also watch it below) and a little bit of design theory (a little lesson on the Golden Mean) to boot!

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You might also want to check out the amazing 30% off sale going on at DHD this weekend on the ENTIRE shop. It’s a heck of a deal! Nice Grand Opening, eh?

I’m also pretty excited because my class at Jessica Sprague starts today!!!! Hooray for Illustrator 101!

I hope you are having a very happy first day of the year! I’m looking forward to 2010!

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There Are Going to Be Some Changes Around Here! Illustrator Class & New Digital Scrapbooking Site!

illustrator101_iconIt’s a season of change around my house. Josh started work with a new law firm, Siri has lost tooth number 2, Felicity has been trying out her new potty, and I’ve got some great new projects in the works. The first is this brand new online class for Illustrator, which goes on sale TODAY at Jessica Sprague.com! After teaching Illustrator at DSE, this last September, I was overwhelmed by the number of people asking for an online course. So here it is folks! A four week long Illustrator course that is completely self-paced and easy to use. The videos are broken into smaller tasks so it’s easy to go back to a tutorial. I’ve also included 3 Bonus lessons, digital scrapbooking kits, and vectors in the course.

While I created this course initially for digital scrapbookers, I would recommend it to anyone who is even thinking about getting into design. I’ve incorporated everything I would teach on Illustrator in a university-level introductory graphic design course.

So want to see what the class is going to be all about? Go straight to the Jessica Sprague site to see the introduction video, purchasing information, and the Lesson break downs. You can also go to YouTube to see the video. I recommend watching the video because it will show you a short tutorial of a class lesson along with everything you will need (aka technology requirements) to take the course.

With all change, there is also some sad news. I have decided to move my digital scrapbooking store from Two Peas. You will still be able to find all of my 2008-2009 digital designs there, but I will be moving to a new store come January 1st, 2010.

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I’m pretty excited to have been asked to come to the new store (which isn’t even open yet) because it will be site with designers that are so amazing! The name of the site is Design House Digital (http://www.designhousedigital.com/) and the list of designers going there is UNBELIEVABLE! I can’t spill anything yet, but you ought to check out the place holder blog to grab the newsletter freebie (it’s FABULOUS!). And while you are at it, sign up for twitter https://twitter.com/designhousedigi since I was told that people will get updated with the new freebies and store updates there.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m working away at a christmas line for fabric and paper and enjoying my little ones during this holiday season. Hope you are having a happy December too!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

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Project Mania…An entire month of projects!

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img_6708_smWe’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.


<a href=”https://carinagardner.com/2009/08/06/project-mania/” target=”_blank”><img class=”alignnone” src=”http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee297/diginirvana/projectmania1.jpg” alt=”” width=”200″ height=”150″ /></a>

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

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PhotoCuts Collection—Photographer’s Tools

photocutsadI just wanted to give you a preview of the line coming in two weeks! I’m so excited about it because it will be a photographers tool set! These digital kits will be SO much more useful than for just scrapbooking…it will include overlays, masks, filmstrips, and frames of all kinds. It’s the kind of set that will really be useful for any type of photography! So the countdown is just 2 weeks away….

BTW, you’ll be able to pick them up at TwoPeasinaBucket.

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Photoshop Tutorial: Silhouettes

My first Photoshop tutorial! It is created using a fabulous program called Jing. This photoshop tutorial was created in a swf file , so hopefully you will be able to watch it…you may need to download the latest version of Flash to watch it. I sort of zoom through the tutorial because I only had 5 minutes to show everything (the limit on jing).

Here’s the project: creating a family silhouette art piece for your living room. I show you how to create this silhouette in photoshop and then take it into Illustrator for clean up. I’d suggest the tutorial for intermediate users, but if you are a beginner, it wouldn’t hurt you to watch it! You can pause it as you work on your own. 

I created my first silhouette of Siri when she was 2 years old. I thought it was a great way to document the subtle changes in my little girl. I have the screenprint of that piece in my living room. I love silhouettes and my original idea was to hang individual tiny portraits of each member of the family. However, do you know how HARD it is to find a decent oval frame? So I decided to go with the square frame and put all of us (my husband, Josh, myself, and two daughters) into one piece. Inexpensive art, always a plus!
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Want to watch a larger version of this video? Click here.

 

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