Digital Art

carinagardner_alphaartI’ve had numerous requests for these digital tidbits and I’ve finally had time to get them formatted for digital re-production! Tomorrow on DHD, the Alpha and C’est La Vie digital prints will be up for sale. I first showed them off last October when I was working on my daughter’s bedroom. I made the alpha set to go over their shelf (see in the pictures above). All you have to do is choose which color you want and print. Yep, it’s that easy (I can only handle east these days!) The C’est la vie print is hanging in my studio (no pictures yet as it is still a work in progress!)  So be sure and check them out tomorrow in the shop!

Here’s a sneak peek:

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$6 Sale For You

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The March 365 Album is finally in the shop! And I have a coupon code for you. On Tuesday and Wednesday only, you can buy this $9.99 kit for $6 off! This 5 page album is really wonderful for 365 OR for any multipage layouts you want (and the grungy grids are soft and neutral all at the same time!). So drop this into your shopping cart and at check out be sure and enter this code:

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New Collaborative Collection with Crystal Wilkerson

IMG_0514Just a quick drop in before I leave for a leprechaun hunt. Just wanted to let you know that I have a new collaborative collection on sale at Design House Digital and Jessica SpragueOH BOY! was created with designer Crystal Wilkerson. I know you don’t see many boy kits out of me, so you’ll have to take advantage of it! As always, Thursday release days are 30% off (making getting the ENTIRE collection super cheap).

Hope you all like it! I have to run to my leprechaun lunch (hence the little man pb&j sandwiches). We don’t want them to get away!

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A Quick Hello

IMG_0148Just dropping in for a quick hello! Sorry blog, just been so busy! The very best kind of busy. I’ve been working on Pinfeathers for Design House Digital (expect to see elements to the collection this week!). I’ve got a lovely new line coming out in paper with My Mind’s Eye coming out for Spring Release (think chic:)). I’ve also been working on a fabulous collaborative collection with Crystal Wilkerson which is bound to hit Design House Digital and Jessical Sprague this week. I’ve also made time for the FABULOUS weather we have been having here in Utah (bring on spring!). My neighbors may not say it is fabulous, but since we moved from Minnesota 2 years ago this is, well, pretty amazing! The girls and I have spent a bit of time outdoors and I’m hoping to break out my light blue Madsen Cycle this week to pick Siri up from school. I might have also stayed up extra late last night watching The Bachelor with friends (which always means staying up late!). Ahhh, some guilty pleasures simply cannot be given up!

Hope you are all doing well and that spring is coming to you too!

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

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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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New Releases at DHD

IMG_9953_smIf you haven’t checked out the $1 Sale going at DHD, you are missing out! There are some fabulous things that are only $1 for the month of February. They will all go off sale to their original prices on March 1st. My very cool, super neutral Grungy Grid Papers are over there for $1 (normally $3.99). I’ll also have several things coming out a couple times a week so check it out (here’s the link to all the $1 items).

It’s also release day and I’ve got a new goodie to make my life easier: The Ultimate Album. It’s currently sold in two colors (blue and mocha) and have matching mask sets. I’m a mom who knows something about crazy busy and I made for myself some super simple layouts to reach for to scrap with when things are just too busy. For me, I’d rather get those photos into books (I can see myself doing a lot of back tracking with these albums…like all of 2008 and 2009!) so I have them then continue to leave them on the computer where no one can see them.

Today, I’m going to be finishing up decluttering my house and making cards for my upcoming Annual Chinese New Year Party. Oh, and hopefully get that red chandelier hung in my studio (the photo is of my office desk that I painted to turquoise and distressed over the weekend). The studio also got a rearrangement so that my kids can now easily scooter into the studio without hitting anything from the hall.

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Coolest Sale!

If you haven’t heard about it yet, I thought I’d better tell you about it! Design House Digital is having $1 Days for the entire month of February. That means new products everyday that premier for $1. All of the products will go back to regular price on March 1st. So go check it out!

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Bear With Me…

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Bear with me as I take a moment to get a little personal. Today something wonderful happened to me. Something I have been waiting to happen for a long time. Today, I went into my day job as an Communications and Event Director and walked out as a freelance designer. I have been transitioning for the last several months in the job so I could design full-time from home.

And now, I can concentrate on other work: being a mommy, being a wife, and being a designer. I have managed to stretch myself too far these last few months, and now I have a chance to concentrate on the people and work I love the most.

What does this mean? More designs and projects from me, of course! I’ve been loving my new digital home with Jen Allyson at Design House Digital. Things are rocking along for my two new fabric lines, Coquette and Love Nest. I’ve got a lot of fun sewing projects waiting for me to get going on. We’ll also be opening a Carina Gardner™ Shop sometime this summer with limited supplies of the new fabric lines. I’m also planning some new classes for Jessica Sprague’s site. It’s a new year, and an exciting new time! I hope you join me as things get swinging around here! Check back for more giveaways, more releases, and well, just a whole lot more!

(BTW, the photos are from a modge podge project I did at a church activity with my Love Nest Glitter papers. I picked up the hearts from the Wood Connection in Salt Lake City. )

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I’m going to spend my weekend getting my studio cleaned up, hanging that chandelier (I hope…this one’s on you, Josh), and painting. A perfect way to get things underway for my new life.

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Giveaway Announced!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Color Kit 2 Giveaway! It was such short notice and I loved seeing what you all liked from the new fabric line and from DHD. I will certainly be giving away more kits in the future and some fabric once I get orders in! So check back for that!

OKay, the winner is:

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Donna says:

I found you, and DHD purely by accident and had the Color Kit #1 in by Kaboodle for so long. Everytime I thought I had some spare change, I’d go back to it and contemplate buying it, but then would decide to wait and save a few more pennies. Well, I kept pulling up the page over and over again – the colors and simplicity just drew me in. I have in and purchased it and have not looked back. I’m in love with it! Now, I eagerly await every one of your editions to the Color Kit stuff. I got through 2009 365 about 75% before I ran out of steam. Here’s to 2010 – my 365 is going to rock your stuff!

Congrats Donna! I’ll be emailing you a link today for your downloading pleasure!

Thanks again to everyone who participated and I’m going to post pics a little later of my project with my Valentine’s Glitter Book Love Nest!

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Project 365 Giveaway! Who Doesn’t Like Free?

dhd_carinagardner_365_color2PREVI haven’t had a giveaway for a while so here’s one that only lasts a day! It starts NOW and ends Thursday morning at 9am Mountain Standard Time. It’s from my popular Design 365 Color Kit Series (yum, yum!) and is normally $9.99 in the store (but will be 30% off this Thursday only). I’m giving away Design 365 Color Kit #2 (see to the right) to someone who makes a comment on this post on their favorite fabric from my Coquette fabric line, which is will hit quilting stores this June OR their favorite digital kit of mine from Design House Digital.

I just started making layouts from this kit tonight and I’m pretty happy with how versatile it is. Here’s a layout made with only products from this kit I made of my daughter Flissa.

dhd_carinagardner_365_color2_layout_smSo just make a comment in this thread and I’ll do a happy random dance to tell you all the winner on Thursday morning.

Happy Scrapping! XOXOXO

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Valentine’s Day Card for Kids-Free Download

valentinesdaycard2010_cgI’m a sucker for Valentine’s Day. And while we are still three weeks away, I’ve got some great little projects put together for this very pink holiday. If you haven’t picked it up yet, the Love Nest glitter book is available at Hobby Lobby, and I’ll be doing a few projects with those papers and my new Affectionate papers at Design House Digital.

First up, getting my daughter’s Valentine’s Day Cards together. And you can download them too! These sweet little cards ar 3″ x 4″ and I’ve even already assembled them onto a 8.5″ x 11″ sizes paper for you. So all you have to do is print! I’ve made the boxes “chubby” for my kindergartner’s fat letters. We’ll cut them out and let her write on them in advanced.

You can also check out my Valentine’s Day Kiddie cards from 2009 (also a free download!) if you want lots of different cards (and birdies:). Those cards are also set up on a 8.5″ x 11″ paper so all you have to do is cut! Easy-peasy!

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“How To” Blog

1-all-doneThe “How to” Blog I’m speaking of it Design House Digital’s Blog and Classroom. Everytime I click on one of those links I’m amazed by all the inspiration and cool ideas (like this cool art cut out by Deena Rutter). Articles get uploaded to this blog everyday and there’s no shortage of video tutorials, hybrid projects, and digital tricks for all you crafty folks. I like it because all of the Digital Designers, DH Decorators, and the “Experts” Panel are involved in this blog to make it this very spectacular treat!

Peek over there when you have a second! I’m working tirelessly on my new Valentine Collection, which will hit DHD on Thursday (30% off that day!). I’ll be sure and post it when I have them ready.

I’ve also just (finally) have final proofs for the Love Nest line that will hit fabric this coming year, which means more sewing for me!

Happy Crafting!

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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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Project 365-January Album Kit Now on Sale!

365_carina_2-2I finally finished a full week of photos! I’m really liking the Project 365 challenge because I am starting to get a sense of what kind of album I’m going to end up with this year. You can sort of see it in this layout—an album full of details, not just the big events and some real insight into what we do as a family.

The one thing that is going to be tricky is keeping the layouts neutral so that the photos shine. I’m using my Distressed White on White papers here. And just to make my life easier, I went ahead and finished out all my layouts ahead of time for the entire month of January so all I have to do is insert the photos and journaling.

One thing I’m noticing is that along with the 365, I want to do pullouts of events. So I created myself 4 layouts for multiple photos that are just for those events (siri’s birthday party, ice skating, and sledding). I wanted them to match my 365 layouts, so I used the Distressed White on White papers for them as well.

preview_JANALBUM_CGAnd if life is crazy, busy (when isn’t it?), you can just pick up my new January album (released today at 30% off) and insert your own photos without the hassle of actually making the layout. How easy was that?

I’m just glad that for the rest of January all I’ll be doing is snapping photos!

Want to check out my 365 challenge at DHD? Go here.

As for me, I’m working on getting together a new instruction pdf for you on how to make my easy-to-make octopus costume. Sounds silly? My six year old does have some silly demands and sometimes her mama gives in. Keep you posted!

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