Project 365-I’m On It!

January 7, 2010 by carina

365_carina_1_sm When I decided to head the Project 365 at Design House Digital, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. First off, remembering to take a picture every day is a little harder than I thought it would be! Secondly, I am really proud of myself for moving forward with this—more than I thought I would be. I am excited to really have an entire year of photos of my family wrapped up in a sweet little book. It gives me the opportunity to really give my children something that they will love and enjoy and I can reminisce about in years to come.

Want to check out my 365 Challenge? Go straight to the forums here or go to the DHD blog post here.Want to see my first layout blog post? Go here.

So here’s my first layout of my first two days (I am choosing to do layouts by week-Sunday through Saturday. So this is Friday and Saturday Jan 1-2.) of 2010. The great thing about me doing the layouts is that I am making all of these great little papers and elements for myself to use (and then, of course sharing with you!). I found myself really wanting subtle neutral backgrounds so that my photos could speak for themselves. I also wanted to do a alot of journaling which resulted in journaling and timeline kits. More layouts of 365 coming soon!

I also wanted you all to know that DHD has decided to have two release dates during January! Now you will see new releases on Thursday AND Monday. All the new releases those two days will be 30% off. How fab is that? DHD released 70 kits today! It’s that nuts?It’s only been open 6 days and there are 210 products in the shop.

New Year’s Resolutions-A Day Late

January 2, 2010 by carina 1 Comment

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I’m just getting around to posting my New Year’s Resolutions. Not that they aren’t the same as most of yours…get in shape, give more time to myself, my family, document our lives (I’m hosting a 365 at DHD)…yada, yada, yada. Mostly, I just wanted to post because I am so EXCITED for 2010. It’s going to be a fun year. I can feel it. And I hope it will be for you too.

Here’s what’s on the horizon for designwork this year:

* Two fabric lines will hit quilting shops this year. Coquette will arrive in quilting stores in June (call your quilt shops this month to ask if they will be stocking this beautiful line from Northcott!) and Love Nest will come out later in the year. All of the fabric samples are up for your viewing pleasure!

* A brand new Carina Gardner™ Shop will be opening up! We will be offering limited quantites and fat quarters of the new fabric line and will also eventually carry all kinds of goods from my designs in scrapbooking and fabric. The Shop is set to open in June 2010. I’ll have more information on it as it gets closer.

* I’m at a new digital shop! This has already happened but it is such an exciting venture for me as I get to participate in Jen Allyson’s newest venture! She’s a pleasure to know and a fabulous designer! I think you’ll see that Design House Digital will be the fastest growing digital shop in 2010. It already has had some astonding traffic! I’m just proud to be apart of such a wonderful group.

* I’m pleased to be teaching again. It’s been two years since I stopped teaching at the University of Minnesota. I never thought that teaching would happen to fast for me again. You can find my newest adventure with Jessica Sprague teaching a self paced course—Illustrator 101.

* Keep checking back for my Paper Lines with My Mind’s Eye. I’m sure we’ll have several in the works this year.

And while there might now be a bullet point on this one, if you know me, there will be plenty of other good things happening in 2010 on this blog. I’m already working on a great craft project for my daughter that I’m excited to share with you (give me a week to finish it up!)! And with all the fabric hitting my studio in May, you know we will be sewing like MAD around here!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend and may you be happy in 2010!

Clipping Mask Tutorial in Photoshop Elements

December 31, 2009 by carina 1 Comment

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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!

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!

A Merry Christmas To You From Me

December 22, 2009 by carina 2 Comments

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I hope you have a wonderful Christmas/Holiday weekend! I just barely (gulp!) got my Christmas Cards mailed (as shown here:)) and have had some time to reflect on what a wonderful and exciting year it has been for my family. I have been talking to my girl Jen today and I am just amazed at how excited I feel everyday for the things happening in my life. There are too many things to name, but certainly one of those things is going to Design House Digital with Jen. She has officially announced herself as a designer and as the brain behind the site today (go check it out!). We have more designer announcements to come and I’m just happy to be a part of such a spectacular crew.

I’m also getting more and more excited for 2010! I have so many things in the works right now for fabric, online classes, and more! Everyday is so exciting for me. Thank you for keeping in touch and I hope that in this holiday season you are also happy, healthy, and of good cheer!

Merry Christmas!

Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody, Everywhere

December 16, 2009 by carina 1 Comment

Which is what we have been singing at our house for the last couple of days. First, because I think a spick-n-span house for Christmas is nice and second because my girl Jen (aka: the project girl) is coming into town tomorrow! I even bought some fantastic green boxes from IKEA and got my studio organized (quite a task since I have had a dozen projects all over the floor and desk). We have a tradition of going to the Cheesecake factory when she comes into town for some girl time.

I’m doing the happy dance right now because I’m so excited to see her!

The cleaning hasn’t stopped at our house…you should check out my studio site as it is completely updated with all my new ventures coming in 2010. I will be getting up the fabric samples for the line Coquette in a couple of weeks and you’ll see all my secret digital stashes coming out at Design House Digital in just 2 weeks!

Today the girls and I will be putting together our neighbor gifts and will have the download and photos of our project up tomorrow (yes, I’m sharing my download with you!:)). It’s all about easy elegance this year.

Hope you are enjoying your holiday season! Can you believe Christmas is around the bend?

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

December 7, 2009 by carina 8 Comments

It’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.

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!