Alphabet Photo Album Tutorial for Silhouette

June 14, 2015 by carina 3 Comments

I’m so excited about my Alphabet Photo Album series that can be purchased from Silhouette. There are so any ways to use this album. Tutorial below along with a few ideas for using this album!

IDEAS AND INSPIRATION

1. Cut a single photo into one letter. Simply lay a large photo behind the letter and trim the photo.

2. Use multiple letters together to create a name (like C-H-A-R-L-I-E) and only put photos of that person in it.

3. Choose a theme like S-U-M-M-E-R and capture favorite moments from the season.

4. Add journaling and/or capture a specific photo shoot or time of year.

5. Create an alphabet album highlighting each letter. For example, an apple orchard experience with your children all captured in the letter ‘A’ or a swim party in the letter ‘S’.

6. Do a single letter album to highlight a holiday. For example, ‘C’ for Christmas—

7. Or highlight the holiday by spelling out the holiday like E-A-S-T-E-R.

There are so many great ways to use this album for a gift or keepsake. Here’s how you put it together.

TUTORIAL

1. Cut out SVG files. You will have two pieces—a front overlay and a back piece with holes for attaching it to other album pieces. (PS All the Alphabet Photo Album pieces go together).

2. Use tape or a glue stick to adhere the photograph to the back of a framed window. I used scotch tape, but you may use whatever adhesive you would like to make your picture stay in place.

3.Finally, simply place the letter on back piece to create a simple collage of fun photos.

Hope you get to make one of these fun album!

Carina

Vellum Top Boxes for Silhouette

May 8, 2015 by carina 1 Comment

This week I made a bunch of these darling little vellum topped boxes. They make the cutest favor boxes and gift items. You can purchase them from the Silhouette Shop here.

All the boxes that work with this tutorial (and links!) are down at the bottom of this post.

Here’s how to put together these boxes:

_____________________________________________________________________________________

1. Cut out on Silhouette files. The main body of the box is shown in kraft paper. I used plain velum to go underneath the circle cut out on top, and a patterned blue paper for the accent panels.

2. Fold scored lines on the box. This creates a visual image of where your accent panels should be placed.

3. Glue vellum or transparent paper to the INSIDE of your folds into the opening on the top to create a “peek-a-boo” window.

4. Glue accent papers into place using adhesive. I used a glue gun to put it together quickly. A glue stick or glue dots would also work great.

5. Finally, put glue on the flaps and attach the sides of the box to finish the box.

And that’s it! It’s the best little party, wedding, or birthday favor box or treat box!

Happy crafting!
Carina

Accordion Number Album Instructions for Silhouette

March 2, 2015 by carina 3 Comments

Today I released several new silhouette designs in my shop. Here are the instructions for the Accordion Number Album. I love this album because you can mix and match it so many ways and it makes an amazing gift. It is fairly simple to put together.

1. Cut out all the pieces in the file. You will want to cut out three of the folded pieces with the glue flap and one of the cover. If you want to place a “color” (in my case white) behind the number, use scrap pieces of paper and simply place behind the bracket numbers.

2. Glue the number brackets to each of the “pages.” Glue a plain bracket to the front cover. Each page will hold two numbers (1 + 2, 3 + 4, 5 + 6). If you plan on putting a photo between numbers, cut out six of the template instead and only place one number on each page.

3. Fold at all the crease lines of the cover and pages.

4. Place glue on the flaps of each of the pages and attach the pages to each other so that the numbers are in order.

5. Finally glue the flap attached to the number “1” page to the cover.The flap will fit perfecting in the center of the cover.

And that’s it! Add photos or journaling for a simple and elegant album!

Happy cutting!
Carina

25 Days of December Silhouette Album

November 12, 2014 by carina 3 Comments

Every Christmas I try to tell myself that THIS year it’s going to be more about family, love, and giving. But like all the rest of you, I find myself completely caught up with the busyness that consumes my time during the month of December. December happens to be a crazy time for designers ON TOP OF the usual craziness that happens during the holidays. For me, work revolves around CHA, new releases for first quarter, and the Atlanta GiftShow (for MiniLou). Despite all of this, I’m going to try (once again) to slow down during the month of December. And with you as my witness (See! I’m holding myself accountable to you!), I’ve decided to get on top of things THIS month to make December a little more cherry and bright.

First off, I already ordered my Christmas Cards (I think a sigh of relief escaped as I wrote that). They arrive December 2nd, and I plan on getting all my labels done this coming week. Yes, it is a relief to already have them printed, and no, I am NEVER this early. Second, I’m going to get all my holiday shopping done in November. Yes, you heard me. And no, I don’t have a plan for this yet. Any tips would be helpful!!! (Leave comments below.) And FINALLY, I went ahead and designed myself an entire 25 Days of December Album (that you can purchase in my silhouette shop), that I have already cut out and put together.

I have never done an album like this before, but have ALWAYS wanted to. I designed all of the albums and accessories to be super easy to cut out and use.

This year, I’m doing the 5 x 7 Album, but I also have available the 5 x5 Album and the 5 x 7 Horizontal Album. The 5 x 7’s are meant to fit a 4 x 6 photo per day. The 5 x5 Album is meant for instagram photos and fits a 4 x 4 photo beautifully (I love to use Persnickety Prints for my 4 x 4 photos).

Each album also comes with some different accessories. I plan on using the extra pocket pieces and fun shapes to add journaling and some of our holiday photos (and to stash my Christmas Card).

So if you are making this album, it’s pretty easy to put together, but here are a few hints to help you out:

1. You will need to cut 5 of each tabbed piece. That will give you 25 pages—one for each day. Cut one or two of the cover piece (no tab). I only cut one and used a pocket accessory for my back page.

2. Add as many accessory pages as you like. You can see in mine that I elected to put a few in the front and back of the album. Because I’m making this a “stress-free, expectation-free” album, I didn’t want to throw in pages that I then felt obligated to fill. However, I do think it would be pretty to throw in an extra shape or pocket page between each tab so that it goes to a specific day.

3. If you are looking to have this album “pre-made” in time for Christmas or you are making it for someone else, I recommend only adding “scraps” to the left-side of the page and leaving the tabbed side for the photo. (Like the second photo at the very top.)

4. Have fun or go simple with your paper choices. On mye tabbed sheets I elected to use kraft paper just because it was easy. I cut each tabbed sheet on an 8.5 inch x 11 inch piece of paper (one fits per sheet). I inked the edges a little bit to give it some dimension. (FYI, I use my newest Carta Bella collection Christmas Time for this book).

3. Glue is good. A stapler is better. ESPECIALLY on the pocket pages. The folds are pretty self-explanatory on the pocket pages. Once you fold them all in, I like to take a stapler to it. It adds some “scrappiness” to the album and helps secure the pocket in place. I’ve also used hot glue and a glue stick. They work great as well. Note: For the Mini Pockets, you may want to add a couple of extra staples right to the MIDDLE of the page to separate out the two pockets.

4. Use ribbon, twine, or O-rings to keep it together. If your album gets REALLY thick, you may want to consider O-rings (you can usually find these at an office supply shop). I wanted to keep my album “unprecious” and added different little bits of ribbon and twine. I want the kids to feel like they can handle and play with this album all through the season and beyond. Which brings me to my next point…

5. Have a plan. Especially when it comes to the photo part. Are you going to print at home or send out your photos? Are you going to print daily or weekly? Are you going to journal (or will it stress you out?). My plan this year is to print everyday at the end of the day. So I have a pack of 4 x 6 photo papers ready for December. As for journaling, this year the album is the “family” album. That means, I plan on having the kids write things they are thankful for or are doing for Christmas. Josh and I will add notes too. If you are doing a personal, reflective album, yours will be so different from mine.

And that’s it! I hope you have fun making your book and you get to spend some time really showing off how wonderful the holiday season really is! If you are on instagram, you can follow me at @carinagardner. Make sure and hashtag #25dod (25 Days of December) so that we can all share in your journey in December!

Happy scrapping!
Carina

Back Home Again

July 14, 2014 by carina

After a month and a half of travel, I’m finally back home in Salt Lake. I’m glad to be back home although there hasn’t been much time for a break. Lots of things have happened over the last month. Other than finishing press checks in China, going to a wedding in Tennessee, heading to St. George to enjoy the Tuacahn, and accompanying Siri at harp camp in Logan, some of my new paper and fabric lines have been released.

Over at Carta Bella, check out my newest collections Boy Oh Boy and Spooky as well as Alisha Gordon’s Moment’s & Memories. If you are going to the Summer show, be sure and check them out!

I’m also thrilled to announce my newest fabric line is on pre-sale to quilt shops! For a sneak peek at Primrose Garden, click on this link over at Riley Blake. Scroll down to the bottom to catch a glimpse of my first 18 inch doll panel! I’m so excited for this addition to this fabric line! More pretties on this line coming soon.

At my silhouette shop, I’ve been stocking with a lot of great basics that I have been interested in using for myself. Tons of swirls, overlays, gift bags, and cards to name a few.

And of course, I’ve been working on MiniLou. I’ve been planning out our tradeshows and trying to get everything “just so” for our upcoming fall release and the introduction of our spring release. It’s been a work-in-progress and I’m so proud of what we have accomplished so far. So many more exciting things to come!

As far as getting back on track, I’ve been working on some new home decor items for Deseret Book which should be out this fall/winter. I’ve also been working hard on our end of year releases for Carta Bella. Oh, and I’m hoping to have available two new design classes in the shop later this week.

Thankfully, this summer has not been all work-work, and I’ve been able to enjoy time alone with both of my girls on their respective trips as well as getting in a couple of vacas as a family. But summer is slipping by so very fast…I’m going to squeeze in as much fun as I possibly can!

Happy Summer!
Carina

(PS. Photo is from my Little Bitties Bookmarks for MiniLou).

Diecuts 30% off the month of June!

June 6, 2014 by carina 4 Comments

Carina is off on her adventure to China to do press checks on the products for her new company Mini Lou

You can follow her adventures on her Instagram (carinagardner). In the meantime I am taking over the blog while she is away so let’s have some fun!!

Today kicks off our HUGE 30% off diecut sale in the shop. The shop is fully stocked with wonderful goodies. Make sure to hit the NEW DIECUTS section where we have all of Carina’s most current releases from her Silhouette Store.

We are so excited to have Deborah from Craftin Chaos working with us now on our Design Team! In honor of the big sale Deborah has worked up some fabulous eye candy to get you inspired for the diecut sale!

Here is Deborah to tell you more about her projects:

“My projects were super quick, that being said I am hoping it still will inspire you to create some awesome projects of your own with Carina’s diecut files. I used papers from Carta Bella’s Alphabet Junction for several cards and one I used a digital paper from Carina’s Soaring Summer Paper Set as well as some of Carina’s elements which are available in her shop at Snap Click Supply.

This first project was super quick to do. If you have a busy schedule…and who doesn’t, these albums are perfect for capturing the moments you spent with family and friends without devoting the time it takes to create a scrapbook album layout. I love that you can get so many configurations from the pockets giving you so many options.

I used the We R Memory Keepers pockets for mine. The cards are Carina’s My Life 4X6 Travel Card Diecuts and I am loving Carina’s Garden Picks Set of 5 Diecuts very versatile as you will see two ways I used them. And you know I made some custom buttons! I used the die cuts from the cards to create a print and cut for the buttons in my silhouette studio

Can you tell where I want to be from my luggage tag?

This project is one of my favorites. I just love anything with cameras on them or camera related. Instagram is something I just started using recently and I am hooked! I wanted this to be very bold and I love these two colors together. That pop of fuchsia on the front against the bright yellow is just my favorite. I used the Instant Photo Camera Album I added the Flag Shape 17 Diecut for the sentiment. I cut a smaller circle for the center to add a fun sentiment to the album.

A nice feature is the slots the file cuts for you to just pop in a cute photo for perfect placement. I added more sentiments to give a little more love to it.

Thanks to Deborah for those awesome projects! We will be featuring more of her creations over the weeks to inspire you.

~Susan

Upcoming

May 23, 2014 by carina 1 Comment

The glamper tour has ended. The extra weekends off has given me time to finish up a few projects. Today I managed to push out one of my 2015 fabric lines and tape a new mini class. I can hear my inner voice pushing me right now. I suspect because of the upcoming trip to China to do press checks for my new company.

That’s right. You heard me. I’ve been letting out little hints about it on instagram and the facebook page with no official announcement. You’ll have to wait for June 1st for that.

Two of my girlfriends were very spontaneous and decided to tag along. We’ll be in Vancouver, Hong Kong, Dongguan City, and Beijing. All planned out in the little travel books (left) that I made for us. I’ve been filling mine out with packing lists, places I want to see, and more. Books were made from my Travel Stories collection.

For the best possible front seat on all the action, follow my instagram feed @carinagardner. I’ll be posting all my doings from the trip and @miniloukids will be posting all the giveaways and peeks at all our new creative kids products.

For now, I’m kicked into high gear to finish out the last few remaining items that need to be taken care of. You’ll notice my extra emphasis on instax photos in my silhouette store these last couple of weeks. That’s because I’m planning on using my instax alot on this upcoming trip, and I’m going to need all those accessories I have been making.

Other things that I should make note of:
1. My Boy Oh Boy Paper Collection for Carta Bella ships June 1st!
2. Little Ark is now available in stores.
3. Full reveal of my October fabric line Primrose Garden should be available this summer. It comes with (*gasp*) an 18 inch doll panel!!!!
4. The 30% Fabric Sale will be ending on May 31st. So will the mega discounted price on my newly released Digital Design class.

More soon,

Carina

PS The photo to the left is of my three children with Josh up in Bell’s Canyon. I couldn’t resist posting.

Happy Thanksgiving

November 27, 2013 by carina

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! My little family will be having an intimate family Thanksgiving today and go to my in-laws tomorrow. My turkey went into a homemade brine yesterday for a 24 hour bath. Usually I like to use the William and Sonoma Turkey Brine but I never got around to picking it up so this year so I improvised. Fingers crossed my salt-allspice-brownsugar-peppercorn-sage-thyme mixture works!

In our family we don’t have any set Thanksgiving traditions unless you count getting a tree the day after Thanksgiving. This year we invited the cousins over for a glamper movie night so the grownups could play games. I also made these little turkey take out boxes for Siri and Felicity to give to their cousins.

Hope you have a spectacular Turkey Day! Are you doing anything special or sticking to your family traditions this year?

Carina

New in the Silhouette Shop—Clothing diecuts for your 18″ Dolls and more!

November 5, 2013 by carina

I’m back from a lovely sisters trip in St Louis (see my instagram feed) and happy to be home. The last two months I have been on the road a lot, and I’m ready to start thinking about the holidays. I spent the day decluttering my house in anticipation of holiday decorations. I’m planning on getting out my Thankful Leaves (feel free to download it for free too!) and letting my family take advantage of November to remember why things are so good in our lives.

With the holidays in mind, I’ve been trying to create digital scrapbooking and diecutting projects that will help me celebrate creatively. If you have been checking out my new Silhouette shop you’ll see that I have introduced several fabric projects, Thanksgiving goodies, and new this week are my Essentials Album Collection!

Carina’s Essentials Album 4×6 Vertical Bracket
Carina’s Essentials Album 3X4 Horizontal Basic
Carina’s Essentials Album 3×4 Horizontal Scallop
Carina’s Essentials Album 4×6 Vertical Rounded
Carina’s Essentials Album 4×6 Vertical Scallop
Carina’s Essentials Album 3X4 Arrow

My lovely assistant Susan (queue the Wheel of Fortune music) created a fun Halloween album that spotlights her kids costumes using the Carina’s Essentials Album 4×6 Vertical Bracket. She placed a picture on the cover of her kids in their costumes. On individual pages she added a picture of each child with some journaling.

Susan also placed pictures from her Halloween dinner into the album. She added the menu and guest list on the cards then tucked them in the pocket.

I’m loving these new Essential Albums. Make sure you check out the video (Episode 9) on the CGTV channel so you can see how to put them together.

Here are some of the other products I came out with over the last couple of weeks:

For fabric

Pants for 18″ Doll
Shorts for 18″ Doll
Sleeveless Blouse for 18″ Doll
Everyday Pincushion

For Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Accordion Album
Thanksgiving Take Out Box
Turkey and Fall Leaves
Fall Accordion Album
Fall Scallop Bag

More on the My Life Collection

My Life Month Tags
My Life 4X6 Journaling Cards Birthday Boy
My Life 4X6 Journaling Cards Birthday Girl
My Life 4X6 Journaling Cards Snowflake
My Life 4X6 Journaling Wedding Cards
My Life 4X6 Journaling Winter Cards

Hoping to get to some great projects this season! I should be revealing new Deseret Book collections soon and have you checked out my new line for Carta Bella Homemade with Love? It’s perfect for the holidays.

Revving up for the holidays,

Carina

More of My Life, Calendars, Journaling Cards in Diecut Land

October 23, 2013 by carina

I’ve been working hard to get out some new diecuts at the shop at Silhouette America! That is between binding quilts, checking fabric strike-offs, and working on the glamper.

As always my diecuts are .99 cents and you can save 25% on all of my Halloween shapes through October 31st!

Here’s what we came out with this last week:

4X6 Christmas Journaling Card Set
4X6 Halloween Journaling Card Set
4X6 Thanksgiving Journaling Card Set
Fabulous Frame Set 2
Happy Halloween Pillowbox
My Life Tabbed Calendar
My Life Bracketed Calendar
My Life Monthly Cut Outs
My Life Folder Inserts 4
My Life Folder Inserts 5

Yes, yes, I will post this week’s new items soon (if you want a sneaky peeky go here). If you sew and have a silhouette, I think you will be excited about what I have up!

Tomorrow I’m headed to Quilt Market, and I’ve been meaning to announce my new sewing patterns, but of course I haven’t gotten around to it. That and all the great stuff coming out from me at Deseret Book. Soon, very soon…

Be back in a jiff,

Carina

Easy Costumes on a Budget

October 10, 2013 by carina

I love costumes that are homemade and quick to put together. You may remember Siri’s favorite Octopus Costume that was made from socks and a t-shirt. For Halloween this year, my kids chose costumes with stuff we already had around the house and in the dress up clothing. Felicity will be a little Chinese girl, and Siri asked to be Medusa. Other than making a snake tiara for Siri, it’s going to be an easy year for costumes at our house!

Charlie is going to wear this little skeleton bones outfit that I made using my Silhouette machine. You can get my new Skeleton Bones diecut for this in the Silhoutte Shop for 99 cents! Not a bad price for a costume if I do say so myself.

I have tips for working with this diecut on my extremely-oh-so-very official silhouette page here: https://carinagardner.com/silhouette/. Susan and I are hoping to tape a video for that page sometime next week to teach you a few awesome things about your machine! Be on the lookout for that!

And if you are looking for more from me, this week we also released the following diecuts (for 99 cents as always!)

Halloween Skeleton Bones (above)
Cupcake Pencil Case
Monster Pencil Case
Halloween Bat Accordion Album
Sweet Life Accordion Album
Dahlia Fabric Flower
Monster Life Set 1
Monster Life Set 2
Monster Life Set 3
Fabulous Frame Set 1

Will show you a little more on the pencil cases soon! What are your kids going to be for Halloween?

Carina

Carina Gardner Silhoutte Diecutting Files Now at SilhouetteAmerica.com

October 2, 2013 by carina

That’s right! My big news this week is you can now find my diecutting files at silhouetteamerica.com. How cool is that?

This week was the first week we placed files on the silhouette site. You’ll see this darling halloween scalloped bag, fabric flowers, the my life album set, and more! Yesterday I put together a myriad of new projects for the shop that will come out next week! More fabric stuff and great paper shapes. And some monster surprises for Halloween.

Speaking of Halloween, I thought I would point you in the direction of some happy Halloween fun.

Last year, I did a Witch and Wizard Party. It’s fun, full of ideas and was a total blast. Photos and inspiration here: https://carinagardner.com/2012/10/17/witch-and-wizard-party-kids-halloween-party/

And of course, there has been the ever popular free banner download that I hung on my piano: https://carinagardner.com/2010/09/10/how-to-make-a-halloween-banner-free-download/

If you want ideas of easy bat art and free silhouette cutouts (and a video to boot!), there are free silhouette files here: https://carinagardner.com/2012/08/15/episode-4-all-hallows-eve-decor-video/

Want to make a batty wreath? Here’s the free pattern to make it: https://carinagardner.com/2009/10/23/spiders-web-papers-batty-wreath/

Last but not least, the Halloween Advent class is on sale for $3. That’s right! Take advantage of this sale while your can! http://www.carinagardnershop.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=162&category_id=37&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2

Going to get up all my Halloween decorations this week! Wish me luck!

Carina

Silhouette Files at CarinaGardnerShop.com

August 15, 2013 by carina

Have I mentioned that there are digital diecutting files in the shop? Oh ya, I don’t think I have.

When I opened the shop last March, we were so busy trying to figure out how to run a retail shop (not an easy endeavor!), that I didn’t have time to actually design many diecutting files.

That’s officially changed. We have been uploading lots of great new files in the shop and you can get your hands on some free diecuts. We change these out pretty often so grab them when you can!

We also implemented a brand new category called NEW DIECUTS. We should be releasing new diecuts every Tuesday so be sure and check that category for the brand-spankin’ new goodies!

The diecuts come as a zip download and is available immediately (free diecuts can take up to 24 hours to show up in your inbox). It includes several files including svg, ai, jpg, dxf, png, and pdf. Yep, we’ve got you covered for whatever machine you are using. Don’t have a machine? That’s why we put in a jpg and png. Simply cut it out.

Probably my favorite product right now are the MY LIFE folder inserts.I plan on cutting some out for my kid’s school folders. I’m also going to play around with making them smaller (they are sized for 8.5 x 11 folder—be sure to use the svg file to keep your size from shrinking). I think they would make a darling album!

I’m actually working on next weeks digital die cutting files right after this blogpost. What are some diecuts you’d like to see?

Happy Crafting!

Carina