» Jessica Sprague http://www.carinagardner.com Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:57:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 First of the Year http://www.carinagardner.com/2012/01/13/first-of-the-year/ http://www.carinagardner.com/2012/01/13/first-of-the-year/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:33:38 +0000 carina http://www.carinagardner.com/?p=5982 It’s a couple of weeks into the New Year and it feels as if the busy from Christmas never really ended. I’m hankering to slow down, and with my little sis in town and my own health a little down, I’m planning to get a little more rest over the weekend.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that we had a much needed makeover here at the .com. I’m sighing with relief that it is mostly finished although there are still a couple of formatting things that are bugging me. But for the most part, the site is making me happy, it’s easier than ever to find stuff, and it absolutely feels like a fresh new year!

So here’s what we’ve been up to:

- Siri turned 8 (Just writing the number made me feel my age!). The pic to the left is her with all her wild-woman hair. That little face makes my heart smile! I haven’t even pulled all the pics off my camera to show you the party we threw. Soon…

- I’ve been preparing for Designer Workshop like mad! I’ve been happy that we have an even portion of seasoned designers with new designers. It’s going to be awesome!

- We have been shipping the new sewing patterns for a week now. If I thought that we had a lot of patterns before, well, I’ve probably reached my sewing pattern limit at the moment as my basement is currently overflowing. My very good husband got all of those patterns in and organized—no small task.

- I’ve had comments on whether I’ll be spilling the beans of my secret paper project at CHA. The sad answer is no. I will be attending CHA though for a couple of short days. And really, there are only a few months left before I will be opening up about my goings ons. I think you will enjoy! It’s taken me a long time to figure out my path in paper, and I’m excited to be able to open up in a few short months about what I will be doing.

- I have a new mentoring program available at JessicaSprague.com. It’s call Designer’s One-on-One Workshop. I thought it would be the next best step for those who are seeking to work more on their fabric, paper, marketing, and digital scrapbooking designs. It’s also a great intermediary step between Art of Digital Design 2 and whatever else I may decide to teach.

Hope your New Year was full of fun new resolutions and plenty of happiness!

Carina

]]> http://www.carinagardner.com/2012/01/13/first-of-the-year/feed/ 4 Issue No. 5 of the Newsletter—Spraguefest and Tutorials http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/10/23/issue-no-5-of-the-newsletter%e2%80%94spraguefest-and-tutorials/ http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/10/23/issue-no-5-of-the-newsletter%e2%80%94spraguefest-and-tutorials/#comments Sun, 23 Oct 2011 16:24:58 +0000 carina http://www.carinagardner.com/?p=5386 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:

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

Enjoy!

Carina

]]> http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/10/23/issue-no-5-of-the-newsletter%e2%80%94spraguefest-and-tutorials/feed/ 3 More To Come… http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/10/18/more-to-come/ http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/10/18/more-to-come/#comments Tue, 18 Oct 2011 08:11:28 +0000 carina http://www.carinagardner.com/?p=5368 It’s been so busy since I got back from Vegas that I haven’t posted anything (well, much of anything) about Spraguefest. In fact, there was so much to show and write about that we decided to just add it to our newsletter.

In fact, we’ve got a lot of great stuff coming out in this quarter’s newsletter including an introduction to the fabulous Susan (many references, but never a formal introduction). How about a new quilt pattern? Simple and modern…you know me! Keep your eyes out for the 5th issue of our newsletter coming in a couple of days! Never seen our newsletter? You can check them out (and sign up for) them here.

So what’s been keeping me so busy? I just finished Art of Digital Design 2, which was critique-heavy. Everyone did a great job and it is sad to see that class end:(. The other thing I have been working on has kept my sewing machine a-humin’. If you attend Quilt Market, keep an eye out for my goodies in the Riley Blake booth. So what is it you say (the suspense is killing me!)? Four brand-new patterns! They won’t arrive until January, but I’ll give you lots of sneak peeks and Riley Blake will be showing off these new patterns in Dainty Blossoms™ at Quilt Market in Houston.

Lots of good things coming…get ready!

Carina

]]> http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/10/18/more-to-come/feed/ 2 Spraguefest http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/10/13/spraguefest/ http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/10/13/spraguefest/#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:24:21 +0000 carina http://www.carinagardner.com/?p=5363 Still recovering…

More to come…

]]> http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/10/13/spraguefest/feed/ 4 Mormon Handicraft http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/10/01/mormon-handicraft/ http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/10/01/mormon-handicraft/#comments Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:29:35 +0000 carina http://www.carinagardner.com/?p=5324

The last couple of days I’ve been running around getting ready for Spraguefest and the launch of my new line of sewing patterns. My friends Susan and Ashley spent a couple of nights helping me package up these fat quarters and coupons for the Spraguefest grab bags. Stacks of eye candy!

Speaking of eye candy, I’m going to be hanging out tonight at the Fort Union Mormon Handicraft Quilt Shop for their semi-annual event with lots of samples from my sewing patterns and sneak peeks at my new ones! I’ll be talking about fabric and generally hanging out! Come by if you are in the Salt Lake area from about 5:30pm to 8pm. Mormon Handicraft is located in the Deseret Book at 1110 FORT UNION BLVD, MIDVALE, UT  84047-1804. I’m told that it is a crazy event with lots of giveaways, sales, and general fun for the ladies.

Hope to see you!

XOXO-Carina

]]> http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/10/01/mormon-handicraft/feed/ 1 Just Testing http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/09/26/just-testing/ http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/09/26/just-testing/#comments Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:57:22 +0000 carina http://www.carinagardner.com/?p=5318 My favorite little testers did a run-through of the painting portion of my Spraguefest class.

Results: If the testers can mix colors correctly, than so can Spraguelets! However, I refuse to give Spraguelets a bath after said painting mess.

]]> http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/09/26/just-testing/feed/ 2 Essentials Plus http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/09/16/essentials-plus/ http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/09/16/essentials-plus/#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:19:06 +0000 carina http://www.carinagardner.com/?p=5271 I was browsing through my creative team’s layouts that feature my new digital scrapbooking line Essentials Plus. I’m amazed at the way they are using the line! Even though I did intend it to be a paper-meets-elements line, it is way more versatile than I thought it would be. Most of these layouts use ONLY the essential papers (thank you fabulous creative team!).

Layout by Carey Bridges

Layout by Laurel Flechtner

Layout by Susan Haglund

Layout by Stephanie Andre

]]> http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/09/16/essentials-plus/feed/ 0 Baby Bib and More Tutorial from Pink Chalk Fabrics http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/09/11/baby-bib-and-more-tutorial-from-pink-chalk-fabrics/ http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/09/11/baby-bib-and-more-tutorial-from-pink-chalk-fabrics/#comments Sun, 11 Sep 2011 17:14:19 +0000 carina http://www.carinagardner.com/?p=5264

I spotted this darling tutorial over at the fabulous Pink Chalk Studios using my Baby Safari line. It includes a bib, baby booties, baggie, and taggie. For the full set of instructions and pattern check it out here:

http://pinkchalkstudio.com/blog/2011/09/09/one-yard-wonders-sew-along-%E2%80%93-week-36-finished-projects/

As for me, I’m finishing up Art of Digital Design 2′s critiques today. I might be losing my voice. Thankfully next week’s critique is written!

Oh, check out this blog post over at Riley Blake if you get a chance!

Happy Sewing!

Carina

]]> http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/09/11/baby-bib-and-more-tutorial-from-pink-chalk-fabrics/feed/ 1 It’s Been A Week http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/07/31/its-been-a-week/ http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/07/31/its-been-a-week/#comments Mon, 01 Aug 2011 01:06:03 +0000 carina http://www.carinagardner.com/?p=5003 I think it’s been a week at least since I have blogged. I’m too lazy to go back and check the front page to see how long it has been. Or too tired. Which is ironic since my kids got a sleepover with cousins last night and are getting a sleepover with grandma tonight all for the sake of work. How I can be so tired seems ridiculous given that I’m getting so much help at the moment!

Mostly, I have been working on Art of Digital Design 2. While the class has been fully written and all the images drawn, it’s the videos that have been time consuming. And while students don’t make the exact paper set I make in class (the class is technique and theory based), I couldn’t help but show you what I’ve been up to. For those of you taking the class, get excited! (Or I’ll just get excited for you since I know what you will be up to!)

I’m going to keep plugging away at these videos!

In fabric news, I’m told that my three new lines are on route. My quarterly newsletter hasn’t gone out because we have been holding out for those lines! So June-July won’t get to you until August.

That’s the way we are rollin’ these days.

And by the way, WHERE is summer going? August is a couple of days away and I can feel myself going into shock. Hoping I can squeeze in a couple of visits to the pool and zoo this coming month.

Hugs-Carina

]]> http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/07/31/its-been-a-week/feed/ 4 Le Petite Paperie Digital Scrapbooking Collection http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/07/11/le-petite-paperie-digital-scrapbooking-collection/ http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/07/11/le-petite-paperie-digital-scrapbooking-collection/#comments Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:23:47 +0000 carina http://www.carinagardner.com/?p=4936

Today is the debut of my July collection Le Petite Paperie at Jessica Sprague.com. I feel like this is a line that sort of takes me back to my roots—super sophisticated, super grungy, and easy-to-work with.

(Layout by Susan Haglund)

I’m excited for you to see this collection revealed every week the rest of this month! Check out the release sale of 25% off on Mondays. Enjoy!

]]> http://www.carinagardner.com/2011/07/11/le-petite-paperie-digital-scrapbooking-collection/feed/ 0