Haunted Paper in Action

My neighbor Tausha does these incredible gift shows and she used my Haunted™ Paper Collection when putting together her goodies. It’s so cute, and I was totally inspired. If you are in Salt Lake, you can check out her booth at the Jenny Gochnur Autumn Art Show (At the Holladay City Building at 4580 S 2300 E), which starts tonight and goes until Friday (I believe 6pm-9pm Wed, 9am-9pm Thurs, and 9am-5pm Fri). Check out Tausha’s cute booth if you get a chance!

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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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Craft and Hobby Association Tradeshow (CHA) Chicago 2010, Supershow, and Spraguefest Wrapup!

I had every intention of blogging while at CHA, but somehow I never got around to it. So here’s a quick review of the week in Chicago. I have oodles and oodles of photos, so this does not begin to cover the “happenings,” but as always, things are crazy around these parts so here’s my Friday-midnight report.

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This photo was taken by Meg at Spraguefest by the Bean. Why I was wearing a sweater (even a short sleeved one) in that heat is a mystery to us all. Thankfully, I had a chance to jump around at Millennium Park.

cHa20101-Deena Rutter and I promoting our Halloween lines at CHA.

2-Haunted™ comes with acrylic stamps, epoxy brads, and flocked vinyl. Yum!

3. The fab My Mind’s Eye Booth. Seriously, it is so cute!

4-Crystal, Deena, and I headed to the city for a little Bandera, shopping, and sightseeing.

5-A sightseeing tour with the Spraguefest group had me happily sliding down the Picasso and racing Kelly and Crystal.

6-It looks like ice cream doesn’t it? It’s actually a caprese salad. Everyone thought I had ordered dessert first. I didn’t want to let them down, so for the next dinner I did (ummm, cannoli!).

7-Just to prove I was, in fact, in Chicago.

8-I’m caught doing a little sewing at the CHA Supershow. I tried out my flocked Haunted line on this sewing machine.

9-Crystal and I made matching bubble skirts! And this was Crystal’s very first time sewing. I make a motion for her to buy a sewing machine. Second?

10-Transformers 3 was being filmed. Unfortunately, you will have to ask Meg and Gary for their photos of Patrick Dempsey. I managed to miss that one.

11-My favorite night out!!!!! A few of us hopped over to Navy Pier for a little throw-up-inducing rides and ice cream (which was closed so I had to beg the manager to let all 8 of us in. Please, please, please?). BTW, don’t sit with Crystal on the swings. While you are clutching to the chain links for dear life, Crystal will be pretending to fly and wobble you all over the place. You will never get on the swings again.

12-The new Sprague booth at the CHA Supershow. It was PACKED the entire time. There’s lovely Jessica herself.

13-Kari from iKari. Also known to lose her voice from talking ALOT and clapping at everyone to show her support. This picture is proof.

14-A wonderful night of laughs with Crystal, Joan, Meg, and Gary. The waiter made it all the more fun. You can’t tell by this picture but the dessert was the size of my head. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. But not by much.

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And that is my very-short review (aren’t you glad I didn’t give you the long version?).

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Soooooo Soft and Haunted

I have yet to see my new Haunted line, but I’m excited to see it next week when I’m in Chicago for CHA. It will be so soft with all it’s lovely flock-ed-ness (is that a word?).

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I happily discovered that Amber Packer on the MME blog had gotten her hands on some and made this darling layout. Yummy vinyl flocking…how I long to see you in person!

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See it bigger by clicking on the image below:).

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Haunted Paper Line for My Mind’s Eye

I’ve been working on finishing up a couple of fabric lines tonight, and I opened my email to find out that my new halloween line is up! This halloween line is like nothing you’ve seen before. It is FLOCKED!!!!! And there are epoxy stickers, flocked vinyl stickers, stickers, and a flocked accessory sheet.

haunted-logoI can’t wait to show it off in Chicago in a couple of weeks!

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MeadowLark Giveaway Winner Announced and A Bit of Favorite Friday

I haven’t had a Favorite Friday post in an age, but I thought I would give you a little Favorite Friday today by sharing my never-fail, absolutely-easy, dessert-of-choice for parties I throw. What is it? It seems ridiculous that I by-pass the best pastry shops and go straight to Costco for their chocolate cake. It’s affordable, rich, and feeds a crowd! After serving and preparing a big dinner, I always try to opt out of cooking dessert, and this is the way to do it! I served it at my Annual Chinese New Year Party this year (which I STILL haven’t gotten around to posting photos of!) and it fed 20 people (with left-overs to spare). I like to serve it with fresh strawberries. It’s such a treat and perhaps even better because I didn’t slave over a hot stove to make it !

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OKay, enough Favorite Friday! I’m sure you are itching to know who the winner of MeadowLark™ is! First, thank you to everyone who made comments about MeadowLark! It was fun to read what you might use the collection for! I get a kick out of reading your comments and the more comments this blog gets, the more fun it is to post giveaways and freebies! Let people know so I can continue to do so! And the winner for this giveaway by random.org was:

Screen shot 2010-05-14 at 4.51.47 PMPatti Hutchinson says: I just love the idea of a neutral black and white line for all of my spring and summer flower pictures. I also think it would make a great mini album for just about anything!
Thanks Patti for your comment and I’m excited to see those photos! I just need you to email me at info@carinagardner.com and I’ll get this lovely collection shipped out to you right away! Not a bad way to end the week, huh?

As for me, I’ve got some serious designing to do this weekend because I’m gearing up for Quilt Market next week in my home-of-six years, Minneapolis! My first line Coquette™ will be premiering there. I’ll be sure to give you all a report and LOTS of pictures!
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MeadowLark Paper Giveaway!

I just picked up more of my MeadowLark™ Collection on Friday. I’ve been inspired by the black and white papers in this line to work on all sorts of projects (check out my ABC Book) because they are so neutral! I’ve decided I need to share the love so I’m giving away both the Dusk and Dawn Paper Packs (18 papers back and front with 2 accessory sheets!) plus the two rub-ons (I’m obsessed) that match! What do you need to do to get entered to win this set? Just leave me a little comment on this thread of what you might use this super versatile line for or why you love it! I’ll choose one winner on Friday evening (this giveaway will end 5pm MST) by random selection. Good luck!

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ABC Book Template

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I’ve been working on this new hybrid ABC Book for a couple of days now. It’s a little present for my mother-in-law for Mother’s Day…shhhhh! Don’t tell! She even gave me a little time to work on it while she hauled my kids to the aquarium for a little “grammy” time yesterday. I had to share because I made this little book from MeadowLark™ and my new ABC Templates that will be out tomorrow at DHD. The mini illustrations are so sweet! Think Mother’s Day (or in my case, Grandma’s Day). The bonus? It’s pretty easy to make.

dhd_carinagardner_abc_sqPREVThe templates all fit on a 4 in x 4 in photo (I get 4″x6″ photos printed at Costco and leave the extra space blank). All I did was take my “ABC photos” and dropped the templates on top (the digital kit comes with both white and black versions-52 files in all).

Once they are printed, you only have the fun part left! This little book is 5 in. x 5 in. You could make your book any size though. When I make my photos 4″ x 6″, I tend to make a 5 in” x 7 in” book. I was loving the black and white papers because it made the photos really pop. I added red ink to all the paper edges as an accent and some fun MME rub on letters to the cover (the other elements on the cover come from the MeadowLark™ die cut accessory sheets).  Oh ya, and my favorite way to get things bound? A quick trip to OfficeMax to let them spiral bind it for me. I’m okay with the hand off on this part of it!

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It’s a Project Day

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Ahhhhh! I love a good project day! I’m off the computer designing for a day (after finishing up my new collection Daisy Jane™ for DHD last night) and getting paint on my face! I found a steal of a deal at Tai Pan the other day, and it’s been waiting for me to give it a fresh coat of paint. Of course, Felicity helped as only a toddler can (that’s her little hand painting in the photo!). I’m also hoping to get out those new MeadowLark™ papers to work on a little project. That’s this afternoon (with the girls…they love a good art project as much as I do).

elephant frontSpeaking of projects, I have to show off these amazing projects by one of DHD‘s new Hybrid Decorators: Jane Beljo (click on her name to see more). These cards use the Baby Mine kit (proceeds go to a good cause—see the post below!). You can see her helpful hints for making her cards at Design House Digital (her first post is here).

Oh ya, and I’ve been meaning to give a little shout out to Hi Mountain Drug Store in Kamas, Utah. Our little family stopped by to see DHD’s Digi guru Gennifer Bursett on our way back from a spring break vacation last week. It’s no wonder that the burger joint there has won so many awards! I inhaled that deleIMG_1075ctable philly burger with the refreshing limeade in a ridiculous amount of time. Yes, my mouth is salivating just thinking of it. Gen, watch out…I may be back sooner than you’d like!

Okay, backing away from the computer now :).

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Pinfeathers Sale

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I started this morning with an Easter egg hunt and brunch at my house with family. I was just thankful that weather’s little April Fool’s joke had mostly melted away. Brunch was still held inside, but we held the hunt in the backyard. I was just telling Siri how much I loved Easter egg hunts as a kid. I even remember one year we found eggs hanging on the tree in our front yard with all sorts of treats.  My parents said they didn’t know who put the eggs up and the mystery made it even more wonderful. I was just thinking about it last week and realized that my PARENTS were the ones to have hung the eggs. I guess it only takes 20 years to figure something like that out.

I hope you are also enjoying your Easter weekend! We start spring break and I hope to spend most of my week just hanging out with the kids and having a little family holiday. A break is much needed!

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Before I drop off for a week, I thought I’d better let you know about a couple of things. First is that at DHD there is a designer sale going on this weekend only on my PinFeathers Collection. You should check out the freebie, $1 item, and the 20% off that is happening Sat-Sun only (April 3-4).

Second, I wanted to mention that Meadow Lark is officially on sale at My Mind’s Eye. Go check it out! It’s part of the Spring Release that also includes So Sophie (which is to die for!) by Jen Allyson and Deena Rutter.

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Sick baby

logo copyI’ve been dealing with the croup for, well, not even the last 24 hours. My poor little toddler started hacking last night and got to a point where she couldn’t catch her breath. It was probably overly anxious, but Josh had dialed 911 before I knew what had happened. Of course, by the time the ambulance arrived, she was breathing steadily again. After a horrible night of sleep, lots of loads of laundry (because who knew all that gagging would result in so much vomit?), and an elevated fever, I ran her up in InstantCare. I’m in for the long haul for a couple of more nights.

Of course, my baby is most important, but during the periods of her little naps or Josh’s trips to McDonalds (that’s all she will eat right now-terrible, I know), I’m trying to stuff a few more things into my new Drawing Class currently being sold at Jessica Sprague (It’s also now being sold at a discounted price as a bundle with Illustrator 101). I also wanted to let you know that I will be doing a one time only WebCast for the class on April 15th for everyone who has registered. I’m excited for you to begin illustrating!

Here’s a few other things happening! Expect to see my new paper line, Meadow Lark, showing up from My Mind’s Eye soon! You’ll also like to know that you’ll be able to find two glitter books from me at Hobby Lobby and Michaels in the coming months. Yum Yum! And finally, I’m suppose to finish out this week by sending tons of files to China for my new Halloween paper line for My Minds Eye. I’ll announce it and give a peek as we get closer to summer releases!

Okay, one last thing before I run. This weekend, DHD is beginning their new designer releases, which begins with yours truly! Check it out because one of my kits will be free and a collection will be one sale. Oh, and I promised the decorators I’d get a Color Kit out. I promise, I’m working on it!

For now, I need to get back to tending my little one so we can be back on track for a festive Easter!

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A New Illustrator Class: Tips and Tricks of Drawing

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I know you’ve been waiting patiently! So I’m here to announce that my new Illustrator class for Jessica Sprague goes on sale on Monday! It will be available to take on April 1st. It’s a two week course of intensive drawing for beginners. I include two of my favorite tricks. I hope you enjoy this additional mini class for those of you learning how to illustrate your own work!

In other news, you are going to see two new glitter books from me soon (at Michaels and Hobby Lobby) and of course my new line for My Minds Eye, Meadow Lark™ which should be coming soon! Right now, I need to get back to work on refining my new Illustrator class. Here’s a link for a sneak peek! It’s the introduction to Lesson 1.

https://carinagardner.com/studio/INTRO.mov

**New info! The Illustrator 102 Drawing Class will be 10% off until April 1st. I will also be doing a special webcast for everyone who has registered before April 15th.

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New Year’s Resolutions-A Day Late

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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!

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Happy Haunting

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Just dropping in for a sec to wish you a Happy Boo Day! It’s few days early, but my Halloween starts tomorrow with a Halloween luncheon with my girls, Siri’s first Kindergarten Halloween Parade, and of course, trick-or-treating on the 31st. Plus, if you haven’t checked out my studio site recently, I’ve done a couple of updates! If you need a peek at some of the Love Nest papers, go here. I’ve had people tell me they were able to find the paper pad at Hobby Lobby and a couple of people tell me that it was already sold out! So be sure and drop by there if you want to snag it! Happy Haunting!

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