I really didn’t even plan on going to CHA until the last minute with Designer Workshop being just around the bend. So I was in-and-out in a jiffy (I flew in Saturday morning and left Monday bright and early). However, I still managed to take a plethera a photos. This is easily the longest post I’ve ever done. I tried really hard to tell you whose booth I took the photo at so that you can go check out their new products. So much fabulous stuff at this show!

I know some of you are going to ask, so here it is…there are NO products from me at this show. That’s right. But don’t worry. I’ll let you in on the fun in just a few short months.

I spent a good portion of the weekend hanging on with fellow Riley Blake designer Samantha Walker. Love Samantha and love her design work. She has stuff at Creative Imaginations and Spellbinders.

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Here’s me happily Hanging out at the Waverly booth of crocheted chairs. We managed to read AFTER I took the picture that you weren’t suppose to sit the chairs. Oops. Sorry Waverly.  The felt bear, monsters (photo below), and puppets (photo 2 below) are from the Kunin Group.

I failed to grab the name of the yarn company that had this adorable crocheted animal photo.

Once again, I dropped the ball on both of these. I usually take a photo of the company logo right after the image but I can’t find any such photo for these two. The paper flowers are gorgeous and I love the white frames and layouts!

October Afternoon and some Prima.

This is Lori Whitlock, who designs for Echo Park and Riley Blake. It was a blast to finally meet her in person.

Here’s Laurie’s new line This and That. Totally adorable!

The cupcakes were from Echo Park and the photo of paper flowers from Making Memories.

Lots and lots of accordion flowers at this show.

Paper chains adorned Glitz Design’s booth.

More from Glitz Design and then a fun photo of Heidi Swapp and me.

I can’t rave enough about how awesome Heidi’s products are. I love the embellishments especially the newspaper-y banner pieces. These folders and papers can be colored any color and they have the pattern color resistant. It makes for some amazing layouts.

Like this one (love!).

More of Heidi’s products below and a gorgeous table set up by Pink Paislee.

This was the funniest thing I saw at the show. And of course I can’t remember the name of the company. These are CHAIR SOCKS! Aren’t they hysterical?

Sei had some awesome displays.

More Sei and crayons & glue from a cool company EcoGreen Crafts. I was really impressed with their kid-friendly products.

Adornit created this darling banner…

and accordion flowers.

I was loving this from Maya Road….wooden spools! I just bought a jar from an antiques shop but I need more for my tradeshow booth at Quilt Market. This may be a way to supplement!

I believe this is Tim Holtz.

More October Afternoon (paper and cute jars below).

Prima

I have so many pictures from this booth but have no idea what company it is. But examples were fabulous!

More accordion flowers. I thought this one was clever though with the use of several papers.

This was Tim Holtz but for a different brand.

DCWV had great paper trees.

This is from Paper Quilt Creations. I thought the concept was really cute.

A little Anna Griffin.

I loved this company—Little Pink Ladybug. They make bow templates that were seriously so impressive! other than being an ultra nice company, I thought the product was pretty amazing. Check them out if you get a chance!

The bird paper is from October Afternoon (love!) and the layout came from somewhere near that booth:).

And that’s all I’ve got! Putting together the blogpost felt longer than the actual time I spent in California. Hope you enjoyed and sorry if you fell in love with a product that I managed to forget who made. A girl can only do so much when surrounded by such awesomeness.

Hope you have a crafty day! Carina

Last year, we did a thankful tree on Thanksgiving day. This year, the girls have a jar of leaves that they can write or draw on whenever they want to add to this banner in our kitchen.

I’m hoping it’s a great way for them to see what their parents are grateful for and encourages them to remember to be thankful too.

This is the simplest banner to make, and it changes as you add more leaves or birds! I hope ours is squished to the brim when the month is over.

I threw on a little glitter mist because it was lying around (so it’s completely optional). I liked the Forever Red Perfect Pearls Mist for the brown and orange leaves and the Tattered Angels Glitter Mist in Sweet Clover for the olive green leaves.

If you aren’t into the Glitter Mist, just let your little ones scribble away to add their “thanks.” Get bigger kids to help you cut out the leaves (or sit in front of your favorite show as you cut them out).

Hang the banner in a place that you’ll see often (ours is in the doorway between our living room and kitchen) so that you’ll see it often and remember to add to it.

I’m hoping ours is an opportunity to really remember what this month is about (rather than a jump start on Christmas). If it’s successful, we may just change up the colors for Christmasand use it place holder for “good deeds done” during December to encourage friendship and giving.

Here’s the full tutorial plus pattern for you to download! Hope you have fun and are able to give thanks at the same time!

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We’ve had such a tremendous response to the hybrid section of the Quarterly Newsletter that I have decided to open it up to anyone who would like to submit projects they have done using my fabric, digital, or paper. This is very exciting for me since I love seeing everyone’s creativity!

Our first deadline is for Issue No. 6 Dec 2011-Jan 2012, which we expect to release mid-January. Submission Forms are due by December 15, 2011. Please download the form and look over the project guidelines. You can also check out previous hybrid projects done by the Creative Team in Issue No. 5.

Deadlines for future issues will be published on the Newsletter Page (as well as the download forms).

We’d love to publish your fabulous fabric, paper, and digital work so submit!

Hugs! Carina

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

Layout by Carey Bridges

Layout by Laurel Flechtner

Layout by Susan Haglund

Layout by Stephanie Andre

Spraguefest is October 7-10, 2011 and there is a registration fee of $80 for classes and materials. I know there are going to be goodie bags (yum) and some fantastic teachers! This year we are in Las Vegas and  I’m sure that whatever happens in Vegas will stay in Vegas. That means a lot of late night craziness.  Oh alright, maybe some daytime craziness as well (I might have done a little dance in the street last year).

The second event is my brand new Paper and Digital Designer Workshop! Think elegant girls-trip-meets-intense-design-school. Yep, it’s going to be that kind of weekend!

We’ll be in Salt Lake City working on your paper and digital designer skills (and possibly your shopping skills, manicure skills, nunchuck skills…).  It’s going to be a super intense experience that will help you explore your creativity! We are staying at the Little America Hotel , who will also be catering nearly the entire event. The Little America is well known for being a luxurious Four Diamond Hotel and their menus and decor are impressive! Get ready for a glammed-up girls weekend that will also define your design career!

Registration for this event is capped at 20 people and is first-come, first serve.

Check out our workshops page to learn more and register!

I hope to be able to hang out with you at one or both of these events!

I think this is our best issue so far. First of all, there are a LOT of photos. And tutorials. And photos. And an announcement (which links to ANOTHER digital magazine). And did I mention photos?

It’s seriously delicious!

Susan has already posted a bit on getting ready for this crazy photoshoot (see it here). I can tell you right now that we had so many amazing photos that I’m not going to be able to resist posting them.

But first, click on the newsletter to the left here and take a peek at all the fun we were up to in the studio.

http://www.carinagardner.com/newsletter/carina-gardner-newsletter-issue-no-4/

More photos to come!

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

If you have stopped here first, you can find the beginning of this blog hop at Jessica’s blog.

Be sure and check out the awesome sale going on including 35% off all the digi shops and 20% off the classes.

Once you’ve gotten your freebie here, move on to STOP #11.

THIS FREEBIE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. THIS WILL BE IN THE JS SHOP JULY 11, 2011.

JessicaSprague.com is FOUR! To celebrate, they’re throwing a HUGE Birthday Bash & Summer Sale. From June 13-26, you can save 20% off of every self-paced class (think Illustrator, hehe), and 35% off of ALL digital products. In addition, grab all 27 episodes of Jessica’s amazing Photoshop Friday tutorials for just $1 each before they’re retired on June 26! As part of the celebration, starting on June 24, you can participate in an incredible 47-person blog hop (including a great freebie from me!), picking up a sweet digital freebie at each stop! Best of all, on June 26 Jessica will be making a special announcement of a brand new class coming up in July. We only put our site on sale two times a year, so don’t miss out on this GREAT savings opportunity! For all the info on the Summer Sale, Photoshop Fridays, blog hop, and the new class, just click here!

Off to finish off my new pattern! Be in next week with my freebie!

Hugs! Carina