If you read this blog regularly, many of you know I bought my first house just last October. And while it was in wonderful condition and the previous owners did a lot to my darling 1944 brick bungalow, I find myself completely overwhelmed by everything I need to do to get it looking the way I want it.

I’m sure you can relate.

I’ve had a chandelier in a box just sitting in the living room for a month now. Everyday I tell myself I AM going to paint the hallway ceiling and that I’m going to get organized with my displays. And the list goes on and on.

Why the rush to finish up the inside (or at least part of it?). Because spring is on it’s way of course! And I plan on spending every moment ordering up lots of bulbs, plants, a playset, and recovering a couch in outdoor fabric to get my backyard in top notch condition (I’ll take lots of pictures)!

Does anyone else feel overwhelmed when spring hits? If you have tips and tricks for how you get organized, I’d love to hear them! For the most part, I just try to relax and it enjoy the process (because it really is so wonderful to finish a little project and see how beautiful it turned out). But then again, I wouldn’t be the least bit sad if I had a Samantha nose twitch to get it all done at once!

This may be a rather odd post after I leave you a download for canister labels, but it is late and after watching a movie about blogging, I find myself wanting to share. Sorry to bore you and sorry for no free download.

Josh is working late tonight which meant I got to watch Julie and Julia all by myself. When it comes to anything sentimental, I really like watching by myself anyway. Maybe it’s because I like to cry loud. And maybe it’s because I like to cry.

So anyway, here’s a post for all the other foodies out there! If you haven’t seen it, the photography of Paris in the 1940s-1950s is absolutely gorgeous! The food looks lovely, and I loved the story of a woman turning 30 and finding herself through cooking.

So much for an early bedtime. Good night!

Bear with me as I take a moment to get a little personal. Today something wonderful happened to me. Something I have been waiting to happen for a long time. Today, I went into my day job as an Communications and Event Director and walked out as a freelance designer. I have been transitioning for the last several months in the job so I could design full-time from home.

And now, I can concentrate on other work: being a mommy, being a wife, and being a designer. I have managed to stretch myself too far these last few months, and now I have a chance to concentrate on the people and work I love the most.

What does this mean? More designs and projects from me, of course! I’ve been loving my new digital home with Jen Allyson at Design House Digital. Things are rocking along for my two new fabric lines, Coquette and Love Nest. I’ve got a lot of fun sewing projects waiting for me to get going on. We’ll also be opening a Carina Gardner™ Shop sometime this summer with limited supplies of the new fabric lines. I’m also planning some new classes for Jessica Sprague’s site. It’s a new year, and an exciting new time! I hope you join me as things get swinging around here! Check back for more giveaways, more releases, and well, just a whole lot more!

(BTW, the photos are from a modge podge project I did at a church activity with my Love Nest Glitter papers. I picked up the hearts from the Wood Connection in Salt Lake City. )

I’m going to spend my weekend getting my studio cleaned up, hanging that chandelier (I hope…this one’s on you, Josh), and painting. A perfect way to get things underway for my new life.

The “How to” Blog I’m speaking of it Design House Digital’s Blog and Classroom. Everytime I click on one of those links I’m amazed by all the inspiration and cool ideas (like this cool art cut out by Deena Rutter). Articles get uploaded to this blog everyday and there’s no shortage of video tutorials, hybrid projects, and digital tricks for all you crafty folks. I like it because all of the Digital Designers, DH Decorators, and the “Experts” Panel are involved in this blog to make it this very spectacular treat!

Peek over there when you have a second! I’m working tirelessly on my new Valentine Collection, which will hit DHD on Thursday (30% off that day!). I’ll be sure and post it when I have them ready.

I’ve also just (finally) have final proofs for the Love Nest line that will hit fabric this coming year, which means more sewing for me!

Happy Crafting!

Yes, my daughter wanted me to make her an octopus costume for her birthday. So how could I refuse? I kept it simple by buying a t-shirt (with the gems already on it) and women’s long socks. Add some filling, a t-shirt transfer kit and my sewing machine and I was set. The only problem? Once I made one for my oldest daughter, I had to make a second one for my youngest daughter. Thankfully, it’s project that can be done in a couple of hours.

Here’s the basic idea. Take a t-shirt and iron-on one of my adorable octopus stickers. Or skip this step entirely. Then stuff 6 women’s socks with filling and sew them to the ends of the t-shirt. Grab a beanie hat (add a flower for fun) and put on a pair of shorts and a final pair of socks (so there are 8 legs in all). Instant octopus!

Want the full instructions and photos? Just download this pdf with my instructions for creating this easy craft project!

Creating great projects from digital products is easy! For example, my daughter’s birthday party was last week and we did an underwater theme. So my gifts to all the little guests were mermaid shirts with matching hair color for each girl. My daughter wanted to be an octopus, so I simply ironed-on an octopus illustration I made onto the simple costume I created for her (to see how to make the octopus costume, please visit the octopus costume post).

So here’s how I created this cute little gift idea.

1. I bought a package of Dark T-shirt transfers and a few t-shirts in blue and dark pink. I picked them all up at Target but many places would have these goods.

2. Choose an illustration from your favorite digital kit…stickers work best because they are png (no background). I used my Tiny Mermaid line for this project.

3. Print your illustration onto your Transfer Sheet (follow the instructions from the back of tha package.). I just used my inkjet printer at home and bought inkjet transfers. If you want to maximize space, create a 8.5″ x 11″ document in Photoshop and place several stickers to cut out.

4. Cut out your printed transfer VERY CAREFULLY. Because it is on a dark T-shirt, you will want to cut out all the white and get as close to the edge of your design. For example, on the octopus sticker, I had to cut out a couple of the legs seperately because they were seperate from the body and I didn’t want white to show up between the legs.

4. Follow you transfer paper instructions to iron on the design to the t-shirt. For mine, I laid down a pillow case on a hard surface and laid a sheet of paper (provided by the iron-on packet I bought) down over the t-shirt and ironed for 1-2 minutes.

And that’s it! I great project that my children adore and made Siri’s party special.

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!

I recieved a couple of gifts that really warmed my heart for Christmas. They both happen to be etsy goodies and I just had to post them because they are the kind of presents that really makes my life a little more beautiful.

My dear friend Jen is the queen of thoughtfulness and very good at checking my Favorite Friday posts. I featured this pin cushion a while ago made by feltmates. Jen brought it into town for my new little studio. It’s even cuter in person if that is at all possible! It’s especially thoughtful as I have had birds on the brain while putting the finishing touches on my Love Nest line for fabric.

The second gift arrived on Christmas Eve from the ever fabulous Jessica Sprague. A total surprise, I was totally enamered by this darling headband made by the Candy Thief! Mine is all dark blues and grays…totally delicious! And of course, I wore it to the party I went to the night I received it! Man, what did we do before etsy?

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that all your holiday wishes came true!

I can’t believe it is the week of Thanksgiving! My, how time flys! I have two events to report. The first is that my 2 year old and 5 year old officially started fighting over who got what cereal box to look at as they ate breakfast this morning. Do you remember doing that as a kid? I mean, what was so GREAT that we all had to stare at the back of the cereal box at 7:00am in the morning?

The other big event is that Siri has her first loose tooth! I officially feel old (although it may just be the impending 30th birthday that is one week away).

In celebration of just, well, life…my digital scrapbooking store at 2peas is having a 25% off sale all this week. Yep, all 213 products. Not a bad deal.

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I’m planning on lounging in pjs for the parades and then an early family dinner. Oh, and I have a great Christmas project I am working on this week that I will post over the break! Yes, that means some free goodies for you! So stop by between your shopping schedule for a great download.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’ve been a busy girl. I’ve been working on my little girl’s bedroom since moving into our new house last month. It has been so satisfying to  finally be able to paint! While I don’t feel like it is fully finished, I still thought I’d share what I’ve done with you. And, if you are interested in making your own tree, I’ve provided the stencils I made for myself here for you.

The pdf shown here includes simple instructions and patterns for the flowers and leaves. Making your own tree won’t be hard as long as you have a little time. The process for making the tree takes about 3 days, not because it really takes that long, but because the parts of the tree have to dry before you can start a new color.

Here’s a helpful hint to create stencils: I used my Silhouette to cut these out. You could also cut them out by hand using an x-acto knife and still get the same effect.

Download the pdf stencils.

Want to see the rest of the room? First, I have to show you the BEFORE photo. The budget was tight so we decided to have the floors refinished a dark color, repainted everything, and replace the splinter-inducing pine trim as our “big budget” fixes.

And here’s the after. My favorite thing is probably the floors. Having them this dark really makes the light pink pop.