The Crafting Chicks Strike Again!

halloween-advent2I met the Crafting Chicks just this last month at Fabric Fest. Talk about a darling group of ladies! I loved the camaraderie they had with each other and the energy they have for new projects! I wouldn’t mind capturing a bit of that energy and bottling it for a deadline (wink, wink…).

If you’ve been on their site recently, you’ll notice a myriad of awesome projects. That includes a darling printable, some easy Halloween decor, and a shout out from Becky who did my Halloween Advent class. Click on the photo to the right (image from craftingchicks.com) to see Becky’s take on the project.

While you are over there, be sure and also check out Nikkala’s Halloween Ice Cream Cups. That background wallpaper sure does look familiar…

I have all sorts of plans of getting my own house spookarific (and I’m sure I will be using some of the Crafting Chicks cute ideas). Unfortunately, things have been a little hectic between the new Deseret Book deadlines, the Carta Bella Winter Show lineup, and all the renovating we are doing on the glamper. I do have an update for you on the glamper, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

SONY DSCTonight I need to finish out my spring release of dishware at DB. Which reminds me…I have a lot of lovely announcements about new products from me from DB coming up here in the next three weeks. If you get your catalog in the mail, be sure and check out the bracelets, canvas art, and new Christmas dishware. More on that soon…

Carina

 

 

 

 

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Last Day to Enter the Wallpaper Giveaway!

It’s the last day! Make sure you get entered for over $300 worth of wallpaper. Enter by creating an account at carinagardnershop.com. I love this wallpaper as an accent to a room or to makeover a closet! Choose from any of the new collections in the shop! Here’s what one lucky person will get:

+4 ROLLS OF PRE-PASTED PVC FREE WALLPAPER (Covers 8 ft W x 8 ft 3in L)
+2 SAMPLES
+ SHIPPING

Good luck! We’ll post the winner on facebook at 5pm MST!

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Photoshoot Recap

Here’s a little recap on some of the things I have been working on the last three months. Mostly, I have been concentrating on the shop, but there has been a lot of other good stuff too.

(Photo to the left—My cute model is wearing an outfit I bought from Ruche—a new favorite).

(Photo below—My new Oval Dot Wallpaper…I love in both wallpaper and in fabric (coming April 2013).

 

* Winter CHA (which basically took up the first half of January).
* We released Beach Boardwalk at Carta Bella.
* I finished up strike offs for my new dishware line. I still can’t completely spill about this, but I’ll be on in a couple of weeks when they are released.
* For the first time EVER, my indoor shoots were done in the new office. Hence, it marked  the first time I didn’t tear apart my house for a shoot. Instead I just tore apart my new office:).
* We bought inventory for the shop.
* I recorded and wrote classes. I planned for the rest of 2013s classes. (Schedule to come soon).
*I started work on the sewing patterns. We are in the middle of testing and hope to get these to print by 3rd week in April.
* I am currently scrambling to work out Summer CHA. There is simply not enough time between the two tradeshows:).
* I had to pull myself from behind the camera to be in front of it.

Of course, that was just my “work” stuff. We had some big accomplishments around the house too.

* Josh quit his job to help run CGInc.
* Charlie started to roll, sit, and now army crawls! He also started to sleep 7 hours at a time (This is probably the best on the list!)
* Siri turned 9. How? What? WHY? I can’t believe I have a 9 year old.
* Felicity lost her first tooth. Then a second. And is wiggling a third and a fourth. There’s not going to be anything left soon!
* I was in charge of the class projects for Siri and Felicity’s classes for Arts Night. We made a quilt with Felicity’s class and embroidered with Siri’s class.

Hoping you get a chance to register in the shop and get entered into our huge wallpaper giveaway!

That’s the way to start a year!

Carina

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Grand Opening and Wallpaper Giveaway!

It’s finally here! After several delays, I am finally opening my online shop! It’s been a lot of late nights, stocking inventory, and video taping classes, but I’m so excited to offer some of my products all in one place.

I’m probably most excited for the release of my new Wallpaper Collections! I created a lookbook to make it easy to glance through our offerings of wallpaper. We plan on having a quarterly release of new wallpapers so be sure to check back often to see this home decor candy!

I would love to know what your favorites are and what types of wallpapers you are interested in seeing in the future. No promises…but I am curious!

We also have an awesome color customization service available with our wallpapers. So if you don’t see the right color or if you want a color match, we can do a color match to Pantons for $15 per color. Read a little more about it in our FAQ.

Of course, since it is a Grand Opening, we had to make it grand, right? So here is the grand sale going on in the shop for the first month!

* 75% off Illustrator Basics CS6 Course 1
* 20% off my 2012 Fabrics
* 20% off my Sewing Patterns
* 20% off my NEW Digital DieCutting Files **Please note the diecuts will not be available for a few more days so we can fine tune the download process.
*20% off Template Design and Fabric Design Classes
and
* 20% off my NEW Wallpaper Collections!

The sale goes on until April 30th, 2013! And to top it off, we are doing some AMAZING giveaways over the next month as well.

We are kicking it off by giving away 4 ROLLS OF PRE-PASTED PVC FREE WALLPAPER + 2 SAMPLES + SHIPPING. This giveaway is worth $331.00! This wallpaper will cover an 8′ x 8’3″ wall.

In order to be entered into this giveaway, you need to create an account/register in our new shop. That’s it! We’ll draw a name from everyone who has registered and the winner will be announced on facebook on April 2, 2013!

Throughout the month, we have some fabulous giveaways on Instagram, Facebook, the Blog, and on the Shop site. Some from us and some from our favorite folks! You’ll have to check back to see what we are doing because it’s going to be a good month.

Make sure you enter the wallpaper giveaway!

Cheerio!

Carina

 

 

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Carina Gardner Shop Opening—March 22, 2013!

I’m in the final stages of finishing our new online shop! We are so excited to be able to offer a number of my products all in one location! That includes my fabrics, sewing patterns, classes, and two new things: digital die cutting files and wallpaper! Yippee!

There is going to be an awesome sale during the first month of this shop along with some really great prizes, freebies, and giveaways. Stay tuned! Be sure and check back here on FRIDAY!

Carina

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Photoshoot Sneak Peek

It has been a crazy week. I’m still busy getting ready for the online shop opening. Thankfully, we finished all of the photoshoots for the new products (for now). The photo above is one of my favorite wallpapers coming out. You might recognize it from my Carta Bella Beautiful Moments line and my Remember Fabric line coming out this spring for Riley Blake. Felicity decided to try out the lipstick for our model and show her how to pose (photo above).

She also happily posed for her own shoot (left). Believe me, she is not always this willing.

Right now we are on track for opening shop in two weeks. Once it is confirmed, I will make sure and post a tentative course calendar so that you can plan to attend!

Speaking of classes, Art of Digital Design 2 ended today. It’s a little bittersweet. It’s my last class at JessicaSprague.com, but the start of something so exciting on my own site. I had such a great time with the students in this class. They worked so hard, and it really showed through in their forum critiques yesterday.

Other than the shop, I’ve started work on new patterns for Spring Quilt Market. Last year, I had so many plans for the sewing patterns that I never got to. Between the opening of Carta Bella Paper and having Mr. Charlie, I didn’t have time for much else. This year, I plan on releasing a whole lotta product mostly because I love it so much (dropping the x-acto knife and dusting off the sewing machine NOW). Seriously, I miss sewing, and I’m hopeful I’ll get to do a lot more of that in 2013.

(photo above: Can I admit that I hate being the subject of a photoshoot rather than the person putting it together? Silly moments happen.)

Other than the stuff happening in the office, Josh’s dad came home from a major heart surgery last week. He’s had an LVAD placed in his heart and will need 24/7 care for next 6-8 weeks. Much of the family has received training on how to help take care of him. It means a lot of overnights for Josh and other family members. It also means a lot of playing the single parent for the spouses. It’s been hard, but I’ll admit there have been some perks. There has been a lot of cousin time and even a couple of nights of straight-through sleep for me (when Josh has taken Charlie with him for an overnight to take care of his dad). Tangent: It’s been so long since my two girls were babies that I can’t remember when they started sleeping through the night. Charlie will be 6 months old next week, and I keep thinking he’s going to skip a nightime feeding…but so far no luck. Any advice on this?

(photo above: This is between photo shoots—A little snuggle with my babies before I get ready for the next set up!)

Happy Friday!

Carina

 

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