Posts Tagged ‘Carina Gardner’

1 Kit, 4 Ways – Fresh Picked

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

We’re back, with another amazing kit. This week, some of the Design House Decorators had Carina Gardner’s Fresh Picked – Autumn line to play with, and I can’t wait to show you what they did with it! So, let’s get right to it!

Layout by Jen Papadimitriou

Jen Papadimitriou says, “The colors in Carina’s Autumn kit are so rich and beautiful I thought they went perfect with my photos! I used a white outline (stroke) feature to the leaves and papers to pop them out on the page. I really loved the patterns in this kit so I layered them in a group like a photo corner. The frames and title complemented the kit as well.” (Credits: Fresh Picked – Autumn by Carina Gardner, Wish Frame Stacks by Karla Dudley, Sweet Fall Embellishments by Robyn Meierotto)

Layout by Tiffany Bodily

Tiffany Bodily says, “I loved the look I was able to achieve by layering the various stamps in this kit. The cluster of leaves created the perfect backdrop for the fall photo I wanted to showcase on my layout. Using the stamps in the way I did draws the viewer’s eyes to the center of the page where I placed the photo. I kept the rest of the embellishments on the page to a minimum so that they would not compete with the photo. The frames and elements were the perfect finishing touches. (Credits: Fresh Picked – Autumn & ESSENTIALS-Frames v.1 by Carina Gardner, Digi Essentials 7 – elements by Karla Dudley)

Layout by Audrey Neal

Audrey Neal says, “There are times when I’m really aiming for a “paper-scrapped” feel for my digital layouts, and the patterns and elements in Carina’s kit were a perfect choice. I used three different patterned papers for my page foundation, and because the patterns are all various sizes, they don’t compete against each other. Instead, they provide a perfect complement when used in varying amounts (think gallon, quart, pint). The tickets work for journaling and embellishments, and a few leaves provided the finishing touch, along with some hardware from Karla’s Digi Essentials line. (Credits: Fresh Picked – Autumn by Carina Gardner, Digi Essentials 7 by Karla Dudley)

Layout by Allison Waken

Allison Waken wraps us up with this: “I just loved how the papers in this kit were vibrant while still being understated. My goal in a page is for the papers to compliment or draw my eye to the photograph and I think this kit did that perfectly! The leaf stamp added a nice fall element and I love the tickets especially since this page was for a little event at the zoo. (Credits: Fresh Picked – Autumn and DAISY JANE Inkblots by Carina Gardner, Digi Essentials – elements by Karla Dudley)

Lovely fall pages, all of them! So, are you ready to have your mind blown?

Really ready?

Instead of just the Autumn Collection, we’re giving away the entire Fresh Picked line to one lucky commenter.

That’s a $40 value, folks! And, to make it super easy on you, all you have to do for your chance to win is answer here, and tell me which of the four seasons is your favorite: Spring, summer, autumn, or winter. Super simple, and super value. Also, don’t forget to stop by Carina’s shop this weekend, because she’s leaving The House. All of her kits are 50% off, but when she’s gone, they’re gone!

(Big congrats to Tammy, the winner of last week’s kit. I’m ever-so-happy you commented, in the nick of time!)

Tags: 1 Kit 4 Ways, Carina Gardner, Design House Decorators, Inspiration
Posted in Blog, Inspiration | 62 Comments »

How To Make Hybrid Treat Bag Toppers – Halloween Hybrid Tutorial

Friday, October 15th, 2010

Tiffany Bodily – a Design House Decorator posting here for you today! While I know that treat bag toppers are not a new idea to most paper crafters, they remain ever popular and a standard “go – to” for me when I want to make a little something for someone by adding my own decorative flair. To start with you will need a cellophane treat bag of your choice that is large enough to accommodate the treat you are wanting to give. I like to look for fun cello bags at the dollar store – they usually have 25 in a package for a dollar and that makes it very thrifty! Other places I have found a good selection of cello bags is at craft stores and party good stores. The next step is to measure the width of the treat bag. Usually the measurements on the packaging for the bags is correct but sometimes they are a bit off.

Open Photoshop and create a new canvas using the width of the bag for the canvas width – be sure to set it in “inches.” For the height I usually go about the same as the width but it really is a personal preference thing. So two of the treat bags you see photographed are 5.25 in x 4.25 in. Something to keep in mind is that the height of the canvas you create will be folded in half so you will only be decorating the lower half of the canvas. Choose a background paper to cover the entire canvas and then simply add the elements of your liking to create the front of your treat topper. For my toppers I used the following products:

HAUNTED-Full Collection By Carina Gardner
Life: October Complete Kit By Kate Teague
SUPERSTITION – WORDART By Deena Rutter

After printing your topper, score down the middle of the height and fold. Your topper is now ready to attach to the bag. Place the goodies in the cello bag and fold down. You may wish to trim off excess cello if the bag is much taller than the treat space needed. I then like to match the fold of the topper to the top of the folded cello bag. Leaving the topper open, I use a stapler to staple just the back portion to the cello bag. I don’t like a staple to show on the front finished portion of the topper. After the back of the topper is stapled to the cello bag, I use adhesive to attach the front part of the topper to the cello bag.

You can leave the treat bag as is or if you desire you can add a piece of real ribbon to the topper as you will see in the photo on the smaller treat topper.

Hint: On the small treat bag I removed the Milky Way wrappers from the four mini bars that fit into the treat bag. I felt like this made the treat bag a more tidy presentation so that the wrapper didn’t compete with the cute topper design. Another plus was that I felt like the candy looked like maybe I purchased it in a fine chocolate shop. Cheating…. Tricking…. you decide – either way it is a TREAT!

Tags: Carina Gardner, deena rutter, Halloween Hybrid Projects, Hybrid, Kate Teague, Photos, Photoshop, Tiffany Bodily
Posted in Blog, Inspiration, Tutorials | 2 Comments »

Circle Banner – Halloween Hybrid Tutorial

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Hi there! I’ve got a pretty quick but adorable banner tutorial for you today. I wanted something that could take me from Halloween into Fall and who doesn’t love banners right?!

I chose to use Carina Gardner’s Haunted Collection

This banner is basically comprised of circles and a few honeycomb flowers. First I printed out 2 sheets of 8.5″x11″ patterned papers and cut out 2″ strips (the horizontal way). Then, I folded them into a fan shape and glued the ends together forming a circle.

Then I flattened it out by pushing the middle of the “flower” together, you have to play with it a little but it’s not too hard.

To secure, I put quite a bit of hot glue in the center and placed a small circle of a different patterned paper on each side.

I made 4 of these flowers and then punched out a bunch of 2″ circles with a circle punch.

Then, I coated one of the circles with a glue stick, laid a string across the middle and secured by laying another circle on top.

Same with the flowers

And you have a little banner to hang anywhere you (or your kids) decide!

Have fun creating – this is a great project to get your kids involved! Mine especially love punching the circles or gluing the circles together.

Tags: Allison Waken, Carina Gardner, Halloween, Halloween Hybrid Projects, Hybrid Project, Hybrid Projects
Posted in Blog, Inspiration, Tutorials | No Comments »

Before & After – Halloween Hybrid Tutorial

Sunday, October 10th, 2010

Hello! Gen here, with today’s Hybrid Halloween post.

I love Halloween, in fact, it’s my favorite holiday! One of the best things about it (aside from the candy!) are all of the fun and interesting ways to decorate the house. The downside? As my style changes, I end up with an excess of decorations, like this:

My mom actually passed this wall plaque to me, and while I really loved the grid design, the vintage-country style did not fit my home or decor. That didn’t stop me, though! Enter a few of my favorite things, digital scrapbook kits:

Spooked Halloween (by Jen Allyson) and Haunted-Stamps and Brushes (by Carina Gardner), to be precise!

I measured the squares on my plaque, and then opened up a new document in Photoshop. I added squares in the same size, and played around with the placement of the different papers, and also added a few extra elements using the brushes.

This is the part where we pretend to look at the screenshot I took, but forgot to save before I shut down my computer and rearranged my living room furniture last night. I’m pretty awesome that way.

When I had everything the way I liked it, I flattened and printed.

A few cuts, a bit of Mod Podge, and I had this:

I toyed around with adding some regular scrapbooking supplies for a bit of texture, but decided (for now, at least!) that the clean style is perfect as-is. Next year? Who knows!

I also used this same technique to update a clock:

So, now that you have your house all decorated, take a good look around. Is there anything you don’t completely love? Why not give it a bit of a face lift? It’s easy, it’s economical, and it’s exciting! I hope you’ll share all of your Before & Afters in the gallery here at Design House Digital; I’d love to see them!

Tags: Carina Gardner, Gennifer Bursett, Halloween, Halloween Hybrid Projects, Hybrid, Jen Allyson
Posted in Blog, Inspiration, Tutorials | 3 Comments »

Hybrid Layout – Punched Elements

Monday, October 4th, 2010

Hello again! Today I’ll show you how you can use digital elements and a circle punch to create the simple layout below.

To create this layout you will need :-

1. From the Design House Digital Store:

Sophistication Journaling Tags by Sara Schmutz

Daisy Jane Paper Bits by Carina Gardner

Kraft Cardstock

2. From your paper stash:

White Cardstock

Mat Photo Paper

Letter stickers

Flower or other accent

2 ” or other Circle Punch
Step 1

In Photoshop, resize the journaling tags so that they will fit your punch. Then arrange them on a letter size document. Use kraft cardstock as a background so that when the non-circular elements are punched they will have a kraft portion showing instead of plain photo paper

Add the journaling strip as shown. I rotated it by 90 degrees to get it to fit on the sheet.

2. Print the document onto mat photo paper. Use your circle punch to punch out the journaling tags, then cut out the journaling strip. Complete the page as shown.