Episode 48 How She Designs Fabric with Amanda Niederhauser

Posted on by Carina Gardner

Have you ever wondered how a fabric designer approaches creating a new fabric collection? Today Carina talks with fellow Riley Blake designer Amanda Niederhauser about her process for designing a new line.

Her daughter Ella is involved in the process and they make a great team! Amanda also talks about her love of cats and cat fabric. Settle in for this fun and insightful conversation about fabric and cats!

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Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY 

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About Carina Gardner:

Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com

Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

About Today’s Guest

Amanda Niederhauser is a quilter, a fabric designer for Riley Blake, and an author. You can find her work in the following places:

Instagram: jedicraftgirl

Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/JediCraftGirl (patterns)

Episode 47 When was the Last Time Someone Told You How Valuable You Are?

Posted on by Carina Gardner

When was the last time someone told you how valuable you are? Carina gets real today about how important it is to feel valued.

You probably don’t hear it often enough from the people in your life. Carina hints at tough things she experienced in her childhood and tells a very vulnerable story about the first time that her intrinsic value as a human being was described to her in a way that made her believe it. YOU ARE VALUABLE. What you’re doing in this world is important!

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Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY 

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About Carina Gardner:

Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com

Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

Episode 46 My Halloween Traditions Including the Movie I watch on October 31st

Posted on by Carina Gardner

Every Halloween, Carina takes her kids trick or treating and then settles in to watch one movie as she hands out candy.

Find out what Halloween movies Carina loves to watch! Traditions can be comfortable, memorable moments and Carina shares some of her favorites for Halloween!

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Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY 

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About Carina Gardner:

Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com

Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

Episode 44 To Do Something Great, There Must Be Sacrifice

Posted on by Carina Gardner

What does it take to become a great designer or to do something great in anything you do?

Find out as Carina talks us through the kinds of sacrifices in time and money it takes to level up or do something great. Have you ever thought about whether time or money is more important? Carina shares her thoughts on which is more important and why.

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Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY 

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About Carina Gardner:

Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com

Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

Episode 43 You Are Enough with Diane Rooney

Posted on by Carina Gardner

Today Carina talks with fellow fabric designer and Design Suite Member Diane Rooney.


Diane talks about all her experiences in the crafting and sewing world. Carina and Diane talk about life lessons and making your passion a career. As you’ll hear, it’s never too late to start following  your passion!
 
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Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY 
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About Carina Gardner:
Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.
 
Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.
 
Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com
Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

About Today’s Guest

Diane Rooney is a fabric designer, illustrator, and digital artist with a passion to help and inspire others in their own creative pursuits. Her design work has featured in software, television, fabric, and many other mediums. Find out all about Diane’s gorgeous design work, career, and family at https://www.dianerooney.co.uk/.

Episode 41 Tips and Tricks in Free Motion Quilting and Weight Loss with Dara Tomasson

Posted on by Carina Gardner

Have you ever wondered about the serendipitous ways that seemingly-unrelated things connect in a way that makes them both more meaningful? On today’s Make + Design Podcast


Carina is joined by free motion quilting expert and weight loss guru Dara Tomasson who tells us the surprising connection between learning a new skill like free motion quilting and weight loss. Hint: it’s about learning to love yourself.

You can find out more about Dara at https://daratomasson.com/
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Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY 
__________


About Carina Gardner:
Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.
 
Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.
 
Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com
Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

About Today’s Guest

Dara Tomasson is a life-coach,  professional long-arm quilter, and author. Dara is an expert on helping people through their weightloss journey. The best place to find her is on Instagram at daratomasson. 

Dara’s book, “Doodle School: A Daily Design Challenge to Up Your Free-Motion Quilting Game,” is available on Amazon along with the other books she’s authored.

Episode 40 Borrow A Little Confidence from Someone Who Believes in You

Posted on by Carina Gardner

Do you ever struggle with confidence? Whether we are well-trained and experienced or just starting out, a nagging lack of confidence can affect any of us.

Today Carina gives us some tips on surrounding ourselves with people who will give us a boost in confidence.

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Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY 

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About Carina Gardner:

Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com

Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

Episode 39 Why Mental Health is Important to Creatives with Melissa Esplin

Posted on by Carina Gardner

Have you ever wondered how to balance mental health with having a successful design career?


Today, artist and calligraphy expert Melissa Esplin joins Carina to discuss some of the ways to approach maintaining your mental health. Whether it’s getting a new pet or starting formal therapy, Melissa and Carina share their experiences.

Designing is a beautiful way to share wonderful things and fill the world with light and happiness. Just don’t forget, as Melissa says, to “put on your own oxygen mask first!”

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Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY 
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About Carina Gardner:
Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.
 
Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.
 
Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com
Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

About Today’s Guest

Melissa Esplin is a calligraphy expert and entrepreneur who has taught thousands of people to become calligraphy artists over the last decade. She holds a B.F.A. from Brigham Young University and is an avid cyclist. 

Find Melissa on her site at https://www.calligraphy.org/ and on Instagram at melissapher. 

Episode 37 Why We Are Not a Product of Circumstance but of Decisions

Posted on by Carina Gardner

On today’s episode of Make + Design, Carina walks us through a quote that she recently read from leadership guru Stephen R. Covey: “I am not a product of my circumstances, I am a product of my decisions.” She feels like it’s a freeing thought to be a product of your decisions because it frees you from playing the role of victim.

When we’re a product of our circumstances then we are the victim and we have zero control. Many studies show that feeling powerless makes us feel hopeless. Good decisions lead to positive changes in life, which leads to hope. 

Carina also talks us through the things that she thinks about to make decisions very quickly. The worst that can happen when you make a quick decision is that you make the wrong decision. In most cases in life, we’ll have the opportunity to course correct when we need to. When we make quick decisions we are CHOOSING the kind of life we want to have. She also walks us through some of the little decisions that we can make. Little decisions turn into monumental things that teach us how to live a creative life. 

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Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY 

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About Carina Gardner:

Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.

Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com

Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

Episode 36 Favorite Paper Crafts Projects with Kelly Wayment

Posted on by Carina Gardner

On today’s Make + Design Podcast, Kelly Wayment returns to talk about some of her favorite paper crafts projects and to give general advice about how to create beautiful, intricate projects using a cutting machine like a Silhouette.

She and Carina talk about how to position tabs, when it’s a good idea to hand cut something, and where to store the projects that you create. There’s tons of inspiration and happy thoughts in this wonderful interview!
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Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY 
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About Carina Gardner:
Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.
 
Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.
 
Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com
Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp

About Today’s Guest

Kelly Wayment is a paper, vinyl, and heat-transfer crafting expert. She is also an instructor and has taught on sites like Craftsy, Michaels, and Silhouette.

Find Kelly at www.findingtimetocreate.com and on Instagram at kraftingkelly.