Episode 20 What Those Negative Thoughts Are Doing to Your Creativity

On today’s episode of Make + Design, Carina takes a look at negative thoughts and negative self talk. In a world where we’re constantly trying to dial our creativity up, freeing ourselves from negative thoughts and self talk can lift a huge burden. Carina talks about the difference between people who get over negativity by diving into a work project and people who are immobilized by negative thoughts.

Carina tends to bulldoze through negative thoughts and knows that her work isn’t as good if she doesn’t first clear out the negative thoughts before creating. She shares some of her healing journey from post-traumatic stress disorder and how therapy helped her to overcome the negativity that had constantly plagued her when she was younger. Carina also shares her tips for dealing with people in our lives who might be negative or say negative things to us. She also talks about the positive things that come from surrounding yourself with positive people who encourage you to reach your potential. Another source of negative thoughts for Carina comes when she has a lack of clarity. Reaching decisions quickly has been a great way for her to overcome negativity. In cases where she makes the wrong decision, she talks about what can be lost as the result of a bad decision and how the learning that comes from mistakes can make the mistake less of a total disaster than it might have been.

__________

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

 

Episode 19 Free Motion Quilting with Dara Tomasson

On today’s episode of the Make and Design Podcast, Carina is joined by Dara Tomasson, a resident of beautiful Vancouver Island and professional long-arm quilter. Dara is also an author and has a new book called “Doodle School” about how to free-motion quilt.

Dara also talks about her passion for working as a life coach for quilters. She helps them to lose weight and build confidence. Find out how Dara’s “tall-girl problems” led her into sewing, quilting, and, eventually, long-arm quilting. Dara gives her recommendations and ideas on different kinds of long-arm quilts. Dara and Carina explore the ways that long-arm quilting is a unique art form. You’ll want to check out the YouTube video on this one as well so that you can see Dana’s beautiful quilting. Towards the end of the conversation, Dara tells us about her new life-coaching business and how she got into it. She expresses so much joy in talking about how she helps women lose weight and helps them fulfill their dreams.

__________

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 can be found on Instagram at daratomasson. 

Episode 18 Seven Creativity Starter Ideas

Ever feel like you’re stuck in a rut creatively? On today’s Make and Design, Carina shares seven tips to help you get out of rut and boost your creativity. 

Tip #1: Go somewhere new. Find out how Carina uses trips and changes of scenery to recharge her creativity. 

Tip #2: Change your environment. Find out how this is different from the first tip. Hint: it has to do not with the micro level of where you are, like the room you’re in.

Tip #3: Take a break. Sometimes the best way to get clarity on how to finish a project is to take a break from it. The break might last an hour, a week, or even a year! 

Tip #4: Take a shower/bath/dip in the hot tub. Showers are an amazing way to create an environment where you can cultivate your best creative ideas!

Tip #5: Take a nap. Not a two-hour nap. A 15 to 20 minute nap to help our mind declutter and feel refreshed. 

Tip #6: Forced doodling. Listen in to find out what this is and how it gets the creativity flowing.

Tip #7: Go to a museum. Carina explains how the inspirational environment of a museum helps to unlock our own creativity. 

__________

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

Episode 14 Paper Crafting with Kelly Wayment

On today’s episode of Make and Design, Carina talks to crafting expert and instructor Kelly Wayment about her career. The ladies discuss Kelly’s trajectory from getting started in paper crafting as a hobbyist and how, over time, she developed the skills and following to become an industry expert.

Kelly also tells us about her excitement of discovering the first Silhouette machine back in 2008 and how this led to her love of 3D paper crafts. Listen in to hear a crafting trick that Carina didn’t even know about! 

__________

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

Kelly Wayment is a crafting instructor and has taught on sites like Craftsy, Michaels, and Silhouette.

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

Episode 12 Our Philosophy for Getting Started with Social Media with My Sister Kim Friedmann

Carina’s sister and Etsy guru SuiKim Friedmann joins the Make and Design Podcast today to discuss how to get started with social media. Carina starts by telling a “from the mouth of babes” story about advice her husband once received from a seven-year-old that applies perfectly to social media.

Kim and Carina discuss the pros and cons of various social media platforms and give advice on the factors that will help you choose which platform is best for you. Are you looking for community or a place to easily share information? Find out what will work and what may not when it comes to social! 

__________
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/designbootcam

About Today’s Guest

SuiKim Friedmann is an Etsy guru, coach, and blogger who shares her wisdom on how to build a dynamite Etsy shop at www.suikim.com and on Instagram at suikimfriedmann. Please note that Kim’s website has changed since this episode was originally recorded!