

Make and Design with Carina Gardner
Carina Gardner
Carina Gardner, Ph.D. unravels the everyday joys and dilemmas of design, making, and business. This inside scoop into fabric design, paper design, die cut design, and crafting will help bring more creativity and joy in your life. Carina Gardner is the founder and CEO of the University of Arts & Design. She was the Creative Director of Cartabella Paper Co. and MiniLou. She has designed everything from dishware, sewing patterns to bracelets under her brand. She currently designs fabric for Riley Blake Designs and die cutting files for Silhouette while teaching other designers how to create meaningful businesses with their design work.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 11, 2022 • 10min
Episode 115 My 3 Favorite Tools For Designing Right Now
On today’s episode of the Make and Design Podcast, Carina talks about her three favorite tools for doing design work right now. Give it a listen to learn the three tools that Carina finds essential to design work (Spoiler: one is hardware, one is an item you might find around the house, and one is an accessory for an iPad Pro). Carina also talks about what those who join her new Accelerated Designer Workshop Series will learn this year. Check out the workshops at https://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designerworkshop! __________ 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 Watch this episode as a video at https://www.makeanddesign.com/Get my free gift to you here: https://www.designsuitecourses.com/intentional

Mar 9, 2022 • 12min
Episode 114 Why Staying Motivated is Easy When You Have a Community
On today’s episode of the Make and Design Podcast, Carina tells a story of a recent realization: she didn’t have any testimonials from community members on her website! The testimonials that came in were eye-opening. Listen in to this episode to learn about ways that having a community can help keep you motivated in your design career. If you’d like to join our community then go to www.carinagardnercourses.com/bootcamp. We can’t wait to see you there! __________ 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 Watch this episode as a video at https://www.makeanddesign.com/Get my free gift to you here: https://www.designsuitecourses.com/intentional

Mar 7, 2022 • 7min
Episode 113 Why Your Digital Preview is As Important As Your Design Work
On today’s episode of the Make and Design Podcast, Carina tells about how she found early success in her design career because she spent almost as much time on her previews as she did on her product. A preview is simply a marketing tool, a visual layout used as an icon to sell a product. Listen in to get two tips on how to create great digital previews! __________ 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 Watch this episode as a video at https://www.makeanddesign.com/Get my free gift to you here: https://www.designsuitecourses.com/intentional

Mar 4, 2022 • 15min
Episode 112 Time Management for Creatives with Megan Sumrell
Time management guru Megan Sumrell joins Carina on today’s episode of Make and Design, and explains why they’re launching a course called “Time Management for Designers.” For Megan, good time management skills free designers up to unlock their creativity. This course sets designers up so that they can feel like the sky is the limit in terms of how they design. Megan and Carina talk about how they teach in the same way, giving learners step-by-step, bite-sized, doable chunks. They’re super excited to share an outline of the content and bonuses you’ll get with this course, which launches March 1st! Tune in to get the exclusive coupon code to save over 50% on the course! The course can be found at https://www.megansumrell.com/creatives. Megan can be found at megansumrell.com or on Instagram at megansumrell. __________ 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 Watch this episode as a video at https://www.makeanddesign.com/Get my free gift to you here: https://www.designsuitecourses.com/intentional

Mar 2, 2022 • 20min
Episode 111 How to Use Fear as A Tool with Katie Ann Powell
In today’s can’t-miss episode of the Make and Design Podcast, the multi-talented Katie Ann Powell tells us the story of how she learned to have confidence by overcoming fear. She shares insights into how getting into pageants after high school helped her develop as a person, and tells us the things she’s learned from some of the amazing experiences she has had so far. Katie Ann was First Runner-Up in last year’s Miss Utah pageant and currently serves as Miss Greater Salt Lake. She uses her voice to teach personal finance. Katie Ann is the host of the “Full Confidence Ahead” podcast (https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ba132a0f-4531-4ec0-89ee-184fa7dc2ada/full-confidence-ahead) and can be found on Instagram at katieann_powell and contacted by email at katieannpowell@gmail.com. __________ 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 Watch this episode as a video at https://www.makeanddesign.com/Get my free gift to you here: https://www.designsuitecourses.com/intentional

Feb 28, 2022 • 8min
Episode 110 How to Batch Your Design Work
In today’s episode of Make and Design, Carina talks about how “batching” is a HUGE strategy for managing all the things we have on our plates as designers. Learn the three ways that Carina batches her work and how batching makes your products more marketable. __________ 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 Watch this episode as a video at https://www.makeanddesign.com/Get my free gift to you here: https://www.designsuitecourses.com/intentional

Feb 25, 2022 • 11min
Episode 109 A Simple Strategy for Designers When Setting Started in Instagram
On today’s Make and Design Podcast, host Carina Gardner offers advice on one of the questions she gets most: how does a designer leverage Instagram? Find out why you can’t judge whether someone has monetized their work based on the number of followers they have on Instagram and the best way to approach Instagram as a designer. __________ 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 Watch this episode as a video at https://www.makeanddesign.com/Get my free gift to you here: https://www.designsuitecourses.com/intentional

Feb 23, 2022 • 13min
Episode 108 Submitting a Fabric Line with Melanie Collette
On this episode of Make and Design, Carina welcomes special guest and Riley Blake designer Melanie Collette. Melanie talks about the process of getting a fabric line accepted by a major company for the first time. Hear about how, after initially getting no responses from fabric companies, she sat down, studied what made the fabric lines that she was buying special, and then incorporated all she learned into a focused effort to have a fabric line accepted by a specific company. Hear the whole story of hard work and persistence that finally got her to that first YES! Find about more about Melanie at the following places: Website: http://www.hellomellydesigns.com Instagram: hellomellydesigns __________ 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 Watch this episode as a video at https://www.makeanddesign.com/Get my free gift to you here: https://www.designsuitecourses.com/intentional

Feb 21, 2022 • 11min
Episode 107 The Power of Letting Someone Else Hold Your Hand Through Difficult Software
In Episode 107 of the Make and Design Podcast, Carina reflects on the lessons she learned from creating and teaching her new Illustrator Whiz Workshop. Find out how a workshop can help you get through basic tool learning so that you can get to the fun part of designing! __________ 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 Watch this episode as a video at https://www.makeanddesign.com/Get my free gift to you here: https://www.designsuitecourses.com/intentional

Feb 18, 2022 • 12min
Episode 106 Why You Need a Deadline
In today’s episode of the Make and Design Podcast, Carina Gardner talks about how deadlines can help you move faster. Learn the differences between internal and external deadlines, and discover how you can make your internal deadlines as effective as possible. Carina is going to be launching a new class with time management guru Megan Sumrell on March 1st. The course is all about time management for designers! Learn how time management can help you unleash your potential as a designer, and keep an eye out for a future episode of Make and Design that features Megan! __________ 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 Watch this episode as a video at https://www.makeanddesign.com/Get my free gift to you here: https://www.designsuitecourses.com/intentional


