Hi all! This is just a quick check-in to let you know that I haven't fallen off the face of the planet. :)

Just busy.

Sick (cold/flu) - YUCK!

Tired (not sleeping well on part of the fact that I can hardly breathe)

But I do have some great news! For those not familiar with being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, when you sign up you are challenged to achieve some specific sales goals. If you do, you can receive up to 6 stamp sets of any price free! I was really working toward those goals, and met the first one back in November (sales of $1800 for September-November) and received 2 stamp sets. I had until the end of February (tomorrow) to reach the second sales goal (sales of $3000 for December-February). And as of this morning, I met my goal!

I had a successful workshop on Saturday (even though I was super sick and losing my voice) and that pushed me over the $3000 mark. :)

Here's to 4 more free stamp sets! And then because most of my sales happened during Sell-A-Bration, I'll get another 2 sets! Hello! I'm hoping I can save at least the 4 sets until the new catalog in July.

Ahhh... not having to fork out more money to feed my habit... priceless.

This month's card club projects. I based the first one off the card I made last week at the crop. I just adapted the supplies used to supplies that are avaiable for purchase right now (previous card used supplies from the the Spring Mini Catalog which is available March 1). :)

I'm sitting in the Denver airport waiting for my flight and I thought I'd share the weirdest thing with ya'll.

A bit away from my sister's home in Minnesota is a lake where hundreds (if not, thousands) of swans, ducks, and geese spend their winter (it's best known for the swans). Apparently, the nuclear power plant nearby pumps out warm water as a byproduct and these birds just love the warm water. Hence, bird lake.

Craziest thing I've ever seen! And what's even more amazing is the fact that as I was taking that picture, right behind me is someone's backyard! Can you believe that? All these people bought homes on the lake and then when the power plant came in, so came the birds. One of the homeowners has even built a system of getting feed to the birds. Lots of pipes and buckets. She came out while we were there and was practically swarmed by hundreds of ducks!

So funny to watch. :) And there are signs in the middle of the neighborhood as you drive in that say "Swan watchers, please park here." There are parking spaces! It just boggles my mind! In the middle of a regular neighborhood! I was waiting for a little kid to ride by on a tricycle or something.

Anyhow, better run... My flight is boarding soon.

Many of you know that Cards Magazine pays in product. That means that for every card I have in the magazine, they send me various scrapbooking products for free.

My very first box of goodies came right before I left for Minnesota so I packed the things they sent. A few of the things they sent were HUGE rhinestones. I could not think of what to do with them, but now I'm glad I brought them with me. :)

I went to my very first crop last night. It was at an Archiver's near my sister's home. We got there a bit after 5:00 and stayed the entire time until 11:00. It was a very quick six hours! It hardly seemed that long--maybe only 3 hours tops. But we really were there that long. :)

It was an amazingly productive evening for me. Four pages and three cards. Enjoy!

I have been reunited with my scrap stuff (and the rest of my things, but really, priorities people?).

A nice old man from Northwest Airlines (I actually flew United... strange) dropped off both bags about an hour ago. My lovely red luggage was a bit dusted with white stuff (salt I assume, since it's hovering around 0 degrees outside), but that was soon put to right. It came right off. Other than that, right as rain. It's like as long as I know where my patterned paper is, all is well. Hee hee! I'm sure many of you can agree with that. Then again, many of you probably have children and they might take presidence over your scrapping stuff, eh?

Oh, to be single and not have a care in the world above scrapbook supplies. (Ya'll know I'm kidding, right?)

I just stepped out of the shower (ahhh!) and now I'm letting my hair dry while I type. Such a luxury! Usually I'm in such a hurry that I don't even have the time to let my mop of a head dry by natural means. I'm definitely a hair dryer girl, but I do love the silky feel of letting it air dry.

OKAY! The best part of my trip out here (not the luggage lost thing, obviously) was eating at the Denver airport. THE best BBQ chicken pizza I've ever had! I bought it at the Wolfgang Puck Express. I figured if he can make a rice cooker, he probably can make a pizza. Yum! Highly recommend it. I hope my layover in the Denver is long enough on my way back home that I have time to grab another one. I may have liked the first one so much because I was starving.

Thought I'd share a couple photos that my first day out here. I'm sure these will end up on scrapbook pages in the next little bit, but I just can't wait to show off my cute nieces and nephews. SO CUTE!

No, not the tv show... THE AIRLINE LOST MY LUGGAGE! And I had lots of scrapping supplies in BOTH bags!

I spent a good portion of my day in airports flying to Minnesota. I'm spending a week at my sister's. :) Anyway, we're planning to do a fair bit of scrapping (okay, a lot of scrapping) so I packed like... let's see (this list will help if my bags are never found... they BETTER pay for the items lost):

7 stamp sets, including 2 full aphabet sets
8 stamp pads
ALL my new paper from the SU! Spring Mini
ALL my new American Crafts paper
A good portion of card stock (textured and non)
Basic supplies (scissors, glue, adhesive, etc.)
Chipboard pieces
Lots of ribbon

PLUS! A $200 handbag! I never fly with my purse (I put my wallet in my laptop bag), so I packed my purse (for major shopping.. HELLO! The Mall of America! AND no tax on clothes)

Gosh, I'm sure there's more...

Let us all pray to the luggage gods. Send good vibes my way please.

When I first became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I wanted to make thank you cards to include with every order. That is, until I realized that most orders are shipped to the hostess' home and then she delivers them to her guests. I would never be able to slip the thank you notes into the customers' bags. I was sort of sad about that.

I suppose I could give the hostesses cards to include when they separate the orders into the bags, but most of time I don't see the hostess again, I just follow-up with a phone call.

Anyway, I was so excited to be the hostess for the stamp camps orders from about a week ago. I got to make cards to include with the orders! I was the hostess, so I got to assemble the bags!

This is the card I included with all their orders. I wrote a short note inside and mentioned that the card was made with NEW product from the SU! Spring Mini Catalog. I left my contact information inside as well. :)

Hi all! Just a couple card this afternoon. I might submit one of them to a magazine, so if it's mysteriously gone one of these days... you've been warned. :)

Supplies - Stamp, stamping ink, cardstock, patterned paper, and ribbon (Stampin' Up!); rubons and brads (American Crafts).

Supplies - Stamps, stamping ink, cardstock, patterned paper (Stampin' Up!); foam stickers and ribbon (American Crafts).

Today's workshop is a card-focused workshop. In fact, my sister is the host and only one of her friends is coming. That means this will be a very informal workshop where everyone will make all three cards. I like workshops like this because it's almost like we're all just getting together to make some cards.

A lot less pressure. :)

I'm also focusing on chipboard and the many things you can do with it. First up is a card using chipboard that's "painted" with craft ink. Simply just rub the craft ink over the chipboard and let dry. This card in particular was offered in a kit to demonstrators last summer and I'm just now getting around to using it.

Next, is a card using chipboard as a template. In the On Board Accents chipboard, there is a square piece of chipboard with four circles cut out. I used it as a template to make a four-circle window card. [See this tutorial on how to make a one-circle window card without chipboard].

The last card we'll make uses the circles that were removed from the square chipboard template used in the Best Fishes card. This time, we'll cover the circle chipboard with patterned paper and sand the edges a bit. To adhere the paper to the chipboard, we'll be using a regular glue stick. As long as you let it dry completely, it works just fine. :)

Anyhow, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I might check in tomorrow with a new card or two (let's hope, right?!). :)

I had my second Sell-A-Bration workshop last night (if you don't count my regular card club meeting). Four people showed up and I didn't get any sales. Oh, well. I made cute stuff. :)

Here's the card everyone made as the Make & Take. I also demonstrated a couple scrapbook pages that I've done in the past but this group hadn't seen.

Supplies - All supplies are from Stampin' Up!; Carte Postale set; Pale Plum and Very Vanilla cardstock; Chocolate Chip Classic ink; Enchanté Designer Series Paper; chocolate grosgrain, dimensionals.

I'm been so busy the last couple days. I am going to visit my sister in Minnesota in less than a week and I have a few SU! workshops between now and then to prep for, so I've been running around feeling all stressed. :) Oh, well.

Anyway, since I've been so busy and haven't had a change to make anything, I thought I'd share something I made last summer for my dad for Father's Day. It was a super easy to make thing and I loved how it turned out.

I'm not sure where I got the mat. I think it may have been a part of a book I was decorating, but I didn't need the extra page. Hmm... Anyhow, here are the supplies: Patterned paper (Basic Grey); alphabet stamps (Fontwerks); heart stamp and chocolate ribbon (Stampin' Up!); striped ribbon (Strano Designs); gel pen (Uniball Signo Gel Pen).

This project was designed by another demonstrator in my group. Her name is Mary and she was so sweet to let me take some photos of her project to share here at kwernerdesign. Thanks Mary!

YOU WILL NEED:
Symphony candy bar
Tagger's Dozen Stamp Set
So Very Stamp Set
Happy Hearts Stamp Set
Double-sided paper (6x6, scored at 1-3/4" and 2" from two parallel sides)
Ribbon (15 inches)
Nuetral Card Stock (5-1/2 x 2")
Colored card stock (2" x 3")
Ink Pad
Gold mini brad
Small Tag Punch
Tag Punch
Word Window Punch
1-1/4" Circle Punch
1/4" Circle Punch
Rectangle Punch
Crimper
Sticky Strip (2")
Stampin' Dimensionals
Adhesive

INSTRUCTIONS:

Assemble the candy bar sliders like so:

I've had a few questions about my process for photographing my cards and pages, so I thought I'd write up a few little things about how I photograph and what I use.

First things first, lets cover how I shoot:

Camera Body - Canon Digital Rebel XT
Lenses - I mostly use a 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. I have other lenses, but this is my favorite lens for everyday use.
Photo Software - Photoshop CS3

QUICK TIPS:
1. Use only natural light
2. Take lots of photos
3. Try different angles. Move around the subject, bend your knees so you're lower, stand on a chair.
4. When you're getting ready to press down that shutter, take a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then press the shutter. This reduces camera shake.

TIPS:
...First of all, KNOW YOUR CAMERA. I cannot stress this enough. The reason why many of my shots work out is because I've played around with my camera and learned what worked best for me. Also, take a LOT of photos. Generally I'll take 15 shots and only 2 or 3 are real options to choose from.

... Never use a flash unless you have lots of experience (and success!) using a flash. I don't, so I never use a flash.

... Low-light situations cause problems no matter how expensive your camera is. Most point and shoot digital cameras do not handle low-light situations well, and manual SLR cameras have to be on the correct setting. To alleviate some of the problem, photograph near a window. This will also give you the most correct colors.

... If you're taking photos at night (like I usually do because I work late most nights), make sure you have a good positional lamp. Generally they have a softer light (unlike a flash). I use a regular desk lamp that's attached to my drawing table. It swivels and turns so I can get just the right angle.

... If you can adjust the white balance on your camera, do so. Make sure that if you're using a lamp like the one mentioned above that you select the "tungsten" option.

PHOTOSHOP TIPS:
... I try to take the best picture possible so that I don't need to use Photoshop, but most of the time I do need to change some things. When I do make changes, they are minimal and I try to keep them simple. I generally do only three things:

1. Crop the photo so that it's showing only what I need.
2. Adjust the Levels. I do not recommend selecting Auto Levels (though I do sometimes). It's better to adjust the levels manually so you get exactly what you want.
3. Auto Color. Sometimes I skip this step if it alters the coloring too much.

Anyway, those are some basic tips. Hopefully that answers a few questions. :)