What happens when 5,700 demonstrators leave to go to lunch at the same time. ;)

I was so excited last night, I could barely sleep! I love Convention.

Right now I'm standing just inside the doors at Memento Mall and we can hear the thousands of demonstrators waiting outside the doors. Can't wait until the doors open! There's gonna be some major shoppin' going on. :)

I love Memento Mall at Convention. For all you ladies out there with children, we have super cute stuffed animals with Convention charms on them! Adorable!

I'll be posting more pictures to my Flickr account, so be sure to click on my Flickr stuff in the left column.

So, I'm taking a break from prepping for Convention so I can answer some questions...

What about 2009 calendars. Are you offering them this year?
I thought about it, but I don't think I'll have the calendars this year. It's quite a bit of time to create them, post them, and then be sure to send all those who purchase them the files. So, unfortunately, no I will not be offering calendars this year.

Do you make handmade envelopes?
No, I generally do not. I hate the hassle of making envelopes, so if I know a card is going to be mailed or if it will eventually need an envelope, I stick to standard card sizes.

My card stock warps when embossed. How can I prevent it from warping?
Mine is always warping, too! I asked one of the girls at work who embosses a lot and her only tip for embossing large areas was to emboss in small sections. Just stamp a small section, emboss it, and then the next small section. I think it has a lot to do with patience. :)

Can I use non-Stampin' Up! colors for the Color Inspiration Challenges?
I've read this question quite a few times and answered it just as many. So heads up! :) No, you do not have to use Stampin' Up! colors. Just similar colors.

Can I link to your blog from my blog?
Of course! No need to ask. :)

When I crimp card stock, it starts off straight but eventually ends up crooked. What gives?
Believe me, if I knew a secret to crimping, I'd tell you. Anyone else know a great way to master a paper crimper?

What scissors do you use for cutting ribbon?
I use Stampin' Up!'s Craft and Paper Scissors. They're awesome! I ONLY use them on ribbon. All other "scissoring" is done with Stampin' Up!'s Paper Snips.

Do you ever make a card without ribbon?
*gasp!* Why would I ever do that?! ;) Come on. I know you love the ribbon as much as I do.

What do you do with all the cards you make?
I keep 95% of them until an occasion comes along. Then I already have them done! :) Also, a group of us from work will be starting up an Etsy shop soon and I'll sell some there. I'll be selling cards, but some of the other gals will be selling various other things--including handmade purses! Watch for info on that soon. :)

How do you get your hair so curly?
I own a few different curling irons. I've mentioned them in the past, but in case you were wondering:

• 1-1/4" Hot Tools curling iron (used on hairstyle in this video)
• 13 mm Enzo Milano curling iron (used on hairstyle in this video and this video)
• 25 mm Enzo Milano curling iron (used on hairstyle in this video, but it's end of day hair so it's super relaxed)

Anyway, all of these curling irons are awesome and give different types of curl. Wanna see my favorite curly hair video? Watch it here. Another fav video? Try this one!

Do you change your hairstyle every day?
Nope! :) Most of the time it's just plain straight with bangs (aka fringe).

What makeup do you use?
I use a little bit of everything, but my favorites are (specific colors in parenthesis):

• Eyeshadow: MAC shadows (Satin Taupe, Vanilla, Humid), MAC pigments (Chartreuse, Teal) and Stila shadow (Kitten)
• Mascara: Covergirl Lash Blast
• Brows: Anastasia Beverly Hills All About Brows Kit
• Blush: Nars (Orgasm, Desire)
• Lips: Stila Lip Glaze (Apricot), Stila Plumping Lip Glaze (Vanilla Mint), MAC Tendertone Lip Balm (Pucker)
• Foundation: Bare Minerals
• Skin care: MaryKay Timewise 3-in-1 Cleanser, MaryKay Timewise Moisturizer, Clarisonic face brush <--- LOVE IT!

And those are all the questions that I received recently. Any more questions? Leave them in the comments. :)

Hi all! Had some video uploading issues this morning. But hopefully the video will work. I always try to have the "thumbnail" be a picture of the card, but today... Not sure what happened. Oh well!

Anyhow, enjoy the card! Super busy since I'm heading off to help out at the SU! Convention, so this entry's gonna be super short! :)

As usual, also available in high quality.

Hi all! Sorry about this one being so quick... I'm just exhausted and ready to fall asleep! Forgive me!

I think you guys broke a record this week with how many entries there were! My word! You guys really blew me away. I think I might have to tighten the deadlines on these in the future... It's taking me too long to get through all the submissions! :)

Anyhow, for my card this week, I used a stamp set from Schlosser Designs that's really growing on me. There are so many little itty bitty stamps in the set! I'm sure I'll be breaking these out again soon. :) Don't you love the little dots in the center of the flowers. It's builder sets like these that are so fun!

BTW, I got the different shades of Rose Red in the flowers by "stamping off." In other words, I just kept stamping without re-inking the stamp.

So, enjoy all the cards this week. Since I'll be at the SU! Convention this week, there will not be a Color Challenge, but still check in as I'll be posting nightly about my day! :)

Thanks, ya'll and I'll see you early tomorrow morning for the next Make a Card Monday!

TOP TEN
TEN RANDOMLY SELECTED

Flowers - Boughs stamp set (Schlosser Designs); Polka Dot background stamp, Sage Shadow ink, Whisper White, Regal Rose, and Sage Shadow card stock, Rose Red ink, small corner rounder punch (Stampin' Up!); pink satin ribbon (Kate's Paperie).

Hi, kids. Looks like Firefox users are having issues reading comments on my blog entries. Once the comments get past 182, all heck breaks loose and comments are dropping off left and right, being reformatted, and generally freaking out.

So I'm trying to figure out what's happening. But in the meantime, if you're using Firefox to read my blog, try using Safari. I know for sure it works in Safari--that's the only other browser I have on my computers and it seems to not be affected by this issue).

Sorry for the inconvenience. If your comment was one between 182 and 186, don't be alarmed. It's still there, it's just Firefox freaking out. :)

Hi all! Here ya go! Another Color Inspiration Challenge for ya! Enjoy!

This week's photo was found while I was just surfin' the net earlier today. I thought this dress was just gorgeous. I love vintage dresses, don't you? :)

SO YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE? Make a creation (card, scrapbook, etc.) of your own using the above colors. Then take a picture or scan your creation. Upload your digital image to your blog or in an online gallery, and then come back to kwernerdesign blog to share! Leave a comment on this entry with a link to your creation. Please link to webpages, not directly to image files. Who's in the Round-up? After the deadline, I'll share my creation with you as well as 20 submitted creations, consisting of ten randomly selected entries and ten of my favorites. Pictures emailed to me will not be considered for the Round-up. When does your creation have to be submitted? Thursday, July 24 at 11:59 pm MDT. <--- NEW TIME! You have until basically midnight. NOTE: Those who have websites and blogs, you are welcome to use the above graphic on your blog. For swatches only, you can download the image file by right clicking here (or control+click for my fellow Mac users) and saving the file to your computer. Then upload the swatch image to your blog.

Hi all!

Thanks for waiting a bit longer than usual for the round-up. Sometimes the time just gets away from me, ya know? Before I knew it, I was editing this week's video and was all, "Oh, crap! I need to post the Color Challenge!"

Believe it or not, I made this card before I started on MACM, but just got wrapped up in video editing before I could post it! So thanks for being patient. Hopefully it's worth it! :)

I came across what many of you mentioned when you submitted your cards. Pumpkin Pie was particularly hard to tone down with this color combination. It's such a strong color that it often overpowers the colors around it.

The way I worked with it was to make the Pumpkin Pie a smaller section of the card, or a part that could be broken apart (to give the illusion of less "weight" to it). Thin letters always do that because it breaks up the big block of color. So I used Pumpkin Pie for the letters. What do you think? Doesn't it balance out the strength of the Pumpkin Pie?

And on to the 20!

TOP TEN
TEN RANDOMLY SELECTED

Love You - Alphabet stamps (Educational Insights); Big Bold Birthday stamp set, Soft Sky, Certainly Celery, and Very Vanilla card stock, Pumpkin Pie ink, crimper, paper piercer and template, District Ribbon Originals (Stampin' Up!).

Hi all!

This week's card sets the record for "world's easiest card." :) Seriously, it only took me 13 minutes to do! And that includes trying to figure out what to do there in the middle for a couple minutes (I cut out that part of the video-- otherwise, you'd be sitting there like, "Hello? Isn't she going to do something?").

Anyway, enjoy the card and I'll be back later tonight for the Color Inspiration #16 Round-up!

BTW, did any of you see Batman this weekend? Oh. My. Word. I loved it so much! Definitely a very intense movie. And so good!

We saw it on an IMAX screen and 40 minutes into it, the screen shut off. You should have heard the whole audience... Collective gasp and then tons of grumbling and shouting.

Twenty minutes later, it was playing again, but not without starting up without sound for about 30 seconds. So, I missed about a minute in there in the middle. But even with technical glitches, it was AWESOME!

Also saw Mamma Mia this weekend. So good. I loved it! I've always loved Abba, so it was super fun to see the movie. Although, I could have done without Pierce Brosnan singing... Um, awkward. Just didn't seem right. He looked like he was choking the entire time. I wanting to yell at the screen, "Just take a breath!"

Even with that, I loved it. Such a fun movie. Who wants to go to Greece now? ;)

NOTE: As usual, video is also in high quality.

...until after MACM. I was going to post the top ten tonight, but I'm in the middle of editing this week's MACM video, and I'm about to drive to my brother's for a family dinner, so...

Please be patient. I'll have the selected top ten and random top ten probably tomorrow night.

In the meantime, just a couple answers to questions...

- The pearls on my last card where spaced out using a ruler and then making pencil marks. You can still see one of the mark I forgot to erase in the enlarge photo at the top of the entry.

- Yes, I handwrote the word "for" on the card.

- Nope, I'm not a popcorn and candy girl. We never really got popcorn or treats when we went to the movies when I was little, so not having it now doesn't bother me. :)

- As far as where I'll be working at the SU! convention, I'll be all over. They're really workin' us this year. :)

Anyhow, see you all tomorrow morning for the video! :)

Hi all!
Just a quick card tonight. :)
Watching Batman Begins in preparation for tomorrow's 12 noon IMAX screening.
Just a refresher course so I remember all the important details.
Haven't seen it since theaters two summers ago.
Man, this movie is intense.
Should be interesting to see the new movie.
Might be a little eerie seeing Mr. Ledger as the Joker.
But I'm still looking forward to it. Heard it's great. :)

So Grateful For You - Amy Butler for K & Company patterned paper (K & Company); Simple Serif Mini Alphabet, Sage Shadow ink, Basic Black marker, Naturals White card stock, Pretties Kit (Stampin' Up!); ribbon (craft supply).

Hi all!

This week's color challenge comes from marthastewart.com, and these cute felt baby shoes. Aren't they adorable? I love them so much I want to make them! And the colors they used for the photograph? Hello? Adorable!

Martha Stewart always has the most creative, cute, and crafty projects on her website. I just love to see new projects over there!

Anyhow, have fun with these colors! NOTE: That's Very Vanilla up there, NOT Whisper White. :)

SO YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE? Make a creation (card, scrapbook, etc.) of your own using the above colors. Then take a picture or scan your creation. Upload your digital image to your blog or in an online gallery, and then come back to kwernerdesign blog to share! Leave a comment on this entry with a link to your creation. Please link to webpages, not directly to image files. Who's in the Round-up? After the deadline, I'll share my creation with you as well as 20 submitted creations, consisting of ten randomly selected entries and ten of my favorites. Pictures emailed to me will not be considered for the Round-up. When does your creation have to be submitted? Friday, July 18 at 11:59 pm MDT. <--- NEW TIME! You have until basically midnight. NOTE: Those who have websites and blogs, you are welcome to use the above graphic on your blog. For swatches only, you can download the image file by right clicking here (or control+click for my fellow Mac users) and saving the file to your computer. Then upload the swatch image to your blog.

NOTE: This is all Stampin' Up! related, so if you're not a demonstrator or not attending the annual Convention at the end of the July, feel free to ignore this entry. :)

I was only a SU! demonstrator for about a year and a half. (Read this entry to learn why I eventually resigned). While I was a demonstrator, I attended one convention as a demonstrator. However it was not my very first convention--not at all! :)

I was hired at Stampin' Up! as a graphic designer back in 2005 and have attended every annual convention since, mostly as an employee. When it was held in Salt Lake, more employees were able to attend and help in the classes, etc. Plus, we got to see some of the great presentations. When I heard that last year's convention would be in Denver, I knew I wanted to go but that the company would only be taking a small number of employees with them. Anyway, Convention is awesome! And I didn't want to miss out on it. Truthfully, it's one of the main reasons I signed up as a demonstrator!

Last year's convention was awesome. Seeing it from a demonstrator perspective was completely different, and yet, very familiar. Attending Convention for the first time in that aspect really merged demonstrator and employee for me in my mind. I realized that while I live and breathe Stampin' Up! 9 hours a day in the office, there are thousands of demonstrators who breathe Stampin' Up! at home every day.

We're a lot more alike than you might think. :)

Anyhow, all that aside, I wanted to share with you all what I learned at Convention last year and some tips to make the 2008 Convention the best ever. These are just my personal opinions. I think it goes without saying, that these are just my thoughts.

1. Wear comfortable shoes - Believe it or not, there is a LOT of walking. Not only will you be walking to and from the Salt Palace Convention Center and to and from classes, you will do a lot of standing, too... Standing in line to buy items in the Memento Mall, standing in line (hopefully super short like last year) to receive your Convention bag, standing in the hallways and rooms while you swap cards, standing in line to have your photo taken with Shelli... etc. Believe me. You'll thank yourself for wearing comfortable shoes. On the other hand, you'll see some women wearing high heels... What? I don't get that. Why torture yourself? Really!. ;)

2. Bring a sweater - Convention centers are known for being on the colder side. It's better than arriving sweating with "pit stains", though, right?

3. Don't stress over your swaps - Seriously, some people get all worked up over the swaps. I have a totally laid back approach when it comes to swaps and it worked really well for me last year. Bring only as many as you want to take home. Seriously. And make only as many as you can handle without pulling your hair out.

In fact, get a number in your head right now of how many you want to swap. Got it? Okay, now realistically, can you do that many? Especially since you only have two weeks left to do them? Have you ordered the supplies? Do you have the time to stamp and assemble them all? I took only 75 swaps last year and I was perfectly content. Don't be afraid to run out of swaps. Ask if you can take pictures, instead. Speaking of...

4. Bring a camera - There are plenty of opportunities to take pictures. Don't be afraid to strap your camera to your wrist and have it accessible at all times.

5. Plan ahead for networking - You're going to meet some outstanding demonstrators with awesome attitudes and memorable stories of their own. You will want to keep in contact with them. Plan ahead to write down or store their contact info.

6. Sit back and enjoy General Session presentations - Nearly everything you will see on stage during General Sessions will be available on the demonstrator website after Convention (at least in the past it has been). So, sit back and relax and just enjoy the technique and Workshop Wow presentations. No need to flash a photo of everything you like--you will have the opportunity to take pictures up close and personal after the presenters have a chance to post their projects outside of Main Stage on the bulletin boards.

Above all, just sit back and enjoy the entire convention! It's going to be awesome. The employees at the home office that have been planning and preparing for this all year are excited to see you and share with you their enthusiasm. I know just a small amount of what will be happening and let me just say this... You will be amazed at what's in store for you. It truly is an informative, entertaining, and incredible show. :)

Now, if the many emails I've received over the weekend since I changed my banner at the top of the page are any indication, this is the question you're all wondering: Will I be at Convention this year? Yes. :)

I'll be working as an employee so I'll have my "worker hat" on, but please feel free to come and say hello. I'd love to get my picture taken with you and perhaps after Convention, I'll assemble a collage of all the pictures of me standing with my readers. You gals are the best and I want to see your smiling faces! :)

That being said, I'm afraid I won't be bringing any card swaps with me. However, please come and show me what you've been working on! :)

As usual, also in high quality.

Hi all!

For this week's Make a Card Monday, I wanted to break out some paper I haven't use for a LONG time. The blue patterned paper is actually fabric paper from the KI Memories line Love Elsie. It has an adhesive on the back, but I wanted to pop it up from the card base, so I left the backing paper on.

I also covered a chipboard star with card stock. For more instruction on covering chipboard, please watch this video.

Anyway, I hope you all had a great weekend. I mostly lounged about the house and read. We're reading A Thousand Splendid Suns for our book club at work, and so far I really like it. I'm not too far in yet, but what I've read is really outstanding. I love this writing style. :) Have any of you read it? Without giving anything away, what did you think?

Anyhow, here's the video. :)

Once again, you can watch the video in high quality here.

Hi all!

Here's my card for the challenge this week. In order to get the punched circles just right, I used the same technique that I used in this video. Super easy and simple. :)

I'll have you all notice the bow, please. I think I finally figured out how tie a good bow! Watch for a video soon. :)

Okay, now HEADS UP! I'd like to give you all some tips on posting your Color Inspiration Challenge submissions. These are tips that will help me and you, so please use them:

1. If you're posting a link to your blog, PLEASE please link to the exact entry that has the card/creation on it. Often, when I go to your main blog page, you've added more entries so I have to scroll down a ways before I see your submission. This is just so I can get through the entries quicker. Often, you can get to the specific entry by clicking on the title of the entry, on "Permalink", or on the time it was posted.

2. It's come to my attention that if you try to include more than 1 link in the comment, it will sometimes flag the comment as spam and not post it. Please include only one link.

3. Please include the ENTIRE link/URL. For example, you need to have http:// in front of your link. This tells my blogging software to make it a link. Just select the entire web address in the address bar of your web browser and copy that into your comment.

4. RELOAD the entry page your commenting on after submitting comment. After you've posted your comment and it says that it's gone through, return to the entry page and hit refresh on your browser. There have been a lot of double posts, and I think it's because some of your browsers aren't recognizing the change in the page. A simple refresh/reload with show your comment. If it's still not there, go ahead and try commenting again.

5. You don't have to have a blog to submit a creation. There are plenty of free image galleries out there. If you want to keep your creation in a craft-friendly place, I suggest signing up with Splitcoaststampers.com. You can upload your images into your own gallery, receive comments from other papercrafters, and also submit a link to your creation to my Color Inspiration Challenges. You can view a tutorial on posting images to Splitcoast in this video.

And that's it! :) Thanks for all your cooperation on this.

On to the top ten submissions and randomly chosen ten!

TOP TEN
TEN RANDOMLY SELECTED

Flower Windows - Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, and Really Rust card stock; Certainly Celery wide grosgrain ribbon; VersaMark ink; Winter White detail embossing powder; Simply Said stamp set (Stampin' Up!).

Card - Patterned paper (Scenic Route); Kraft and Chocolate Chip card stock, 3/4" circle and 1-3/8" sqaure punches, Chocolate chip wide grosgrain, paper piercer and template (Stampin' Up!).

Box - Click here for tutorial. Linen Prients DSP, Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain, ticket corner punch, Close to Cocoa card stock, linen thread (Stampin' Up!); felt flower, brad, and eyelet (American Crafts).

Hi all! This week's Color Inspiration Challenge comes to us from West Elm. I just love West Elm! And I love this bedding!

The colors are very autumn looking, and even though it's still summer here, I really was taken with these colors. So soothing. :)

Anyhow, I can't wait to see what ya'll come up with!

SO YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE? Make a creation (card, scrapbook, etc.) of your own using the above colors. Then take a picture or scan your creation. Upload your digital image to your blog or in an online gallery, and then come back to kwernerdesign blog to share! Leave a comment on this entry with a link to your creation. Please link to webpages, not directly to image files. Who's in the Round-up? After the deadline, I'll share my creation with you as well as 20 submitted creations, consisting of ten randomly selected entries and ten of my favorites. Pictures emailed to me will not be considered for the Round-up. When does your creation have to be submitted? Friday, July 11 at 7:00 pm MDT. NOTE: Those who have websites and blogs, you are welcome to use the above graphic on your blog. For swatches only, you can download the image file by right clicking here (or control+click for my fellow Mac users) and saving the file to your computer. Then upload the swatch image to your blog.

Hi all! Thought I would post a quick card I made last night. Still not quite sure if I like this card.

Craft room is almost cleaned up. One more serious organize, I'll be set.

New Color Inspiration Challenge will post tonight. Watch for it. :)

Not a whole lot to say at the moment... Must go get ready for work.

Anyone watching So You Think You Can Dance?

Or Wipeout?

I {heart} summer tv. ;)

thnx - Basic Black card stock, white embossing powder, Take Note rubons (Stampin' Up!); Aqua Mist card stock (Papertrey Ink); white ribbon (American Crafts); patterned paper (Scenic Route); stamps (Educational Insights).

Thanks for all your submissions! You guys are getting better and better each week! I particularly loved the entries this week because they were so bold--just what I wanted! :)

Anyhow, I'm visiting family in sunny-hot-Hot-HOT Arizona this weekend, so I don't have a card for you. But I do have the top ten and ten randomly selected. Enjoy!

TOP TEN
TEN RANDOMLY SELECTED

You all might remember the album I made a while back. I promised to show you all how I covered it and I finally had a chance to sit down and record it. :)

Please excuse the randomness of the video! :) I had no idea how I wanted to decorate the album, so I totally changed my mind mid-stream and had to improvise a bit to get it the way I wanted it. But it all turned out in the end.

The album is by Secret Scrapper, which was started by my cousin Mandy. She's the cutest girl you've ever seen and I love her to death. When I we were in Vegas last February I asked if she could make me an album like this and she said yes! So, I'm not sure if it's at her online store yet, but I'm pretty sure she'll be selling this exact album soon. Right, Mandy? ;)

I'll be sure to let you all know when you can buy one, too!

Anyway, on to the photos and video! Enjoy!

First off, I have to commend all of of you who guessed the musical artist of the song in my last video! You're all super smart. The song "To Love You More" gained popularity when Céline Dion included it on her 1997 album, Let's Talk About Love. However, I used the Lucia Micarelli version in my video. :) Thanks for all your guesses!

This week's color inspiration is actually sort of a stretch. ;) After the brown and white monochromatic card in yesterday's video, I found myself still in a monochromatic mood. AND when I saw these t-shirts over at johnnycupcakes.com, I just knew I had to borrow them for the challenge this week.

Aren't those the best shirts? I have one in brown that I wore at last year's Stampin' Up! convention in Denver and I love it! (BTW, I hate that photo of me... I was all tired and sweaty and not lookin' so hot... BUT I was having a ton of fun!)

Anyway, I couldn't leave ya'll hangin' with just a couple colors, so I threw in some Ruby Red and River Rock. But feel free to eliminate them if you want. Just a couple options for you. I guess the main challenge this week is to create a high-contrast, bold creation. Just like the t-shirt, find a bold/sassy phrase and let it "scream" at us!

Just have fun! I can't wait to see what you all create! :)

Oh, and sorry for the quick deadline. I wanted to get it in before the holiday weekend.

NOTE: I corrected the graphic above just a few minutes ago. I forgot to change the text to read "Whisper White" instead of "Going Gray," but it's correct now. If you used Going Gray before I corrected it, don't worry about it. For everyone else, Whisper White it is! Thanks, Savitri, for letting me know! :)

SO YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE? Make a creation (card, scrapbook, etc.) of your own using the above colors. Then take a picture or scan your creation. Upload your digital image to your blog or in an online gallery, and then come back to kwernerdesign blog to share! Leave a comment on this entry with a link to your creation. Please link to webpages, not directly to image files. Who's in the Round-up? After the deadline, I'll share my creation with you as well as 20 submitted creations, consisting of ten randomly selected entries and ten of my favorites. Pictures emailed to me will not be considered for the Round-up. When does your creation have to be submitted? Thursday, July 3 at 7:00 pm MDT. NOTE: Those who have websites and blogs, you are welcome to use the above graphic on your blog. For swatches only, you can download the image file by right clicking here (or control+click for my fellow Mac users) and saving the file to your computer. Then upload the swatch image to your blog.