Saturday, June 28, 2008

Photo Tent and Light Kit - big difference!

So, my husband took one look at the photo in my first post and he was on a mission - to buy a photo tent and light kit for me because, as he put it, "Your cards--and you--deserve it.". So, he ordered this one for me on Tuesday and it arrived on Friday. As I was putting it together, though, I discovered that the light socket assembly was bent and would not fit on the dome properly, so I promptly called the company he ordered it from and they were very apologetic and put another one in the mail as we were talking. Excellent customer service, in my book. It is due here Wednesday.

Since I am so impatient and was so excited to try out my new toy, I went ahead and took some photos to compare them to my previous method for photographing my cards.

The card below is a birthday card I made for a friend from college. We were in Chi Omega sorority together and the mascot is the owl, which as you stampers and cardmakers know, is very popular these days. While I was making the card, I think I subconsciously made it my mission to use as many of the stamps as possible from the U R A Hoot set from Cornish Heritage Farms (between the card and the envelope, I used 11 of the 27 images that come with the set - do I win a prize??).

Even with the tent and lights it's difficult to see all the bling I added to my birthday owl. She has red glitter 'toenails', a little copper Stickles gleam in her eyes, some glitter in the circles on her hat, and for my friend Jenny, she is 'wearing' glittery, diamond stud earrings on her pudgy little 'earlobs'. :-)

Without further ado, here are the comparison photos:

With the photo tent and light kit:














Without the photo tent and light kit:















I think it's a big improvement - do you? I have to play some more with my camera settings and light placement, and of course it will make an even bigger difference when I'm using both light kits, but even with just the one, the card is much better lit.
Thanks for stopping by!
Card details:
Paper - Making Memories Boho Chic - Multipack Lauren; Marco's Paper - Stardreams Stationery
Stamps - Cornish Heritage Farms; Inque Boutique; Inkadinkadoo
Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa
Other - Ranger Stickles; Copic Markers (card); Hero Arts rhinestone flower; Koh-I-Noor pencils (envelope)

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Some more design team work

Here are a couple of other cards I've made for my current design team assignment, which was SEI's Poppy collection.

The first card was made using the Pelican paper. It reminded me of ocean waves, so I thought a fish stamp was appropriate:


Patterned Paper – SEI – Poppy – Pelican
Ribbon – SEI
Stamps – Impression Obsession (fish); Inkadinkadoo (sentiment)
Inks – VersaMagic Chalk Ink Dew Drop – Ocean Depth
Other - Copic Markers; Spellbinders Ribbon tag; Dew Drops – Water; Marvy Scalloped Punch; Ranger Stickles


The second card was made using both sides of the Rattan paper, which is the same paper on the card from my last post:

Patterned Paper – SEI – Poppy – Rattan
Stamps – Paper Salon – Bloom Builder
Inks – Ranger Distress Inks – Tattered Straw; VersaMagic Dew Drop Chalk Ink – Ocean Depth
Other – Spellbinders Nestabilities

Thanks for looking!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Be gentle....

This is my first time blogging....please be gentle!

I have no idea what I'm doing or where this is going to go, but wanted to start a blog to post photos of my card creations.

My adventures in papercrafting all started when I decided to create a scrapbook of a trip we took with some friends to Oregon's wine country during Thanksgiving week of 2004. I thought it would be a great Christmas gift for them for that year..... I finally finished it and gave it to them in May of the following year, but by then I was hooked on paper crafting. Gradually my interest in scrapbooking gave way to the more instant gratification of card making and stamping.

I am currently on the card design team for my local scrapbook store - Scrap Chic Boutique in Decatur, Georgia. It has been a great challenge for me and I'm enjoying it immensely.

So, without further ado, here is my first card, which I made as one of my design team assignments for Scrap Chic Boutique:














Details:
Designer paper: SEI Poppy Rattan
Scalloped mat: Marco's Paper Stardream Stationery
Inks: Ranger Distress Inks - Tattered Straw,
Colorbox Q Cat's Eyes - Peacock
Stamps: Flower - Paper Salon - Bloom Builder; Sentiment - Impression Obsession
Other: Dew Drops - The Robin's Nest; Ribbon - JoAnn's; Jump Ring - Tim Holtz; Silver Leafing pen - Krylon; acrylic tag

Thanks for stopping by!