Laura's Sketch #19: hello!

Happy Thursday! Here's a card I started and messed with for about 30 minutes on Tuesday night and it was going nowhere so I went to bed. I messed with it about another hour last night, still didn't go anywhere I loved, but what they hey, here it is anyway! lol!

The design is based on Laura's Sketch #19 over at 2S4Y, which I love, so I may have to try again with another card. And I know, the Billboard alphabet die...AGAIN! I swear the next card, I will just say, "No!" But I did at least ink up one of my favorite new sets, Trendy Trees. It is WAY cute!

On another note...Stephanie asked me the other day how I photograph my cards. I asked advice on here a long time ago when I was thinking of buying a light box. The winter is the hardest because all the daylight is gone when I'm at work, so I have to make do. Natural light is the best. But for now, I just use some white cardstock and shine my Ott Lite and 2 cheap Ikea desk lamps onto the project.

The biggest thing that helped was reading my camera's manual...there's a special setting on there for detailed, close-up photos, like portrait mode or something. It makes the photos much crisper. Lastly, after taking the photo, I edit it in Photoshop Elements...I adjust the image size, sharpen, and adjust the lighting levels, sometimes the contrast, etc. That program can really work magic on your photos! I'm FAR from an expert, but I hope that helps a little! Here's what it looks like when I photograph right now:


Lastly, a lot of friends had been *urging*/*bugging* me to sign up for Facebook and I finally did last night. So there went a few hours! lol! If you're on, let me know so I can find you! I chatted with an old childhood friend for a long time, it was so awesome! I'm afraid I'm going to need a few more hours in my day now, though! I can see it becoming very addicting...there may not be anymore time for stamping or scrapping! lol!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!


Recipe
Stamps: Trendy Trees, Polka Dot.
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, So Saffron, Good Morning Sunshine DSP.
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss.
Accessories: Big Shot, Billboard decorative strip die, 5/8" Chocoalte Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Spiral Punch, Wide Oval Punch, Chocolate Chip Library Clip, Dimensionals, large glue dots, Sherbert retired ribbon.