Hey there everyone!  Welcome to my last week as Flourish’s Limelight designer!  This month has just seemed to fly by, and I have really appreciated reading all of your sweet comments.  I hope that I have inspired you in some way, or given you some good information in terms of photography.

Today I decided to do a little lesson on white balance, because it is a really important part of photography.  Before we get to that, I will share the card that I created.  I used the beautiful Flourishes “Spring is Sprung” stamp set, which has these beautiful spring images and sentiments to match.  The great thing about the images in this stamp set is that they can be both colored or not colored, and they stand alone wonderfully.  This makes the stamp set versatile, no matter what kind of stamper that you are!  Here is what I created:

Before I get into some information regarding white balance, let me give you just one easy tip.  You don’t have to have a fancy paper distressing tool to achieve this look on your cards.  I distressed these edges with a small piece of sandpaper, and the edge of my scissors- something that everyone has in their craft stash!  So keep that in mind when you are looking at all of your tools!

Okay- now on to white balance.  Every single camera has an AUTO white balance mode on it, and I assume that is probably what your camera is set to.  AUTO white balance isn’t wrong, but it can’t factor in for all the different lighting that you might be shooting your projects in.  I know that in my room I shoot with my overhead light, a lamp, and natural light from the window.  My AUTO white balance over corrects for the warmth, leaving me with an image that feels way too cool, especially since I use cream quite often on my cards.  So, I use a custom white balance in order to get the proper coloring of the cream, and proper warmth to the image.  Here are two images taken straight from my camera with no editing done.  On the left is AUTO, and on the right is custom.

The AUTO white balance isn’t bad, but if you notice…it is a little cool and has a blue color cast to it.  Then notice the proper coloring on the card shot with a custom white balance, especially the cream parts.  This one small adjustment made the image of the card you see above super easy to edit, because I didn’t have to worry about color correction at all.  Just some level adjustment, and sharpening.

If you don’t shoot with a DSLR, you most likely won’t have a custom white balance option.  So, my suggestion is to shoot an image of your project in your normal spot….and try all of the different white balance options that your camera does have.  Load them onto your computer, and see which one looks closest to your actual card.  It might be that the daylight white balance (usually symbolized by a sun graphic) or the cloudy white balance (symbolized by a cloud graphic) are the better options for photographing your card.

If you use a Canon DLSR, unfortunately I don’t know how to tell you to do a custom white balance.  I would suggest doing a google search for it, or reading in your camera manual.  If you use a Nikon DSLR, here is a little step by step on how I get my custom white balance.  First, you will need to purchase a grey card, which you can typically find for $5-10.  Look for one at your local photography store, or you can purchase one from an online photography store.  I have linked one above for you, just so you know what they look like.

Creating a Custom White Balance on a Nikon DSLR: 

• First set the proper exposure for your card, by using Aperture priority mode or by manually metering.  (Please see THIS POST for tips on exposure.)
• Hold down the white balance button (which could be on the back of  your camera, or on the top left dial), then use the thumb dial to scroll through all of the white balance options until you see the word PRE.
• Let go of the white balance button once you scroll to the proper setting, then hold it down again until you see the word PRE blinking.
• Put a grey card in front of your project, fill the entire shot up with grey and then take a photo.
• Your camera won’t actually take a photo, but the word GOOD should be flashing on your small top screen.  If it isn’t, then you need to redo it.   If it is, you have just created a custom white balance and can go about shooting the image of your project!!  Yay!

The biggest reason that you might get NOGD flashing (which means no good) is that your exposure settings are incorrect, and it couldn’t read the grey card properly.  This is very typical if your photograph is to dark, or underexposed.  So adjust your camera settings and try again!

I hope that you have enjoyed my time as the Flourish’s Limelight designer!  Let me know if you have any questions at all regarding white balance!

Until later,

~Lea L.

Hey there, everyone!  Lea again with another card to share with you as the Limelight Designer for March.  Thanks for all the feedback last week on my little photography tutorial!  I am so glad that it might have helped at least a little bit.  I wanted to let you know that I am pushing the tips on white balance back until next week, as I needed more time to get the write-up finished.

So, instead I am going to tell you a little bit about how I find inspiration.  I know that Pinterest is all the rage right now, and I do think it is a cool resource.  But truthfully, I am a bigger fan of just using google images!  It is easier to find the original information source than on pinterest, and I feel like it searches easier as well!  I am a huge fan of home decor, and have plans to do our bedroom in the near future as it has absolutely no style right now.  So, I search room decor a lot, and I came upon this image recently that I fell in love with!  {On a side note….I seriously want to copy this room almost to a tee for my bedroom.  Tee hee!}

Hey there, everyone!  Lea here again with another card using some of the fabulous Flourishes stamps!  I have read your comments about wanting some photography tips, so I decided that rather than doing a tutorial about my card, I would show you how I photographed it.

First up, let me give you a couple of details about this card.  I used Flourishes Wedded Bliss stamp set, which has lovely silhouette couples and beautiful matching sentiments.  By stamping the couple in a lighter color, I was able to overlap the sentiment on the bottom of them so that all of my stamping fit in the diecut label I wanted to use.  Don’t be afraid to stamp over the top of lighter color with a darker color…you will love the results!  Here is my card:

In order to tell you how I photographed this card, I thought it would be easiest if I took a photo of the set-up.  This is my very aqua, but also very messy crafting corner- you are lucky I am letting you see it like this.  Tee hee!

You will see a window to the right side of where I have placed the card.  This window faces north, and the sun pretty much never streams directly into this window except for at sunrise.  I don’t know about you…but I am not up and taking photos of cards at sunrise, so I don’t really have to worry about that!!  But this part is key- you do not want sunlight streaming directly in from your light source.  You want even and diffused light, which is why this window is perfect for capturing naturally lit images of my cards during the daylight hours.

You will also see that I don’t have my card positioned directly into the light source.  It is slightly angled towards it, so that I don’t blow out any highlight areas.  I photograph my cards on two pieces of matching patterned paper, which just gives it a nice and professional look.

Next I wanted to show you what equipment I use for photographing my cards.

You might be thinking right now, “Oh my gosh….I have both of these items, or ones like them anyways!!”  I use the very first DSLR that I ever owned, which is an entry level Nikon, with the model number of D50.  I also use my Thrifty 50mm lens, which I know many scrapbookers and crafters own…I believe it cost me $100.  I share this with you because while I do have professional level cameras, you do not have to have that equipment to take a crisp and clear image of your projects.  This camera and lens reside on my crafty desk, and are perfect for what I need.

So, now that I have shown you my set-up, and equipment used, I will give you a few shooting tips.  These tips are going to be tailored towards those shooting with a DSLR, as I haven’t shot with a point and shoot camera for a very long time.  Although, there are some P&S’s that allow you to manually change settings…so look in your manual.

• If you do not know how to shoot in manual mode, I would suggest learning to shoot in aperture priority mode.  For Nikon users, that is the A on your dial.  For Canon users, it is the AV on your dial.
• I shoot with an f-stop (or aperture) of 4.0.  Anything lower than that can cause items on your card to be out of focus, especially if you have a lot of layers.  Use your thumb dial to change your aperture setting.
• If you are shooting in aperture priority mode, it will pick a shutter speed for you.  I would suggest learning how to adjust your exposure compensation, and set it at either +0.3 or +0.7.  Take a shot with both, and see which one is better.  I say this because aperture priority is basically an average shutter speed based on all the lighting coming in your lens, and it might shoot a little dark. (If you know how to shoot in manual mode, here is what I do.  I meter off the whitest part of my card, and set my shutter at +1.0.  In my room it is typically 1/50 of a second…but your room might be different.)
• If you don’t have a room that gets nicely diffused lighting, then you can take it outside.  Just be sure to shoot in open shade, so that you don’t get dark shadows or blown out highlights on your project.

I am making the assumption here that you all might have a small understanding of photography and its terms…but if any of this is flying over your head, be sure to post your questions, and I will try to answer them as best I can in my next post.  Just an FYI…your camera manual will become your best friend when learning about all the buttons.  I know that mine even has a little glossary of terms, so I assume that yours will too.  Take it out and look over it…I bet you will learn something about your camera that you might not have known!!   Next week I will do one more photography tip session on the other part of shooting that is extremely important…white balance.

Until next time,

~Lea L.

Hey there, everyone- Lea Lawson here!  A new month means a new Limelight Designer, and I am so happy to be the one picked for March!  I was very excited when I got the email from Julie asking if I would like to join in the fun, but of course the concern set in.  I don’t color….I use a lot of non-stamping product…am I really going to fit in?  But Julie assured me that I would be a great fit, and that it would be exciting to see how I use Flourishes stamps in my style.

So, with that being said…today I wanted to share with you a little about how I stamp without coloring.  First off, I typically pick stamps that can be used without coloring.  For today’s card, I used a silhouette image from the Kids Play stamp set, and stamped it directly to book paper.  Here is how the card turned out:

I chose this printed book paper to stamp on because I knew that the pretty design would still come through underneath the stamped image, and because it is a thinner consistency.  You really only need three things to be able to achieve this look, and here they are:

While I did use a brand name book paper, don’t be afraid to use sheets from an actual old book, sheet music, an old hymnal, a dictionary or thesaurus…the possibilities are many when it comes to book paper.  I chose dye ink because I knew it would give me a nice and clean stamped image, but that the print underneath would still come through.

I finished up by using a sentiment from the Country Charm Labels stamp set, and added it to a banner edged paper strip.   Don’t be afraid to cover up a part of our stamped image.  Notice how the main parts that match the sentiment are still showing, and it was the best place design wise for the sentiment to go!  Here are some detail shots of my card:

I hope that you will try stamping directly to printed book paper,and let me know if you do!  I would love to check it out!  Thank you for the warm welcome so far this month…and I hope that I am able to inspire you this month with my projects.

I read your comments about wanting photography tips, so I will start that next week.  I do have some good tips that I think that I should be able to make it all pretty easy to understand!!

Have a great week!

~Lea L.

With March here, so is a brand new designer that will share her time and talents with us all month long “in the Limelight!” Before we “introduce” you to that designer, we want to give a very warm thanks to Wanda Cullen who shared so much in the way of fun and creativity! Sometimes I wish the months could be a bit longer because our time with these fabulous designers always feels like it moves way too fast! So, thank you Wanda for sharing your beautiful “Cullenary Creations!”    You inspire!

Are you ready to see who will be joining us this month? Well here goes…..

We are excited to have Lea Lawson from Lea’s Cupcakes and Sunshine with us all month long! Lea has such a fresh and fun style and honestly…. her cards always look “happy!”  Stopping by her blog regularly, I thought — gosh, I would love to see her spin on Flourishes stamps! I was also partial because being from Montana, it’s so fun when you find other card makers from “Big Sky Country!” Even though she lives on the other side of the state, I laughingly told her to look out her window and see if she could see me waving! To get ready for tomorrow’s big reveal, I asked Lea to share a little bit about herself with all of YOU!

My name is Lea Lawson, and I reside in beautiful Missoula, Montana. I have been married to my wonderful husband, Josh, for 9 years, and we have two of the cutest dogs in the world- a yorkie named Bailey and a cocker spaniel named Sadie. I am a professional photographer, who focuses on weddings and senior portraiture, but also throw my hat in on some families and babies at times.

I have been crafting in some shape or form for as long as I can remember! When I was younger, I would use stationary items (Lisa Frank was my idol) and stickers, then cut up my photos (EEEK!) and arrange them together.  The finished product would hang all over my walls and closet doors.  When I graduated from high school, my aunt Amy gave me a scrapbooking kit, and that is when I was formally introduced to scrapbooking…

While I used to scrapbook more than I made cards, the tables have completely turned and I actually barely scrapbook any longer. I almost 100% exclusively make cards now, and I love it! The card making community is wonderful, and I have met some amazing women through it. You can see my work in publications like Paper Crafts Magazine/Special Issues, Cards Magazine, Cricut Magazine and occasionally in Scrapbook Trends Magazine.

Thanks for the intro Lea! We know we’ll  have fun watching you create all March long! So, be sure to tune in tomorrow and see what Lea has in store. I know you won’t be disappointed!