How I photograph my cards

Hello!

I am back with another post for Indian Craft Room...this time about Photographing Greeting Cards.

Apologies for not posting yesterday, as promised!

I'm Paru Mahtani, an avid cardmaker and photogrpahy enthusiast. My passion for  card making led to a need to photograph my work; hence developed an interest in photography. Once I started exploring this hobby, it became addictive!

There are so many good blog posts, video and discussions on the internet about photographing you cards/crafts/art work. Thanks to the popularity of online shopping, crafters have realised the tremendous importance of photography!

The lessons I have learnt in my 15 plus  years of making cards are...

1. Research!! Research!! Research!!

Read blogs, look at others photos, read what they say about their photography processes, look at photos on Pinterest and Instagram and learn! 

Here are some resources:

http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/?p=2011

http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/?p=2011

http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/?p=2011

http://www.everythingetsy.com/2010/04/how-to-photograph-your-work-for-sale-on-etsy/

2. Take a few photography classes to earn how to master your camera. 

Then you can create some amazing photos.

3. If you have a spot with great natural light, that's fantastic! If like most people, you don't, make an inexpensive lightbox (learn how to make one here.) and learn how to use it! 

The results are amazing!!

Here is an image of my set up...it's not perfect (the light box is a little wonky) 

but the results I get are just fab.

I have set it up at a height so that I don't have to bend. I have a put a little side table on top of my dining table and then placed the light box on top of it.

The lights are 'Sonia Trilights'. They have an adjustable stand and it is continuous  white light.

These are photography studio lights, but the same can be acheived with any continuous light.

I use a Canon 7D dslr, but very often take photos with my iphone if I dont have time to set up the light box.

I usually make a bunch of cards and  photograph them all together.

Here is the result!

These are photos taken on my desk with an iphone...

I hope this post has been useful and you have been inspired!! Do leave me a comment...I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

I will be back next Thursday with another post.

Have a great evening!

Whats in store at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2014

Hey everyone!

Here's a peek at what is in store for you at my stall at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2014.
I am introducing postcards this year, along with my greeting cards.
Here's a look...

All you have to do is pen a small message, address it, affix the stamps provided with the postcard and mail it!

Fun way to sent a greeting, no?

Hope to see you there!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Good night!

Stamps that I have used here are from Paper Smooches, Lawn Fawn,Inkadinkado and Stampendous.

Heat embossing fun

 Hey everyone! Today I have three cards made with silver metallic card stock.
I have used the heat embossing technique to embellish these cards.
As this cardstock has a smooth and shiny surface, Brilliance Archival inks are perfect to use on it.

On the first card the peacock feather (Stampendous woodblock) is embossed in white and gold and the sentiment stamped in Brilliance 'Graphite black' Archival ink. The sentiment is also from Stampendous.

For the second card, I have used a woodblock stamp from Hampton Art...Janetdunndesign and the sentiment from Stampendous. Both have been heat embossed with American Crafts embossing powders.

For this card, I decided to stamp the image ( from Inkadinkado) with 'Graphite Black ' Archival ink from Brilliance and heat emboss just the sentiment and the centres of the flowers with gold embossing powder. I just love the final look!

I am submitting these cards for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge...Emboss it.

Thanks so much for stopping by...

Have a great day!

Paper Piecing

Good Morning All!!

Today, for my official Craft Adda blog post, I have an interesting technique for you.

I made this card a while ago, but decided to remake it...a little differently.

When I made this card the first time, I coloured in the japanese girls' kimono with a red gel pen. I wasn't happy with that effect, so this time I decided to do it differently.

I stamped the girl on a sheet of red paper and cut out the kimono. I then made the pieces into stickers using my Xyron 150  sticker machine and glued it onto the image that I had stamped on white paper.

Here is an image of the cut pieces..to give you a better idea.

Again, something so easy which looks so WOW!

Try it!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a great day!

Supplies: stamps ...Inkadinkado and Stampendous

               inks...Memento

               embossing powder....American crafts.

Peeking flowers

I decided to name this card peeking flowers, 'coz I just love the little white flowers on peeking through the black circles!

I made this card for the CAS-ual Friday CFC100 tic-tac-toe top 10 challenge.
The three elements I am using are black and white, text and punches or dies.

The fabulous sentiment is from Verses rubber stamps.
For the black and white punched circles, I  first stamped flowers from my Inkadinkado stamp set, onto black paper, with Brilliance white ink.
I then punched out circles of different sizes using my circle punches in such a way that every circle had a bit of the flower peeking through.

Fun effect, don't you think?

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Good night!

Mr. & Mrs.

Good Morning Everyone!
I have sweet Mr.& Mrs. Card today with a Nautical theme.
I have made this for the Paper Smooches Trend Watch Challenge.

To make this card, I used stamps from the Paper Smooches Metropolis, Spiffy Scooters, and Helping Hands stamp sets.

Other stamps are from the Inkadinkado coastal/maritime stamp set.

Inks are from Memento and water colours from Camel artists water colour cakes.

Can't wait to see who will receive this card!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a bright and cheerful day!

Happy Mother's Day

Good Morning Everyone!!
Happy Mother's day to all you fabulous moms out there!
Here is a Mother's day card with some unusual colours...but pretty none the less!!
I made this card with the Monday Mood Board in mind.

I stamped the background with a text cling stamp and heat embossed it in white. To make the black and white paper, I stamped the flower stamp from my Inkadinkado stamp set with Brilliance White ink on black paper. I then adhered the panel onto kraft card stock, cut out a few flowers from the paper and added a ribbon, punched hearts and a sentiment from Hero Arts.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a great day!!

White Wisteria

Hey everyone!
I have been inspired by the AMAZING Debbie Hughes for the longest time.
Today, I got the opportunity to feature her as my Personal Muse for the CASE study DT challenge.

Here is the card I made...

The stamps I've used are from Inkadinkado and Verses Rubber stamps.

Heat embossed with White and Chestnut  embossing powder from American Crafts. 

The background panel is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.

and, here is my inspiration!

I am also entering this card for the CASology Cue Word CARE challenge.

I have put this card away to be mailed to a dear aunt who is recovering from a major surgery.

Thanks so very much for stopping by!

Enjoy!

Sunshine

I took a while to figure this one out, but here is my card for the Case Study challenge no 138. and the Friday Mashup 107 Challenge showcasing Sunshine.

The stamp that I heat embossed with White embossing powder is from the 'Meadow' stamp set from Inkadinkado. 

The sentiment is from Verses rubber stamps.

For the background I used water colours from Camel and then intensified the colours with Tim Holtz Crushed Olive distress ink  and Summer Sky ink from Memento. 

I made the sun's rays by masking them one at a time  and colouring over with dandelion ink from Memento. 

I think the effect looks lovely and peaceful.

 Here are my challenge inspirations

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a good night!!

Birthday candles

I absolutely love the way this card turned out! 

The candles stamp is  a woodblock stamp from Inkadinkado. 

I stamped it onto a kraft card with memento Tuxedo black ink. 

I then stamped it  on a piece of ivory cardstock with versamark embossing ink and  heat embossed it with clear embossing powder from Judikins.  

The panel , I cut with Spellbinders nestabilities oval and ovel scallop dies, and distressed it with Tim Holtz distress inks. 

The sentiment is one of my own and I completed the card with pretty orange and green ribbons from my stash.

Hope you enjoy this card as much as I did.

Thanks for stopping by...Do leave me a comment!

Enjoy!

Inchie gifts

I made this card with Inchie stamps from Inkadinkado, with Ladybug red and Jet black inks from Memento. The card is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and distressed with Tim holtz distress inks, as well as the sentiment label, which is from Spellbinders. the sentiment is from Stampendous.

This card has turned out a little different...I like it though! Inchies are fun!

Thanks for stopping by...

Enjoy!

ANIMAL CLOTHESPIN MAGNETS AND WOVEN BOOKMARKS

A few things we've made in the last couple of weeks...

 We tried paper weaving using quilling strips...quite successfull I thought!
Our project was inspired by a project from the book, "big book of papercrafts" by Vivienne Bolton.
The kids decorated the bookmarks in a variety of ways, as you can see...
In the picture above, my student Millie, used various stips of paper to make an evening sky and then she stamped an image of palm trees and sea gulls in black to make a silhouette. It looks remarkable...don't you think?!
Stamps are from Inkadinkado's 'coastal maritime' stamp set.

 Here, my younger students made animal clothes peg magnets. Asimple project, they made it by drawing, colouring and cutting out animal faces and then fixing them to wooden clothespins. They then attached magnetic strips to the back of the pegs making them perfect  and useful fridge magnets to delight their moms!

Thanks for stopping by...

Enjoy!