The Sugar Bowl Challenge #1

Hi All.

And may I wish you all a

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Well I'm certainly glad to get back to normal, and get stuck in to a new card challenge over at the new blog The Sugar Bowl. This blog is for all the Sugar Nellie fans out there, and I know that's a lot of you.

There is a fantastic prize on offer, but you'll have to pop on over there to find out more about that.

So the first challenge is based on this sketch by Tiets. And as I love sketches, and love Sugar Nellie designs even more I just had to join in.

So here is my take on the sketch.

I used the cute 'Pickin' Apples' image as I love it so much, and coloured with those Copic's again, highlighting with a white Sakura gel pen.

One of the layers was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, and the 'CUTE' text was embossed and cut out from one of the words embossing folders that Cuttlebug do. I just traced around the embossed word with the white gel pen to make it stand out.

I added some gems and glitter for a little bling, 'cause I love it so much.

And a Prima hydrangea flower layered up with a pearl bead in the centre completes the look. This is not a card, but actually a design to go into a picture frame for a little girl I know. I hope she likes it.

ooOoo

I just thought I'd show you the benefit of editing in Photoshop. Some people might not know just how much difference it can make to the quality of your photo's, so I'm showing you a direct comparison below.

The photo on the left has been edited in Photoshop, but it started off as the one on the right which has not been touched at all. As I only have a small digital automatic camera, the photo's are reasonable, however after editing, they are much clearer and brighter.

So I am using Adobe Photoshop 7, and have my photo open. First of all I go to Image, then Adjustments, then click on Auto Contrast. You can do Auto Levels if you prefer, but I find the colours don't always look the same, and prefer to make some minor adjustments myself. It's really easy to use.

To make the image sharper, go to Filter, then Sparpen, then click on Unsharp Mask a box will pop up with the settings, which you can adjust or leave as they are. Click Ok, and your image should appear sharper, and more detailed. Just play around until you get the look you want. I find this process really brings out the best in my images.

Hope you find this useful. I'd be happy to receive your comments if you care to leave any.

Happy crafting