Allsorts 488: Trees or Leaves and a Few Words about my New Photo Tent

Happy Saturday! I hope your weekend is going well! Lots of rain in our forecast this weekend....


We have a new theme at Allsorts challenge...our host this week is Mervi and she wants to see Trees and/ or Leaves. We have a great prize from Marianne Design, so hopefully you'll find some time this week to join us!

I also finally purchased a small photo tent to photograph my cards and you can read a little bit about it at the end of the post, if you like to.

Penny Black Nature's Gifts //  Hero Arts MMH September Kit(sentiment) // Distress Inks Mustard Seed, Rusty Hinge, Peeled Paint // Versafine Onyx Ink // Bristol Vellum Paper 

A square acrylic block and distress inks were used to create the background for the leaves. I hadn't really planned on trimming all around the inked panel, but got a black ink smudge onto it and so it had ot be trimmed. 

This brought on my decision to get out some mulberry paper. The one I used was originally white but after tearing it I sponged it with distress ink to give it a fall color. The maple leaf stamp is from the Penny Black set Nature's Gifts, stamped with Versafine Onyx ink. And the sentiment is part of the Hero Arts MMH September Kit. I added some simple paper piercing using Stampin Up's old tool kit, which includes a piercing template and piercing tool. 

Also joining these challenges:

Stamploration -  Stamps plus Autumn

Sisterhood of Crafters -  Fall is in the Air

4 Crafty Chicks - Something Old is Something New (Mulberry paper - I've had it forever, but also didn't use it in a really long time)

Craft Rocket Challenges - Autumn/Halloween

As You Like It Challenge 2W,E3 Favourite Season  (I can't choose between fall and spring, but linking up with a fall card today. I love fall because we finally get some relief from the summer humidity, I love all the fun fall activities, and then of course the beautiful fall colors.) 

Moving along with the Times  - Autumn 

Alphabet Challenge - N is for Nature
Crafty Gals Corner  - Fall 
Fab 'n' Funky  - Orange, Black and Green

Brown Sugar  - Spooky Halloween or Celebrate Autumn

Crafty Catz - Anything Goes

Pattie's Creations -  Halloween or Autumn

Crafting with Dragonflies - CAS 

Cute Card Thursday  - Anything Goes

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes 

Crafting-With-Friends -  Anything Goes 
Creative Fingers - Anything Goes QKR Stampede -  Anything Goes

Crafting With An Attitude - Anything Goes

Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes

Creative Moments - Always Anything Goes 

As some of you know, I have been thinking about purchasing a Photo Tent for quite some time now, but always kept putting it off, but I never did stop looking. Well, I finally came across one that wasn't too expensive, had good reviews and was small enough for my space. I actually was afraid it might be too small as most reviewers seem to be using it for jewelry and other small items, but it's the perfect size for my largest cards, which are 6 inches tall.

The photo above shows how it arrives and it's also how it folds up for storage and I keep everything in the drawstring bag it comes in.  The kit comes with 6 backgrounds (white, blue, red, black, yellow and green).  I will most likely only use the white background, because I like my backgrounds to be white. It also comes with 2 LED light bars, already attached to the light box, and two 2 micro USB cables (I think it's what they are called). 

In the photo above you can see what it looks like once snapped together. All you have to do to assemble the photo tent, is use the 4 snaps and add your background. You can see one of the LED bars in the back, the other one is at the front part at the top where it is folded down. In the photo above they are not yet plugged in. The box measures approx. 8.5 inches square, so it's perfect for my largest cards, but will obviously not work for large scrapbook pages. 

Two comparison photos ..... 

With photo tent - notice the more uniform border around the card.

Without photo tent - notice the darker shadow on the left side - this is the reason why I've been wanting a photo tent.

There really isn't much of a difference in the card itself, and my reason for wanting a photo tent was to eliminate the shadow I am getting without using it, as seen on the left side on the second photo, and then too much light on the right side. As much as I always try, my pictures always end up with some sort of shadow and not a uniform border.
So, basically totally not a necessity, but it seems to be doing what I want it to do. I am still using the free software "PhotoScape" to crop, add watermark and "auto level" as I've always done. And in case you're interested what camera I use ... I use a Canon EOS Rebel T5, but I read that this photo tent also works well with a phone camera.

And that would be it for today, thanks so much for stopping by! I hope to see you joining in at Allsorts challenge!

ETA: apparently the photo tent I purchased is currently out of stock. I did find this one that looks similar and even costs less (and is by the same company), if it's something you've been thinking about getting.  And this photo tent looks like another good one, it's a bit larger and does cost a little more, but might work well for those of you creating larger cards or art journals, etc. 

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you.