Cloudy days

It has been frustratingly typical Oregon weather. Yesterday started rainy, grey and dismal, then broke into beautiful bursts of sunshine with the rain showers and clouds still mixed in. My son and I spent some time outside exploring the new little budding plants, and taking pictures. This is one of our flowering pear trees in the front, taken during a brief spell of sunshine. Today it has been the same. The weather is mocking me. I was trying to take pictures, and the sun would disappear...then, as soon as I would give up and decided to just download what I had, the sun would start shining beautifully.
I tried to photograph a card today, but it wasn't easy to capture the illusive sun. However, I will show you how I tried to do it. I have this little fabric box that used to be a collapsible storage box for Hannah's stuffed animals, but I decided it would make a perfect box to filter the sunlight. So I set my cards in this box with a piece of thin vellum behind it to soften the corner. Sometimes I set it on a little table, and sometimes (like today), when I need extra light I balance the box between the window and the tripod to get light coming in on all sides. Of course this is all trial and error and I usually have to take LOTS of pictures before I get one that I like. That is the beauty of digital photography. I could never have attempted this 15 years ago with my limited knowledge and experience. Having seen this, some of you photography experts may have tips for me to improve my process. Please feel free to give advice. Now, on to todays project. This is a fun housewarming card. The inside says, "Welcome to your new home." You can't really tell in the picture, but there is a looped cord coming out the top of the arch so you can hang this card on a doorknob, or attach to a gift. This card will be going to stay at Stampin' Cat Studio, so if you want to look at it more closely you can see it there. The beautiful chandelier is cut from glittery patterned paper by Best Creation Inc.