From this project I learned that GIMP can be a little finicky! I also learned that if I want to use certain images for professional products, then I would have to buy the rights to use those images. For example, my background on the front of the card is watermarked. In addition, by holding down the shift key while scaling an image, I can maintain the original dimensions so I don’t distort the image. Adding a drop shadow allows a 2D image to have more dimension. I can use free websites to download new fonts, which is very exciting! The easiest part of this project was to use my creative juices. The card probably doesn’t make a lot of sense if you are not the person I made this card for though, and so maybe that is something I need to reconsider. I could also work on making the theme a little more concise, because the content seems kind of random if you are not either in my head or Paul. At the same rate, it was also difficult to fill up the entire card. I could have chosen just regular birthday theme photos as well and added the characters around those things. The most difficult thing was changing where the centerline of the card was for the final print, since it was not exactly in the center the first time I did a print and mock up. I had a lot of difficulty figuring out all the different things I had to click in order to perform a task in GIMP, but I am glad I was able to learn from those moments. I think my submissions could be improved if I was able to find another background image for the inside before adding all the images and words I wanted in the foreground. That being said I am actually really pleased with the final product and how nice it looks, and I am excited to give this to my cousin! Having cardstock available in the labs would be nice, but I was able to make it work gluing two pages together. I will be using what I learned through typing and layers lessons to create cards for birthday and invitations, I have always liked painting or drawing cards but I think it will be fun to mix in some of these as well. I will definitely be using this to make a Mother’s Day card since that is coming up soon. The very first lab we did, working with layers, inspired me to check out more of the filter options and settings.
