How bright do you really want the lights? There are some LED strips that can get very bright, but you usually want to made sure they are securely attached to something that will help dissipate excess heat or you'll shorten their life.
I made myself some PCB's measuring 1.4"x3" with 24 of the 5050 SMD LED's that uses 12V @ 0.48A total and one to two of them make a nice bright desk lamp (my favourite one has three plus a LED PWM dimmer which is normally set to about 50%). One thing I like about the board is they aren't a pure point source like a single ultra bright LED, so they soften the shadows. I figure each board is a little under 300 lumens when at full brightness, but they sure seem brighter then that to me.
I made myself some PCB's measuring 1.4"x3" with 24 of the 5050 SMD LED's that uses 12V @ 0.48A total and one to two of them make a nice bright desk lamp (my favourite one has three plus a LED PWM dimmer which is normally set to about 50%). One thing I like about the board is they aren't a pure point source like a single ultra bright LED, so they soften the shadows. I figure each board is a little under 300 lumens when at full brightness, but they sure seem brighter then that to me.