We had a shaving cream battle with our friends, and it was SO MUCH FUN! We each were supplied with a bottle of the really cheap shaving cream (like 97 cents per bottle), and teamed up girls against boys. It was super messy, but in the best way!
Some tips:
Do this on a hot day ’cause you’re going to need to rinse off under a hose. 😉
Make sure it’s okay to get the yard messy because it will get messy – but don’t worry, after a good rainshower everything should be squeaky clean again.
Be warned: the smell of shaving cream will be everywhere!
Just look at that glorious mess! 😀
I guess I can check that off my bucket list!
Does a shaving cream fight sound fun to you? Do you like to get messy?
***Allison***
P. S. I HAVE OVER 150 FOLLOWERS OH MY GOODNESS THANK YOU SO MUCH I’M RUNNING OUT OF BREATH SO I THINK I’LL STOP NOW! *Pant, wheeze, cough*
Wohoo! Are you ready to solve some mysteries, dear readers?
If you’re new to mystery picture posts, here are the rules: I show you a few close-up pictures of ordinary objects, and you try to guess what they are. Just comment below this post with your guesses, and I will reveal the answers and the winners next Saturday the 9th. I don’t approve guess comments until I reveal the mystery, just so no one gets ideas from another comment.;) You can see my other mystery picture posts here.
Okey-dokey-artichoke! Are you ready? ARE YOU READY? Oh, I guess not. You are? GOOD! Ahem.
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I really hope that wasn’t too easy! It’s getting hard to find mystery pictures that I haven’t done yet. But I love how taking these photos makes me look at the things from a fresh perspective!
***Allison***
P. S. We finished painting my room yesterday. YAYAYAYAYAY!!! I’m so excited to redecorate – Hobby Lobby, here I come! 😀
I finally finished this birthday haul post a month after my birthday. XD It’s not really a birthday haul post, actually. It’s more just reviews of some of the things I got for my birthday. Get ready for a really long post!
(The link is for the hardcover collection which I have. You can also get a paperback collection on Amazon.)
I absolutely LOVE this series by Trenton Lee Stewart. It’s probably my favorite series! “The Mysterious Benedict Society” is a group of extraordinary children who are sent on several extraordinary missions. The characters are so fun to read about – there’s Reynie, Sticky (you’ll understand his name when you read the books), Kate, and Constance. Once you pick up these books, it’s hard to put them down! They’re filled with exciting action, surprising plot twists, hilarious anecdotes, and riddles and puzzles that will stretch your brain.
Notes: The synopses are not actual back-of-the-book summaries, I just wrote them myself. Also, the pictures of each book are from their Amazon listing. If you click on the “via” links, it will take you to the listing. Some of the covers on the books below are a little different than mine, but mainly the same.
This book is a prequel to the series although you don’t necessarily have to read it first. (I didn’t.) Like in the rest of the series, the plot twists, clues, and riddles throughout the book keep your brain whirling. There are a bunch of mysteries in this book, and some of their conclusions may surprise you. It’s exciting to read how Nicholas uses his genius mind to solve problems and outsmart the Spiders and other fearsome foes. Nicholas also has a condition called narcolepsy (which is real by the way), which means he falls asleep at random times.
Synopsis: This story covers about a year in the childhood of Nicholas Benedict, the man behind The Mysterious Benedict Society. Nicholas moves to a new orphanage filled with surprises – from a huge library to a secret overlook, tough bullies to loyal friends, and maybe even a treasure! Nicholas will need all of his talents and genius to unpack the mysteries surrounding him – and to do so before it’s too late.
This is probably my favorite book in the series. I especially love the beginning when everything is so mysterious and there are gobs of strange riddles and puzzles that bend your brain. The book is exciting and clever, and some of the plot twists just blow you away. At the end you learn something totally unexpected and funny about Constance. You HAVE to read this, guys!
Synopsis: An advertisement in the newspaper starts it all: “Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?” Join Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance on the adventure of their lives. After passing a series of mind-bending tests, they are sent on a very important mission: to save the world from an evil genius with a terrifying plan to control the world – and the minds of everyone in it. They will have to work as a team and put all of their extraordinary gifts to use after arriving at a strange institute. What is Mr. Curtain’s evil plan? Who is Milligan really? What is the Whisperer? These are just a few of the puzzling questions the Mysterious Benedict Society has to answer.
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey
This isn’t my favorite book of the series, but it’s still great. I love that you learn something new about Constance in this book. Her newly discovered talent really adds to her personality. You also meet some new characters like Cannonball and the Bullfrogs. The duskwort plot thread is really interesting and exciting too. (See synopsis.) Here is a quote I like from this book: (Cannonball is comforting Constance, who is quite short, by the way.)
” ‘You know what I like about buttons?… They’re very small things that hold bigger things together. Awfully important, buttons – little but strong.’ ” – page 154
Isn’t that sweet? “Little but strong.” 😀
Synopsis: After a year apart the Mysterious Benedict Society reconvenes. They have been anticipating a surprise Mr. Benedict planned for them when they find out that someone has unpleasantly surprised him. Their beloved Mr. Benedict is in danger! Will the scavenger hunt lead them to their heart’s desire, or into a trap? In the meantime, Constance discovers a new talent, and a plant named duskwort is of imminent importance. If the duskwort falls into the wrong hands, everyone is doomed.
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma
The Prisoner’s Dilemma is the last book in the series. (Except for the puzzle book, but that doesn’t really count.) I really like it! It’s fun and suspenseful to follow the clues with the Mysterious Benedict Society gang, but not everything is as simple as it seems. You might be surprised – actually you probably will be! The end is quite satisfactory. 😀
Synopsis:
The Mysterious Benedict Society is bored, bored, bored. They have been cooped up together in Mr. Benedict’s house for months because it’s not safe to leave: Mr. Curtain will do anything to get back his precious Whisperer, including snatching up certain children in his way. But when Constance disappears after an appointment with the Whisperer, boredom is flung to the winds. Reynie, Sticky, and Kate are on a race against time to find their grumpy companion before the Ten Men do. They must decode secret messages and follow curiously easy clues… that lead them to an unexpected place. This adventure includes two brave girls and two smart boys, a Salamander, a missing friend, sneaky clues, a couple of “S” pies, a red bucket, and a few daring leaps.
The Mysterious Benedict Society – Mr. Benedict’s Book of Perplexing Puzzles, Elusive Enigmas, and Curious Conundrums
Whew! Why do the titles have to be so long? XD I’ll just abbreviate it “Perplexing Puzzles.” Perplexing Puzzles is a really fun book filled with… well, riddles and puzzles. It is a gorgeous book – it’s printed on glossy pages and the whole book is in color instead of black and white. Most of the puzzles are quite hard, but a few of them are easy. (There are hints in the back of the book to help you along. If you need another hint, I might be able to help you too! 😀 ) Scattered throughout the book are quotes from the series, illustrations and profiles, and other “archival materials” as it says. I love the a riddle at the very end that requires you to use letters and numbers from previous puzzles to reveal a last secret message.
Here is one of the riddles: (your answer has to fit in the blanks)
Umm… I can’t really do a synopsis of this one. XD
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Pros and cons: The covers all have delightful illustrations on them, and the books are all beautiful and well-made. Like I said, the Perplexing Puzzles book is particularly gorgeous. The box that they come in is really nice too! The inside looks like it has been plastered with newspaper clippings from the first puzzle in Perplexing Puzzles. Umm… there aren’t many cons. 😀 Of course I liked some books better than others, but I enjoyed them all. The one problem is that it’s a little hard to pry a book out of the case, but that’s okay. 🙂 I highly recommend both this series and this hardcover collection.
(I’m pretty sure you can find a pack like this for cheaper if you shop around Amazon or stores like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby, but this is the listing I found.)
Premo brand polymer clay is a very good quality clay. (At least in my opinion and from what I’ve read.) You can see lots of things I made with it here.
Let me compare and contrast it with Sculpey III, a popular brand of clay made by the same company. Premo is more of a professional clay, while Sculpey III is more of a recreational, hobby-type clay, not meant to be super durable. Premo is much stronger when baked than Sculpey III, and not as gooey and hard to work with as Sculpey III can be. (But see “Pros and cons.”) Although I do think Sculpey III has more colors available. They are both good for different reasons, but I prefer Premo to Sculpey III.
Pros and cons: Usually I love this brand of polymer clay, but the pack I got this time was a lot softer than normal. That is really helpful for conditioning and mixing clay, but not so good for sculpting. Normally though, it’s a really great clay – not too hard, not too soft – and this sampler pack comes with some really neat options, such as translucent clay (which looks transparent-ish when you brush a gloss over it), and faux rock clay which really looks like rock! The sampler pack lasts a long time if you make small things, like I do, but I found it helpful to get an extra pack of white Premo clay because I use white a lot. Even though the changeable pliability is annoying, I would still recommend this product.
I requested these to use on polymer clay. They’re kind of like chalk. First you scrape them on paper to obtain colored powder, then you use a paintbrush to paint the powder onto baked or unbaked clay for more realistic shading effects. It’s kind of like paint, only more subtle. Pastels work very well for shading miniature food. The cookie on the left is not shaded with artist’s pastels, and the one on the right is. (Sorry, it’s not a very good picture, but trust me, some clay artists can do amazing things with artist’s pastels! Like Tracey, for instance.)
Pros and cons: Certain shades of brown are missing that would be helpful, but at least you can mix colors. I haven’t had much experience with artist’s pastels, but these work quite well for my purposes! I would recommend this product.
These pens are really nice! Not to mention there are three of them, so they should last me a while. 🙂 They have a fairly fine tip and write smoothly as long as you don’t write too fast. You can use them to mark highlights on your drawings, for things such as hair and eyes:
The ink is almost marker-resistant – you can see on the left of her hair one of the squiggles is slightly more muted. That’s where I drew over it with marker and the gel pen still showed through. When you draw on top of marker, the marker ink bleeds a tiny bit with the gel pen ink, so it’s usually not quite completely white. (In the picture above, the ink turned a little grayish.)
The white ink looks stunning on black paper! Here is an ATC I made with one of the gel pens:
Pros and cons: The pens write quite smoothly unless you write fast; then they’re a little scratchy. The optimum background seems to be black paper. The ink will smudge if you’re not careful, but it’s not super smudge-prone. I would recommend this product.
I was really excited about getting this, because I use PicMonkey a lot. (Royale gives you access to lots more features – extra effects, overlays, collage options, and more. But you do have to pay for Royale. 😉 ) Three of my favorite things about PicMonkey Royale are the “Custom Effect” feature, Clone feature, and the Royale collage options. You make a custom effect by adding different effects to a photo like usual, then saving all the things you did as one effect that you can use over and over again.
Here is a photo I edited with Royale: (More kitten pictures coming soon! 😀 )
BeforeAfter
I used clone to “wipe off” some dirt, Miniature Effect, Eye Brighten, and then several other non-Royale effects and features. So cute!
Pros and cons: It’s definitely nice to be able to use features like clone, Custom Effect, extra Overlays and Collage layouts, and more. Pretty much the only con is the price. If you don’t use PicMonkey a lot, or don’t use it much besides the basic touch-ups which are free, you probably won’t need this. However, if you love photo-editing or PicMonkey or both, I recommend this feature!
Of course I got a bunch more things for my birthday, but it would take a few more months to review them all at this rate. XD I hope you enjoyed this! Which was your favorite item? Do you have any of these things?
~If you signed up to participate in WordCrafters 2, please read this post!~
GUYS, IT’S FINALLY HERE! I’m just a tiny bit HUGELY excited, as you can tell. 😀 I hope you are too! We need to go over a few little things, and then I’ll give you the character profiles.
For the sake of the other participants who are eagerly awaiting their turn, please try to send in your story within 3-5 days of the last chapter being written. If you’re on vacation or you’re too busy to write, the next person in line can take your place. If you just can’t write your chapter, I can take you off the list completely, but I would appreciate if you tried your best to participate since you signed up in the first place. 🙂
Try to make your chapter less than 1,000 words and end your it with somewhat of a cliffhanger to give the next person a start. Click here to read the whole WordCrafters 1 story for examples.
If you have a blog, send me a link to your chapter. If you don’t have a blog, email me your chapter.
If you need to refresh your memory on the complete rules, click here.
Now, ready for the good stuff? I came up with a starter idea, and Josie wrote this wondermous first chapter! Definitely check it out. I will add her chapter to the “WordCrafters 2” page which is under the “WordCrafters” page. Make sure you know where the page is, because that’s where you can read the story as it grows so you know the background for writing your chapter.
And now for the character profiles! These are the main characters you will be writing about. Guys, I had entirely too much fun creating these. 😀 I hope you like them as much as I do!
Sorry Vivi and Pippin, but I just couldn’t resist putting two pictures of Esme on because they were so pretty. 🙂
Esme is a gentle soul. She is very timid around strangers, but loves being with her friends. She is kind, tender, and affectionate, but also a bit vain and fragile – she’s afraid of getting her hands dirty or her dress torn. Although she is easily frightened and often cries about small things, in true trials she is amazingly strong. Esme loves animals, especially baby animals. She can’t stand to see anyone be in pain, but she’s squeamish at the sight of injuries. She is a brilliant artist with a vivid imagination. She always carries a small bear in her pocket to comfort her, but she is too embarrassed to tell her friends about it.
Esme is small and slender, with long, straight black hair; dark brown eyes; and creamy skin. She is eleven years old.
Vivi is always on the go. “Vivacious” is the perfect adjective for her – she seems to have an endless supply of energy. She stands up for her friends if they are bullied or looked down upon. Vivi is athletic, outgoing, and very smart, but sometimes her strong nature gets the better of her and she becomes bossy and overbearing. Vivi also has a short temper; she never cries, but easily gets angry. She is very strong, both mentally and physically. Vivi shares Esme’s love of animals, but she prefers the big, noble animals like elk, bears, wolves, and eagles. She is a very good nurse.
Vivi is short and wiry, with shoulder-length, wavy blond hair; gray-blue eyes; and tanned skin. She is thirteen years old.
Pippin Merlin:
{via} I couldn’t find a very good picture of Pippin, but this is sort of him. Just imagine that his hair is curlier and he has a huge grin.
Pippin is always ready with a grin and a laugh. He often plays pranks on his friends, but he is tender-hearted and quick to comfort his victims. Pippin is easy-going, funny, and loyal, but he sometimes unintentionally hurts people with his frank comments, and is always accidentally getting himself and others into trouble with his lighthearted pranks. He is prone to spouting off terrible puns. He hates being called “Pippi.” Pippin is always prepared – he adores wearing clothes with lots of pockets which he stuffs with a conglomeration of useful and not-so-useful objects. Pippin is an optimist with an eager sense of humor that lightens every situation.
Pippin is tall and lanky, with curly red hair; twinkling hazel eyes; and freckled skin. He is sixteen years old.
Which character is your favorite? Mine might be Esme, but I love them all (since I’m their creator XD ).
*Drum roll* It’s time for the list! (I’ll also add this list to the WordCrafters 2 page.) This is the order in which you’ll write your chapters. Aria, it’s your turn to write a chapter now!
Hello again, dear readers! 😀 Today I give you a little photography prompt I made up to get your photo-creativity up and running! It’s super simple, but very rewarding and relaxing.
Here are the photos I took using the prompt. I just laid down in the grass and snapped away! It was really fun.
The whole reason I went out there in the first place was to take pictures of this beautiful tiger swallowtail.
Then of course I took pictures of the cute wittle pink flowers,
And a few creepy-crawlies,
Pill bugs (or roly-polies) look like armadillo bugs up close!
And boring ol’ lawn which is actually interesting.
I messed with the exposure on my camera to get this really neat evening light look.
Guys, mulch and old walnuts can look interesting too.
And lastly but not leastly… this! XD Yes, you can use your zoom as long as you don’t move your legs. 😀
I used this idea several months ago too. It was winter, and I just sat down in a plain patch of bare field, but I think some of the photos turned out pretty well. Have a look!
This is the boring patch of ground I took pictures on. Blah, right?
Well…
I really like this picture for some reasonEven dirt can look pretty!
Not so boring after all, right? That’s why this is fun. You get to look at all the little details you normally miss. And you don’t have to just take pictures – you could take your sketchbook or just look.
Do you think you’ll use this prompt? Would you like to see more photography prompts?
***Allison***
P. S. I’m working on my birthday stuff post, but it may take me a while because of all the reviews I’m doing!
But before that, let me just say THANK YOU! A total of 22 people guessed this time, which is waaay more guesses than my mystery pictures have ever gotten. You don’t know how happy it made me to read all of your guesses. 😀
Anyway, moving on… I’ll reveal the mysteries first and then tell you the winners. 🙂
#1. Soft drink lid.
#2. Carpet
#3. Tire
#4. Banana
#5. Zipper
#6. Feather (A chicken feather, to be exact. 🙂 )
#7. Asparagus
#8. Clothespin
Ta-daa!
Okay. Now for the winners. Aaah, the suspense! XD. I’m just going to do 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. If you’d like to read all of the guesses, check out the comments on the mystery pictures post. I’ll add links to the winners’ blogs if they have one.
Congratulations, my friends! You got them all right! Your prize is… well nothing, sorry. 😦 Hold on! I think I can manage a virtue chocolate sampler box for you. *Hands them out* Enjoy! XD XD XD
Congrats, guys! You almost got them all right, but… *Sniff* you missed one. 😦 XD That’s okay, you still get a mini virtual chocolate sampler box. *Passes them out*
Wow, I haven’t posted mystery pictures for a long time. But no worries, it’s back again! Now… oh wait. The rules.
Here’s the deal: I show you a few close-up pictures of ordinary objects, and you try to guess what they are. Just comment below this post with your guesses, and I will reveal the answers and the winners next Tuesday the 26th. I don’t approve guess comments until I reveal the mystery, just so no one gets ideas from another comment. 😉 And you can see my other mystery pictures post here.
Ahem.
I hope they’re not too easy… or too hard… or too medium… XD XD Well, maybe medium would be good. 🙂
YESYESYESYESYESYES!! It’s time for WordCrafters again! I know lots of you have been looking forward to this, and so have I! I announced WordCrafters 1 all the way back in January, and the story turned out SO well, thanks to all you amazing writers! (Click here to read the story for WordCrafters 1.)
Okay, I’d better explain the rules in case some of you are like, “Say what now?”
WordCrafters is a sort of writing challenge I made up (and polished off with the help of the wonderful Josie – thanks so much, Été! 😉 ). The basic idea is this: Josie will start off the story by writing a chapter, and then we’ll hand it over to you. The WordCrafters participants take turns adding a chapter on to the story until we end up with one great big glorious story written by many different people! (Again, check out the first story for an example.)
Josie will post the first chapter on June 1. That leaves plenty of time to sign up!
Now here are the more in-depth rules. (Please read over these even if you’ve participated in an earlier WordCrafters, just to refresh your memory. 🙂 )
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Sign-ups: You can sign up from today, April 9th – May 31st. Just comment beneath this post (or over at Josie’s blog) saying that you’d like to participate, and voila! You may enter even if you do not have a blog.
When is it my turn? After the sign-ups are closed, we’ll make a randomized list of all the participants. After Josie posts the start of the story, the next person on the list will have their turn, and we’ll just keep going down the list.
What should I know about writing my chapter? You may optionally include an illustration or photograph of your own or from the web to illustrate your part of the story. Try to finish your part within 3-5 days, although I won’t chop your head off if you take longer. XD We just need to keep the story moving so the participants don’t have to wait so long for their turn. Don’t make it too long – around 750 words would be a good length. But again, I won’t chop off your head if you make your chapter 300 or 900 pages. XD It just really adds up when several people make a chapter each, and we don’t want people to have to wait months for their turn. Please make your story G-rated – no inappropriate language, over-much violence, etc. And another thing: Please use no dark magic. It’s okay to use fairy-tale magic, like going through a portal into another world, but many of the participants (and Josie and I) are not into dark magic or witchcraft. Thanks! 🙂
After I finish my story…? Both Josie and I will update a page on our blogs where you can read the story so far. After you finish your part of the story, just send Josie and me a link to your post, and we will add it to the WordCrafters page. If you do not have a blog, send us the story using our “Contact Me” pages. On that page you will also see a numbered list of the people who signed up so you can tell who goes after whom. Tag the person after you on the list by dropping them a comment on their blog to let them know it’s their turn. (For instance, if you are the 3rd person on the list, tag the 4th person to continue the story after you.) Oh, and one more thing: when you write your part of the story, you can put the WordCrafters button on your blog sidebar, if you like.
Characters: This time I got to make up the characters! I’m just going to give you a little hint of them now. I’ll explain them in much more detail when we’re about to start.
Esme, (girl) age 10
Vivi, (girl) age 13
Pippin, (boy) age 16
Oh yes. And don’t kill these characters in your story! XD Josie and I have big plans for them for WordCrafters 3, so we want them to be still alive and kicking by then! XD XD
And I think that about wraps it up. Would you like that with flour or corn? (It’s a joke – get it? Would you like a flour or corn tortilla with your wrap? XD XD HAHAhahaha. Ha. Ahem. XD XD)
I’m so excited to do this again! (Have I said that before? XD ) If you have any questions, just ask. 🙂 And I’d love it if you spread the word to your blogger friends! 😀
Allison Marie 