It snowed! I’ve heard that some of you guys got tons of snow, but sadly we didn’t get very much – only an inch or two. 😦 Never fear, though, I managed to get several snowy pictures for you guys. 😀
Snow always makes things so bright and cheerful in its own way. 😀
I noticed this forlorn little nest “tied” to the branch. It wasn’t actually tied, but there was some baler twine pieces tangled around it, so it looked that way. 🙂
Mini mystery picture challenge: What is this? It’s probably pretty easy…
Maggie found a fallen branch that was apparently quite delicious, because she proceeded to devour it… well, chew on it, anyway. XD
Ha ha, I love this picture! XDShe looks perplexed. XD
Aww, Maggie girl! ♥
Strangely, that felt like a short post… I guess my normal posts are fairly long or something. Remember back in the days when I would post one picture and say like, two words about it? Heh heh. I’m glad I “outgrew” that. XD
Ahem, as I was SAYING. Um… what was I saying? Hmm.
Well then. Have a lovely day, dear readers! ♥
OH WAIT. The questions. Which picture was your favorite? How much snow did you get (if any)?
Hello, dear readers! How are you today? It snowed just a tiny bit here yesterday, but there’s not much left except freezing cold weather. 😦 Don’t worry, though, I DID get some snow pictures… but that’s for another post. XD
Today I wanted to show you some of the art I’ve been doing lately!
“Hello, I’m an odd but cute otter randomly holding a heart. Nice to meet you.”
Toucan holding a paintbrush… oookay? XDI really like this one! I didn’t mean to make her sad, but she kind of turned out that way. XD And yusss, I finally drew an goodish braid!You are priceless.Water drop sketches.One night before bed I wanted to draw something, so I though, “Hey, what about a seahorse?” So I drew a seahorse. Ta-daa. XDEh, it’s okay, but I like the other girl better. XD
*Sigh* Spring and bluebirds are both so lovely.A random Sharpie drawing of a sea turtle.I drew part of my boot for art class in co-op. 😀This was also for art class, but I might touch it up. We were supposed to put something we enjoy or love or whatever in the reflection, so I drew a camera, but it doesn’t quite look right… any tips?Another “Reflection” drawing for art class.And yet another “Reflection” sketch. 🙂
So that’s about it! Which drawing was your favorite? What do YOU like to draw most?
Winter is so drab and gray and cold that it’s a challenge sometimes to find good photo opportunities. But there is ALWAYS something to take a picture of, no matter where you are. It’s a lot of fun to go out on a “treasure hunt” of sorts with your camera and see what you can find outside: blades of grass, raindrops, berries – even dead leaves or thorns can make interesting pictures!
When you look through the lens of a camera, anything is beautiful. ♥
So anyway, that’s what I did. A few days ago I was feeding the bunnies after a rain, and I noticed the raindrops all over everything… so out popped my camera! XD By now a lot of you know how much I love dewdrops and raindrops. They’re so perfectly beautiful, how can I resist? 😀
I must have had my camera set on slow shutter speed – you can see the rain in the background!
Isn’t this pretty? It’s almost abstract. (It’s willow branches, in case you were wondering. ;))
I love this photo! I didn’t edit it, even though it looks that way. I found out that when I adjust my camera’s settings to faster shutter speed, lower ISO, higher f-stop, or a combination, the picture gets darker. I still have so much to learn about my dSLR, but I’m getting there!
I also took some pictures the other day when we went for a nature walk. At first it seemed like there was nothing interesting around, but what did I tell you? There’s always something! 😀 (By the way, I did a similar photoshoot/”treasure hunt” thingy here.)
See what I mean about thorns making an interesting picture? 😉I don’t know what this plant is called, but it’s so FLUFFY!
Ahh, I love these reflection pictures! It reminds me of a double-exposure.
♥
I really, really like this one too. My friend gave me the idea when she took a picture of her little sister holding an acorn cap with water in it. ♥ the reflections.
Ivy is so pretty, don’t you think? (As long as it’s not poison ivy. XD But actually poison ivy can be pretty too…)
I have no clue what these berries are except pretty. XD
What do you guys like to take pictures of in the winter? (Well besides snow. Ooh, which reminds me – it’s supposed to snow a tiny bit here tomorrow!)
Hi, guys! I’m back with another cuteness overload, starring the little cuties from this post. ♥ Eeeee, they’re so adorable! You may want to take a few deep breaths before you start… XD
The eyes… ♥Ha ha, sporting that smug look again, are you? XD
Aww, isn’t that sweet? I’ll bet Megan got a cute picture from that. Note: I edited all the pictures in this post including this one, but on some of them you can tell more than others. 😉
Somebody is scared. XDAwww!AWWWW!AWWWW!
Ha ha, she (or he) looks so funny!Wow, that is one intense stare.
This is a rare picture of the very skittish black and white kitten. 🙂OHHHH my goodness! That’s adorable!*Melts*
*Happy sigh* They are way too cute for their own good. XD Which picture was your favorite?
I hope you guys had an excellent Christmas! And I had a wonderful Christmas – thank you for asking! 😉 I can’t believe it’s already over, but we still have two Christmas parties to go to, so I guess it isn’t really…
Ahem. Onto the post. The other day Megan and Carmen and my cousin and I went sledding, and it was so much fun! But the other detail you need to know is that there was zero snow on the ground.
So, are you puzzled, bewildered, and otherwise confused? Or did the featured image give it away? Oh bother. XD
Well, there’s this pile of fluff a.k.a. cotton seeds in one of our barns, and it turns out its excellent for sledding on! It’s packable like snow, but not nearly as cold. 😉 (If you would like to learn more about the cotton pile, click here.)
There happens to be quite a large, steep pile in the barn at the moment, which is perfect for sledding.
I love the manual aperture option on my new camera because I can blurr backgrounds like this! ♥
While we were sledding I got several funny pictures and only like two great ones. We made up a bunch of different “moves” like riding backwards with your eyes closed, or going down on your stomach versus sitting up or laying down, etc. It was like a mini roller coaster ride! The one variation that was hardest to master was sitting “sidesaddle.” Everyone who tried it flipped off and crashed except for my little sister Carmen – probably because she was the lightest. XD
Super blurry but in kind of a neat way. Ha ha, look at Carmen’s expression. XD XD
This is probably my favorite picture! Carmen kind of slid off the sled on her way down… XDAnd apparently so did Megan…There we go. Much better. Ha ha, her expression! XD
Before we sledded (slid? slided?) my sister Megan and I went over to inspect some pigeons sitting on the haybales across the room. One poor little bird was so scared it let Megan pick him up, so I got some fairly close-up pictures. Pigeons have actually a pretty neat feather pattern, but their eyes are weird. XD And not to mention they’re messy…
Somehow I think this looks kind of pretty – kind of soft, if you know what I mean. Or maybe not…That is one creepy stare. XDMegan will pretty much pick up any animal, be it bug, bird, or beast. 😛Poor thing, it was so scared. But don’t worry, we let it go after we finished taking pictures.
Have you gone sledding for real yet? Does sledding in the cotton pile look like a fun substitute?
***Allison***
P. S. I have a bunch of posts I need want to post. XD There’s a Christmas post with the gifts I made and the gifts I received, a post with a collection of some of my recent art, another post about these adorable kittens, and a year-in-review post! 😀 Which one of those are you looking forward to the most?
OH MY GOODNESS IT’S CHRISTMAS TOMORROW! How can that BE?!
I hope you guys had a great Christmas Eve! We sure did. 😀 We went to a Christmas celebration at my grandparent’s house where we ate tons of delicious food and played so many fun games. Then we visited my great grandma who sadly is in the hospital right now (nothing life-threatening though, thankfully). And after that we went home where we put on our new pajamas, made some popcorn and hot cocoa, and drove around looking at Christmas lights. So fun!
Well, I thought I’d post a little Christmas photoshoot to get you extra much in the Christmas mood. 🙂 And also because I LOVE these colored Christmas lights! Enjoy!
Ohhh I love Christmas bokeh so much. ♥♥♥ 😀 Did you have a favorite picture? My favorites were the 7th and 8th and the last two . 😀
WAIT. Before you go, I really want to show you this amazing, inspiring video Dad found last night. This girl is ten years old, and she has autism and ADHD. She also has a beautiful, beautiful voice. The article said she started singing to build her confidence at school. She sings the song “Broken Hallelujah”, but it’s a Christian version with different lyrics. I think it might be my new favorite Christmas song. ♥ Oh it’s sooo pretty! Listen for yourself:
Wasn’t that gorgeous? *Happy sigh*
Did you have a good Christmas Eve? Are you excited for Christmas? (Or did you have a good Christmas, if you’re reading this post after Sunday?)
***Allison***
P. S. My aunt who is a professional photographer came over the other day to give us our family pictures, and she helped me figure out my camera a bit more. It turns out my camera was on manual focus instead of auto focus, which was really annoying – it takes forever to focus using the focus ring, and for some reason it came that way when I bought it! Boy am I glad she fixed that for me. XD It’s weird because I knew my way around my old camera really, really well, and now I feel like a beginner again with my new dSLR. XD Oh well, it’s exciting!
My brother Jeff found a litter of barn kittens today, so I thoughtfully went down and took some pictures for you. XD Take a deep breath, guys, ’cause THESE KITTENS ARE ADORABLE! Jeff found four, but when Megan and Carmen and I went down to see them, we only found two. 😦 Oh well, they were the two fluffiest ones, so that’s good, right? YES IT IS THEY ARE SO CUTE OH MY GOODNESS THE FLUFF! Okay, I’ll stop screaming so you can see for yourself…
AHHHHHHHHH HELP MEEEEEE!LOOK AT ITS TAIL!
This was a fun edit to do. It makes everything look really wintery…“Help, Mom! Come get me down!”This is Violet, the momma cat.
Hee hee, isn’t this picture hilarious? What would you caption this? I would do “Ugh, is he doing the smug face AGAIN? Just because he’s two minutes older than I am… *Rolls eyes*” XD XD
Oh look, a pile of fluff. AHHHHHHHH!
♥And a sleeping fluffball. AHHHHH AGAIN!Oh my goodness I love this picture so much! (And if you’re wondering why I’m doing so many black and white photos, it’s because the background was horribly distracting and ugly and B&W really helps with that.)
Chubby cheeks!Kitten love. ♥
AHHHH! *Pant, pant* Settle down, Allison. Don’t hyperventilatEEEEEEE I JUST CAN’T HELP IT. Oops.
Was it just me, or do they seem to have that effect on people? XD
I hope you enjoyed this post, dear readers. 🙂 Merry almost Christmas! 😀
***Allison***
P. S. Do you like my new sidebar layout and profile picture? Yep, that’s one of the pictures Megan took in our sisters photoshoot, and then I edited it a bit.
Yep, yet another sunset post. XD Heh heh, I seem to have a slight obsession with sunset pictures… but that’s all good, right? Most of you don’t seem to mind my habit, which is quite good of you. Thanks. I couldn’t show you pictures of sunsets without you. XD 😉
Ahem. Let’s proceed.
I’m going to save the best for last, but that doesn’t mean this one isn’t beautiful! I loved how crystal clear this sunset was.
Ooh, can you spot the lone star? This is practically the only time a star has shown up on one of my photos. 😉
Okay, now for the other one. I probably say this in every sunset post, but this truly was one of the most gorgeous sunsets I’ve ever seen! It was certainly one of the most vibrant – maybe THE most vibrant I’ve ever seen. I wish you could have seen it too… It was way more beautiful than this, but these pictures should give you some idea.
Ugh, I haven’t figured out quite how to take good sunset pictures with my new dSLR yet, and thus a bunch of these pictures were taken with my old camera. (Although this one was taken with my dSLR and edited to help the graininess – at least a tad.) Any tips would be welcome! 😀
I love this one so much! If you’re wondering what that blurry reflection is, it’s actually the roof of my car! I think it turned out pretty neat. 🙂
Wasn’t that altogether wonderful? *Happy sigh* When I saw the edge of the sunset from the kitchen window, I was out the door in about 10 seconds flat. XD It was truly breathtaking. Megan and I like to go up to a certain spot over the hill to photograph sunsets without the distracting powerlines, so we hopped in my little car and raced the sunset. It’s pretty exciting, sunset chasing is, because you have just a few short minutes to capture that beautiful, glorious bit of sky with your camera before it fades forever. Invariably the sunset vanishes all too soon, the way a rainbow does, but I just smile because I can see it again whenever I want to. ♥
That’s what I love about photography: it allows you to save one scene, one little piece of life, and to keep it as long as you want. It allows you to capture joy and sadness and thousands of memories and hold them forever.
What’s your favorite thing about photography? Do you like sunsets? (If you don’t, you have a problem. XD )
Are you guys excited for Christmas? I sure am! Today I have a fun Christmasy way to decorate an envelope for your pen pal or friend or family. Grab an envelope, fine-tip markers or gel pens, and colored pencils, and here we go…
Idea: Christmasy envelope
Set the stage.
Hang up the strands.
String on the lights.
Turn the lights on.
Add the lyrics of a favorite Christmas carol.
CHRISTMAS BOKEH!
Send it off to make someone happy!
Ahh, I love Christmas lights. They’re so cheery, and really make Christmas feel cozy. Don’t you agree? Do you string lights up around your house? We don’t usually, but this year we strung some on our front porch, and it looks beautiful! 😀
If you made some art inspired by this post, we’d love to see it! Visit our “Art Gallery” page here to see the details. Thanks for reading! 😀
***Allison***
P. S. I have some fun sidebar changes planned… *rubs hands*. XD
Allison Marie 