Random

Happy Easter!

| Allison

It’s Easter! For some people that means it’s time for egg hunts and chocolate candy, for some it means it’s time to devour a huge feast with family and friends, and for some, it is a time to remember the day we were set free. For some, it is a time to remember when Christ was crucified for our sake, how for us he bore the tremendous burden of all sin past, present, and future on himself. And that is no little thing!

If you’ve been a Christian for a while or all your life, truths like this can be far too easy to forget or push to the back of your mind. I know it’s that way for me. But every time I stop and think, really think, about what Easter means, it nearly makes my heart explode.

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First of all, I can tend to brush it off and say, “Oh, Jesus was God, so how bad could it have been? And he knew he wouldn’t stay dead in the end, right? I mean, if I knew all that, I could probably do it.” But… nope. I couldn’t. Because even though Jesus was fully God, he was also fully man, something that our puny human selves just can’t get our minds around. That means that he felt every single thorn in his crown and every single nail in his body, and it hurt him just as much as it would hurt you or me. Death by crucifixion was the most terrible way to die there was. Jesus was beaten, stripped, scorned, mockingly “crowned” with a painful ring of thorns, and nailed to the cross. That’s the part that always gets me. I can’t even imagine how much it would hurt to have nails driven through your palms and feet, and then to have to hang there against the rough wood, hour after hour, barely able to breathe, while your blood and life just drain away… it’s terrible to think about anyone undergoing such treatment.

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And even though Jesus did know that death couldn’t hold him, he still wasn’t looking forward to the ordeal of proving it. He prayed to God his Father and said, ““Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:43) Later it says, “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22: 44) Isn’t that a terrible picture? It’s terrible to know what’s coming, and to know it isn’t good. You know when you have to take a test for school or something and you’re just so nervous? Jesus was about to take the hardest, most painful, most terrible test ever, and he wasn’t just nervous. The Bible says he was in agony.

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What makes it even worse is that Jesus didn’t have to do this at all. It would have been perfectly just and good to leave us to our sin and let us die a well-deserved death. But he didn’t! Think about it really hard: Jesus loved his creatures, his people so much that he was willing to go through all of that agony for them – even though they hated him!

At least it would have made a little more sense if the people who crucified Jesus had a reason to call him a criminal, but Jesus was no criminal. Since He was fully God, Jesus was perfect. He never made a mistake. Not even once! That’s another thing that’s almost impossible for us to completely understand. Well certainly he must have made one teeny tiny little mistake, right? Wrong. Jesus was perfect, and that means he didn’t mess up – ever.

Then why was he crucified? Because we are fallen creatures that can’t see our Savior when he stands before our eyes. We look at his face and we are afraid. Afraid and guilty and ashamed of our sin. We don’t want someone to tell us how sinful we are and to rule over us. We want to take care of ourselves and live our own lives how we please. So we kill him.

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Isn’t that terrible? I mean, think about it! It makes no sense at all – we as broken, sinful humans crucified the very one who came to save us from that brokenness and sin. But it’s true.

That just makes it all the more wonderful. If you met people who hated you with every ounce of their strength, who flogged you and beat you and wanted nothing more than to get rid of you in the most torturous way possible, would you want to voluntarily die for them so they wouldn’t have to pay the price of their sin and die a terrible death themselves? I, for one, would never do that. But Jesus did! He died for the worst of sinners, he died for the people who were killing him!

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But, of course, that isn’t the end of the story. Jesus didn’t just die for us, he rose for us too. Jesus is the only one who can conquer death itself. I love the part about the resurrection. When Jesus’ disciples see the stone rolled away and the linen wrappings left by themselves inside the tomb, what a shock that must have been! Had someone stolen their beloved Teacher’s body? But the stone sealing up the tomb was so heavy, and there were two guards in front of it. What were the other options?

And then, when they saw Jesus, how amazing would that have been? If you think about it from their perspective, you can understand why they could hardly believe their eyes at first. I mean, here’s this wonderful man that you love so much, dead. Gone. Sealed inside a tomb. Then one day he appears in front of you, inside a locked room! No wonder the apostles thought they saw a ghost at first. Can you imagine how deliriously happy they must have been when he showed them the nail marks in his hands and feet, and they realize that it wasn’t a ghost but their beloved Teacher, risen from the dead?

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And that is the Easter story. Jesus died for the criminals that hung beside him on their two crosses, and he died for us, his people, and not only that, but he rose again. I know many of you have heard that phrase “He died for us” over and over and over again until all the life has worn out of it. But don’t let that happen! That truth, that fundamental truth of the Christian faith, that is what sets us free. It is what gives us hope. It is the most amazing thing you will ever hear, and I pray that you and I will remember it this Easter. ♥

***Allison***

Making Easter Eggs

| Allison

Hello hello!

Are you excited for Easter? I am! Easter is a wonderful time of year to meet with friends and family, enjoy good food, but most of all to remember what an amazing, astounding, and incredible thing our Lord and Savior has done for us by being crucified for our sake to take away our sins. ♥ I’m going to do another Easter post with more about that on Sunday, but for today I wanted to post about a much less important but fun aspect of Easter: dying Easter eggs.

Our family does this almost every year. Easter eggs make lovely colorful decorations for an Easter table, and they’re also super fun to make! I found this great post on Pinterest with tons of different ways to decorate Easter eggs. Some of them are absolutely gorgeous and creative! Click here to read the post.

A good set-up really helps the process to go smoother. Make sure to cover your working space with newspaper or an old tablecloth, and wear old clothes or aprons. We used this recipe to mix up our dye from scratch. It only takes food coloring, vinegar, and water, and makes a brilliant dye.

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I cut the tips off of an egg flat to serve as egg holders. Like so:

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Here’s a great tip I found from the egg decorating post I linked to above: put your egg inside a large whisk to make dipping easier and cleaner!

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We had so much fun experimenting with different techniques! These were some of our favorites:

  • Draw with white or colored crayon on a clean egg, then dip it into dye. The crayon will resist the dye and make a really neat design, especially with white crayon.
  • Dribble rubber cement over an egg and allow to dry. Dip egg, then peel off the rubber cement and you have a fun abstract design.
  • When your eggs are still warm, draw on them with crayons to make a neat melted effect.
  • Dye your egg a light blue or turquoise, then speckle it with gold paint.
  • Pretty much anything with gold paint and dye turns out neat. XD

If you want more detailed instructions for those techniques, again, you can click here. (Can you tell I love that post? XD )

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Now that you’re done, how are you going to display your masterpieces? I shredded brown paper bags in a paper shredder, put some of in a round vase, and placed three or so eggs in the cute little “nest.” Ta-daa!

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Do you like making Easter eggs? What is your favorite technique?
Happy Good Friday and thanks for reading! 😀

***Allison***

P. S. You guys have GOT to read Madi’s amazing Good Friday/Easter post here. It’s so interesting and well written and… and GREAT! 😀

Beauty from Ashes, Part 6 {Finale!}

| Allison

Wow, it has been forever since I added to this. (It seems like I always say that, doesn’t it? XD ) I’m excited to finish this story up. I hope you enjoy this last chapter!

If you haven’t read the previous chapters, you might want to do so here.

Alright, let’s do this!

Part 6

As the carriage glided smoothly over the road, the thoughts in my mind jostled against each other. Should I have stayed with the Prince’s grandmother? She looked like she needed some help. Then I remembered why she told me to go, and my thoughts soared in another direction. I was to meet the prince! Me, dusty little forgotten Ella. Think of that! What would my sisters say when they saw me? My, wouldn’t they be surprised? And then my thoughts would start over again, back at the beginning, a repeating, never ending circle. I thought I had solved one problem only to come upon it again. But I really shouldn’t have left Grandmother…

Finally the circle shattered: we had reached the palace. I pushed my head out of the carriage window for a quick peek and forgot to draw it back in. My mouth fell open and my eyes sparkled with the reflection of hundreds of candles in hundreds of windows, set in a dazzling cacophony of turrets and towers that nearly touched the clouds. A bubbling fountain sparkled in the immaculate lawn, dancing and murmuring to itself in the dying light. Everything was bathed in the soft rose light of sunset.

I almost forgot to breathe.

My glass slippers tapped on the cobblestone walk as I left the carriage, and my heart echoed back every tap with a loud and breathless voice. My hands felt damp and slippery in their soft white gloves.

Two well-dressed men stood at the door to greet the guests. I couldn’t believe that they bowed to me politely as I went in. I was the one who should have been bowing to them! After all, who was I but a lowly servant girl?

But all other thoughts were swept away as I stood at the top of a majestic marble staircase leading down to the ballroom. There were so many people! And so many girls waiting to dance with the prince! Girls who no doubt far surpassed me in beauty and kindness and good character. I thought of all the times I had lost patience with my sisters and stepmother, all those times when I had been so weak and cried myself to sleep, all those times when I felt ready to tear myself apart with anger at myself and my never ending chores and my tiresome, miserable life.

My heart sank. I knew I could never make the Prince happy. He deserved a princess, and I was only Cinderella, the filthy servant girl who swept floors and cleaned fireplaces.

I whirled around to leave, hot tears of shame and self-pity burning my eyes, but suddenly I stopped. The room had gone silent; the music had stopped. All faces had turned toward mine, all eyes were fixed on me, tearing me to shreds from the inside out with their scrutiny. By this time I didn’t care whether my sisters saw me or not – in fact, I hoped they didn’t. I felt terrible, foolish. What had I been thinking? But then the crowd of people turned away and looked with one accord at another figure.

It was the prince. He parted the sea before him and walked towards me. I shrank back, but he held out his hand. He ascended the staircase and smiled his beautiful, brilliant smile at me. He didn’t say a word, but took me by the hand and led me down, down into the sea of faces, all looking at me with wonder and surprise. I gripped the prince’s hand so tightly my fingers hurt.

Then I saw my sisters and stepmother – they were looking straight at me. I wanted to cry out, to turn around, to flee, but I didn’t. I dropped my eyes, and then quickly looked up again. They were looking at me with the same wondering expression that everyone else had. They didn’t recognize me.

Finally we reached the end of the sea of people. The prince looked at me again. For a moment he wore the same amazed, wondering expression that everyone else did, and then he smiled again, wider than ever.

“Oh, Ella!” he whispered joyfully. “I knew you’d come.” I tried to answer him, but all my words were bottled up in my heart. So I just smiled and squeezed his hand.

Then the music started up again and everything went back to the noise and laughter. But it was different. Now everyone kept stealing glances at me and the prince. I wondered if they were inwardly laughing at my disguise. Could they see the real me underneath the layers of lace? Finally I could stand it no longer.

“Why are they looking at me?” I cried to the prince, stepping and turning in time to the music.

He held my hands tighter as we whirled and spun. He whispered in my ear, “Because you are beautiful.”

I was shocked. Was that what everyone was really thinking? I pondered in silence for a while.

“That is because of your wonderful grandmother,” I said at last. “Can you believe that she have me this dress?”

The prince nodded. “I can believe it. But you were already beautiful, even before the dress, Ella. You were beautiful the first day I met you with dirt on your cheeks and an apron over your dress. You are beautiful because your heart is beautiful and as pure as the sun, and it shines from your eyes and your whole self.”

As he spoke, my heart soared inside of me. As he spoke, I knew that I could marry the prince, not because of who I was, but because of who he was, because he had chosen me. I could marry the prince because he loved me and I loved him back. It didn’t matter if I was a servant girl or the fairest princess in the world. It didn’t matter if he was a wild, shaggy Beast or a wealthy, handsome prince. I knew that it didn’t matter at all. Suddenly the words that were bottled up in my heart spilled over, and for hours and hours we talked and laughed and danced as if we were the best of friends – because we were.

But suddenly, I stopped up short in the middle of a dance. I heard something faintly – a chiming clock. With increasing terror I counted each chime. Twelve o’clock. Midnight.

Suddenly I broke away from the prince and dashed through the people. I raced up the stairs, stumbling over my dress. One glass slipper clattered down the steps, but I ran on, panting and gasping for breath.

It was no use. When I reached the top of the stairs, my gorgeous dress had turned into my filthy, soot-stained apron. My hair had fallen around my face in dismal strands.

I was Cinderella again.

Again, the crowd grew quiet. Suddenly, three shouts burst from the sea of faces. Three people hurried toward me. My sisters and stepmother. I couldn’t hold back the tears. I was outraged with myself that I hadn’t left sooner, had embarrassed myself in front of them and all those people… and the prince.

My stepmother spoke first. “Cinderella! What on earth are you doing here? Don’t you know this is no place for servant girls?”

Anastasia and Drucilla just stood dumbfounded. I hid my face in my hands and wept. It had been such a wonderful evening, and now this!

I heard a voice through my tears. “But don’t you understand! Her name is not Cinderella, it is Ella. And she is not a servant girl. She is a princess. My princess.”

My head shot up. It was the prince. And he had… he had called me…

I ran to him and threw myself into his arms. “I will always be your princess,” I whispered.

For a moment, everyone just stared. Then Anastasia broke the silence. “WELL!” she huffed. “WELL!” She beamed me a look of pure hatred, and stalked out the door. Druscilla looked at me with the most shocked expression I have ever seen, and then she dissolved into wails. For once my stepmother’s iron composure had been broken. She gathered up what was left of her dignity and dragged Druscilla after her.

I turned back to my prince. My prince! And I was going to be his princess. He had turned me from a servant into royalty, from a miserable, lonely girl into the happiest girl on earth. He had found beauty in the ashes.

*******

I looked out over the crowd, happy to see Grandmother sitting among them. She looked older than ever, and just as exhausted, but her smile made her face look young. I found my sisters and stepmother watching me intently, but they looked away as soon as they saw me glancing at them. I knew they were ashamed now of how they had treated me, but I had forgiven them. I couldn’t change the past, but I could make the future better.

And thinking of the future, my eyes swept back to the prince. He telling me something, something important. I didn’t hear his words, but his eyes told me what he was saying.

“I do.” I answered. “I will always be your Cinderella forever and ever, until the end of time.”

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Ta-daa! I hope you liked it! Ahh, it feels nice to have finished the story. 🙂

Thank you for reading, dear friends!

***Allison***

How to Make an Orange Octopus

| Allison

I was playing with my food the other day (heh heh), and ended up with a cute little octopus that doubled as an orange sunflower on the other side. 🙂 I decided to post a simple tutorial so you can enjoy them both too! 😀

You Will Need…

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  • an orange or clementine
  • a sharp knife (I used a serrated one)
  • a black Sharpie

Step One:

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 Starting at the top, divide the orange peel into eight sections running halfway down the side. (If you’re not too sure of your cutting skills, you may want to draw guidlines with a Sharpie. 😉 )

Step Two:

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When you start cutting, try not to cut much past the peel into the orange or everything will get juicy. After the tentacles/petals are cut, peel them carefully away from the orange. Looking good!

Step Three:

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Finally, draw suitably adorable eyes and a tiny smile, and display your octopus or sunny bloom with pride…. Or you could always eat it. XD

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What do you think? Aren’t they cute? Which is your favorite?

Thanks for reading, my lovely friends!

***Allison***

How to Edit Photos, Part 3: Editing Portraits

| Allison

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Hello, folks! 😀

I’m back with another edition of the photo editing series I’m doing! 😀 (Click here to see part one, and here to see part two.) Today I want to go over how to use PicMonkey to touch up a portrait of a person, as well as some clever tricks to use the touch-up tools in unexpected ways. I’ll also talk about how to use PicMonkey to create the perfect book character portrait for those of my blogging friends who love writing. 😉 I hope you find this helpful!

To begin with, let’s go over some common problems and how to fix them with the tools in PicMonkey’s “Touch Up” tab.

  • Blemishes: Well obviously you can use the “Blemish Fix” tool, but you can also use the “Clone” tool if that doesn’t work (because sometimes it doesn’t). If Blemish Fix doesn’t work and you don’t have Royale, you can fix small blemishes with the “Draw” tool from the Effects tab. Set the hardness to zero and use the dropper to select the skin color surrounding the blemish. Then paint over the blemish, like you’re using concealer.
  • Erasing Flyaways and Frizzy Hair: I learned this tip from the PicMonkey blog! Use the “Wrinkle Remover” tool to erase that annoying halo of frizz around your subject’s head. Wrinkle Remover softens whatever it’s painted on to, so it basically blurs the stray hairs (and wrinkle lines) into their surroundings. On a related note, you can shape eyebrows with wrinkle remover too – just don’t overdo it! XD
  • Brightening Eyes and Other Shiny Things: The “Eye Brighten” tool is one of my favorites in the touch up tab because it’s so versatile. Use it to, duh, brighten peoples’ eyes, but also to brighten the eyes of animals and pets. Cat’s eyes, especially benefit from a little brightening to make them pop. Eye Brighten is good for other shiny things too, like jewelry, cameras, and watches, that are shiny in real life but are dull in the picture. Oh, and one more thing! Paint Eye Brighten onto the eyelashes, eyebrows, and any other parts of the face you want to sharpen and darken.
  • “Ironing” Wrinkly Clothing: You can actually smooth out wrinkles in clothing with Wrinkle Remover too! Imagine that. 🙂
  • Whiten Eyeballs: You can brighten the whites of your subjects eyes with Teeth Whiten! You can also use Clone to erase blood vessels or other blemishes.

Now that you know a few tricks, let me show you some examples.

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I have to say, I did use the Exposure tab first (mainly Highlights), since this photo was so dark to begin with. But after that, I used  a little bit of blemish remover/clone; some eye brighten (for eyes, camera, and watch); wrinkle remover to tame Megan’s flyaways, blur the background, unwrinkle her shirt, and smooth her eyebrows;and I think some airbrush too. Looking good!

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photo credit via abarefootgal.wordpress.com

 

Here I used wrinkle remover again to erase my flyaways and a few wrinkles in my shirt; and then eye brighten on my eyes, eyebrows, and Lily’s eye. 🙂

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This is my Dad’s eye. 🙂 I chose not to erase the wrinkles completely, but I did smooth them just a tad. I also used Teeth Whiten and Clone to whiten the whites of his eyes, Mascara ( XD ) to darken his eyelashes, and Eye Brighten to brighten his eyes and darken his eyelashes as well.

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Here’s an example of using “Touch Up” to edit photos of your pets. This little kitten was so cute, but it’s face was kind of dirty. The only things I used here were Blemish Fix and Eye Brighten.

Now for the other part of the post…

How to Create the Perfect Book Character Portrait With PicMonkey

What happens when you know exactly what your character should look like, but you can’t find any pictures on Pinterest to match? That’s a terrible problem. 😛 But never fear – here’s how to fix it. Start with the best photo inspiration you have of your character, the photo that’s the closest thing to the picture in your mind. Try to find a picture where the structure of the face and hair is right, even if the colors are wrong. Then change the color of the character’s eyes, hair, lips, skin, etc. on PicMonkey!

Here’s an example I did. I’ve been trying to find the perfect picture for a character I have in mind, but I just couldn’t find it. This was a close one, but the eyes and eyebrows needed to be darker and the hair lighter. I touched this photo up on PicMonkey, and voila! (original photo via)

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I used Highlights and Clone to lighten her hair, Eyebrow Pencil to darken her eyebrows, Spray Tan to turn her irises brown, and Mascara and Eye Brighten to darken her eyes and eyelashes. It’s a lot of fun to edit pictures like that because they turn out so different than the original!

Before we finish, here’s a few miscellaneous tips:

  • Don’t Overdo It! This is one of the most important things to remember when editing portraits. You might be tempted to make your subject’s skin look perfectly smooth and their eyes look super shiny, but that looks fake. Stick to realistic edits unless, like for book characters, you’re purposely making them look different.
  • Go Royale: Unfortunately, a lot of the Touch Up tab is Royale. If you take pictures of people a lot, you might want to consider upgrading to Royale to get these and many more features. I have Royale, and I love it! It is, however, 30 something dollars a year, so I would recommend thinking about how much you’ll use it before buying it.
  • Improvise: If you don’t have Royale, you can often concoct your own Touch Up tools from various free effects and features elsewhere in PicMonkey. (For instance, using “Draw” instead of Clone.) The more you use PicMonkey, the more you’ll be able to master it.

So that’s about it! Many of the tools I didn’t talk about are self explanatory, so have fun experimenting by yourself! 🙂 If you have any questions, I’d be happy to hear them I’ll try and help you the best I can.

Thanks for reading!

***Allison***

Random Photography

| Allison

I absolutely love Clara’s random photography posts, so I thought I would try to do a similar kind since I have plenty of random photos anyway. 🙂 I hope you enjoy!

Random Topic #1: Spring

I was about to say that spring is on the way, but then again, it’s 29 degrees outside, so… XD But the daffodils are blooming and the grass is getting green, so you at least THINK spring is here until you go outside.

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Ohhhh pictures like this make me happy with the golden sunshine on the green, green grass. So pretty!

Random Topic #2: Bonfire Days

I already wrote a post about a huge bonfire we had recently, but there were a few extra bonfire-related photos I didn’t show.

The fire was so hot that we couldn’t get close enough to roast hot dogs, so my grandaddy though of an ingenious solution! He hauled out some long, hollow metal poles and stuck the roasting sticks in the end. That way you could move them around from a safe distance. XD My uncle and brother, not to be outdone, just got up close to the fire and shielded themselves by putting their jackets over their heads. It was quite the hilarious scene, but it worked!

Oh, and we also cooked potatoes, but the photo of that was terrible, so I decided to leave it out. 😉 But that’s a really fun thing to do at a bonfire: wrap a few potatoes in aluminum foil, poke some holes in them with a fork, and bury them in hot coals from the fire. Apparently we left ours in a bit too long, because they had a nice thick shell of blackened potato around the edges ( XD XD ), but they were quite tasty in the middle! Hee hee!

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Isn’t this picture so funny? XD

Megan and I took pictures of each other taking pictures of each other. That was confusing. XD

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Aww, Maggie dear!

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Another fun thing we did was play with glow sticks. We started by tossing them around out in the field, and discovered that if the person carrying the glow stick ran far enough into the darkness, the glow stick really looked like it was floating when they waved it around. It was so weird. After that, we cracked some of them open and drew on our hands. XD Probably NOT the wisest idea, because there is actually a tube of glass inside glow sticks that cracks too when you break it. So yeah, maybe not a good thing to “try at home”… but it was fun while it lasted! XD And it looked really weird – like you were glowing from the inside out.

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Random Topic #3: Eyes

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you might have noticed that I really like photographing and drawing eyes. I think they’re fascinating, and extra beautiful up close! I had fun editing these photos.

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Ohhh my goodness I love this photo so much! This is my friend’s eye, which I edited to look bluer than it really is. (But it is still so beautiful in real life!)

Eh, the pictures of my eye aren’t nearly as pretty, but I like all the different rings of color. 🙂 My eyes are definitely brown from a distance, but colorful up close.

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This is a fun angle! It makes my eyelashes look super long, hehe. O.o XD

Random Topic #4: A Beauteous Sunset

Even if you haven’t been following my blog for very long, you might know that I also have a weakness for sunsets. XD I love how they’re all different, but all glorious (well, most of them)! I took these pictures at my grandparent’s house. The sunset was quite unique that night – the clouds looked like a washboard or something!

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I edited this one (as you can tell).

Random Topic #5: Yummy Lemon Pies

Mom found this delicious recipe in the latest edition of “The Magnolia Journal” magazine. I tried it out, and it was pretty yummy and VERY rich. 🙂 One thing that we noticed is it could use a little bit more lemon juice next time. I didn’t fill the 2/3 cups super full since I was squeezing real lemons and I wanted to have an extra lemon for garnish.

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I am quite happy with how the editing turned out on these photos. They still aren’t anything extraordinary, but they sure are better than this: *shudder* I did lots of different things, but some of the main ones were cooling the temperature of the photo, boosting highlights, and using the fancy focus and miniature effects.

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Ugh. 😦

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Random Topic #6: Party Food

While we’re on the topic of food… XD

This has been a while – my little sister’s birthday was the middle of January, heh heh. XD But anyway, better late than never, right? My mom always makes us a custom cake, and my sister chose a fox. Mom saw this great idea for a coconut fox cake on Pinterest, and it turned out adorable! She also made fox cupcakes, but I didn’t get pictures of those.

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For my sister’s birthday supper she chose bananas as one of her sides. 😀 I had fun playing around with banana “tattoos” to make them more special 😛 It’s actually really simple: just poke holes in the peel with a toothpick, and soon the holes will darken by themselves. So fun!

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Ugh, sorry about the bad lighting. :/

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Random Topic #7: Uh… I’m Not Sure What to Call This…

Heh heh. I just had two lonely pictures leftover, which I took on the day of the rabbit photoshoot. So here they are!

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Well that was rather anti-climatic. XD

 

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Well, that’s about it, folks! So what do you think? Do you like this kind of post? What was your favorite random topic?

Thanks for reading!

***Allison***

Art Lab, Episode 21: Wuzzing Contest

| Allison

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Yay, it’s time! I’m so excited to show you guys all the creative entries for this contest. They were all so fun to see!

So here’s how this will work. I’m going to show you each contestant’s entry and their Wuzzing’s profile, then at the end of the post you can head on over to The Art Lab blog to vote for your favorite Wuzzing. Please judge fairly and don’t vote for your own Wuzzing! If everyone did that, it would kind of defeat the purpose. 😉

Alrighty then! (Just so you know, I’m not going in any particular order. 😉 )

Danielle’s Wuzzing

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Profile:

His personality: He is a gentle creature. He is always sleepy and loves to eat scrumptious bugs. He is not a big fan of viciousness, but he defends himself spectacularly well when he has to. He is a bit prideful and vain when it comes to himself. Actually, he is very prideful and vain when it comes to himself.

What he looks like: He is only a foot tall on all fours with tall, silver horns to make him seem a bit bigger. He has tiny, fuzzy, silver wings that are tipped with sharp black points. His eyes are silver and are as big as a baby cows’. His snout is similar to that of a cow, but his sense of smell is fifty times stronger (to smell those scrumptious bugs). His ears are as big as a lion’s and can hear for miles around. He has shiny metallic hooves and a long fuzzy, silver tail that is tipped with a tiny flap. He is a deep metallic indigo blue, with a black belly.

Favorite color: Indigo blue (obviously)

Favorite food: Moths, especially the fuzzy ones, but he also likes glazed donuts.

Favorite Wuzzing: Himself (Duh)

Very creative, Danielle! I love his sleepy expression. XD

Clara’s Wuzzing

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Profile:

Name: Wuzzing

Height: 5 inches tall.

Hobbies: Bouncing off of things, exploring, and making art

Favorite food: Mini marshmallows

More Info: Wuzzings are often found hiding in human homes – making messes, hiding under beds, and slipping in and out of sight. When socks and buttons go missing, it’s most likely the case that the Wuzzing has been at work. They are extremely clever creatures and can create total havoc in your home if they wish to do so.

Despite the Wuzzing’s mischievous nature, they can make surprisingly loyal and lovable pets if tamed correctly by a human. Here is what you must do:

The trick is to provide plenty of hiding places for your local Wuzzing. Empty drawers, dusty shoe boxes, and large purses make excellent hiding places.

Once you have figured out which hiding spot he prefers, make a big show of leaving your Wuzzing’s favorite food (mini marshmallows) in front of his hiding spot while being sure he is watching you. If you step back and stand very still, he will venture out to eat, keeping his eyes on you as he munches. Once he is finished, he will retreat into hiding.

Repeat this process for about one week, standing a little closer to his hiding place while he eats each day. Eventually, you should be able to get him to eat right out of your hand. Soon, he will come bouncing out to meet you, climb into your pockets, and ride on your shoulder. At this point, you can choose to create a pillow fort for your Wuzzing to live in, as this is their preferred lodging. Your Wuzzing will have lots of fun bouncing around inside of his squishy fortress. Wuzzings don’t make much noise, but they do make happy squeaky sounds if you scratch them behind their horns. They make ideal pets in small homes.

Wuzzings love to travel and can fit comfortably in the pocket of a backpack or inside a purse. Your friends will be shocked and amazed when you show them your tiny, fuzzy pet! Just be sure to keep lots of marshmallows handy – Wuzzings have an appetite not unlike that of a dinosaur.

If you’ve noticed odd noises, missing buttons, or the strange disappearance of all of your marshmallows – take a look around your house and see if a Wuzzing has decided to call it home!

IT IS SO FLUFFY, CLARA! XD

Arunima’s Wuzzing

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Profile:

Name: The Wuzzing

Description: Tiny creature with white fur with teal and turquoise edges. It has little lavender hearts on it’s ear. It has yellow arms and legs.

Location: Flower Gardens

Diet: Grass

Sound: Makes a sound like wzzz wzzz 

Hops around

Safe to keep as a pet

Magical Abilities: can hop very high and can produce light

Aww, your wuzzing is so sweet, Arunima!

Mukta’s Wuzzing

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Profile:

Meet Penelope, my hand-painted Wuzzing.

She loves squishing and petting, but if you poke her in the eye, I can’t guarantee yours will stay in its socket. 

Penelope’s natural habitat is anywhere warm and humid, but if your place is cold, you might as well reserve a warm corner in a cupboard for her. Her favorite food is boiled algae or ostrich eggshells, but she isn’t very fussy about food so any leftovers will do. Penelope is patient but stubborn. She may look like a harmless fuzzball, but if you put a toe out of line you may find your finger bit clean the next moment.

It’s sooo adorable and squishy, Mukta! I want to squeeze it. XD

Mirra’s Wuzzing

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(The profile is on the picture.)

So cute, Mirra! I love how you did a completely different take on the prompt.

Allison’s Wuzzing

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Profile:

Habitat: open meadows, near a source of freshwater

Diet: wildflowers (especially buttercups), grass seeds, wild strawberries, mushrooms

Size: 2-3 inches tall

Call/Sound: a soft “wuzz, wuzz” from which they get their name

Description: Wuzzings are tiny, furry marsupials with large eyes and no legs or arms whatsoever. They move about by rolling with their ears tucked against their body and their eyes closed. Adult female wuzzings have a small pouch to hold their babies in, while male and juvenile wuzzings are pouchless. Wuzzings change colors gradually as they mature. When born, baby wuzzings (or fuzzlets) are a deep purple, but they gradually change to blue, then green, yellow, orange, and red. Orange and red wuzzings are rarely seen because wuzzings tend to have a short lifespan. The picture above shows, from left to right, an adult male wuzzing, a slightly younger adult female wuzzing, and a baby fuzzlet.

Wuzzings’ fur serves many uses. Its water repellent quality enables the wuzzing to float on water and so repopulate itself in different areas. It’s also helpful for collecting food: adult wuzzings roll over the flower or mushroom or whatever they are collecting to bring it down to the ground, then grasp it with their small teeth and roll back to their den.

Wuzzings are harmless and fun to pet, but they are extremely timid and hard to catch. If you do happen to find one, approach it softly from behind and scoop it up quickly and gently. The wuzzing will probably curl into a ball to protect itself, but eventually it should uncurl in your hand if you stroke it.

Heh heh. I had a lot of fun making my wuzzing!

Gracie’s Wuzzing

gracies-wuzzing

Profile:

The Wuzzing is a friendly, fluffy creature, who can be found meandering in open fields and meadows. He is quiet and somewhat timid, but very curious. He will happily invade your space if he deems you friendly enough, and is a big advocate of hugs. So if you ever come across a Wuzzing, feel free to skip over and give his soft, furry self a bear hug. Just be warned: he might determine you to be his new ‘bestie’!

I love how unique yours is, Gracie! He reminds me of a fluffy Dr. Suess character!

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Weren’t those amazing? And so creative! Whether you win or not, I want you guys to know that I loved them all, and I’m so happy you entered. ♥ I think all the participants deserve a round of applause and a virtual bag of chocolate, don’t you? (Oh wait, I’m a participant too… yay! XD )

And now… are you ready to vote for “Best Wuzzing”? If so, kindly click here. 🙂 (The poll is at the bottom of the post.) Choose the wuzzing you think was the most adorable, creative, or interesting! May the best Wuzzing win! 😀

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We had a lot of fun with this contest, and I hope you guys did too. Make sure to visit the Art Lab blog on March the 3rd to see who won!

***Allison***

Bedroom Update

| Allison

Hey, guys! It’s been quite awhile since Megan and I did our room makeover, and I thought I’d do a post of some of the updates and changes we’ve made since then. (To see the original makeover, click here.)

The two main changes are updating the dresser area and adding a bookshelf. They look so pretty!

This is the bookshelf corner. We repainted an old bamboo bookshelf that my Dad had when he was a boy, and it looks so pretty now. The flower wall hanging is from Hobby Lobby, and I don’t know where Megan got the “laugh” wall hanging. (I told Megan it’s too bad it doesn’t say “read” instead of “laugh.” XD )

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The bookshelf has three of my favorite series: The Penderwicks, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and…

 

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The Keeper of the Lost City series. 🙂 Have you read any or all of those? Which one is your favorite?

Moving on now to the dresser area. We added a mirror, a new plant, two new vases… actually pretty much everything on top of the dresser is new. 🙂

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I made these roses for decorations for a church potluck, and saved them to use in our room afterward. They’re made of paper streamers wrapped and twisted around a wooden skewer.

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More roses in a neat lantern Mom gave us.
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Isn’t that twisty vase neat? (Ahem, excuse the leaves that have been chewed by a cat. XD ) I got the vase and the oil lamp from my grandparents, and the fox was a gift to Megan, the alarm clock is from Walmart, and the gold stones are painted by me. 🙂

Now for some random updates around our room.

 

 

 

 

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I love our mantel decorations! The fox frame and mushrooms are from Hobby Lobby, and the hedgehog was a gift to Megan.

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The reading nook or whatever it’s called…
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The beautiful fern is from my grandma.
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This plant is also from my grandma.
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FUZZY CUBE! The cube and solid purple pillow are from Ross, and I made the patchwork pillow. (It’s actually a quillow – a quilt in a pillow.)

 

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What an adorable little hedgehog! This was yet ANOTHER of Megan’s gifts. XD
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Air plants are so neat! Why are my fingers neon pink in this picture?

 

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Here’s our painted crate bedstand. Not much has changed here except the things we keep in it.

And last but not least, two pictures of our bedroom in general.

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*Happy sigh* I still love our bedroom so much, even now. I hope this gave you some inspiration if you are looking to redecorate your own bedroom! Do you have any redecorating tips to share? What is your favorite part about our bedroom? What is your favorite part or decoration about YOUR bedroom? Do you like interior design?

***Allison***

How To Edit Photos, Part 2: Adding Effects

| Allison

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Hello, my friends! 😀

I’m so happy that you guys liked the first part of this series! (If you missed Part 1 or would like to review it, click here.) Are you ready for Part 2? Today I’m going to show you how to use some beautiful and fun effects, along with a few tips and tricks as well.

Again, I’m going to be working with the PicMonkey editing site, so go ahead and open that up on your web browser and choose the photo you want to edit. Last time we used the Basic Edits section of PicMonkey, but today we’re going to use the Effects tab. It’s represented as a little sparkly wand symbol on the left hand sidebar of the PicMonkey Editor, just below the Basic Edits tab.

Alrighty, let’s do this!

How to Add Effects

To be honest, I don’t use effects that terribly much, but there are a few very helpful tools in the effects section of PicMonkey – and all of the effects are just so fun to play with! I’m going to edit a picture and walk you through the steps so you can do it too.

Here’s our starting picture. ♥

 

To begin with, I used the Focal /soften tool. This is a very useful effect, especially if you don’t have a DSLR or if your camera doesn’t allow you to adjust aperture. See, by adjusting the aperture to a smaller or lower f-stop, you can make the subject sharp and in focus while the background is beautifully soft and blurry. Personally, I LOVE this effect, and so do a lot of other people. It looks professional. But if you take photos with your phone or a little pocket camera, it’s not easy to get a blurred background. But that’s why you’re here, my friends! 😉 Let me show you how…

First, find the “Focal Soften” Tab. It’s toward the bottom.

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If you’re a little overwhelmed by all the different sliders, don’t worry! Trust me, it’s not as complicated as it looks. I’m pretty sure you could all figure it out by just playing around with the sliders, but in case you want some more detailed information, here it is. 😉

The Blur slider simply adjusts how soft or blurry it is around your subject. Tip: Be careful not to add too much blur or the effect will look fake. Focal size adjusts the size of the part of the photo which is sharp, or in focus. Edge Harden determines how distinct the edge is between the blurry and non-blurry parts of the photo. Tip: I suggest normally sliding the edge hardness to zero or close to zero. This provides a smoother, more natural transition. And lastly, the Fade slider controls how much of the whole effect, Focal Soften, shows up on your picture.

Okay, next I used the “Boost” effect.

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Tip: A little “Boost” can go a long way. You will quickly see this if you play with the slider. I used 8% boost for my picture, just to make the colors more vibrant.

I also added a teensy bit of the HDR effect.

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This is yet another effect to use sparingly – although it’s really fun to play with the sliders and create weird and wonderful artistic effects. HDR is basically a more interesting, advanced form of the “Sharpen” tab in Basic Effects.

Lastly, I finished it off with another of my favorites: the Miniature effect.

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Now, as you can see by that little yellow crown up there, this effect can only be used by Royale members. Like I mentioned in Part 1, Royale is an upgraded version of PicMonkey that gives you access to more effects, more graphics, and generally more features all around. I have Royale and I love it! You really get a lot of fun and useful stuff when you buy the package, including this Miniature effect. Tip: If you’re not sure whether to get Royale or not, you can always try out PicMonkey’s free trial!

Ahem, getting back to the effect… The Miniature effect is kind of like a combination of Focal Soften and Boost, but it’s a little different from either. For one thing, you can choose whether to make the focal shape linear or circular – in other words, make the in-focus part of the picture a rectangular section or a circular section. For landscapes and such, it works best to use the linear option, but for close-ups and individual objects, use circular. Adjust the Boost and Impact sliders to control the saturation and blur of the effect respectively.

Alright, I’m finished! Here’s the before and after photo: (before on the left and right on the right side)

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So pretty!

I’m going to go through these next photos a little faster now that you know basically how the effects work.

Black and White

The classic B&W. 🙂 I like to use this effect when 1.) my photos are cluttered or have a distracting background, and 2.) when I want the photo to have a special, nostalgic feel. PicMonkey seriously has like 7 different black and white effects, and they’re all a bit different. Tip: Start with classic Black and White, then add some toned-down Super B&W or Tri-X to make your photo pop. If you use the Fade slider on Super B&W or Tri-X without first making the photo black and white, you’ll end up with a bunch of washed out colors instead of true black and white. Which, incidentally, is another neat editing technique of its own.

Here are some black and white photos I edited.

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As you can tell, this isn’t completely black and white. If you click the little paintbrush symbol on the Black and White tab, a little menu with even more sliders pops up! Choose “Effect” at the top of the menu to paint on the effect you’re using, and “Original” to erase it off. I erased the black and white effect off of only the cupcakes here, for a fun pop of color.

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This is an example of B&W used to create a nostalgic or special atmosphere. Black and white is great for preserving special memories or sweet moments like this. Isn’t is adorable? ♥ (By the way, the original picture was from this post.)

 

Clone

This is a VERY useful tool, but sadly, it is a Royale feature. 😦 Clone can be used to erase unwanted items right out of a picture – from power lines to trash – as long as the unwanted object is fairly small. Simply click on the part of the photo close to the unwanted object, and start erasing. This tool takes a bit of practice to master, but it is quite helpful once you do. Take this photo, for example:

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Gorgeous Niagara Falls, right? And annoying blue people, huh? Well we can whisk those people far, far away with the Clone tool. Ta-daa!

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Isn’t that amazing? I simply copied the bushes and rocks from around the people and painted over all that blue.

Other Tools and Tips

  • Two other very useful tools which I didn’t show are “Dodge” and “Burn.” Both are located at the bottom of the Effects page, and both require Royale membership to use. Use Dodge to brighten specific areas of your photo; use Burn to darken specific areas of your photo. Tip: Dodge is helpful when the face of your subject is dark or cast in shadow.
  • A really neat feature which PicMonkey added recently is the ability to create your own effect by layering other effects together. It’s a little button labeled “Save custom effect” up at the top of the Effects tab. But… you guessed it, it’s a Royale feature too. I actually don’t use it that much anymore, but it’s really fun to play with. 🙂 Tip: Mix up your own custom effect to provide the photos for your blog or business with one cohesive (and personalized) look.
  • Be creative! I encourage you to try out all the effects in the tab and play around with the sliders. Even if you don’t have Royale, PicMonkey at least lets you preview the Royale effects.
  • One last tip: have fun with editing, but don’t go overboard! Sometimes over-edited photos are much worse than the original. Think of the effects like make-up – use them to enhance your photo’s natural beauty, not plaster them on until your photo is unrecognizable and fake-looking. Unless, of course, you’re doing an artistic effect on purpose.

Phew! That was a lot to take in, but I hope you guys found it helpful! Let me know if you have any questions about that, and I’ll do my best to answer them. 🙂

Have fun editing!

***Allison***