How to Edit Photos, Part 1: The Basics

January 23, 2017February 1, 2017 | Allison

Hey, guys! 😀

Grace recently wondered if I could do a tutorial on how to edit photos, and I thought that was a great idea! I decided to make this a mini-series, covering basic photo editing, adding effects, touching up photos of people, and maybe a little bit of graphic design and collaging too. I’m really excited!

Anyway, let’s get started. Today I’m going to go over the basic photo editing tools and then show you how to use those tools to fix two common photo problems.

Introduction

I use PicMonkey for pretty much all of my photo editing, and I highly recommend it! It’s very easy to use, and it’s free – although you can pay to upgrade to Royale and get some extra features. (I have Royale, by the way, and I would definitely recommend it if you edit photos a lot. I’ll talk more about Royale later in the series.) But don’t worry about that for now. All the tools I’m going to go over today are completely free.

So, open PicMonkey, and hover over the bar at the top of the page where it says “Edit.” Open the photo you want to work on. The section of the editor that pops up is called “Basic Edits,” and that’s what we’ll be using today.

Basic Edits

Crop: The first tab of the “Basic Edits” section is “Crop.” Cropping is quite a valuable tool that allows you to cut out ugly surroundings from the corners of your pictures, make the composition of your photo more interesting, or simply zoom in closer to the subject.
Canvas Color: This just covers your whole picture with one color. You won’t use it to edit your photos, although it’s great for graphic designing.
Rotate: The rotate tab allows you to flip your picture any way you want. It also allows you to straighten your photo, which is very helpful if you were accidentally holding your camera crooked and your subject looks like it’s sliding off the picture. 😀
Exposure: In my opinion, this is the most important tab in the Basic Edits section (well, maybe it’s tied with “Crop”). You can work wonders simply by adjusting the exposure of a photo, and we’ll be using this tab a lot, later in this post.
Colors: This tab includes sliders for saturation and temperature, as well as a mysterious button called “Neutral Picker.” Actually, it’s not that mysterious. 🙂 Basically, when you click on the parts of your photo that should be white, the Neutral Picker auto-adjusts the temperature to turn those off-colored spots white again. Temperature controls how warm or cool a photo is – in other words, whether it has a red (warm) tint or a blue (cool) tint. And saturation, as you probably already know, makes the colors of your photo more saturated and bright.
Sharpen: Sharpness and Clarity actually ARE different – just a bit. My unscientific description is that Sharpness yields a more subtle effect and focuses on sharpening the details, while Clarity is bolder and boosts the contrast of your photo while giving it a gritty effect at the same time.
Resize: This simply downsizes your photo to a smaller file size so it takes up less space on your computer (or blog). Anywhere between 800 and 1280 (and even a bit larger) would be a good size for sharing online. One thing to keep in mind is the smaller the size, the lower the quality of the picture.

Using Your Tools

Now that you know what everything does, let’s put your tools to use! I’m just going to show you a few examples and walk you through what I did. (Note: the “before” pictures are on the left, and the “after” pictures on the right. Just in case you couldn’t tell. 😉 )

Isn’t it amazing what the Shadows slider can do? That’s seriously all I did. I moved the “Shadows” slider to -44, and that’s it.

This is a more subtle edit, but I think the “after” picture definitely looks more vibrant. The photo on the left is kind of drab and gray, so I upped the saturation a bit and adjusted the exposure. I also straightened the photo so the ocean isn’t tipped to one side like that. (And hmm, I might have lowered the temperature also, but I can’t recall for sure. Oops. XD )

The main difference in this photo is that now you can actually see the cute wittle kitten instead of losing him in the surrounding scenery. I told you cropping was a helpful tool! 😀 I also straightened the photo so the kitten wasn’t falling off the face of the earth, upped the “Sharpness” slider, and adjusted the exposure just a tad.

Wow, so much better! This picture was washed out to begin with, but by lowering the brightness and shadows, and adding a little bit of contrast, it looks bright and beautiful again like it’s supposed to. And speaking of over-exposed photos, we should move on to the fixer upper part of this post. (By the way, I l♥ve the show Fixer Upper! Have you ever watched it? It’s sooo good. Ahem…)

How to Fix an Over-Exposed Photo

An over-exposed photo is one of my most common problems. But thankfully it’s easy and fun to fix!

This is the photo we’ll start with:

Eh. The content is good, but the lighting is off: it’s too bright and has a sort of bland grayish-white wash over everything. We must rescue this poor photo in distress!

Pretty much everything you need to fix an over-exposed photo is in the Exposure tab, so go ahead and open that up. The two main things to do for an over-exposed picture are to lower the brightness and lower the shadows. Here’s a screenshot of what I did:

You can tell from the sliders that I lowered the brightness and shadows significantly (to -14 and -18 respectively) and added a tiny bit of contrast and highlights. And that’s pretty much it! (Note: I did also use the “Burn” tool to darken a few spots in the photo, but I’ll talk about that more in another post. For now, just concentrate on using the “Exposure” tab.)

Before and after. So much better!

How to Whiten a Photo

Sometimes photos have a weird yellowish or bluish tint, especially on the light parts of a picture.

Like in this photo:

This really isn’t a bad picture, but you can see a slight orangish tinge over everything, which makes it look dingy rather than fresh and clean. It’s especially important to get good, clean-looking photos of products you sell, and this owl just so happens to be in my Etsy shop. So, let’s clean him up a bit, shall we?

First, open the “Exposure” tab.

The main thing you need to do here is bump up the highlight slider, but I also messed with the brightness and shadows slider a bit too. Here’s a tip: use mostly highlights instead of brightness to brighten up a photo, because too much brightness will make the photo look washed out. “Highlights” brightens just the white parts instead of the whole photo.

Next I opened up the “Colors” tab. Since my picture is too red, I moved the Temperature slider down to -10, which added some blue to even it out.

And here’s the before and after. A subtle difference, but do you see how the one on the right looks cleaner, fresher, and more appealing?

Well, I guess that’s it! I give you a pat on the back and a virtual bag of chocolates if you read that whole thing. O.o XD

Heh heh. I hope that was helpful to you! Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments if you didn’t understand something. 🙂

Have a lovely day, lovely people!

***Allison***

Sister’s Q&A, Part 4

January 14, 2017January 14, 2017 | Allison

Wow, it has been quite a while since I posted an episode of the Sister’s Q&A! Remember that? It’s like a normal Q&A, but Megan and I have to answer you guys’ questions for each other instead of for ourselves. It’s a lot of fun to write, and I hope it’s fun to read too!

Christian Homeschooler:

What kind of pencils do you like to use best: regular number 2’s, or mechanical?

Guess: Well we don’t have many mechanical pencils, so number 2’s.

Answer: I would say regular pencils since that’s pretty much all I use, but mechanical pencils are okay too. Except I hate it when the pencil lead is too short and it disappears when you press down – argh! XD

Which do you like better: dogs or cats?

Guess: Cats.

Answer: Cats. I like dogs, but they’re not nearly as clean or cuddly as cats. 😉

When you want to look up a word’s definition, do you use a real dictionary, or do you look up the word on the computer?

Guess: Hmm… I don’t know what Allison would do. Maybe look it up on the computer. 😉

Answer: Hmm… I don’t know. I do both. It depends on where I am and what I have close by I guess. But maybe computer?

Do you use your WordPress Reader?

Guess: Yep!

Answer: Sure do! I try to read every post. (I only follow about 30 blogs, in case you were wondering. It would be really hard to read every post if I followed hundreds of blogs!)

Which would you prefer: swimming in a pool or playing in the snow?

Guess: Probably swimming.

Answer: Swimming! Snow is so much fun, but it’s also cold and kind of messy. Plus when it’s swimming time it’s also summer vacation!

Clara:

What’s one thing you really want right now?

Guess: Hmm. I… don’t know! Maybe she’d like a lifetime supply of polymer clay?

Answer: I’m not sure… Um, more time so I can publish this post and play piano before I have to go to bed? XD

Least favorite meal?

Guess: Almost got it…. Some Mexican dish but I don’t remember what! Some sort of enchiladas?

Answer: Something with mushroom soup in it or most Mexican food (or any spicy food). XD Or maybe cabbage rolls with super spicy Spanish rice and grape soda. YUCK! No one would ever combine those things for a meal anyway, but oh well. Bleh. XD

What is a sport you’re really terrible at?

Guess: I don’t know, she doesn’t play sports often. So I’ll just go with hockey even though she’s never played it. I really have no clue. XD

Answer: Heh heh, I’m not too great at any sport (except I’m okay at Ping Pong if that counts XD ), but then again I don’t know that I’m horrible at a certain one. I’m not very good at tennis or badminton or something like that? I have no idea. XD

What’s something funny that happened to you recently?

Guess: Too hard. I pass. I really have no clue though.

Answer: Hmm. Ahh, why is this so hard? Okay, for lack of a better answer, I’m going to go with the time my siblings and I were discussing Keeper of the Lost Cities together, and Megan and Logan and I were discussing whether the cliffhanger at the end of Lodestar was huge or not that big. But my brother Jeff, who hasn’t finished the series yet, HATES spoilers, (even though we giving anything away at all), so he kept yelling, “Argh! Stop! Guys, don’t tell me ANYTHING!” And stuff like that. XD He was very adamant. 😛

If someone gave you a baby tiger, would you want to keep it?

Guess: Hmm, probably not.

Answer: Maybe. I might want to keep it for a little while until it got big, and then maybe take it to a zoo or something. But even assuming I would want to, I’m sure I wouldn’t actually keep it. 😉

Lily:

What’s it like being a blogger AND your sister being a blogger?

Guess: Annoying at times.

Answer: Mostly fun because we can talk about our blogger friends and the posts we read and stuff together, but also annoying because sometimes we both want to post the same thing at the same time. 😛

afcrocks99:

What is your favorite season?

Guess: I think Allison’s would be spring.

Answer: Spring! Although I looove fall too, and summer is nice. XD Winter is nice in some ways, but it’s my least favorite of the seasons.

What is your favorite Bible verse?

Guess: I don’t know. Maybe a verse in Psalms? 😛

Answer: One of my favorites is Zephaniah 3:17:

The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

I mostly like that one because there’s a really pretty song/hymn about it. It’s like this:

What are three things your sister almost always has with her?

Guess: ??

Answer: My phone, my watch, and a bunch of ideas and plans running through my head. 😀

Lainey:

What is your dream career?

Guess: Running an Etsy shop, but she’d probably like to be a photographer too.

Answer: To have my own little craft shop where I can sell all the zillions of things my hands keep churning out from working on my zillions of hobbies. ♥ I also think it would be great to publish one of the games I made sometime.

Rutvi:

Which one of you is older?

Guess: Allison

Answer: Ooh, that’s a hard one. XD Just kidding – I’m the oldest! I’m actually the oldest of the kids in our family.

Favorite food?

Guess: Most any fruit.

Answer: FRUIT! CHOCOLATE! CHEESE! And also pistachios and clam chowder and crab legs and spinach and bread and… I like most things, actually. (Besides mushrooms and Spanish rice and cabbage rolls and grape soda. XD )

Favorite pet?

Guess: I can’t decide between Willow and Casey. I’ll just go with Casey I guess.

Answer: I ♥ my fuzzy bunnies Willow and Lily so much, but honestly I play with the cats more, so I guess maybe Casey.

Name 3 things you don’t like that start with the letter E.

Guess: Oh. Umm… Eggs (gathering them), Elephants stomping on her (I’m guessing she wouldn’t like that at least), and early awakenings? 😛

Answer: Eggs (gathering them), electric shocks, and erasers that are old and leave smudges on your paper? Ha ha, those are basically all the things I could think of that started with “e” anyway. XD

And that’s it! So, drum roll please, who won? It was…. *tallies up the points*

MEEEE!!! I narrowly squeaked past: I got 11 right and Megan got 10 right. 🙂

If you want to see my guesses for Megan, click here! Thanks for reading, guys! I hope you enjoyed it. 🙂

***Allison***

Farewell, 2016 { A Year in Review }

December 31, 2016January 16, 2017 | Allison

Wait what? Is 2016 really over?

Yeah yeah, I know everyone says that every year. But seriously! I guess we say it because it’s true. It’s hard to believe that though the days sometimes feel endless, the years race by so fast that you barely have time to welcome in one year before the next is banging at the door. Just when you’ve recovered from that New Year’s party, it’s somehow Christmas again. Of course I’m exaggerating, but doesn’t it feel that way sometimes?

Anyway, philosophical-ish discussions won’t change the facts – and besides, the facts are good! 2016 was a wonderful, really big year for me, both in real life as well as blog life. That’s why I made this post: to review some highlights of my year and also to give you something fun to read while you’re waiting for the clock to strike midnight. 😉

Shall we begin? I’ve divided the post into “Life” and “Blog” for easier reading, and I decided to put “Life” first. Heh heh, no pun intended – but actually maybe it was intended. XD

~{ Life }~

I started my Etsy shop, Wee Little Crafts, in January, and got 18 online sales over the year (plus a few more in person), 3,469 views, and 145 listing favorites, and 38 shop admirers! Woohoo! 😀
I turned 16 in May. O.o
And thus I got my driver’s license in October. And also a car. O.o again.
Oh, and I got a phone too! Yippee!
A less fun but still momentous milestone (wait, does that even make sense?) was getting my wisdom teeth pulled.
I’m not sure if this counts as “Life” or “Blog,” but I got to meet one of my blogger friends in real life! We had so much fun. *Happy sigh*
And I bought a new dSLR camera! It’s a Nikon d3400, and even though I’m not quite a pro at using it yet, I’m really enjoying it!
We redecorated our room, and I still love it! Ahh, it’s SO much prettier than it was.
I went to the theater and a concert for the first time. I know, I’m very weird. XD (Update: whoops, my sister reminded me that actually I went to that concert in 2015, not 2016.)
Our vacation this year took us to Niagara Falls, Macinac Island, the Great Lakes, and a bunch of other exciting places!
My fluffball of a bunny, Willow, had baby bunnies! SQUEEE! They were so adorable. *Sniff* We sold them all, but their legacy lives on in my jillions of pictures and blog posts. XD
Of the course of this year I became pen pals with three bloggers and email pals with another. 🙂 Thank you for your lovely letters and emails, guys! I’ve had such fun getting to know you better. ♥
We added two more pets to our collection: the adorable Holland Lop rabbit Snickers and the also adorable kitten Casey. Well actually she’s pretty much a cat now, but still adorable. 😉
We had an EPIC shaving cream fight that I posted about here. So. Much. Fun.

~{ Blog }~

Definitely the most major thing in my blog year was being featured on Discover. Oh my goodness guys: a year ago I had almost 60 followers. Now I have… 1,507. WHAT?! WHOA! EEK! And it’s all (well, mostly) because of Discover. I’m so, so thankful God gave me this incredible opportunity, and I hope I can use it for His glory. ♥
In other news: blog stats. This year I’ve published 198 posts, and received 7,980 comments, 6,543 likes, and 41,267 views. Just wow. *Faints* Oh my goodness, if I thought last year was a big year, look at this! Ha ha, my first year is just a teensy line. XD OH MY GOODNESS IT’S AMAZING!
I met or got to know so many amazing people this year, like Grace, Clara, Hayley, K. A., Rebekah, Christian Homeschooler, Aria, and soooo many more. I love you guys so much! ♥♥
I changed my blog around a LOT, several times, but I have hopefully settled down to a theme and a header I like. I can tell you that the current design is a million times better than it was at first, at least in my opinion. XD
Hayley and I started The Art Lab blog, along with Megan and Anika. (And in case you’re wondering, we’re taking a little break over the holidays, but we’ll get back to it in a jif!)
Aaand I started WordCrafters this year! You guys have done an amazing job with the stories, although it is taking a bit longer than I thought to complete WordCrafters 2. 😉 But don’t worry, hopefully we’ll finish it soon and we can start on WordCrafters 3! 😀 If you haven’t read the stories yet, click here to read WordCrafters 1 and here to read WordCrafters 2 so far.

Alrighty. Now that we’re done with the highlight reel or whatever, let’s get down to the good ol’ post reviews. 🙂 These are some of my favorite posts from 2016:

Favorite Posts from A Farm Girl’s Life: (click on the picture to visit the post)

These are some of my favorite snow pictures I’ve ever taken! Especially the last one. I’m still shocked I was able to get that!

Dewdrops are one of my favorite things to photograph ever. Ahh, so pretty!

Ohhhh my goodness Casey was ADORABLE!

AWWC Challenge 2: Waiting

I think “Waiting” might be one of the best things I’ve ever written. 😀 There was no picture in the post, so you’ll just have to click here to read it. 😉

This was the post featured on Discover before my whole blog was. And thus, heh heh, it is by FAR my most popular post, if you decide that by the likes and comments. O.o

Aaaaaahh! I love our room so much! ♥ It’s changed a little bit from this post, but for the most part it’s still the same. 🙂

This post is basically a collection of some of my best photos from January-August 2016. 😀 (By the way, I’m hoping you guys didn’t have the same problem as I did: the photos weren’t showing up on this post. PANIC! I hate it when that happens, so I’m just going to hope it was just a fluke that happened to me once… right?)

Pictures from our vacation to Niagara Falls. ♥

This is one of my favorite photoshoots because it’s so unique – and we were also on top of a barn roof. 😀 Hee hee!

All I can say is AHHHHHH THEY’RE ADORABLEEEEEE!

This might come close to my “Favorite. Photoshoot. Ever.” Seriously though, it might be my favorite photography post of the year, I don’t know. I can hardly believe I didn’t edit those pictures, even though I’m the one that took the pictures! Wow, Lord, you are the “Best. Artist. Ever.” Eeeee! ♥

I love how this little black and white photography experiment turned out! October was a really good photography month for me, it appears. XD

I’m pretty pleased with how this post turned out. And I’m so, so happy you guys found it helpful! That really makes my… um… day? Well more than a day but less than a year… Hmm… XD

Ohhhh my goodness how can fall be so beautiful? Eeek!

I’m honestly kind of proud of these moon pictures, especially the last one. 😛

This sisters’ photoshoot was a lot of fun, Megan! ♥ We should really do it again sometime.

And last but not least… THE CUTEST WITTLE FLUFFBALLS!

A Few Favorite 2016 Posts from the Blogisphere:

How to Be a Ninja by Loren – this is pretty hilarious. XD

Evening Photography Whatever #2 by Loren – and this is gorgeous!

Recent Photography: Moss Forests, Maude, and Little Brothers by Clara – so pretty!

Aaaand pretty much any photography posts by Clara. XD

A Trip to the Apple Orchard by Grace – I love this lovely life/photography post.

A Barn Full of Fluff by Hayley – SO FLUFFY PLEASE HELP ME!

And guys, that’s only a teensy bit of the goodness I read this year. But unfortunately I don’t have time to list all of the wondermous posts I read, so I guess you’ll have to check out the blogs I follow and find out yourself. 😉

Okay guys, bear with me – we’re almost done! I just need to show you some of my…

New Year’s Resolutions:

Meet at least one more of my blogger friends.
Grow my Etsy shop.
Start a Bible journal and keep it going throughout the year.

Well, after all that, all I can say is THANK YOU GUYS, for the bestest blog year so far. I have loved laughing and learning with you guys so incredibly much. Blogging is such a wonderful part of my life, a part I hope to hold onto for a very, very long time. ♥

I hope you enjoyed this rather lengthy end-of-the-year post, and have a lovely New Year, okay? I can’t wait to see what exciting things God has in store for me and for you guys this upcoming year. ♥♥♥

With all my love,

***Allison***

Christmas Things, 2016

December 30, 2016December 30, 2016 | Allison

I suppose you could say this is a Christmas haul post, but for some reason I don’t like the sound of “Christmas haul.” I don’t know why, really… I kind of have weird opinions. XD Anyway, I know I have fun looking at other blogger’s posts like this, so I decided to make one myself. 🙂 But it’s not only going to be a “haul” post: I wanted to show you the gifts I made as well as the ones I received. 🙂

Are you ready? Let’s do the former first and the latter later, shall we? Wow, that was fun to say.

~ Giving ~

I guess I’ll go youngest to oldest. For Carmen, my littlest sister, I didn’t exactly make her a gift. She got an American girl doll for Christmas, because to our delight and surprise, Megan won Maddi‘s amazing giveaway which Megan entered specifically with Carmen in mind!! (And yes, Carmen loves the Maryellen doll we chose for her. ♥) So my present to Carmen was letting her use any of my AG doll things she wanted. 🙂

For my brother Jeff, Megan and I picked out this hilarious book at Books-A-Million. XD He’s always a little… hmm, how shall I put it… rowdy with our cats, with the result being they kind of hate him, ( XD ) so Megan and I thought he would get a kick out of this book – and he did:

For my sister Megan, she asked me to make her some clip-art for her blog design “business” since she prefers the computer part to the drawing part. 😉 So I put together this binder for her.

For my brother Logan and my Dad (and actually for my aunt and uncle too), I made some candied pecans using this recipe. Our whole family loves them, and I don’t make them very often, so I like to use them as gifts. They are seriously SO GOOD! And super easy too! I wrapped them up in a decorative paper cone thingy for all of them, but unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of the wrapping. 😦

For Mom, the four older kids gave her a coupon for 4 meals made by us, which she loved because she doesn’t enjoy cooking all that much. XD Annnd I didn’t get a picture of that either. 😦

For my grandparents, my siblings, my two cousins, and I drew them a calendar. Megan, Jeff, and Logan did that last year and they loved it, so we thought we’d do it again with all their grandchildren. 🙂

dsc_0787-1280x853 — March by my cousin Leisha.

dsc_0789-1280x853 — May by Carmen. Isn’t it so cute? She’s actually a really good artist for her age.

dsc_0790-1280x853 — June by my cousin Jianna. I LOVE THIS ONE!

dsc_0792-1280x853 — August by Yours Truly.

dsc_0793-1280x853 — September by Leisha. So pretty!

dsc_0794-1280x853 — October by Megan. I really like this one too!

dsc_0795-1280x853 — November by me again. This is definitely my favorite of mine.

dsc_0796-1280x853 — December by Jianna. Wow. Just wow. Everyone was amazed by this – isn’t it gorgeous?! She’s such an artist!

For my two cousins, I made them each little clinging earrings to look like their cats, Trixie and Roxy respectively. 😀

earrings-1-1280x1280 — Sorry about the bad picture. 😦 Anyway, this is Trixie…

earrings-2-1280x853 — And these are Roxys. 🙂

~ Receiving ~

Now for the “haul” part! 😀

My parents gave me an amazing Windsor and Newton watercolor set, Pentel waterbrushes, and Arches watercolor paper! I’m sooo excited to use it all! I’ve used the watercolor set and brushes just a tiny bit so far, and I’m really happy with them. 😀 It’s especially nice to have good quality, fine tip brushes.

watercolors-3-1280x853 — I really like this picture for some reason. 🙂 This set is really neat because each little cake of paint is in a removable compartment, so if you run out of one color, you can replace just that instead of the whole set! It also comes with a paintbrush and an expandable palette that you cans store in the container.

My aunt and uncle and cousins gave me this pretty washi tape! ♥

dsc_0840-1280x960 — I love the lighting for this picture! My aunt figured out how to get my camera off auto-ISO, and now I can truly be on the Maunual setting! Hooray!

My grandparents gave me this handy camera bag. It’s really neat because the compartments are attached with Velcro, so you can readjust them however you like!

They also gave me… The Keeper of the Lost Cities series! YAYAYAYAY! 😀 (Well actually Megan got half and I got half.) I’ve finished the first three so far, and they’re sooo exciting! Thank you, Clara, for introducing them to us. 🙂

And they gave me this cute little blank journal for Bible journaling. (I wrote the words with my erasable gel pen – more on that later.)

My cousins gave me even more lovely watercolor paper! (The Arches pad is from my parents, and the rest are from my cousins.) It’s so nice to have good watercolor paper to work with. *Happy sigh*

These next two things are from my stocking: One is this pair of cozy Cabin socks. My friend also gave me some fuzzy socks, and I am quite pleased. 😀 I LOVE FUZZY THINGS!

dsc_0836-1280x853 — Purple + Fuzzy = ♥ Oh, and the cozy pajamas are from my parents too. 😉

The other is a couple of erasable gel pens I showed you in this post. And guess what? They really do work! It’s pretty amazing. See?

dsc_0891-1280x960 — It does leave a little bit of a mark behind if you press down hard. But when you just write with it lightly, it erases almost perfectly!

Phew, that was quite a long post, but I hope you enjoyed it! What was your favorite thing you got for Christmas? I hope you all had a wonderful Christmastime enjoying being with your family and opening gifts and thanking God for the greatest gift of all: Jesus. ♥

***Allison***

P. S. Be watching for my end-of-the-year post! I hope to schedule it for 12:00 tomorrow night. 🙂 I can’t believe it’s almost 2017!!

Merry Christmas to All! :D

December 24, 2016December 24, 2016 | Allison

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!

Flashbacks + Christmasy Photos

December 7, 2016December 7, 2016 | Allison

Hej! 😀 (That’s hello in Swedish. Just wanted to make sure you’re alive and watching for typos.)

Ahem.

On my survey, one of the post suggestions was flashbacks, and I thought that would be a good idea. I’ve gotten so many new followers lately who have missed out on all of the wonderful, long-ago posts I did. Heh heh. XD

Anyway, since I can’t hardly bring myself to post just a page full of links, I sprinkled in some Christmas photos for good measure. Warning: do not judge my photography by these photos. XD Hee hee, some of them aren’t the best quality, but I think they’re neat anyway. 😉 Maybe next year I will have some stunning Christmas tree photography to show you, because by then I’m sure I’ll be an expert at my camera. 😛

*****

dsc_0230-1280x853 — We got our Christmas tree last Saturday! It took us forever, and the one we decided on was rather smaller than usual, but it was fun nonetheless. 🙂 Plus it looks pretty cute in our living room.

I really like this photoshoot I did last year. Click here to see some warm and summery pictures from a May walk.

dsc_0238-1280x853 — I absolutely LOVE the bokeh in this picture, even though the picture itself isn’t that great of quality.

Ah yes, good ol’ Chopped. We still play this game sometimes. Click here to read “Chopped!”, a fun cooking game for kids. Let me tell you, sometimes the cooks’ entries are rather… how shall we say it… interesting. XD But fun. Always fun.

I’m still proud of this post. I just love how the pictures turned out! Click here to see “The Beauty of a Dandelion.”

dsc_0263-1280x853 — Our friends gave us this adorable acorn ornament.

I love this place! Click here to read about one of my favorite places on our farm.

dsc_0265-1280x853 — We made these fun button ornaments one year. For some reason I really like buttons. XD

I remember when we found this! It was pretty amazing to find a real bee tree. Click here to see a few pictures of a bee tree we found last year.

dsc_0268-1280x853-2 — Christmas trees just wouldn’t be Christmas trees without lights, right?

SQUEEE! Lily was so TINY! Click here to read about my bunny Lily when she was just a wee fluff.

dsc_0266-1280x853 — Another handmade ornament…

It was amazing to get to see this little guy turn into a chrysalis before our eyes. Click here to watch a swallowtail caterpillar transform.

dsc_0273-1280x853 — Now this one is NOT handmade. XD

This was fun! Click here to read about “The Great Hot Air Balloon Chase.”

Ooh, I should make one of these again. Click here to see how to make a creative, personalized card.

We find so many weird eggs in our chicken houses. Click here to read about some of them. (By the way, that reminds me of a thing I saw a thing on Pinterest about a farmer finding a whole egg inside of an egg. Pshaw, we’ve found a bunch of those. XD )

SO SQUISHY! Click here to see a little photoshoot of a bear I made for a friend.

dsc_0299-1280x853 — Maybe it’s playing “Joy to the World…”

And last but not least, a review of 2015 with LOTS of photos included. I’m planning on making a post like this for 2016 too. If I thought last year was a big year, what about this year?! This year was huge! Anyway, click here to see read a review of 2015. (Guys, it’s almost 2017 already. WUT?!)

*****

I hope you enjoyed this post, and had fun browsing through the links. 🙂 Do you get a Christmas tree? Do you cut your own, buy one from a store, or set up an artificial tree? We always cut ours down from a tree farm. *Happy sigh* So fun! 😀

***Allison***

P. S. I just discovered that a.) the little twisty thing on my camera is a focus ring, and b.) IT WORKS! My old camera didn’t have a focus ring, and at first I was kind of disappointed that my new one didn’t seem to be focusing very well. Oops. Heh heh. Nowwwww, I get it. XD

10+ Creative Gift Ideas for Girls

December 2, 2016December 2, 2016 | Allison

Halloo, everyone! 😀

Since the holiday season coming up (SO SOON, right?!), I decided to make a gift guide, just for fun. 🙂 I wanted this to be more of a creative, unique gift guide, not just your ordinary bath bombs and bracelets, you know? I organized each section into related gifts – so you can give a book lover the whole package or just pick a few things. Also, you can click on each picture to go to its listing for more information. Are you ready?

Bath & Beauty

A pretty bar of soap is nice, but not very unique, right? Enter Soap Rocks! These beautiful gem-like soaps would make a great small gift or stocking-stuffer.

This is not your run-of-the-mill necklace: how cute is the real-live succulent pendant? Yep, there’s an actual plant growing in there!

Clinging earrings are so fun – and adorable too! You can also break out the polymer clay and DIY them if you want.

Books

Instead of just giving them a book, get creative and pair the book(s) on their wishlist with these fun add-ons:

A funny-but-true “Book Dragon” mug + their favorite hot drink (a package of coffee, a sampler of tea, or a hot chocolate mix)

$Book Lover Mug \ Mugs With Quotes by Vitazi Kitchenware, 11 oz Ceramic Coffee Mug - I Am a Book Dragon Not a Worm - Bookworm Gift (Black)$

And a super-fuzzy blanket for maximum coziness while reading.

If they love books but don’t know what to read next, here are a few suggestions: (search for them on Amazon)

The Mysterious Benedict Society Series by Trenton Lee Stewart – one of my favorite series! Four kids embark on a mysterious mission to save the world that involves tricky riddles, quirky characters, and lots of suspense! (That was a lousy summary – trust me, you just need to read the books. XD )
Keeper of the Lost Cities Series by Shannon Messenger – now I have to say that so far I’ve only read the first book, but I really enjoyed it! At the age of five Sophie Foster discovers she can hear other people’s thoughts, and she has no idea why. One day she meets a boy who explains everything – and from then on Sophie’s life is turned upside down. She uncovers bits of her surprising past and works hard to save the future while struggling to keep up in a world that is in many ways the opposite of her own – a land populated with elves, where magic is as real as the danger that threatens them all.
The Green Ember by S. D. Smith – I’ve heard great things about this book, and I really want to read it! I haven’t read it yet, so I don’t know in depth what it’s about (other than rabbits and adventure), but the Amazon listing and reviews should give you an idea. 😉

Photography

Camera strap scarves come in myriads of designs. Shop around for one that fits her style!

Or you could buy an actual camera! Isn’t this little guy a cutie? Just a note: make sure to add some compatible film to your gift so she can actually use it. 😉

Check out these cute photography tote bags to hold all the photo goodies! (There are a bunch of other designs on this site as well.)

Crafts

The listing says this sweet little sheep is a great needle felting kit for beginners. Is she not the cutest thing? ♥ I just want to squeeze her!

I absolutely love creating fairy gardens! There are so many great kits to choose from, but here is just one cute one I found. It’s also a lot of fun to put together your own fairy garden kit – craft stores such as Hobby Lobby and Michaels have adorable miniatures, dried moss, and pretty containers to pick out.

Art

This book is filled with super creative (and often hilarious) art prompts that will get you moving as well as drawing! There is tons of inspiration on Pinterest for this type of journal as well.

Coloring books are all the rage, and why not? It’s both relaxing and satisfying to work on. But chances are, if she likes coloring, she already has an adult coloring book (or two or three), so a coloring calendar is a fun alternate option. She can create art throughout the year while making something beautiful to hang on her wall.

Writing

This writing journal is great for busting that writer’s block. It’s chock full of creative writing prompts, from funny to thought-provoking.

Pair the writing prompt journal with these amazing erasable gel pens! Yep, you can actually erase the pen marks!

That was a lot of fun to put together, and I hope it gave you some ideas! Which of these things do you like the most?

***Allison***

P. S. As you’ve probably noticed by now, I changed my blog design! I got a new theme and drew the new header. Do you like it? I have plans for the sidebar and pages as well. 😀

A Thankful Post

November 24, 2016November 24, 2016 | Allison

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

How was your Thanksgiving, dear readers? Mine was good so far. We already went to two Thanksgiving dinners this week, and we’re going to another one tonight – with shrimp instead of turkey! Mmmmm! And then we’re going Black Friday shopping! So anyway, I decided to make a thankful post, in case you haven’t noticed. 😉

I’m thankful for…

Jesus
Family
Friends
Pets
Our farm
Our house
Homeschooling
Nature
Seasons
Beautiful days
Sunsets
Colors
Electricity
Phones and computers
Blogging
My camera/Photography
Movies
Art
Good books
Yummy food
Soft things
Surprises
Laughter
Sunshine
Beauty
And countless other blessings

I’m so thankful for each and every one of those things, especially the first 6, but this year I have been especially thankful for all my blogger friends as well. I’ve gotten to know so many wonderful girls including (but definitely not limited to) Grace, Clara, K. A., Hayley, Rebekah, Aria, Christian Homeschooler, Misty, and Josie. I’ve loved reading your sweet comments and posts and letters and emails, having hilarious conversations about ferocious purple hippos and whatever-it’s-called-where-a-word-is-spelled-the-same-backwards-and-forwards, and even meeting one of you in real life! I’ve made so many wonderful memories with you guys, and I’m sure we’ll make so many more. ♥ Thank you as well to each of my dear readers for all your lovely feedback and, well, for reading my blog. 😀 I love you guys! ♥

Have a lovely day, dear readers!

***Allison***

Sisters Q&A: Part 3

October 31, 2016October 31, 2016 | Allison

It’s been awhile since the last part of Sisters Q&A – I wonder who will win this time! (You can read my guesses for Megan HERE. 🙂 )

*****

ajayiq

Coffee or Tea?

Guess: Well, she doesn’t really drink either… She likes the smell of coffee, but not the taste. I’d guess… tea.

Answer: I guess tea, but I could definitely learn to like coffee – I just don’t think it’s worth it because then I’d have to buy it to drink every morning. XD

Clara

If you had to dye your hair a really bright/crazy color, what color would you choose?

Guess: Umm… Purple?

Answer: Purple, but I don’t think I would ever dye my hair a bright, crazy color. XD

Favorite book?

Guess: The Mysterious Benedict Society!

Answer: The Mysterious Benedict Society! Guys, did you know Trenton Lee Stewart is releasing a new book called The Secret Keepers? O.o

How many pets have you had in your life?

Guess: Five?? Counting fish, that is. 🙂

Answer: Do you mean personal pets or family pets? If you mean personal pets, I think I’ve had three: Honeybunny, Willow, and Lily. I still have Willow and Lily, of course. ♥ Well, I guess I did have fish and crayfish, but…

Do you like gathering eggs? 😀

Guess: Nope!

Answer: Well duh, who wouldn’t? I wouldn’t, that’s who. XD I don’t like gathering eggs, nope, no way. Although at least we get paid…

How old were you when you learned to swim?

Guess: Six, I think.

Answer: 7? We didn’t use to swim very much except on vacations, but now we go to our neighbor’s pool a lot during summer.

Grace (The Girl Upstairs)

What’s your favorite farm animal?

Guess: That we own? Rabbits, if they count and if not, then cows.

Answer: Do bunnies count? Aw, shucks. Well then, I guess cows/calves because our chickens are rawther boring. 😉

What’s your least favorite farm chore?

Guess: Gathering eggs. (OH MY GOODNESS! Guys, I even got the emoji right. Do I get a bonus point? XD ~Megan)

Answer: Gathering eggs.

What clay creation is your favorite?

Guess: Probably her purple dragon.

Answer: Ahh, that’s a hard one! Maybe this dragon? I also really like my gnome house (at the end of this post), the custom owl at the beginning of this post, and the custom dog figurines I’ve made for people.

If you could change your hair and eye color, what would you change it to?

Guess: Maybe blond hair and… blue eyes? Maybe?

Answer: I like my hair color just the way it is, although I might make it all as light as the end of it is. 🙂 If I could change my eye color, I’d change it to violet/indigo, but since that’s not common at all, I’d probably change it to blue.

What’s your favorite book?

Guess: What she’s going to say. XD (The Mysterious Benedict Society)

Answer: Once again, The Mysterious Benedict Society series!

Who is your role model?

Guess: Jesus. 😉 I don’t know if she has a human role model…

Answer: Jesus. 🙂

CutePolarBear

If you could add another pet to your farm, what would it be?

Guess: Hmm. I don’t know what she’d want. Maybe a really cute nice rabbit? XD Or some exotic animal like a fawn (okay, not exotic, but out of the ordinary) or a panda. 😛

Answer: Maybe a cute wittle hedgehog – if it was tame!

Of what color are most of your clothes?

Guess: Light pink and white.

Answer: You know, it’s funny. It seems like every year I accidentally get clothes of mostly one color or style, though it changes from year to year. XD Right now I actually have pretty varied colors, but mainly blue, white, and pink, and of those: pink.

Do you expect to go to college? For what?

Guess: I don’t think so…

Answer: Right now I’m thinking I might just take a few classes (maybe Business and/or Art), but I doubt I’ll do the whole thing because it’s just so expensive, especially if you end up not using the things you learned! That’s why I might pick just a few specific classes that I think I will use later in life.

Do you write in a diary?

Guess: Nope.

Answer: Nope, unless my blog counts!

Do you like swimming laps or playing a game in the pool more?

Guess: Probably playing a game, but she also likes floating on our huge inner tube! 😛

Answer: Probably playing a game because swimming laps gets tiring after a while. 🙂

Do you have a tendency to leave things around the house or yard or room or wherever they don’t belong?

Guess: No, not really.

Answer: Not really, although I don’t clean up every single thing I get out right away. But generally I’m pretty tidy. 😀

When you go to sleep at night, do you try your very best to keep the bed all neat and nice?

Guess: Not necessarily, no.

Answer: Well I don’t really try one way or another, but yeah, I suppose so. I don’t like having to remake the entire bed.

*******

And the winner is… BOTH OF US! We tied!

I hope you enjoyed this post, dear readers. 😀 Have a wondermous day!

***Allison***

Allison Marie

Photography, Artsy Things, & Lifestyle Inspiration

Random

How to Edit Photos, Part 1: The Basics

Introduction

Basic Edits

Using Your Tools

How to Fix an Over-Exposed Photo

How to Whiten a Photo

Sister’s Q&A, Part 4

Farewell, 2016 { A Year in Review }

~{ Life }~

~{ Blog }~

Favorite Posts from A Farm Girl’s Life: (click on the picture to visit the post)

AWWC Challenge 2: Waiting

A Few Favorite 2016 Posts from the Blogisphere:

New Year’s Resolutions:

Christmas Things, 2016

~ Giving ~

~ Receiving ~

Merry Christmas to All! :D

Flashbacks + Christmasy Photos

10+ Creative Gift Ideas for Girls

Bath & Beauty

Books

Photography

Crafts

Art

Writing

A Thankful Post

Sisters Q&A: Part 3

Introduction

Basic Edits

Using Your Tools

How to Fix an Over-Exposed Photo

How to Whiten a Photo

Share this on:

Share this on:

~{ Life }~

~{ Blog }~

Favorite Posts from A Farm Girl’s Life: (click on the picture to visit the post)

AWWC Challenge 2: Waiting

A Few Favorite 2016 Posts from the Blogisphere:

New Year’s Resolutions:

Share this on:

~ Giving ~

~ Receiving ~

Share this on:

Share this on:

Share this on:

Bath & Beauty

Books

Photography

Crafts

Art

Writing

Share this on:

Share this on:

Share this on: