Raindrops {Photo Dump} + A Favor?

July 31, 2017 | Allison

Some days I step outside, look around, and go right back in for my camera because it’s too beautiful not to. I love just walking around, taking pictures of the little beauties I find. Because that’s how to be a good photographer, you know. You have to go looking for photo opportunities, not just wait for them to find you.

Sometimes the best photos are of the little things no one else takes time to notice. I like to think that through your camera lens, anything can be beautiful. ♥ Even thorns.

I love how these pictures turned out! Who knew raindrops on asparagus plants could look so neat? 😀

Beautiful zinnias…

I’m a little proud of these next pictures. XD I just LOVE how the raindrops reflect color onto the Japanese beetles!

Sparrows on a barn roof. 🙂

Phew, that was a lot of pictures! I hope you enjoyed them, dears. 🙂

BUT WAIT! Before you go, could you do me a favor? I’m entering some photographs in our county fair, but I can’t decide which of these to enter in each category. Would you mind voting for your favorites in the comments?

Wildlife:

Should I do…

1. The butterfly?

2. The snail?

Rural _________

1. Mountain?

2. Golden dust? XD

3. Fall evening?

People:

1: My dad?

2. My sister? (I would crop and edit this a little bit more.)

Landscape:

Should I do this sunset…

Or one of the Rural ______ ones?

Thank you guys so much!

Would you like to see a post of the rest of the pictures/items I’m entering in the fair?

Do you like photographing little things and raindrops?

***Allison***

Return of the Random Photos

July 6, 2017July 7, 2017 | Allison

My extra photos are piling up again, so I guess that means it’s time for another random photography post! 🙂 YAY! I hope you enjoy!

Aren’t these clouds lovely? ♥

We found this rather odd-looking bird and figured out it was a chimney swift. I think he’s quite weird. XD

I got these next few photos when we all went for a ride in Dad’s pickup to go check some fields and see how the soybeans were growing. (Sadly, they weren’t coming along very well, but Dad replanted them – twice – and now they’re doing fine, I think. 🙂 )

I love the view of our farm from this hill. ♥ Sooooooo pretty!

Aren’t mountains beautiful?

My little sister Carmen, holding a barn kitten we named Truffle:

This is a pretty edit I did of a huge, puffy pink cloud.

One day we studied ladybugs in Nature Study and went out to search for them in an alfalfa field. It was kind of hard to get pictures, but I got a few neat ones. My friend got an amazing one of a ladybug eating an aphid! But sadly, I did not. 😦 😉

I really like ladybugs, but I have to admit – they look a little creepy when you put dozens of them in a jar. XD

These are the kind of bouquets I made to decorate tables for a church potluck in May. It was supposed to be a “Farmer’s Market” theme, so I used a bunch of different stuff from our farm and garden. I think they turned out pretty well, and I love how this picture turned out too!

Hee hee, well this is random. XD We made the BEST playdough ever (seriously – it is!), just for fun one day when my friend came over. It hardly feels like playdough at all, it’s so soft and silky and stretchy. (Wow, alliteration skills. XD ) You can see the recipe here.

Another VERY random photo. 😛 I was going to do a mystery picture of a clementine, but it didn’t turn out. I decided to keep the photo, though, because for some reason I like it.

Lilies are gorgeous, and so photogenic, aren’t they?!

Okay guys, you are going to LOVE this! We’ve been feeding our neighbors’ kittens while they’re on vacation, and they are the sweetest, prettiest little things!

Look at those eyes! ♥♥

Our neighbor has a wonderful in-ground pool that she so generously lets us use pretty much whenever we want! I thought the clouds looked really neat that day, so logically, I took pictures. XD

Ahh, I LOVE this picture! The water looks so bright and clear and… almost plastic-y. XD

Mimosa tree photography…

It looks like someone climbed the tree and threw a rope into the clouds so they could climb up. 😀

Hee hee, Megan jumping:

We shall end with one hilarious picture. My cousin said this looked like a whale farting. XD XD XD

Well, I hope you enjoyed scrolling through those pictures, my dears! Do you have a favorite?

Thanks for reading!

***Allison***

P. S. Guess what?! My sister Megan wrote the next part of WordCrafters, and it’s GREAT! You can read it on the WordCrafters 3 page here.

Miscellaneous Photography

May 31, 2017 | Allison

Okay, maybe I can finally get on top of my extra photos here! I decided to be brave and just heap them all into one post. XD

Fishing

The kids love going fishing at our uncle’s pond where I got some rather funny pictures. XD

HA HA!

This rather formidable looking fish is a bass I caught. 🙂

This dog always follows us around, trying to catch our hooks and stuff. But he is rather cute in pictures, wouldn’t you say?

Dandelions

I know, even more dandelions. XD But I found out that they actually look really pretty in a bouquet if you pick the nicest, roundest ones. See?

Whipped Cream Fight

We had a whipped cream fight with our friends, but I mostly stayed back and took pictures because it looked really sticky. Heh heh. Shaving cream fights are SUPER fun, but the whipped cream fights… not quite as much.

Birthday Cake

My mom always makes birthday cakes for the kids, customized to their request. I had sort of an art themed party so I wanted an art themed cake. We looked up some things on Pinterest and found an idea for a watercolor cake! It’s actually pretty simple: just dab some blobs of different colored icing on the side and smear them together. (Of course, it’s a bit more complicated than that in practice, but you know… 😛 ) I helped finish it off with the pearls. Isn’t it GORGEOUS! This is probably my favorite of all the cakes I’ve had!

Bunnies

Hee hee, we like to take our bunnies out and play with them outside sometimes. That night we all got in a circle and let some of the bunnies hop around. So much fun!

Oh, and I have some very sad news. Clementine, that little brown bunny down there, is gone. Somehow Maggie, our dog, got her and killed her. NOOOOOO! *SNIFF* Rest in peace, little Clemmie. ♥

Flowers

I do the decorations for our church’s tables, and I thought these bouquets turned out really pretty. 🙂

I especially love these floating peonies! Sooo pretty and fluffy!

Little Felted Rabbit

I recently just discovered needle felting. I think it’s really neat, but I haven’t made much yet besides this tiny bunny. 🙂

Baby Killdeer

They hatched! Aww, look at the fluffy things!

We also found another nest. (The mother laid more eggs after this.)

Farm Photography

I saved the best for last. 🙂 I just LOVE these pictures!

This is kind of an abstract (a.k.a blurry) photo, but the BOKEH. The sun was shining off the windows of a little church on the hill and it looked really neat!

AHH I LOVE THIS ONE!!

Aww, Maggie.

Ahhh, it feels good to clean out my photo stash, for a little while at least. 🙂 I hope you enjoyed these pictures! Which category was your favorite?

***Allison***

Dandelion Days

May 29, 2017May 29, 2017 | Allison

Dandelion season is pretty much over now, but I still haven’t posted these photos. I am WAY behind with all the things I want to post. XD But too many ideas is better than no ideas, right? Right.

Anyway, I took these pictures when we went on a nature walk with our friends. It was such a beautiful spring day. Look at all the sunshine!

The bee was feasting on these vetch blossom. Looks yummy! XD

And now we get to the dandelion part. LOOK at all those dandelions! One corner of the field was absolutely covered in them! I’ve never seen so many dandelions in one place. O.o

Megan kindly obliged and blew some dandelions for a mini photoshoot.

I love this one! ↓

Heh heh, it looks like she’s going to eat it.

XD XD XD

Ahh, I think dandelions are so pretty, don’t you?

The kids decided to have a dandelion contest: whoever found the dandelion with the longest stalk won. It was super fun to pick out the tall ones – some of the dandelions growing in the fields were two feet tall!

The little girls are so cute together. ♥

This is the lane that leads to my grandparent’s house. (They live just up the road from us.) Isn’t it so pretty with that huge old oak in the front?

Ahhh I love this maple in our front yard. It’s enormous and beautiful:)

Well, that’s about it for today! Which picture was your favorite? Does a dandelion contest sound fun?

I hope you enjoyed the post and thanks for reading, my dears. ♥

***Allison***

Mountain Hike {Photo Dump}

May 18, 2017 | Allison

Yesterday we went on a beautiful hike in the mountains with our friends. It was tiring, but so fun! Plus there was a stream and a waterfall, so that automatically makes it a good trail. 🙂 I took ~~quite a few~~ absolutely TONS of pictures, so do some finger exercises, get comfortable, and start scrolling. 😛

Such a beautiful view, don’t you agree?

Ahh, so sunny. ♥

Beautiful ferns…

We’ve seen these weird corncob-like fungi before, but I don’t know what they’re called. We probably looked it up but then I forgot. XD

There were a bunch of mini cascades and waterfalls like this before we got to the big one.

A few people pictures: 😀

The kids were splashing rocks into a little pool and I got some really neat pictures with fast shutter speed. 🙂

I love how clear the water was!

Ahhh isn’t this waterfall GORGEOUS?!

I love the next picture, even though it sort of looks like Megan’s holding up the fallen log with her head. XD

Ha ha, my brother Jeff was climbing all over the place.

The fallen log kind of got in the way of the pictures, although it looked neat, too.

If you wade to the other end of the waterfall you find another, much steeper and narrower one. It’s basically just a shoot of white water.

BOKEH!

Aww, look at the cute little millipede. XD

Trying out my new lens on some flowers here…

Ohhh it was a gorgeous day, and the sun shining through the new leaves was just too pretty!

My little sister and her friend are so cute together. ♥

As we were driving back, I got a few good shots out the window. (Surprisingly, it worked a lot better when I rolled the window down. 😛 XD )

AHHH I absolutely LOVE this next photo! I love all the layers and shades. ♥

*Gasp* Okay Allison, maybe you went a bit too far this time. O.o I applaud you if you persevered to the end and actually looked at most of the pictures. XD I hope it wasn’t too strenuous of a journey. But wasn’t the waterfall gorgeous? And the mountains? Ahhh, it makes my heart happy. ♥

Have a lovely day, lovely people!

***Allison***

Sisters Photoshoot #2

May 11, 2017May 11, 2017 | Allison

A little while ago Megan and I decided to do another sister’s photoshoot! (See the first one here. Oh yeah, she’s gotten contacts since then!) I don’t take pictures of people very often, so I thought it would give me good practice, and not to mention Sisters Photoshoots are really fun. 😀 They are certainly not the best portraits ever, but I had fun experimenting and I thought I’d show you guys the results. 🙂

Megan wanted me to get some pictures of her in a tree with the golden sun shining through the leaves, so I did… but they didn’t turn out quite as golden as it seemed like it should. XD

This is a random photo I took of Megan for a co-op thing. :

I really like this picture! I took it when we were on a nature walk when I also got a lot more pictures, so I’ll hopefully post those soon. Dandelions are so fun!

Ha ha, I *think* I caught Megan when she wasn’t looking. 😉

She was certainly looking here! ~~No, I just scared her and she jumped. XD~~ I love taking jumping pictures! Apparently Megan does too. XD

After that, Megan took some pictures of me. I was inspired by Loren’s gorgeous post to make a crimson clover flower crown. 😀 Heh heh, it was a bit too sunny so I’m squinting a bit and my smile looks kind of pained, but otherwise I like these pictures. XD XD XD I’ll keep trying… 😛

After that I took some pictures of myself with the timer on my camera, since I don’t have a remote. I kept running back and forth until I wore a path in the triticale field (and got my capris rather green). XD

I did get one that I liked enough to be my profile picture, as you might have noticed.

There we are! I hope you enjoyed these photos. 🙂 Do you like taking pictures of people?

***Allison***

P. S. Well, I am officially 17. I feel old. XD And I had a wonderful birthday, thanks so much for asking! 😀 Would you guys like to see a “haul” post? (Ugh, I really don’t like that name for some reason, so I shall change the title if I do it. 😛 ) This feels like an awkward ending now so… um, thanks for reading. XD

Twilight Photoshoot

March 22, 2017March 22, 2017 | Allison

Hello, my friends and readers! How are you all today? Good, I hope!

Since I just posted some wintry photos, I wanted to post some springy photos today. 🙂 March is so flighty…

I actually got a several photos in the afternoon, not just at twilight… but hey, I had to name this post something! XD

I love how emerald green the triticale fields look in the sun! ♥ It makes me happy. 😀

DSC_0502 (1280x853) — This is an alfalfa field… just in case you were wondering. 😉

Maggie explored happily beside me while I took pictures. 😀

edit 7 (1280x853) — Hee hee, Maggie looks so noble. XD

And NOW we get to the twilight pictures. 😉

DSC_0601 (853x1280) — Ahh…♥ Probably my favorite picture in this post!

Megan and I did a little mini Sister’s Photoshoot, but I didn’t get very many good pictures because it was a bit too dark. 😦

Megan and I also had fun taking forced perspective photos of the moon. 😀

See you later, my friends! I hope you enjoyed this post!

***Allison***

P. S. Eeee! Guess what my next post (hopefully) will be about? The last chapter of WordCrafters 2! YAAAAAY! I’m so excited to show it to you guys!

A Little Winter Walk {the Second}

January 18, 2017 | Allison

I took my camera along today for our nature study walk and got some pretty pictures of moss and farm scenery and sister’s eyes and such to show you guys. 🙂 Enjoy!

Note: I don’t always edit my pictures, but I did edit most of them this time – and it was a lot of fun!

walk-2-1280x853 — Doesn’t this look a little like a city skyline?

I’m kinda fascinated with eyes. They’re so beautiful and unique! This is my sister Megan’s eye:

walk-5-1280x960 — I love this picture so much! The angle makes her eye look especially large and dramatic – and pretty. 😀

walk-6-1280x853 — What do you think this thing is? Believe it or not, it’s actually a praying mantis nest! Come springtime a bunch of little babies should hatch out. 🙂

walk-11-1280x853 — My friend kindly allowed me to take a picture of her!

walk-12 — I used the miniature effect on PicMonkey for this photo.

I loooove moss. The vibrant, cheery color just makes my heart happy. ♥

walk-21-1280x853 — My friend found quite a large mushroom. O.o

I hope that brought some sunshine into your day! 😀 Which picture was your favorite?

As always, thank you so much for reading, and have a lovely day (or night). ♥

***Allison***

P. S. WordCrafters 2 is underway once again! Bella, (from Many Marigolds) it’s your turn to write a chapter! 😀

How to Sled Without Snow

December 27, 2016 | Allison

I hope you guys had an excellent Christmas! And I had a wonderful Christmas – thank you for asking! 😉 I can’t believe it’s already over, but we still have two Christmas parties to go to, so I guess it isn’t really…

Ahem. Onto the post. The other day Megan and Carmen and my cousin and I went sledding, and it was so much fun! But the other detail you need to know is that there was zero snow on the ground.

So, are you puzzled, bewildered, and otherwise confused? Or did the featured image give it away? Oh bother. XD

Well, there’s this pile of fluff a.k.a. cotton seeds in one of our barns, and it turns out its excellent for sledding on! It’s packable like snow, but not nearly as cold. 😉 (If you would like to learn more about the cotton pile, click here.)

There happens to be quite a large, steep pile in the barn at the moment, which is perfect for sledding.

dsc_0756-1280x853 — I love the manual aperture option on my new camera because I can blurr backgrounds like this! ♥

While we were sledding I got several funny pictures and only like two great ones. We made up a bunch of different “moves” like riding backwards with your eyes closed, or going down on your stomach versus sitting up or laying down, etc. It was like a mini roller coaster ride! The one variation that was hardest to master was sitting “sidesaddle.” Everyone who tried it flipped off and crashed except for my little sister Carmen – probably because she was the lightest. XD

cotton-pile-2 — Super blurry but in kind of a neat way. Ha ha, look at Carmen’s expression. XD XD

dsc_0766-1280x960 — This is probably my favorite picture! Carmen kind of slid off the sled on her way down… XD

dsc_0769-1280x853 — And apparently so did Megan…

dsc_0770-1280x853 — There we go. Much better. Ha ha, her expression! XD

Before we sledded (slid? slided?) my sister Megan and I went over to inspect some pigeons sitting on the haybales across the room. One poor little bird was so scared it let Megan pick him up, so I got some fairly close-up pictures. Pigeons have actually a pretty neat feather pattern, but their eyes are weird. XD And not to mention they’re messy…

dsc_0738-1280x853 — Somehow I think this looks kind of pretty – kind of soft, if you know what I mean. Or maybe not…

dsc_0749-1280x853 — That is one creepy stare. XD

dsc_0750-1280x853 — Megan will pretty much pick up any animal, be it bug, bird, or beast. 😛

dsc_0753-1280x853 — Poor thing, it was so scared. But don’t worry, we let it go after we finished taking pictures.

Have you gone sledding for real yet? Does sledding in the cotton pile look like a fun substitute?

***Allison***

P. S. I have a bunch of posts I ~~need~~ want to post. XD There’s a Christmas post with the gifts I made and the gifts I received, a post with a collection of some of my recent art, another post about these adorable kittens, and a year-in-review post! 😀 Which one of those are you looking forward to the most?