okay, so what else do you want?

According to the poll...

Seven of you want tutorials.

Twelve of you want giveaways.

Twelve of you want photos+photography tips.

Sixteen of you want doll posts. :)

Eleven of you want room redecoration tips and such.

And two of you want one or more unknown things.

Okay. So be looking forward to some fun posts here soon. 'Kay? :)

And to those of you who want something else... Please comment! ;)

Something really important + an update

I have to say this because I may forget sooner. I know that many of you online girls use Picasa to share your photos. Well, there's a creep lurking around there leaving very improper comments, or just weird comments. His page has improper photos on it, so do not click on it whatever you do.

Please block him and delete all his comments. It'd be a big help.

Thanks.

And the update? My username, everywhere, is now Hazel, because of that. Please call me Hazel from now on. Please. Thanks.









PS. Thanks, Lena, for giving me this info.

felicity's special photoshoot

Yesterday, Felicity had a special photoshoot.

(Wondering why it was special? That'll be mentioned later in the post. ;))

warning - this is a picture-loaded post

Oh, and please excuse the bad photo quality/sideways photos/useless photos/ etc.

Couldn't help edit the original version... Hehe.

She was singing a lot of the time. :]

Again, sorry for the photo quality... I don't know if there's a ton I can do about that. I'm trying to fix it, though.

Oh - wondering why this is a special photo-shoot?? ;) Well, for the first time in her life, Lissie wore modern clothes without having to sneak around in 'em. I asked her if she wanted to wear modern clothes (;)), and Julie popped out from nowhere and said, "Say yes. For once in your life, be normal." Heh.

Well, you can't have everything in life, and that includes nice-and-not-nosy sisters. And now I'm quoting a Harry Potter character - sorta (if you don't count the sisters part). I started reading the series Sunday the eighteenth or something (not this last Sunday, the Sunday before), and am halfway through book three. And am loving it. ;)

Well, I suppose I shall be going. Which photos were your favorites? Do tell! :)

i feel bad...

...just because I haven't done "One Photo a Week" in forever. Please forgive me, okay?

Anyway, I'm going to try to start doing this every Monday or Tuesday or so, because then I won't tell myself on Monday that I'll do it on Tuesday then I'll have a schedule to stick to.

Okay. So this week's (overdue) photo is...

 ...of Molly.

I know, it's kinda lame, but you can't resist that sweetness in her face, right? Yes, I know, the photo quality is still kinda poor -- so here's what I'm going to do to spruce it up...

{click on any photo to enlarge}

 Okay, so here we are with our base image in GIMP (also termed as the "Free Photoshop").

 I went to "Colors" and clicked on the brightness/contrast tool.

 I bumped up the contrast quite a bit and then increased the brightness of the photo very slightly. You don't want to have to bright (or dark, either) a photo.

 Looking better already, right? :)

 Now, there's only one two things I need to add to the photo: an attractive but faded watermark to copyright my photo (just in case ;)), and a fancy focus on just Molly's head. So I went to the toolbox and got out my blur/sharpen tool. (Yes, I know "something" is spelled wrong. It was a typo, okay? ;))

 These were the settings I used for the brush, which I used to blur my photo. :]

Then I went around with a brush and blurred everything around Molly's head, which resulted in...this!

I'm quite proud of it, even though it was a pretty basic edit to start with. ;)

And now, just for fun, here's a before-and-after flashback.

 before

after

Hope y'all have a nice Monday!

why, why, why.

Sometimes I wish I could be another blogger. I want to have five hundred or more followers, and this kind of blog design, and twenty comments on a post with ten words.

But you know what? It's okay to be different. Now, I'm not saying, "Be who you are! Act super weird! Don't be afraid to be different!" Of course not. What I'm saying is that you shouldn't try to be and wish to be like another blogger just because they are popular or because they get lots of attention.

It's okay to get inspiration from other bloggers. As in, you like how they put those colors together and stuff, so you make something a bit similiar. But don't do something just to get attention, okay? Be original! Don't be afraid to be you or to write or talk a certain way.

And all of this goes for non-blogging issues, too. Embrace your your face shape or small nose or whatever. God made you beautiful! You don't have to be super skinny with a face full of makeup, always dressing how the rest of the world dresses. You can be yourself.

"I looked in the mirror
And instead of seeing 
The perfect model I'd dreamed of being
I just saw me
Not exactly a tiny waist
Or a pretty, perfect face
But that's okay
Because I'm me."

The above poem was written entirely by me, and is copyright Hannah Elise. If you want to use it, please ask before touching it. ;)

And no matter what, know to give your insecurities to Jesus and then let them go. You and others will appreciate your being original and not caring what the world thinks of you.

Laylie's Photoshoot

Some time ago, I took Laylie (my A Life of Faith doll) out for a phooshoot. Here are some of the photos that I took:

 All of them are SOOC (straight out of camera).

 Sorry that some of these pictures are sideways...

 Suddenly, Laylie heard the sound of sticks cracking and twigs snapping. She looked up anticpating some sort of horrible danger, but instead saw a deer, running off into the woods. She sighed. "Will I ever have a real adventure?" she asked herself.

This is my shorts fabric.

 I have no idea why I took this photo...

 Isn't her eye just gorgeous?! ;)

 Focused one way...

 ...And focused another way. ;) I like the second way better, how 'bout you? :)

 Her hair... (Again)

 Whoops! Laylie appeared to lose her balance...

 "Oh dear! My petticoats! They're all dirty. Millie will be very unhappy with me!"

The end. :)

Hope you enjoyed the photos!