A day by the pool

Wow, July arrived much sooner than I expected. Since this year college ended two weeks later than usual, I feel like summer is flying by much quicker. I've already made peace with the fact that won't be able to do all the things and write all the posts I would like to. Luckily, since next year I only have to take 3 classes, I will manage to find some time to post. 

This post is a bit unexpected, and it's not what I had planned to post next. I had planned a part 2 of my Dolls in a pool post, with an idea that I had had in mind for a few months. Unfortunately, it didn't work out and the photos didn't look very good, so I had to scratch that. Since I woke up with a headache a couple of times, I decided to take things slowly and a couple of "me days" to avoid getting sick (I usually get a bit sick right after college, due to the stress). Therefore, I hadn't been working on anything else. I was planning on doing a craft/ photo background type of post later on this summer, but I hadn't even started, plus I hadn't even unboxed my craft supplies (and I couldn't find them). I was going to start working on it during the weekend, and have it up as soon as I could, while trying to think on what to do next. But things took a turn when Mr. Monster and I got the opportunity to expend the afternoon at a beautiful house that has a garden and... a pool! So, I guess it's still going to be a "dolls in a pool" type of post. 

So, a little backstory, my sister-in-law is staying this summer in this beautiful house that's not very far from where we live. She told Mr. Monster that we could go over to take a bath and take some dolly pics. I'm going to be honest, I wasn't thrilled about the "take a bath" part of the invitation, but having the chance to take outdoor doll photos without having to worry about other people passing by was an opportunity that I couldn't miss. So, we packed a bunch of dolls, and got there, ready to take some dolly pics.

It was a really windy day, so taking pics of the dolls inside the pool was a bit tricky. Mr. Monster tried to help from inside the pool, but as soon as he stopped holding the doll, she would go adrift. In this pic, I'm sitting on the steps of the pool, trying to hold her still from her feet. Also, because of the sun position, I couldn't see my phone camera, so I didn't really know what I was taking pics of. 

Because it was so hard to take pics with the dolls inside the pool, I took some of the dolls next to it. For those of you curious about the floaties, they're from a Spanish retailer called Ale-Hop. I don't think they have stores outside Spain, but they're quite similar to the FlyingTiger stores. 

I also took the opportunity to take some photos around the garden. It's a huge garden, with a big variety of plants and trees, so I managed to take quite diverse pics. 

Because of the wind, making the dolls stand on their own was  quite a challenge, but I managed to take a few. I used a wooden dowel to help the dolls stand on their own. I pulled it into the soil and then tried to make the doll balance against it.

Despite the wind not being my friend in some pics, it also helped me to take some beautiful pics like this one from Victoria.

My sister-in-law also has a baby cat who's just a few months old. Apparently, he was very intrigued by the dolls and followed me part of the time. He also makes an appearance in some  photos.

Spot the cat

Overall, I'm quite happy with the photos I managed to take. I wish the pool photos were a bit better, but neither the wind nor the sun were my friends. We've spoken about going again in a couple of weeks, this time in the morning, hoping that, at least, it won't be so windy then. Will try to do better next time. 

I'm planning on doing a craft/ photo background type of post next, which I will try to have up in a couple of weeks. I hope that one works out, if not I will have to find out something else to write about. I'm also thinking on start a series of "random photos" posts. I do take a lot of photos for Instagram and, since not everyone has an account, I think it could be a way to share those photos here, as well as those that I edit but never post anywhere. I could talk about the inspiration behind the pics and show a bit of the "behind the scenes", despite the post not having a specific "theme" to it. A fellow blogger named Lily gave me the idea, as she also does something similar on her blog. 

I hope you're all doing well and coping as well as you can with this pandemic summer. As usual, let me know what you think in the comment section below, as well is you have ideas or suggestions for future posts. I definitely want to post content that enjoy writing about, but also content that my readers could have an interest in. 

Take care.

Monster Crafts. 

Ps. I made the teal chair years ago following this tutorial from My Froggy Stuff. 

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The great outdoors.