My Week of Photos - Red on White

For this week of photos with my DSLR, I actually combined two photo challenges. On Easy Camera Lessons, they were focusing on photographing items on a white backdrop. But then I ran across another weekly photography challenge from Dogwood Photography. I chose to concentrate on the week three challenge of photographing red items. So this week's photos are all red items on a white backdrop:

ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/250 sec with 50mm lens

First up, a red book that I have read (I know, funny play on words there!). For this one, I basically draped some white muslin across the floor and up onto an ottoman, placed a book under the muslin on the floor to raise up the red book a bit off the floor, then placed the book away from the back of the fabric to eliminate as much shadow as possible.

ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/500 sec with 50mm lens

I did a bit of baking over the weekend and thought the board with flour made a great white backdrop. So I pulled out my box of cookie cutters and found this red heart.

ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/100 sec with 50mm lens

We had strawberries with our waffles on Sunday morning. But before I started slicing them up, I pulled out a couple sheets of white paper towels to work as my backdrop for this set up. I just draped the paper towels up and over a cup, then set the strawberries away from the backdrop.

ISO 800, f/9.0, 1/50 sec with 50mm lens

For this shot, I placed a white piece of paper on the ground outside, filled the white bowl with red jelly beans, then shot this one from above. I closed down the aperture so you can see the details of the bowl. 

ISO 1600, f/4.0, 1/50 sec with 50mm lens

Red thread and white fabric, almost makes me want to do some redwork embroidery.

ISO 1600, f/3.5, 1/60 sec with 50mm lens

I have been knitting more dishcloths to sell and to have on hand for bridal shower gifts. My red row counter and white yarn made a perfect capture for this last shot of the week.

That wraps up my week of red on white photos. Which one is your favorite?

Have you ever combined two photo challenges in one week?

Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 13

After being under the weather for about a week, I finally had a chance to get back on track with Kathi's Kickstart to Clutter Free challenge. Today's task...eliminate 25 items from your car.

Front seat...yep, my empty Jamba Juice cup that was basically my lunch yesterday after a meeting out of town.

Back seat...a full trash container and a couple of water bottles.

But on closer inspection, once I looked in the glove compartment, the door pouches, the seat pockets, and the middle console, I was amazed at what I found in my car.

Pens, buttons, old paperwork, a power cord that we don't need, an old magazine, extra CDs, card games we don't use any more...I even found someone's missing pair of socks!

I was quickly able to go through what needed to be thrown away, put away, and set aside to give away.

And the exciting thing about completing today's task...I only have one more day to complete on this challenge, which means I have eliminated over 475 items from my home!

What's In The Mail?

Change is a constant thing about life. Sometimes change is hard to embrace. We kind of get stuck in the way 'things have always been' and can't see the good that can come from the change.

But there is one change coming up that I am really excited about! There are some big changes coming up with Compassion letter writing:

"Beginning April 11, 2016, all original letters between sponsors and children will be digitally scanned, translated and emailed. Children will receive high quality prints of your letters. You will receive letters by email and, if you choose, a scanned printout by postal mail. Letters will also be stored in your MyAccount.

This increases the letter delivery process by up to 50 percent, allows Compassion to increase the number of sponsored children without slowing down our letter delivery, and costs less money to implement—saving ministry funds and using them more effectively.

In the new letter-writing process, Compassion will deliver extremely high quality scans of your letters directly to your child’s country office. New printers installed in each field office print your letter, which will be forwarded to your child’s center for delivery. Compassion has implemented printing and paper standards in each of our offices, and monitors these processes for quality. This entire process is about 50 percent faster than sending letters via mail." 

Over the past six years that we have been Compassion sponsors, we have heard that 'eventually' the letter writing process would be sped up so communication between sponsors and their sponsored children would see a quicker turn around.

I know I have really enjoyed sending my sponsored children coffee filter snowflakes, contact paper 'stained glass windows', and many other handmade crafts. But recently, I have wondered how much of that 'stuff' is really making an impact on them. They may appreciate it, but we hear over and over again that the words we share in our letters are what these children go back to time and time again:

"God is watching over you"

"I am proud of you"

"Jesus loves you"

"I am praying for you"

So are you telling me that we can't send anything along with our letters any more?

Actually, we can still send certain things along with our letters:

"In order to facilitate the digital letter delivery process, Compassion has made the following changes to our letter writing policy:

- All of your correspondence should include a personal letter to your child. Enclosures received without a personal letter cannot be sent along to your sponsored child.

- Your letter and any enclosures should be completely flat and made of paper.

- Letters and small, flat paper gift items should be no larger than 8.5” x 11".

- Total number of items (including stationery) should not exceed six sheets of paper, including your letter to your child.

- If items are in excess of six sheets, we will make every effort to donate the item to a local children’s charity. Items that cannot be donated will be discarded.

Compassion provides translation for the letter you send to your sponsored child up to the maximum of six sheets per letter. The “six sheets” rule is replacing the 1/4” thick rule that has been our standard in the past. Please note, only the following items will be physically delivered to your child, up to a maximum of six sheets.

- Stickers (flat, not puffy or foam)
- Bookmarks
- Musical greeting cards

Some flat paper items enclosed with your letter will be scanned and sent electronically with your letter. The following scan-friendly items will be scanned first, digitally sent to your child’s country office for printing, and then delivered to your child:

- Letters
- Photos
- Postcards
- Greeting cards
- Coloring pages
- Paper crafts

Your child will not receive original copies of items in the list above. Original items are not kept by Compassion and are not returned to sponsors. If you choose to send any of the above items to your child, you must include a letter in order to ensure proper delivery."

So, in the spirit of these new letter writing guidelines, I want to share with you what's in the mail to my sponsored children this month!

• A page and a half letter to each child talking about spring, sharing facts about butterflies, asking them if they have a friend who helps them learn more about God, and encouraging them to tell their moms that God loves them too!
• 'How to Draw a Butterfly in 12 Easy Steps' printable I found on Pinterest
• 'Happy Mother's Day' coloring page for them to color and give to their mom
• 'Design your own butterfly' printable

• And this Bible verse page with butterfly images that I created. You can print your own copies from here: jpeg or pdf 

On each piece of paper, I make sure to include my name and sponsor number, as well as the child's name and their sponsor number. Then I staple together all the papers for each child, stick it all in one big envelope and mail it off to Colorado Springs.

That is what's in the mail to our sponsored children this month! What's in the mail to your sponsored children?

My Week of Photos - Long Lens

Most of the time, my 50mm lens is on my DSLR. It is my favorite lens to use in most cases. And because it is so light, it makes the whole camera easy to pop into my bag and take along with me should I feel the urge to bring it along.

But this week, I kept my longest lens on my camera, which is my 55-200mm lens. My favorite time to use this lens is for taking candid shots of people at gatherings. Well, I didn't really have any gatherings on my schedule, so I had to get a little bit creative for this week of photos.

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec at 200mm

The tulips have bloomed in my backyard and I just love the color of these! I had taken a photo of them earlier in the day, but the sun wasn't shinning on them yet. So I wanted until a bit later to capture this one. I could have dropped my ISO down to 100 since I had plenty of sunlight. But I love how the front tulip is in focus and the one behind it is slightly out of focus.

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/320 sec at 200mm

On warm afternoons, I love to sit in our backyard with a book and read. It is my way of taking a break in the middle of the day. While I was sitting out there one day, I brought my camera out to see what I could capture with my long lens. These window frames are across the patio from my chair. I focused on the front one and love the bokeh that was created with the sunlight back toward the fence.

ISO 100, f/4.8, 1/125 sec at 125mm

Over the weekend, I was able to stop by and visit with some friends at our local Civil War Reenactment. While I was there, I couldn't help but quickly capture a candid shot or two of 'soldiers' outside their tents in the camps. I had to crop this one in a bit because a young lady in wearing modern clothing had just walked into the photo. Then I converted the photo to black and white to make it look a little more 'authentic' to the period.

ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/320 sec at 90mm

While at the event, I walked down toward the river and saw that all the lupine was in bloom. Makes me wonder how much longer until the Dogwood trees will be in bloom in Yosemite?

ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/400 sec at 200mm

When I stopped alongside this orchard to capture a few photos, I wasn't really sure what I should photograph using the long lens. That is until I saw the bees...do you see him in the middle of the photo? Sure am glad I had my long lens to capture him up in that tree!

ISO 100, f/10, 1/1000 sec at 200mm

One last photo for this week...the front set of hills are about a mile from where I was standing. I even captured a bird over on the right side of the photo above the hills! With all the rain we have been receiving, the hills to the west of us are still so green for this time of the year.

That wraps up this week of photos using my longest lens! What did you capture with your camera this week?

Fundraising for our next Compassion trip

If you had told me 6 years ago when we first started sponsoring children through Compassion that I would have the opportunity to go visit one of our children, I would have thought you were nuts. There was no way I ever thought it was going to be possible to ever visit any of our sponsored children. But here we are, 6 years after sponsoring our first Compassion child and I have been blessed with the opportunity to visit two of our sponsored children.

This was only possible because God allowed it to happen. He gave me the ability to use some of my gifts to make and sell items to raise money. Sewing, knitting, baking, photography...and so many people stepped up to help me along the way by purchasing these items to help me get to Mexico and Colombia.

So now my daughter wants to go on a trip!! We have been sponsoring little Alfredo in Mexico for about two years now and Kelsey really wants to meet him, give him a hug, and tell him that she loves him. How can I not do whatever I can to make a trip happen for her?

I will still be sewing, knitting, baking and doing photography to earn money to fund this trip, but this time, we need to earn money for two people, which is going to take a bit more money.

This time, we are selling shirts! These shirts were created by Fund the Nations and we will be pre-selling them through April 15th. The shirts are $20 for S-XL (XXL and XXXL and $2 more). If you are not local to us, we will ship the shirt to you for an extra $3. We should be able to get the shirts to you by the end of April. My goal is to sell 100 shirts! Need more info, e-mail me at kymk99 at yahoo dot com.

Will you help us meet our goal?