3/07/2012

wordless'ish wednesday



On Monday the kids and I baked and decorated our first set of cakes for WesleyLife Hospice.  Over the Christmas holiday, we made cookies as a volunteer opportunity for this hospice facility. Recently we were contacted by their volunteer coordinator to see if we wanted to be placed on a list to bake cakes for resident's birthdays.  This was our first month baking, and as you can see, we could use some work on decorating!  Underneath the sprinkles and frosting is where we took the liberty to make the cakes a little more 'cheery' by using food gels to dye the cake mix. Such a simple way to volunteer and show the kids how to bring some joy in an otherwise sad moment for families.


Several years ago Dave and I attended a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University course.  While we didn't exactly attack our debts with 'gazelle intensity', we did incorporate many of his methods and are firm believers in being better stewards of our money.  In an effort to rededicate ourselves to the cash flow system and adhere more strictly to our monthly budget, I made some pretty envelopes to divide up the various cash categories.  I used a laminated cotton in hopes they would last a little longer.  I followed a tutorial from here and the bonus part is the envelopes fit perfectly in my current loved-and-adored wallet. Another successful Pinterest project!


As I was browsing through Maddi's photography folder on the computer (looking for a specific photo . . . didn't find it) I stumbled across this project she put together a couple of months ago.  She took a close up photo of each of our faces,  (in order - Dave, me, herself, Ellie and Ben) removed the color from everything but our eyes, and found a bible verse to put it all together.  I really want to have this placed on a canvas or printed out to frame, but the software she used to edit the photos saved it in an odd size, so any attempts to upload and create a print has proved unsuccessful.  Any one out there know how I can make this into a standard size?

We are looking forward to some nice, spring weather this week.  A chance to get out and shake the winter dust off our shoulders and celebrate the change of seasons! 

Ah well, after re-reading and editing for spelling errors, I realized this post isn't so 'wordless'ish' for Wednesday.  I can say with confidence, however, no one has ever told me I follow the rules or am ever at a loss for words!

11 comments:

Our Diabetic Warrior said...

LOVE the picture! God definitely blessed Maddi with the gift of photography. I hope she continues to nurture her gift.

Have a blessed day!

Carma said...

Cool photo. (Email me with the specs. I have people that can look into the issue. Let me know what you need it as in case we can figure it out.)
We did FPU as well. Probably should get back on the bandwagon, but I am SO bad about remembering to take my canvas bags, let alone a grocery envelope. LOL

And thank you for your service for the hospice. My family has had to use hospice. The hospice nurse that my dad had was wonderful and such a great help to us. (Plus my best friend from high school did a few years of hospice work.) Thanks.

Unknown said...

Your envelopes are adorable! I love the fabric you used.

sky0138 said...

what an awesome picture!! I love it!

Denise aka Mom of Bean said...

cake is yummy, and appreciated, no matter the expertise of the decorating!

LOVE the picture...wish I had some help to give about getting it printed. Totally want to figure out how to do that for our fam!!

Unknown said...

I could dive into one of those cakes right now, if given the chance, but I am IN. MAJOR. LOVE. with those envelopes! I guess I've just found my next project! Thank you friend!

Amy@Diapeepees said...

Yes, very word heavy, but that's ok...what a creative photographer you have...nice work!

Lora said...

I love the photo with the eyes!!! NICE!

I need to go on a cash plan. We spend way to much over here.

Sarah said...

I love that your family is administering to those in need during such a time, we appreciated the generosity of so many volunteers while my father-in-law was in the final stages of actively dying at a hospice house. I think one of the little things that was appreciated the most was that they made sure there were new things for the kids to play with so that the adults could not worry about always bringing along exciting things for the kids. Between basketballs (they had a hoop off their garden area), beanie babies, cards, boardgames and books we felt very comfortable including our kids at such a difficult time.
And I love the eye picture, I'll ask my brother-in-law if he has any tips as he's professional photographer :) Have a great week.

Paige said...

Hi, fairly new to your blog but had to comment on what a strikingly beautiful and creative picture this is! You’re daughter is very talented. I work a lot in photoshop and the easiest way to make her picture into a standard print size would be to just open in photoshop and extend the black around it into a bigger frame. Then it can be cropped into any size- some will just have a little more of a black frame than others. This would make a nice canvas (which by the way are 60% off on Winkflash right now- an amazing deal!) A good size for this shape would be an 18x24 ($36 on Winkflash). If you do not have photoshop, I would be happy to extend the black and save you new copies of the picture in a few different sizes- ready to print or be sent to be made into a canvas. It is super easy and would only take a few minutes! You would just need to email me a copy of the original file and I will email back the new sizes. Would love to help!

Amy said...

Paige . . . Thank you! I realized after looking nore closely at the orginal file size of the photo that my daughter saved it down to easier email and post it. She is going to take more photos and put together a new one . . .this time bigger. The option of making more black space to better fit standard sized prints is great! And, I have heard of Winkflash, but never used it. Thank you so much for commenting and giving me some great suggestions!