Pupdate: Fable in season

Posted on May 29, 2015 by tellingfamilytales

Fable

While I was hoping that Fable would wait until after Apex and Yakira’s visit next week, Fable’s body had other ideas. There have been emotional signs for several weeks that her first season was approaching. So I have watched closely for physical signs. On Monday I thought she was starting to look a little swollen. Tuesday afternoon I found a small darkish drop on the kitchen floor. I checked Fable with a Kleenex and sure enough it came back with a pinkish stain. So the days of her confinement began and she missed puppy class that night. I’m so glad she got to have a fun weekend playing with Odie. He stayed with us for the holiday while his family had an adventure that was better off without him. Odie is a good puppy and Zodiac’s nephew which also made it really fun to have him.

Fable has 25 more days to go until her freedom. Her energy levels are much lower and she has that look in her eye that is typical of a dog in heat. Her body feels off and she doesn’t understand why. Today I had to pull the doggy diapers out because she started dripping in earnest. So far she is not at all a fan of the diapers. She should adjust to them quickly and be more comfortable with them soon. Things will get worse for her before they get better a couple more weeks from now. Poor Fable.

Next week I’ll have to share photos of Apex and Yakira. I’m so excited to see them (and their people too)!

50 Button Crafts: idea #21 – felt house with button shingles

Posted on May 26, 2015 by tellingfamilytales

felt house from pakamera.pl

Got a box or jar full of buttons carefully saved by your mother or grandmother? For 2015 I’m in search of great ways to put those buttons to use. Here is this week’s idea:

I stumbled on this cute little felt house with button shingles on Pinterest. I can see creating something similar patterned after the house where my mom and all of her younger siblings were born. What a sweet gift that would make for my mom. Putting it on my list for future projects. The house was torn down a few years ago and it was emotionally really hard on my mom. I put together a book at the time for her but I think this would be a nice way to remember her childhood home. Do you have a family home like that? Maybe it could just be inspired by the type of home that was typical in the country where you ancestors came from. Lots of fun possibilities with this idea.

It would be a good idea to document where the buttons for your project came from and any relevant stories or information about that person or family. If you are looking for more button crafts, check out my Pinterest board.

Pupdate: Fable – focused

Posted on May 22, 2015 by tellingfamilytales

Fable

When she wants to, Fable has an incredible ability to focus. The challenge is getting her to focus on what you want her to focus on. Thankfully food is good at helping her focus most of the time, so GDB’s food protocol for training is a great tool for Fable. Sometimes when playing with another puppy, she likes to freeze in place and have a stare down with the other dog, then one of them flinches and the chase game is back on full blast. This weekend we are puppy sitting another puppy in training named Odie. They love playing together but he doesn’t like her focus game. Odie gets intimidated by her hyper-focus. Hopefully Fable will be sensitive to his feelings and not play that game with him anymore.

Embark Service Journal

Posted on May 21, 2015 by tellingfamilytales

Service Journal

A few months ago I helped my local young women’s group put together a service journal based on the LDS youth theme for 2015 “Embark”. I’ve been meaning to post a generic pdf here in case anyone else finds it useful. I’m finally getting around to getting it done. The good part is that the pages could be easily rearranged to start with any month, not just January. You can download the pdf from my dropbox here. The booklet is quarter sheet size so the pdf is set up to print 4 booklets on 8.5 x 11 paper. If someone wants the original InDesign CS 6 file let me know and I’ll send it to you.

The layout is pretty simple. For each month there is a scripture or quote, an idea for service and some blank pages for journaling. These were pulled from LDS.org along with the “Embark” graphics. The front cover has a banner intended for personalizing with a name.

Service Journal cover

Service Journal Title page

January scripture page

January idea for service page

blank journaling page

Family Tree: tag album

Posted on May 19, 2015 by tellingfamilytales

tag album by Karin van Dalen

Here is another way to represent your family tree, this time in an album. I really like the idea of having a tag for each person with a photo and some information. The album Karin used is very cool because you can take the tags out and then easily return them. I did some research to figure out where to get that kind of album but I struck out. Karin’s website is www.scrapbookatelier.nl and I found the project under her workshop section but even after translation there isn’t enough information to figure out the album. If anyone has seen as album similar to the one above I’d love to know for future reference. Even so I think it is a great idea that is adaptable to available supplies.

50 Button Crafts: idea #20 – DIY button cufflinks

Posted on May 18, 2015 by tellingfamilytales

button cufflink tutorial from cremedelacraft.com

Got a box or jar full of buttons carefully saved by your mother or grandmother? For 2015 I’m in search of great ways to put those buttons to use. Here is this week’s idea:

Is it too soon to start thinking about Father’s Day? If not, here is a super simple idea to make cufflinks (if there is a dad in your life who wears cufflinks). Clink on the photo above for detailed step by step instructions from cremedleacraft.com. This idea would make a really cool gift for a groom to wear if the buttons where from his father, grandfather or great-grandfather’s buttons.

Family Tree: 8×10 Photo Pedigree Chart Template

Posted on May 14, 2015 by tellingfamilytales

As promised here is a link to the InDesign CS6 template for my 8×10 photo pedigree. (Remember that the template file in Dropbox will look really strange but if you save it and open it in InDesign it will look right there.) Feel free to use the template for personal use or gifts. If you’re not an InDesign user, I’ve open an Etsy shop focused on products for puppy raisers and service dog handlers called The Salty Pup Shop. I’ve got both the 8×10 and the 4×12 photo pedigrees available there as custom items. Proceeds from the shop go to paying for the costs of raising puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Family Tree: 8×10 Photo Pedigree Chart

Posted on May 13, 2015 by tellingfamilytales

I’ve really had lots of fun doing photo pedigree charts for pups. When I looked into having the 4×12 panoramic printed, I realized that not everywhere prints that size. So I changed things up and designed an 8×10 version because it is also super easy to find an 8×10 frame too. I really like this size. I’ll post the InDesign template for this tomorrow.

Yes, Banta has the same grandpa on both sides. When I first found that out I thought it must be a mistake but they sometimes do that in dog breeding. Kentucky was a very successful stud. I’m sure they were hoping that Banta or one of her littermates would be a breeder. Banta was selected for breeding but she was just too much to handling and she didn’t like having her blood drawn or the other things that female breeders have to go through so she was released by the breeding department after a week. Also as you can see I don’t have photos of Kentucky’s parents yet.

50 Button Crafts: idea #19 – multi-strand crochet button necklace

Posted on May 11, 2015 by tellingfamilytales

crocheted button necklace from Ljeans on Etsy.com

Got a box or jar full of buttons carefully saved by your mother or grandmother? For 2015 I’m in search of great ways to put those buttons to use. Here is this week’s idea:

I really like the idea of using crochet to link together buttons into a multi-strand necklace. Many of our ancestors used skills like crocheting to make useful items and beautiful things to enhance their lives. A necklace like this is an opportunity to teach about those skills and maybe even teach a child or grandchild the skill of crocheting. Ljeans has a tutorial on Etsy that will take you through step by step how to make a necklace like the one above. It looks like it is mostly chain stitches so I bet the project would work up pretty fast, a great weekend project.

Pupdate: Fable – friendly

Posted on May 8, 2015 by tellingfamilytales

Waffle and Fable

Fable turned 10 months old yesterday! Time is starting to speed up, she could be recalled in just 4 more months. Bad news for two of her littermates in the last month. Her sister Fancy and brother Fuller where career changed. They have returned to Guide Dogs for the Blind in search of just the right home for them. I don’t know why Fuller was dropped from the program but Fancy’s challenge was being distracted by cats and probably dogs too.

Fable, Waffle and another yellow lab at the beach

Fable can be distracted by dogs and people too. But I don’t think it is something that she can’t manage. She is super friendly and thinks that all dogs feel the same way about her and people too. Puppies in training tend to lead very shelter lives. They think the world revolves around them. We work to avoid situations where they might be hurt or have a frightening experience. The first time we walked by a fence with barking dogs she was startled but got over it pretty quickly with the help of kibble. Fable’s biggest fault with other dogs is going in full blast. She has no idea that a 50 lb. lab barreling down might be scary for another dog.

Fable and a little girl

Thankfully Fable is a bit more intuitive when it comes to people. She spots a dog lover in nothing flat, loves to jump on them, especially if they are women. She gets excited to see kids. An exuberant puppy can be traumatic so I’m glad that Fable is more gentle with kids, which makes me proud. She sure loves the attention.