Category Archives: DOABLE approach

six steps to the DOABLE approach to telling your family’s tales

50 Button Crafts: idea #5 – button flowers

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button flowers from craftandfun.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:

This is a really fun way to use buttons. Makes me want to grab some scraps of yarn, a crochet hook and buttons and try this out. The website linked above is in Italian but the step by step photos are very clear. Plus you can use Google to translate if you need to. I go to our local elementary two days a week to listen to a couple of third grades read. I think they might just like some button flowers too.

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.

Family Photo Books and Blurb Discount Code

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I got an email from Blurb.com that I thought I’d share. Along with a 20% discount code “MYVALENTINE” (no minimum and up to $50 off – good through January 31st 2015 local time) They had some good ideas on making family photos books. Here are a few of their favorite ideas:

If you have an epic tale to tell, do it in a custom family history book. Do a little research (you don’t have to be a historian—just be curious) and share your family’s story.
Lucky enough to have a large family? See how you can make a family yearbook (just like a school’s yearbook) to get everyone into the picture.
Time flies, babies become toddlers, and before you know it they’re out of the nest. Simple photo books documenting their growth likewise become treasured reminders—use pre-designed templates or create your own layouts.
Not sure where to start?
Watch our series of short, handy Book Camp videos and see how to put your book together, from organizing your photos to hitting Order.
You can even check out our step-by-simple-step tutorial about how to make a family photo book.

50 Button Crafts: idea #4 – button bookmarks

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button bookmarks from iheartnaptime.net

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:

A big chunk of the button crafts I’ve found are jewelry so I thought this idea would be a nice change of pace. Plus it is super simple. All you need is buttons, paper clips, hot glue and some scraps of felt. Click on the photo above for I Heart Nap Time’s tutorial. If you have buttons from someone who loved to read these bookmarks would make the perfect opportunity to share a story about that person’s favorite book. I might just make a few of these for the kids I tutor in reading at the local elementary school. I think they would love them.

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.

Family Trees: a colorful clan – InDesign Template

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Apex panaramic clan family treeversion of the colorful clan for Apex (the first puppy we raised for GDB)

A couple of weeks ago I did a post on colorful clan family tree for a 4″ x 12″ panoramic frame. I’ve put together a simple Adobe InDesign template to recreate the one from Parents.com. As I was working on it I realized that I didn’t need to have different colors of paper. With a color printer I could just print my background color.

For a sample I decided to show Apex’s (the first puppy we raised for Guide Dogs for the Blind) family tree. As you can see I don’t have all the birth dates and I don’t have any death date though some of these dogs have certainly passed away. But I though it would work to show what the template is like. Of course when you open the template up in InDesign you will be able to customize anything you would like from the fonts to the background colors.

You can download the Panoramic Clan Template here from Dropbox. When you open it up in Dropbox it will look like crazy gobbledegook. But once you save it to you computer and open it in InDesign it will work fine. I made this template in InDesign CS6. Let me know if you have problems or suggestions. I’m hoping to make more templates this coming year.

SCUBA Discovery Class: part 2

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So I obviously survived my SCUBA experience. Yeah! I tried not to feel too nervous about it but only partially succeeded. About half way there I realized I forgot the paperwork. But I figured they had copies on hand that I could fill out again so I didn’t go back. And they did.I was the first student to arrive. And after waiting for more to show up they figure out that I was the only one. There had been six at one point but they all dropped out the last few because they were sick. You wouldn’t want your first SCUBA experience to be with congested sinuses. So I ended up with a private lesson for the group price! Plus there was a second instructor in training. It was great being the only one because everything happened at my speed. The only down side was having no one to gauge against how I was grasping the concepts.

The equipment is so much nicer than what my Dad worked with. It was really cool. I want to take him to the Dive Addicts store so he can see how things have evolved in the last 60 years. I had a hard time breathing until the instructor reminded me to focus on inhaling and the exhale will take care of its self. I just learned the very basics of clearing the face mask of water and getting my ears to adjust to the change in water pressure as we went into the deep end. It is hard to do with the mouthpiece in but I did succeed in getting pretty far down in the deep end. I had a hard time controlling my body underwater. It was my first time in swim fins too.

It was kind of fun but mostly hard work. I figure it is probably a lot like skiing for the first time, the learning curve is steep and it only gets better as you master some of the basic skills. By the time I got out I was exhausted. As I drove home I realized I was a bit sick to my stomach. Lunch helped that but my head of off the rest of the day. I think I had a bit of motion sickness. At first it was the same feeling I have when I’m on the verge of getting car sick. Later in the day I realized it was the same feeling I get after taking a couple of airplane flights.

I’m really glad I took the class. In my older age it feels like it is important to try new things and not get complacent about life and learning. I doubt I’ll do it again. But I wonder if my Dad would like to try the new equipment and see what it is like. If he wants to do that I want to be there with him. Then he could show me some of the ways he taught SCUBA.

(The took a couple of pictures during the class but they haven’t put them up on their Facebook page yet. I’ll add them here when they do.)

50 Button Crafts: idea #3 – simple button bracelet

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button bracelet by Hope Studios

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:

This button bracelet would be so much fun to do at a family gathering. Have the supplies gathered and enjoy some storytellling, chating and bonding while everyone creates a one of a kind bracelet with ties to their family through the buttons and memories of making them together. Click on the photo for Hope Studios’ step by step tutorial.

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.

The Family History Writing Challenge: 2015

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I realized this morning that we are almost half way through the first month of the new year. Feels like I’m not getting enough done each day. How about you? After taking a long break from working on my Dad’s Key West history I need to get back into it. I’m thinking Lynn Palermo’s Family History Writing Challenge might be just the perfect motivator. If you’ve done it before jump on board again this year. February is just around the corner. If not check out her website, register and then get set to more writing done this year.

50 Button Crafts: idea #2 – 3 strand button necklace

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three strand button necklace by Jodi Nobles

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 love this eclectic mix of buttons. It looks like Jodi used a similar wire-wrap technique as last weeks post on button pendants. (Jodi made it for her Etsy shop but is no longer available. You can click on the photo above to look at her current offerings.) So if you have a fun collections of buttons and want to tackle a more complicated button necklace this could be the perfect project.

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.

Family Trees: family photo diagram

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photo collage by Cactus and Olive

Sometimes the best ideas come when you are solving a problem. This is one of those ideas. Loni Harris wanted to send her brother a family photo but the most recent one was a couple of years out of date and missing some new members. So she came up with this circular format showing three generations of her family. It is a brilliant solution and very adaptable do different numbers of children. Her readers loved it so much that she now makes custom version in her Etsy shop. At the time of writing this post she is taking a break from her shop. Hopefully it will be back up soon.

She did her’s project in Photoshop and Illustrator. I think I could do this pretty easily in InDesign. Maybe I’ve got myself a new project for Mother’s day or my Mom’s 92nd birthday. I’ll be sure to let you know how it comes out.

I’ve decided to regularly share ideas I find for family trees, so stay tuned. More to come over the coming weeks and months.

50 Button Crafts: idea #1 – wire-wrapped pendant

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button pendants from craftsy.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:

What a simple and beautiful way to use some of those unique buttons in your stash. Click on the photo about for a very clear and detailed tutorial on how to wire-wrap your buttons to make them into pendants. I’m going to put this on my project list for the near future.

If you are looking for more button crafts, check out my Pinterest board.