Food and Stories

Posted on June 7, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

I was watching the Food Nanny on BYUtv recently and something she said sparked a thought. One of her philosophies is to have theme nights when planning what to eat for dinner. A favorite theme of the Food Nanny’s is Tradition Day. On Tradition Day you eat recipes that are family favorites. What a perfect thing to do, cook a favorite recipe and then share the story behind the dish or the person who introduced that dish to the family. Over time you could compile those recipes and stores into a wonderful family cookbook and family history book.

Heritage Recipe Book

I found this beautiful example of a family cookbook on Blurb, with some of the stories and history behind the recipes. My mom isn’t famous for her good cooking but I think that my extended family might be a good source for project like this. When I think of my grandma’s cooking, I think of fruitcake and banana nut bread. I wonder what recipes my cousins have that trace back to my grandma. Since I’m working on a Generations Project with my great-great-grandmother Mary Taylor it would be interesting to know what kind of recipes exist from her day. I don’t know of any recipes handed down from Mary but maybe some out there. But even knowing what kinds of foods she ate during her childhood in England and then in her later life here in the west would be very interesting.

I’ll have to think about this idea and see what percolates out. Do you have a family recipe collection? Are there fun or interesting stories to go with those recipes?

Olive Us

Posted on May 16, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

A new web TV series started this week that I want to share with you. I think it is a great example of another way to look at telling family tales. I really like the concept behind Olive Us and it got me thinking about new ways to look at sharing what matters to us. Stories aren’t just about events they are also about the values we live by. First watch Ben’s explanation of the concept behind the series and then watch the first episode.

Aren’t the Blair children amazing. Ben and Gabby live next door to us in Provo about 15 years ago when they were just starting their family. My, how grown-up they are now. Such a fun family. I’m looking forward to upcoming episodes of Olive Us.

What family values do you want to capture? Do you have any ideas on how you want to share them?

Olive Us Launch! Episode 1: Gardening (designmom.com)
Olive Us (ourearleylife.wordpress.com)

Tribute to Shadow

Posted on May 15, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

This week marks five years since the passing of our pet dog Shadow. He was an important part of our family and it was so hard when we learned he had cancer. It was fast growing and the day we sent him over the Rainbow Bridge was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. As part of my grieving process I put together a little book. I want to honor his memory this week. Shadow was our first dog. One of the reasons I looked into puppy raising after he died was because I wanted to have a dog but wasn’t ready to face the end of life process again. So in some ways it is Shadow’s fault that we are puppy raisers. I wear a silver bracelet everyday in memory of this wonderful dog. Thanks Shadow for all you taught us and all the memories!

For more information on this little book, “Shadow’s Laws” I have several posts on how I put it together here. What have you done to help you move through the grieving process? With Memorial Day coming up in a few weeks is there someone who you want to pay tribute to?

Raising Skyler Video

Posted on May 10, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

I love the power that images and music have together. One of the things I want to learn how to do is videos. The closest thing I’ve done was in college. I took a class on what was then called multimedia. We put together slides with music using multiple slide projectors and special equipment that kept the slides and music synchronized. It was awesome. Today we use computers and software to do a similar thing. So when I saw this effective video a few days ago I knew I wanted to feature it here on my blog.

This video brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it. I’m sure that part of the impact on me is because I relate to it as a puppy raiser. When it comes to sharing stories emotion is a big part of the impact. Stephanie did a great job combining the photos and the music to tell Skyler’s story. Here is Stephanie’s advice on how she put together this video;

I used Photostory to create this. You import the photos into Photostory and then customize motion, choose the slide speed, add music and you are done. I think the key to something like this is the music and the speed in which the slides switch making sure it fits with the music. And of course, good pictures 🙂

Stephanie makes this sound so doable. Now I’ve got to download Photostory and learn how to use this software. I can’t wait. Have you every done a video? What software do you do and what advice do you have for a beginner?

Mother’s Day Project

Posted on May 8, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

Mother’s Day Project for Iris

This is my version of an infographics inspire by Nicholas Felton‘s 2010 Annual Report. I’ve never done anything like this, so it was a learning experience and I enjoyed it. There are so many facts about a person’s life and this is a fairly simple one page project. I will print it out 8″ x 10″ and put it in a simple frame.

Iris – layer 1 – background

I did my layout in InDesign with five layers. The bottom layer just has the background.After I put in the background color in an 8 x 10 box, I locked the layer so I wouldn’t accidentally select it. The background color is a 25% tint of the main text color. This way when I go to make another version for Bill’s mom I can change the text color swatch and the background will change too.

Iris – layer 2 – lines

The second layer is just the lines. The default 1 pt stroke was too strong so they are .5 pt strokes. In case you don’t know, if you hold down the shift-key when you drag out a line with the line tool it will be perfectly horizontal or vertical.

Iris – layer 3 – text

The third layer is for most of the text. I used Myriad Pro in weights from light to black. I really like it when font families have such a contrast in weights.

Iris – layer 4 – photos etc.

The fourth layer is for the photos. After I picked the three photos I wanted to use I edited them in Photoshop using color matching to give them all an old sepia tone look. This layer also includes the brown lines on the residences “chart”. I drew these lines in InDesign with the pen tool. I started with a map of the United States and used that as a guide for drawing lines from Rexburg, where she was born, to each city she lived in. Then I deleted the map leaving the lines.

Iris – layer 5 – white text & lines (shown with layer 1)

The fifth layer is for all the white text and lines. I added white dots of various sizes for each city. Bigger dots for the cities with the most address. You see it here with the background layer so you can tell what is there.

I added a sixth layer to block out some of the more specific information on my mom for posting on this blog. No reason to risk identity theft. By putting it on a separate layer I can turn the blocked out areas on or off as needed for output.

I have learned over the last few years that it is very helpful to think through a project and create layers for different elements. It prevents lots of problems when it comes to editing and rearranging your design. For example with the residence chart, I can lock all the layers but the two involved in the chart and re-size or move it with accidentally selecting the text or other lines nearby.

If you would like an InDesign template of this project send me an email to raelyn@tellingfamilytales.com

Historypin

Posted on May 3, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

While I was checking out Homestory’s blog I came across her post on Historypin. This is such an awesome concept I can’t wait to explore it more. The idea is to tag photos by place and date. This way you can narrow down your searches for images so easily by the site and the time frame. I’ve done images searches for history books and this would have been so helpful. If you haven’t been to Historypin, you’ve got to check it out.

p.s. I enjoyed the rest of Homestory’s blog to. I really like the idea of using a building as the theme behind telling family stories. I’ll have to post more on this another day.

Time-lapse Project

Posted on May 1, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

Last week I came across this cool time-lapse project via Design Mom and Things Change by Frans Hofmeester. He films his daughter every week and now he has a video that shows her from birth to 12 years old in less that 3 minutes. I want to do this with our next puppy. When I told Bill about it, he suggested that it would be good to practice with Yakira first to get some of the kinks figured out before trying it with an 8 week old puppy. So I picked a spot yesterday to try this out but my camera battery was dead. Today Yakira is off to work with Bill, so I have no puppy to test it on. I’ll put it on my list for tomorrow.

This idea seems like such a fun way to document and tell the story of growing up. I have to give it a try to see what happens. Besides with a puppy it doesn’t take 12 plus years to grow up, a year does wonders. Have you ever done a time-lapse project before? I wonder if it would be possible to do something with still photos that have already been taken to show the process of growing up effectively. Who or what would you like to capture with a time-lapse video?

Infographics

Posted on April 26, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

From Felton Annual Report 2010

I came across a different way to tell someone’s life story recently and I had to share it here. From what I can gather Nicholas Felton puts together what he calls an “annual report” each year. For 2010 he put together the life of his father all presented in charts and graphs. It is a whole new way to look at life and the stories behind it. I want to use this concept in a project in the near future. I’m not sure which one yet but I’ll keep you posted. Maybe it will be a quick project for Mother’s Day.

Can you visualize a project that you could use this concept with? I’d love to hear about it.

The infographics behind the man: Nicholas Felton releases his new personal report (theverge.com)

Blurb – my favorite for self publishing

Posted on April 25, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

I’m a huge fan of Blurb.com! I have published more than a dozen books with them and I will continue to use them in the future. Blurb has 7 different sizes of books. My favorite is the 7×7. It makes such a nice compact book for those not huge projects. I also prefer the ImageWrap for the binding. It gives you a very durable cover plus the ability to have any kind of image or design on the cover you would like. If you haven’t used them before I highly recommend them. I’m grateful to a neighbor who told me about them a few years ago.

Remember Me

Last week I happened across “Remember Me” by Lesley Graham on Blurb. She uses a very collage style to illustrate the book that is very effective in telling this story. The book is about her grandfather who is losing his memory and his journey. I’m inspired by her work and will keep it in mind for future projects. Blurb has a cool preview feature that lets you see the entire book or just a few pages depending on how you set it up.

You can save 20% on two books with the promo code MOMRULES until May 2, 2012*.

*Offer valid through May 2, 2012 (11:59 p.m. local time). A 20% discount is applied toward your product total with a minimum order of 2 units or more. Maximum discount is USD $150, GBP £75, EUR €100, CAD $150, or AUD $150 off product total. Valid for printed books only. This offer is good for one-time use, and cannot be combined with volume discounts, other promotional codes, gift cards, or used for adjustments on previous orders.