Tag Archives: Family

Book of the Week – “Grandmum”

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As I was looking for this weeks book and trying to decide which one I wanted to share, I came across this book, “Grandmum.” And new that it was the right book. This is what the author, Jennifer Glantz said about her book:

The book came to life from the fact of my love for my grandma. She’s really very important to me. She’s my best friend, my mentor and the one I can talk to about absolutely everything.She has been my neighbour for the past 22 years, my entire life. I moved away from home for studies about 2 years ago. Since then I have missed being able to walk over to her house and talk with her everyday.

One weekend when I came home for a short visit the two of us sat down together and looked at some old photos of her and the people that have been important to her in her life. It was a wonderful feeling to see these photos while she told me the history behind them. There and then I realised and saw the real life she had lived. The people, circumstances and surroundings that have formed her into the wonderful woman she is today. I saw the people that once had lived with here, the people that she had loved, they who not live anymore. So there I sat, realising that this is what life is about. Memories. Her memories and those pictures is as close I can come to being there with her, when the photos was taken, some of them almost 80 years old.
So here it is, my book about my best friend, my mentor, my great Grandma.

What a labor of love. What a very doable project. She did a great job of sharing the story of her grandmother your her choice of photos and the order she put them in. The simple format works great. Do you have someone who you could do a book like this for?

Grandmum

 

Another Illustration for the Mary Book

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Brigham Young

I thought I would share the latest illustration for our Mary book project. This illustration is of Brigham Young telling the people in the Salt Lake Valley about the handcart pioneer in need of help. It is exciting to be making steady progress on getting this book finished. My mom turns 90 in a couple of months and this will be a major part of her birthday.

I’ve been working on the text and made some major changes to it which I think will make it more interesting. Plus during a brainstorming session we came up with the idea of having an image to search for in each illustration which relates to another story from the Martin Handcart company. The back of the book will give the images to search for and the little story. I think I’ll post the text on my next update.

 

Genealogy vs Story Telling

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There is so much great information out there and the main goal of my blog is to bring together in one place all the information you need to put together a great family story project. Though it is a task that will take a lifetime, I haven’t been doing enough of gathering these resources but I’m going to make sure that at least once each week I link you to a blog or other website with great information to help you tell your family’s tales. This post by Brandy is right on track. To really share you family stories you must have more than dates and other facts, story telling is the key. I’ll be watching Brandy’s series closely.

Book of the Week – “fam-i-ly”

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I’ve decided that each week I will pick a book to highlight here on my blog. This weeks pick is called “fam-i-ly” by Michelle Andrews. What I like about it is how the many photos of the book placed. They picked a black background for the entire book and the photos are handled in a very consistent way that keeps things from getting too busy and lends continuity to the book. The way this book is laid out would work for many family projects.

The end of the book has a sweet poem written by a member of their family.

Family

It’s all about family because, sometimes bad things happen and someones hurt or someone does not stop hurting themselves. But your family’s there for you.

It’s all about family because, when your sick they care for you, they don’t ignore you, they pay attention. But your family’s there for you.

It’s all about family because, they cheer you up when your glum, they help you. They laugh, they have fun, they play, they spend time with others, they care and best of all they lover you.

That’s what family’s all about.

by Sidney Bookman

age 9 (unedited) 2006

 

20 Questions – Favorite Things Book

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http://www.blurb.com/books/3310398?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget

20 Questions

I found this simple little book today. I so love this idea. It is so simple but gives such an interesting snap shot of growing up. It is just a list of questions about a child’s favorite things to be answered each year from age three to eighteen. Here is how the author, Nicole Reaves, describes her book.

Capture memories from your little ones childhood with this birthday interview book. Here is how it works :

Every year, on or around your child’s birthday, you ask the same 20 questions listed within the pages of the book and fill in their answers. Questions like : What is your favorite color? What is your favorite song? Then, add a photo of the child on the opposite page. Easy, right? Repeat next year and for the next 14 years. 16 years in all.

Think of how fun it will be to look through this memory book in your child’s teenage and young adult years! See how much they changed from year to year. When it’s full, keep it for yourself, or give it to the interviewee.

This book was designed to be a fun way to record and remember simple memories from the childhood of your kids, grand kids, nieces, nephews, godchildren, or any little one in your life.

20 Questions (Pink)

Shutterfly Book

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my 50 for 50 book cover

I received a free 8×8 hardcover book coupon for Shutterfly recently and decided I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try it out. I’ve never even been the Shutterfly site before so things were a bit rough to start. After a few false starts I figured out how to get a book started and upload photos for the book. Even though I choose their customized book path I found myself wanting more control over what I could do. But then I’m used to have complete control over my projects in Adobe InDesign. I spent 4 or 5 hours putting together a 20 page book. Having done it once it would probably take about half that time the second time around.

I was able to export it to a pdf but as you can see from above (and below) it has a watermark on each page. The link below will take you to Shutterfly’s preview of the book.

I can see how Shutterfly would be a good option for many people. They have lots of ways to share your photos and they are geared to really put together projects without too much thought on the customer’s part. I can’t see me ever using them as my primary source for books though. I’m too picky about wanting things the way I want them. I’m looking forward to getting the book and see what it looks like. I’ll post again after in comes.

Click here to view this photo book larger

 

More Illustration for the Mary Book

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Sleeping in big round tent

Kimberli has been busy get more illustrations done for the Mary book. I’ve worked hard the last few days on the text and I’ve narrowed things down so the book isn’t so long. With these four new illustration we just have five to go plus the cover. My mom turns 90 the end of March so we have to have it done by then. She is going to love this book. The text is evolving in what I hope is a good way. I’m sure it still needs lots more work, but I’m going to work on some other projects for a few days and let it sit. Then I’ll look at it again with fresh eyes. I don’t consider myself a writer and I’ve prayed that someone else would come along to write this book. But no one has come along so I’m forging ahead, hoping for inspiration and a miracle so this book can really share the story of my great-great-grandmother.

Mary being nursed back to health

children playing in the river

Mary with a mob threatening

Gift Idea #50 – Surprise Balls

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idea numbers50I came across this idea via Design Mom. The basic idea is to take small gifts and brightly colored crape paper strips. You start with the largest item and wrap it with the crape paper and then add another item and repeat until all the items are wrapped in the ball. Here are detailed instructions on how to make a surprise ball.

These surprise balls remind me if some gifts I gave my nieces when they were young. I wrapped their gifts in yarn. I took a small item and wrapped yarn around it until it was the size of a volleyball. I like the idea of having a series of small gifts to discover along the way.

I think it would be fun to have a series of small trinkets and photos that relate to a family member. It could focus on a single story with the items in the surprise ball help to tell the story. This idea has some great possibilities, I can’t wait to try this out.

Surprise Balls – photo by HonestlyWTF

Gift Idea #49 – Memory Jar

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idea numbers49The idea behind a memory jar is to gather little things that remind you of a person or an event. There are so many ways to put together a memory jar but they fall into two basic categories or a combination of both. You can put stuff inside the jar or you can decorate the outside of the jar. Most jars are both with decorative elements on the outside put on in such a way that you can still see what is on the inside. But there are memory jars that cover the entire jar with trinkets and odds and ends. A memory jar could also just have slips of paper with short memories written on them.

I like the idea of mostly putting things in a sturdy wide-mouth jar with minimal decoration on the outside. I think a memory jar would be a great way to share some of the little odds and ends that we collect over a lifetime but no one knows what to do with after we are gone. You could also put together a memory jar for a more distant ancestor with items that are symbolic of the person if you don’t have anything that was actually theirs.

How To Make a Memory Jar

Vacation Memory Jar

Save memories on a Jar – Not in it

Memory Jars or Jugs

 

 

Gift Idea #48 – Ancestor Handwriting Font

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idea numbers48My grandmother has distinctive handwriting and I’d love to turn it into a handwriting font. There are online services that will take your handwriting and convert it into a font for you. Some are free and some charge for their services. I have yet to try this even for my handwriting but it is on my list of things I want to do. It will be a little more difficult to do it for someone who has passed on because you will either need to trace their handwriting or else do some scanning and cut and paste to get the needed characters. Below are a few links to guide you along the process.

Handwriting Font Creator

Make Your Own Handwriting Fonts

Tips on making a handwriting font

Writing Fonts