Girls Camp – The Lord’s Amazing Air-corps

Posted on July 1, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

Girls Camp Logo

I’m in the midst of planning a prepare for the girls camp that our church does for 12 to 18-year-old girls every summer. So I thought I’d share some of what I’ve put together for that. Our main goal is for the girls to realize how amazing they are and how much they are loved. The theme we picked is “The Lord’s Amazing Air-corps.” We are making a flag, bandanas, and Berets. We also found some alligator looking cell phone cases at a local thrift store for $.25 each so we are using those to little thoughts and notes about how the girls are amazing. For the 6 weeks leading up to camp we are doing a newsletter to “train” the girls before the report to “Camp Brighton” for their last training to become part of the “Lord’s Amazing Air-corps” along with two or three midweek emails on things to think about.

One of the things I’m really excited to see how it goes is the stories. We have asked all the girls and their leaders to come to camp prepared to share a story from their own lives or their family. We are hoping to put this together in a little book so all the girls will have a copy of the stories they heard. It will be interesting to see what kind of stories they pick and how the girls respond to each others stories.

We have our final big preparation activity before camp on Tuesday night. I’ll see if I can get some photos and post them here. Here are the cards for the cell phone cases I have designed for camp. After cutting them out, I punched a hole in the corner and put them together on one of those loose leaf binding rings. The blank ones will be used at camp to share with the girls ways that they are amazing. I still have more to design for the next three weeks of “training” before camp. Feel free to use them for any non-commercial use if you find them helpful.

cards for cell phone cases

Battle Field History Apps

Posted on June 27, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

Battle Apps for the Civil War

Our local news had an interesting story about smart phone apps for several of America’s famous battle fields. I wonder what it would take to make similar apps for important places and events in our own family histories. Wouldn’t that be cool!

Here are links to the story I saw

Apps mix history with technology

And here are some other news stories from the NeoTreks website:

If you could put together an app for a story project what would you do?

The Story Rug

Posted on June 25, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

Illustration by G. Bjorn Thorkelson

I was reading “The Friend” (a children’s magazine published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) recently and I just had to post this story here. It features a rag rug made from old clothes with the idea that each piece of cloth reminds the rug maker of memories and stories from their life. What a great idea for a story project!

The Story Rug

By Kay Timpson

(Based on a true story)

Who knew so many stories could be wrapped up in one rug?

We as the children can seek out our loved ones, preserving their names and their memory (Children’s Songbook, 90–91).

Katy skipped along the sidewalk toward the big oak tree at the corner of her street. The old tree made Nana’s house easy to find.

As usual, Nana was sitting in her living room, quietly braiding and sewing strips of bright cloth. The polished wooden floors of Nana’s house were decorated with beautiful rugs that Nana made herself.

“Hello, honey,” Nana said as Katy came in. Soon they were talking about what Nana called the “old days.” They looked at black-and-white photos together. Katy especially liked seeing the clothes and hairstyles her relatives wore when they were younger.

“Things were very different then,” Nana said with a sigh. “You know, we didn’t have cars or TV or cell phones.”

Katy couldn’t even imagine having to walk everywhere. “What did you do for fun, Nana?” Katy asked.

“We loved to sing together. We would gather around the piano in the evening and sing our favorite songs. Sometimes we’d sing ourselves hoarse! It was such a fun time.”

Nana looked off into the yard as if she could rewind the years and watch them over again.

Katy sat next to the coiled rug that spilled off of Nana’s lap. She traced the careful stitches with her fingers.

“I’ve been thinking,” Nana said slowly. “How would you like to make your very own braided rug?”

Katy jumped up and clapped her hands.

“I would love to, Nana! Can we start today?”

Nana chuckled. “Well, there’s something you need to do first. Go home and gather up old clothes that we can cut into strips.”

Her eyes twinkled as she leaned toward Katy, her voice quiet as if she were sharing a secret.

“That’s what makes the rug special. Because it’s made of clothes, the rug can tell the story of your life. Each braid is like a chapter in a book about you. Looking at the fabric of an old dress can help you remember the places you wore it and what you did when you had it on.”

Katy’s eyes widened. She pointed to the rug Nana was braiding.

“Do you remember all about the cloth in this rug?”

Nana smiled. “You bet I do! This red piece is from the dress I wore when you were born. I remember pressing my nose to the glass window in the nursery to get a closer look at you. You were still all pink and wrinkly.”

Katy and Nana laughed together as Nana continued to tell Katy stories from the rug. As soon as Katy got home that night, she and Mama set aside old clothes that Katy could use for her rug.

The next day, Katy took the cloth to Nana’s house. Nana showed Katy how to cut the fabric into long strips, braid them, and sew the braids together.

Every day after school Katy went to work on the rug at Nana’s house.

Little by little, the rug grew. As the days went by Katy learned many of Nana’s stories by heart. Some days she was the one who told stories to Nana.

One day, after adding a blue strip of cloth that used to be a favorite pair of jeans, Katy rubbed the palm of her hand against the colorful braids.

“Don’t you think that rug is about done?” Nana asked, looking up from her work.

“Not yet,” Katy said with a smile. She never wanted this time with Nana to end.

How to Make a Great Slideshow

Posted on June 20, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

I have some experience making slideshow but most of it is from my college days. Back in the dark ages with slide projectors, dissolve units and cassette tape recorders. I loved the two classes I took. I’ve done a couple of quick slideshows in the past year but so far they have just been put in the photos and the music and let the software make all the decisions on timing and transitions. One of the things that I find most powerful about using a slideshow to tell a story is the merging of images and music. It can make a powerful impact if done right.

I found some good advice on squidoo for making great slideshows. You can read the full article here. But the basics are:

Key #1: Story

have a good story
avoid distracting transitions

Key #2: Timing

time transitions to the music
mix it up if you use zoom effects
sync the speed of the movement with the mood of the music

Key #3: Music

picking the right music for the emotions you want to invoke

The article on squidoo has a nice list of suggested music for the following topics:

Happy/nostalgic – any occasion
Sad/relief – funerals
Romantic – weddings & anniversaries
Intense/fast – Party, just for fun

Key #4: Audience

Always keep your audience in mind as you make your choices. It isn’t as important that you like the show as that your audience will relate to the show.

How to Make a Video

Posted on June 19, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

I have almost no experience with video. Other than a little video I want to put together of short clips I took once a week of Zodiac while he was growing up. On Zodiac’s project I’ve only shot the video and I have some music picked out that I want to use. That is as far as I’ve gotten. I want to have it done by his graduation. So having no personal experience I went to Google and found this tutorial on Mediacollege.com.

How to Make a Video

This page outlines the process of making a video. It is intended for people who are completely new to video making, and who may be wondering where to start or how to tackle a particular video project.

There are two things to understand about making videos:

In theory, making a video is as simple as following the three-step process below. If you complete these steps properly you’ll have a good video.

In reality there are many factors that will influence how well the process works. To make it work properly and consistently, you need to spend a lot of time acquiring a lot of skills (links to tutorials are given below).

The 3-Part Video-Making Process:

Pre-Production – planning the video and gathering any resources you might need.

Planning is the most important step! Unfortunately the ability to plan videos is a skill that takes time to develop, and you really need to gain experience in the next two steps before you will become good at this one. Still, you can get started by planning a few basics such as:

The approximate length of the final video, how many shots you will need to achieve this, how much talking you can fit in, etc.

What music or other sounds will be added to the video.

A script or storyboard.

What medium and format the final video will be shown in. Be aware of any special requirements of the medium, and the best way to convert (encode) into the correct format.

Production – Camera work and sound recording

Camera work involves a range of skills from recognizing the potential for a good shot to knowing how to use the technical-looking controls on your camera. The better your skills are in all areas, the better your videos will be.

Vision and sound are equally important in most video, so learn how to capture good sound as well as good pictures.

Unless you have some other artistic purpose, camera work should be steady, in focus, well-exposed and well-framed.

You can learn the basics in our beginner’s camera tutorial.

Post-Production – Editing and/or encoding the finished video.

Beginner-level editing usually includes:

Removing unwanted footage

Arranging desired footage in the correct order

Adding music, titles, transitions and possibly other effects

Converting (encoding) into the correct format(s)

For more information see our video editing tutorials.

So translating this to my DOABLE approach, pre-production would fit into the decide, organize and analyze steps, while production and post production would be part of the build step. I can see that I have lots to learn and that I didn’t do all the pre-production stuff with my Zodiac project. I’m sure it will be a learning experience. I have no idea how it will turn out but I hope that it is good despite my being a beginner.

From all of my vast inexperience this seems like some good sound advice. Do you have experience with making videos? I’d love to hear your views.

Your Guide To Self-Publishing

Posted on June 18, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

I’ve been on the look out for information on self-publishing lately so we I saw a link to Your Guide To Self-Publishing I clicked on it right away. Christian Cawley has complied a lot of good information and food for thought in this free guide. The guide is well-organized and easy to understand. If you have an upcoming story project that involves publishing take some time and at least skim through it, then stop and read those areas that you need more information in. It will be great to refer back to when questions arise later.

More than Words

Posted on June 11, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

I’ve always love commercials with no words or only a few but I never thought of a book with no words, only sound effects. Do you have a family story that you could tell without words? It is food for thought for me. What do you think?

You can see more of the pages of “Leaf” here on Amazon. Click on the “Look in side.” Enchanting.

The Reading Mum

This is the book that inspired me to start this blog.

Leaf by Stephen Michael King has no words, only “sound effects”, and is sort of a child’s comic book. We stumbled upon it during one of our weekly library visits, but I think this one warrants purchasing.

Iris is at a very chatty, curious age. From the moment she wakes up she’s yammering away, like the lovely crow/rooster that wakes us the instant the sun pops its head over the horizon, but much cuter and less grating (mostly). This behaviour is very apparent when I read to her. She has, at the age of two and a half, mastered the Who, What, Where, Why and How.

When you’ve got a book with words to get through, this can be a tad disruptive and the plot can go wandering off in a huff in the midst of her barrage of questions. She also has a tendency…

View original post 304 more words

Carol Joy Jenson

Posted on June 10, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/872281/47f26d11181207655b51946c659e9792?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget

This is a book about my aunt who died when she was 13 years old. There was a limited number of photos and information about her short life so I used every picture I had and almost everything written about her. Because it was so focused it came together very quickly.

I had a lot of fun putting this together, so much fun, that it inspired several more books in similar format and size about her parents and another aunt with more to come. These books that are not so much focused on the chronology of someones life but more about telling the story of who they where and what was important to them.

A smaller focused project like this is very doable and very satisfying to too. Keep the possibilities in mind as you think about upcoming story projects.

Understand Book Publishing Paths

Posted on June 6, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

Understand the Key Book Publishing Paths by Jane Friedman

Today I’ve been doing some research on publishing “My Grandma Mary” book. I still have so much to learn. This story project has a broader potential audience than my other projects. So I need to learn new things and try new things to share this book with those who might have an interest in it. I’ve loved Blurb for my other projects but I’m coming to realize that they aren’t the best option for “My Grandma Mary”. Just when I think I’m almost done I realize I’m not done. Silly me. If I just look at my DOABLE approach I would know that I still have a couple of steps to go; link (sharing the project) and evaluating. Now I’m getting sidetracked from the purpose of this post. In my research I came across this well-organized infographic on book publishing paths by Jane Friedman. You can find Jane’s full article here. I’ll be keeping this handy for referring to now and in the future. This is information to keep in mind from the beginning of a story project to the wrapping up stages.