Some of you have already brought in the New Year. Hello, 2010!

A couple more notes for today:

1. Tracking the delivery of Project Life kits is kind of like tracking Santa on Christmas Eve! So in the spirit of anticipation, the latest is that Nevada is now beginning to receive their orders.

2. I’m getting a handful of questions about when Project Life will be available for purchase again. If you’re just tuning in to my blog, you’ll see more about this if you scroll down. The bottom line is that we do not have an exact date yet. We are not sure how long it will take to get our inventory moved over to Amazon, but we are hopeful it’s just a couple of weeks. If you want to be notified of when the kits are available for purchase again, I would strongly suggest that you click on one of those pretty little buttons to the right. Follow me on Twitter or Facebook or sign up for my eBlast newsletter. Then you’re guaranteed to be notified the minute it happens.

Your wonderful support & enthusiasm continues to pour in. And I thank you. Again and again.

Some updates, tips, items of business for today:

1. Many of you in Washington state have received your Project Life orders. I am now seeing that the deliveries are reaching into California, Oregon, and Idaho. Woo hoo for you!

2. Some of you are visiting my website and blog for the first time because you have received your Project Life kit. Welcome! Right now my blog posts are fairly heavy with Project Life type of updates because that’s the BIG thing going on right now for my brand. But feel free to browse through past posts. I will soon be getting back to more of other stuff that I enjoy blogging about: Ideas for home, organization, photography, parties, parenting, gift-giving, school projects, decorating, scrapbooking, recipes … all sorts of good stuff. If I had to sum up my blog in one word, it would be SHARE. I like sharing.

3. For the record, I love blogging about Project Life. If I didn’t love this concept so much, I would have probably kept my job as a scrapbooking magazine contributing editor. If I didn’t believe in this concept so much, I certainly wouldn’t go through all the hard work and lost sleep to make it happen.

4. For those of you just chiming in, check out my blog post here (Dec. 3) if you’re interested in “meeting” the fine folks behind Project Life.

5. Yes, I am promised that the Project Life kit components are acid-free. No, I would not recommend putting stickers (any stickers) directly on your photographs. Maybe it’s just me. But I wouldn’t.

6. Getting started with Project Life. If you go here, you will notice the “Getting Started” tab. Click on that for all sorts of ideas on starting out your project. Actually, I recommend to anyone doing Project Life, to revisit the PL page and click on the “Tips” and “Inspiration” tabs too.

7. For those of you interested in taking the picture-a-day approach with Project Life, I’ll share the way I am starting my personal Project Life: Because I’m doing Sunday-to-Saturday weeks in my book, I am beginning my 2010 book on the Sunday before January 1st. That would be December 27th. As in 4 days ago.

You certainly do not have to do it this way. You can start in January 1st. You can start in the middle of the year. It doesn’t matter (that’s the beauty of Project Life’s flexibility!). But if you fall in the category of wanting to start with 4 days ago and you’re thinking, “Becky, why didn’t you give us the heads-up on this idea before Sunday came & went?” … I have been truly buried in customer service & fulfillment logistics & working on the digital Project Life, so I promise it wasn’t intentional neglect. : )

Moving on.

Want to start your Project Life on the Sunday four days ago? EASY. You don’t need to go back and re-create any events. Your POTD (picture of the day) can be “events” on some days, sure. But the POTD can also be just what’s around you. Your surroundings. A still-life shot of something in your house or something that you see every day driving to work or whatever. ANYthing.

So if you want to “go back” and start on Sunday and take a picture to represent the past few days … the first few days of your 2010 Project Life … here are some completely random ideas to get your wheels spinning:

your computer (complete with post-it notes)
the view from your driver seat in the car
the pile of dishes … or laundry
inside your refrigerator
your tootbrush
a favorite room in the house
a pile or closet or landscaping project awaiting your attention
a sentimental piece of jewelry
the bikes in the garage
the street sign on the corner of your neighborhood
local grocery store, gas pump, bank, fast-food joint
your feet – the shoes you’re wearing today
your phone
a display of pictures on your wall
your backyard
your handwritten list of New Years resolutions

I know some of these seem silly and even boring, but think about it. Think about these “things” 20 or 40 years ago and what they would have looked like. Things change. This Project Life is your time capsule. It’s all important. Nothing’s boring.

This place — my blog — will be a good place to check in once in a while (better yet, on a regular basis!) for photo ideas throughout the year.

Now, since most of you do not have your kit yet, all you need to do is keep your POTDs in a folder somewhere on your computer and jot down a note or two so you don’t forget what you want to write each day. Keep your notes in a document on your computer, on a notepad, wherever. So when you get your kit, you can just add your prints and write on the first handful of journaling cards and then carry on from there.

First of all, the GREAT NEWS today is that some of you are already receiving your Project Life orders! When you receive your kit, feel free to drop a comment and let me know that it arrived … hopefully safe & sound. And PLEASE tell me that everything in the kit looks alright. : ) The first recipients are in Washington state and since I’m in Arizona, my estimated delivery day is Saturday.

(Yes, I ordered one just like everyone else. Wanted to experience the whole process from placing the order to having FedEx deliver the box to my front door.)

As for the FedEx email confirmation issue, I’ve learned that this did not happen for every single order. A lot of orders, yes, but not every single one. I realize it’s an incredibly busy time for FedEx and what’s done is done, but I still am frustrated that it happened at all. The latest from FedEx is that they cannot regenerate email notifications with the correct tracking numbers. If they reran the file, it would generate new tracking numbers, so the data would be incorrect when sent out in the customer email. FedEx apologizes for the error.

As I said yesterday, everyone should still be receiving their correct order and in the end, that’s really what matters.

One more note for now: I appreciate you guys so much. You’re the best customers ever. Many of you have taken time to post comments and send emails that are very supportive and encouraging. I truly feel your enthusiasm, not only for the Project Life kit, but for my little entrepreneurial endeavors. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey. If I could go back a few months, I would not change a thing. I would still resign from CK, still give up the life as an employee, and still start a business with David.

The journey continues. I’ll be in touch again soon.

Oh brother. Are you kidding me? It would just be too good for things to go smoothly, right? (Insert my pouty stomp on the ground.)

So here’s the deal. I will start with the bad news. Many of you are starting to receive confirmation emails from FedEx now. Fabulous. Or not. Since the confirmation is for someone else’s order. We are working on getting to the bottom of this as quickly as we can. We don’t understand how the email addresses were shifted in the spreadsheet of orders/shipments when FedEx printed the labels. Of course we are very disappointed that this error has been made.

Moving on to the good news. In looking through the orders, it appears that they are all being processed properly. Everyone is on track to receive their correct order. In the end, that’s the important part.

What’s lame is that you’re receiving confirmation emails for someone else’s order in the meantime. We apologize that this has happened. Rest assured that no one else is getting your credit card information or full address. Just so you know, we can’t even access your credit card information ourselves. We are not taking this lightly. We were meticulous in handing off a very accurate list and are trying to figure out if/how/when FedEx can correct the error. We appreciate your patience. Ideally everyone will receive new emails from FedEx for the proper order. Your order.

Moving on.

We have been notified that Canadian orders (going in a bulk shipment through Vancouver) and orders going to P.O. Boxes and APO addresses (shipping USPS instead of FedEx) are a day or two delayed. But they’re coming.

We have also been notified that some of the orders that had more than one kit, are broken into 2 separate shipments. Two FedEx tracking numbers. You’re still getting all your kits, but one might arrive a day before the other kit(s). This doesn’t apply to every order with multiple kits, but some. (Again, I’m disappointed that this happened at all.) So if you ordered more than one kit and you get 2 confirmation emails from FedEx, that’s why.

And furthermore …

Let me clarify the Amazon plan. Becky Higgins LLC is going to continue selling Project Life kits. Instead of ordering through Google Checkout and having all this shipping craziness, we are contracting with Amazon to fulfill our orders.

Wonder why we’re shifting the remaining Project Life inventory to Amazon? Let me ask in another way: Is it any wonder that we would want to let Amazon take over on the fulfillment of our inventory? Should I limit our reasons to a Top 10 list?

Seriously. Seriously.

I need some chocolate. I am going to sleep (and eat) a whole lot better when you all receive your kits safe & sound.

The warehouse, that is.

Know what that is? That’s my picture of the day for yesterday. I didn’t take those pictures. The shipper did. How cool is that? He snapped a few pictures when the container arrived, filled to the brim with your Project Life kits. I’m pretty sure he’s not used to clients requesting a snapshot of warehouse activity. Not so sure he really gets us “scrapbookers” and how pictures are so important to us, but he was kind enough to take these pictures for me. Super nice. And so I thought you might have fun seeing how your kits are looking at the moment.

Speaking of your kits …

For those of you in the first batch with your kits shipping TODAY … I mentioned that you can expect a FedEx shipping confirmation email when your product ships. UPDATE: Even though your kits are leaving the warehouse today, the actual email from FedEx may not actually get to your inbox until tomorrow (Wednesday).

This is important for you to understand because if you’re expecting a FedEx email today and you don’t see one, then you might email me to check on your order. And if a lot of you do that, that means I’ll have a ton of emails to take care of tonight which means less time with my kiddos. See what I mean? : )

Thank you.

I genuinely hope that you have been enjoying this holiday season. As a fun side note, that felt nativity from my last post is from Finland. My folks picked that up for us at a Christmas market there. Isn’t my mom the cutest?

As another side note, I love that my parents have totally been doing what many of you have done in 2009 and many of you are going to do in 2010. Taking a picture a day. Every day. Go cute parents!

Speaking of Project Life … I believe that honest and straightforward communication is important, both in personal relationships and business relationships. I can’t stand it when businesses tip-toe around the truth or try to hide what’s really going on. Agree?

Out of respect for you, as many of you are Project Life customers, I want to keep you updated as best I can. So for today, take note on a few items of business:

1. Shipment of Project Life. The first batch of Project Life kits on their way to arrive at the warehouse today. There is a lot of work to do in getting everything labeled and bundled (since many of you ordered more than 1 kit) and ready. We are being told that all of these Batch 1 orders will ship tomorrow, TUESDAY. We are also being told that FedEx will be sending an email to you once your order has shipped. So we are still on-track with that. If you’re not sure if your order is part of the 1st or 2nd batch, scroll down to the 12.22 post.

2. Digital update. We have been working on the digital version of Project Life, as you know, but due to the holidays and everyone being pulled in a lot of directions, we are a little off-track for the timing of this launch. I thought we were still looking good to have this ready by January 1st but as it turns out … that’s mission impossible. It’s looking like another week or two. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but I’ll reiterate what I’ve said before: You can totally get started on Project Life WITHOUT the kit. Whether you’re planning to do this with the physical kit or the digital version, stay tuned because I’ll focus on that in tomorrow’s post. No one’s allowed to stress. I promise you’ll be okay. : )

3. Project Life fulfillment transition. Now that we are processing those first couple batches of orders, we are making arrangements to move the remaining inventory to Amazon so that we can sell the rest of the kits there. In the end, this is better for you and for us. It’s a much simpler way to do business.

What this means is that we’re going to have a couple weeks (roughly) of transition time where we are not able to actually take orders. So … if you are thinking of placing an order for Project Life or you know someone who is thinking about it, and you don’t want your ordering ability to be stalled a couple weeks, PLACE YOUR ORDER TODAY. Starting at 12:00 midnight tonight (EST), you will not be able to place an order. Like I said, this will last about a couple weeks during the inventory transition and then it will be available for purchase again.

For those of you who have placed an order this past month and for anyone who will place an order through today (Monday 12.28), your orders are scheduled to ship early next week.

Oh my stars, this is long. But it’s worth the read. I bet you’re wondering about a couple of these same things regarding Project Life. Plus, example layouts at the end. Woo-hoo!

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Q: When will I get my Project Life?

A: The kits have been in transit and are expected to arrive to the warehouse on Monday, December 28th. They will begin shipping some of the orders that day and the next day. So most of you will be receiving your Project Life kits next week (yay!).

NOTE: We have been notified that our bulk shipment was broken into two containers. The first will arrive on Monday, as I just mentioned. The second container will arrive Jan. 4th and will ship out immediately.

If you ordered on Nov. 28th or later AND your order number is #3338 or higher, you are in that second batch of shipments and your product is scheduled to ship that first week of January.

Clarification added: In reference to the Google Checkout numbers, which are really long numbers … and to clear up any confusion … if you ordered before Nov. 28th, you are in that first batch no matter what your number is. Note: The shorter 4-digit numbers are the Becky Higgins LLC order numbers. (The first few hundred orders don’t have a BH LLC number, but don’t need to worry. They are for sure in the first batch.)

We are sorry about this, as it was our understanding that all the kits were coming in one container. HOWEVER … do not despair! If you wanted to begin your Project Life on January 1st, you can still totally get started on it without having the physical kit in front of you. I promise.

I’ll be posting about that before the New Year.

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Q: Project Life was supposed to be a Christmas gift. Now what?

A: We knew all along that the kits would probably arrive the very end of December, and we were upfront about the timing from the beginning (you had to go through a disclaimer window before placing your order). We tried to be very clear about this. In any case, here’s a solution that I posted earlier, in case you missed it: Click HERE and you’ll see a JPG all ready for you to print and put under the Christmas tree, notifying the recipient that they’re getting Project Life & it is on its way soon!

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Q: What if I need to make a change to my order?

A: All orders in the first batch are currently being processed. Should you need to change your quantity or cancel your order for any reason, you’ll have to just ship it back when it arrives (or you may just want to sell it or give it as a gift so you don’t have to pay the shipping).

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Q: How will I know when my order ships?

A: You will receive a confirmation email when your order ships. Remember to check your junk/spam box in case the email goes there.

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Q: More information on the digital Project Life please?

A: A digital version of Project Life has been in the works, as you likely already know. We’re so close to being able to show you the digital product and this should be ready in time for the New Year. In the meantime, this is what you should know: The way the digital product will work is that you will be able to sign in to your account whenever you want and add your photos & journaling to your project-in-process. It’s just like the physical product, except the digital template is already laid out for you.

Whenever your book is complete you can request that your book be printed & bound & shipped to you. For example, if you’re doing a picture-a-day concept for a calendar year and starting January 1st, your book would be complete on December 31, 2010. Or perhaps you are doing your baby’s first year and choose a handful or pictures per month. However you choose to use Project Life, it’s ready to print when you’re done adding your photos and journaling.

Just to clarify, the digital version of Project Life is not a digital “kit” where you download pieces & parts and put them together and print as you go. It’s more like an online book that you’d put together through Shutterfly or iPhoto. The design will be the same look & feel as the physical Project Life kit. The printed book size will be a horizontal format, 11″ wide and 8.5″ tall.

More information coming soon.

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Q: I noticed there are arrow stickers in the kit. How are they supposed to be used?

A: Those simple, classic arrow stickers are meant to direct your eye from the journaling block to the photo that it goes with. See below for how I used them on a layout.

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Q: Does this kit only work for horizontal pictures?

A: The page protectors in Project Life are designed for 4″ x 6″ horizontal pictures and 3″ x 4″ vertical journaling blocks (which are included in the kit). However, this kit is yours and however you choose to use it is entirely up to you! So if you wanted to put a couple vertical images on one 4″ x 6″ horizontal print, then go for it. If you want to print small vertical pictures to go in the 3″ x 4″ pockets, great! Research shows that most people take the majority (or all) of their pictures horizontally, so that’s why we made the page protectors the way we did.

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Q: Will I be able to fit all of my Project Life pages in the one album, even with an entire year’s worth of pictures from every single day?

A: Absolutely.

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Q: One thing I’ve heard from other scrapbooking celebrities over the past several years is that scrapping your photos chronologically makes it more difficult to make connections and tell the stories behind the photos. What do you think about this? Will Project Life still get my stories told and show connections?

A: This is an excellent question. I can see why scrapbooking enthusiasts may have this concern. Here’s my personal philosophy: Think about your friends, neighbors and family members who would like to scrapbook but they’re not. Why aren’t they? Lack of time, scrapbooking is too expensive, lack of interest in trying to “figure it all out”?

Valid excuses. Very valid.

This is exactly why I love Project Life. This is the solution to help people actually DO something with their pictures. With Project Life, you simply print your pictures and jot down a note or two about the pictures. That’s it. No cutting & pasting & cropping & attaching brads & ribbon & measuring anything. None of that. Only the simplicity of slipping pictures into page protector pockets and writing short journaling blurbs on cards that are already designed & cut to size.

So back to your question. If Project Life is used for chronological purposes (that’s how I personally choose to use it), then that means that I’m actually doing something with my pictures. If I have good intentions to create lovely “connections” type of layouts in a traditional scrapbook … but I’m just not able to get to it because I’m so busy … well then, nothing is being done at all.

I choose to do something with my pictures.

Additionally, I want to remind and reassure anyone reading this that Project Life is what you make of it. It doesn’t have to be a chronological picture-a-day type of project. In fact, it can be all about connections! The title cards that you place in each layout are completely flexible for you to label however you want. As I have done this project in 2009, I have included several days’ worth of “connection” type of photos, so while my album is a chronological sequence of daily pictures, it’s a total mix of everything from events, mundane happenings, things sitting around the house, people that we love, and … well … even connections.

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Q: Could you please show us some pages using Project Life? Please, I need some ideas!!!

A: You bet! Here are a few ways that one could use the Project Life kit to preserve & display photos:

1. Picture-a-day. I know this is something that many of you have done in 2009 and many of you aspire to do in 2010. Our family has been doing this. We’re only 9 days away from completing an entire year’s worth of memories in daily pictures and I am being completely honest with you … this has been the most fun, most liberating, most complete way of telling our family’s story. And we’re doing it again in 2010 with Project Life. Of course.

2. Month-at-time. If taking a picture every single day seems daunting or just plain impossible in your world, Project Life is still a solution for you. Simply choose a handful of your favorite pictures from the month, do a little journaling to explain those highlights, and you’re done “scrapbooking” for the month.

NOTE: You could even try taking daily pictures and when it gets too hectic and you fall behind, just do a monthly layout here & there so that you can keep going and keep preserving your photos. You can always get back on track with daily pictures when you’re ready. It’s all one, on-going story in the same scrapbook.

Isn’t that cool? Okay, moving on.

3. Event-based layouts. Let’s say you go on a trip for a couple days and you want the entire layout to be about that vacation. Or you have a birthday or wedding or some other event. Simple. You label your title card accordingly and do your pictures and journaling. Want to include more pictures? Then it goes on to the next layout and the next and however many layouts you want to do.

NOTE: Don’t forget to get your kids involved. The journaling on the Disneyland layout was written by 13-year-old Kayla and 8-year-old brother Cameron. Maybe you know a youngster that would enjoy doing Project Life all on their own!

4. Baby’s First Year. Expecting a baby soon? Have a friend who is expecting? I smell a great gift idea. Consider Project Life to hold baby’s photos & highlights & milestones & memories. In this example, it’s Avery’s 6th month (isn’t she gorgeous!?) so the layout highlights favorite photos and notes from just that month. And so it goes for every other month in baby’s first year.

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Whew! Okay, that was a lot. But hopefully it answered a lot of your questions.

We all know that it’s the little things – the simplest things – that can bring us great joy. Here are two teeny-tiny things from yesterday that make me feel warm & fuzzy.

1. Anyone who has followed my blog knows that I’m a sucker for my kids’ art (like many of you mothers). Porter (7) & Claire (4) have both recently drawn a little self-portrait that I now keep on my monitor. I love little people drawn by little people. I love seeing these constantly.

2. You might also know that I’m a sucker for a good cupcake. Not to worry. Sprinkles isn’t nearly close enough to where I live (my hips are thankful for that). But a friend was in that direction yesterday and was intuitive enough to know that a Sprinkles cupcake is exactly what I needed last night. The warm & fuzzy part is to have dear friends who are so generous & thoughtful & actually follow through with their thoughts & promptings.

You know how you get that feeling sometimes? That teeny tiny little thought in your head (or your heart) that gives you an idea of something that you should maybe do for a friend? Or even someone you hardly know?

I should call her and see how she’s doing.

I should take dinner to that family.

I wonder if I could take my neighbor’s kids for a couple hours.

I should drop a note in the mail to her and tell her how much I appreciate her.

I should see if so-and-so needs help with cleaning.

Today I encourage you to be tuned in to those feelings, those thoughts, those promptings. This is the season of love. Give of yourself and your time and your talents. Pass some warm & fuzzies on to someone else.

If you have placed an order for Project Life and are interested in the status of your order, please note that all orders placed between 11/13/09 – 12/15/09 (from the day it launched through TODAY) are scheduled to ship by December 29, 2009. You will receive a confirmation email with tracking information when your order has shipped.

It’s getting so close. Yippee!