Back in the day, I spent hours … HOURS … doing our Christmas cards.

Back in the day, I relished in mass-production. I had the system down. I did all the math for quantities and sizes and cuts. I created the cards with little chunks of time here and there. It was a process. A process that I loved. A process that fed my creative spirit … and my organizational spirit. That was in 2005.

And this was in 2003, mass-producing with a few friends during Thanksgiving weekend:

And every year before and in between was the same way. Mass-production of handmade cards.

Fast-forward a few years. I am SO thankful for digital-ness. So thankful that it can take me 20 minutes to make a card. No “steps” to create. No callused fingers from inserting brads. No paper cuts. No more 1,000 cuts with my trimmer. No more scoring cardstock to fold the cards.

But I have to say, as grateful as I am that I have simplified significantly … I wouldn’t change my mass-production memories for anything. Those are fond memories. Those were therapeutic and relaxing processes.

So no matter how you make your cards — digitally or intricately handmade or a handwritten note — I just love that aspect of this season, as many of us reconnect and express love and well wishes through the tradition of exchanging holiday greetings.

Just did the December pages with Porter and his first-grade classmates today. This means we are officially half-way through doing this school scrapbook. The theme we focused on was LUNCH.

Think about it. Lunch is a part of school. Every day. Our kids eat lunch. Do we have pictures of this seemingly mundane but really significant routine in their life? That’s why we wanted to focus on lunch for one of the layouts in this project.

I took a picture of each child eating their lunch in the cafeteria one day last week. That was the main picture and then I also gave them each a 3″ x 4″ print of the cafeteria (wide shot).

Each child got the usual pre-printed 2 pages (which I am sharing here, for those of you doing this), the 2 photos, 2 patterned paper strips, and a month label, which I cut & corner-rounded ahead of time.

december.labels.doc
december.page.1.doc
december.page.2.doc

december.labels.pages
december.page.1.pages
december.page.2.pages

december.labels.pdf
december.page.1.pdf
december.page.2.pdf

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In case you are new to my blog or don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a little background:

The Aug. 31st post is here, titled “school scrapbook” (includes background info, purpose of the project, supplies needed, etc.)

The Oct. 29th post is here, titled “school project” (includes pictures of completed pages so far and also has ALL the downloads if you wanted to do this too).

Happy New Week! These are our randomly chosen winners:

1. Paige (Birmingham, AL)
2. Misty (Temecula, CA)
3. Jenny (Kalamazoo, MI)

And a bonus … a kit for a military family: Stephanie (APO, AE)

Congratulations, ladies! Send an email to customerservice@beckyhiggins.com. Include your full shipping address & phone number and we will send you a Project Life kit.

For these winners and for ALL of you who have placed an order, or who are about to place an order … here is the timing update: If everything goes as planned, Project Life should arrive in the warehouse and begin shipping on Dec. 28-29. You will receive a confirmation email with tracking information when your product has shipped (remember to check your junk or spam folders, just in case it goes there).

NOTE: If you have not yet placed your Project Life order, but you want to be included in the first bulk shipment, you must place your order by Tuesday, December 15. Any orders placed after that will be shipped shortly thereafter. But … you know you want to be among the very first (*wink*).

I will address a few more questions that you have about Project Life, including sharing more information about the digital version, very soon. We’ve had quite the whirlwind of activity around here lately. I helped with a baby’s funeral that was yesterday and a dear friend just passed away (cancer) that same day so we’re helping with another funeral for this coming Saturday. And I threw a baby shower for a friend who is about to welcome a new baby girl into this world. Oh, and Claire was sick with croup on top of it all. It’s such a bitter-sweet time. Counting my blessings.

I promise I’m not ignoring your questions. I will be sharing sample Project Life layouts as well.

And for some real holiday cheer, I am giving away 3 Project Life kits. Want one? Leave your first name, city, and state in the Comments. That’s it. (Sorry international friends, U.S. winners only for shipping reasons.)

PS – Still looking for a quick & easy (and FREE) Christmas card idea? You can download one HERE (click on “Free Holiday Cards”). And to save even more money — no printing, no envelopes, no stamps — just email your final JPG to loved ones this year. Your friends and family would rather hear from you via email this holiday season instead of not at all. Trust me.

I spent the weekend farther away from my computer than normal.

Family togetherness. Sledding on fake snow in our neighborhood. A lovely dinner party with David’s work friends. A midnight WalMart run. A dear friend visited from California. Good conversation and learning and laughs with girlfriends. Went to church. Shared my thoughts on the Savior there. And with our kids at home. Had a few families over for Sunday dinner. And we learned that a baby in our church family had passed away.

A bitter-sweet weekend.

And today. Complete with a heart feeling quite tender. A full day. Friends and family and service and catching up … and rain.

And finally, in that catching-up of the “connected world”, I was led to the AZ Central story that I am sure many of you have already read and seen by now. Stephanie Nielsen: Climbing Back.

In case you haven’t had a chance yet, you really should take some time for this. It’s here. And don’t miss the couple of audio slideshows. So completely beautiful and inspiring. I hate to use an overused word like that, but truly — Stephanie is inspiring.

Not taking life for granted. My heart is full.

First of all, a Project Life update: If you are a U.S. customer and tried to place an order in the last couple of days, you noticed the shopping cart was temporarily unavailable. Everyone’s orders are safe & sound. Please note that the shopping cart is available again. We apologize for the inconvenience.

WE HAVE NOT SOLD OUT. Happy Project Life ordering!

You guys. Seriously. Thank you so very much for your Project Life orders! Incredibly exciting to see so many of you enthusiastic about this movement of preserving pictures & stories in a much simpler format. So many of you who are so ready to let go of the “creative pressure” that happens with traditional scrapbooking. So many of you who are seeing this as something you want to share with others who need a solution too.

Speaking of sharing … my fanatical spray-painting post the other day took up so much room on my blog that it quickly shoved an important post out of the way. In case you missed it, it’s worth repeating. Because I know many of you would love to give the gift of Project Life this holiday season, but you know that the kits will not quite arrive in time … I have a solution.

Download this picture. Print this picture. Put it in an envelope or box or picture frame. Put it under the tree.

Sharing this in 2 sizes. Take your pick.

4″ x 6″:

5″ x 7″:

Now …

I would like to introduce you to a few lovely people. Say hello to the folks who helped bring Project Life to … well, life.

Say hello to Lori Whitlock.

Gorgeous, isn’t she? Lori is the graphic designer behind most of the products that I’ve developed over the past couple of years. Most importantly, she is the graphic designer behind Project Life. She is so good at taking my sketches & rambling descriptions & ideas and turning it into actual, real design. She is responsible for the look & feel of Project Life. And you can find Lori blogging here: lorilynnwhitlock.blogspot.com

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Say hello to Andrew Allgaier.

Andrew is witty & charming & smart & entrepreneurial & sharp & attentive & creative all wrapped into one. He is my youngest brother (can you tell I’m a proud big sister?) and the genius behind my web site. Like Lori, he is so great with interpreting what I see in my mind’s eyes and making magical things happen in web land. He built this site that you’re looking at now. And he’s helping a lot of other clients build their sites, their companies, and most importantly – their brands. You can find him @ andrewallgaier.com and follow him on Twitter here.

And for your half-time entertainment … Andy & me back in the day:

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Say hello to Taylor Shupe.

A family friend for many, many years (I knew him when he was a little punk) Taylor is now all grown-up and a business smarty pants. Without Taylor, there would be no Project Life. He is responsible for getting these kits manufactured, as he is the liaison between us and the folks in the factory. (You should hear him speak Mandarin!) He is running a successful business called Isis Dei (you’ve gotta check out their funky laptop sleeves & accessories) and Taylor is also helping other clients grow their businesses with his mad production & product management skills. More information on that found @ impcor.com.

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Honorable Mention: Say hello to Kevin Allgaier (a.k.a. my “techie” brother)

So everything I said about Andrew holds true for Kevin. Seriously. I come from a crazy-talented family. All 5 of my brothers are just so darn smart in their respective fields. And Kevin’s field is information systems. Technology is not only his work but his play. He’s obsessive … um, I mean … passionate about technology. More than anyone I know. So the reason for this honorable mention? Kevin was the final push for me (us) to get our first digital SLR camera in 2002. Kevin was the main influence for me (us) to get our first Mac computer a couple years later. Kevin has taught me a LOT. About technology and life. Oh, and he did that awesome video tutorial found in the “Free Holiday Cards” section HERE. He’s on the web @ kevinallgaier.com and on Twitter here.

Thanks for letting me gush a little about these fine people. I’m just so proud to work with them & learn from them. And I’m so grateful for their invaluable contributions to Project Life. Without them, Project Life would not have happened as quickly as it has.

Red Velvet Sprinkles cupcake, that is.

Remember me talking about the precious scraps of the Sprinkles cupcake that Claire got in the hospital a couple weeks ago? So you get that these are serious cupcakes, even if you’ve never had one before. Anyway, my incredibly sweet friend Megan brought one over to me this evening.

I exercised serious control. Cut it down the middle. Ate half. With my eyes closed obviously. Saved the other half for David who has still not devoured his portion and … it’s killing me. I have so much will power right now.

I’m such a giver to share half.

Oh. No. Uh, actually Megan was the giver on this one. That’s right. Anyway, David better eat that other half. Or else.

Am I really blogging about a cupcake?

Indeed.

1. Have you found something to spray-paint yet?

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2. What are you doing today that will uplift another person? Your child, your co-worker, spouse, father-in-law, neighbor. Think of someone. And do them a little bit of good.

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3. Today’s POTD (picture-of-the-day) idea: HAIR. When’s the last time you got a shot of those pigtails or your son putting gel in his hair? Take your camera to the salon for your next haircut and get a picture in the mirror. How about snapping a picture of your husband’s bed-head first thing in the morning. He’d love that.

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4. If you’re in Utah, this looks like something you may want to check out. Wish I could go. But I’m staying put in my oh-so-chilly 58-degree Arizona weather.

First of all … is it really December already? Really?

I’m sorry I didn’t post this earlier, but I just barely did the November pages with the 1st graders YESTERDAY! Last day of the month, I know. But that’s just how it played out this time.

The theme we focused on was RECESS and playing outside. This has been my favorite month taking pictures of the first graders for sure. Fun, active, outdoor shots. So refreshing to chase them around on playground equipment instead of in the classroom for a change.

Added note: I printed these via costco.com and clicked on the option to have a thin black border on the prints.

Here are the pieces that each child got: 2 pages (see files below), 2 strips of patterned paper (8.5″ x 1.5″), a month label. That’s it. Keeping it real simple.

Here is a completed layout:

And here are the files you can download. As usual, they’re in 3 different formats, so just download what you want.

november.labels.doc
november.page.1.doc
november.page.2.doc

november.labels.pages
november.page.1.pages
november.page.2.pages

november.labels.pdf
november.page.1.pdf
november.page.2.pdf

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For those of you who are new to my blog or don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a little background:

The Aug. 31st post is here, titled “school scrapbook” (includes background info, purpose of the project, supplies needed, etc.)

The Oct. 29th post is here, titled “school project” (includes pictures of completed pages so far and also has ALL the downloads if you wanted to do this too)