Yesterday’s POTD.

Porter sincerely asks me yesterday, Mama, don’t you think I should make books when I grow up?

For the record, I hope he never stops calling me Mama.

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For those of you who have been doing a monthly book with little students, I apologize that Project Life pushed this on the back burner for January, but here it is … our January layout. The focus? Computer time. I took a picture like this of each child in Porter’s class during their time in the computer lab this month.

No finished sample layout because I’m going to be doing that with the kiddos at school today.

The files, in a few different formats. Take your pick.

january.page.1.doc
january.page.2.doc
january.labels.doc

january.page.1.pages
january.page.2.pages
january.labels.pages

january.page.1.pdf
january.page.2.pdf
january.labels.pdf

And … since I’m delighted to welcome so many newbies to my blog these days … Here’s the background on this monthly school book that I’m doing with my son and his 1st grade classmates.

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 to that point and also has all the downloads to that point).

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***Added Friday afternoon: Just got back from school. Here’s a completed layout.

A comment from “momoftwo” yesterday: Hi Becky – thanks for answering all of the Project Life questions. As much as I like Project Life, I miss the old Becky’s Blog … about your family, decorating style, recipes and all the other fun stuff we used to see.

Me too! Love, love, loving Project Life and all the chatter about it. So much to discuss and address in these first few weeks of everyone getting up and going with Project Life so obviously, that’s why my blog content is heavily steered in that direction. I’m doing my best to keep you all informed so that everyone feels comfortable as they get the ball rolling with their projects.

Now that the kits are now available at Amazon (hooray!) and the digital Project Life is launched (hooray!) … you’re going to see that Project Life content will be just an occasional mention here on my blog. Most of my attention will be turned back to other topics that I love to talk about: parenting, home, photography, organization, design, writing, celebrating relationships, personal & family history, gift-giving, recipes, creativity, cool finds, and other random topics.

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PLEASE REMEMBER: If you have a question about digital Project Life, there is a whole list of FAQs here. For customer support, send emails to support@ziblio.com or call 877-209-1560. Most of the questions I’m seeing are questions that are either already answered in the FAQs or can easily be answered by the fine folks at Ziblio.

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As I sign off on this post for today, I leave you with a POTD from last week. Porter is obsessed with Avatar. He asks us questions about it all the time. He watches the trailer over and over on my phone. He even wrote a letter to James Cameron, asking him to please change the rating to PG-7. Not kidding. And lately, he’s expressing his fascination in the form of post-it art.

Naturally, a very telling POTD. This is SO a part of our family’s little world right now.

[ this made me smile ]

[ winners ]

Speaking of smiling … here are the 3 randomly-chosen winners who will receive a free digital Project Life book, printed & delivered to your home when you’re ready. If you are one of these 3 lovely ladies, send an email to customerservice@beckyhiggins.com and we’ll hook you up.

1. Jamie in Wichita, Kansas
2. Rosa in Fort Kent, Maine
3. Aprile in Pekin, Illinois

[ digital update ]

So glad that so many of you are creating a digital Project Life book! We understand that there are a few technical issues and we wanted to let you know that we’re working on those. Specifically …

1. UN-DO. I know, I know, I know. We really do need an un-do button. I could not agree more. I assure you that Ziblio is checking into adding this feature.

2. VERTICAL PHOTOS. If you have tried to upload a vertical image and it’s looking stretched or otherwise not right when you go to add it to your book … the fine folks at Ziblio have figured out what has happened and they are fixing that as I write this. So expect that to be straightened out soon.

3. PHOTOS GETTING CUT OFF. If you are dragging your portrait images into the square frames and some of the image area is off the frame, this is how you fix that: Click on the image, go to edit photo and pan (move) the image into the center viewing area. You can also zoom the image in this feature.

NOTE: If you haven’t played around with the “edit photo” button, you should. It’s kind of hidden in the toolbox, but once you know about it, it’s so simple to use and you’ll want to use it all the time.

4. CROP TOOL. Do you want to re-shape the image frame? This can be done by placing an image that is larger than the frame and using the crop tool to re-shape it.

5. ENLARGING YOUR VIEW. When working on your digital PL book, you’ll notice the “big screen” icon in the top right corner of the window. Looks like this.

Click on that. If it still happens to not work, there are a couple of things you can try: 1) Increase the resolution on your monitor (like 1440 x 900) and then choose the big screen option in the book or 2) Choose full screen in your browser (F11) to see if that helps.

[ ordering multiple copies of your digital book ]

Q: Is there a discount if I order multiple books?

A: Yes. If you would like to order 3 or more books, you receive 10% your total order. If you pay before March 31, 2010 this 10% discount is in addition to the current 20% off promotion. That’s 30% off your entire order with the purchase of 3 or more books. Contact Ziblio (support@ziblio.com or 877.209.1560) and they will help you with your order.

FYI: Digital printing is different than offset printing in that we do not receive quantity discounts with additional copies from the printer. All books are at the same cost, no matter how many copies are ordered per order. This is because with digital printing and on-demand book making, every order is treated as individual items.

So many of you have taken a minute or two or ten out of your busy schedules to send me an email, telling me how Project Life is helping you. So many of you have taken time to write a testimonial, some which are posted here on Amazon. A handful of beautiful testimonials are found here in the Testimonials tab. And so many of you sent your happy pictures that I’ll soon be sharing with everyone.

What a special, special community this is. A Project Life community. I’m not sure what else to say, but thank you.

I have more comments, messages, and emails than I am able to personally respond to. But please know how much I appreciate it. It really does mean so much that you have taken the time to tell me how Project Life is making even a tiny piece of your life a little better.

In the spirit of gratitude, we would like to choose 3 random winners to receive a FREE printed Project Life book!

As you know, anyone and everyone can create an account and build a book for free. And you can print that book today or next week or later this year. Whenever you’re ready. And you can do this even if you’re not in the U.S. (woo hoo!) Right now we are offering a 20% discount to everyone if you want to pay now to have your book printed at a later date. All of this is found on the digital Project Life site.

But if you’d like to pay nothing and have us print your digital book completely for free (whether you print sooner or later) … leave a quick note in the Comments of this post.

Leave your first name, city and state and that’s it. If you leave an actual comment, I probably won’t see it because of the sheer volume of comments. We’ll announce 3 winners tomorrow – Wednesday.

The digital Project Life is new and exciting and different. And so you’re going to have a few questions. And that’s great!

May I suggest … no … May I strongly recommend that you please take a few minutes to do 2 important things? If you watch the instructional video and read through the FAQs, you will get all sorts of information and answers. This goldmine of information is found right HERE.

PS – I do believe I need to do another give-away here on the old blog. Has it been a while? Have I really been that busy? Well then, we will just need to do something about that.

Stay tuned. That’s coming up! : )

Yay!

Go check it out HERE. You’ll see a reorganized Project Life section of my website with fun new content and more thorough information, FAQs, etc.

This is a great time to share Project Life with friends & family who may benefit from knowing about this, especially with two versions now available: kit & digital.

Enough of this blog post. Go check it out!

It’s coming. TODAY is the day! I love that so many of you seem to be just as excited as I am about this.

This is my 5th blog post in one day. Probably a personal record. Yowsers.

So … I’ll get right to it. Short & sweet. I am pleased to share good news with all of you Canadian and other international customers. We are in the process of making arrangements for you to be able to order Project Life from a Canadian distributer (who is now your new best friend, right?)

We still need to firm up some details and those available kits still need to make their way across the big ocean, so it will be another few weeks or so, but … BUT … you’ll have the option to order Project Life!

Please understand that we have been working crazy-hard to take care of all the existing orders and dealing with so many shipping issues (hence the immense love we have for Amazon right now) … that we are only now able to get this figured out. We hear you. We know you were disappointed with the news of Amazon not doing international shipping. We love our international customers. We are so grateful to see that there is now a solution for you.

More details to come. Of course.

So … Amazon called us. Our contact there had us get online and look at Amazon.com’s list of Bestsellers. See where this is going? I’m really not sure what to think … it’s crazy.

Project Life is the #1 Bestseller in the Home & Garden category of Amazon.com right now. Move over fancy cutting boards! There’s a Project Lifer in the house.

I’m quite certain this guy isn’t super familiar with the passionate side of us scrapbookers. So he was baffled at the sales today. And even though he couldn’t verify for sure, he said he wouldn’t be surprised if we were only outsold by the Kindletoday.

So that was only his guess. It’s not fact. But just for kicks — let’s pretend it’s true. : ) How fun is that!?

So thank you, guys. I’ve said it already, but I’ll say it again. Thank you for your support as we start up this little company of ours and pursue a little dream. Thank you for joining me as we all strive to tell our story and our family’s story. Thank you for catching the vision that Project Life truly can enrich our ability to recognize the blessings in our life.

Thank you for riding this ride with us.

Coming up next: FAQs about the digital Project Life.

The inventory showed up at the Amazon warehouse this morning. It’s the middle of the afternoon and Amazon has already fulfilled hundreds of Project Life orders. Fulfilled as in … they have shipped already!

That’s what I’m talking about, folks.

You’ll notice the black button to the right of my blog. That’s where you can click to buy Project Life any time now.

Woah! Okay, so when they told me yesterday that Amazon would be receiving our inventory on Monday … you can imagine my surprise when I started hearing some buzz that folks were buying Project Life on Amazon … TODAY!

Remember … you have two options. This is the scrapbooking kit. The digital offering of Project Life is another option (see posts about this by scrolling down to posts from this week) and will be available very soon. I will try to post some FAQs about the digital offering today so that you can be more informed.

CLICK ON THIS BOX:

Note: Apparently Amazon received just part of the inventory today, so if by some chance you try to order later today or this weekend and it says that Project Life is sold out … it’s really NOT because the rest of the inventory will probably show up Monday.

You guys know I’m a communicator. I’ll stay in touch with updates. : )

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Attn: International customers

Amazon.com does not ship outside of the U.S. As I know this is disappointing to some of you, I’ll explain further.

We launched this product back in November and made it available to everyone, worldwide. Everyone had a chance. Since then we have learned a lot. (Remember: We’re a brand-spanking-new company.) One of those lessons, even though unfortunate, is how complicated and difficult and expensive it is to take, fulfill, and ship international orders. We regret to tell you that we are no longer able to take international orders.

There is good news, however. The digital version of Project Life will be available very soon (the plan is Monday). This may be a great solution for you! You’ll be able to sign in to your account, add your photos & journaling (every day, every week … whenever you want) and then have a professional printed and bound book at the end of creating your book. We are arranging for those digitally-created books to be able to ship internationally. The shipping costs should be far less expensive than the scrapbooking kit because the end product is much smaller & lighter.

In the meantime, a little tip: One option is to have it shipped to someone you may know in the U.S. and have that person ship it to you.

Oh — And we are working on possibly making the kits available through a wholesale channel to Canadian customers. It’s not certain yet, but we are working on it. More details & information coming.

It’s a double-post type of day. Several things I want to address.

[ amazon timing update ]

We were expecting our Project Life inventory to reach Amazon by tomorrow. I was notified today that Amazon has requested a Monday delivery instead. Ugh. Come on. Do they really think that there are other products that are a higher priority than Project Life? Don’t they know that you guys have been patiently waiting for these kits to become available again? Seriously though, I’m sorry for the delay. I wish there were something I could do about it. At least I can update you so you know what to expect. Once Amazon actually receives the products, they can possibly be available for purchase that same day or sometimes it can take a day or two.

Some of you have expressed that you’re nervous the kits will sell out. I’m pretty sure we’ll have enough inventory, but if sales go through the roof (then YAY for that), please know that we’ll most certainly consider a reprint immediately. NOTE: I promise to announce as soon as it’s available on Amazon. If you insist on absolute immediacy (and it’s okay if you do) … then follow me on Facebook or Twitter. That’s the next best thing to me personally sending you a text message or an email.

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[ digital update ]

The latest on launching the digital site for Project Life is that it’s looking like Monday. We’re working very, very hard to make everything just right for you.

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[ compare & contrast information ]

If you’re not able to hear the audio on my video clip for any reason, I will have all that information in the form of a comparison chart soon.

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[ price explanation on the Project Life kit ]

We launched Project Life back in November with the introductory price of $39.95, plus shipping (which was roughly $13 for most locations in the U.S.). Now with the fulfillment change, the price on Amazon will be $49.99, but this price includes shipping. So the final price is just a few bucks less now.

Note: In the land of Amazon, if you spend $25 or more on anything fulfilled by Amazon (like our Project Life kits), the shipping is free for you, but paid by us (the vendor). Amazon gets better shipping rates than the shipper we used at first. That’s why it’s a few dollars cheaper on Amazon.

———-

Now on to more deep stuff.

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[ what about my 2008 albums? ]

A fellow blog reader, Kelli, asked a great question after I posted my about my ah-ha moment yesterday. She asked, How does this digital 2008 monthly scrapbook differ from your 12×12 albums for 2008? Or did you not do 12×12 pages that year?

And that’s just it, Kelli. I had a list of layouts-to-do. I always have. And, like many of you, I have gotten pretty “behind” on the scrapbooking that I wanted to do. So while I did a handful of layouts in 2008, I still had plenty of “catching up” to do in our family album and the kids’ albums. So now that I have my little family yearbook for 2008, I’m not worried about creating those layouts. So liberating! I was telling a friend yesterday how I’m going to ceremoniously burn that layouts-to-do list. And when I do, I’ll share the picture with you guys. : )

Kelli went on to ask, Do you have any issues with the digital books being a different size than your other albums? I am trying to decide what will work best for me and my order-driven ways make me think I’d like all 12×12 albums, although I love the digital idea.

Another great question. To each her own. My personal answer is that I am so over it. I’m so stoked about these easy-to-create digital books and their small, skinny size. Seriously. Do you guys know how many full-size albums we have in our house? Too many. Specifically, 52. No joke. And that’s not including smaller “theme” albums.

So trust me, I am really, really ready for these little books.

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[ what about your sketches? ]

Teresa asked another great question: What about all of your sketches? Are you ditching all of that for digital PL concepts? Really?

Yes … and no. I’ll explain.

Welcome to my personal evolution. I’ve been heavily involved in the hobby of picture-taking and memory-keeping since I was a child. And my approach & strategy & theory has evolved over time. It’s natural. And I love it. I’ve loved every stage. This happens to be my current approach to scrapbooking. it’s liberating & exciting for not only me, but clearly many of you too. I am so solution-minded these days. It’s what I care about. Creating solutions that help you & me both.

As for the “no” part of my answer … No, I’m not ditching the sketches. I am so happy that my sketches have helped so many of you in your scrapbooking over the years. And they’ve helped me too. And I will continue to refer to my sketches when doing layouts for the kids’ baby books and other creative projects.

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[ But does Project Life really help tell our family's story accurately? ]

Teresa continues with a good point: As much as I like the PL and P365, I’m not sure I will be doing this each and every year. I don’t think it adequately highlights each of my children’s accomplishments, stages, changes, etc.

Very valid concern and perhaps some of you share Teresa’s concern. My response is this: Based on my experience of traditional scrapbooking for many, many years and my new approach of taking a picture-a-day … our family’s story is being told so much more accurately and completely than any other scrapbooking I have ever done. (Remember, I have 52+ albums FULL of story-telling, memory-keeping scrapbook pages.)

Now think of how many friends and family members you have that are not doing anything with their pictures. From what you know about Project Life and the flexibility to either do a picture-a-day or a picture-a-week or a few favorite shots each month, or however you want to use it … can you see how Project Life will help people to actually do something with their pictures?

And last time I checked, something is better than nothing.

That said, Project Life is an option. There are lots of options for memory-preserving, picture-displaying, family history-keeping, and story-telling. I offer Project Life as a possible solution for you. And your friends.

You’ve got to read this post from Lisa, a fellow Project Lifer. She shares her thoughts on how the picture-a-day approach has been an eye-opening way to see daily blessings in her life.

Again, I thank you for asking such thoughtful questions.

This is our POTD for today. Claire (4) is our resident animal lover. And by animal, I mean any non-human, living, moving thing.

It’s raining a lot here in the Valley of the Sun this week. The worms are coming out and Claire is stoked about it.

Solution.

It’s the big word on my mind right now. I am not sure how to adequately describe my feeling of total excitement. The reason I have brought Project Life in the form of a scrapbooking kit and soon a digital offering, is because this approach to photo organization and story telling has been a solution for me, personally. If I weren’t passionate about this philosophy and format, I wouldn’t have built a business around the idea.

But you already know how I feel about Project Life.

Okay, so many of you (thousands of you) are on-board with Project Life. (Seriously – YAY!) And it’s awesome. I’m so completely thrilled that you see this as a solution in your life right now. But let me ask you something: What’s the story with all those pictures on your computer (or in shoeboxes) from past years? Have you done anything with those yet?

Or do they remain on your I-really-will-get-to-this-one-day list?

This is my message today. Consider it a heads-up. When the digital offering of Project Life goes live (still aiming for Friday) and you can all get in there and explore & play & learn & start building your books, you will see that there are 2 versions of Project Life books ready for you. One is week-at-a-glance, which so many of you are familiar with (picture-a-day) … and … the other is month-at-a-glance. Lower-maintenance, still just as fun, still an awesome way to tell your stories & display your photos. A fraction of the cost because it’s less printing.

So today — right now, in fact — I’m working on a sample of this month-at-a-glance book. It’s our family yearbook for 2008. I didn’t take a picture every day in 2008. But I took a lot of pictures. And I bet you did too. Now … I’m getting our whole year in one little book, one month at a time. Seven favorite pictures for each month. And that’s it! I will be printing copies for each of our kids and I will officially be “caught up” with that year.

People. Do you see the vision? Do you see how you can go back to past years and do a whole year’s worth of “scrapbooking” with this month-at-a-glance book? I am so giddy about it.

Solution.