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.

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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.

This video is a brief compare/contrast look at the two Project Life offerings: The scrapbooking kit (which thousands of you are already using and some of you are waiting for it to become available on Amazon.com this week) and the digital/online photo book which will be launching later this week as well.

This video does not answer all the questions about the digital Project Life. I’m working on the FAQs so that you’re as informed as you possibly can be. That list of FAQs is coming soon. You’ve asked really great questions, thank you!

[ PS - In the original video my head is not cut off. Who knows why that happened when I got it up on YouTube. ]

In the coming week, we are planning to launch the site for Project Life | digital version. I have all the information coming. Frequently asked questions, details about how it works (so, so, so easy!), and all that good stuff. So many of you have been patiently waiting for this (thank you, oh loyal people).

I just got my sample book so I wanted to at least share pictures of this little beauty. This is the end product — the final result — of what you get after you create a Project Life book online.

Oh, and I want to tell you this one more thing: Everyone — ANYone — will be able to build a book online and play around with it for FREE. No obligation.

Did you catch that? Free.

Should you choose to print a book, then you can pay for that. But if you get in there and play around and decide it’s not for you, there’s nothing to lose. You just don’t follow-through with printing. And you pay nothing at all. Do you love that?

Go ahead — ask your questions (in the Comments section here). Go for it. We’re working on compiling all the FAQ now, so now is the perfect time.

Okay, so get this.

For a couple of weeks now, there has been local & national news coverage on a missing baby “Gabriel”. You can watch an overview of the story here on The Early Show. And here is another follow-up story on The Today Show. Of course there are several related news video clips.

On Wednesday this week the local news did a bit about my website (as in … what you see on your monitor right now) and how there was a possible lead to the missing baby Gabriel on my blog.

Say what!?

You can watch the news story here. Click on “Blogsite Offers Tip In Missing Baby Case”. Or if you don’t watch it, the summary is that a woman named Beth posted a comment that mentioned that a Baby Gabriel that has been placed in their care – in San Antonio – and she’s so excited to be using Project Life to document his life, etc.

So obviously the local news contacted us. But what I did not expect was for an NBC producer to knock on my door yesterday. As in … The Today Show, MSNBC. Ummm. Right. That NBC. I invited her to come in of course. And she proceeded to hang out for two and a half hours. Lovely woman. We just scratched our heads and made some phone calls and can you guess what we chatted about in our downtime? Hell-O. Project Life, of course.

Alright. So fast forward. Last night David and I decided that we would just call this Beth in Wisconsin who posted the comment on January 4th. And I’m so glad we did. So is Beth! This lovely woman and her husband did just pick up their sweet baby Gabriel in San Antonio. He is just over 2 weeks old and they are in the process of adopting him. Totally different baby. Totally unrelated. And she was totally in shock over the phone call. : )

I’m so pleased that we can dismiss Beth and her family as having any sort of involvement in this case. You’ll notice a follow-up story here called “Person Of Interest Admits Lie in Baby Gabriel Case” and the last part of that video clip mentions this update.

So there you go. My blog has nothing to do with this case after all. Crazy. And I have to say that talking to Beth was such a pleasure. She is a completely lovely woman and we are so happy for this addition to their family and wish them all the very best. We certainly do hope that the police are able to locate Baby Gabriel very, very soon. My heart goes out to those who love him and miss him.

Oh, one more thing (since my blog traffic is now magically heavy at the moment!) … NBC, if you’re reading this … My friend is a die-hard Matt Lauer fan so go ahead and email me an autographed photo and I’ll get a nice glossy print for her. : )

And since I’m just sure all the producers for Oprah, Ellen, NBC, CBS, and ABC are now devoted to beckyhiggins.com, I’d be delighted to tell you all about Project Life and how this photo-organizing, story-telling product is going to sweep the nation and how you absolutely will want to feature it on your show.

I’ll stop now. : )

Hello there fine people. First, a quick Project Life timing update:

1. Project Life on amazon.com: The kits will likely be available for purchase (again) by the end of next week, January 22nd. Don’t etch that in stone, but it should be close to that time.

2. Digital version of Project Life: We are just wrapping up a few details — want it to be perfect for you — and should be able to launch this next week sometime. We’re so close. Many of you have been so patient and I thank you. You’ll see that it’s worth the wait. I’m so stinking excited about it. Just got my sample book and seriously, it rocks.

If you would like to be notified when Project Life becomes available again — Amazon and/or the digital offering or anything else that I do for that matter — just click on a button on the right side of this blog. Sign up for my eBlast newsletter or follow me on Twitter or Facebook and you’ll know right when it happens.

3. Replacement pieces: For those of you who have emailed Customer Service about some part of your kit that was damaged or missing, we are getting closer to having the supplies to replace those pieces & parts you need. We should be able to start shipping those the end of this month, with the exception of the binders (those will take longer). So if you’ve emailed us, we will continue to be in direct contact with you via email. We appreciate your patience while we needed some time to gather supplies.

On to something fun and NOT Project Life related … : )

Just wanted to share what we did for our daughter’s 4th birthday party a few months ago. Claire and I are fans of the book, Pinkalicious. Super cute story. And all about pink, so what’s not to love about that? Anyway, it became a natural theme for the gathering.

Invited a few friends, requested that they arrive in pink (of course, right!?), read the story to them …

Served pinkalicious cupcakes with pinkalicious (strawberry) ice cream …

Played a few games and sent everyone home with a pinkalicious bag of goodies.

Her party really was a pretty simple and quite memorable event for the birthday girl. Just yesterday, Claire asked if her next party could be Purplicious.

I have to come back to Project Life for a minute because I know many of you will be interested & SO thankful for this.

Lately I’ve been having frequent thoughts about how I need to clone myself. I’m pretty sure most of you know that feeling. So much to do and yet, you can only do so much. Since cloning isn’t an option, I’m pretty sure this is the next best thing. Someone did something that I’ve been meaning to do but can’t seem to get around to it.

Tammy Morales, you are AWESOME.

Tammy is a Scrapbook Coach (yes, there is such a thing) … and out of her own enthusiasm for Project Life, she has created a video of setting up Project Life. I didn’t ask her to do this and wasn’t aware that she was even planning to do this.

Are you one of those people who just needs to see something explained? If you feel like you’d appreciate a little hand-holding, or even if you’d just like to watch someone put their Project Life album together … click HERE to watch her 21-minute video.

Did I mention Tammy’s awesomeness yet?