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Archive for October, 2010fridayFriday, October 29th, 2010Congratulations to Mickee in Amercian Canyon, CA. You have a free seat in Anna Aspnes’ online class! Email anna_aspnes@yahoo.com and she’ll hook you up. ……………………. Hope everyone enjoys a lovely or productive or relaxing or exciting or playful weekend … whatever you’re hoping it will be. For Halloween, I’m thinking about being a two-headed something with David, based on this inspiration by Claire.
graphic design contestThursday, October 28th, 2010I know some of you are already thinking about your holiday cards. And if you weren’t already, you are now. ; ) If you were around here a year ago, you might remember that we offered FREE digital templates here on beckyhiggins.com. Remember these?
I’d like to keep the tradition alive and offer you free digital holiday card templates again. All you have to do is digitally drop in a favorite picture and that’s it! Hooray for simplifying some things in our life, right? So here’s the twist: I’m opening this up to YOU. If you are a graphic designer, or even if you have enough experience with Photoshop to know what you’re doing, I’d love for you to come up with one of our newly offered designs! If your card design is chosen, you’ll win: 1. Project Life 2. Spotlight on my blog 3. $100. That comes in handy this time of year, no? Are you up for the challenge? Do you know someone with design skills that would be interested? (Direct them here.) This contest is open to anyone and everyone, no matter your industry or experience. I just want to see your best holiday card design. The winning 3-5 designs will be the digital holiday card templates that are offered on beckyhiggins.com this year. They’ll be available as free downloads for everyone to use as they wish. ……………. { the nitty-gritty } 1. All artwork must be original art. You can’t use any paper or embellishments from digital kits. 2. Each design must be submitted as a 5×7 and 4×6. {Added note: Thanks to reader “Lori” for also adding that Costco will print custom JPGs in their special 6″ x 7.5″ greeting card prints. Sooo … please submit in that size as well!) 3. The orientation can be either horizontal or vertical. 4. Include the year (2010) somewhere in the design and perhaps a title or caption that is holiday-related. 5. Files must be saved as 300 dpi png files. 6. You must leave a blank space where the photo is to be placed. The photo should be prominent in the design. 7. As for style, well … that’s up to you. You’re the designer. But since I will be personally choosing the winning designs, I’ll give you a tip on what will likely stand out to me: Clean and uncluttered. 8. The deadline for submissions is November 6th; that’s next Saturday. 9. Email submissions to submissions@beckyhiggins.com 10. No more than two designs per person. …………….. All that said, I seriously can’t wait to see what you come up with! Good luck! Added note: I have no rules about who you are and if we know each other. This is open to everyone. So whether you happen to be a personal friend or if you’ve never even heard of me before today … you have equal chances. I just want the coolest cards to share with my readers and my bias is only about the design itself. : ) Another added note regarding fonts: Please be mindful of copyrights. Your safest bet is to use generic fonts like the Arials, Helveticas, Geogias, etc. Be sure to save your layered files for any slight changes you may be asked to make. san franciscoWednesday, October 27th, 2010David and I just spent a few days in the San Francisco area. A bit dreary and rainy for part of the time (matched how I felt … been under the weather). But there was also some really lovely sunshine. All of it together felt very … Fall. I looove Fall.
Speaking of an airplane view, this was my reading material for the flight there. If you missed it before I’ll say it again, I really like Seeing the Everyday magazine. Like — so, so much. I appreciate how it focuses on relationships and how little moments mean so much and how it uplifts the reader to be a better contributor to a happy, rich family life.
Anyway … back to San Francisco.
If you happen to be in the area, and if you happen to like Indian cuisine … we recommend Little Delhi on Eddy St. So delicious! And easily the best naan we’ve ever had. Ever.
We rented a tandem bike and ventured off for a couple hours. I had to get over the feeling of not being in control of the bike (not a natural feeling). Once I fully trusted David, who was in front and really controlled the steering and pedaling … it was actually a lot of fun.
We biked on the Golden Gate bridge and enjoyed incredible views and beautiful weather.
Being on the back of the bike also meant I could easily juggle the point & shoot camera with one hand. (No dSLR for this trip.) And that resulted in a self portrait. On the back of a tandem bike. Yeeee-haw! I’m such a dork.
giveaways & winnersTuesday, October 26th, 2010I just got home from a little place you might recognize as San Francisco. More on that tomorrow.
But first — Today it’s down to business. A little housekeeping. (And fighting a nasty head cold.) We have some winners to announce from the past couple of giveaways! …………….. Winners of Rebecca Cooper’s photography eBook: FIVE winners, actually! Very cool. PS – If you haven’t stopped by Rebecca’s blog, it’s super delightful. Plus she just did a guest post over at eighteen25 with Halloween picture-taking tips. Perfect timing. 1. Anneleen in Zwevezele, Belgium 2. Pam in NW Arkansas 3. Melinda in Fessenden, ND 4. Kate in Singapore (but posted from Australia) 5. Jackie in Raymond, AB Canada Winners, email cooper.rr@gmail.com. …………….. Winner of a ticket to attend the Creative Estates conference in April: Heidi Ferguson who “sews and quilts”. Congratulations, Heidi! We’ll see you in April. Send an email to creativeestatesconf@gmail.com. Be sure to check out the agenda, which is now posted. …………….. Heck. Let’s do another giveaway today! Anna Aspnes is re-running a popular class, AlbumMagic, at ReneePearson.com next month (November 8 – 28) and wants to give away a seat to one of my readers. The class teaches the process of putting together a cohesive album. You can read the full details about the class here.
Is this up your alley? You know the drill. Leave your name and a brief comment and someone’s going to get a free seat in Anna’s virtual class. back from vacationFriday, October 22nd, 2010
Our family is just back from a little getaway to Disneyland. Met up with some of our very favorite people there and had so much fun. It was cool and overcast the whole time (my favorite weather) and rained quite a bit on one of the days. In fact, it’s hard to tell but we are soaked from the knees down in this picture. But the rain — We didn’t mind at all. Shorter lines, not crowded, going on rides over & over … what’s to complain about? Answering questions I know are coming: 1. That bag I’m wearing is a Marimekko bag that my sweet mom sent to me from Finland for my birthday. (My birthday was this week.) I did a search on Amazon to see if I could find the same one and … this is it. Different fabric but still cute. I seriously loved wearing this bag around the parks. Light weight, simple, roomy. Just right. Thanks Mom. 2. I’m 34. I feel 34. Not older or younger. I love 34. I embrace 34. 3. Favorite Disneyland ride? Always a tie for me: Soarin’ over California and California Screamin’. 4. No, I wasn’t blogging on vacation. When I’m going to be out of town or taking a break, I write posts and schedule them to go live while I’m away so you still have new content when you stop by. (Thanks for stopping by.) 5. Yes, I am due to announce some winners from our last couple of giveaways here on the blog. Look for such announcements on Monday. You know how it is when you’re back from being gone. So much to do. 6. Yes, that’s a hole in Claire’s leggings. The girl knows how to work the leggings. They’re officially retired now. 7. Laundry is calling my name. You weren’t going to ask that but … I gotta go. Dear Santa.Wednesday, October 20th, 2010I have nothing to add to this. I am busy trying to pull myself out of a mushy puddle on the floor.
photography book giveawayTuesday, October 19th, 2010The very talented Rebecca Cooper, professional photographer and mom to some seriously gorgeous children … has written an eBook on taking better photos. And don’t we ALL want to take better photos? You’ll love the visual inspiration and as promised — the tips are simple and solid.
To learn more about this book, or to purchase it (at just $5.99, this is a steal) go here. For a chance to get a FREE copy of this, leave your name and where you call home. We’ll randomly select 2 winners. porter’s saleMonday, October 18th, 2010Speaking of creativity + entrepreneurship (yesterday’s post) … Porter recently got an idea of how he could earn some extra money. He woke up early, got out his paper and markers, and nearly finished his sign before anyone else was even awake that day. You know that feeling when you get an idea and you’re so excited about it you just run like the wind with the idea? That was Porter. He starting pulling little toys out of the play room and labeled them. Fifty cents for this. Ten cents for this. Everything under a dollar.
I was fully supportive. Heck yes. Porter is always so charitable and giving and this is his first real entrepreneurial endeavor. The marketing? He made a list of all the families he wanted me to notify about “the sale”. I happily sent the email. I suggested he sell some original handmade coloring books in addition to the toys. He created all the art. I took care of scanning & printing. He collated. I stapled. It was beautiful team work. (Let’s just say the apple didn’t fall far from the tree here.)
I also suggested that he sell homemade treats. Just trying to make his shop even more marketable. Claire got involved and helped me make Chex Muddy Buddies and Pretzel Hugs. Porter wrote the treat names. I scanned, printed, cut and stapled the bag labels. We all participated in snacking on the scraps. : )
We set up shop on this past Monday since there was no school (thank you, Mr. Columbus, for giving us an excuse to have a day off). The shop was B-U-S-Y. So many supportive friends & neighbors came.
It was so busy, in fact, that we blew right through all the snacks and decided to take pre-orders … 9 more packages of Chex Muddy Buddies which we delivered later in the day. (I had to explain the concept of pre-orders to Porter.)
…………………… [ My TOP TEN notes-to-self from this experience ] 10. Porter learned how to take a little idea and carry it out in a big way. Yay for that. 9. The boost in self-confidence is priceless. Porter was beaming about how many friends came to his “Sale”. 8. Wear tennis shoes for an outdoor sale because chasing after Crew down the street 7 times in flip flops isn’t the best idea ever. 7. Sell water bottles. 6. Make more treats. Have samples available for those who want to taste-test. 5. Encourage Porter to start working on his next coloring book. 4. I love where we live. 3. I love shade. 2. Being a mom is the best ever. 1. Taking the time (it was a chunk of time) to guide Porter through this process was totally worth it. We are so doing this again. engaged.Friday, October 15th, 2010Here’s to two people realizing they are absolutely, positively supposed to be together for the long haul. Here’s to love. Here’s to laying flat on my belly in the middle of a warm street to get some pictures because I love these people.
Congratulations, Jason & Kyra. I love you guys and am so excited for this new journey you’re headed into … together. a conference for creativesThursday, October 14th, 2010Today I’m announcing the winner of the Whippy Cake adorableness … and … doing another giveaway! Because it’s fun. So first … congratulations to Leslie Alexander in Monticello, IL! Shoot an email to wendy@whippycake.com and she’ll hook you up. You will love adorning your head with some Whippy Cake. ……………….. Last month I did a post (“Creative Ambition”) about those who have creative ideas and entrepreneurial spirits. One person I mentioned is SheyB, the camera strap girl. She recently came up with the idea of bringing creative entrepreneurs to one place for a big conference. This idea is becoming a reality now and registration for Creative Estates is open. If you’re interested in reading a little about Shey’s inspiration, check out this blog post she wrote – “A Conference Dream Becomes a Reality”.
What is Creative Estates? Anyone with a creative mind would enjoy this conference. Scrapbookers, photographers, sewers, knitters/crocheters, painters, general crafters, blog designers, jewelry artists, writers … anyone with a creative side that loves to do something with it. Those who are in the business of selling stuff they make or offering services to others. Or those who are thinking about embarking on a journey such as that. It will be like one big block party with crafters of every kind. Held in April 2011 in beautiful Arizona — lucky for me, that’s my own backyard. There will be speakers and classes and workshops and yes — a Handmade Market, which will feature many amazing handmade shops. I am sooo looking forward to that. I will be there. I have accepted the invitation to speak at Creative Estates and look forward to meeting some of you there. Which brings me to my next point: YOU. You may be feeling that you need to be at Creative Estates. Many of my readers fit in this category and so I imagine many of you would love the opportunity to come & learn & be inspired & gain insight from other creatives. Be sure to visit the official Creative Estates blog for all the conference scoop. Shey is giving away a ticket to Creative Estates to one of my readers! The ticket includes admission to the conference, 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, a dinner/party, and Creative Workshops. Leave a comment with your name … and … mention your business or craft or area of interest. Link to your site or blog (if you want) if you have one for your business. Not because it has anything to do with being chosen (that will be totally random), but because I’d like to get to know you a little better. I’d love to know what you’re up to. Or what you’d like to be up to. ; ) look down: photo challenge resultsWednesday, October 13th, 2010The challenge: With your camera in hand, look straight down on your subject. (More details in this post.) The results: A lot of people standing on chairs, first of all. And just loads of terrific submissions. I love how many of you are participating in these simple photo challenges. Even if you don’t submit a photo, many of you are trying something different with your camera. Attempting a new angle. Go you! Top ten: It’s actually not. I can’t narrow down any more than I already have. So here are my top 13 favorite shots that you submitted.
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Great job, everyone! I’m inspired. whippy cakeTuesday, October 12th, 2010What is Whippy Cake? Oh, you know … just the cutest hair accessories ever! These have been in my hair at least every few days lately. LOVING. I adore the designs. They’re versatile to work in both my hair and my little Claire’s hair too. And the quality? Impeccable. The girl behind it all? Ultra creative, super sweet, witty and delightful … Becki. (You’ll get a sense of just how charming she is as you skim through her blog.) PLUS — She does the most fun things with hair & makeup and oozes of beauty-related talent as well so check out her hair tutorials and tips.
Becki would love to give $40 worth of free Whippy Cake products to one of you. Want some of this? (Yes, you do.) Leave your name, city, and state. Winner will be announced on Thursday this week. …………………. Totally unrelated but equally cute, cute, cute: Kara Layne is now offering a new product with her photography services that rocks. They’re 2×3 mini brag books and they’re adorable. Check out the miniature goodness here. it’s tradition.Monday, October 11th, 2010Quick item of business: Our randomly selected winner of the FREE digital Project Life book is … Joanne Villet (United Kingdom)! And … Rebecca Foxworth (California)! You, my dear, are the one who has inspired many to try the picture-a-day concept specifically for these last 12 weeks of 2010. So YOU are getting a free 2nd copy of your digital Project Life book as well! Both of you shoot an email to projectlife@beckyhiggins.com and we’ll hook you up. ………………….. Traditions have been on my mind. Little traditions that document life and preserve personal history and family history. Like getting each of our kids’ handprints on a canvas every time they turn a year older. (We just had 2 birthdays last month.)
I’ve talked about these canvas handprints before – here and here. But I don’t think I ever mentioned how I identify each of the handprints, telling how old the child was and when we did each respective handprint. So here’s a look at the backs of those canvases. Just used a skinny Sharpie marker for the labeling.
Here’s Crew’s entire collection as well:
…………………. Another “small” thing I did recently is have Claire write the entire alphabet together on one piece of paper. I love seeing the whole alphabet together and of course I’m a sucker for my kids’ handwriting. Perfect combination. Porter did this when he was about this same age (you can see it displayed in our play room in this post). I’ll try to remember to have Crew do this in a few years too, when he’s about 5 and learning to write. So I guess this has become another tradition of sorts.
How about you? What’s one little tradition you do — as a family or as an individual — that has to do with documenting life and preserving your story in some way? impressive.Friday, October 8th, 2010And the winner of this morning’s most outstanding bed head award goes to …
Way to go, buddy. I know that was a whole night’s worth of effort. This one deserved some recognition. Happy weekend, everyone. the picture-a-day philosophyThursday, October 7th, 2010My philosophy on preserving memories? ANYthing you’re doing to capture & record life in the form of pictures, video, journal-writing, scrapbooking … anything … is just awesome. And most of you are doing something. And that’s just so cool. For me personally, the primary way I document our family’s life is by taking at least one picture every single day. I include this collection of daily shots, each accompanied with brief journaling, into a book. I’m going on 2 years strong of doing this. Most of you know that this is what inspired the development of Project Life. Of course many of you are telling your story with a picture-a-day as well. You know what it means for you. For your family. For your posterity. This philosophy has resulted in more everyday pictures that are more valuable to us than 200 pictures at Disneyland or 75 pictures of an Easter Egg hunt. We’re getting more pictures like these… Daily rituals:
Porter’s latest project:
Claire’s latest portrait:
How we get the wiggles out before bed:
A little party preparation:
A little afternoon craving:
And the way we kicked off a recent date night:
…………………………….. Here’s a thought. This is for those of you who are not currently taking a picture-a-day. Maybe the picture-a-day concept intrigues you but it feels daunting, overwhelming, impossible. Maybe you wonder, “But when would I start? The beginning of the year? On your next birthday? An anniversary? Just whenever? (The correct answer is: Any time is a good time. Pick a random day and that’s a good day!) Perhaps you’d like a little “trial run” with this philosophy to see how it works out in your own life before tackling an entire year. A fellow blog reader — Rebecca in California — recently pointed out to me that we’re approaching the last 12 weeks of 2010. She thought of this idea, shared it with me, and I’m passing it along to you. (Rebecca, thank you!) One of the digital Project Life books is designed for 12 layouts (originally intended for one month per layout for a full year). What if … you took a picture every day for these last 12 weeks of the year?
Because I am personally loving this philosophy in my own life and because I continue to read comment after comment and email after email of happy “Project Lifers” who are doing the picture-a-day — I’d love for you to try it and see for yourself. So here’s what we’re gonna do: - For a limited time, we are putting the digital Project Life books on sale — 25% off both sizes! Starting … NOW. - All new customers who sign up (meaning you set up an account and start a project but don’t necessarily need to make a purchase) will get $5 credit applied to their account. - All those who either already have an account or they sign up now, will have a chance to win an additional FREE copy of the book they publish. This would be today’s GIVEAWAY! Leave your name, city, and state or country and we’ll randomly choose someone. But first — be sure you’ve created an account HERE. It costs absolutely nothing and you are absolutely not obligated to purchase anything. Creating an account means you can start uploading your pictures & adding your journaling to the already-designed book whenever you’re ready. It’s super simple. NOTE on timing: Go ahead and get started this weekend with your own project if you’re interested in taking a picture-a-day for the last 12 weeks of 2010. You could start this Saturday or Sunday … depending on how you want to display your weeks. Personally, I’m a Sunday-through-Saturday-kind-of-week girl. ALSO NOTE: Ziblio is the platform for digital Project Life. If you have questions, concerns, or need customer support at all these guys are really terrific and super helpful. Please direct your questions to them: (877) 209-1560 or support@ziblio.com. Alright — are you in? Want to try the daily picture-taking? If you’re already doing the daily thing, feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts too.
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