Your questions. My answers. Stuff on your mind. Things you want to know. Here we go!
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Q: Any chance you could start showing us some of the darling outfits I’m sure you wear every day?
A: Ha! Sorry, but ummm … you would be highly disappointed if I shared a picture of my daily outfits. Unless jeans and a t-shirt are impressive to you. Seriously, I promise you the level of cuteness is not very high. But I will share one of my favorite clothing items as of late. Behold, the leggings:
As in … simple, cheap, black leggings that you can find anywhere. In fact, I picked these up at Target. The key is to wear shirts long enough to cover the boo-tay. Or another option is something else to cover up your not-so-favorite curves. I found this little ruffly number at Forever 21 not too long ago. (Got it at the actual store. Not finding the exact skirt online, sorry.)
Q: I totally get why you don’t travel for scrapbooking events anymore. My question is — will you consider organizing an event there in Arizona?
A: The short answer is … no. I can’t imagine taking on such a huge project at this stage in my life. So much more goes into planning these types of events than most would realize. Don’t get me wrong. I love projects. And you know I love organizing. But I have plenty of both going on in my world as it is. Thank goodness for people like Shealynn Benner who are up for such a challenge. She has put together Creative Estates. And I’m going to be there in April. This will be the first time I’ll be attending and participating in an event like this since starting our company a year ago.
Q: I was wondering where you found the maps you used for pointing out Finland and for the Big Photography Giveaway earlier this year?
A: Google. Just do a google search for map images and there are more to choose from than you’d ever need. If you want a map of a specific region or country, obviously you’d narrow your search accordingly.
Q: Is your Becky Font still available for download?
A: Absolutely. If you haven’t checked out the Free Stuff section of my website lately, it’s worth a peek. (Scroll down and you’ll see my font downloads in the sidebar.)
Note: The Free Stuff section will be updated this week with our new featured freebie — holiday cards! The winners of that design contest have been chosen and I will soon be announcing those fine folks as well as posting all the new designs.
Q: Which do you prefer — matte or glossy?
A: Both. When it comes to my prints, I typically prefer glossy for my photos that will be protected in a scrapbook or in a picture frame. I find the image is usually just a teensy-weensy bit sharper and crisper. I prefer matte for photos that I know will be handled, such as when they are used for announcements or invitations.
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Do you have a burning question that I haven’t answered? (If you’ve missed my previous Q&A posts, click here for a run-down of the most recent posts.) Leave your question in the comments for this post. Be sure to include your name. I’ll choose someone (with a really cool or interesting or thought-provoking question) to be my next Random Reader Spotlight.
NOTE: Please hold your questions about Project Life because I’m getting ready to share lots about that this week. : )
Tags: clothes, creative estates, fashion, Forever21, free fonts, google, leggings, map, pictures, Q&A
I still use your Sketch Books quite often and am wondering if you’ll be publishing a third one anytime soon?
Becky,
I’ve noticed that you live a lifestyle of hospitality – inviting people into your home for dinner or showers or having family come for extended stays. I would love to do this but have a hard time keeping my house presentable enough to have guests (mom of 7) and get majorly stressed out when I make the attempt. Any words of wisdom here? You make it look effortless and even fun! Wish I could do that!
Peg in Indy
I just want to say thank you THANK YOU thank you for the wonderful mushroom soup recipe! It’s a family favorite now. Do you think you’ll ever create digital/fillable recipe cards!?!?!?
Hi Becky,
I love your “doors” pixs & when we were in Egypt recently we took quite a few pixs of doors as well. Please share how or what program you used to get all the doors on one photograph. I love that pix of yours.
Thanks for your help,
Debbie in Tx
I have started using Photoshop Elements and I am trying to organize my digital files. I know there is an organizer in PSE, but I don’t want all of my files stored on my hard drive because it takes up so much space. Is there a way to organize them on an external drive, and have them acessible when using PSE?
Thanks, Brenda
I know you’re not a techy person, BUT given all the photos that you take… I have to know:
Where do you store all of your photos? I’m sure you must have thousands. Do you keep them all on your imac? I have an imac and have 35,000 and counting on there. It’s seriously slowing it down, but I like having immediate access to them when doing a project.
I like the smart album option in iphoto (year, month).
Is there another way to keep them organized like in iphoto, but have them off of the imac and easily accesible? Maybe your brother would answer some of those questions?
BTW, love your outfit! I’m sure you do have style even in just jeans and a tee-shirt.
I really love when we get to see a glimpse of the different colorful rooms in your home in your pictures. Any chance we can get a few enitre room pictures for some much needed color inspiration?
Hi Becky!
I have an organizational problem/question for you. I have at least 8 different USB cables for cameras, phones and mp3′s which are all used regularly by myself and my family. Do you have any ideas for how to tame this tangled mess?
Thanks for a great website!
Rene
Monaca, PA
Love that cute outfit! Here are my burning questions….First, what do you do with the greeting cards that you and your family members receive? You know…Birthday cards, Valentines, Mother’s & Father’s day cards, Anniversary cards, etc. I display them on the mantel for a few weeks and then I gather them up and stash them away. I can’t bear to get rid of them. I’ve always wondered what you do with them. Second, do you do anything special with Christmas season photos? Do you create a special scrapbook or “December Daily” album ala Ali Edwards or do all of your Christmas photos go into Project Life? Just wonderin’.
here are two very deep and thought provoking questions (not really)
1. What’s your favorite Thanksgiving recipe/side dish?
2. Do you have any super cute ideas for homemade Christmas gifts?
BTW…never been in forever 21, but I might have to make a trip there after seeing that cute ruffled skirt!
A spin on Stacy’s question above, but I have wondered for ages now how to best display and then store pictures of friends, nieces and nephews that we receive throughout the year (school pictures, family pictures, dance and gymnastics and hockey pictures)? My fridge looks overgrown and cluttered but I feel guilty if I just put them in an album somewhere. Could you share what you do with the ones that you receive?
Becky in Alberta
i love project life and school kits. you make scrapbooking and memory keeping so much easier. are you still planning to make another school kit? pretty pretty please! need one for my second baby.
My burning question is: how do you keep your home so tidy with a toddler?!?! I love a tidy home, but I just can’t seem to get there. Toys are always strewn everywhere (every time we pick up, its messy again within an hour – i try to distract with a fun project, but as soon as we are done, it’s back to making a mess!). HELP! Your house is always picked up in every picture I have seen (even the rooms in the background), and I am so jealous – teach me your ways, pretty please!
Claire was wearing an adorable black & white shirt a few posts back in your second Grateful post. Where did you find that? (and the rest of her clothes lol?)
Amanda
I’ve got an idea that needs a little help. I’d like to do a family tree on our family room wall. I’m thinking a vinyl tree and framed photos of individuals (both my side of the family and my husband’s). Though I’m not sure how to organize it all.
And a helpful tip from one mom of 3 to another (just something that I LOVE)- My Hoover Floormate! Judging by your pict.’s you don’t need one, but someone out there may be looking for a Christmas idea
.
As everyone here knows, you are extremely creative in so many ways. I love your ideas and how you aren’t afraid to tell us and share with us, kuddos! My question is, how did you decided to take that talent of yours and create a new adventure? Were you hesitant? Also, along the way, are there recommendations you could make to encourage success?
PS- doing the school scrapbook with my daughters 1st grade class, and they are loving it! Thanks for such a great idea, and it gives me an excuse to document these precious years!
Hi Becky,
This question is prompted by the absolutely adorable letter that Porter wrote on behalf of he and his siblings re: THE DOG
I was a holdout for many years when my 3 kids begged for a puppy. We finally relinquished when my youngest was 10. I wish we had taken the plunge into puppy parenthood earlier though. My two oldest were really too old (16 and 14) to be really “into” the dog. However, we love her dearly, and can’t imagine life without her in our lives.
My youngest is now a freshman in college (empty nesters this year!) and wants to Skype us weekly to talk to our dog..lol.
So, any more thoughts on taking on that responsibility?
Annie
PS…Great book to read before you plunge into dog ownership…highly recommend:
http://www.amazon.com/Before-After-Getting-Your-Puppy/dp/1577314557/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289838457&sr=8-1
How in the world do you organize your time? Do you have daily routines? How do you stick to them? And cleaning schedules? You just seem to have it all together!
Devrie in Idaho
I absolutely LOVE your kits/books and would not want you to stop your business you have now, but I was wondering if you ever thought about having a job that would use your degree you got in college? If you could go back, would you change your degree?
On the funnier side, do you eat any fast food? If so, what is your favorite place and your favorite thing on the menu?
Sorry I forgot to add my name.
Janita
Becky…Are you thinking of having any more children? If not, how did you know you were done? I have two children a boy and a girl (perfect right?); however they are very close in age (22 months apart) and as of right now I don’t have baby fever (even though my friends are all having babies right now!) and my husband says no more, but there is still the wondering question in the back of my mind! hmmmmm….
Bonnie in Idaho
I would love to read about how you handle your kids’ schoolwork and school art projects. How much do you keep? How do you store it? Do you copy it by reducing the size and putting it in layouts (I know you don’t do traditional layouts now but did you use art in them in the past? I have 3 years of school behind me for my son now and just haven’t figured out how best to handle the volume…clearly, it can’t all be kept.
Jill, Aurora, IL
How about the future school kit? What is the status on that? Thx!
Becky,
I was just getting my weekly journaling cards together and I realized that I wanted to share something with you and possibly your Project Life devotees.
I have quite a few of the bi-fold journaling cards left over and know that I will not need all of them for the remainder of this year. Since I love the designs on the cards I have been cutting them in half and rounding the corners and using them as daily journaling cards.
It’s great to have a few new designs to throw into the mix plus they are double sided and sometimes I just the back for the next week. Hope this isn’t something you’ve heard over and over. I love Project Life and this gives me a fresh set of cards to play with until the end of the year.
Hi Becky.
Organisation doesn’t come naturally to me! Do you have any good books on this subject? Would you ever consider writing your own “How to organise book?”!!
Marianne, Sydney, Australia
Hi Becky!
I know you are just using Project Life for your family’s scrapbook right now, but what are you doing for your kids’ books? Are you still scrapbooking for them the traditional way, or are you making a digital PL and printing copies for each of them?
I use your PL books for my kids’ books and LOVE IT! I do it a bit different than a pic a day, but your binders and everything in the kit works great – a link of how I’m using your PL books if you’re interested… http://kennyanderin.blogspot.com/2010/02/project-life-ellies-book.html
I kind of combine them with your schook kits too!
I was just wondering if PL has changed your way of scrapbooking for your kids?
Thank you so much for all of your inspiration and help with scrapbooking! I have loved your work for years!
I was just wondering if you still do scrapbook pages for your kids as well as doing P365? I’m feeling guilty that my 17 month old only has one scrapbook page so far and my older son has a couple albums.
What is your favorite book and favorite game to play?
Jen T
Iola, KS
Here’s one for you: what time do you wake up in the morning?
Would love to see a sample day in your life…with my busy life with 4 kids (6, 2 and 8 month old twins) I start at around 5:00 a.m. to be able to have a shower in peace and feel human to tackle my day. I can imagine yours is pretty similar!
As said in comments above, your house always looks so tidy, and you look so cute and put together (though I am quite happy to hear you actually wear jeans and a T most days! – phew!). What is a day like in your life…do you schedule your chores? I find I am running most of the time “doing damage control”!
Stephani
Colored Christmas lights or clear?
Any great ideas for Christmas presents for parents, grandparents, In-laws?
Any chance you could give us a little tour of your kitchen/family room area where you have done so much re-doing of your decor? Hope that doesn’t sound “stalkish”, but what you’ve shown looks so cool it makes me want to see more. Thanks, Becky, for being so generous with your knowledge & time.
CAS
I was curious about how you used to scrapbook your kids schoolwork, and also, do you have any more traditional layouts you could share? I used to love your layouts for their simplicity and use of multiple photos. While I love Project Life, I’m still a die-hard fan for traditional scrapbooking and miss seeing your layouts for inspiration!
Hi Becky,
I have fully embraced PL as the best way for me to keep memories for my family. It totally suits me! But I have albums and albums (and albums) of scrapbooks I’ve created over the years. Most were created before I had my own family. And truth be told, I don’t like a lot of the pages I made, either the design or the journaling (or lack thereof). Some bring back bad memories of what I was going through when I created them and I still think of that when I look at it. So, any great ideas as to what to do with all these pages? I can give some away, but most are not give-away-able. I already have a tubful of pages downstairs, and albums I’ve taken off my shelf. Even doing that I still have TOO MUCH!
It’s really bugging me to have them here because I feel like it takes away from the enjoyment of those great pages I made, or of the few albums that feature my own family now. You may not be able to answer this, but thought I’d give it a shot. I’m seeking a simpler lifestyle and that includes fewer but more meaningful memories. I feel like I’m drowning!
Sorry this is so long…thanks so much!
Random question… What type of printer do you use? I don’t see one listed on your Amazon picks. Another question…Please give an update on your School Album! Thanks!
Hi Becky,
I too would love to see more pics of your home b/c I LOVE your style. I didn’t really have a style except for earthtone colors. You have inspired me to add color to my home – You and David Bromstad!!!
Also I loved Claire’s shirt too. It looked like a damask pattern. I didn’t even know what damask was until reading your blog and now I LOVE it.
Here is my question:
When you make your photo invites/announcements do you matt them or do anything special with them OR do you just send out the photo? For my baby announcement would you just do 4 x 6 or a different size?
Thanks much!
Karen
Oak Creek, WI
Thank you so much for sharing your life and work with us. I get so much inspiration from you – for scrapbooking and homemaking. I am redoing my living room and basement. Would you share some of your ideas and process for how you put together your home decor. The glimpses you have shared in your photos show rooms I would love to copy. Thanks so much.
I’m getting an ipad tomorrow!!!!!!! Do you have a case/cover that you like? I can’t just get a black one, I would really like it to be cute as well as protective!
THANKS!
Karen in New Hampshire
Hi Becky! I am a big fan and actually have two questions! First, where did you get the cardigan/sweater you were wearing in the first photo from today’s post? Second-My wonderful parents are in the process of building a scrapbooking room for me (it will be done in a couple of weeks). What is your best tip for scrapbook storage?
Thanks so much!!
Ashley
Wahpeton, ND
You are so organized and creative! I wish I were more like you. My question is… do you have any bad habits or guilty pleasures? I’m sure that you don’t have any really bad habits, but do you have a sweet tooth, like to stay up late & sleep in, or anything that would make you seem a little more like the rest of us and a little less like the amazing mom/wife/scrapbooker friend that we all aspire to be?
Totally random…came up when looking for donation sites for Toys for Tots. Do you have a favorite nonprofit charity/charities that you volunteer at or regularly donate to?
Also, you had posted a picture of Porter’s room a while back and said that he shares a room with your youngest. We are expecting #3 and we have a 3 bedroom home. Any bad downfalls you would like to share with their room sharing or why you chose those two to share?
Amy S
I was wondering how you met your husband, your courtship, and what you do to continue your courtship.
Lizzy Smith
How do you organize your Family Home Evenings? Do you have a board for the assignments? I’m in the mood to create one for my young family and need some inspiration…
Hi Becky,
I am wondering where you got that cute sweater you are wearing with the adorable ruffled skirt. I have seen it somewhere before but I can’t remember. I love it!
Thanks,
Nicki
I’m just wondering…if you weren’t a scrapbooker, what would you be?? What did you dream about being as you were growing up?
- April W
Hi Becky! I was just wondering what your exercise routine looks like. I know you are a busy mom and you have a work schedule as well, so how do you fit it in? Do you go to the gym or work out at home? Just wondering. Thanks!
There used to be some talk about school kits coming again. Is this still true?
Hi Becky,
I was wondering if you do scrapbook pages for the school kit you did as part of the kit of the month with Creating Keepsakes? If you do, would love to see some more pages. Thanks!
I loved your fall decorating ideas. Are you willing to share some of your Christmas decorating ideas? Also, what are some of your favourite Christmas holiday traditions? We have a few here from filling Operation Christmas Child boxes to having a Lord of the Rings marathon. I would love to hear what yours are.
P. S: I have to agree that Forever 21 sells the cutest tops at the best prices.
Katherine, Edmonton, Canada
Could you please PLEASE tell me where you got the damask wallpaper you have displayed in (what I’m guessing) is your dining room. It was in the background of your grateful picture. I love it and have been looking for just that!
Beth, Palmyra, PA
Hi Beth, I just came across the answer to your question while searching for something else so thought I’d share
http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/2010/08/10-qa-for-today/
Hope you and Becky don’t mind me jumping in :/
Fellow blog reader, alison
Ok I have a totally random question. I know you have shared the photo shelf in your scrapbook room before, and I notice you have a small one right behind you in your video blog featuring your new project life designs. I am looking for shelves just like this, can you tell me how you made it or where you got it.
Thanks so much.
Hi Becky! I was wondering how you would describe your decorating style i.e.: traditional, contempory, modern, etc.. I really love your style and color choices. And I just wanted to tell you that I just adore you and love seeing what new projects you are up to! I keep telling all my sisters and friends about your blog since you are truly an inspiration to me!!! Thank you!!
Hi Becky
My burning question is do you have a great idea for an advent calendar? I really want to make one to do with my 3 year old this year…but I want it to look attractive and not tacky so I thought of asking you
I seem to recall you sharing something on your blog in past years about advent calendars and I didn’t want to bother you by doubling up with the qu but I did a search of your blog and can’t seem to find anything? I’d love to hear any great ideas you or your blog readers might have!! Thanks in advance,
~Alison, Australia
P.S I can’t wait to see the new Christmas card designs…so exciting
Ok, I would NOT call this a burning question……but I wish you would consider adding a feedburner to your blog.
I would love to have it in my inbox.
I miss too much if I don’t!