First, a quick update on the Project Life kit: The first batch of Turquoise Editions sold out. There is still a small handful of Amber Editions on Amazon, but those are just about gone as well. We are getting more of both in the next couple weeks.
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As you know, we offer Project Life in 2 formats – a physical scrapbooking kit and a digital version. Everyone has a preference. If you’re interested in a comparison chart of the two, go HERE.
Personally, I’ve done both. I like both for different reasons. But in the end, I went with digital last year and liked it so much that I’m doing it again this year for our 2011 family yearbook (we do the picture-a-day format). By the way, I still need to finish up some journaling so as soon as I do that and get my completed, printed book I’ll share that with you.
I’m pleased to announce that the new designs are up & running for our Digital Project Life books. Just like the physical kit, Turquoise and Amber are the 2 new designs. Yes, the original designs from last year are still available. Anyone can create a book any time. For FREE. No obligation. We want you to play around before deciding whether or not you want to purchase.
I just jumped online this morning to begin our new yearbook and I’m officially caught up on 2011! Here are a few screenshots.
the cover
the title page
the first full layout … obviously a work in progress
If you have questions — and I bet you do — we’re happy to help. We are in the process of updating our digital FAQs and will address as many as we can. Or — if your question is more technical in nature, the kind folks at Ziblio are super helpful and can best answer those questions. They’re the powerhouse behind Digital Project Life … the ones who are making it possible. So they know these digital books inside and out.
Ziblio customer support: 877-209-1560 or support@ziblio.com
Tags: digital Project Life
I definitely think I am going digital this year, although I am afraid I will miss all the extra “memorabilia” I have added in my projects the past year. I’ll still on the fence. Luckily, I can play around with it and see how it goes. I love how you can made the 2nd picture smaller and the 3rd picture bigger! Only thing is….I’m not crazy about the font in the journal – can the font be changed? Thanks for all you do!
Susie, yes, you can change the font. I know that both of Becky’s fonts are on there and there are a few others. I haven’t looked a ton, but I know there are different options. Hope this helps!
Hi Leslie – yes, it does help…thank you so much!!
Where are the original designs that you referred to as FREE?
Heather,
She says anyone can create a book for free, which is true. You just can’t print it for free, obviously. Any of the designs are “free” in that sense.
Hope that helps.
Hi Becky,
Will the journaling blocks eventually have designs other than the color on top and bottom area you know, like the actual cards from the kit ? I miss that one in the 2011 digital version.
I was wondering the same thing…I want to go digital but would really like the same pretty journaling block styles as in the kit.
sweet – i am excited to check this out and give it a try!
This would be up in my alley!! I have thought about starting a project life album for oh…a bit more than a year now and still haven’t done it. Shame on me I know…:(
But this would work…however…do they ship internationally??
Thanks for all the hard work you put into the project.
I was just reading FAQ’s and it does say they ship internationally. Hope this helps!
Becky,
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing pictures of the final product of your digital book. I’m working on mine in the digital format, but I’m still thinking about ordering the kit as well. I can’t decide which I’ll like better and I think photos of a finished product would help a lot. Thank you for the inspiration that your blog is!
Meredith
Hi Becky,
I too want the journaling cards that match the kits. I’m sad that the digital kits don’t match what you get in the kit. The graphics on the new kit (Turquoise) are what sold me on it but we digital folks don’t have access to them.
Undo, Undo, Undo this really needs to happen. No way to go back is dangerous.
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom…How about a zoom on the mouse scroll wheel like it PSE, it’s too hard to see what I’m doing.
Thanks!
Can I just second everything Barbara said here?
I’m still on the fence about whether to go digital or traditional. I played around with the digi for a while and found it very frustrating that there was no Undo, or no way to really zoom in and see exactly what I’m doing. These two things would REALLY be helpful!
Thanks!!
I too would love to have the cute journaling cards. I was kind of bummed about that, but overall, I’m loving the digital version! I fell like it is very user friendly. Excited to try digital this time around.
It’s all up to Ziblio and whether they build that into the next version of their product. Becky, is an “undo” and “zoom” in the works according to Ziblio and if so, when’s their release date? Nail ‘em down for us please!
Ditto what Barbara said. I have done Project 365/Life for 2 years now, manually – this 3rd year, I am trying digital (to save space), but it is very frustrating. Not wanting to give up and thinking that maybe I was doing something wrong, I see from others (who are more experienced doing digital?) that they are having some of the same frustrations? Zooming to see what I am typing on the digital cards would be nice. Making the layout screen bigger is still not big enough. And the card designs–I thought maybe they are part of clip art, and I just wasn’t finding them. Are they really not available? That said, I am still trying out the program, and I appreciate that we can try it out for free to see if we like it or not. I went ahead and ordered both the Amber and the Turquoise kits. I figure, even if I proceed with doing this digitally, I will use those kits for past years’ digital photos to get caught up. I have taken pictures virtually every day for a few years now.
My suggestion would be to take photos of different cardstocks, patterns and use this instead of photos to add more color to your pages. This is what I’m planning to do on my book and I also plan on taking photos of the other knick knacks that would have gone in the pockets. Good luck all
I am doing the digital version for the first time this year as well. So far, I am loving it. Before I would keep a running journal in a Word document till I got around to hand writing the cards. And I would take, choose, crop, print, cut and round corners on the pictures to put in my book. Now it is so simple to take the picture, select which one and drag it in. I did not save memorabila in my other books anyway. Pretty much just took a picture of it rather than [put the real thing in as it was most likely something too big.
But I agree with the other comments – would love to have had the more decorated cards and UNDO, UNDO, UNDO. I find myself not saving my work as often as I should so I can close and reopen the book when I can’t figure out how to fix a mistake I made. I’m sure I’ll get more used to it in time but I do some crazy things, it seems, with the pictures when I’m trying to move it around in the space or whatever.
But I am loving it!!!
I’m so torn! I love the idea of the smaller photo book. I love the sleekness. I love that it would be easy to create 2 (one for each kid)…but no hand journaling? (Okay, some days I love that idea…) And where do I put the rest of the “stuff” I collect?
Decisions decisions. I guess it’s a good thing Turquoise sold out before I bought it. Now I have a few weeks to play and ponder!
I did Project Life for the last 12 weeks of 2010. An idea I saw on your blog, to test the waters and see if I wanted to continue.
I am so used to taking a photo a day, that I feel I can’t stop! I did the digital version. There are some downsides to it, but the BIG plus for me, is I feel I can keep up with doing the Project that way. All your photos are there on your computer, plus no printing photos out…just drag and drop. I also would like to see some improved features, like zoom, undo, and also spell check would be nice.
I still need to review my 2010 book before I have it printed, but I can’t wait to see what it looks like!
I agree with Barbara P. I would love to use the additional journaling cards or maybe just add them as clip art? Undue would be nice but zoom much better! This is my first year. I bought the kit last year as a gift and now I am so excited to do it on my own.
I did the digi last year and I am doing the “paper” kits this year.
I would have enjoyed the digi one better if there had been an UNDO and also if the formating didn’t go away. If I wanted to move a picture – the formating changed and I wasn’t sure if I was lining things up right the next time.
I am just finishing up last years digi and having it printed next week. Who know…maybe when I get the actual book it will make me want to do digi again even with the frustrations I had.
I am SO happy you offer both options..and I am sure my frustrations just come from getting use to the way the program works vs. Shutterly that I am use to.
Thanks for all your work!
I love the idea of doing PL digitally, so after two years of traditional (kit) approach I decided to go digital. I even prepaid to commit myself and prevent second thoughts. I agree with many comments – undo, zoom, spell check would be very helpful additions. Some sort of guides also would be great. And what about journaling cards corresponding to the ones in paper kit? For me it was a disappointment to find out that journaling cards are so blank.
I like the time/space saving advantage of digital PL, design is great (please add more graphics to the cards), so just do couple improvements and it would be great!
Thanks for the up-dates. I got my project life and I’m so ready to capture our everyday memories. If anyone has some good ideas for pictures please forward them on a Q & A day. Also a few months ago you talked about some easy slip on shoes that could fold up for easy packing, could you please post those again? Thanks, Debbie
Hey, Debbie! Try this link… it’ll give you some ideas of various things you can photograph that might have meaning to you to remember later.
http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/images/stories/magazines/creating_keepsakes/January2009/365ideas.pdf
I did the PL digitally for 2010 and found myself addicted to taking daily photos and working on the book! I love it! I got used to not having an undo button, even though it was a challenge to put photos back and hope to get them resized correctly. I see that the background in the 2011 version is much lighter and makes it harder to see where the photo & journal boxes are really lining up if you have to move things around. My biggest frustration was not being able to enlarge the pages on the screen to see my journaling & I’m nervous that I will have many typos when I receive my book and hoping that the font size I used was large enough to read. Please, please tell us that there are more journaling card options to come with the 2011 versions, as my book is looking so stark compared to last years and the paper versions this year are SO CUTE!
I know I’ve commented on your blog everyday since I found you…. but my PL packages arrived today! I just had to write and tell you how much I love it! I ordered both, and like some others, my pages don’t fit the binders and one binder is damaged. BUT! I’m starting anyway. My opening page is almost complete (missing two tiny but important elements) and my journaling blocks for week one so far are done and in. It makes me so happy! I think I’m most excited that this will be so simple to keep up with and my children can *see* it as we go. So, so important instead of having to wait months (or years) to see the albums of our family. I think I’m going to send you one entry into your page call tomorrow and then I promise to stop stalking you – for awhile.
Thank you!
I already started the digital version this year for the first time (I’ve done paper versions the last two years). I LOVE it, and I love that it is so easy to keep up with since I’m a blogger (so I just copy and paste journaling from my blog). The only thing I feel like I’m missing is the really nice graphic cards that you have with the turquoise paper edition (you know the journaling cards with the words?). Can you add those as clip art? Thanks!
I used the digital version of PL last year and really enjoyed it. I was able to keep up with my journaling and photos this way, and liked the design of the book. I second the technical improvements mentioned already – zoom, undo, spell check and formatting (e.g. if you change a journaling card, it would be nice if it defaulted for the size originally in the book). Design-wise, I think a big drawback this year is the lack of design elements in the journaling cards. I think those really add a lot and was disappointed to see just the colored strips on every card. I consider the design of PL to be an important quality and this is lacking in the 2011 digital version.
I poked around a little on the 2010 Digital PL, but now more than ever do I want to really try the 2011 version. If I start with a weekly can I switch it to the monthly? I just don’t know if I can commit to weekly entries. If I get the journaling cards for the printed version can I scan them and put them in my Digital version? Are the holes the same size?
How do you zoom in? I started playing with my 2011 journey digital PL and I can’t ‘see’ any of words I am putting in. Even when I preview the book you can’t zoom in? How will I know if everything is right on the page?
I’m not sure this is going to be the thing for me, if I can’t see my journaling up close and the pics, for centering and accuracy, I don’t want to pay for something I can’t review in detail. Once it’s printed it’s irreversible.
I want to start a digital book for 2011, I purchased the amber edition kit but I would like to do a digital version for my kids so they can each have a copy, I have 3 boys right now & they all love looking through our 2010 & 2009 albums (I may go back & do digital books for them for those years too). I am also pregnant with my fourth child & would like to do a baby’s first year book too, I’m going to order a kit for that project once I find out if this one is a boy of a girl.
the 2010 kit was perfect for me to give my sister in law as a bridal shower gift as it fit perfectly with her wedding theme & a friend is getting married in 2012 who loves the color red so much that her dress even has red in it)
Thank you so much for coming up with such a wonderful concept & for putting in so much work to produce new designs each year. Most of all for keeping us up to date on everything going on, even down to the hour letting us know as soon as each item has become available. I am so excited about this year’s designs & cannot wait to see what you have in store for next year (a ruby version would make my 2012
Becky-it seems a lot of people aren’t sure how to use some of the feautres of the digital PL. Can you please do a video to show us exactly how you do things step by step, like if you have to undo something what do you do? Also, can you show us how vertical pics work in the digital kit? And also, how to delete journaling cards when they are not needed/add more pics instead? Thanks!!
I really want to do the digital PL this year. I tried it out and had such a hard time making one picture wider and one narrower, like on Becky’s example, instead of two squares. Does anyone know how to do this? Why not have a page format you can choose that has it for you to just drag your photos into! I have made other photobooks before, so I’m not totally new to this! When I try this it is so hard to see if I am lining things up correctly. Also, anytime you change the size of anything on the screen, by accident or not, you can’t go back!
I emailed ziblio customer support and was told that you can crop and then resize the photo, but what if I want my whole 4X6 in there? There must be an easier way! Also, they told me that they are working on some kind of magnifying tool. She suggested looking at the book in the preview mode to see it bigger. This does help.
Ginny, I agree…I think we need more information on how to change the size of the pictures, especially to incorporate vertical pics, which it’s claimed can be done. I’ve just played around with it for a while and couldn’t figure out how to resize the pictures. Anyone else know how to do this?
Cheryl
Amen, to both your comments. I’m having same problems.
A lot of my questions were answered in Becky’s support section
http://www.beckyhiggins.com/faq/digital.php
there is no UNDO! and there is NO ZOOM to speak of. The other tools I managed to get the hang of after a few tries, but it is very sensitive. I have used other photobook sites and they seem to be so much easier and more variety.
I really love the PL style that’s why I was so excited about the digital version.
Thanks! I am so happy that the new versions are available. I purchased the digital turqouise version and am all up-to-date (ha ha…it’s only January 5th. We’ll see how long that lasts.) So excited about this digital version!
Just wondering how people are laying out their digital project life. Do you go top row (across both pages) then bottom row, or do the left page, then the right page? I’ve started out as follows:
Blank Sunday | Monday Tuesday
|
Wed Thurs | Friday Saturday
As New Years Day was on A Saturday, I put my 1/1/11 picture in the blank area on the first week so I could keep this format all year.
Also, once you’ve started the “free” version, can you switch to a prepaid version without having to start all over?
Last year I ran mine Monday to Sunday. I started with Monday on top left page then Tuesday and Wednesday below on left page then moved to right page with Thurs, Fri on top and Sat, Sun on bottom. It worked out good for me, but it really is just personal preference. As to the free version, it is the same book. You can pay for it at any time or wait until you are finished. You do not have to start over. Hope this helps.
amen to zoom and undo. and BIG bummer on the lack of art on the journaling cards. i totally planned on doing the digital kit but am now reconsidering it because of that. the art/graphics on the journaling cards really adds so much to the book since all we do is add pics, the stripes of color at top and bottom just don’t do it.
[...] « digital project life! [...]
I’m a bit psycho about color when printing, I’d like to see Becky’s printed version, even just a few pages, to compare the colors to real life. Like, I think Blah Blah company prints high in red ink and gives my kids rosy cheeks, I’d like to see PL printing. Hugs!
Yay! Love it. I’m also wondering how we can add vertical pics to the digital version instead of having to crop them. Is there a way?
Ok kind of random but I have done PL for the last 2 years doing a monthly review, but this year I really want to try and do a picture a day. My question is (open to anyone) do you really take a single pic everyday or do you miss a few days and add from other days? I’m off to a good start and I have so many ideas but my fear is things will slow down and I will forget to take pics and then what?? Your thoughts please!
This is the 3rd year I’m doing the picture a day format & I have found that some weeks I manage to remember to get a photo everyday, other weeks I have multiple photos for some days & forget to get a photo others, some weeks I totally forget the pictures & end up with a week of quotes & memorabilia. Last year I even had a few weeks that I need extra pages because I have so many photos. That’s what I love about this, it doesn’t have to be a picture a day if you forget a day or 2, no big deal.
thanks Nicole!
I actually really like the new journaling cards for the 2011 Digital book. I did the digital last year and one of the problems that I had was trying to journal around a small picture of a stem or leaf on the journaling cards. It made it awkward to journal around these motifs and made my journaling a little offset since I didn’t want to journal directly over the leaves, etc.
The plain cards make it much simpler to journal and keep everything organized looking.
Teresa, that is a good point. I love the extra stuff on the cards, but when you have to type in the journaling, it might be more difficult. Thanks for pointing this out (I’m new to the digital PL, so I never would have thought of that).
I figured out a way to zoom. When you go in to edit your book, DO NOT click on the big screen button. On the bottom right hand corner of my computer (right above the clock) it says 100%. If you click that it will increase your page size. I found 150% to be adequate to really see my journaling. I’m using internet explorer and my os is windows vista. Hope it helps some of you. I still haven’t decided if i’m going to do digital or not.
Thank you Donna for this ZOOM tip! I feel a bit silly that I couldn’t work that one out for myself. I was so worried about ensuring the journaling was correct (formatting, spelling etc) without being able to zoom in but now I don’t have to worry. Thank you!!!!!
Donna – thank you!! This made a HUGE difference! I zoomed to 200% and was able to read all of my journaling and see how it was positioned on the page. So thank you again! I hope everyone sees your little note.
You are a lifesaver, the best tip I’ve read so far. Thanks!
You saved me so much frustration!!! I can now do PL digi and SEE!!! Thank you! I knew there was a reason to read the comments!! ha!
I was about to give up on the digital PL until I read the above post. Couldn’t make that work for me, BUT did find that with Mozilla I can go to the top toolbar and choose “View” then “Zoom”, repeat until the screen is as “zoomed” as you like!!! Awesome. I think I am going to go for digi now!
I would like to know whether you will ever sell the digital project life as a digital book? i.e. at the end you send me a PDF or something of the whole book instead of a printed one. I don’t really like cluttering my house with albums these days!
I was so excited to start my digital project life … I LOVE the concept and know I could keep up with it, instead of having to print out pictures and enter them in sleeves. The designs in the other version are beautiful and so fun. However, i have to say, I’m so disappointed in the digital version. The program is so limited. It is too difficult to resize the photo. The first photo I wanted to include the entire 4×6…i can’t get that similar size when I resize frame. I also miss all the darling designs on the papers. And I’ve had to start 3 different books because there is no undo. I accidently deleted the background paper of page 2 and there’s no way to get it back. Please have zibilo add to the program an undo button and please add more content to include all the wonderful paper designs that are in the other version. Otherwise, i think i’m going to have to give up on this.
Hi Trish! I just read your comment and thought I would let you know what I found regarding last backgrounds.
Under the background tab, there is a “used backgroud” folder with all of the backgrounds that have been used. The background that was deleted will be in that folder (I did the exact thing and panicked and was excited to find it there!). It sounds like you might not do the digital book, but I thought I would let you know about this anyway. Good luck!
Leslie…thank you so much for replying. I so appreciate your help and am really trying to stick with my digital version. Did you notice that the month and dates listed on the pages don’t change? I saw that last years version do change with each week and sent a note to the company, but haven’t heard back. I’m hoping it will get changed. Thanks again!
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