Archive for June, 2011
Thursday, June 30th, 2011
I know. Random topic. But food comes up on my blog once in a while, and most of you know that.
We have a thing for uncooked tortillas, and have been using them for as long as I can remember. We don’t even buy regular tortillas, like … ever. Side note: Tortilla Land just had a recent facelift and I think it looks great. It’s always fun when a company goes through a re-design. Look for these at your local grocery store or Costco or Sam’s Club (in the refrigerated section) because I don’t think the store locator on their website is up-to-date.
If you’ve never tried uncooked tortillas, it’s so different than the package of already-cooked tortillas in a bag. The taste is more fresh because you’re … well, cooking them fresh. And by “cooking” I mean … putting them in a pan and flipping it over for a couple minutes. That’s it. No need to add anything else.
Wanna know the ingredients for these little beauties? Wheat Flour, Water, Canola Oil, Salt, Sugar. That’s all.
This is the warmer/container we use for our tortillas, as we cook them in preparation for a meal. Just keep the lid on and the tortillas stay warm.
We use the tortillas mostly for Breakfast Burritos – our favorite, easy, go-to weekend breakfast.
Load each tortilla with eggs, sausage, and cheese.
Oh, for the love of yum. Very simple. Very good.
A couple more of our favorite recipes using the uncooked tortillas:
- Cafe Rio
- Classic Chicken Enchiladas
Posted in food | 20 Comments »
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
I’ve been getting lots of questions about this topic so today I’ll share with you how we usually organize block parties. Our process isn’t necessarily the way it works best for others, but this is our groove and it works for us. I hope you’ll glean some inspiration and possibly feel more motivated to organize a block party in your own neighborhood.
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WHAT: We have hosted a block party just about every year since we moved here 5 years ago.
WHY: We love a sense of community, we have great neighbors, and we seek opportunities to get to know them better, and have everyone become better acquainted with one another as well. It’s hard to build friendships without face time. Isn’t it amazing how you can live next door to someone and hardly ever see them?
WHEN: We’ve done every time of year – Spring, Fall, Winter. Usually we avoid the Summer time because it’s so hot in Arizona but we were just early enough this time that it wasn’t quite dreadful yet. Because of Summer time, we opted for a weekday evening (cooler temps, kids aren’t in school, and weekends are usually full or less-consistent in general).
HOW: Higgins style = simple. Simple = No decorations, no cutesy party favors, no making the food all by myself … not even planned games. I’m not really elaborate when it comes to parties. If I were elaborate, I probably wouldn’t have many parties ever, because I don’t have that kind of time.
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Step 1: A few weeks before the party, we sent a save-the-date email to all neighbors whose addresses we had.
Step 2: I made flyers.
Don’t be confused by the graphic. I used a map of our little neighborhood but distorted the image in this picture for privacy reasons. Here is how I set up the document in Pages (word processing on Mac computers):
Step 3: A couple weeks before the party, my good friend & neighbor Sarica and I took our kids on a walk one morning and the kids taped a flyer to every single door in our neighborhood. **Definitely involve your kids in the planning and preparations! This will help instill in them a sense of community.
Step 4: On the flyer, we requested that everyone tell us what they were going to bring (main dish or salad or side dish or dessert …). I kept a running list of these things, just to ensure we had a good balance of food items.
Step 5: On the evening of the party, we put a sign on the door, inviting all our neighbors to just walk in.
We set out plenty of these, accompanied with a couple of markers. (We have plenty of new neighbors so these name tags are instrumental in helping us learn and remember everyone’s names.)
Many neighbors came. Some were out of town. I love that all the kids knew to kick their shoes off by the front door.
And we spent the evening enjoying great conversation and catching up over plenty of food.
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{ BLOCK PARTY TIPS }
- Be sure to invite every neighbor. It’s not cool to leave people out. You probably don’t have everybody’s email address or phone number. Hence the flyers.
- Don’t expect 100% attendance. That’s just too many schedules to coordinate. Just pick a date and hope for the best.
- Collaborate with another neighbor and share party-planning duties.
- Child-proof your home if you’re not used to having children over. We have kids over all the time, so this was a non-issue.
- If your home isn’t conducive to large crowds (or you simply don’t want to have everyone in your home), consider a nearby park or even a cul de sac in your neighborhood that you could block off. Just choose a time of year that is ideal and comfortable to be outside.
- Have one, central place for all the food. Seems obvious, but plan ahead for this as you might need to gather a couple extra tables to set up.
- Name tags. Super helpful. See above.
- Welcome sign on the door. See above. This is especially helpful to new neighbors, to ensure them they’re at the right house when they show up.
- We don’t plan games because the kids are content to run around in the backyard, jump on the trampoline, etc. but you certainly could plan for a couple games. I do think it’s a fun idea. In fact, this is a perfect assignment for other neighbors or even have a couple teenagers take charge in the game department.
- Put a couple Sharpie markers by the cups so everyone can label their own cup. I like my neighbors but I try to keep my germs to myself.
- Speaking of drinks, this is a more personal preference. We don’t drink alcohol and we don’t prefer alcohol to be in our home. So we always provide drinks. A big water jug or water bottles or soda and juice or make a punch. There are plenty of options. For this recent party, we stuck with water because it was a hot day and we knew there would be a lot of congregating inside. Any spills would be water spills and I can handle that.
- Remember: This party isn’t about your house, if you’re hosting the party in your home. Don’t worry if there’s still laundry on your bed or dust on your blinds. This party is about building friendships within your community.
- If you have little ones, I recommend seeing if they could play at a neighbor’s for that hour or so before the party. That’s when you’re usually tidying up, pulling together last-minute food prep, etc. This will save you some stress if you have a hard time multi-tasking. My friend/neighbor Sarica had our kids over before this recent block party and boy, it was sure helpful to pull everything together without distractions.
- Need party food recipe ideas? Check out my collection of favorite Recipes (see categories on the right).
- Just do it. If you don’t, who will?
Tags: community, neighborhood
Posted in family & children, food, organization | 22 Comments »
Monday, June 27th, 2011
Congrats to the winner of Thursday’s giveaway: Karen in St. John’s, Arizona! She said “I would love to do t-shirts for family and friends to support my sister in Paralympic competition!” What a great idea, Karen. Shoot an email to Ricky@tamboink.com and they’ll hook you up with $50 toward your custom t-shirt order.
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Remember the Kiki Creates giveaway I did back in March? I said, “Check out this print. It’s fill-in-the-blank style and you write on the glass with dry-erase marker and change it as often as you want. I’m so getting this for each of my kids.”
Well I so did. I got 3 prints, put them in these frames from Target, attached them to the wall (with our favorite velcro) — the wall we see as we come in from the garage. And there is a dry-erase marker resting on top of the top frame for our convenience. Our little messages can change within a matter of seconds. Any time we feel like it.
I love that this is now the first thing the kids see as they walk in the door each day. Just another fun way to help our kids feel loved and special. And I love that this little project helps us to focus on the specifics of what we love about them. Sometimes it’s silly and light-hearted. Other times it’s more thoughtful and sincere. That’s the fun in rotating the sentiments frequently.
You can find Kiki’s latest designs in her super cute etsy shop. Plus, she has a wonderfully patriotic (and free) downloadable print here.
Tags: frames, kiki comin, love
Posted in family & children, home, products, style & design | 27 Comments »
Friday, June 24th, 2011
In case you’ve missed it before (here and here), my ever-so-giving and super-smart brother Kevin does “Tech Friday” on my blog once in a while. Why? Sometimes you ask me tech-related questions. I’m not a tech expert. Kevin is. Kevin’s very generous with his time and loves to help others understand technology.
Here is the latest round of tech Q+A. He’s answering the questions you asked on facebook + twitter. Feel free to leave more questions here and he can add them to the cue for the next time. Thank you, thank you, thank you Kevin. Isn’t he just super?
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Q: @MotherWifeWoods asks, What’s the best & least expensive way to get my screen to match what I print? My pictures come out too warm.
A: If you are comfortable with using the built-in calibration tools in OS X (sorry Windows users, no built-in tools), you can go here and run a quick calibration. It’s free and works pretty good.
If you’re looking for something a little more complete, you will want to check out the Spyder calibration tools. Prices range depending on the version you purchase, but they start under $100.
Once you have calibrated your screen, you will want to download the appropriate ICC profile for your printer. For example, if I were using an Epson inkjet printer, I would go to www.epson.com and locate/download the ICC profile for your printer. By doing this, the computer and printer will now be fully in sync, and colors should match exactly.
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Q: Donna asks, I have recently had a lot of trouble with the storage devices I have used to backup the almost 50,000 pictures I have. I would like to know if you could tell me the best and safest type of storage out there so I can stop worrying about losing all of my pictures.
A: One of the problems with backing up a LOT of large files is the time it takes to transfer from media to media (i.e.: hard drive to cloud storage or even hard drive to hard drive). The easiest form of backing up your data is by using a service like Carbonite. It’s a no-brainer solution because it handles everything automatically. It’s still a valid solution if you have a lot of data, but it will take longer and eat up your bandwidth.
My personal backup solution involves a high-capacity Drobo storage device that I have at home. In addition, I have a copy of that same set of data made each week, and leave that copy at the office (in case something happens to my house). It’s not as convenient as a cloud back-up solution, but definitely faster. You may also want to consider an occasional dump to a series of DVD to store at a friend’s house.
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Q: Karen says, Yay for Kevin!! My question is that with my “time machine” on the Mac. How can I make it only save certain files I want to be backed up such as pictures instead of everything on the Mac?
A: Although you can’t be selective with Time Machine when it comes to file types, you CAN be selective when it comes to selection. Open your Time Machine preferences (System Preferences | Time Machine), and you will see an “Options…” button. From here, you can choose which directories to exclude from your backups. That’s all the control you have in Time Machine, for now.
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Q: Nanci asks, I would love to know how Kevin keeps track of his commitments? What software or online system does he use to track his to-do’s, promises, misc info?
A: Life is crazy! And my life/schedule is no different. I usually have a lot going on all the time. Before I tell you how I manage MY time, I need to remind you that everyone is different, and this is a very personal question. My answer may be unique.
Having said that, I use … iCal and Mail. Yup. That’s it. It’s simple and effective for me. I’ve tried several other task management solutions like ToDo. TaskPad and Task ToDo. The problem I found with all of these is they attempt to do more than I wanted them to do. Between using iCal for calendar items and tasks, and Mail for email, it’s the perfect solution … for me. As an added bonus, I’m a big fan of “Zero Inbox”. Google it to learn more.
*** Added note from Becky: Same here, Nanci. It’s iCal for our family. ***
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Q: Brittany asks, I’m wondering how I can email groups from my iPhone. I love to send pics to grandparents but there’s got to be a better way to do it than adding each off their email addresses separately.
A: Unfortunately, sending to a group you already have established isn’t a native feature … at least not yet. I am hoping that when iOS 5 comes out later this year, this will be a feature that is slipped in, because I want it just as bad as everyone else.
For the time being, there are two ways around this. The first option is to manually choose your recipients. Rather than having to filter through your entire contacts list, however, you can filter to just the group you want to send to. This isn’t bad if you only have a small handful of recipients to send to (less than 10).
The second option is to download a utility app from the iTunes store to do the job for you. One that I use occasionally is called “GroupEmail”. It costs $0.99, and gives you the ability to send to groups. This is one of many that are available.
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Q: Stephani asks, I’m looking for decent priced video editing software that is compatible with iTunes to edit our home movies. Just to make it even more confusing, I have a PC. 
A: Video editing on a PC?? Noooo!!!! Just kidding. Not only is it possible to do this, but a lot of people still do. You’re not alone.
There used to be two solutions to check out: 1) Avid and 2) Pinnacle Systems. However, if you visit the two sites, you will realize they are both now owned by Avid. So, just to make it easier, there is one real option to consider … Avid.
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Q: Melissa says, I would love some iPhoto basic info to go along with the time machine questions below on how you organize photos, sort them, tag them, back them up, etc.
A: Tagging photos is a great way to keep your library organized, but it’s time-consuming. If you love your photos enough to keep them “OCD organized”, definitely get in the habit of tagging. If you haven’t tagged before, start now. Albums and Smart Albums are good to, but tagging is awesome, and those tags are also backed up to Time Machine (as part of your overall library). iPhoto also has a really cool facial recognition engine built-in, and it actually works pretty good.
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Q: Jennifer says, Would love to know his thoughts on a good point & shoot camera. iPhone is not an option … initial cost is OK but not willing to pay more monthly to have one so need a one time cost point and shoot camera worth the $$$.
A: I’ve always been a big fan of Canon, and still use nothing but Canon. My point & shoot is the SD900, but it’s showing it’s age now (I use it less and less, and my iPhone 4 more and more). If I were to get one today, it would probably be the Canon ELPH 300 HS. Price ranges from $300-400.
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Q: Joanne asks, Should my first Apple computer be an iPad or a MacBook Pro? I’m leaning towards an iPad 2 because of its portability.
A: If you plan on using it for just basic tasks (email, web, games, etc), the iPad is awesome. One thing to watch out for is that the iPad is still somewhat limited in what you can do with it. It’s a GREAT companion to a laptop. When you want to do light lifting on the go with great battery life, the iPad is where you go. When you want to do some heavy lifting (photo editing, video, etc), the laptop is the place to go. If you can only have one or the other, I would strongly consider picking up a MacBook Pro now, and adding the iPad when you can later.
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Q: Sabrina asks, I’m thinking about jailbreaking my iPhone. Besides losing the support from Apple, do you know of any drawbacks? Have you heard horror stories about the phone locking up or losing functionality?
A: I’m personally opposed to jailbreaking because once you hack away at Apple’s software, you can no longer guarantee that things will run smoothly. I jailbroke my iPhone 3G back in the day, and after 3 or 4 days, reversed it because it was too unstable. Having said that, I know plenty of people who have done it and are happy. Those people are usually tech geeks though (just to give you an idea).
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Q: Melaina asks, Why can’t I delete just one individual phone call on my iPhone? It either all or none.
A: Unfortunately, I don’t have a good answer for you on that one. “It is what it is”, as I am finding myself say more and more often these days. I’m not sure why Apple doesn’t allow you to do that, but I can’t think of what it could be. Try again when iOS 5 comes out later this year to see if they sneak that feature in.
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Q: Jennifer Wells asks, Sometimes when I am reading a blog or website, in the place where the photo is supposed to be, a blue box with a question mark shows up. What gives??
A: Usually, that is because the one updating the web site hasn’t done all the clean-up they needed to, and left some unfinished business. Short of refreshing the page to force a reload, there isn’t a lot that can be done on your end. I would be interested to know if it happens on some computers and not others, though.
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Q: Margie asks, I would like to move all of my photos from iPhoto to Lightroom without losing my most important metadata (mostly keywords & ratings). Do you know the easiest way? The latest idea I’m considering is trying out the 30 Day free trial of Aperture and using Aperture as the go between, i.e., iPhoto>Aperture>Lightroom. Any thoughts or experience about this? I know this is a rather specific question so no worries if it is too “out there”. Thank you.
A: You’re actually on the right track by considering the iPhoto -> Aperture -> Lightroom approach. That’s valid and should get you where you want to be. If you end up going this route, be sure to clean up after yourself so you don’t have 2 or 3 copies of everything scattered all over the place.
Another option to consider is an app called Picture Sync. The idea is that it syncs your metadata. Two things to be aware of: 1) it’s no longer supported, so you may get mixed results and 2) it’s no longer updated, so it may be a good one-time approach.
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Q: Michelle asks, Just purchased a new Macbook. What would be the best software to use for photo editing that includes adding text. iPhoto is great for everything else apart from that.
A: When you say “adding text”, are you talking about adding text on top of an image? If so, you are correct in that iPhoto doesn’t allow for that. Primarily, iPhoto is a photo management tool, and secondarily, an editing system. PhotoShop is the opposite. You can look at using Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe PhotoShop Elements, or Pixelmator. These apps can be relatively expensive, but remember … you aren’t just getting the ability to add text. A whole new photo-editing world will be opened up to you.
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Q: Dawn asks, How can I find the date that I took a picture on my iPhone?
A: It would be nice if you can do this right on the iPhone (and maybe you can with a 3rd-party app somewhere), but right now, that’s not the case (as with other iOS features, check on this after iOS 5 is released later this year). What I do is import my photos into iPhoto (or any other photo management app), and then expose the metadata that way.
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Q: Sandy asks, How do you add a playlist to your blog? So many people have that, it’s so cool!
A: I actually have never seen that before, but after doing a quick Google, it looks like a lot of people are doing this (wow, the wording of that makes me sound like an old fart!). It depends on where your blog is hosted as to whether it will even work, and then how you add it. Do a Google on “add playlist blog”, and you should get some good answers out there.
Tags: kevin, technology
Posted in Q&A | 45 Comments »
Thursday, June 23rd, 2011
Tis the season for family reunions. Today I’m sharing a little reunion t-shirt inspiration in case some of you are thinking along those lines. Having your own t-shirts made can be really easy! I’ll come back to that in a minute. First, here’s a look at our reunion shirts from 2007.
My youngest brother Andrew (my super creative brother who makes it possible for you to be reading this right now because he is the technical force behind my website) … came up with this design. There are 6 siblings, and therefore 6 families. Each line represents the size of each of our respective families. Going left to right, my oldest brother has 4 kids, the next brother has 2, then 5, then 5, then 2 (that’s us), then 4. Those were the number of children/cousins at the time. The “graph” would look a little different now.
Andrew made brown shirts for the men, tan for the boys, and pink for all the women and girls. A very photogenic color combo. This was a 12×12 page I did for our family scrapbook in 2007 (using only Photoshop).
Here’s another idea. Backing up a decade to 2001 … this may go down in history as my all-time favorite reunion t-shirt. The concept is by my oldest (and also incredibly creative) brother Jonathan. He had his son (the oldest of all the cousins) draw stick figures of everyone in our big family, oldest to youngest, left to right. Tyler was 7 years old at the time.
On the far left is my sweet Grandma Allgaier, who was the family’s only living grandparent at the time, and she joined us for this reunion. She is using a walker in Tyler’s little illustration. How cute is that!? Then you see each of the little families, including itty bitty toddlers and babies who are in carriers. The next-to-last little family is me and David. We didn’t have children at the time but Tyler drew a tree next to David. He used to call him Uncle Tree because David would throw him really high in the air — as high as the trees. : )
The back of the shirt would be the coding for the illustration. It’s everyone’s first initial of their names. Clever.
The ? in KLET? represents the baby Kevin & Lauren were expecting at the time. By the way, pardon the wrinkles (I wasn’t in an ironing mood the day I photographed the shirts) and the faded fabric (true sign of a well-loved t-shirt). Another page for another reunion in another scrapbook –
Looking for more inspiration? I saw some cool t-shirt designs on Design Mom’s blog. I’m sure with some google time, you could find oodles of other ideas. These t-shirts from our own family reunions just might get your wheels spinning with some ideas on creating personalized designs.
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Now. What about actually getting the t-shirts made?? Great question. Check out OneColorInk.com. Our friends print custom t-shirts for individuals, families, and businesses and they offer this as a more affordable option for those who want to have t-shirts made for less. Hence the one color ink. Be sure to check out the video (“In Action”) so you can see how the shirts are made. It’s a fun process! Plus, Ricky’s just too cool for school. He has been in this business since he was a kid. He knows custom t-shirts. If you’re interested in more options than one color, their main business is TamboInk.com.
Guess what? We are so doing a giveaway! Yes we are. Anyone in the U.S. is welcome to enter for a chance to win $50 credit toward your custom t-shirt order from One Color Ink. Just leave your name, city, state, and tell us what t-shirt project (reunion or not) you have in the works! A randomly selected winner will be announced Monday.
Tags: custom t-shirts, family reunions, giveaway, One Color Ink, Tambo Ink
Posted in products, style & design | 184 Comments »
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
Introducing … a contest that anyone can enter. And I really do mean anyone. You, for sure. Your neighbor? Absolutely. Your kids? You bet! Sounds like a great Summer project to me.
{ THE SCOOP }
Our Photo Pocket Pages and Journaling Cards are basic items. Basic, basic, basic. They are timeless. They’ll never go out of style. They are instrumental in helping lots of people get scrapbooking and other projects done without the stress of “designing” layouts and without cutting and pasting. This is truly as simple as it gets. We create scrapbooking products that are practical and very solution-based.
Maybe you’re a mom who is catching up on pictures from past months and years. Maybe you’re a designer with a knack for creating amazing things with simple products. Maybe you’re a crafter with plenty of scraps to use and you can’t wait to dress up those plain grid cards. Maybe you’re a photographer with plans to let the photographs be the shining stars in those Photo Pocket Pages with little or no embellishing.
See where I’m going with this? Anyone can enter. No matter what you’re doing with the product. The prize? We hope to choose 5 winners with the best ideas or the best overall style/results. Each winner will win $100 cash.
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{ CONTEST RULES }
1. When I say anyone, I mean anyone. You could be a personal friend or I could have never heard of you before in my life. You can be any age. Male or female.
2. You need to use Becky Higgins brand Photo Pocket Pages or Journaling Cards. Either or both. All items can be found here.
3. Keep it really, really simple if you want. Basic is beautiful. Or get crazy and elaborate if you want. That’s beautiful too. We’re looking for a variety of ideas.
4. You can absolutely use any other supplies you want. Papers, stickers, fabrics, trinkets, paint, whatever.
5. You can submit up to 3 layouts or projects.
6. When you email me (submissions@beckyhiggins.com), please include a brief description of your layout(s) or project(s) in the email. Also include your name and the state or country where you live.
7. Deadline submission is Friday July 15, 2011.
PS: Please take the best pictures possible of your layout(s). This usually means a very simple background and natural light (turn off that flash) and in-focus (always a good idea).
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Oh, I can’t wait to see what you guys are creating. Really. And do me a favor: Don’t second-guess yourself. If you have any thoughts like “Oh, my layouts are too simple” or “This isn’t elaborate enough” or “My style is busy and Becky’s isn’t” or “There’s nothing inspiring about my work” … push all of that to the side. Because when it comes down to it … you just never know.
And getting a $100 check in the mail next month could be a really beautiful thing.
Posted in style & design | 31 Comments »
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
First — I have good news for some of you regarding yesterday’s big giveaway:
Cathy Zielske’s winners (email czdesign@comcast.net and she’ll hook you up):
1. Fiona in Hong Kong
2. Amie in British Columbia, Canada
3. Heather in Anchorage, Alaska
4. Karen in Pembroke, New Hampshire
5. Colleen in Oslo, Norway
.
Ali Edwards’ winners (email giveaways@aliedwards.com and she’ll hook you up):
1. Wendy in Roseville, Minnesota
2. Sandra in The Netherlands (*congrats on your new Project Life kit!)
3. Maria in New Zealand
4. Tizra in Orem, Utah
5. Jenny in Kapolei, Hawaii
.
Kerri Bradford’s winners (email kerribradford@msn.com and she’ll hook you up):
1. Jacenda in Lafayette, Indiana
2. Vicky in Belgium
3. Beury in Elizabeth, West Virginia
4. Dina from Hammond, Louisiana
5. Adele du Plessis in South Africa
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Now — How about an update on upcoming products? I am pleased to announce that we chose TWO winners of the 2012 Project Life design contest! They were each chosen for their style (of course) and skill and we are so thrilled about what they’re going to add to the Project Life line-up. They have both hit the ground running and are working hard on the new 2012 designs as you read this.
A very special thank-you to each one of you who submitted designs. I am very grateful for the interest and submissions. It was so much fun to see such a variety of styles and ideas.
Without further adieu I present to you our two guest designers for Project Life 2012. They’ll tell you a little about themselves so you can get to know them.
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{ say hello to Lili Niclass }
I’m 32 years old, I’ve been married for 8 years now and we don’t have children yet. We live in Japan with our sweet and funny cat, Kiko-chan. We moved here from Switzerland 2 years ago because of my husband’s job. He is Swiss and I’m Brazilian, and we used to live in Switzerland before.
I got a college degree in communication back in Brazil, then another one in French when I moved to Switzerland. I always wanted a creative and artistic job but it took me some time to find exactly what I liked. I came across digital scrapbooking in 2006 and opened my first online shop in 2007 with the help of a wonderful designer, Nancie Rowe Janitz. Since then I’ve been in love with the scrapbooking world and never stopped designing. Today I also design paper products for Fancy Pants Designs. I have a new collection coming out next month.
I have a facebook page and a digital scrapbooking store where I mostly sell digital alphabets.
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{ say hello to Kim Gayton }
I live in Charleston, West Virginia. I was a 70s baby and am still an 80s girl. I have been married for almost 8 years (to my elementary school crush) and we have a beautiful 3 1/2 year old boy — who is my greatest joy, my miracle baby and my saving grace.
I’m a full-time creative director for a small advertising/political consulting agency. I’ve been in advertising and marketing for 15 years starting as a creative assistant to the advertising team at a local department store chain. Some of my design work has garnered local and national design awards for both advertising and political work. I’ve been creating, crafting, painting and drawing all my life. I strive everyday to share that creative spark with my son, who has a natural talent for drawing already. Often overheard in our house, “Mommy, let’s art today.”
I’ve been a Project Life fan(atic) since January. My mother was our family’s historian, so to speak, and a hardcore paper scrapper. I loved looking at her work and shopping for supplies with her. I attempted paper scrapping when my son was born — with the best intentions. BUT it became so overwhelming, I’d just file everything away. Now that my mom is gone, I’ve started to take on that storyteller role for our family. It’s one way I can honor her memory in a way she would love.
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Now that you know who the 2012 Project Life guest designers are, I’m sure you’d like to know more!
DESIGNS. I know you’re curious. Well … the sneak peeks are coming. But not quite yet. It’s still a little early for that as we’re in the beginning stages of designing the 2 new Project Life looks. I am working closely with the graphic designers to ensure that we will have two more beautiful choices to offer.
OPTIONS. In case you missed the announcement, we are reprinting more of Amber and Turquoise Editions, so this means FOUR options of Project Life. Sweet. Those are being made now and I’ll give you an update on when we are expecting those … as soon as I know.
TIMING. Fall 2011. We’re still aiming to have the new Project Life products available by November and we’re working hard and fast to make that happen.
OTHER PRODUCTS. We were hopeful to have some of our other products come out late Summer and as it turns out, we are spending extra time on quality control and being very picky about details that will, in the end, result in better products for you.
So the bummer is that those of you who were anticipating new items by August/September are going to have to hang on a little longer. The good news is that these products are going to ROCK. At this point, it is possible that everything is released together, at the same time, this Fall. New Project Life stuff, all the new Photo Pocket Page designs, all the school/childhood stuff … everything.
As always, I will continue to give you updates and sneak peeks as often and as early as I can. You can trust that we are working our tails off to make things happen in the best possible way for you. Thank you for wanting to know more. Thank you for chomping at the bit to see what’s coming down the pipeline. Thank you wanting to use our products to help you organize your pictures, memorabilia, and memories.
And please welcome me in congratulating Lili and Kim!
Tags: design contest, giveaway winners, Project Life, winners
Posted in scrapbooking, style & design | 47 Comments »
Monday, June 20th, 2011
We’re about mid-way through 2011. Most of you who are using the Project Life system for preserving memories (whether it’s the physical kit or the digital option) are plugging along with documenting your memories — day by day or week by week or month by month — however you’re choosing to use it.
Some of you are going chronological. Some of you are getting your childhood pictures into a book. Some of you are doing thematic layouts and throwing chronology out the window. Even if you’re less-consistent and have added pictures just a few times this year? That’s super! Everyone is just in their groove, doing their thing. Documenting their story. And loving it. Today I’m sharing some fun stuff for all you Project Lifers.
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1. Check out the new display of Project Life glamour shots! Go here to see the rotating pictures. Do you see yourself? We did our best to include most that were submitted so if you don’t see your picture I am sorry. Anyone is always welcome to submit their Project Life glamour shot to projectlife@beckyhiggins.com, any time. We love your pictures! Seeing all these pictures sorta kinda makes me weepy.
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2. Project Life Layout Ideas. Check out the newly-updated IDEAS section of the Project Life page for some cool inspiration on a variety of ways to use Project Life. The product is far too versatile to be put into a “this-is-how-you-do-it” box. Have a look. Be inspired! And don’t forget about the awesome Project Life Community, where live inspiration is flying around every day.
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3. Digital cards from Cathy Zielske. Cathy has created Layered Journaling Cards in both 3×4 and 4×6 sizes.
Have a look at how Cathy used these digital card designs in her own Project Life album here (including a video tutorial) and here and here. This post is Cathy’s initial jumping-into-Project-Life-share. Very cool.
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4. Digital elements from Ali Edwards. First of all, if you’ve been hiding under a rock and have missed what Ali is doing with her personal Project Life album, she has a whole ARCHIVE on her website of weekly blog posts, loaded with pictures and details to inspire you. If you’re new to working with digital/hybrid scrapbooking elements, Ali provides all sorts of helpful information, videos, and how-to here.
Have you seen Ali’s Long Journalers (Volume 1 and Volume 2)? Check out her video tutorial for adding text to these in both Photoshop Elements and Word.
Ali also has the widely popular overlays that are such a clean yet fun touch for your photos.
Check out her Days + Months Title And Journal Overlays, 365 Days Photo And Journal Overlays, and her Story Overlays which are all particularly cool for Project Life. If you’re interested in seeing all of her overlays (there are a lot and they’re very, very cool), go HERE.
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5. Project Life Additons from Kerri Bradford. Kerri is the guest designer of the very popular Turquoise edition of Project Life and now she’s offering a few extras for those that want to add to the fun. Not only can you use these designs to cut with a digital craft cutter such as Cricut or Silhouette, you can also use the PNG files to add the elements digitally–like a frame around a photo. Learn and see more here.
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So fun, right!? For sure. And you know what’s even more fun? A big, fat GIVEAWAY. Let’s do this! Leave your first name with city + state (or country) and tell me what you want. Cathy, Ali, and Kerri are ALL giving away several sets of all their stuff. So specify what you want from the following choices:
A. Cathy Zielske’s Journaling Cards (set of both 3×4 and 4×6)
B. Ali Edwards’ Long Journalers (both volumes), and all 3 Overlays sets shown in this post
C. Kerri Bradford’s additions kit
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The next blog post will announce a whole bunch of winners (several winners each for A, B, and C) … and … you’ll get the latest news about 2012 Project Life, including the winners of the design contest! Yes, we have two winners.
Posted in products | 1,126 Comments »
Friday, June 17th, 2011
Still think Project Life has to be a “certain way”? There’s no such thing. Each album will be as unique as the people and families who are using Project Life to document their stories. I think anyone will find inspiration in this email I’m sharing with you today. And it’s perfect timing for those of you in Europe who now have Project Life available to you.
Dear Becky,
I’ve had an a-ha moment: Knowing that I have designated spaces to fill with everydayness has come to mean that I no longer “edit” our lives as far as what I include in the family album. I have crazy handwriting after being forced to be right-handed. I can not spell. I have to filter some pictures to look Instagram-y because they are fuzzy. My printer needs scolding occasionally, and I use a $69 point-and-shoot camera. And that is OK. I would rather have an album to enjoy now instead of waiting until the art fairies make me a well-equipped design genius.
I haven’t been using the full Project Life kit because they were sold out by the time I realized I wanted to do this for life as it happens instead of just for my childhood pics. I’m using your Photo Pocket Pages, Journaling Cards, leftovers from my Amber edition (my childhood album), and stuff from my stash.
The 0/15 spelling test? It’s in the album (bad spelling is a family trait).
The bill from the vet when the cat licked himself into what looked like a bikini wax? It’s in there — complete with the tiny, unflattering cat mug shot the vet prints on the upper left corner of the bill.
A picture of me and my friend after 90 minutes of my first hot yoga class? Yep. She made me promise not to prove it by sending you a copy of us looking like sweaty lumps, but it’s in there.
I have married Steve twice. We won a wedding re-do on a radio station this February because I had chicken pox two weeks before our first wedding.
Tags off the replacement bras I just bought after my helpful spouse threw my old ones in the drier one last time too many? Yep. They fit in the journaling spot just fine.
Movie tickets from the impulsive Mother’s Day movie, even though it was no Oscar winning film? Yup. And I found a piece of print advertisement with the characters on it too.
Our 8-year-old daughter Audrey still needs to journal on the Octopus page.
My cousin posing with a very surprised UPS man after she missed the delivery of our iPad2 and had to stalk the driver to his store at the end of his shift? Yep, it’s there in 4×6 color.
I would have NEVER taken these photos or saved this stuff back when I made whole pages about single events, or even when I did monthly wrap up layouts. They really are pieces of the whole in our messy lives, and I am so thankful that they will now be included. Who isn’t going to love looking at that imperfect stuff later on?
Sincerely,
Heatherle in Portland, Oregon
Tags: Heatherle, real life
Posted in organization, products, scrapbooking | 21 Comments »
Thursday, June 16th, 2011
Project Life is now available for our European friends. The Turquoise Edition and the Amber Edition in their full kit form are both now available on amazon.co.uk and will ship to the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.
Quantities are super limited. In fact, half of the inventory is already gone and the kits just arrived yesterday. In other words, don’t stall if you’re thinking about it. When new Becky Higgins products become available, we plan to make those available in Europe as well. For now, we’re just starting with this.
Yay Europe! And thank you Tammy Morales (our distributer in Canada) for making this possible. She is the only one who still has some kits left and that’s how we were able to get some over to Europe. For more information, go here.
Tags: Project Life
Posted in products | 4 Comments »
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