Our exciting week continues – and I want to thank everyone for your comments, support, enthusiasm, and there have even been a few concerns. I consider all of the feedback to be valuable. Before I dig into today’s fun stuff, just a quick blanket statement: With the 2 new partnerships announced, please keep in mind that David and I don’t take decisions like this lightly. We have worked way too hard the past few years.
Our decisions were made based on a lot of factors. One of the major factors is the constant customer requests for more Project Life and more options – and more availability. Another factor is that David and I can only do so much. We have a small but amazing team. In order for us to bring more Project Life to the world, it’s not a matter of just hiring more people. Trust me. Going that route and trying to do more by building up our own team exponentially could have a potentially detrimental affect on our health and family.
All that said, we are completely thrilled with these 2 new partnerships because they will help us meet customer demands. This is the key point I want to make: The simplicity of Project Life as a system remains in tact. I still stand by the theory that all you need to complete a scrapbook is a binder + big pack of photo pocket pages + a Project Life Core Kit (plus your photos and a pen). That’s not changing. But for those who want more options to build upon that (which we have discovered happens to be many of you) … we are so happy to be able to offer more options. That’s what these 2 new partnerships bring – options.
If you fit in that category (as so many do – including myself) that you want to create scrapbooks simply and without all the extra stuff, that program remains – and will continue to remain – as it is. You don’t have to pay an ounce of attention to anything else we’re doing. Just keep on keeping on. This is the beautiful thing about scrapbooking. To each her own. Something for everyone. : )
Now on to TODAY’S exciting stuff …
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We have a little tradition of providing FREE holiday digital templates each year. You love it. We love it. Everyone wins. The really fun part is that we have opened this up to YOU. Have some design skills? We would LOVE you to submit a holiday card template design! The top 10 winning designs will each receive $100 cash! Need a clue as to what we have done in the past? Check out THIS blog post from a couple years ago and that will give you an idea.
Before I get into the nitty-gritty that you would need to know, I want to let you in on a little secret: You are now aware that 2013 will bring about more Project Life, which means more designs and more editions … which means I want to discover more designers that could potentially work with me on Project Life! So if you are interested in getting “noticed” to possibly be considered for a Project Life design gig, I highly recommend you submit to this Holiday Card Design Contest. How fun is that!?
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Submission Guidelines
1. Each design must be submitted in three sizes – 4″x6″, 5″x7″, and 6″x7.5″ (same design, just formatted in 3 sizes).
2. Files must be saved as 300 dpi PNG files.
3. You must leave a blank space where the photo(s) is to be placed. The photo(s) should be prominent in the design.
4. You must name your files in this format: LastFirst_2012ChristmasCard_size.png [ i.e. WhitlockLori_
5. All artwork must be original art. You may NOT use any paper or embellishments from digital kits.
6. The orientation can be either horizontal or vertical.
7. You may include the year 2012 somewhere in the design if you’d like. But, keep in mind that if your design is chosen, we’ll retire your design after the 2012 holiday season if it includes the year.
8. As for style, well … that’s up to you. You’re the designer. But, I’ll give you a tip on what will likely stand out to me personally: Clean and uncluttered. Obviously we want to end up with 10 unique designs so that everyone has plenty to choose from so do what suits your style best.
9. The deadline for submissions is November 7 at 12:00 midnight PST; that’s next Wednesday.
10. No more than two design submissions per person.
11. Email submissions to submissions@beckyhiggins.
12. If your submission doesn’t meet all the requirements above, it will not be considered.
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Here are a few more things worth noting:
1. Who’s who. I have no rules about who you are and whether or not 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, whether you live in the U.S. or the other side of the world … you have equal chances. I just want the coolest cards to share with my readers and my bias is only about the design itself. : )
2. Tell your friends! Know a great designer who may not be aware of this contest? Encourage him/her to consider entering this contest. Spread the word, because that’s how we’ll get the best designs.
3. 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.
4. Holiday terms. We will ultimately want to represent a variety of phrases in our final designs – Christmas, Holiday, Hanukkah, Merry, Kwanzaa, whatever. Take your pick, using any phrasing that best suits your design, or leave words off altogether if you choose.
5. You get to vote! For the first time ever, we are going to involve YOU – our readers – in deciding the top 10 holiday cards this year! After narrowing down our favorites, we will create an album on facebook for everyone to cast their vote for their favorites and that’s how we’ll come up with the final 10. Stay tuned for more information, which will be around November 9. We’ll keep it simple and easy, and give you a few days to vote.
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I seriously can’t wait to see what you come up with! Good luck!
Awesome contest, Becky!
Fun contest! I love holiday cards!
I have a few questions:
Can we use your Becky Higgins fonts?
Do they need to be Photoshop files? I prefer to work in Illustrator but can probably transfer over my files if I have to.
I think (correct me if I’m wrong, Becky) that since they just need to be submitted in PNG format that you could make them in Illustrator. (Of course I’m assuming Illustrator can save in PNG)?
In Illustrator you export to PNG. (In the file menu, rather than save as)
Awesome!!!
Are we getting closer to a Becky Higgins December Daily Kit?? hee hee I’m keeping my fingers crossed ya know
Hugs, T
such a fun contest. getting my wheels spinning!
So funny – I was thinking about your templates today because I was looking for the past years’ designs on your free page. Will you make the past years’ designs available again?
Looking forward to seeing ALL the great designs…very fun:)
You guys just keep making things better and better! Thanks for all you do!
I wish you didn’t have to explain your decisions to anyone. I completely trust you and the direction you take your company. You will have my continued support. I am speaking to our Mother’s For Children group in January and will anxiously be following your blog so I can tell the participants about all of their options. Thanks for being you. You are a gift.
I completely agree with you! Becky should not have to explain her companies decisions to anyone that is not directly involved with the day to day operations. It’s HER company. And besides, the concept of what was introduced yesterday is not that difficult – If Studio Calico is not for you then don’t sign up for it. Nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything they don’t want. Thank you Becky & David for trying so hard to make everyone happy! You’ve taken on a monumental task and are handling it with much more grace than most people would.
Fully agree! So many companies are riding the commercial success of PL, why not its founders! I won’t be purchasing extras as I have enough bits and pieces but I will love looking at them!!
Couldnt disagree with you more. A successful small business is only as good as the customers they have — if her product isnt what the customers want it will not be successful. Smart business people elicit all feedback — what they do with it shows how savvy they are
Then I think ^^^^^ this post means BH is pretty savvy indeed.
I think she has done a pretty good job of listening to feedback and catering for everyone and allaying the fears people have.
As the saying goes you can’t please ALL of the people all of the time.
Personally I just think its a case of fear of change… and hard to explain… but I think its sort of like jealously guarding a secret… we don’t want EVERY Thomasina, Deidre and Harriet stealing OUR PL… if that makes sense?
It’s ok people… you can stick to the basics… and others can play with more “stuff”… it’s not a competition… oh wait… THIS is… but not PLing! I was trying to be funny
Wow, really? I appreciate that Becky has addressed that there have been concerns about her partnership with SC. An intelligent business owner listens to ALL feedback, good or bad. Who is she running her company for? Herself, or us, her customers? She has stated many times her customers are her main priority, and addressing our concerns is much appreciated by this customer at least. I wish people wouldn’t handslap, dismiss concerns or act like we are being ridiculous. I agree with one thing you have said – she is handling it with much more grace than most people would – including you!
Thanks Becky for addressing our concerns from yesterday’s comments. I will be passing on SC but I appreciate the time you have taken to read and reflect on what was said.
So basically you feel that we can only leave feedback if it is positive?
There is nothing at all wrong with someone leaving feedback that is not positive. I just think that it doesn’t have to be worded in a way that is harsh, judgmental, and/or belittling of Becky and David’s business decisions.
Ugggh. Here it comes. The negativity, “you can’t say anything unless its positive”, “who are you to question business decisions” that are all over the boards at studio calico. Count me out for next year. I was so excited to do project life until all of this started. I’m cancelling my preorder. Sorry Becky, you have lost me as a customer.
The Becky fan club will beat the majority down every time! You cant leave any negative feedback or they come out of the woodwork. Apparently they feel shes the only one with a brain
Really? So even though you like the BH product this puts you off?
I am not trying to be rude or start an argument just genuinely curious… I am not a crazed BH groupie… and I am not interested in the SC kits… mainly because I have far too much STUFF already and I simply cannot justify buying more (though I am sure there will be cute stuff that will be hard to resist!)… and the main reason I started PL was to get away from all the “stuff” in the first place. So yeah, that’s not for me. BUT I will still be doing my own thing with MY PL album.
I did initially think BH was making a mistake with all the changes and extras… I ordered the original (now Cherry) kit in 2009… it was everything you needed in a box… I started my 1st PL album in 2010. I hated that they changed things… I still want the stickers back and I hate that the dividers are extra too… but then I sort of liked the new plastics… so got used to the “new” way of doing things.
Just ignore the wannabes, die hard “fans” and morons who just have to buy everything (totally admit to being one of those in the past!)… just do what suits you… all the hype is for drama queens… give the baby it’s bottle… there is always going to be people that thrive on that sort of BS. I don’t blame BH for wanting to expand her business… that’s smart… and she promises to continue to cater for those of us that just want to stick to the basic PL principals… so I’m good. Seafoam for me this year.
And they are off……dont even try to post anything but super positive feedback here. They will just knock you down with preaching. Nothing but positive feedback allowed basically…..we have learned.
LOL
I couldn’t care less … I don’t think I’m being negative anyway… but yeah, no doubt someone will read it the wrong way and shout me down…
I have faith that BH herself or one of her people will read it properly though… and hey she might even make me my day stickers if I ask nicely enough.
I am SUPER excited for this opportunity!! Thank You!!
I love that you offer this freebie to us! I’m not a designer, just a grateful downloader. (Which is something like a free-loader, right?
)
Here’s my two cents of input to potential designers:
Please, pretty please, include the phrase “Merry Christmas”. I celebrate Christmas, and I like to wish my friends a “Merry Christmas.” Not happy holidays, not season’s greetings, not simply merry. I like “Merry Christmas.” I guess I’m just old-fashioned like that. Thanks for considering it.
Yes. Agree. Merry Christmas. Call it what it is, Christmas. happy holidays is my pet peeve. At Halloween people say Happy halloween, not happy holidays. They call it what it is.
Not all trying to dismiss your opinion, but I think Happy Holidays is nice in some cases, because you cover Christmas and New Years or Hanukkah and New Years, or if you don’t want to offend someone you’re sending a card to that might be Jewish without you knowing. I hope that makes sense? I love Merry Christmas too!
Hey Melissa–I see your point, but for me, all the people I’m sending a “Merry Christmas” card to, celebrate Christmas. I know them well enough to know their religious preference. They are my friends, not just casual acquaintances. I have a few atheist friends, but they know Christmas is important to me and they love to get my card. They even celebrate Christmas, even if they choose not to celebrate Christ. I don’t have any Jewish friends. So, my request for a “Merry Christmas” card still stands! I love to keep “Christ” in Christmas in every way that I can. Thanks.
Becky,
Can we submit more than one design?
Yes, you can submit up to 3 designs!
So sorry, I typed that to quickly. It looks like you can submit 2 designs!
This sounds so fun! I don’t have an ounce of design skill, but I can’t wait to see the entries and vote on my favorites. =) Good luck everyone!
Can we use the becky higgins fonts?
Are public domain fonts ok?
[...] ran a design contest. Many of you entered. The rest of you voted. Majority votes won. And now we have 10 brand-new [...]