Archive for the ‘Q&A’ Category
Saturday, December 17th, 2011
Here are just a few of the Project Life “glamor shots” we’ve been receiving lately. So many people have been receiving their products lately – very exciting! Everyone is welcome + encouraged to submit their photo to projectlife@beckyhiggins.com any time! We love to see your pictures!
I want to congratulate our randomly selected winner from this week’s Annie Sloan Chalk Paint giveaway. Hey, Susannah in Columbus, Ohio - it’s you! Shoot an email to shadesofamberinc@earthlink.net and they’ll take it from there.
On to Feedback Friday … uh, well – actually it’s Saturday this time. ; )
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Wondering if you could recommend a good paper trimmer? I’m asking my husband to get me one for Christmas and I’m not sure which one to ask for. There are so many out there!
There is a new trimmer on the market that I really like. It’s from American Crafts and is called Cutup. You can learn all about it HERE. Lately I’m especially putting the scoring blade to good use for when I need perfect, clean folds, but of course it’s a great trimmer too – and several great blade styles to choose from.
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How true-to-life are the colors of the new products in person vs. what is shown via computer?
That completely depends on your monitor. Your monitor and your friend’s monitor and my monitor are all different and colors will read differently on different computers. There’s no way to get 100% accuracy. So if something looks brighter or more dull than you were expecting, the good news is that all the colors in both Cobalt and Clementine Editions are really, really nice. : )
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Any news on when the shipment to New Zealand is likely to arrive?
I believe product has arrived this week to both New Zealand and Canada as well! For anyone living outside the U.S. please be sure to contact your distributor directly for questions regarding timing and availability. Find your distributor HERE.
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The new Signature Binders that will be available shortly – are they the faux leather material or are they a different material because of this pattern?
Our classic Signature Binders are a coated paper. They are so pretty and completely wipe-able with a damp cloth if needed.
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Do you know if the Signature Binders will be on Amazon in time for Christmas?
No, unfortunately not. But we should have them in stock on Amazon (for U.S. customers) by the New Year, or right around the New Year. And soon after that for everyone else outside the U.S.
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I’m all new to Project Life and can’t wait to start with my personal project in 2012. Unfortunately, in Europe we have to wait about 2 more months until the kits become available for order. As I’m not good at waiting, I consider to use the digital layouts in the meantime and get them printed as a photo book. I’m puzzled and interested in your opinion: Which Project Life option do you prefer and why? Thank you very much in advance for your input!
I strongly encourage everyone to do what works for them, and what makes the most sense. For me personally, I do both. I do a family yearbook with the digital photo book option because they’re smaller/skinnier and I can print multiple copies so that each kid gets a family yearbook each year. (Remember: we’re switching our photo book platform to Shutterfly and that should become available just before Christmas!)
I use the physical product for our kids’ individual scrapbooks because this is where they can each have more photos + details about just them, and it’s also a great place to store the physical “stuff” (papers, art, memorabilia) that is theirs. I’m going to be addressing this in more detail here on my blog the week after Christmas – in time for the New Year. Scrapbook organization/approach is a hot topic and lots of people are wondering the same thing.
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I recently stumbled upon Project Life. I was excited and slightly overwhelmed at the same time. I’m thinking about jumping on board in 2012. Any advice you (or anyone else) can give 1st time ‘Project Lifers’?
Excellent question. My goal with Project Life is to help people (particularly newbies or anyone just feeling overwhelmed) SIMPLIFY the process of documenting life and preserving memories. My advice to you, and anyone in that same boat, and most people for that matter … is to keep it simple. All the title cards and journaling cards are already designed and look fantastic. You don’t need to do a thing to them. All you need to do is add your pictures and write some captions and memories and whatever notes you want to write, on the journaling cards. That is all.
There’s a lot of talk about the “365″ approach. Certainly that’s a fun way to use Project Life. The idea is to represent each day of the year with a picture. On one layout, you’ll have the title card + 7 photos + 7 journaling cards. That’s it. What a fun way to represent everyday life as it is right now!
BUT … that can be quite the ambitious project if you haven’t been doing much memory-keeping up to this point. You may prefer to just use the Photo Pocket Pages to slip in whatever pictures you want, and have whatever theme you want for each layout. No rhyme or reason. No rules. Just stick them in + get it done! My friend Brandi did something like this earlier this year. She printed nearly 300 favorite family pictures from 2010 – everyday pictures, travel pictures, pictures of the kids and activities … and just stuck them all in pockets, adding some journaling notes, and that’s it. DONE. No cutting. No pasting. No designing anything. No “creative” work at all.
Brandi literally scrapbooked an entire year’s worth of pictures in a full album – in less than a day. Man, I love that.
This is exactly what Project Life is for. SIMPLIFY. The beautiful thing about Project Life is the flexibility. Many want to play more and get a little creative, and that’s great too! As you visit my blog and see the things I share on facebook + twitter, you’ll find a lot of inspiration for what kind of everyday pictures to take, what kind of memorabilia to keep, and fun ways to jazz up and personalize your pages more. All of this is fun and inspiring but do not think for a second that you need to do anything more than stick your pictures in, write some notes, and that is it. Bottom line: Project Life will fit your needs – whatever they are. Project Life doesn’t have boundaries. You set the pace.
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Becky, I am curious as to what you are going to use next year for your Project Life – Digital? Shutterfly photo book? The 3-ring binder version? Just curious. 
As mentioned in another question above, I have been doing both and will continue to both. Digital photo books for the family yearbook and physical product for our kids’ books. More detail about my system coming soon – video style! : )
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Regarding the digital Project Life elements on JessicaSprague.com, do they take into account bleed for printing as they look pretty close to the edge?
Be sure to check your print settings.
1. When you go to the initial print screen in Photoshop, you will need to do a couple of things. Make sure that the “Scale to Fit Media” box is unchecked. Then click on the “print settings” button.
2. Under the print settings, click on the borderless option for your paper.
3. Click on the “Page Layout” tab and make sure that the expansion is set to “minimum”.
Images + tips from Laurie at JessicaSprague.com. She adds: These print screens won’t match yours because it is specific to my Epson printer, but you should have something similar. The main thing is that you want to make sure that your printer isn’t trying to expand your image. A lot of times when you choose a borderless option for printing, your printer thinks that you need to exand that image to fill up the whole sheet. This is what we don’t want to happen. If the image is expanded then we won’t get the true size of the journaling card and it won’t fit in the page protector.
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My husband and I don’t have kids. I often wonder if I do Project Life who will want or care about my interests and legacy since we don’t have kids?
Of course I don’t know anything about your close friends or extended family or anyone else who might have a personal interest in looking at your pictures and memories, but I am quite certain that you are loved and that many would be interested! But here’s the thing. There are two grand purposes to Project Life.
1. LONG TERM: Leave a legacy, tell your story. Leave a record of your life + memories to pass on to others, including your posterity.
2. SHORT TERM: Enjoy the experience and the process of preserving memories through pictures and written words.
So in your situation, #2 is what applies the most. Even if no one ends up with your scrapbooks, the fact that you are taking pictures of your life and documenting your memories, your successes, your struggles and everyday mundane stuff? Just going going through the motions of that are literally making you more aware of your existence. You become more keenly aware of your blessings, which makes you happier. You are more conscientious of how you spend your time. Quite possibly – it can result in you making changes for the better. All because of the act of documenting life.
Isn’t that so cool?
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Becky, I have being using Project Life for the last 3 years. I would love it if all my Project Life binders had the same type of spine, label holders and are the same width. I also love the design from the past years. Have you thought about reissuing the previous binders with the new awesome quality of the current binders?
Yep, that’s exactly what we’ve done! The past designs (Amber Edition + Turquoise Edition) are now available in a brand-spanking-new Binders. Same design but much-improved quality and even the label holders on the spine! Of course we also have our new designs (Cobalt Edition + Clementine Edition). And the Signature Binders (coming soon, as mentioned above) are going to be the same quality, same dimensions, and same label holders on the spine.
If we happen to bring back the Original Edition of Project Life (our very first one introduced 2 years ago that is currently unavailable), we will certainly make that binder design comes back in the new + improved format as well.
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Is there any hope of Shutterfly offering any of the other designs in the future? Would LOVE to have Cobalt available!
Shutterfly was only able to select two of our designs for the launch of Project Life on their site – Turquoise Edition + Clementine Edition. I really, really wanted all editions to be available but that wasn’t my choice. You asked about hope. My hope is that Project Life on Shutterfly SOARS. My hope is that lots of people play with the designs and see how easy it is to drop pictures in the templates that are already designed. If everyone enjoys the Project Life photo books and Shutterfly recognizes its popularity (for lack of a better word) well then maybe they’ll be interested in picking up more of our designs. I think we’re all in a wait-and-see state of mind. I personally can’t WAIT for you to SEE Project Life on Shutterfly. I’m already itching to get a book started myself.
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I just purchased the Clementine Core Kit and other products to use Project Life for my family history. I just haven’t figured out how it will work.
That is awesome! I would love to see more people do something with those older pictures and I think it’s terrific you’re taking on that project for your family. Depending on how many pictures you have, and what kind of pictures, you could do something like this: Use the Scrapbook Dividers (sold out but coming back next month!) and use those to create a section for each ancestor. Within that person’s section, you can just include pictures + information about them in random fashion, or you could have a layout for childhood pictures, a layout about their work, a layout about their hobbies or travels, etc. It’s hard to give feedback about this unless I know the specific circumstances like how many pictures you have and what kind of memorabilia you have, etc. But I’m sure the ideas will come!
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I’m sure you knew this concept was going to fly. I wonder if you and David have dared to think just how big your business may grow.
Honestly, we don’t have much time these days to dwell on those kind of thoughts. We just work hard to make things happen + do our best to carry out the vision for how Project Life can be a blessing to so many people. We are so grateful for how it is impacting people’s lives. As for the first part of your comment, we did absolutely believe in this concept. It is because we believed in it that we risked a lot (and spent a lot out of our pockets) to start our own company in 2009 and bring Project Life to the masses. Not a day goes by that we don’t feel grateful that we did that. It was the right thing to do, at the right time. We continue to be very grateful for so many happy and loyal fans/friends/followers/readers/customers/Project Lifers … and we look forward to the continued journey with you guys.
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{ a favorite comment }
Jennie wrote: My Project Life kits (yes, I ordered Cobalt & Clementine!) came today, but my hubby insists I can wait 11 days til Christmas to open the box. Men…they just don’t understand! I’m probably more excited than my kids for Christmas!
Tags: binders, digital Project Life, jessicasprague.com, paper trimmer, shutterfly
Posted in Q&A | 25 Comments »
Friday, December 9th, 2011
Comments and questions are gathered from facebook, twitter, emails, and right here on the blog. It’s time for another edition of Feedback Friday!
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I noticed that a couple of your Photo Pocket Page designs have pocket openings on the side sometimes, instead of at the top where I expected. They’re wonderful and completely useable but I’m just wondering … is this on purpose?
Yes. Sort of. We originally designed everything to have openings at the top – always. But it’s not that simple. On a couple of the designs, because of the pocket configuration and the manufacturing machinery and the way things have to work logistically, a few openings are on the side instead. Like you said – it doesn’t change the usability and the function of the Photo Pocket Page.
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Do you do any other scrapbooking besides Project Life now? What about your childhood, your story, your ancestors, etc.?
Great question. (Gulp.) As much as my natural instincts are to feel guilty about what I’m not doing, I am far too realistic for that and guilt gets pushed to the side big-time. I am a documenter of life, an amateur photographer, a family historian. But that doesn’t mean I’m good at all of that, all of the time. It certainly doesn’t mean I have everything pulled together the way I’d like. Right now I’m focused on documenting the here + now of our family life with Project Life. I have also embarked on a journey called catching-up-with-my-kids’-books. And trust me, you’ll be hearing a lot about that soon since the journey has been documented with video. Other than that, no. Nothing else right now. Yes, I have childhood scrapbook pages and family history pages but it’s definitely not where I want it all to be. Yet.
Bottom line: There is a time and a season for everything. I totally have a vision for what I want to do with our family history stuff, and David’s and my childhood stuff. Another topic for another day. The vision is there. I’m just looking for some spare time.
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I am sure you have been asked this but have you ever considered catalog sales? I feel you have the most amazing products that could transform so many peoples lives as it has mine. I just think it would be so cool to see reps out there demonstrating how to use your products and inspiring others!
Yes, once upon a time it was a thought. But no – it’s not what we’re doing. Our business model keeps everything so simple. Our product is made and shipped to Amazon and anyone (in the U.S.) can purchase our products there and have it shipped directly to them. That is the simplest thing that we can do that is also very beneficial to the customer – you. Many of you are practically Project Life “consultants” because of the way you share it with friends and family. You have to know how much we appreciate that. Very, very cool.
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When is the Shutterfly version of Project Life going to be available?
Barely in time for Christmas.
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Will the Shutterfly/Project Life photo book be available in more than one size?
You bet. The “default” photo book sizes are 12×12 and 8×11 but you can convert your project to 8×8, 7×9, and even an itty bitty 5×7 gift size. I can’t wait for you to see these Project Life photo books!
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I wish I didn’t have to wait for other items to come in while some items are available now. It would be nice to get everything at the same time.
I hear ya. And I promise you that we’re not trying to stagger the availability of different products. Please keep in mind that there are so many behind-the-scenes logistics in manufacturing physical product that most people wouldn’t even think about, that affect the timing of products becoming available. Please also remember that this is our transitional year as far as product offering. When we started our company just over two years ago, we offered one SKU – one item. That’s it. Last year we offered 2 items. We now have 30 products and more in the making. So yeah – it’s a little tricky to keep everything on a predictable schedule. The beautiful thing about the way we’re offering product now is that we’re getting on track to keeping plenty of inventory in stock all the time – all year long. The few items that are currently sold out were re-ordered weeks ago and will be available again in January. As we move forward, we’ll be able to close that gap even more so that “sell outs” are very rare.
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I notice that the Photo Pocket Pages are not all the exact same total width. It’s subtle, but I’m just wondering why.
It’s all about the math. For the 4×6 and 3×4 cards to fit perfectly in every single pocket (which we really fine-tuned with all the new products) … each Photo Pocket Page is going to have to be a slightly different width. When you factor horizontal and vertical and different configurations … it is what it is. And those size variations are very, very subtle. The alternative is to have them all the exact same size, which would mean the cards and photos would not fit well in the pockets. They would be too tight or not have too much room, etc. Hope I’m making sense. It’s all about the math. This is the “fun” part of product design. ; )
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Where did you get the white chairs that I always see in your pictures and videos?
Stanley is the brand. Coastal Living is the line of furniture. The name of the chair is the Wayfarer Side Dining Chair. We had the seat cushions recovered with a faux shiny wipeable leather that I found at a local fabric store.
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I don’t know if anyone has ever mentioned it but I think it would be awesome to have a set of page protectors that fit the 4×4 Instagram photos.
Oh, trust me. That’s in the line-up. : )
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Can you please use month concepts when saying, for example, that the School Kits might be out by Summer 2012? Living in Australia, we are in summer now and I started getting overly excited!!
I’m so sorry that I wasn’t thinking of our friends in the Southern Hemisphere when I said that. We just aren’t close to having a date for the release of those products yet so I needed to keep it vague. I guess I could say we’re hoping for sometime between June – August 2012.
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What about the date stamp? Is it in the core kit?
Nope. We no longer have a date stamp as part of our products. This is easy to find online or at your local office supply store.
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Does anyone have any cute ideas/pictures for the very first page of their album? I love the cards with the kit but I want to make mine a little more personal, and I wast it to represent the whole year, anyone?
Excellent topic. I have a whole blog post about this in the works. If anyone wants to share their Project Life title page, please email a really good photograph to submissions@beckyhiggins.com for us to consider sharing with our other content.
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{ a favorite comment }
Can I just say that I know it is not by chance that I happened upon your website several months ago? I was a huge fan of your work with CK, but lost touch with everything scrapbook-related for a while as my family went through some tough changes and I was running in “survival mode”. I believe that I have an actual part in my body that is connected to my current level of memory preservation, and most of the time this body part weighs a ton and is twisted in several knots due to my “guilt” and inability to keep up with all of the photos I take and memories we make. It literally weighs on me daily. Several months ago your name popped into my mind as I was on the computer and I was curious as to what you were up to. I got chills and tears in my eyes as I watched your Project Life video (“Project Life by Becky Higgins”) and thought, “Wow, this is going to be the thing that saves me!” I was giddy and excited as I showed everyone the video, and have been following every development of your products ever since. I’m hoping Santa has a few white boxes for me under the tree this Christmas!
Tags: chairs, date stamp, photo pocket pages, Project Life, shutterfly
Posted in products, Q&A, scrapbooking | 40 Comments »
Friday, December 2nd, 2011
If you missed it last week, I am going to do a Feedback Friday blog post on (most) Fridays. This is one way I can try to catch up on the comments + questions that float around here on my blog, my facebook page, twitter, emails, etc.
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Can we see Project Life used as a baby album?
This request was part of last week’s Feedback Friday and I’m happy to share a few submissions that came in after that. So grateful for those who shared!
Layout by Juliet in Singapore.
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Pages by Jill in Pennsylvania.
Jill writes: I have been doing this for my daughter Reagan since she was born on March 1. I love how easy it is to use the journaling cards to jot down her milestones – when her teeth come in, when she tries new foods, when she rolls over and the list goes on and on. Also love that I can slip in bits of life into the pockets – clothing tags, receipts, pieces of baby cards, and the list goes on and on (again!).
Note: Jill is using the Original Edition of Project Life that she got at the beginning of 2010. And since I know someone will ask … Yes, it is possible that we could bring this edition back again.
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Pages by Emily in Washington, D.C.
Emily writes: Here is how I am using Project Life: My first baby, Parker, was born 6 months ago, and I had my Project Life album all ready to go. Instead of chronicling week by week (which was a bit overwhelming for me, not to mention there was no way I could limit myself to just seven pictures!), I decided to do a monthly account of my son’s life as he grows. It has proven very rewarding and successful – I add in bits in pieces over the month when I have a spare minute! Each month starts with photos by mama (in the same chair with the same stuffed animal) and his stats if he had a doctor’s appointment each month – and I keep track of all the new things he’s doing as well as our family’s experiences with him throughout the month. Throughout the month, I write down little bits in a notebook that I transfer to journaling cards. To be clear, I’m doing a month-by-month of his first year, after which I’ll probably switch to a family PL album.
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How do you move past a creative block that has been lasting for months??
Assuming you’re referring to scrapbooking, I don’t feel the need to have that self-inflicted pressure in my life. I don’t feel like I have to be creative about how I preserve my family’s memories. That’s what is so liberating about putting my pictures + stories together with Project Life. I just add my pictures to the already-designed products that our graphic designers created and my work is done. I gave up the “I need to be creative” mentality a long time ago and highly recommend that for anyone who is putting too much pressure on themselves. There are far too many other important things in life.
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I was wondering if there are plans to make a chocolate or navy version of the Signature Binder?
We are starting with Black and White and we’ll see how those do. If everyone loves our Signature Binder as much as we do, we would love to expand the line to include more colors.
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Are we going to be seeing any Project Life related stamps?
Not anytime soon, but never say never.
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I have been wondering if there will ever be a list of all of your Cultivate a Good Life quotes put out in one place? Pretty please!?
I’m pleased that you’re enjoying those posts. I am collecting them every time I post one, but I haven’t yet had an epiphany as to how I might share the full collection in the most effective way. I thought of a set of 3×4 cards, a calendar (one for each day in the year), but honestly – nothing feels like the “it” idea just yet. Open to ideas. For anyone who may not know what we’re talking about, I share something on facebook + twitter almost daily and it says “Part of cultivating a good life is …” and then I share something that’s on my mind or based on my experience or whatever.
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Are there any plans to offer the Scrapbook Dividers with designs on them?
First of all, yes we are reprinting more as I write this since they sold out so fast. We should have more available in January. Secondly, we made the Scrapbook Dividers completely simple and neutral so that they could be used in any Project Life book or scrapbook. I am a big fan of versatility. Having said that, I know some of you would like to see designs printed on the dividers. It’s hard to know how much interest there is but feel free to add your comment. How would you feel if we offer designer stickers that coordinate with each Project Life edition, and you would place those on the dividers?
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I know you don’t know for sure, but any idea when school-related Project Life products will be ready?
I sooo know that many of you are anxious for this to come. Me too. There are a lot of reasons why it has been pushed back + pushed back some more. But we are working on it. I want it to be completely brilliant. I want these products to truly be a solution for all of you that want to get your kids’ scrapbooks done. It takes time and I have a lot of cookers going in my life – much more than just what you see here on my blog. Thank you for being patient. I don’t have a date, but it’s possible (if I had to guess) that we’re looking at Summer 2012.
Here’s the good news (since being patient can be hard): I have been working on a very detailed + informative video that will walk you through the process of getting organized with all of your kids’ stuff (papers, art, school work, pictures). Even though school-specific products aren’t available yet, I think anyone can get started right this minute with a little inspiration. I plan to share the video this month.
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I was wondering if you have ever considered doing a monthly themed Project Life kit? I use my PL to do a “month in review” (it feels like less of commitment and more do-able that way) and I was hoping to see a monthly themed set that would incorporate the seasons/holidays throughout each month.
We have thought about that, yes. I seriously wish we could move forward with every idea all at the same time, because there is so much potential! I just wanted to remind everyone that we do love when you share your ideas for what you’d like to see. You have great ideas and we’re pretty good listeners. If you have product input to share, email projectlife@beckyhiggins.com any time.
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Will the Project Life Binders and the Signature Binders fit the school days kits from a few years ago? I’m going to order for my 3 kids if they will work!
All of our binders are totally the standard 12×12 size so they’ll fit anything of that standard size. Yes, those old kits will fit. Order away. : )
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Do your new binders hold any more pages than the ones from last year?
No. Same thickness as last year’s. If any of you have a We R Memory Keepers 12×12 3-ring binder, it’s the exact same dimensions as that.
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Can you please post some tutorials on how to use the Digital Project Life elements?
JessicaSprague.com offers a class called Up + Running with Photoshop that goes over all the basics to use digital products, such as our Project Life elements. It would be a wonderful skill to know some core concepts for so many different uses. I highly recommend it, based on everything that I’ve heard … and in fact, I’ll be taking the class myself soon. Anyone else care to join me? The class is 20% off right now!
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Spotlighting a favorite comment on facebook.
Terrie said: Ok, don’t know WHERE I’ve been, but I just discovered your products and I’m SO excited! I love to create scrapbooks for my photos, but due to life being so busy, I’ve not been able to “get around to it” for many years now. Thanks to you, I’m going to be getting back to my fav hobby. Thank you Becky for creating this system and making it so easy to keep up with preserving my precious memories!!!
Tags: baby scrapbook, binders, Project Life, school products, scrapbook dividers
Posted in products, Q&A, scrapbooking | 85 Comments »
Friday, November 25th, 2011
I’m starting something new. And I’m calling it Feedback Friday.
Between my blog, facebook, twitter, emails, forums, and message boards there are plenty of questions floating around at any given moment. You’re looking for feedback on various topics – related to Project Life or not. We will do our best to gather those questions and comments and I will offer my feedback to as many as I can … each Friday here on my blog.
Sound good?
Here we go – round one! : )
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I love and own Project Life. It’s a wonderful way of expressing my creativity in a efficient and fast-paced way. I hate to complain so don’t take this personally, but it’s all that’s ever seen or discussed on your blog. You used to have so many ideas on organization and floral arrangements and photography. I just miss all the other aspects of your blog that you used to post.
Feedback: I don’t take that personally. I take that as constructive feedback – thank you! I’m so happy that you love Project Life. I’m fully aware that my sharing as of late is very, very heavily Project Life-related. This is because it’s a particularly busy time for our company because of our new partnerships, new products, new Creative Team and other news-worth happenings. I want to be sure to keep everyone in the loop since most of you are using (or contemplating using) Project Life.
That said, I do agree that it’s time to bring back the balance of content. I’ll be very happy to get back to “other” topics soon. Whether or not my sharing is related to ideas or products or anything else, I certainly appreciate that you’re stopping by and hope you continue to enjoy your time spent here.
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I’m so excited about all the Project Life elements available on JessicaSprague.com but I was hoping for some full page templates.
Feedback: We agree! And … we’re working on those right now, actually. Coming soon!
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I’m confused. Are these the digital elements that you need to use to create the book to be printed at year-end by Shutterfly? Or is that coming later? I am hoping for a drag and drop digital book.
Feedback: The digital elements available on JessicaSprague.com are for you to be able to use the art however you’d like. It’s for people who use Photoshop to create their own pages, party invitations, and other projects. If you are brand-new to this concept and want to learn the very basics, I recommend taking a beginner level class such as Up & Running with Photoshop: Beginning Digital Scrapbooking (which I see is on sale right now!). As mentioned above, we’re also about to release our full 12×12 scrapbook page templates – Project Life style. So that makes the design process super easy! No matter how you choose to use the digital elements, you would then print your projects however you’d like.
If you are looking for the drop-in-your-photo-and-add-your-journaling method, that’s the Shutterfly photo book – coming in December. The concept is that all the pages are already designed for you (with our Project Life art) and you just drop in your photos + journaling and Shutterfly will send you a printed + bound book. Very cool.
Everyone has their preferred way of doing things, which is why we’re so pleased to add these digital options to the option of the good ol’ paper-and-photos-in-your-hands method. : )
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Do you need Photoshop to use the digital Project Life elements?
Feedback: Yes, Photoshop Elements is the most commonly used program but you can use just about any editing software.
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Where is a good place to order prints? I want something fairly cheap, good quality and would be nice to have less than 1-2 week turnaround.
Feedback: Great question! I know there are a lot of fantastic online resources, and I also know a lot of people choose to print at their local Costco, Sam’s Club, WalMart, Target, Walgreen’s, etc. In other words – endless possibilities! I would love for anyone to comment on their favorite online resource!
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Is there any way to transfer my current pre-paid project on Zilbio, to Shutterfly? I have barely started my Ziblio project, but would love to take my pre-paid amount and apply it to a new album with Shutterfly.
Feedback: Sorry, but Ziblio and Shutterfly are not affiliated with one another and so that’s not an option. If you have started a project with Ziblio, you can either finish it (I’m actually quite excited to finish a couple projects that I have in the works there) or you can inquire about a refund. I don’t know that it’s possible, but you can ask them. Call the customer support line at 877-209-1560 or email support@ziblio.com
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I would love to see you do a leather or faux leather album.
Feedback: Personally, I feel like We R Memory Keepers nailed it with their leather albums. I’ve been using them for years.
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I have thought a lot about doing a black and white version of Project Life and wondered if you had considered that?
Feedback: We have thought about a more neutral edition of Project Life, yes. We have also thought about a wedding edition, and baby editions, and classic editions, and grunge editions, and contemporary editions, and … you get the idea. There is so much fun potential to grow the Project Life family of designs and we have plans to do just that. : )
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I’d LOVE to see some examples of Project Life used in a baby album.
Feedback: Me too! I know some people are doing this and I would love nothing more than to see it with my own eyes. Anyone is welcome to share their projects with us, any time! Just email your pictures to submissions@beckyhiggins.com. As I mentioned, I would love to do a couple baby editions of Project Life but it’s going to take a little time. Focusing on the school/childhood stuff first. ; )
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I saw your mom’s crocheted washcloths on Facebook. Does she sell them? I love those kind of washcloths!
Feedback: That’s so cute. She loves to make them (she loves just about any kind of needlepoint work) but no – she doesn’t sell them.
Posted in Q&A | 38 Comments »
Thursday, October 20th, 2011
First a quick note to say – congratulations Amy in Scottsbluff, Nebraska! You were randomly selected to win the Favorite Four giveaway from Big Picture Classes! Please email projectlife@beckyhiggins.com with your shipping address so we can send your goodies to you.
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I know a lot of you – especially those who are newer to Project Life – have a burning question:
WHAT SHOULD I BUY?
We now offer a lot of products, which is fantastic for having options so that you can hand-select exactly what you need. But sometimes you just want someone to tell you - Get this. This is what you need.
This image is going on the top of the Products page. We’ll keep it there for your convenience as you browse products. And when you send your friends over to check out Project Life, they can instantly understand that there are must-haves and everything else is “fun” to add. Although … let’s be honest. Some of you say ALL of this is essential! : )
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If you have a question that I haven’t answered about all the new products, please ask it in the Comments below – and I will answer it in the Comments. In other words, be sure to check back for answers. With all of the plastics arriving in the next 1-2 weeks, it’s important to me that you feel like you understand everything you want to know as you prepare for purchases. You’re smart shoppers. I like that.
Just in case you missed some previous posts, here are a few questions I have already addressed:
Q: How much will everything cost? Oct. 18 blog post.
Q: Is that clearance sale still happening? Yes – but only the Amber binders remain now. It’s a crazy bargain, folks – $8.44 for a binder. Wowza.
Q: What exactly is a Project Life Core Kit? What comes in it? Sept. 7 blog post, which is loaded with pictures inside the little white box.
Q: I live outside the U.S. and can’t wait to get my hands on Project Life. Visit our Shop page so we can direct you to those that can help you.
Q: How will I know when the new items arrive on Amazon? My best advice is to check my blog daily. There are a lot of exciting things going on right now and I wouldn’t want you to miss a thing. Plus – I give even more behind-the-scenes kind of updates (+ POTD Ideas + thoughts on cultivating a good life, etc.) on facebook + twitter.
Q: I like freebies. Can I get my hands on any Project Life goodies that are free? Okay, so that’s not a real question that anyone’s asked. But I just wanted to remind you that these super cute cards are yours, if you’re interested. Easy. Quick. Free.
And … several other product FAQs here.
Posted in products, Q&A | 152 Comments »
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
I am grateful for your comments (your excitement is the best, thank you!) and questions. There were some excellent questions regarding the releasing of new products and I’m happy to address them.
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Q: I’m confused about what I should order. What exactly do I need to get?
A: If you want to stick with absolute basics, this is what you need: Project Life Core Kit + Photo Pocket Pages + Binder. That’s it. Those are the essentials to create a full album.
Note about Core Kits: Right now there are 2 editions of Project Life that are available (Amber + Turquoise) and 2 more editions that are coming in November (Cobalt + Clementine). No matter which edition you chose, it’s all the same contents, just different styles.
Note about Photo Pocket Pages: All of our new Photo Pocket Pages are still on their way and should arrive in the next few weeks-ish. The only Photo Pocket Pages in stock right now are Design B. The most ideal (and for sure the best value – price to be confirmed soon) way to buy the Photo Pocket Pages is to get the big pack of 60 when it becomes available in a few weeks-ish.
Note about Binders: We do have Amber + Turquoise Binders in stock but I want to be clear: These are the original binders with the black linen spine. The new & improved binders are coming in November. They are absolutely improved, manufactured by We R Memory Keepers, and will cost a bit more. I can’t confirm the price of the new binder just yet. But if you want to save a few dollars, then I would go for the binders that are in stock right now.
Back to the question – and now that I’ve clarified the essentials – everything else is just fun. The Cardstock, Scrapbook Dividers, Big Envelope Pages, and all the different Photo Pocket Pages that are coming. You certainly don’t have to have these items to complete a scrapbook if you’re trying to spend as little as possible. Remember: We love making scrapbooking affordable so more people will do it.
*** Everything – essential or extra – can be viewed on the Products page – always.
Q: What’s the difference between the Photo Pocket Pages still in stock and the new ones coming soon?
A: We have improved the quality, strengthened the seams … and kept the prices low, even though manufacturing costs went up.
Q: Why does the Cobalt edition have a title card with “2012″ on it?
A: Most of you will be using the kit for 2012 pictures + memories. It was a fun design that Kim came up with for the title page of the Cobalt edition that she designed. If that doesn’t work for your scrapbook (let’s say you’re using the products to create a scrapbook with pictures from a few years ago), simply don’t use that one card. There are plenty of extra cards in the Core Kit that you can choose from to replace that one.
Q: How fast are these new items going to move? Do I need to be worried about things selling out?
A: I am happy to keep you as updated as I can. I want you to be as informed as possible to make the best decision about what to buy, and when to buy it. Right now I can tell you that if you want to get the Amber or Turquoise Edition of Project Life, but you want to wait until the big pack of 60 Photo Pocket Pages and other plastics come in a few weeks, you should be okay to wait if you’d like. Of course there is risk in waiting. You never know if there will be a huge spike in sales randomly one day. But as of right now, those 2 editions are moving steadily, but not crazy-fast since they’re the 2011 designs that have already made their rounds this year.
There aren’t that many “original” binders left (see question above). Especially now that I’ve been clear about how the NEW binders will cost more, what’s left in inventory now will probably go fast. So if you think you want a black-linen spine binder, I wouldn’t wait. We will for sure not be making those binders again now that we’re spoiled with the fine manufacturing that is We R.
As for the other products that we just released, the situation is similar to the Project Life Core Kits. Sales are steady-but-not-crazy-fast on the Cardstock and Journaling Cards (box of 100), since most of our customers already have these from earlier this year.
The very best way to stay informed is to be sure you check my blog regularly or subscribe to my facebook or twitter updates. I will let you know if something is getting close to selling out. Most companies wouldn’t dream of doing that. I prioritize communicating well with my customers.
Q: I live outside the U.S. and I can’t view the video you just posted. Why?
A: It looks like some music is not “allowed” on YouTube videos in certain countries – probably a copyright issue or something? Bummer! Perhaps I’ll have to remove the music and re-post the video for international friends.
Q: Who is the artist of the “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” song in your video?
A: The version of that song that I used is actually by the Glee cast. I use Glee music in a lot of my videos.
Q: What about the binders – when will we see those?
A: We’re still on-track for November.
Q: Can I only use the Project Life binder with the Becky Higgins products?
A: Nope. You can use any binder you want. Our binders are the same standard sizing as just about any other 12×12 3-ring binder out there. Feel free to choose another binder. But really – ours are the best. ; )
Q: What about the Signature Black Binder and Signature White Binder?
A: We are sampling and re-sampling and re-sampling again so that we make these signature binders positively perfect. I don’t have a release date on these until we nail it.
Posted in products, Q&A, scrapbooking | 43 Comments »
Friday, August 26th, 2011
I am thrilled to announce something today about our upcoming products. Specifically, our Binders. All Becky Higgins Binders are now going to be manufactured by We R Memory Keepers! As in – the best of the best in binder manufacturing. As in – a bazillion years of experience in the book binding industry, and of course the scrapbooking industry … since it became an industry. They are absolutely a leader in binders and albums. And because they’re making our albums, this means you can expect nothing less than … the very best. I’ve been personally using We R binders for all of our family scrapbooks for nearly 10 years.
We are super stoked, and we know that any of you who are familiar with the We R brand are pretty stoked right now too. What you are seeing are our first four Project Life Binders: The Turquoise Edition and Amber Edition are our two 2011 Project Life editions that most of you are familiar with (we actually made the “Turquoise Binder” spine brown because – trust me – it just looked way better with the design).
The other two binders you see are … (drum roll please) … the two new 2012 editions! Say hello to the Clementine Edition and the Cobalt Edition! This is the first you are seeing of the new designs. Next week is when we plan to share lots, lots more from each of these two new kits (designer components + pieces that come in the Core Kits as well as some of the Project Life Cardstock). Stay tuned for that!
But enough chit-chat. Let’s get to some pictures!
I’d be willing to bet you have some great questions now. I’ll try to address several, and if I missed something … ask away in the Comments. Plus – tell me what you think! I’d love to hear.
Q: So these are different than the Binders that you have still in stock on Amazon?
A: That’s right. They are different and they are better. We do still have some Turquoise Binders and Amber Binders in stock, and they are still for sale. And while these currently-for-sale binders are not as crazy-excellent quality that our new binders will be, they are still good binders.
Q: What is different about the old binders and the new binders?
A: First and foremost, the construction, techniques in manufacturing, and materials used are better. The metal corners are new (yay for protecting the corners!). The metal label holder on the spine is new. The surface is now glossy – which not only looks sharp, but makes it so easy to wipe off little finger prints. The spine is now a color instead of black.
Q: Why would I want to purchase the “old” binders still in stock?
A: You don’t have to, of course. Those who either A) Don’t want to wait for the new binders, or B) Want to pay a few dollars less will be snatching those up very quickly.
Q: How much will they cost?
A: Our current binders (mentioned above) are $12.99 on Amazon for U.S. customers. While we do not know the exact price of the new binders yet, you can expect that they will cost a few-ish dollars more. Simply put, better manufacturing costs more. I do not know what the prices will be for customers outside the U.S. but that will soon be announced.
Q: Where are the binders manufactured?
A: Salt Lake City, Utah. The good ol’ USA!
Q: When can I get my hands on these binders?
A: I wish I could give you a date (and I will as we get closer) … but it’s going to be sometime this Fall – along with all of our other products coming out this Fall. It will likely fall somewhere in the October/November time frame.
Q: Can I pre-order the binders?
A: If you are in the U.S. or Europe, where Becky Higgins products are sold on Amazon – no pre-orders. If you are in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, or pretty much most other countries, yes. Pre-orders will be available on those respective sites very soon. Please watch for that here (NZ/AUS) and here (CANADA and other countries).
Q: I like all my albums to be matching on the bookshelf. I think I’ll miss the black spine you used to have on all your binders.
A: Today’s great news gets even better! We will also be launching our Signature Black Binder and our Signature White Binder. More details and pictures of these items coming soon.
Tags: binders, Project Life, we r memory keepers
Posted in products, Q&A, scrapbooking | 112 Comments »
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011
Wow — the enthusiasm. Yay, you guys! We are stoked that you are stoked about what’s coming this Fall. Thank you for your comments on the last post. There were also a few excellent questions so I’m happy to address those.
But first – I think Kristina in Brisbane, Australia wins the award for cutest comment. She wrote, “Thank you Becky. It’s pretty emotional for me about the possibility of capturing amazing memories for my children and future generations without it being daunting, too hard, too fumbly, etc. If I was a bubble, I’d burst.”
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{ your questions }
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Q: It feels like Project Life just got a whole lot more complicated with all the choices! But I’m anxious to see the new designs.
A: Okay, so that wasn’t a question but it’s a legitimate thought that I’m sure a few of you have had, even though we know most of our customers are pleased with the change. I’m happy to explain what led to the change. We used to offer full kits. Everything-in-a-box. Simple, right? Well … not so much. Most everything was A-OK but manufacturing defects are inevitable, period. So in a huge box with lots of contents, if any one piece was wrong, there was a lot of time/work/stress/money spent on replacing little pieces here + there. Now, if there are any problems at all, it’s a simple return/exchange with Amazon (U.S. customers) or with your international distributor, for those of you outside the U.S.
Another reason for breaking apart the kit: We love making scrapbooking affordable. Even though the price for one kit was incredible (and, quite frankly, far less money than you’d ever spend on that much stuff anywhere else), it’s still money. And money can be tight, especially these days. The way we’re moving forward with our products now, folks are able to get only what they feel like they need to get the job done, and skip the fun extras if it’s not the right time to be spending extra money.
Bottom line: There are several reasons why we decided to do this, and what you need to know is that David and I have put a lot of time, thought, and money into this business. We don’t make decisions lightly. Please trust that we are very thoughtful and very intentional about our choices with what and when and how we do things so that you – our customers – have a good experience, while also maintaining that our family life is our #1 priority.
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Q: So are you saying we will have to purchase the page protectors separately? If they are not included in the price of the kit, then will the kit price go down?
A: Yes, that’s what I’m saying. The Core Kit will absolutely cost way less than our full kits have cost in the past. This is one of the advantages of breaking the kit apart. Let’s say you only want the Core Kit and the Big Pack of 60 Photo Pocket Pages, and not necessarily the Scrapbook Dividers, 12×12 Cardstock, or the coordinating binder. No problem! Just get what you want and not what you don’t.
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Q: Has the quality improved with the binders since the last ones?
A: This is a very resounding YES. I will be share more details on this very soon, but trust me on this one. I’m confident that you’re going to be very pleased with our new binders, which includes the reprint of the Turquoise and Amber binders, as well as the new 2012 Project Life styles and our signature “neutral” binders. Information and images on all the binders will come soon, along with the 2012 Project Life product reveals. Remember: All of these items are roughly a month behind the October releases that we’re talking about right now.
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Q: Why buy your page protectors when other companies make the same thing? What is different about yours?
A: First of all, we have had production delays for a reason: We are more picky than ever. Quality control. The search for perfection. You name it, we have been working very hard to make these staples as close to perfect as possible, so that you are happier than happy with our products. So if quality is a big deal to you, that would be a reason.
Secondly, the way we’ve set up our business for U.S. customers is that we sell directly to you by way of Amazon. This is how we’re able to keep our prices down. So if affordable is a big deal to you, that would be a reason.
Thirdly, a few of the basic designs are obviously “what’s out there” already. We know that (refer to the first two points in this response). But we added them to the line-up for a simple reason — it’s nice to have the same quality and affordability across the board. So if consistency and convenience are a big deal to you, that would be a reason.
Most of our designs, however, are unique to our brand and are very much inline with our philosophy of taking the guesswork out of scrapbooking for those who want to simplify the process. Our pockets are 4×6 for the standard photos and 3×4 for the Journaling Cards (and “half-size” photos and memorabilia and whatever else you use the 3×4 pockets for). This is key in helping us to be better about journaling little notes, stories, and anecdotes to go along with our pictures.
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Q: Are the Core Kits that will be available in October for 2011? Or can they be used for any year? I am assuming that when the 2012 kits become available, I would use the core kit that applies for 2012. I am new to Project Life, but I’m SO excited.
A: Simply put, all of our Core Kits have been, and will continue to be, completely applicable to any year and any approach. The designs are not date-specific. You could pick up any kit and get your whole childhood in an album. Or you could use the kit to document a picture-every-day in a calendar year. Or you could go back and get the 90′s into a couple scrapbooks with our products. The whole idea is that you make the products work for your needs. You don’t have to conform to any format. I’m so excited you’re giving it a try!
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Q: Do you ever plan on creating Project Life in 8.5×11? I switched over from 12×12′s years ago because the size is SO much easier for my kids, parents, grandparents etc. to handle.
A: Yes, we have totally considered this. The reason why the 8.5 x 11 format doesn’t work for this system is because, in order to simplify the process for you, that includes leaving all the 4×6 prints just as they are, as opposed to requiring you to crop everything down. It just doesn’t work quite as well. If the 12×12 albums are larger than you’d like (I’m in that camp these days too, so I totally relate) … the Digital Project Life is what you want to look into.
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Q: I know you can’t see into the future, but am wondering if you can comment on if these products will be available over the coming years in similar formats. Should I stock up on school kits for my young children now, or will I be able to purchase these products in 2 and 4 years from now? Again, I know you can’t see into the future, but what’s your best guess?
A: You’re a planner. I get it. I’m a planner too! And while I don’t have that crystal ball we’d all like to have sometimes, this is what I can tell you: Project Life works. Project Life solves problems. We’re setting things up in such an organized and intentional and methodical and user-friendly and solution-based manner, that it’s a no-brainer to keep a good thing going … for as long as you guys think it’s a good thing. We plan on all the BASICS being available year-round and bringing out NEW DESIGNS at least once a year.
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Q: I haven’t seen you mention anything about Digital Project Life. Will there be new designs for that? If so, any timeline of when it will be out?
A: Yes, Digital Project Life lives on, and the new 2012 designs will come by the end of this year. We just have a stronger emphasis on the physical product right now because that’s where the interest is for most of our customers, and because purchasing actual, physical product usually involves more planning of sorts. Particularly for our international customers, as they are able to place pre-orders in advance.
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Q: It would be awesome to have a punch the size of the 3×4 Journaling Cards. My (project) life would be complete if I had a punch I could use to quickly size things perfectly and pop them into the page!
A: It sounds like you’re not alone in your thinking. And I have to tell you, a lot of what we’re bringing is due to the suggestions and requests you’ve thrown our way. We really, truly listen and I hope that’s obvious to our customers by now. So … about the punch … we’ll look into the possibility. How’s that? : )
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Q: Are you going to be creating a school kit?
A: Okay, so I know most of you know this already, but for those of you who missed the memo, I repeat – School- and childhood-specific products are planned to show up early 2012. It’s simply not possible to do everything at once. Trust me – you wouldn’t want me to try that. I’d go completely mental and broke, all at once. : )
In the meantime, I would definitely plan on picking up a few staples that are coming out this Fall. For example, this stuff:
You’ll be able to get a great head-start with at least organizing your pictures. When the school/childhood stuff comes out, that will help you pull it all together beautifully. More on this in the coming weeks. We’ll discuss this in depth.
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I hope this has cleared some things up for those of you with questions. Most of you know I’m very accessible to my readers/customers. I do my best to answer your questions. Please remember that while Project Life is growing and spreading like wildfire (thanks to you guys, for sharing it with your friends!) … we are still a small business, and not even quite two years into this adventure.
Family is most important. Service and community involvement and friends and even sleep are important too. We also care a lot about making sure Becky Higgins LLC provides the very best for you. Trust me when I say, we are happy to continue working hard to do our best. And, as always, we appreciate your enthusiasm and loyalty so very much.
Posted in products, Q&A, scrapbooking | 62 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 »
Friday, May 6th, 2011
{ FIRST } The winner of the Silhouette goodies from yeterday’s giveaway is … Lydia in Texas (the one who said she would gladly build a shelf for the Silhouette)! Lydia, email cwalsh@silhouetteamerica.com to claim your prizes! Congrats!
{ SECOND } My 1,000th blog post is coming up! What’s one of my most memorable blog posts ever for you? I would love to hear from you, and may even include your note in that 1,000th post. Email submissions@beckyhiggins.com and tell me which post you’re thinking of.
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{ TECH FRIDAY WITH KEVIN }
There was such an awesome response to my brother’s Tech Friday post last month. So we’re doing it again! I invited you to ask any tech-related question (via facebook + twitter) and you didn’t hold back. Today, Kevin is answering your questions. Because he’s seriously just such a nice guy.
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Q: Loved the answers about changing over to NO CABLE, but what about sports?? Are there channels for just certain sports/teams/etc or is that out like local channels? Olympics are included in local? I’d love to switch since we only use about 5 channels+sports PS: you 2 are super cool sis & bro team  [Ada Fisher]
A: As I mentioned before, the one gap in my home entertainment system is live sports coverage. I’m not a huge sports nut, so it doesn’t bother me much. I do, however, like to watch significant events like World Cup, Wimbledon, etc. Those, fortunately, are covered by the big networks like ABC, which are in turn broadcast (in HD) via free airwaves. These are the channels that are picked up by purchasing an inexpensive receiver from Wal-mart or Target.
If you follow college basketball, you may have noticed something very interesting during this last “March Madness”… a free app that streamed all the tournament games directly to your iPad and iPhone. I watched a few games this way, and the quality was pretty amazing, especially over WiFi. I think going forward, this is how it should be done. Free live streaming (to any device).
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Q: My 2 kids and I each have iPhones or iPod Touches and share a computer with iTunes. Is there any way to have separate accounts in iTunes? Everyone is always spending everyone else’s money when they buy things. The kids get gift cards and can not keep it straight whose money is whose. That being said the kids like to share apps and music too. Is there a better way to mange all of this? [Tracey Romanofsky Edmonds]
A: First of all, if you have multiple people in your family using a single computer, I HIGHLY recommend that each user have their own computer account. That will A) ensure that each person can have their own wallpaper, settings, etc, and B) allow everyone to have their own iTunes libraries with their own payment/credit information.
As for sharing content (music, apps, etc), no problem. Check into “Home Sharing”. It allows you to share your purchased iTunes content on up to 5 computers at home or work… legally. Here’s a blog post with more information on Home Sharing.
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Q: I have an iPad and love it. I NEED an iPhone! Should I get one now and deal with not being able to surf the web and talk on the phone at the same time? Or should I wait for the next version of the phone, which hopefully has that capability? [Briana Thatcher]
A: As you know, CDMA (the network that Verizon users) has a serious drawback… it doesn’t allow you to use voice and data simultaneously. This is not the same on a GSM network (like AT&T). I consider this a serious drawback because I use that feature all the time on AT&T. Unfortunately, this will not be remedied on the iPhone until the iPhone itself works on their new 4G LTE network. So the question is, will the next iPhone run on the new network?
Apple, of course, doesn’t comment on unannounced products, so it’s left up to people like me to guess what their next move is. Unfortunately, I don’t have a crystal ball, but if I was a bettin’ man, I would say that the next iPhone will NOT work on LTE. The fact is, LTE isn’t broad enough… yet. I am willing to bet that the next iPhone will have a slightly newer design (possibly a larger display), but will have both GSM and CDMA radios built-in, so it can be used on either network. My advice: buy your iPhone now.
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Q: Briana, I have had an iPhone thru Verizon since February, and I haven’t once missed being able to surf the web and talk on the phone at the same time. Not once. Go for it! [Annie LaPoint Mills]
A: See previous response. The great thing about technology is that we all use these devices differently. I certainly don’t expect everyone to use an iPhone just like me. That would be nuts. “Adapt and enjoy” is my motto.
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Q: I have an Epson 1400 printer. The ink doesn’t want to dry on the photos. Is there a smaller photo printer I should try? [Marsha Alford]
A: I really like Epson for photo printing. I have the 2200, and love it. I haven’t heard of ink “not drying” on photos before, so it begs the question… what kind of paper are you using? I know it sounds crazy, but there is a real science to how ink embeds itself in the fibers of paper. Some people say it’s crazy to buy Epson-brand paper just because you have an Epson-brand printer. The fact is, paper is scientifically designed to accept ink in a certain way.
I gave up on printing smaller prints (4×6, 5×7, etc) at home because it’s too expensive in the long-run (and I don’t do it often enough), but if you’re looking for a good small-format photo printer, check out the Epson Artisan 50 Inkjet Printer. It will run you about $150.
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Q: What is the best way to transfer/copy PSE 6 to an EHD? Is it possible to do that? [Joanne Nickla Teliszewski]
A: I’m assuming you want to run the application from the external hard drive. The first thing you want to do is remove the version installed on your primary (internal) hard drive. That will clean it off. After that’s done, you want to reinstall the application from the original install disc. During the installation, it will ask where you want the app installed. Point the installer to the external hard drive, and you’re set to go. One thing you should know: by running the app from an external hard drive, you will likely run into some performance issues. Nothing major, but don’t be surprised if you find that it runs just a tad slower than normal.
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Q: I would like to know how David & Becky did the TV/picture screens that are in their kitchen. Maybe you can explain. [Jeanette Campbell Matheson]
A: It’s a lot easier than you think (don’t tell Becky I said that!). The simple part is finding and mounting the screens. In David & Becky’s case, they hung two screens top and bottom. The coolest multi-screen display I’ve seen was 4 screens wide by 8 screens high, each of them mounted right next to each other. Pure awesomeness! I digress. Once the screens are hung, you need something to drive them. In D&B’s case, their screens have a built-in SD slot that has a series of photos preloaded on them. The software in the TVs themselves reads the photos from the cards, and displays them like a screensaver. If you wanted to go one step further, you could add an Apple TV to each of the screens. That would just give you more functionality.
[Becky interjecting] I’m sorry my brother is the one who had to finally answer this question that many of you have had! I’ve been meaning to make a video of our kitchen digital photo display.
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Q: Does Kevin have any recommendations for iPad apps? Esp. for editing pictures, but any would be cool! [Nancy Wongsotaroeno]
A: Here’s a blog post that shows some of my favorite iPad apps.
As for image editing, check out ArtStudio for iPad. I also really like Camera+ for iPhone. You can, of course, use this on an iPad, but I’ve also been told that an iPad version is coming out soon. That would really be awesome.
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Q: I have TOO many photos in my iPhoto library of our main desktop Mac at home (about 22K photos and growing)! I want to weed through them, assigning key words and also delete the photos I don’t need. I would love the ability to do this while mobile (I travel a lot for work). If I got an iPad with the iPhoto app, could i put part of my main iPhoto library on it while on travel, then work on whittling down and organizing the photos in certain events, then sync it back up to the main Mac when I got home? If not, how would you recommend accomplishing this? THANK YOU! P.S. my whole work life is PC/Windows based, so I’d have to buy whatever equipment you recommend. Thanks again!! [Carol Macha]
A: Let me get this straight… you want to start tagging 22,000+ photos? That is serious ambition! I don’t even know you, and I’m proud of you.
I’m faced with a similar challenge. My solution is to cut my losses and do the best I can going forward. That doesn’t work for all, and it sounds like it won’t work for you. I wish I had better news for you on the prospect of taking photos on the go, tagging them and then returning them to a more permanent storage (while retaining the tags). iPhoto is a great photo management system, but it has its limitations, and this is one of them. As the iPad is becoming more popular, maybe this is an opportunity for Apple… portable management. Sounds like a good idea to me!
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Q: Another iTunes question. We have the similar situation like Tracy. (too many “iToys”?) How do we manage all these different devices? Two kids have iPod Touches, my husband & I have iPod Nanos & iPads. The kids each have an iTunes account for their iPods. Since we just purchased Apple TVs (thanks for sending us over the edge!) we are looking at purchasing more movies on iTunes now. Can we sync all of our different devices with my account without any problems for the purpose of loading movies onto their iPods? Thanks for helping with the techie stuff! [Susan Loveland]
A: The more “iToys” and iTunes accounts you have, the more complicated it can get. See the previous response for some tips. Another idea is to just have one main iTunes account that everything is purchased through. That way, it’s easy to manage and track. As long as you’re using Home Sharing, you will still be able to share your purchased content with up to 5 computers (and countless devices), enabling everyone in your family to enjoy.
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Q: Ack! Another question. I’m trying to use HandBrake to get a DVD that we have into iTunes. When I select source and then the DVD, it says that I need VLC. So I downloaded VLC, opened the movie using it, and now I don’t know the rest of the process to follow. What now? Do you have an easy tutorial on the process I’m supposed to be using (but can’t figure out)? Thanks so much! [Susan Loveland]
A: VLC, in this case, is used for nothing more than a resource app that HandBrake uses to decode/encode. In other words, you need to install it, but you really never need to run it.
For a complete tutorial on how to use HandBrake (and why), check out this blog post.
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Q: Is there an app for radio for the ipod touch that doesn’t require internet signal? [Ellie Lundstrom]
A: The only way to listen to the radio (whether it be old-fashioned with an antenna or new-age over the Internet) is to have some way of delivering that content to you. In the case of Internet radio, you HAVE to have an Internet connection, otherwise it won’t have a way of reaching your device.
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Q: We’ve noticed our internet download speeds have slowed down. We have many things pulling from our wifi (iPod touch, Color Nook, printer, 2 laptops, DSi, BlackBerry, etc.). We have a Motorola Surfboard Wireless Cable Modem Gateway, model SBG900. Would a new modem/router combo improve speeds? If so, what do you recommend? [Kristine Dreffs]
A: The first thing I would do is test your modem/router to ensure it’s working properly. I’ve actually seen the wireless portion of modern routers go bad over time, while the wired portion works just fine. The first thing you need to do is plug a computer directly into the router with a network cable. Once you can get online, go to www.speedtest.net to test your actual Internet speed. If this matches what you think you should be getting from your ISP (give about a 10% allowance for network overhead), then your router is working fine. At that point, there may be an issue with the wireless location or antennas.
If you’re still looking for a new router, I highly recommend the Apple Base Station (works for both Macs and PCs. They are a little more expensive than other wireless routers, but when you look at the features, I think you’ll find it’s worth the cost. Linksys is another brand to look at.
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Q: Love the photos! I have a question…how do you print pics from your phone? I was without a camera for two weeks and used my phone for POTD. Help! [Betsy]
A: Great question! Check out this blog post here for a solution.
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Q: On Becky’s blog post about BYU, she said that she is using your instagram for many POTDs. How do you print those? Because they are not a 4×6. I have the same program and love the features and would love to use those pictures! [Kirsten Travis Davies]
A: One of the characteristics of Instagram is its square aspect ratio. When you print a 4” wide Instagram shot, it will print at 4×4”, not a standard 4×6”. If you send that photo to be printed at Costco or another printing facility, the photo would likely come back as a 4×6”, but with a 1” border on the top and bottom. This is because they won’t be using custom paper to print your photo. What does that mean for you? A little more work. You will need to manually chop off the excess.
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Q: After remodeling our master bathroom we have had one area of wall and ceiling that constantly “peel”…what do you suggest? [Vicki Maloney]
A: Personally, I would replace the sheetrock with LED displays. That way, when you want to change your wallpaper, it’s just a matter of a click, click and save.
Tags: kevin, technology
Posted in Q&A | 29 Comments »
Friday, April 15th, 2011
Say hello to Kevin. Among my friends and many of you, he has become known as my “techie brother”.
I know I’m coming from a biased place as his little sister, but seriously. The man is a genius. But even cooler than that, he is incredibly generous with his time in helping countless people with their tech questions & needs. He is as passionate about technology and helping people understand and use it properly as I am passionate about helping people document life. And if you couldn’t tell, he’s all about Apple. He helped us make that switch many years ago. I like to call him an enabler. I’m a fan for life.
Photos taken with my iPhone, using the Instagram app (Earlybird filter + Tilt-Shift feature)
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We’re calling today Tech Friday because:
1. Kevin & his cute family have been with us all week (their Spring Break). The idea just sorta happened.
2. I mentioned this on facebook & invited you to ask Kevin your technology questions.
3. We aren’t creative enough in the moment to think of something more clever than “Tech Friday”.
Without further adieu, I give you Kevin.
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Initially, I thought it would be fun to try and tackle about 10 or so of your questions. After reading through the questions, however, I decided I would answer ALL of them! They were all just too good to pass up. Keep in mind that when troubleshooting some of these issues or answering your questions, it’s much easier to do so with two-way dialog (so I can ask follow-up questions). I apologize if I misunderstood your question.
Here we go…
Q: Oh, I have been so frustrated trying to change my blog’s profile pic on Facebook. I have a Pages account linked through my personal account. Can’t change my info either.
A: To change your Facebook profile image, log into your account, then go into your profile settings. From there, you will see an option to upload a new image.
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Q: How do I make my own ringtones for my iPhone from my iTunes music? Thanks!
A: Making ringtones for your iPhone is not only fun, but can help you to quickly determine who is calling (when you set ring tones for specific callers). To get started, you want to create a new Garageband project (Garageband comes free with new Macs as part of the iLife suite). With Garageband ready, drag the song you want to use as your ringtone from iTunes into Garageband as a new audio track.
Now that your audio track is ready to edit, you need to crop the audio where you want. When you are ready with your 30-second (or less) audio track, go to Share > Send Ringtone to iTunes. From there, sync your iPhone and set your ringtone. You can also make your own custom ringtones. The ringtone I have set for my daughter, for example, is a 30-second segment of her laughing… hysterically. It always puts a smile on my face when she calls.
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Q: I’m trying to figure out the best way for our family to be able to watch cable television shows, but without cable. I want to get rid of the cable bill! How can we watch current TV shows without having to wait for the season to end? All this technology stuff confuses me :{
A: First, let me start by saying I haven’t paid a cable TV bill for over a year… and I love it! Not only is it cheaper, but we watch exactly what WE want to watch, and on our schedule. I accomplish this by using a few different sources. First, I use Netflix for streaming older movies and TV shows via a computer or Apple TV (price: $8/month). Secondly, I use iTunes for current content (price: varies based in your usage). Thirdly, I purchased a $20 HD receiver from Wal-mart for all of our local channels… in HD (and no monthly fees). What does that leave out? Basically your real-time national news (i.e.: CNN) and live sporting events (i.e.: ESPN).
I really believe that we are witnessing the beginning of a massive transformation in the way that we consume video content. Traditional TV broadcasting will be a thing of the past over the next 3 – 5 years for most consumers, and everything will be online streaming.
For more detailed information, check out this blog entry here. Because this is a common question I get, I thought I would document it for all to see.
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Q: Monitor calibration – what is it and how do I do it without spending a fortune?
A: Monitor calibration is the process of ensuring that what you see on your monitor is exactly the same as someone else’s monitor (or printer). When you purchase a new monitor, the color saturation and hues will already be off balance (some more than others, depending on the quality of the screen). Most people either don’t notice or don’t care. However, if you are a heavy photo editor sending your photos to be printed at a lab, you may want to care. If your screen isn’t calibrated, the printed result will likely look different than what you see on your screen.
I use the Spyder (by Datacolor) to calibrate my screen. The process usually only takes a minute or two, and if you do a lot of printing at a lab, you may want to run the calibration once a month (air temperature and other natural changes can affect your screen’s color accuracy). I would also recommend finding a lab you like, and asking them for their color profile (in the form of a file). You can then use that color profile to ensure your computer screen and their printers are 100% in sync.
Your total out of pocket investment could be as little as $90 (for the Spyder Express).
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Q: I would be interested in knowing the kind of program that he uses to make the videos on your blog… the ones that play music behind you. And if he has any tips on that subject.
A: I use a Mac, so there are two different video editing apps I use: iMovie (free with new Macs, part of iLife) and Final Cut Pro. I use iMovie when I need to do something quick and want to add some of their really cool built-in filters, etc. These projects are mostly for home use. For anything professional, I resort to using Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro is part of Apple’s Final Cut Studio, which sells for $999. Don’t rush out to buy it just yet, though. This past week, NAB (the National Association of Broadcasters) was held in Las Vegas. Apple unveiled their brand new Final Cut Studio X, which is a completely re-written suite of video editing apps. It will be available in June via the Mac App Store, and will sell for a jaw-dropping $299! This is the same software used to edit movies like “Lord of the Rings” and “The Social Network“.
For Windows users, I would check out Pinnacle Systems or Avid.
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Q: I want to know how I can get my very own brother like Kevin!
A: Unfortunately, there is only one of me to go around, but I do love helping people get the most out of technology. Feel free to stop by www.kevinallgaier.com any time to get help and to stay current on technology trends. You can also follow me on Twitter @kevinallgaier.
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Q: Can I hook my laptop up to my TV, so I can view videos, movies on the TV? Thanks!
A: Yes, but how depends on your laptop and TV. If your TV is new enough, it may have a VGA input on the back. If so, it’s nothing more than purchasing a cable to go from the VGA output on your laptop to the VGA input on your TV. If you don’t have VGA, then you may need to purchase some adapters. The best way to do this is to take an inventory of what video ports you have on your laptop and TV, then take that list to your local Best Buy or Radio Shack. Show them to a sales rep there, and they can help you find the right adapters.
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Q: What are your favorite apps for the iPhone? And, on a related question; what cool thing the iPhone have that most people are unaware of?
A: When I show people what my favorite apps are on my iPhone/iPad, they usually end up yawning. That’s because my favorite apps are pretty geeky. For example, I love using the GoToMyPC client on my iPad. This allows me to remotely control any of my traditional computers from anywhere. For the non-geek, I really love Camera+, Remote, Angry Birds, Tiny Wings, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, Delta and Adobe Ideas. All great apps. I also use the built-in apps very heavily, like Calendar, Mail, etc.
As for hidden features, that’s a tough one because everyone uses their phone differently, some more advanced than others. A feature that I am guessing is NOT used as heavily as it should be is AirPlay. AirPlay allows you to share video and photos stored on your IPhone on your TV, via the ($99) Apple TV. Here’s an example: we took the kids out for a ride through the desert the other day, and I took photos and video along the way. As soon as we got back to the house, I was able to immediately display those on the big screen for the whole family to enjoy. Very powerful (and useful).
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Q: What video camera do you use for the blogs and how are you able to achieve such good lighting and audio? Is there an external microphone on your camera and if so, which one. Wow. I can’t wait for your response! Thanks.
A: For video that will ultimately be posted on the web, you don’t need any fancy equipment. Remember, the target screen will be relatively small compared to a TV or “the big screen”. I’ve actually created full videos that were shot 100% on my iPhone 4, and the quality is incredible. As you hinted at in your question, lighting and audio are also very important.
Most good lighting can actually be done naturally. You just have to pick the right place and the right time of day. Artificial lighting can be used if needed, but that can also be simple. You don’t need to invest a lot of money in expensive equipment. Sometimes a floor lamp sitting around your home is sufficient. Whatever you use for lighting, make sure it isn’t too harsh.
As for audio, most consumer camcorders these days have a built-in audio line-in port, and I bet most people don’t even know they have it. It will look like a headphone jack. Head to your local Best Buy, show them your camcorder, and they will help you find an external mic that you can use to plug into that line-in jack. Once you add this, I guarantee your audio will see a huge improvement. No more surrounding noises!
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Q: What are your favorite photoshop actions? Favorite iPhone apps or features that love? How do you make specialty blog backgrounds?
A: The only PhotoShop actions I use are created by me to add a signature to image edits, etc. Everything else is built-in to PhotoShop (filters, effects, etc). As I mentioned before, I love to use Camera+ for iPhone. I’ve actually used this for shots from my dSLR as well. That’s because I think the filters are incredibly powerful. It’s not just limited to photos taken on your iPhone.
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Q: mmmwwwuuuaa <– That’s my version of ‘big kiss’. Becky, you truly are so kind and caring. Kevin is a peach. Mrs. A, your parenting skills beam through your children. Congratulations.
A: We have awesome parents, there’s no doubt about that!
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Q: 3 good reasons to switch to a Mac versus a PC?
A: I’ll do better than that… I’ll give you 5 (and even that is holding back). Before I do, I need to give you a little background. Five years ago, I was a die-hard Windows users. So much so that I actually wanted to work for Microsoft. Shortly after, I started to feel frustrated that they were dropping the ball on their products, and had stopped innovating. About that same time, Apple was making some noise, so I checked out their hardware and software. After using their laptop with OS X for 2 days, I was hooked. As a tech guy, I follow (and recommend) the best technology available. Five years ago, that was Microsoft. Today, it’s Apple. Who knows who it will be in five years.
Here are my top five reasons to switch to a Mac:
5) While the Mac is not immune to technical failures, they are very minimal compared to PCs (most of the problems that plague PCs are because of the Operating System… Windows)
4) To date, there are millions of viruses affecting PCs and zero affecting Macs
3) Apple is an industry leader in system integration, from the office to the living room
2) Using their software inspires me to do better work of my own
1) They are an absolute pleasure to use! My motto is, “I use a PC because I have to. I use a Mac because I want to”.
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Q: Candace, I can tell you he uses Final Cut Pro for the video editing. (My hubby’s a videographer so the screen shot Becky shared was all too familiar…) it’s a pretty extensive program that professionals also use, but there are more simple programs like iMovie that can still put out a great product. Hope that helps!
A: See question above. I bet your husband already knows about the new Final Cut Suite, and is super excited for it!
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Q: Does he by chance know of a good app for the iPad that recognizes handwriting and turns it into a document (Pages or Word)?! I would be forever grateful as it would help with taking notes at school!
A: Check out Penultimate. It’s a whopping $1.99. Although it won’t convert hand-written text to typed text (I don’t know of any that do because of the complexity involved), it’s a great note-taking app for iPad.
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Q: My Mac’s idisk is almost full so I think I need to move my photos to an external hard drive to free up space. How do I do that?
A: You have two options here. The first option happens to be the easiest, but it would also cost you a little cash. You can increase the amount of storage on your MobileMe account from the standard 20 GB to 40 GB or more. The additional capacity is an additional cost/year.
Option B would be to, as you suggest, move files from your iDisk to an external hard drive. The easiest way to do this is to turn on iDisk syncing on your Mac. You can do this in the MobileMe section of System Preferences. After you turn this on, you will see a new drive mounted on your desktop. This is your iDisk. Now, you can drag and drop to and from the iDisk, just like you would an external hard drive. Don’t forget to delete the files from iDisk once you have moved them off to an external hard drive.
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Q: Does he know if you can easily move your iTunes library from PC to Mac? Thinking of getting Mac but a big issue would be moving iTunes.
A: Yes, and I help people with this all the time. After you install iTunes on a computer, it auto-creates a special directory that store all of your iTunes content (music, videos, album, artwork, etc). On a Mac, this folder (called “iTunes”) is in your Music folder. On a PC, this folder is found under My Documents > My Music.
To move your entire library from a PC to a Mac, all you need to do is copy and paste the “iTunes” folder from the PC to the appropriate location on the Mac. Before doing this, be sure that iTunes is completely closed on both computers. Performing this copy across a home network can get somewhat complicated. If you are comfortable doing that, go for it. If not, an alternative is to copy the folder from PC to an external hard drive (via USB), then from the external hard drive to the Mac. When it asks if you want to overwrite the existing folder, choose yes. After it’s done copying, launch iTunes on the Mac, and you are good to go. Your entire iTunes library will look exactly as it did on your PC.
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Q: Are there any good maintenance tips everyone should do to keep their computers running efficiently? I’m interested in Windows. Thanks!
A: Great question. My personal laptop (MacBook Pro) runs like an absolute champ, and it’s because there are a few things I do routinely. The same can be done on a PC. First and foremost, you must ALWAYS be conscience of the software that is installed on your computer. If you ever install something that you aren’t sure of, you are just asking for trouble. Always know what you are installing. If you aren’t sure, always err on the side of caution.
On a PC, I strongly recommend running a disk defragmentation on your hard drive once a month. This can be found by going to Start > All Programs > Utilities. When you save files to your computer, it rarely writes the file in one place. Usually, the file is fragmented and saves to many parts of your hard drive. As a result, your system, will run slower as it tries to piece together all the files. Running a “defrag” (as I like to call it) analyzes your drive, and assembles the files in a more continuous fashion, making it quicker to access them when you need them.
On a Mac, I recommend running a “Repair Disk Permissions” every month. While Mac OS X doesn’t suffer from the same file fragmentation issues that plague Windows, it does suffer from the occasional file permission amnesia. What this utility does is analyzes every file on your system, and compares their access permissions with what they should be. If there is a deviation, it corrects the problem. Not performing this task on a regular basis can result in apps misbehaving in strange ways. To run this, go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Highlight your local hard drive, and click the “Repair Disk Permissions” button.
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Q: How do you use iCalendar and have it update in real time and across multiple devices like iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone? Thanks!
A: There are a couple ways of doing this. The first way is by using MobileMe. MobileMe is a service provided by Apple that includes email, web hosting, photo/video sharing, calendar, address book, etc. I consider MobileMe to be the mortar that holds everything together (with the iPad, iPhone and Macs being the bricks). Currently, the service will cost you $99/year (well worth it, if you ask me), but there are rumors going around that there will be a free version available very soon. Either way, you can sign up for a free 60-day full trial now. As long as you have your MobileMe account set up properly on each of your devices, syncing of your calendars, addresses and email will happen automatically (and usually within a few seconds of a modification).
If you don’t want to use MobileMe, you can use a free Google calendar to do the same thing. After you set up your account, you will want to add the new calendar to each of your devices. Is definitely a little more complicated to set this up initially, but the long-term affect is virtually the same as if you were using MobileMe.
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Q: Photo organization in iPhoto – how do you organize your photos, do you give each individual photo a name or do you just tag a group or event? Also how do you copy previous years of photos onto an external hard drive – Do you copy them there first and then delete from iPhoto??? Help please – I have way too many precious photos……
A: I try and keep my photo organization pretty simple. I’ve tried more complicated approaches in the past, but it just cost me more time than it was worth. Having said that, you need to organize your photos the way that makes sense for you. For me, I keep everything chronologically. That’s about it. If I’m trying to find a photo from a trip to San Francisco in March 2009, I go to that date range in iPhoto. Done.
In addition, I do create various albums for photos that I plan on sharing with others via my MobileMe account. Not only does it make it easier for me to filter out the shots I don’t want to publish, but adding additional photos is a matter of dragging and dropping, then syncing.
I usually keep about a year’s worth on my local hard drive, and archive the rest onto DVD and external hard drives. I use a system called Drobo, and if you are serious about long-term storage and not losing your photos, it may be worth a look for you as well. As a brief intro, a Drobo is a unit that contains multiple hard drives that act as one. When you save a file, it saves the files across multiple drives. That way, when a hard drive fails (and they do fail), your data is still protected. A Drobo system does get a little pricey, but I consider it the cost of insurance for protecting your keepsakes.
Tags: apple, kevin, technology
Posted in Q&A | 61 Comments »
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
I recently shared a video about how I’m personally using Digital Project Life as my preferred system to organize and document our family’s life and memories. And the kids’ art. I have proclaimed my love for this solution. You know how I feel about it. And I’m grateful – so grateful – that this format is helping many of you too.
I also know that there are many of you who want to dive in but you have some questions. I totally get that feeling of uncertainty when something is new or different. We have loads of helpful FAQs but there are still more questions. I’m glad you’re asking! I’m glad you want to give it a shot! I so wish that I could sit next to you at your computer and show you in person how easy it is so you can have all sorts of little ah-ha! moments.
But since I can’t, this is the next best thing. I hope this post will bring more clarity and motivation to drop some pictures into a Digital Project Life book and give it a try. You have nothing to lose. It’s free. No obligation to buy anything. If you like it, pay when you’re ready to have the book printed. If you want to pay now and save, the current 25% off sale goes through this Sunday, April 10.
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{ MAKING A BOOK }
Q: Will you please go further into how to be creative (not using the provided template)? I don’t understand how to do anything but drag + drop using the program.
A: Digital Project Life is set up as a template so as to simplify the process for you. Drag + drop your pictures into the photo spots. Add your titles and journaling to the cards. That’s it. However, if you want to create a photo book without the given template, you can certainly delete the template elements (background, journaling boxes, title cards, photo spots) and start from scratch with each layout if you prefer. Choose a colored background then drag & drop your photos. Make them any size you want, create the layout design that you want, add text wherever you want. Or create full-bleed layouts where the images cover the entire page.
Let me share an example of how I modified a layout in our current 2011 family yearbook. This could be applicable to a big occasion or holiday or some event where you just can’t say all you want to say with one picture and one little block of journaling.
Case in point: I’m doing a picture-a-day to document our life. In February, Porter and I were riding on a quad and we were in an accident. We rolled off a small bank and the quad landed on top of us. Please don’t get too caught up in this. We are completely fine. We were wearing helmets. Porter walked away with zero injuries and a strengthened testimony of prayer. I walked away with a bruised back and a greater appreciation for the tender mercy that we had experienced. We both learned a lot that day. (And yes, my phone is always on me, so that’s how I got pictures.)
Anyway — Because that experience deeply affected the two of us, I added a page to the book (by clicking on the blue + icon) and dedicated an entire layout to sharing what happened, what we learned, and even Porter’s entry in his own journal. I enlarged one of the journaling blocks so I had ample room for writing. I dragged + dropped photos, moved them around, enlarged, added a title … You get the idea. I made the format work for me.
Bottom line: There is flexibility if you want it.
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Q: Can you show us how you customized your family year book with the family photo on the cover?
A: Sure! Here is the step-by-step, using our 2010 family yearbook. (Turquoise Edition shown.)
Step 1: Crop your photo to a square using whatever program you usually use for cropping. Cropping the image to a square before uploading allows for that black edge on the left to remain. If your image is rectangular, it will cover the entire cover. This is an option and also a great look.
Step 2: After uploading your photo, drag + drop the photo onto the cover.
Step 3: Click on RESIZE and enlarge your photo.
Step 4: Click on MOVE and move your photo as needed.
{ NOTE } All photos will automatically have a thin, white border for a clean look. You’ll notice that I enlarged my image just slightly past the cover edges, which resulted in the white edge showing on just the left side.
Step 5: For our family yearbook covers, I add a year date stamp. You’ll find these under the CLIPART tab.
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Q: How do you get a vertical picture in the template?
A: You can upload photos of any shape, size, or orientation. It’s once you drag + drop your photo into a photo spot that you can start playing around with orientation, tilting, moving, enlarging, etc. Here is a layout in our 2011 family yearbook. You’ll notice the photos on the left page are all evenly sized squares. That’s the given template. I dragged + dropped photos into each spot and that’s it. On the right page, you’ll notice both horizontal and vertical pictures. That’s because I adjusted the pictures as needed.
Here’s how: When you drop a picture into a photo spot, a pop up menu automatically shows up. All the options are clearly labeled here.
It’s nifty, really. Play around with each one so you can see. Okay, so if you drop a vertical picture into a square spot, all you need to do is click on CROP. Grab the side(s) of the photo and move it in to create the vertical shape. Then click on EDIT PHOTO and you’ll zoom out to see your entire image. Continue adjusting as needed. I promise that if you haven’t already figured this out, you’re about to have a serious ah-ha! moment and you’ll love Project Life 10x more … just like that! : )
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Q: What is the page limit on the books? Is there a minimum as well?
A: The page maximum for a Week-at-a-Glance book is 110 pages while the minimum is 106. For Month-at-a-Glance, the minimum is 26 and the max is 100.
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Q: Is there any way to zoom in to be able to see things better? I do use the maximized screen, but the sizes of these things are still small.
A: The big screen option is really the simplest way to enlarge things, but really only pays off if you’ve got a large enough monitor to benefit. For instance, on one of the newer iMacs you can maximize the browser to the full screen then click the “BIG SCREEN” button in the top-right corner and it is really a better experience.
There is an alternative, which we don’t often recommend. Your browser has a built in zoom feature you can utilize. On most browsers you can zoom by using the Zoom option under the VIEW menu at the top of the browser. There are also some handy shortcuts for these functions. On a Mac the key commands are ⌘= to zoom in, ⌘- to zoom out, and ⌘0 to reset the zoom to normal. On a PC the keys are ctrl= to zoom in, ctrl- to zoom out, and ctrl 0 to reset the zoom.
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{ PORTER’S ART BOOK }
Q: Do you use a scanner for your artwork?
A: Yes, I’ve been using the Epson Perfection 4490 (flatbed) for years. We also have the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M which has helped us in our quest for going paperless in our home office and it does great scanning art and photos as well.
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Q: What do you do about large and odd sizes that will not fit on a regular-sized scanner?
A: Photograph them with good, natural light and a clean, simple background.
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Q: Do you still keep the original art?
A: Just the favorites. Not everything.
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Q: Where did you get the box that you store your son’s art in?
A: I love these White Punctuate Storage Boxes from The Container Store.
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Q: How did you get the scanned art to take up the entire space on the page?
A: See above for how I did the book cover. Same idea. Drag + drop the image then enlarge and move as needed.
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Q: How do you add text on a page if you take up the entire space with a scanned image?
A: See the TEXT tab at the bottom? Click on that then drag + drop a text block anywhere you want on top of your image. Then move it around, increase the width, change the size, font, color … anything you want.
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{ ORDERING A BOOK }
Q: Will this current sale (25% off) work to print multiple copies of the same book?
A: Yes definitely, but you must pre-purchase the quantity you want to print. So if you want 3 copies of your Week-at-a-Glance book at 25% off, then you need to pre-buy 3 of the “Pay now and save” Week-at-a-Glance books.
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Q: Can I apply this current discount to books I’ve already been working on? Or does this apply to only newly created projects?
A: This discount can apply to any project new or old. Just use the “Pay now and save” to purchase a voucher at the discounted rate. Later when your book is finished, you will redeem the voucher for your printed copy.
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Q: I don’t see where the digital books are 25% off as it said in the blog. I only see 10% off if you pre-pay.
A: 10% off is the normal, non-sale special price for the “Pay now” option. So long as the sale is active, you should see the sale discount of 25% off.
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Q: Why is the regular cost for a 106 page book $99.99, while an approximately 60 page book is $92? It doesn’t make sense to me.
A: This is because the 106 page book is being offered at a discounted rate. With the larger book you are getting a discount on what would normally cost much more. We are able to offer this because the two books are actually built totally differently. Normally it is very expensive to print such a thick book on-demand. We have to use a classical library binding method to bind the thicker book, which requires different equipment and techniques.
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Q: Can pages be subtracted from the book and thus a cheaper price?
A: Pages can only be subtracted down to the minimum allowable page count, or in other words: 26 pages for Month-at-a-Glance books and 106 pages for Week-at-a-Glance.
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Q: Is there a discount for ordering a LOT of books (more than just a few)?
A: Currently, the only discount this provides is on shipping if you are ordering multiple copies of the same book. The base price is not affected. Since our books are printed and made on-demand, for us each copy is just like doing an entirely new book over and over again, so we don’t save on manufacturing time or resources the same way that the traditional bulk book printers do.
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Q: Totally love Digital Project Life but I am not in the U.S. so how does that work?
A: You create your book online just like anyone else. You place your order just like anyone else. We ship internationally.
Tags: digital Project Life
Posted in products, Q&A, scrapbooking | 39 Comments »
Friday, February 11th, 2011
First, we have 3 quick items of business:
1. The [2] randomly-selected winners of the *Shey*[B] giveaway are … Kelli in West Virginia & Kristie in Queensland (Australia). Congratulations ladies! Shoot an email to projectlife@beckyhiggins.com and we’ll hook you up.
2. Tomorrow (Saturday 2/12) is the deadline for the WORK Photo Challenge. Details in that post.
3. I am loving all the { POTD Idea } submissions and just wanted to remind you that there is no deadline for this. Anyone can submit a picture any time [submissions@beckyhiggins.com]. If you have a picture-of-the-day idea to share, send that little beauty over so I can see. Tell your talented photography friends too! I share favorites via Facebook almost every day.
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Many of you will be familiar with this type of Q+A post that I do once in a while. You ask questions. I answer a handful of those questions in just 3 words or less. Here we go — The February edition of 3 words or less.
Q: How you would describe your decorating style?
A: Traditional but eclectic.
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Q: I still use your sketch books quite often and am wondering if you’ll be publishing a third one anytime soon?
A: Awesome! But no.
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Q: What do you do with the greeting cards that you and your family members receive?
A: Big basket + scrapbooks.
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Q: I love Project Life. You make scrapbooking and memory keeping so much easier. Are you still planning to make another school kit?
A: Working on it.
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Q: How do you keep your home so tidy with a toddler?!?!
A: Kids pitch in.
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Q: Claire was wearing an adorable black & white shirt in the Gratitude, cont. post. Where did you find that?
A: Carter’s Outlet.
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Q: How in the world do you organize your time?
A: iCal + plan daily.
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Q: 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?
A1: I use (Family Science) degree. | A2: Nah. Loved it.
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Q: Do you schedule your chores?
A: As needed basis.
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Q: 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!
A: H&M.
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Q: What did you dream about being as you were growing up?
A: Mother, teacher, nature-photographer.
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Q: 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?
A: Ask me later. : )
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Q: I love your ideas and how you aren’t afraid to tell us and share with us, kuddos! My question is, how did you decide to take that talent of yours and create a new adventure?
A: Passion. Faith. David.
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Alright, that’s enough for now. Have a terrific weekend, everyone. Get out there & do the right thing.
Posted in Q&A | 12 Comments »
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
In the 1st Video of Christmas, you may have noticed a few prints in our holiday decorating.
The green quote by Thomas S. Monson and the black “Merry & Bright” are both available as free downloads in the FREE STUFF section for anyone to have and use. They’re both available in 4 different sizes for your convenience. As for printing, I recommend doing it just as you would print any photos. Just upload the JPGs with your next batch of photo printing. Feel free to share as gifts or include as inserts with your Christmas cards.
This print is one of many beautiful pieces of religious art on lds.org. The link to this specific piece is HERE. I just right-clicked on the image, saved it to our desktop, edited the color for our own personal use, and uploaded the JPG to Costco to have the enlargement made.
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A few other questions asked from that 1st video (I can’t get to them all, sorry):
Q: How do you keep your kids from messing with all the decorations?
A: My top 3 tips:
1. They have their own little mini tree that they decorated all by themselves (Mom & Dad weren’t allowed to help).
2. They were involved in the Christmas decorating so it’s not like they’re being restricted from touching anything. They learned what was fragile and what they could play with as we unloaded items from storage bins, one thing at a time.
3. Most of the decorations are up on shelves and counters. And even stuff at their level doesn’t really get messed up. Maybe I’m just lucky? (I know some of you are nodding.) We have other little kids over all the time and it’s still fine.
Q: Where did you get that green jacket?
A: Blogged about the $6 find here.
Q: Where did you get those black & white lamp shades in the family room?
A: On clearance at Lamps Plus sometime earlier this year.
Q: Where did you get that felt nativity set at the end of the video?
A: My sweet parents picked that up for us at a Christmas market in Finland (where they’ve been serving a mission for the past year and a half). We love, love, love it so much. It’s called needle-felting I believe, and is a very popular art there. My mom even learned how to do it.
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A few questions asked from my 2nd Video of Christmas:
Q: Where did you get that grey sweater?
A: My friend Karolyn’s closet. She got it at TJ Maxx. I borrowed it for family pictures because nothing in my closet was working with the rest of the family’s outfits. Thank goodness for good friends with great taste and cute clothes.
Q: Where did you get that flower necklace?
A: Borrowed that from Karolyn too. So fun, huh? She got it from a friend’s boutique.
Q: Where is David? Why isn’t he in the pictures?
A: Okay, so no one really asked me that question except one friend. Just in case anyone else wondered … he was nearby, hanging out with our friends while Kara photographed me with the kids for a couple minutes. This video was shot at the end of our mini family photo shoot. I promise he was in all the other pictures. He’s the best looking one in the bunch but the least-likely to jump in front of the camera. : )
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A general question: I am deaf and can’t hear the videos.
A: I will look into getting someone to type up some transcripts to share.
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And a question that I have for YOU today: Are you being merry? And bright?
(You don’t ‘have to answer. Just a reminder to go out there and make someone’s day this weekend.)
Tags: baby jesus, christmas, decorating, lds.org, quote, thomas s. monson
Posted in holidays & seasons, Q&A | 28 Comments »
Tuesday, September 14th, 2010
The next time you’re grabbing a snack and sitting down at the computer to do a little online browsing … or you want something to read as you unwind at the end of the day … or you’re just interested in how I respond to a few simple questions …
Click here for my latest interview, mostly scrapbooking-related. They also did a review on Project Life here. This review is based on their own personal experience with the product. It’s one thing having the product creator tell you what they think. It’s even better hearing it from a fellow consumer.
Many thanks to the team over at Scrap That! (I believe they’re in the UK) for including me.
Posted in Q&A | 9 Comments »
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