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!