I’m always fascinated to see/hear/learn about what happens behind the scenes of just about anything. With regards to what we do and the products we make, I thought I’d share a little behind-the-scenes look at what happens before the product shows up at your door.

The initial stages naturally include lots of brainstorming. David and I figure out what products we want to create – based on where we feel there is a need, listening to your feedback, definitely our “gut feeling”, and a million other factors that we also have to consider.

Then come the scribbles and the sketches and the notes. We share all of this with our graphic designers – particularly Lori, who is our main go-to designer – and she works her magic. Then she shares those files with us and we go back + forth and back + forth and tweak and edit and adjust until everything is just right. Then we send all the files to the factory and they work their magic. It’s such a neat process!

Let’s have a look at the factory side of things. As you may know, our newest manufacturing partnership is with We R Memory Keepers who is making our spectacular binders. Here are some self-explanatory photos that our friends there at We R snapped for us. It’s probably not very often that their customers ask for behind-the-scenes pictures. Leave it to me to ask.  : )

Once everything is produced, packaged, labeled, boxed, palletized, and ready to ship – the products go straight to Amazon here in the U.S. as well as to our international distributors. It just so happens that with all the Amazon locations in the U.S., our products happen to be located at the facility here in Arizona where we live. One day we would love to tour the inside and watch our products be fulfilled. Talk about fascinating! Amazon is a machine.

Anyway – let’s take you to a couple of those international locations I mentioned. Our two biggest international partners are Craft House in New Zealand and Scrapbooker’s Inner Circle in Canada. We love our international partners! This is what it looks like when David + Mary Roberts (Craft House) receive the shipment at their location in New Zealand:

Their team spends countless hours fulfilling orders. We find a similar scene and similar dedicated work happening in Canada …

Finally – after you have placed your order the product then shows up at your front door and … we can all scrapbook happily ever after.

Obviously this is a very condensed version of a behind-the-scenes look, but you get the idea. David and I are deeply grateful for everyone that we have partnered with to make our mere ideas become something real and tangible. Everyone from the graphic designers to those that work in the factories to our international distributors. And of course you. Without you, obviously we wouldn’t be doing this at all.

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{ notes }

1. If you live outside the U.S. please contact your international distributor directly for questions about product availability and timing, etc.

2. If you are in the U.S., here is the latest update on timing. We hope to see all the Binders (all 4 editions) show up by Nov. 21. We hope to see the brand-new Core Kits (Cobalt Edition + Clementine Edition) and brand-new Cardstock (Cobalt Collection + Clementine Collection) show up by mid-December. We had a few little set-backs on the timing but it’s on the way! (And yes, we’ll get the dates updated on our Products page ASAP.)

3. All other products are in the house and available for purchase. You can see everything here. For more detailed images of the Project Life Core Kits, this post + this post have loads of pictures.

4. Anyone + everyone who would like to submit their own “glamour shot” (you with your Project Life products) is more than welcome to email those pictures to projectlife@beckyhiggins.com. We would love to update our little “page of fame” with your pictures!

5. Just a little side note about the new + improved binders: Along with the other improvements outlined here, they are also a little bit wider so that the page protectors/Photo Pocket Pages don’t come quite so close to the outside.

I’m talking specifically about the cover width which now measures 15″.

The spine width is 2 5/8″.

The binder height is 13 1/16″ tall.

(In case you were wondering.)