AbouT ME
Hi! My name is Andrea Bethke, and I am a scrappy Latina living in sunny Southern California who believes in unicorns and mermaids and all things magical... In fact, I believe in fairytales, and you may know me as @thefairytaleclub on Instagram! I am married to a super amazing, Prince Charming of a hubby named Ryan, and we live in a little house with a sweet Chiweenie named Pastel.
I love, love, love to create! It is incredibly important to me not just because I find it fun but because it literally helps me get through the day. In fact, you may not know this, but I have a rare condition called CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome) which causes me to constantly be in pain...and often it's really, really bad or even excruciating pain. There is no cure and because of it I struggle with limited mobility – so sometimes I can walk and sometimes I have to use a wheelchair and sometimes I can't even get out of bed. I get through it all with the help of my God, the truest of true love of my husband, and a whole lot of scrapbooking! Yes, I looooove scrapbooking. To me, it is not just a hobby, but something that has helped me work through the pain. It is my “scrap therapy.” It helps me both emotionally so that I can write and scrap about my struggle, and also physically, as it can actually work as a distraction from the pain sometimes. Also, being creative is something that I don't have to walk to do...I can scrap in bed and often do!
My motto is to live your life as a fairytale, which to me means that I want to live my life with courage and imagination and much love, the way they do in fairytales! I accomplish this by being uniquely me, by being creative, building a beautiful world around me of beautiful handmade things, overcoming obstacles, holding on to laughter and my husband's hand and all the little happy things in life, and writing my own story - specifically, writing my own story with my own happily ever after! No fairytale is without some sort of struggle (an evil witch, a monstrous dragon, a terrible CRPS condition) but these bad guys are always beaten by the heroine and that's what I intend to do!
My love of fairytales has not only had an impact on my motto but also on my scrappy style! I love the look of whimsical and beautiful things in scrapbooking. I am definitely very girly and I also love vintage things. I call my style vintage meets modern with a whole lot of whimsy thrown in! For this reason, of course, I am very much inspired by things that are vintage and things that are whimsical...and especially things that are both! For example, pretty fairytale illustrations from the 40's, 50's and 60's really inspire me! I am also inspired by vintage Disney a lot! Disney animated movies and the look of the merchandise and also Disneyland park from the 50's and 60's - these are all super inspiring to me! I am a big Disney fan!
My favorite scrapbooking products are things that help me express my love of whimsy and vintage, but also my love of art and being creative. I love paint and my sewing machine, and also vintage (or vintage-style) buttons and stickers. I love using paperclips and especially decorative ones. I also really love ephemera (especially if it looks vintage or if it has unicorns)!
I am super duper excited to have started this new journey with The Fairytale Club! It has been my dream for a long time to design my own scrapbook and planner collections, and I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to start my own company! I hope you will join me in being part of the club! I know it's going to be a wonderful fairytale adventure!
So now you know a lot about me... and in closing I just want to encourage you to live your life as a fairytale because I think we all have the opportunity to be the heroine of our own story and write our own happily ever afters!