Hello everyone! It's me, Andrea, here today and I want to share with you our full reveal of our new and oh so exciting collection, "Practically Perfect"!!! I am just thrilled about this collection! I think it is my favorite to date and I just had the best time designing it and creating all this for you guys! I really, really love it and I think you guys are going to too!
So first of all, let's talk about the collection as a whole and what I was inspired by. I think that by looking at "Practically Perfect" you can probably tell the inspiration behind it... I am always inspired by fairytales and the story of Mary Poppins is definitely one of my faves and so when I heard that Disney was going to be creating a sequel to the original classic, I knew that doing a collection/kit based on these two stories of Mary, the old and the new, was just something that I absolutely had to do! To that end, I tried to create "Practically Perfect" in such a way that paid homage to some of the most iconic and special images and ideas put forth in the original Disney movie, as well as adding in lots of goodies that were inspired by their new look at Mary. I think you can see this in pieces like the carousel, Mary's lavender carousel horse, and the spoon filled with sugar, which are clearly inspired by the original classic, and then pieces like Big Ben and Mary's new red and blue outfit and her cute little hat with the birdy on top, which are all inspired by the new Mary Poppins Returns movie. I designed this collection to really be a happy combination of old and new -- to have those ideas and images that are inspired by our memory of who Mary is, while also incorporating ideas and images inspired by our new, modern day Mary.
Alright, now that we have talked a bit about inspiration for the collection/kit, let's look at the super lovely and, if I may say, pretty perfect patterns that are in "Practically Perfect" and also it's overall feel and color-scheme. So the color-scheme for this collection was really inspired a little bit more by the new Mary movie than the old one. I liked the combo of the bold reds along with the dark blues mixed in with light pink and lavender and yellow. These colors don't necessarily feel like they would all go together, but they really do and they create a very sophisticated, modern and magical feel!
The patterns that we did in this collection are super cute and really beautiful and definitely very vintage! You all know by now how much I love vintage and since the first Mary is set at the very end of the Victorian era, and the second Mary is set in the mid 1930's, I definitely had to bring on the vintage goodness! I decided to lean a little bit older vintage than what I usually do (since my style tends to be a little bit more retro, 50's and 60's vintage) and I also wanted to make it feel modern though and very chic and now! I think that we ended up marrying those things well with the patterns that we created and I am excited to look at each of them with you!
Alright, so let's look at one of my absolute favorite 12x12 patterned papers in this collection, which is the "Jolly Holiday" pattern. This pattern is so fabulous and beautiful! I love the multi-colored floral that is on the front and the cute black and white pattern on the back with the flying Mary silhouettes is amazing too! Both sides seem very classic Mary, but also fresh and modern too and they have that magical, vintage vibe that you will find throughout the collection. This patterned paper just makes me smile!
The next patterned paper here, is called "Let's Go Fly A Kite" and it has got a really cute patched up, home-made kite on the front with a cool "votes for women" tail hanging from it as it flies in the air against a lovely light blue background. On the back of the paper is a really classy looking vintage pattern in dark blue and red which looks like something you would find on a bowtie.
Another really cool patterned paper in the collection is called "The London Sky" and it is very modern and amazing looking! It has all the different colors of the collection in it, all as part of this great triangle mosaic kind of thing and it is so fun and vibrant, I love it! On the back is also a really awesome pattern - a classic polkadot pattern with Big Ben on top. It is super cute and I would say that both sides remind me of London...like classic London and modern London mixed together.
This next 12x12 paper is called "Carousel" and it is inspired by Mary's pretty lavender carousel horse. I always loved the scene in the Jolly Holiday sequence from the original movie, when Mary and Burt and Michael and Jane all ride on carousel horses across the English countryside and even into a big race! It is so cute and because I love carousel horses so much just in general too, I had to include a little, pretty carousel horse pattern in this collection! On the back of the page is just a real pretty and simple little pink floral pattern that I think matches nicely with the girly, feel of the carousel and the English countryside scene.
This patterned paper, which is the namesake of the collection, "Practically Perfect", is also one of my absolute favorites! As you can see, it has a super cute, magical and proper English nanny on the front. My pretty-much-perfect Mary gal here has got her beautiful vintage red suit on, her fabulous hat, her classic, talking parrot umbrella, and her handsome polka-dot bowtie...oh, plus a new bottomless bag of tricks! She is super adorable and I just love her! On the back of the patterned paper, is just a great, simple and versatile red chevron print that kinda reminds me of the red chevron on Mary's red suit in the movie.
Alright, my next 12x12 patterned paper is called "A Robin". I wanted to do this little birdy in this collection to both go on the hat (and be reminiscent of Mary's cool new hat in the new movie), but I also wanted to place it on a branch in other situations like with this print, so that it could also pay homage to the little blue Robin that Mary sings with in the original movie during the "Spoonful of Sugar" scene. On the back is a cool and classic, vintage yellow pattern that is definitely reminiscent of the 1930's.
This patterned paper, named "The Cover Is Not The Book", has a really soft and pretty pink and lavender vintage fan pattern on the front. I was inspired by the new song from "Mary Poppins Returns" and the pretty pinks and lavenders that she wears in that scene. It is definitely a very vintage feeling pattern and I think it adds a lot of whimsy to the collection. On the back is just a super classic pink and white stripe, which was also inspired by the "Royal Dalton" adventure in the movie and the pink and white striped dress that she wears right before she changes into her pink and lavender look.
Here we have my "Mary" patterned paper...which is so amazing and really inspired by the two sides of Mary's personality! There is a lovely and big, bold, pink rose floral patterned paper on the front. It is very beautiful and sweet and magical! And this rose pattern has a kind of painted/drawn look to it, which reminds me of both the chalk, "Jolly Holiday" scene in the original Mary and also of the painted "Royal Dalton" scene in the new Mary. And then on the back of this really beautiful and soft rose pattern, is a very handsome and sharp geometric. This pattern reminds me of Mary's various suits and coats and bowties and such that she wears in both movies. The two patterns work well together because they have this nice contrast and they kinda show the two different sides of Mary and how she dresses and represents herself -- sometimes very prim and proper and strict, and other times much softer and sweeter and more whimsical.
And finally, here we have our two cut-apart sheets in the collection. The first cut-apart sheet is called "Supercalifragilistic" and it has got lots of great 3x4 decorative cards on it that you can cut out and use in pocket pages, for cards, to tuck into your planner, etc. I especially enjoy that "The Cover is Not the Book" card and also my sweet little penguins card and definitely the pretty "Jolly Holiday" carousel card! On the back is a sweet and simple red gingham pattern.
The second cut-apart sheet is called "Anything Is Possible" and it has lots of different, great and useful pieces in various sizes and shapes. There are 3x4's and 2x2's, tags and labels...lots of good stuff! I particularly love the "Practically Perfect" ruler card, the "Anything is Possible" half and half card, and really all the sweet little 2x2s! On the back is a cool burgundy and navy and white geometric.
Ok, now that we have gone over the patterned papers in the collection, let's now look at the embellishments in "Practically Perfect". I am loving all the cool embellishments in this kit/collection! We, of course,have our classic ephemera pack which is so popular with our customers! We really filled it to the brim this time too with sooooo many goodies! I just went a little crazy, making lots of fun different pieces for you guys for this ephemera pack! You will find in the pack, really awesome pieces like the red Mary silhouette card that is in there, which is one of my faves, lots of really gorgeous florals which are also my favorites, some cute little bowties and different umbrellas, a really pretty Mary cameo which I love, my super duper pretty carousel which I also love, a "trip the light fantastic" tag and so much more! Oh and there are some great script word pieces in there too which are also my fave! It is pretty much all my favorite, to be honest!
In addition to our ephemera pack, we also decided to make a sticker pack for this collection. We haven't done stickers in our collections/kits in some time now and so I was excited to do some again! And this sticker sheet is fantastic! It has some little script words and images like balloons and florals but the two things that I like most about this sticker sheet is all the small label word stickers that we did in the various colors of the collection, and also the cool postage stamp stickers that we did like the umbrella and the Mary silhouette!
Another fabulous embellishment in this collection is our flair button pack. I love our flair buttons! They are so cute and they make great dimensional additions to your page, card, planner, etc and I also love to use them to create pretty decorative paperclips with! This set is definitely one of my faves for sure because I love the little penguin button and the cameo button especially!
Okay, now let's talk about the super duper cool and beautiful new embellishment that we are doing for the first time in this collection, and that is our stationary pack! We have never done a pack like this before and I am so so happy about it and I'm so excited to see how you guys like it and what you do with it! In the stationary pack we have lots of cool big stationary pieces for you, some of which are die-cut into! We have a polkadot tag that has the word "Wonder" cut out of it, a 3x4 Mary silhouette patterned card that has a big red heart cut out of it, a big pink square card that has the word "Supercalifragilistic" cut out of it, and a striped tag that has a little umbrella cut out of it! We have other cool tags and labels and cards and things in the pack too , including some added fun, dimensional goodies like a fun pink tassel and a yellow pom-pom paperclip! This pack is great and perfect for snail mail, scrapbooking, cardmaking, planning, etc!!!
And finally, let's look at our transparency sheet that comes in the collection. It is also technically one of our embellishments and I love it so much! We chose to make this transparency gold Mary silhouettes on one side, and dark blue on the other! So pretty on both sides and perfect to make cute things like shaker pockets with, adding a little shiny special something to your layout or your Project Life pocket page, or to make a planner dashboard with! I think it would also be nice to make a folder page out of or even a pocket/envelope to tuck goodies into!
Now, let's look real quick at all our beautiful planner pages that come in "Practically Perfect". We always have the prettiest decorative planner pages in all our kits/collections and they come in both A5 and personal sizes.
First, we have our Mary planner page with our Mary in her cute red suit and lovely polkadots behind her. And on the back, a big bold red page with "Supercalifragilistic" printed on it in a very modern, cool way!
Next, we have our adorable little, playful penguins. I do so love the penguins that Mary dances with in both the movies and I had to do my own take on them, but I decided a little penguin girl was in order...cuz not all penguins are boys after all! On the back is a little kite silhouette and the words "lets go fly a kite".
Here is another Kite inspired planner page and on the front is our homemade kite in green with the little patches on it and the "votes for women" tail. And on the back just a simple red gingham.
Next is a super pretty and whimsical planner page which has the quote "Never Lose Your Childlike Sense Of Wonder" on one side, and the gorgeous Jolly Holiday carousel on the back.
This next planner page is one of my favorites and it has our beautiful multi-colored floral pattern on the front with my Mary silhouette on it and on the back is a simple and versatile ledger. So awesome!
Alright, next is my little Robin birdy on the branch and then on the back is just a cool yellow geometric. Very lovely!
Here is our carousel horsey in lavender, with her lovely floral detailing on her, and her sassy little smirk...so cute! And on the back is just a simple pink floral.
Next we have our "Practically Perfect" planner page in a pretty, monochromatic blue on blue. And on the back is a very Victorian looking black and white spoonful of sugar!
And finally we have this fabulous Big Ben planner page that has the iconic London clock-tower on the front with the flying Mary silhouette pattern in the background and you will notice one of my Mary's is highlighted in red! This may be my favorite planner page in the collection! And on the back it says "Anything is Possible" and that is so true!!! Love it!!!
Alright, that's all! I hope you have enjoyed this full reveal of our newest collection, "Practically Perfect"! I absolutely love this collection/kit!!! It is so, so magical and wonderful and filled to the brim with beauty and creativity and imagination!!! I really had the best time making this for you and I really hope you enjoy it! Subscribe today and make sure you get this collection/kit and our future ones as well! You can subscribe for 6 kits in a row or 12! Or you can also do a one time purchase! Subscription is already available right now so you can sign up for that today and make certain you get this kit, and then availability for one time purchase will start tomorrow. The kit options we have available are our "Scrapbook kit" which comes with everything in the collection except for the planner pages, the "Planner kit" which comes with everything in the collection except for the 12x12 patterned papers, and the "Happily Ever After kit" which comes with absolutely everything in the collection plus a little something extra! Check out our subscription options on our website for pricing. Okay, I think we are done for now. Hope you think that this new collection is as magical and "Practically Perfect" as I do! Huuuuugs everyone! And remember, anything is possible when you live your life as a fairytale!
Xoxo -- Andrea Bethke
Founder/Owner/Designer
The Fairytale Club