Hello everyone! I am super excited to share with you today the full reveal of our newest collection, "Together-Apart" ! I am so happy that that so many of you loved it already when you saw the sneak peek back in may and decided to pre-order it! Those who pre-ordered have already received their "Together-Apart" collection and for the rest of you who haven't ordered yet and are seeing it now, I can't wait to hear what you think and I hope you love it too! This collection is inspired by our current and ongoing and very strange situation right now in the world with the pandemic. I decided to create a collection that is all about our "new normal", in the hopes that it will both help us all to document these odd and historic times, but also in the hopes that it will bring us some, well, hope...and maybe a smile or two during this difficult and stressful time. I myself, have been finding our current situation very challenging. But, what I have found is that creating throughout this "new normal" and about this "new normal" has really helped me with the anxiety that being in a pandemic causes. Whether it is scrapping, planning, just playing with pretty papers and goodies...or, well, drawing and designing this collection for you all, for instance...all of this creativity really helps me relax and brings me joy! And I think we could all use more relaxation and joy right now! I also included in the collection, lots of positive and inspiring quotes and images...as well as some humor...all with the goal to help you all feel inspired, empowered and uplifted when you see it and create with it!
Now, on a more serious note...well, a pandemic is already serious, but so, on another more serious note, I want to also address what has been going on recently in our new world with regards to the horrible realities of racism that are unfortunately left over still from our old world. I want to touch on it with regards to this collection, not only because this collection is about hope and togetherness in the midst of Covid-19 (which by the way impacts minority communities, like that of the Black community and the Latino community, much more severely than it does the White community in this country), but also because I created this collection with the hope that you would find comfort in it and see yourself as the girl in the collection...being "brave and beautiful" as it says on the papers, despite the current crisis that is the pandemic. However, I drew the girl to look like me. Now, I am a very fair Latina (Mexican American to be exact), but not everyone looks like me. And so I realized, I needed to do something about this. I realized this when I was looking at a post on Instagram from a beautiful black lady in our Scrapbooking/Papercrafting community and she said that she can never really find any scrapbook products where she is represented. This made me so sad. I looked at my own work and I thought that I needed to do something to make sure my crafty ladies and Fairytale Club peeps out there are all feeling represented!
A
B
C
I especially felt the need to do this right away with "Together-Apart" because that girl, like I said, I wanted her to inspire you that you could get through this. I made her to help myself feel that way...and she should help you feel that way too! So I decided to make different versions of her. As part of our full reveal, Ryan and I have created an option A, B and C in the ordering process so you can choose the girl that you think best represents you and how you look. And going forward, I am going to make the effort to be more aware and to not just draw different versions of me (i.e. me with pink hair, me with blue hair, me with brown or red hair, etc). I know some of the characters I do in my collection are specifically Disney inspired characters, so I am not talking about those, but I am talking about all the other characters that I do. However, with the Disney inspired stuff, I also want to be more aware so that there is more representation and diversity. I have had plans of doing a Princess and the Frog inspired collection for a while now, so that is still going to happen, but I want to also include other diverse Disney and other Fairytale inspired characters and stories for the collections too.
Alright, now that we have talked about all that, which I am so glad we did and that we are doing what we can in this difficult time to be more aware and to learn and be better allies...ok, now let's look at the adorable crafty goodness that is in "Together-Apart"!
First, let's take a look at the awesome 12x12 papers that are in the collection! This collection is filled with truly beautiful papers! For “Together-Apart,” I wanted to do a really bright and positive color scheme. So you can see in the patterned papers that I went with a rainbow color scheme that is really hopeful and vibrant and helps express a positive outlook despite these difficult times. Hopefully, this color scheme inspires you to feel that positivity so you can stay optimistic through the challenges that we are currently facing.
This first patterned paper is called “Enjoy the ‘lil Things (Simple Comforts)”. This may be my favorite paper in the entire collection…although I love them all so much! It is the prettiest, pink, patterned paper with lots of adorable goodness all over it! As you can see, the pattern has cute puppies and kitties, beautiful roses, happy rainbows, and other cool icons, including ones that are specific to our current Covid situation, like the bar of soap, the face mask, and, of course, the roll of toilet paper! On the other side of the patterned paper, we have a beautiful and bold, black and white, plus sign pattern with splashes of yellow and pink along the edges.
Next we have our “Together-Apart” patterned paper. It is named after the collection, and rightly so, because it gives a nice overview of everything the collection is about. This pattern is a collage of sorts, which expresses so much about what we have going on today because of Covid-19. We have our face masks, which say things like “Hello,” “Okay,” and “Strong.” We have our little house and the words “Stay at Home!” There is a roll of toilet paper which says “My Precious” on it - LOL! And that’s just to name a few of the icons and words on this page that reflect the times that we are currently living in. On the other side of the paper, we have a beautiful, multi-colored polka dot that is simple but very versatile.
Here we have an example of the various options for the collection. You can choose either option A, B, or C, so that you get the "brave and beautiful" girl that best represents you.
This next patterned paper is called "Hello Hope". It is a really cool black and white pattern with big and bold words across it that I think are quite relevant right now -- words like "hope", "together", and "I'm brave"! On the backside of the paper is a fantastic and oh so pretty blue and pink floral which I also love!
Here we have an adorable patterned paper named "Home Sweet Home"! This paper is definitely one of my favorites!!! It is perfect to document our current situation with this pandemic because in addition to the recent quarantines, self quarantines, and stay at home orders, we now also are just highly encouraged to spend as much time at home as possible! This pandemic is not over and in many areas is actually getting worse so people are spending a lot of time at home, staying safe and keeping others safe, and subsequently many of us are getting to know our homes really well and are very grateful for our beautiful "home sweet home"! For this paper, as you can see, there are lots of cute lil houses, but instead of having people walking around outside, I decided to just show pets roaming around outdoors, in order to point out that the people are all being vigilant and staying indoors as much as possible! On the backside of the paper is a beautiful rainbow lined ledger which is perfect for any journaling you want to do about the pandemic.
Our next patterned paper is called “It Will Be Okay.” This paper is a beautiful and vibrant, rainbow-scalloped pattern which I absolutely love! On the other side of the paper, we have a super cute, heart pattern that has lots of little dual-colored hearts scattered here and there for a very modern and fresh look.
This next pattern is called “Brave and Beautiful”. It is super cute and inspirational. On the pattern we have a girl rocking different hair colors and different masks during this pandemic. She is brave and beautiful and she is getting through this difficult time with hope and optimism. Across the page are written words like “Mask on the outside, smile on the inside,” “Fashionable & Safe,” and “I am so pulling this look off!” On the back of the patterned paper we have a simple and versatile mint, diamond pattern.
Our next patterned paper is called “Today’s Face Mask is…” The pattern is made up of various colorful masks that have different words on them like “strong”, “brave”, “fear”, “hope”, “smile”, “cry”, etc. It’s meant to convey the different thoughts and emotions that we are wearing on a daily basis throughout this health crisis. I love this pattern!!! On the opposite side of the paper, there is a gorgeous, blue, painted, star pattern, which I also love!
Alright, next we have our cutapart sheets. This first cutapart sheet is called “You Got This.” It has cards of various sizes with cute graphics from the collection such as our happy rainbow, some yummy and comforting ice cream, our hopeful mask, and our “precious” toilet paper. On the back we have an adorable, multi-colored, bow pattern.
Our next cutapart sheet is called “Thought Last Year Was Hard.” This cutapart is super awesome, and it features film strips, polaroids, library cards, and labels. There are cute words and phrases in the polaroids, labels, and film strips, including fun and sassy ones that say things like, “Yes, I am wearing pajamas,” and “I thought last year was hard,” and also inspirational ones that say things like, “You can do this,” “Just breathe!” and “We will do it together.” On the back we have a blue pattern with lots of cute, little, vintage telephones of various pastel colors on it.
Now let’s have a look at the awesome embellishments in the collection! First, we have the ephemera pack, which is chock-full of awesome pieces, like the tan and grey puppies, the rainbow unicorn, and the comfort food items, including the slice of pizza, the lollipop, and the ice cream.
*NOTE: Below are the other options for the “brave and beautiful” girl included in the ephemera pack.
Next we have our pack of 27 acrylic hearts. Now, we’ve done acrylic pieces before, but, honestly, I think this is my favorite offering so far. The hearts are adorable, at about 1/2” big, and really it feels like you have a package of hard candy hearts you’re just waiting to tear open. I love them so much!
Now let’s take a look at our gorgeous stationery pack, which I am simply over the moon for! This pack is full of cards, tags, labels, and letters, many of which are metallic-foiled in pink or blue! And there’s a fantastic mini-set of alphabet cards which are to die for.
*NOTE: Below are the other options for the “indoor/outdoor” girls included in the stationery pack.
Next we have our other acrylic offering for this collection, this set of eight decorative paperclips. These little guys are just beautiful, and they’re perfect for adding a finishing touch to your planner spread or scrapbook layout.
And here are the stickers for the “Together-Apart” collection. I love how these turned out, especially the words with the solid color strokes, like “adventures in imagination” and “we will do it together.” I also really love the rectangular stickers with the solid color backgrounds and the words like “be kind” and “be brave.”
The last embellishment from this collection is the specialty paper “Think a Happy Thought” and the matching sequins pack that comes with it. I really love the rainbow from this collection, and I’m so happy to be able to offer it full-size on a 12x12 sheet of paper. And the back side is also great, with the large polka dots made up of small polka dots (polka dot-ception) on a pink ombre background. Just beautiful!
And here we come to our fabulous planner pages. I just love seeing all the vibrant colors in the collection represented in these dividers. Let’s get a closer look!
First we have this super pretty, rainbow unicorn, planner page that reassuringly says “it will be okay.” And on the back is a great, inspirational quote to remind us that love always wins!
The next planner page has our “brave and beautiful” girl herself, representing with her mask, and on the back is two more masks and the words which convey all the thoughts and emotions we’re dealing with these days.
This next planner page has our “home, sweet home” keeping us safe during the pandemic, and on the back is a quote reminding us that we can be together in our hearts, even when we’re apart.
I love this next planner divider. The front has the comfort foods we all need right now, while the back has the really “important stuff.”
This next divider has a great calendar on one side (with our “home, sweet home”), and our “hopeful” rainbow on the other.
Finally, our last planner page has a cute, vintage, pink telephone on one side, and a “greetings” on the other, brought to you by our new reality.
Now this is very exciting —- the last item I want to show off as part of this reveal is a new mini-album we’re offering as a companion item to our “Together-Apart” collection! It’s made from 1/8” acrylic, solid pink or turquoise for the back cover, and clear for the front cover, with the words “together-apart” adhered to the front, in a couple different color combos. This album is sized to extend about 1/4” all the way around our A5 planner dividers (6” x 8.25”).
Alright, that is the end of our "Together-Apart" collection full reveal. I hope you have enjoyed looking at all these new goodies with me! It was a really special experience designing and creating and putting all of this collection together for you all. It was sometimes difficult working on this collection through my CRPS pain and also all the emotion and anxiety with everything that has happened in the world recently with the pandemic! However, it also was a really wonderful thing to do because I was able to use positivity and creativity in this challenging time to create something beautiful and hopeful! I hope that this collection and its message will help you get through these strange times. I know so many of you are trying to document what is happening right now in your papercrafting (scrapbooking, planning, etc), and I really hope that "Together-Apart" helps you do that in a way that helps to inspire you to stay strong and be brave and find the good and the hope in your "new normal" daily lives! In closing, I want you to remember that we are each "brave and beautiful"! And also that in these dark, "6 feet apart" times, we are definitely strongest when we come together in hope and compassion for a brighter tomorrow!!! Be kind to one another! Help one another! Be an ally, be a friend! We can do this, we can get through this, Together!!!
Hugs and Prayers to you all! Happy Scrapping and Planning and Crafting and STAY SAFE!!!
Andrea Bethke Owner, Founder, Creator, Designer The Fairytale Club