"You + Me" Collection Full Reveal!!!

Hello there! It's Andrea here, and today I want to share with you a super special new announcement and a new reveal! Are you ready?! Here we go... I have a new collection coming out for Valentine's Day, in collaboration with Johanna Parker! Yay! I'm super excited for this new collection and for the opportunity to collaborate with such a talented, fellow designer! The new collection is called "You + Me," and it is filled with some really beautiful, vintage-inspired designs.

If any of you are familiar with Johanna Parker, you know that she is famous for her iconic vintage holiday decor -- you may have seen some of her seasonal decorations just this last Halloween and Christmas at big stores such as HomeGoods, TJ Maxx, or Marshalls or even at beautiful specialty boutiques like Roger's Gardens. I started collecting her home decor pieces a couple of years ago and I love putting them out for the holidays to add that special vintage whimsy to my house! I especially love her Halloween goodies and her super iconic little black, grinning cat that she does!Anyhow, when I heard she was interested in collaborating with other artists, I jumped at the chance to work with her, and I'm so exciting to introduce the first of hopefully several collaborative efforts from the two of us!

This new collection, aptly named "You + Me" is an Andrea Bethke and Johanna Parker design effort, and because Johanna and I share a love of vintage goodies and all things whimsical and adorable, we worked together to make something really one of a kind and special for all you guys! Now, this collection is a little different than my regular fair...it is not fairytale inspired and technically it’s not under The Fairytale Club heading, but it's still from me to you, and therefore filled with my style and magic PLUS all of Johanna's as well! This was such a fun combination of both of our styles...there is a little of her classic imagery and design, a little of my pixie dusted artistry and charm, and some really cool ideas that we came up with together! I think you are going to love it!

So, let's get started at looking at everything in this new and amazing collection which, may I just add, is absolutely perfect for all your Valentine's Day paper-crafting needs! First, I want to talk to you about the 12x12 patterned paper.  The color scheme is a beautiful, traditional pink and red mixed with black and white and a fun splash of aqua. And the patterns in "You + Me" are a combination of the traditional Valentine's Day hearts and flowers plus fun, fresh and trendy imagery like unicorns, balloons, and even some dancing cats and dogs!

The first paper here, “You’re Magical,” is one of my favorites from this collection.  Can you guess why?  Could it be the Valentine unicorns?!  Why yes, yes it could be.  I am in LOVE with the unicorn, heart, and shooting star pattern, and I also love the ledger print on the other side that is being slowly overtaken by a rising tide of oh so pretty pink!

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The next paper, “Sweetheart,” is aptly named, as it has a lovely and romantic pattern of hearts of various shapes and designs on one side, and a repeating brush script word pattern on the other reading, “xoxo always sweetie.”  I love the use of the traditional Valentine’s Day pinks and reds in this paper!

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The next pattern, “Luv U,” is another one of my favorites as the front makes use of a very bold, black background behind a confetti shower of different-colored hearts and small pink dots.  And on the other side is a fantastic, fun and playful pattern of balloons spelling out L U V in the main colors of this collection - pink, red, and aqua.

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The next paper, “Darling,” is another one that I adore!  The front side is a gorgeous pattern of pink roses on a striking, black background, while on the other side is a large black and white polka dot pattern. I love a good polka dot!

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This next pattern is so special! It i called "Over the Moon" and it is aptly named! It has a super cute smiling crescent moon with a heart and arrows on one side of the 12x12 and on the other is a very cool happy heart face pattern with various hearts and various fun expressions!

05 - Over the Moon 4 U.jpg

This next pattern is called "You + Me" and it may be my absolute favorite in the collection...although I have so many! This patterned paper is named for the collection itself and on the front of the 12x12 we have a fantastic and beautiful multi-pattern of various Valentine's Day images...there is a cute little boy and girl in love, some fun conversation hearts, the number 14, and some choice happy heart day words like "kiss me", "cute", "hey sweetie", "xoxo", and of course "happy Valentine's day"! On the opposite side of the page is a simple but versatile aqua geometric. 

Here we have a really amazing patterned paper called "You're My Favorite" which is also ridiculously adorable! On the front of the page we have a super cute dancing cat and dog pattern...they are clearly celebrating Valentine's Day together! And on the back there is a sweet vintage pink and red pattern that kinda reminds me of stars.

And then there are our cut-apart sheets... I always love a good cut-apart sheet! This first one is called "Be Mine" and it is filled with fun goodies to cut out and use for your scrapbooking, planning, cardmaking, home decor...really any of your papercrafting needs! We have 3x4's and 2x2's and tags one one side and on the other is a great aqua monochrome heart pattern. I have a lot of favorites in this cut-apart sheet...but I think I am especially smitten with the cute dancing kitty card and the fabulous BINGO piece!

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And finally, our last 12x12 is another cut-apart sheet called "xoxo" and it is just chock-ful of 3x4's! I think my faves are the "xoxo" girl and boy cards, the "happy valentine's day" kitty, the crescent moon and the lovebirds! Oh...I love the "You + Me" card too! Okay, okay...I may love them all...lol! And on the back of the 12x12 is a simple and versatile black and white stripe which is just bold and beautiful!

Alright, now that we have gone over the patterned papers in the collection, I think we should switch gears and take a look at the gorgeous embellishments that come in "You + Me"...such as our ephemera pack.  I love ephemera, don't you?! It is just so great for so many things!  And this ephemera pack is spectacular!  It is filled with love and magic and vintage whimsy!  There are tons of hearts -- heart faces, conversation hearts, lacey hearts, love-y hearts, other decorative hearts...both big and small!  We definitely have you covered in the heart department! And there are so many other beautiful die-cuts in this epherma pack that you are just going to love!  I especially love the big-eyed pink haired girl with the little Valentine hat, the beautiful rose, and the two adorable lady bugs!

And next, let's talk about the sweet sticker sheet that comes in the "You + Me" collection.  We have several conversation hearts that say things like "sweet", "dear" and "be mine". There are other hearts of course and an arrow too. And we also have little label words and  brushscript words that say things like "huuugs" and "always" and "love". PLUS there are some really amazing postage stamp sitckers which are super cool and perfect to place on your Valentine's Day card envelopes! I think my fave though might be that adorable and simple little envelope sticker...it's just too cute!

And next is our stationary pack. I love this pack of goodies!  It has some really amazing pieces in it that are so cool and intricate! I love the Valentine's Day cards like the lovebirds card with the scallop, the "You + Me" boy and girl card, and the "happy Valentine's Day" card with the smiley black cat! I also love the cute decorative tags, especially the cut out "xoxo" one! But my favorite thing in the pack might bee the fabulous little picture frames which are just perfect for a photo of you and the one you love!

Alright, now that we have looked at all the 12x12 patterned papers in the collection, and all the different embellishments in the collection, aren't we missing something?...oh, that's right, the ridiculously beautiful and adorable and magical decorative planner pages that come in the collection! These come in a 6x8.25 size, perfect for a planner, but they can also be used for a mini album, a traditional scrapbook, a banner, some cards, to frame and put up as decoration...really, I have seen our customers use these gorgeous pages for so many things, and they always look fabulous! 

First, let's look at this planner page with the quote on it "I will love you..." It reads, "I will love you my dear and oh so sweet, sweetheart, forever and always, and then some more after that!" I love that!  It is so true and so beautiful! And it's visually pleasing too as a pretty, monochromatic aqua on aqua. And on the other side of the page is a lovely pink rose, and it says "always".

Next we have a planner page that is definitely a favorite of mine!  I just love that dancing, vintage kitty and puppy (so iconic of JP by the way)! And on the other side, a pretty pink and red quote that says "will you be mine, sweet Valentine?".

This next page is anothe one of my favorites! I love both sides so much!  The lovebirds are so sweet! And on the other side is our big and bright eyed Valentine girl...and she is covered in hearts -- on her hat, on her collar, her dress, her cheek and even in her eyes!  She is in love for sure!

The next planner page has a wide-eyed kitty completely decked out for Valentine’s Day, with a heart collar, hearts on her back and belly, and sporting a “Happy Valentine’s Day!” message. And hearts for eyes, too! And on the other side is the beautiful script word “Love” in front of a heart.

This next planner page is another one of my favorites because it features two extremely cute lady bugs in the JP style with the “Be Mine” Valentine’s Day message on one side and a framed heart face with an awesome black and white stripe background on the other.

I love this next planner page because of the amazing moon with heart and arrows graphic on the one side. The moon is one of my favorite designs in this collection and is perfectly iconic of the JP style. The other side is also great for the “February 14th” graphic.

Now, I know I say this about a lot of the paper, but this next planner might actually be my favorite. I love the Valentine’s Day girl and boy in love sooo much, and this design is also the inspiration for the title of the collection - “You + Me.” And the back with its calendar is both beautiful and functional. I love it!

And finally we have the fabulous L U V balloons planner page with the amazing red unicorn on the other side.

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Well, I guess that’s it! I am really in love with the collection, and I hope you are, too, at this point. It is so playful and whimsical! It was a great experience collaborating with Johanna Parker, and I’m looking forward to doing it again soon. This collection is available to purchase now, so head on over to the kit shop page and get yours today!

Xoxo — Andrea Bethke

Founder/Owner/Designer

The Fairytale Club

Adding Patterned Paper to Project Life with Carrie

Hello Everybody!  Carrie here, today!  Since Valentine's Day is right around the corner I thought it would be fun to share a spread in my Project Life album inspired by love and hearts and unicorns!!  

This spread is also one example of how I like to add patterned paper into my 6x12" Project Life.  I don't know about you, but patterned paper might be my favorite scrapbook product, and since there are so many gorgeous papers in the Everyday Wishes Kit I'll take any chance I can to add it in ; )

As you can see the left side of the page is a full 6x12" photo, but you could easily replace it with three 4x6" photos if you like and I think that would also look great.  On the right side I used the lovely unicorn patterned paper from the Everyday Wishes kit to fill up the whole page.....and I think I should mention, I don't always embellish on top of a full patterned paper page.  Sometimes I only add a single embellishment in the middle or a number or a word.  However, for this spread I knew I wanted to add in hearts since I love my daughter to bits, along with the phrase "You're a limited edition" to go along with my quirky photo.

The kit came with these awesome black and white word die-cuts and two of them were "you" and "are".  So I decided to change my phrasing just slightly to "You are a limited edition."  I used some older Dear Lizzy thickers for the rest of the words, and I like how they are gold with pink underneath to compliment the rest of the purple on the page.  To help make it all stand out, I also cut some white bits from one of the patterned papers and layered them under a few of the thickers with holes.

The unicorn theme was perfect for this spread since I was talking about a "limited edition", so to emphasize it I popped up the unicorn die-cut towards the top of the page.  Next, I started cutting a bunch of different hearts out of matching papers from the kit.  For the solid blue and solid purple, I used one of the cut apart sheets, and for the hearts with the unicorns on them I used the second half of the background patterned paper.  They are all layered with most of them popped up.

At this point I knew I was pretty much done but wanted to add in a little more black.  So I found this little blue script heart die-cut outlined in black and tucked it into the "y" in you....and that's it!  I know it's simple, but I don't make the time for proper layouts these days.  So a photo, pretty paper, a simple phase, and some hearts in my Project Life album feels great!

Thanks for taking a look, and I'll see you next time.  
Cheers! Carrie