April's Review	Andrea's Review	Catherine's Review	Chris' Review	Renee's Review

Review by April

Fancy Pants Designs has grown considerably in just a few short years and I would venture to say is now one of the top names in the industry. Their products are excellent in quality, beautiful, and affordable. I always look forward to seeing their new collections and products. The Fancy Pants lines consist of colorful and detailed double-sided papers, gorgeous ribbons and rub-ons, super cute die cuts and felt shapes, amazing overlays and clear stamp sets, and so much more! Fancy Pants Designs is one of my favorite manufacturers, so I was seriously excited to be included in this review. As soon as I opened my box and saw the Crush collection products, I knew I was going to have fun and couldn't wait to get started!

For my review, I received a kit containing products from the Crush Collection which included:

• 6 beautifully illustrated double-sided 65# heavyweight papers
• 1 80# cardstock weight Titles and Tags sheet
• 1 card of Crush Ribbons
• 1 package of "With Love" Felt Shapes

All of the patterned papers were delightful and came in luscious colors like soft pinks, greens, and yellows, paired with dark pinks, chocolate browns, and beautiful smoky pale blues. Since the papers were heavy in weight, they were perfect for distressing, sanding, and inking, and could easily stand up on their own. I really liked the fact that all of the papers coordinated well with each other, unlike some collections where only a few really match up. The Titles and Tags sheet came with 25 different die cuts in super cute shapes like crowns, wings, hearts, flowers, stamps, and more. All of the die cuts coordinate beautifully with all of the papers in this collection, and they are easy to punch out. The Crush ribbon set was absolutely awesome! There were six different ribbons in varying widths and each was a yard in length. The ribbon set consisted of an adorable pink and blue stripe, a charming yellow and green polka dot, a plush dark pink velvet, a playful plaid, a heart patterned ribbon, and a gorgeous smoky blue lace. I love everything in this collection, but for me, my absolute favorite was the package of felt shapes! There were four different 12" x 12" felt sheets in the package and each one came in a different color with over 25 unique felt designs. The black felt offered 2 different large frames, photo corners, a title, and shapes like arrows, birds, hearts, and scallops. The red felt sheet came with an over-sized exceptionally intricate cut frame, photo corners, a title, and shapes like lips, kisses, birds, wings, and more. The pink felt sheet had a cute heart and arrow frame, as well as a smaller photo frame, a title, and came with shapes like flowers, stems, hearts, keys, and more. The fourth felt sheet was close to a lavender in shade, and came with an over-sized fancy swirl frame, a title, photo corners, and shapes like hearts, tags, a cupid, and more. In my opinion, when you have great papers, die cuts, ribbon, and cool felt shapes that all coordinate beautifully...well you just can't go wrong!

For my first project, I cut one of the 12" x 12" felt border pieces into 4 separate pieces and then turned the outer corners in and adhered them to the page for a cool design effect. I added one of the beautiful ribbons to the inside of each border piece, then used a glitter pen to outline the edge of the paper and to doodle on the photo. To complete the design, I matted my photo and adhered it to the felt, then added a few more felt embellishments on top.

Title: Cousin Love
Products used: Cardstock (Kraft)
Patterned Paper (Fancy Pants: Crush "Whimsical")
Felt (Fancy Pants: Felt Shapes With Love)
Ribbon (Fancy Pants: Crush Ribbons)
Brad (Karen Foster)
Pen (Sakura: Gelly Roll)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I had so much fun decorating my pages with the felt shapes! I used a felt frame and hearts to add dimension to my second layout. I cut out the flowers from the middle of the "In Love" paper, then flipped it over and used the brown side for my background. The "Devoted" paper was my favorite because it came with journaling lines on the top half of the sheet. I turned the paper upside down, added a photo and frame, then journaled on the remaining lines. I used a couple of the Crush ribbons for flower petals, then adhered the lace below the felt frame. Last but not least, I added die cut embellishments from the Crush Titles and Tags sheet and used a glitter pen to draw on stitches and doodles.

Title: Darling ... I love you!
Products used:
Patterned Paper (Fancy Pants: Crush "In Love" & "Devoted")
Felt (Fancy Pants: Felt Shapes With Love)
Die cuts (Fancy Pants: Crush Titles & Tags)
Ribbon (Fancy Pants: Crush Ribbons)
Brad (Karen Foster)
Pens (American Crafts and Sakura Gelly Roll)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

As soon as I saw the black felt scalloped frame, I knew I wanted to create a layout with it! I only used one sheet of patterned paper for this project. I simply traced around the inside of the frame on one side, then cut out the square and flipped it over. I cut a piece from the negative leftover scalloped frame and used it as a decoration underneath the photo. For a pretty addition, I added the blue lace to the heart die cut and to the top and bottom of the layout. I filled the holes on the scalloped frame with glitter glue and also applied it around the inside frame and around the heart.

Title: Forever Adore
Products used:
Patterned Paper (Fancy Pants: Crush "Head Over Heels" and "Twitterpated")
Die cuts (Fancy Pants: Crush Titles & Tags)
Felt (Fancy Pants: Felt Shapes With Love)
Ribbon (Fancy Pants: Crush Ribbons)
Rhinestones (Heidi Swapp)
Glitter Glue (Ranger: Stickles)
Pen (Uniball)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I thought the Fancy Pants Crush collection was charming, fun, and easy to use. When you have papers and embellishments that coordinate well, it makes it easier to create great layouts and projects in a short amount of time. I spent less than 30 minutes on each of my layouts and I credit that to having fantastic coordinating products to work with. This collection could easily be used for a number of themes other than just the obvious "Love" theme. The felt shapes specifically, could be used on almost any project or layout no matter what the theme. This is a big plus in my book because I'm very conscientious about what I spend on scrapbook supplies and I tend to lean toward products I know I will be able to use over and over again for various projects. I would definitely recommend this enchanting collection to all paper crafters.

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Review by Andrea

"It's good to be fancy" is the Fancy Pants Designs motto and can be seen in every product they have. Swirls, flourishes, flowers, and even frogs can be found in the whimsical land of Fancy Pants. Aged and distressed in a loving, well-worn way, the patterns throughout the different lines blend elements while layering to present a beautiful final product. Each paper has wonderful depth in its design which makes putting a layout together very easy. All of the components to each collection are coordinated in color and pattern. Additions of felt shapes, buttons, hand crocheted posies, pins and stamps are also available to match colors across multiple collections. There are many opportunities to be creative and "fancy" here!

For this review, I worked with the Key Lime Pie Collection introduced in early 2007. Having 6 double-sided 12" x 12" papers in tones of pink, key lime green and light blue, the overall "feel" of the paper is a light-hearted one, fun and casual. The paper is a nice cardstock weight with printing on both sides and a white core. One side has a detailed scene or overall pattern with the back side having a mostly distressed solid color. Fanciful, whimsical butterflies can be seen here and there among large flower gardens with other patterns showing dots, stripes and 70-ish feel flowers with a rather haphazard geometric shape. "Romantic" is a good description of the patterns in this collection emphasized by the predominant bold green and pink colors.

Coordinating ribbon and rub-ons also came in the package. The 6 different ribbons are wrapped on a card in 1 yard lengths. They vary in width and design - velvet, satin, crocheted, grosgrain, ric rac and printed - all complement the paper colors perfectly. Each one is very nice and well-made. The rub-ons also accent the paper well, in both color and design. The 8" x 8" sheet has a nice variety of large and small images with a couple small quotes. There is a good selection to pick from when looking for a quick and easy embellishment.

The last item sent in the package was a felt shape pack containing 4 sheets of die cut 12" x 12" felt in 2 shades of blue and 2 shades of pink. The shapes are so FUN! Lots of corners, hearts, flowers, frames and even some words to play with! The felt seemed to have some sizing added to it as it wasn't completely floppy and did maintain the shapes exactly as they were die cut. The entire sheet of each color was intact with the shapes in their original postion, so you could use the negative or postive design if desired. Each sheet was different, but similar in theme. The hardest thing was how to store the sheets once you started using them on projects. You know how after you take out the first item in a set, it never goes back in the package? Well, I had fun trying to move the sheets of felt without the pieces falling out and then trying to get the package closed again. My solution? To trim the outer edges of each sheet down just about 1/2" on 2 sides and that made it a bunch easier to fit inside the package again. Problem solved and the fun continued!

Picture of the Felt Shapes, Rub-ons and Ribbon

I really love the color combinations in the Key Lime Pie Collection and knew exactly the pictures to scrap when I first received the review package. We had a little get together during a crop at the local scrapbook store to celebrate a friend's birthday. The cake was a "shopping diva" cake that looked like a hat with a shopping bag on top with the cake cutter disguised as a high heel! The colors matched perfectly and the patterns on the paper were beautifully feminine to match the fun occasion. The felt flower shapes made a pretty bouquet tied together with ribbon. The felt stems were sewn to the paper so that they stayed put and the felt flourish was glued down with liquid adhesive. To jazz up the felt a little, I added glitter glue accents here and there. I applied a rub-on to the surface of the felt and sealed it with glitter glue for safe keeping.

Title: Happy Birthday
Products used: Patterned Paper (Fancy Pants Designs, Key Lime Pie: Dainty, Desert)
Rub-ons and Ribbons (Fancy Pants Designs, Key Lime Pie)
Felt Shapes (Fancy Pants Designs, Sassy)
Stamps (Fancy Pants Designs and Heidi Swapp)
Ink (Inque Boutique: Port Wine)
Stickles (Ranger)
Punch (Stampin' Up!)
Sketch (Becky Fleck)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

The next page used more of the rub-ons and felt shapes for embellishing. I had a little trouble with the rub-ons transferring well, but with some persistence, they were applied to the paper and stayed there. The rub-ons came in coordinating colors and patterns, so they really added a nice touch to the background paper without overwhelming it. Speaking of the paper, it took the stamping and ink very well. The ink dried quickly and maintained it's detail and color, all important in my book!

Title: Friends
Products used: Patterned Paper (Fancy Pants Designs, Key Lime Pie: Heavenly)
Rub-ons (Fancy Pants Designs, Key Lime Pie)
Felt Shapes (Fancy Pants Designs, Sassy)
Stamps (Autumn Leaves & Starving Artistamps)
Ink (Clearsnap Fluid Chalk and Stampin' Up!)
Stickles (Ranger)
Sketch (Becky Fleck)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

The felt shapes were especially fun to work with on this next project. I loved the flower vine from the light pink colored sheet! It was so easy to smoosh through the holes on the top of the felt basket for a casual weave and then the flowers just fluffed back out in their original shape! Everything you see on the basket is from the Sassy Felt Shape Package. I used hot glue to adhere the felt this time, which worked really well. A piece of satin printed ribbon is wrapped around the bucket behind the frame. Additional glitter accents were applied for more dimension and sparkle.

Title: Felt Basket and detail work
Products used: Felt Shapes (Fancy Pants Designs, Sassy)
Ribbon (Fancy Pants Designs, Key Lime Pie)
Stickles (Ranger)
Basket (Target)
Flower (Rag Shop)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Hot Glue Ultimate Gun)

The Key Lime Pie Collection from Fancy Pants was a definite joy to work with on both scrapbook pages and altered art. I loved the colors and overall design of this line. The rub-ons gave me a little trouble in that they required more pressure to apply than should be necessary, in my opinion. I really liked the colors and detail available on the rub-on sheet, so the extra effort to apply them was worth it. The felt shapes were a real blast to use as accents with a bunch left over for future projects. I like the flexibility of being able to glue them, pin them, sew them or even staple them onto the project then add even more coloring to them if needed! I enjoyed the different sizes of the pieces too and the fact that they can be easily cut into a different shape or size.

The paper and ribbon were a big hit for me. Very high quality and gorgeous, oh, all matching too! A fantastic combination when putting pages and projects together! For completing fun and casual feminine projects, look to the Key Lime Pie Collection without hesitation. You'll be more than pleased with the result.

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Review by Catherine

Fancy Pants Designs products boast bright, floral patterns, and feminine color schemes. This consistency in design seems to be one of the things that make Fancy Pants Designs so popular. Fancy Pants Designs scrapbooking supplies are always in high demand. I usually cannot get them locally, and whenever I try to order them on-line their products are frequently sold out. I have gotten the chance to get my hands on several sets of their 12" X 12" stamp sets in the past, and have absolutely loved them. That’s why when I heard that we would be receiving a set of Fancy Pants products to review, I did a little happy dance.

As I opened my package for review, I was entranced by the deep rich colors and bold patterns of the papers that I received. This was a collection from Fancy Pants that I had not seen in person before, and I really liked the look of everything that I received. For this review, I was sent papers and products from the “True” collection. The papers in this collection are double-sided, 65# cardstock weight papers. The rich colors in the collection remind me of fall, with orange, brown, blue, burgundy being the predominant colors. Even though many of the papers boast floral patterns, the collection can be used for masculine and feminine projects because of the wonderful colors.

I received one each of the six different papers in the collection. I also received a coordinating card of ribbons, a sheet of die-cut Title and Tags, and a set of wonderful Harvest Felt Shapes. The papers are beautiful, and the coordinating embellishments make them even more so. One of the hottest ideas in the scrapbooking world recently has been felt embellishments. Felt adds a bit of texture and dimension to a page, with a softer edge than metal or chipboard. It’s no surprise I guess, given the recent tendency to use sewing supplies such as buttons and fabrics on scrapbook pages, that felt would be introduced. Fancy Pants is right on top of that trend with their 12" X 12" sheets of die-cut felt.

For my first project, I decided to use two of the True Collection papers as the background for my page. My favorite paper in this collection is the “Truthful” paper. This paired with the back side of the “Pure” paper made a perfect backdrop for a silly picture of my son.

Title: Dirty-Faced Boys
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Papers)
Patterned Paper, Die-Cut Tag, Felt Shapes, Ribbon (Fancy Pants - True)
Brads (BasicGrey)
Chipboard Letters (Heidi Swapp, Li’l Davis Designs)
Alphabet Stickers (Heidi Swapp, Making Memories)
Ink (Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink)
Stamp (Fontwerks)
Adhesive (Adtech Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I’ve had a picture of my youngest son for several months that I have wanted to scrap. I’ve had a hard time finding the exact right paper for this picture, for one reason or another. The picture ended up next to a piece of “Natural” paper from the True Collection, and it just seemed to work extremely well. The picture seemed to pop right off the page, and become the focus of the page, which is what I knew that I wanted for this picture.

Title: Pure Delight
Products used: Patterned Paper, Die-Cut Tag (Fancy Pants - True)
Flower (MME)
Glitter Stickers (Making Memories)
Alphabet Stickers (American Crafts)
Buttons (Autumn Leaves)
Acrylic Letter (Heidi Swapp)
Adhesive (Adtech Permanent Bond Glue Runner; Pop Dots; Glue Dots)

My next project, is another scrapbook layout that I have been wanting to do for a while. The papers in the True Collection seem perfect for nature and outdoors photos, so I decided to use a photo taken of my oldest son last year.

Title: Travel, Live, Explore
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Papers–White Prismatics)
Patterned Paper, Felt, Die-Cut Tags & Titles (Fancy Pants Designs - True)
Adhesive (Adtech Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

With felt, buttons, ribbons, stamps, and of course beautiful patterned papers, Fancy Pants Designs has carved out a very comfortable niche in the scrapbooking world. After using the True Collection for this review, I can definitely see why. Beautiful colors and patterns, high quality products, and coordinating embellishments for everything to make scrapbooking easy; all of these things make Fancy Pants a must have company. My favorite thing from this review, by far is the felt shapes, and I have recently bought other 12" X 12" Felt Shape sets to use as well. That’s always a test for me. After reviewing products from a company, do I go out and buy more of the same products to use? The answer after using the Fancy Pants products that I was sent is a definite yes. Try out any of their products, and I am sure you will not be disappointed. The True Collection from Fancy Pants is one of my new favorite lines to scrapbook with.

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Review by Chris

Fancy Pants Designs’ products have always been among my favorites. The designs are fanciful and fun. Many of the collections include multi-dimensional floral imagery which is so appealing to me.

For this review, I received the papers and ribbons from the Botanical collection. There are six two-sided papers in the collection as well as a set of 6 ribbons and a sheet of Titles and Tags die cuts. The colors are subdued shades of pink, blue, green and orange. All the papers are distressed with ink and shading. Also included in the collection is a full 12" x 12" calendar page. The papers are a nice weight, heavy enough to stand alone without cardstock, but not too heavy to be bulky when layered. They tear nicely, take inking and stamping well, and can be sewn and layered.

I also received a package of "Sassy" Fashion Sense Felt Shapes. Included in the package are 4 different 12" x 12" pieces of felt in 4 different colors. The thick felt is die cut into a variety of shapes: flowers, swirls, frames, hearts, arrows, punctuation, words, and borders to name just a few. This thick felt makes a perfect embellishment on a layout or card. It can be adhered with glue, stitched or stapled; it can be glittered or "Stickled," embellished with flowers or buttons – really, there is no limit to what someone can do with these felt shapes. Fashion has exerted a tremendous influence on paper crafting, and these felt designs are an ingenious way to incorporate texture and dimension into paper crafting projects.

The whimsical flowers featured on the Poppy paper were perfect for this fun photo of me sitting in the "big chair" just like Lily Tomlin's Edith Ann character. I used a craft knife to cut some of the flowers so they would lay over the photo and added other flowers cut from a scrap of the paper. The die cut flowers from the Titles and Tags sheet centered with a felt flower created a dimensional element to balance the felt bracket which frames the photo.

Untitled layout
Products used: Patterned paper (Fancy Pants, Botanical Collection, Poppy, Tulip)
Ribbon (Fancy Pants, Botanical)
Felt (Fancy Pants, Felt Shapes, Sassy)
Flower die cuts and round tag (Fancy Pants, Botanical, Titles and Tags)
Cardstock (Prism, Prismatics, Razzleberry medium)
Rhinestones (RhinestoneNY)
Punch (EK Success, Medium corner rounder)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Tape Runner; Ranger, Glossy Accents)

I love the softness of the designs in the Fancy Pants papers and how well they coordinate with each other. This layout uses two of the papers from the Botanical Collection and felt shapes from both the Sassy and Harvest sets. I decided to stitch some of the felt pieces to the page using embroidery floss. I love the effect!

Friends
Products used: Patterned paper (Fancy Pants, Botanical, Pansy, Daisy)
Felt shapes (Fancy Pants, Felt Shapes, Sassy, Harvest)
Die cut tags (Fancy Pants, Botanical, Titles and Tags)
Cardstock (Prism, Prismatics, Razzleberry dark)
Flowers (Fancy Pants by Prima)
Rhinestones (RhinestoneNY)
Ghost heart (Heidi Swapp)
Embroidery floss
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Tape Runner; Ranger, Glossy Accents)

Finally, I just had to use the calendar page. February is shaping up to be an extremely busy month and I decided to document all the events and activities on a calendar page. Although the month is only half gone, you can already see how busy we are. I used small photos to illustrate some of the activities with little bits of journaling on punched cardstock pieces. The felt elements provide colorful and fun accents on those "less busy" days. I cut the Botanical ribbons using pinking sheers to create small ribbons for the tiny tags. Each of the day sections on this paper has a place for the date and lines for journaling or small bits of information. I’d love to create a whole year’s worth of pages similar to this one. What a great way to document a "year in the life" for our family!

February
Products used: Calendar page (Fancy Pants, Botanical, Wall Flower)
Felt (Fancy Pants, Felt Shapes, Sassy)
Ribbon (Fancy Pants, Botanical)
Tag (Fancy Pants, Botanical, Titles and Tags)
Cardstock (Prism, Prismatics, Razzleberry Dark, Razzleberry Medium, Nautical Blue Medium)
Ink (ClearSnap, Ancient Page Chocolate)
Die cut alpha (Sizzix, Ransom)
Punches (EK Success, Marvy, Stampin' Up!)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Tape Runner; Ranger Glossy Accents)

Fancy Pants is always a pleaser for me with their paper collections. I love the whimsical nature of the designs and the flowers that are almost always present. The papers are cheerful, happy and very rejuvenating. Although the collections may not be large, all the papers are two-sided which allows for a great variety in design options. If you have not yet experienced the "fancy" in Fancy Pants Designs, you shouldn’t waste another moment!

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Review by Renee

When you think of fresh, fun scrapbook products, the name Fancy Pants comes immediately to mind. They are known for innovative scrapbook products, and fun paper lines. The Sweet Pea line of Fancy Pants is no exception. In pastel shades of pink, blue and mint, this line is versatile and fun to use.

For this review, I received:

• six double-sided, cardstock weight patterned papers
• One package of 12" x 12" felt shapes in four shades including pink, blue, mint and white
• One package of ribbon, featuring six different ribbons
• One sheet of coordinating die cuts
• 12" x 12" Calendar Blank paper
• 6" x 6" Calendar Blank
• Year 'Round Stripe paper
• January through June patterned paper

The patterned papers are heavy weight and double-sided with completely different patterns on each side. The beauty of this is that one sheet of patterned papers gives you two different papers for layering. For both of my layouts, I was able to take one sheet of paper to layer for the entire layout. This is a definite money saver for scrappers. The other really great product provided for this review is the package of felt. Each set has four sheets of 12" x 12" felt, which has die cut shapes throughout the sheet. There are all sizes of die cuts, including several that are actually border sized. Each package contains a sheet of blue, pink, white and mint green felt. Most sheets are die cut differently, so you end up with a wide array of die cuts to use from each sheet.

For my first project, I created a scrapbook page that documents my newly organized scrapbook studio. I have never done a page about my scrapbook space, so I was excited to create a layout about where I create. I found a patterned paper from the Sweet Pea collection that had all my favorite colors contained on both sides of the papers. I used both the pink and green sides of the paper to create a basic paper layering for the base. I also found a uber cool 12" x 12" bracket to use as a border from the mint green felt. This same bracket is also available on at least one other sheet of felt. A complimentary green felt corner completes the page about “My Haven”.

Title: My Haven
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics White Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Fancy Pants Sweet Pea collection)
Felt (Fancy Pants)
Bling (Heidi Swapp)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

For my second project, I created a layout of my son who is rapidly becoming a little heartbreaker. For this layout, I used the Noah patterned paper (both sides) to create the base of my paper layering. I also used a small strip of paper as an accent. An inked heart from the die cut sheet and several small stars from the felt sheets complete the page.

Title: Heartbreaker
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics Tawny Medium and Stormy Dark)
Patterned Paper (Fancy Pants Sweet Pea collection)
Felt (Fancy Pants)
Die Cut (Fancy Pants Sweet Pea collection)
Pen (Zig Roller Ball)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

After making two layouts, I realized that I had yet to play with the cute ribbons that were included for the review. After looking at the colors of all the ribbons, I was inspired to make a ribbon card using them against a stark white background. I used four ribbons from the package containing six varieties. I stapled them to the background and used a flower from the die cut sheet. A simple stamp completes the card.

Title: Cherish the Moment Card
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics White Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Fancy Pants Sweet Pea Collection)
Ribbons (Fancy Pants Sweet Pea collection)
Die Cut (Fancy Pants Sweet Pea Collection)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

Fancy Pants always offers super cute papers and embellishments for scrapbooking. The Sweet Pea collection is no exception. The colors are so versatile, that they can be used for all types of layouts. The 12" x 12" felt is fantastic and offers so many options. It is a great investment for your scrapbook stash in itself. Take a peek at the Fancy Pants Sweet Pea collection.. You will not be disappointed.

 

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