Sarah's Review	Cathy's Review	Kathleen's Review	Lynn Anne's Review	Eli's Review

Review by Sarah

Flair Designs Baby of Mine: Baby and Beyond

Paisley, checkerboard, and ribbon/ric-rac paper prints represent just the beginning of the smart and uncomplicated visuals offered in Flair Designs "Baby of Mine" collection. Presented in parallel pink and blue designs for girls and boys, respectively; Flair Designs supplies patterned papers, cardstock stickers, tags, ribbons, and vellum quotes intended for babies, yet versatile enough to host a variety of subject matter.

For this review I received one each of the 16 "Baby of Mine" patterned papers: 2 were "neutral" multicolor papers; 1 was a floral print; 1 was blue with crewel-worked moons and stars; and the remaining 12 were paisley, ric-rac/ribbon stripe, wooden toy blocks, small checks, baby clothes, and "baby" words – the same prints each in pink or blue. Flair Designs patterned paper is medium weight; unspecified in acid/lignin content; and covered in advertising on the back. This advertising shows many of the coordinating papers and products in the collection as well as page layout ideas, and though I was at first afraid this printing would show when the paper is torn, I was happy to find that it does not: torn Flair Designs paper leaves a white edge.

Versatility of pattern design is something I always look for in baby collections, because let’s face it: those uber-pastel infantile designs can only be used on so many pages because babies just grow up so fast! I was not disappointed with "Baby of Mine" and used the charming "Pink Ribbon Stripe" paper along with "Sweetheart Roses," "Powder Pink Check" and "Pink Wood Blocks" for the following page which documents – of all things – a road trip. Flair’s baby papers are tons of fun to use in combination because even though the patterns are so varied, they harmonize well; thanks in part to the same colors being used throughout the line.

"Going & Coming"
Supplies: Prism (Primsatics: Twilight Light - cardstock)
Prism (Exclusives: Bianco, Fucsia - cardstock)
Flair Designs (Pink Ribbon Stripe, Sweetheart Roses, Powder Pink Check, Pink Wood Blocks - patterned papers)
Flair Designs (Cardstock Stickers w/Flair: Sweet Pea - sticker border)
Flair Designs (Alphabet Stickers w/Flair: Pink)
Prima (Flowers)
Creating Memories (Pen)
Ad Tech (Permanent Glue Runner)

One unique product offered by Flair Designs is Vellum Quotes w/Flair – an 8" by 4" booklet of 28 quotes printed on acid/lignin free vellum paper. I particularly appreciate this product because I enjoy using quotes on my pages, but I don’t enjoy the endless search for appropriate phrases, and then choosing fonts and papers and printing. Flair Designs brings the fun of quotes and phrases to your fingertips in this convenient booklet. The "Baby" Vellum Quotes w/Flair offer a great selection in variety – from serious to sentimental to lighthearted; there are long quotes, short quotes, newborn baby and child quotes, and even a couple of adoption quotes. All quotes include the source (a dubious matter when searching the Internet!), and are printed in appropriate fonts (that is, the lighthearted quotes are printed in "fun" fonts, sappy quotes are written in script, and so forth).

While you have a bunch of quotes at your convenience, don’t forget to employ your sense of humor and look for uses beyond the ordinary context of a phrase. On the following page, I used a Vellum Quotes w/Flair by Leonardo Da Vinci: "A well-spent day brings happy sleep." With the quote, I used "Baby of Mine" papers, tags and stickers on this gag photo of a friend who fell asleep on the couch at a party… I added one of my kids’ stuffed animals and took a picture. Don’t worry; this guy has a great sense of humor and thought it was a good joke.

"Bill’s Nap"
Supplies: Flair Designs (Baby of Mine: Starry Night, Ben's Clothesline, Baby Blue Check, Baby Chatter - patterned papers)
Flair Designs (Cardstock Stickers w/Flair: Patty Cake - sticker embellishments)
Flair Designs (Vellum Quotes w/Flair: Baby)
Flair Designs (Bag of Tags w/Flair: Baby Boy Tags)
Prism (Prismatics: Twilight Light, Sunflowers Dark - cardstock)
Ad Tech (Permanent Glue Runner)

Flair’s "Baby of Mine" collection also includes the Bag of Tags w/Flair which offers high quality, acid/lignin-free, lightweight cardstock tags in reversible, perfectly coordinated designs. A package includes 21 tags in rectangular, circle, oval, heart, triangle and free-form shapes; all are pre-punched with one or two circle or oblong holes for easy insertion of ribbon or fiber. I was particularly impressed with overall tag design and quality.

I would have been leery of buying this product off the shelf and here’s why: since all the tags are tossed into the bag, blocking sight of most of the designs, how do I know I’m not going to hate most of the tags when I get home? As is my custom with tags, the first thing I did upon opening the package was weed out the designs I didn’t like. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were only three tags in the "discard pile" – two triangles and the one "free-form" tag, simply because I didn’t like those shapes.

My next page features a photo that I thought was so specialized I would never find appropriate materials; but when Flair’s "Baby of Mine" collection showed up with the adorable "Ben’s Clothesline" paper and matching stickers and a tag featuring the same clothesline print as the paper, it was too much fun to pass up.

"Home with You"
Supplies: Prism (Prismatics: Twilight Light, Gray Prismatic - cardstock)
Prism (Exclusives: Bianco - cardstock)
Flair Designs (Baby of Mine: Ben's Clothesline, Blue Wood Blocks - patterned papers)
Flair Designs (Bag of Tags w/Flair: Baby Boy Tags)
Flair Designs (Vellum Quotes w/Flair)
Flair Designs (Alphabet Stickers w/Flair: Blue - alpha stickers)
Flair Designs (Cardstock Stickers w/Flair: Patty Cake - embellishment stickers)
Ranger (Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Peeled Paint - ink)
American Crafts Elements (Green Essentials Ribbon)
Green multi-shade eyelash fiber
River City (Stamp Font)
Ad Tech (Permanent Glue Runner, Dimensional foam tape)

As a supplementary coordinating product, Flair Designs suggests Velvet Ribbon w/Flair. It’s just what it sounds like – velvet ribbon, with a fine, fuzzy surface and tightly woven base. The weight and overall "feel" of this ribbon is quite impressive in quality. Velvet Ribbon w/Flair is sold in packages of 1 meter a.k.a. 1-and-some-change yard lengths. I was sent pink and blue velvet ribbons, but in designing my pages I found the fun, bright supporting colors in the papers so appealing, I chose to pick up on those rather than go for a monochromatic look.

Cardstock stickers complete Flair Designs "Baby of Mine" collection in blue-for-boys, pink-for-girls alphabet and embellishment stickers. Flair’s stickers are sturdy and offer good adhesion to paper and cardstock. It is possible to reposition these stickers though not recommended, as they tend to lose their sticking powers after the first removal.

Flair Designs Cardstock Stickers w/Flair are the embellishment stickers. I really get into these because there are borders, tags, short phrases and mini images: 23 stickers in all. I love the fresh, funky designs of Amy Gatewood based in fabric and wood media! These stickers bring real, defining imagery to this collection.

Flair Designs Alphabet Stickers w/Flair for babies come in pink or blue on an 8.5" by 12" sheet, and feature an eclectic blend of lettering fonts and styles on round pieces. There are multiples of common letters, and as an added bonus, there are also small stickers in button and fabric designs. On the page below, I used blue Alphabet Stickers w/Flair for the page title. As an additional lettering option, I would like to point out that Flair’s “Wood Block” papers can be cut apart and used as lettering: the left-hand border uses blocks from “Blue Wood Block” paper to spell my son’s name.

"Six Months"
Supplies: Prism (Prismatics: Twilight Dark, Prismatic White, Intense Kiwi - cardstock)
Flair Designs (Baby of Mine: Baby Boy Words, Baby Blue Check, Blue Wood Blocks - patterned papers)
Flair Designs (Vellum Quotes w/Flair: Baby)
Flair Designs (Cardstock Stickers w/Flair: Patty Cake - sticker borders, embellishments)
Flair Designs (Bag of Tags w/Flair: Baby Boy Tags)
Flair Designs (Alphabet Stickers w/Flair: Blue)
Ad Tech (Permanent Glue Runner)

In Summary: Flair Designs has produced a particularly winning line of supplies in their "Baby of Mine" collection. The designs are fresh, attractive and modern and offer plenty of leeway for monochromatic or more colorful layout designs. With coordinating papers, stickers, lettering, quotes, tags and ribbon, Flair offers everything you need for recording those precious little ones, or whatever strikes your fancy! I’m especially impressed with this collection in overall design and versatility: definitely recommended.

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Review by Cathy

Flair Designs makes scrapbooking paper, embellishments and stickers. Not just for babies, the blue and pink papers and embellishments can be used for a variety of themes. The new collection "Baby of Mine", is very fine and contains 16 coordinating patterned papers, a Baby Vellum Quote Book, Sweet Pea Cardstock Stickers and Alphabet Stickers. The kit also came with 2 sets of Velvet Ribbon.

I immediately loved the patterned paper collection. There is a huge variety of small and large patterns and a unique blocked alphabet sheet, which can be used as a background or cut up and used as block letters. The reverse of the patterned paper is unique to Flair Designs and contains ideas and examples of using the their products. In addition, the back of the patterned paper has a listing of all of the coordinating paper and embellishments.

The cardstock sticker sheets and cardstock alphabet sheets are really cute and heavy weight. They remove easily from the sheet and look three dimensional.

The velvet ribbon adds a lot of rich texture and elegance to any project. The ribbon sells for $1.99.

The Vellum Quotes for Baby has baby related quotes printed in black on white vellum. The quotes can be ripped, cut and used for a variety of projects. I really like using pre-printed quotes. They are simple to use and add a lot to layouts and cards.

My first project is a two-page layout for a circle journal. The Baby of Mine Collection works well for a non-baby related theme.

Products used:
Flair Design: Baby of Mine Collection-Sweet Pea Paisley;
Flair Design: Baby of Mine Collection-Sweetheart Roses;
Flair Design: Baby of Mine Collection-Pink Alphabet Stickers;
Flair Design: Baby of Mine Collection-Sweet Pea CardStock Stickers;
Flair Design: Velvet Ribbon-Pink;
Prism: Raspberry Light;
Offray: Ribbon;
Ric Rac: Unknown;
Vellum: Unknown; and
Adhesive Tech: Permanent Glue Runner.

Tag to go with circle journal.

Products used:
Flair Designs: Baby of Mine: Sweetheart Roses;
Flair Designs: Baby of Mine: Sweet Pea Cardstock Stickers;
Flair Designs: Vellum Quotes- Baby;
Flair Designs: Velvet Ribbon- Pink;
Ric Rac: Unkno wn;
Prima: Got Flowers- Pink;
Brads: Unknown; and
Adhesive Tech: Permanent Glue Runner.

The Baby-themed Altered Storage Unit was simple to decorate with the Patty Cake Cardstock Stickers.

Products used:
Flair Designs: Baby of Mine Collection-Patty Cake Cardstock Stickers; and
Target: Storage Unit.

The altered picture frame was so easy to make beautiful, using the Baby of Mine Collection.

Products used:
Flair Design: Baby of Mine Collection-Sweet Pea Cardstock Stickers;
Flair Design: Baby of Mine Collection-Polka Dot;
Target: Frame;
Adhesive Tech: Permanent Glue Runner.

This is a terrific collection. A new mother or grandmother would be able to scrap a huge amount of baby photos easily. The Cardstock Stickers, Alphabet Stickers and Vellum Baby Quotes would make the pages come together easily. Card makers will love the patterned paper and three dimensional looking stickers. I give the Flair Designs: Baby of Mine Collection my highest recommendation, for quality of design, amount of product and versatility. This collection can be used for more than just babies. Please check out the Flair Designs Folder in the ScrapFriends Gallery , as I definitely plan to add more projects made with this collection.

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Review by Kathleen

I received a fabulous selection of the ‘Baby of Mine’ Collection including patterned papers, stickers, and embellishments from Flair Designs. These products are fabulous! The patterned papers are adorable and include papers for boys and girls. The patterns vary from easy to use basic patterns, to more detailed stitched and “ribbon” papers. The cardstock stickers are heavy weight, durable, and coordinate perfectly with the papers. Flair Designs also has coordinating velvet ribbon and Reversible Cardstock Tags.

I really like the different looks of each patterned paper. While they all coordinate, they vary enough to entice scrapbookers with different tastes. The following projects are a few I created using the Baby of Mine collection from Flair Designs.

My first project features photos of my son, Dominic, and my husband, Edward, when Dominic was one day old. I used three different patterned papers and layered them on metallic cardstock. I also used one of the vellum quotes from the Baby Vellum Quote book from Flair Designs.

“All Boy”
Products used:
Flair Designs - (Baby of Mine collection) patterned paper, Baby Vellum Quote Book
Prism - metallic cardstock
Queen & Co. - photo anchor, brad
ColorBox - fluid chalk ink
Slick Writer - black pen
Adhesive Tech - glue runner

My next project features a photo of my daughter, Vivian, when she was just a week old. I absolutely love the realistic layered look of the cardstock sticker I used for the title ‘Little Princess’. The letter ‘V’ from the Pink Alphabet stickers made the perfect center for my pink flower.

“Little Princess”
Products used:
Flair Designs - (Baby of Mine collection) patterned paper, Pink alphabet stickers, Patty Cake Cardstock Sticker
Prism - cardstock
Heidi Swapp - flower
Micron - black pen
ColorBox - fluid chalk ink
Adhesive Tech - glue runner

My third project is a card made to welcome a new arrival. The card uses the Flair Designs’ Reversible Cardstock Tags, Blue Alphabet stickers, and patterned paper. The button “attaching” the tag is actually a sticker taken from the Blue Alphabet sticker sheet. The zigzag stitch was created with a stamp and the straight stitch was hand drawn with pen.

“Welcome Precious Baby card”
Products used:
Flair Designs - (Baby of Mine Collection) patterned paper, Blue Alphabet stickers, Reversible Cardstock tags
Prism - cardstock
Zig - gray, black pen
Micron - black pen
Sakura - white pen
Stampendous! - white embossing powder
ColorBox - white pigment ink, fluid chalk ink
Starving Artistamps - zigzag stitch stamp
Adhesive Tech - glue runner
Marvy - circle punch

While I had already fallen in love with Flair Designs during our Christmas Toile Collection II review, my adoration only deepened with this review. The papers are beautiful and the coordinating stickers and embellishments finish off the projects flawlessly. I will definitely dig up more baby pictures to scrap with this collection.

If you would like to see more beautiful projects using the different collections from Flair Designs, please visit the Flair Designs folder in the gallery.

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Review by Lynn Anne

The Baby of Mine collection by Flair Designs gives baby-smitten scrapbookers plenty of beautiful options when designing pages around those precious baby photos. Primarily featuring shades of pink and blue, boy- and girl-themed products include sixteen 12"x12" patterned papers, four sheets of cardstock stickers (including two round alphabets), lush velvet ribbon, reversible cardstock tags, and even a book of Vellum quotes to help put down just the right sentiments when journaling everyday moments and momentous milestones. I could say there's a lot of choice in this collection, but if you've got babies to scrap, I suspect you'll want to choose it all.

Flair's baby papers are a nice mix of artsy-informal and photo-realistic: that is to say, some patterns look painted or sketched, and others, like the ribbon stripe papers, can make you look twice when you realize that's not real ric rac on the page. The coordinating cardstock sticker alphabets (Blue and Pink Alphabet Sticker sheets) include round letters in a mix of sizes, styles, and colors, as well as smaller round embellishments that look like buttons or satin-stitch circles. I loved using those tiny round accents in place of brads, or to easily hide adhesive marks underneath the vellum quotes. Though it's hard to see well at this small size, the "Starry Night" paper features moons and stars that appear to have been embroidered on to the paper. What a cozy paper to use with peaceful sleeping baby photos.

Supplies:
Paper by Flair (Starry Night, Baby of Mine collection)
Cardstock stickers (Sweet Pea) by Flair (Baby of Mine Collection)
Blue Alphabet stickers by Flair (Baby of Mine collection)
Permanent Glue Runner by Ad Tech
Vellum Quote by Flair (Baby Vellum Quote Book)
Ink by Versamark

The Vellum Quotes book, with sheets measuring a generous 4"x8," contains 28 Vellum Quotes printed in a variety of attractive typefaces. Some are poetic, some poignant, and some just funny - but all are true and will be appreciated by baby's parents and loved ones. The vellum is a nice medium weight, so that patterns or colors will be somewhat visible through the quote, but not enough will show through to mar reading of the text. A retail price of around $6.00 makes this the priciest piece in the collection, but anyone who's spent hours looking for just the 'write' words for special photos won't let that bother them after spending a moment thumbing through to see what these quotes include.

Wood Blocks papers, available in pink or blue, can easily be used in full sheet form, or cut apart for use as a title or part of the page design. Heavyweight cardstock stickers in a variety of shapes, from border-strip to traditional tag to plaque to window panel, proved to be temporarily repositionable on most surfaces - but when I overlapped the sticker onto photo paper itself, I was out of luck. Sticker sheets, which sell for about $3.50 each, measure a full 8.5" x 12." You can see how the soft, comfortable designs encouraged me to pull out some of my favorite yet-unscrapped photos of my son from his very first days.

Supplies:
Paper by Flair (Blue Ribbon Stripe, Blue Wood Blocks)
Cardstock stickers by Flair
Velvet ribbon by Flair (baby of mine collection)
Permanent Glue Runner by Ad Tech
Marker by Stampin' Up!
Mulberry Paper by Nature's Garden
Ink by Versamark

Most of the blue papers and other designs have similar counterparts featuring pinks and other pastels for baby girl. For a one-year portrait of my baby girl which features a blue background, I had fun mixing and matching the various papers. Floral motifs were cut from the gorgeous "Sweet Pea Paisley" design, and strips of Flair's baby blue velvet ribbon (sold in 1.1 yard coils) are anchored by some of the smaller cardstock stickers.

Supplies:
Exclusives cardstock by Prism
Velvet ribbon by Flair (Baby of Mine collection)
Paper by Flair (Baby of Mine collection - Baby Girl Words, Pink Ribbon Stripe)
Stickers by Flair (Baby of Mine collection, Sweet Pea Cardstock Stickers and Pink Alphabet stickers)
Fine Weave 12x12 mesh by Magic Mesh
Flowers by Prima
Permanent Glue Runner by Ad Tech
Soufflé and Glaze pens by Sakura

It's true that I find Flair's cardstock sticker and paper sheets beautiful and easy to use. But I have another favorite feature that's exclusive to Flair Designs. It's called, "FlipIt with Flair," and it's essentially a full-page advertisement for the collection printed on the back of every sheet. I can see at quick glance black-and-white thumbnail-sized images of all of the papers and sticker sheets available, as well as the quote stacks. And if that weren't enough to get my creative juices flowing, each "FlipIt" page also includes three sample projects made with the collection: a layout, a card, and a tag. Though this feature would be inconvenient for someone hoping to use the paper for a paper-folding technique that required making the back of a sheet part of the design, I feel that I benefit a lot from the information included on each FlipIt ad.

I can't help but recommend Flair's entire Baby of Mine collection to anyone blessed with a baby to scrap! Everything you need for beautiful baby layouts, or even an entire coordinating gift album, is right here: a nice variety of coordinating patterned papers, large sheets of quality cardstock stickers including alphabets, fun Vellum Quotes and reversible cardstock tags, and even soft velvet ribbons that add just a touch of dimension to a variety of projects. You'll think about this collection when designing baby announcements or shower invitations, too! Project by project, you can't go wrong with this precious papercrafting ensemble.

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Review by Eli

Let me just start by saying that I’m smitten with the Baby of Mine collection by Flair Designs. I love the colors, designs, textures…all of it.

Let me tell you a little about what I reviewed. My generous bag of elements to review included:

16 patterned papers, including 10 designs, 6 of which had blue and pink themes
4 cardstock sticker sheets featuring two alphabet sheets and two tags/borders
a “Bag of Tags” from the boy’s line which were all light chipboard shapes with a semi-gloss surface
2 packages of velvet ribbon, in blue and pink, of course
A booklet of 28 endearing Baby quotes printed on vellum

The quality of these elements excels. The patterned paper is a nice weight. Not too light and not too heavy. It tears well and holds up to lots of embellishments. I enjoyed the variety of designs in the paper, the stickers and in all the coordinating elements that made creating pages so fun and, I would say, fearless. I sometimes struggle with combining patterned papers but I felt confident with this line

First, I scrapbooked my first heritage page…my first birthday. I love how the patterned papers coordinate and really highlight the images on the page. I enjoyed working with the velvet ribbon. It was so dainty, soft and elegant for the design.

Satisfaction
Supplies:
Patterned papers: Sweet Pea Paisley, Powder Pink Check, Sweetheart Roses (Flair Designs)
Baby Boy Tags, Pink velvet ribbon and Pink Alphabet stickers (Flair Designs)
Number "1" Vellum (Flair)
Mini glue dots (Glue Dots Intl)
Prismatics Razzleberry Light cardstock (Prism)
Flower (Michael's)
Letter stickers (Me and My Big Ideas)
Marvy Matchables green ink (Uchida)
Image Tree letter stamps (EK Success)
Clear photo corners (Pioneer)
Mini conchos (Scrapworks)
Vellum tape (Scotch)
Green grosgrain ribbon (Michael's)
Permanent glue runner and 3-D Design Blocks (Adhesive Tech)

Next, I worked on some photos of my brothers when they were little. I found the pictures of them with the cat and found them so hilarious; I just had to scrap them. The moon paper was a perfect background and the blocks, a perfect title.

Cat Nap
Supplies:
Patterned papers: Starry Night, Baby Blue check, Blue Wood Blocks (Flair Designs)
Blue Alphabet, Pink Alphabet and Patty Cake cardstock stickers (Flair Designs)
Blue pen (EK Success)
Pink pen (Marvy/Uchida)
Prismatics Twilight Dark (Prism)
Clear photo corners (Pioneer)
Ribbon (Offray)

Finally, I got around to scrapping Hannah. I found some photos from our old digital video camera that I had never scrapped. I loved her little faces that she was making at around 2 months. I had to feature them.

Baby Face
Supplies:
Patterned papers Pink Ribbon Stripe, Sweetheart Roses (Flair Designs)
Pink Alphabet stickers (Flair Designs)
Prismatics Razzleberry Light, Herbal Garden Medium (Prism)
Acrylic letters (The Paper Studio)
Glue Dots (Glue Dots, Intl)
Green ultra-fine pen (Sharpie)
Permanent glue runner (Adhesive Tech)

Conclusion: I love Flair. I love the quality of the elements. I find the colors to be true and easy to work with while the designs are universal but contemporary. I will definitely be using the rest of my collection and will maybe create a heritage baby book for my brothers and me from it. Highly recommended.

For more information visit Flair Designs