*NEW* Echo Park/Carta Bella: Valentine, Pets, Birthday, Fish

I'll be buying some papers from each of the 3 collections you linked above. There are valentine cards for Cards for Soldiers and thank you cards for an animal rescue in my not-too-distant future.

I have to confess, I don't really understand manufacturers releasing Valentine's lines every year. It just seems like overkill. At best I might be able to squeeze 1-2 layouts per year (assuming I scrap something about my husband & I + my kids) so I could make one product line stretch across years if I wanted to. I know that some of the products can be used for general love themed pages but it seems there is always a lot of Valentine's specific products in the releases I have seen over the last few years.

Is it a bigger deal in other parts of the world than it is here in Australia?

It really varies in the U.S. My mom's birthday is on Valentine's Day, so I like it more for that reason. She would give us a little something for the day and I do the same for my kids. Other people think that's really weird! Oh well! About the only thing I've scrapped is photos of my kids when they were younger and had cute shirts for the holiday. I scrapped one photo about Valentine's Day and that was how I got roses just because and it wasn't because I was pissed off at my husband We might go out to eat the week before or after the actual day because we don't want to deal with restaurant crowds. 

I have heard good things about the people at Echo Park so I am glad they are successful. But give a scrapbooker a minute to catch up, they release new stuff every week!

I think the stencil in the Valentine's line is cute but I probably already have enough heart stencils. Nothing else in this appeals to me.

My older cats personalities don't fit very well with the cat collection, although I hope the lack of pink in this line appeals to those who have wanted more masculine colour combos.