Stephanie Barnard is one of our fab design team members. You may already know her from her QVC appearances for ATB. She is awesome on TV! We love her enthusiasm and product knowledge - she is also super creative and continues to amaze us with her great new ideas. She has a solid foundation in the scrapbooking industry with ties to Inque Botique and Scrapbook Lifestyle. You can learn more about her on her blog: stephaniebarnard.com

Just in time for Halloween, here’s a couple spooky cards Stephanie designed using ATB products.

Thanks Stephanie!

Join me in welcoming Deborah to our ATB design team this fall!

Deborah lives in the Washington, DC area with her two young kids, husband and two dogs. Right now she’s mostly Mom and spend lots of time prying Legos apart, having tea parties and watching Star Wars when she’s not scrapping or taking pictures. She loves scrapbooking because it gives her a creative outlet. She says, “I get to work with my hands as well as my mind. I love the feeling of satisfaction after completing a project and I love sharing what I’ve made with others.”

You can visit her blog and see what she’s up to. Also, there’s some great inspiration on there!

She has designed some great cards and spooky Halloween pins using our Around The Block Halloween Brads. (Available at Michaels.) Give her scary-tacular ideas a try this week before the big day!

When I originally saw Deborah’s pins (below), I also thought how cute they would be as hair clips - or page elements.

Deborah says:

I made this simple Halloween card with cardstock, a 1″ circle punch and some Around The Block halloween brads.

To make this card, cut your orange cardstock approximately a 1/2″ shorter than your card base. Use a bonefolder or scoring tool to make a fold on the left-hand side of your orange cardstock, about a third of the way of the paper. With the paper folded, punch three shapes on the fold positioning the punch so that you’re punching half the shape. Open up the fold and cut on your score line. Adhere both sides to your card base leaving a small space between the pieces. Decorate your punched out areas with brads or other embellishments.

After making this card I decided to use the same design to make a few more. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when you start a new project; a few small variations are all you need. For my second card I cut a piece of 7gypsies paper and layered it over my cardstock.

And for the last card I used a square punch. I took three 7gypsies clear buttons and dropped several colors of alcohol ink onto them. Once they were dry I adhered them to the card and added a ATB brad on the bottom button.

Thanks Deborah!

This first card features one of our ATB Chipboard Tags from our Ultimate Chipboard Kit #1. In this kit are 50 gorgeously printed Chipboard Tags in all different occasions.

The Puffy Shapes in this Welcome Home card are from our Puffy Brads Kit.

Christmas is coming! Have you thought about making your Christmas Cards this year? The brads in this card are our ATB Big Metal Brads: Christmas.

Kristen Hayne was invited to join our new ATB Design Team this fall. Here’s a little bit about her and some gorgeous cards using Around The Block Products. Give her designs a try!

Hi there!
My name is Kristin Hayne and I reside in Southern California. I am a stay at home mother to two VERY active and CRAZY boys and am also a part time ultrasound tech.

I have been married for 8 years to the love of my life, Trafton, and really live a happy/chaotic/idealic life.

I have been scrapping for the last 4 years and have been very lucky to have been on some great design teams and part of some awesome idea books and magazines!

I would say my style is ever-evolving… it seems to constantly change with new prdoucts and (sometimes) my moods. I love texture on my projects and can’t get enough of fun, bright colors.

I love scrapping the everyday moments that I know I will forget in 10 years and that I hope my family will get a kick out of.

I love that my hobby gives me the outlet that a busy Mom needs and the ability to conserve my family stories.

I am so excited to be part of the brilliance that is Around the Block…. their products are simply AWESOME!! See you around! - Kristin

At the CHA Summer Show in Chicago we unveiled our Brad Maker product. This tool allows you to create one-of-a-kind brads yourself! You can add any artwork to the brad including paper, fabric or whatever you can think of. The Brad Maker will make both framed or covered brads. Check it out in action in the videos below!

Thanks so much Scrapbook Dimensions Magazine for the video!

Wait! The fun is not over yet…Below is another video from CHA showing the Brad Maker. Thanks to Jenna at Scrapbook News and Review for this one. (Check out Jenna’s fun blog here and here.) This one shows my sister, Sarah demo-ing. We have this on going joke about who is better (about everything in life)…leave a comment and tell us which sister demos the Brad Maker better - Sarah or Jennifer!

You can hear me at the end of this video saying “Hold still, Sarah!” She punched me after they turned off the camera. OK, not really, but she does get sick of me “helping” her! If you have a sister, you understand everything.

The Brad Maker is expected to be in your local scrapbooking store in December. The suggested retail price is $39.99.

Thanks to everyone who wrote comments, I really enjoyed reading about your favorite tools. I’ll leave the comments open so new readers can post their favorite tools.

Congratulations Kim!

Email me your address at jstraus@ultrapro.com to claim your Paper Tagger Prize. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Everytime I sit down to be creative, I pull out this tool. It’s my right-hand-man, my amigo, and an extension of my arm. I swear I couldn’t be crafty without it. It’s the Paper Tagger. Me and the Paper Tagger, we’re like peas and carrots. (Name that movie line!)

Ok, let me show you some things I’ve been making with this amazing tool…

Decorate your wardrobe with it or make fun gifts to give like this cami with the “m” monogram and flower made of buttons and sequins. Check out this adorable belt…

Are there any little girls in your life? This decorated pony tail holder and headband would be perfect for her! Quick and easy to do, just attach decorative beads and sequins with the Paper Tagger and coordinating Tagger Tails.

Decorate a gift card holder like this cute shoe I found at Target with an Epoxy Tag and sequins.

One last project I’d like to share are these sweet candy holders. I recycled these containers by removing the labels and filled them with jelly beans. Then I added coordinating ribbons and Painted Metal Charms and Epoxy Tags using the Paper Tagger. Wouldn’t you love to receive one of these?

There are so many uses for this tool - it’s just not for tagging on paper! I’ll be posting more ideas in this blog so check back often. Also, I encourage you to share your creations in our ATB gallery. Because this tool gets me so excited, I’d like to give one away to you along with a bunch of Tagger Tails! So answer my question…What’s your favorite crafting tool in the comment box. I’ll randomly choose a winner Monday, October 13 at 12 noon MST! Good luck! Now get to work and get creative!

Thanks again to everyone who sent their resumes and work, we are very flattered that there was so many applicants! We look forward to seeing amazing work from these gals. Check the blog often for ideas, projects, contests and ATB news.

Hi Everyone,
We are so excited about the new ATB design team! Do you know we had over 100 applicants? That’s-a-lot-a talented ladies - and their submissions were amazing! Seriously!

As you can imagine, the task of choosing our favorites is overwhelming. But don’t worry, we’re through most of the applications and just making final decisions today. We apologize for the delayed announcement but watch later tonight or tomorrow morning for the final announcement. Good luck to you all!

A very special thanks to everyone who applied. We wish we could choose all of you!
Cheers,
Jennifer