High Praise for Hambly!

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Reported By: Colleen Schaan

I will be honest…a month ago, I had never heard of Hambly Screen Prints. (I know, I know…I must be living under a VERY large rock.) When Sarah asked if we were interested in doing a review I popped on over to their site and was pleasantly surprised by the unique products and designs they offered. Being a very basic scrapbooker, I jumped at the chance to try out something new.

I was so excited to get the product in the mail. It came quickly and was safely packaged so nothing was damaged. I immediately opened the box and started pawing through it. While my first impression on some of the colors was, “huh?” I was amazed at the quality of each item.

Most noticeable, the 12x12 overlays (like transparencies) were sooooo thick. Not those flimsy ones like you can buy at the store. I mean, these were serious, hi-quality overlays. And the artwork? While not all of it was my style, I really loved the designs and patterns of many of the pieces…very hip and trendy. My favorite was the Urban Chic Frames in black which I used in the layout below.


The overlays are so beautiful, that I had a hard time actually putting anything OVER them on my layout. (I didn’t want to cover up any of the beautiful swirly frames.) But since I really like to do layers and add embellishments, I added a bit of ribbon and some stamped images with brads. I found it exciting to be able to put things both under and over the overlays.

The patterned paper is also of great quality. Each 12x12 sheet has a screen-printed pattern on one side and either a textured or metallic look to the other. Many of the papers paired a neutral color like black or brown with a flashy color like teal or lime. I immediately fell in love with the black ¾ graph paper. While the grid screen-print was appealing, I really liked the side with the teal metallic shimmer. I thought it would be the perfect base for a black and white photo. I decided to add even more oomph to the page by using part of the Out On a Limb silver overlay. I forced myself to carry it over to my workstation and slice it up. (Don’t worry…it didn’t hurt a bit and I had the owl left over for a quick card!) Part of this overlay has a silvery “scratched up” texture and I thought it would be the perfect touch. It was. I just love the depth you can create with these patterned overlays! They ROCK!


While many of Hambly’s products are geared toward scrapbooking, most can be used in other ways with a bit of creativity. One of my favorite overlays was called Vintage Patchwork. The 12x12 overlay was a patchwork of 4 different patterns, one of which was this circle frame. I thought about using it for a 6x6 layout, but I wanted to get creative to show you how versatile these overlays are. It was quick and easy to attach this photo and then cut around the frame. (The scissors went through the overlay like butter…and I didn’t have to worry about it tearing or ripping!) I added a quick loop of ribbon and Voila…the perfect Christmas tree decoration.


Card makers should be checking out Hambly too. Along with thick overlays and gorgeous patterned papers, Hambly also sells rub-ons. Now, I have always despised rub-ons (for various reasons), so I was not looking forward to trying these out. I figured that I needed to give it an honest attempt and report my findings. And here they are…while I am not a huge fan of the lime green dingbats and robots, I LOVE the quality! I am not kidding you. I have always struggled with getting rub-ons completely rubbed off and stuck on the paper. Most often, I would rub like mad with my popsicle stick and then gently lift up only to have the image rip or tear. But not Hambly rub-ons…there was no furious rubbing this time. I placed the image where I wanted it, rubbed gently until “pop” the backing just came right off…and the image stayed in place. But that is not even the best part. The thing I hated most about rub-ons it that no matter what I did, there was always a space around the image that was visible. I hated it…I always though it looked tacky. With Hambly rub-ons, there is NO extra image. Seriously…I even took a close up for you…just the sharp, clean edges of the image. I love it!


Overall, I highly recommend Hambly products. While some of the colors and patterns were not my style, there are a number of others that I really liked. They have something for every taste and the quality is top notch. Visit them HERE to check out the newest patterns and designs and latest products.