It's Hambly Week!

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Reported by Sarah Moore

Welcome to Hambly Week! Are you a Hambly Screen Prints fan yet? We know some of you will be after reading this weeks series of reviews from our reporting staff. We have really enjoyed working with Allison Kreft, Hambly's Design superstar (pictured at left), at Hambly to help bring the world of Hambly your way.

Hambly Studios was established over 35 years ago by Harry Hambly. They were originally known for their silk-screening, serigraphs, posters & greeting cards, then years later prismatic stickers. About 3 years ago, Hambly Studios decided to take full advantage of the silk-screening equipment they own, and decided to try making hand-silkscreen papers. Since then they also began silkscreening overlays & rub-ons. The boom in their business has been a great adventure for the staff at Hambly Studios! All their Overlays, Rub-ons and Papers are still silk-screened in their Santa Clara, California Studio. They aim to keep their designs cutting edge & innovative, and are excited to have brought the Art of Silk Screening to the papercrafts industry.

We had a wonderful run in with Hambly at CHA. Allison could not be more down-to-earth. We loved the new designs she has to share with us. (click on images below to enlarge.)






I thoroughly enjoyed playing with my new toys from Hambly... I must admit however; I was almost scared to use them! My ignorance about transparencies and rub-ons may show in the projects I have to share, but stay tuned; Julie did some hardcore testing of the products as one of our resident scrapbooking/multimedia experts.

Design
Hambly's designs are cutting edge, uber trendy and digably hip. Now if that's not your thing... then don't count Hambly out. Some of their scroll style or India motif prints could coordinate with some more traditional bohemian style designs so popular now. Personally... I think the chandeliers are the BEST and I love the pirate stuff I have seen. In the newest line I will be all over the woodgrain patterns. Oh, and did I mention the OWLS... oh I love those owls.

Rub-Ons
I am more of a stamp fan usually... so I don't have a TON of experience with rub-ons... So I jumped into using these a little gun shy. As far as ease of use... these are some of the best I have used. I applied them using my Teflon Bone folder and it worked like a charm! You will notice in some of my layouts and home decor projects (further down) I used the rub-ons over the transparencies with ease, and on cardstock they were as smooth as silk... almost as if I had silk screened the cards myself! Check out these cards I created with my rub-ons from Hambly. They matched up well with my rubber stamps and some non Hambly rub-ons too. What I love about them most as I compared them to other rub-ons is that they have no clear residue edge like other brands do... meaning; where the color stops the rub on stops. They also appear thicker than other rub-ons I have used, so the application process took a tad longer; but the results were more impressive. I think the tactile is so important with card making... if you were to receive one of these cards I think you'd guess they were silk screened. Check em out...






Scrapbooking
Scrapbooking isn't really my THING... but My pal Martha has me curious about scraping in a 6X12 format... and I like it! I figured this review was the place to get started.

On this first project I applied bright orange Rub-ons over Hambly paper in this cool Turquoise over shimmery black look. I love the color combo. The paper is very tactile... it's so smooth and a real pleasure to work with. I used a transparency frame over my Son's adorable picture (if I do say so myself) and applied the rub-ons to the transparent frame... not to the picture... so the picture is safe below. By white Signo Uniball Pen worked great on the paper, and by Stampin' Up! Craft Ink (in White) looks so cool in my title! Adhesive (glue dots) for the transparency frame is hidden under the ribbon and rub-ons.


By crazy Cat Eartha (whose eye by the way was like this when I found her... and in case you care she is a very healthy cat otherwise and can still catch spiders with the best of 'em) looks so great with these birdies... I love this kraft colored paper and decided it worked well with the chocolate brown transparency laid over the entire surface I hid the adhesive under my photo and under one of the birds. I used a combination of a Scotch ATG gun and glue dots. The red stripe of transparency on the left is also secured with glue dots which are practically invisible under this swirly pattern. I stamped with chalk inks on the transparency and they dried (overnight) to a matte finish. Of course when stamping on transparency it's almost impossible to get a solid image... but with the style of these products... it works.

Home Decor
I think this is my favorite use of the Hambly stuffs. I love the whole shabby chic/thrift store thing myself so these designs really match up with my vintage goes modern vibe.

This first idea I swiped from a past issue of Papercrafts Magazine. I took a piece of transparency and wrapped it around a vase! You could even do this around a square vase, just score the corners. I used Sticky Strip (AKA terrifically tacky tape) to secure the edge. The tube slides off so you can wash the vase easily. I added this cute Birdcage rub-on to the transparency as well, and another rub-on to the band around the top of the vase. A corresponding paper was used to cover the chipboard flower on the embellishment on the band.


This next project couldn't be more simple! To alter this tray (purchased from Target) I just layered a piece of paper under this incredibly cute chandelier transparency, then applied glitter stickers (By Martha Stewart Crafts) to the transparency. I slid this inside this glass based tray and voila'... home decor! Wouldn't this transparency (or many others by Hambly) look cool just framed? Their products are truly works of art on their own!



Where to Buy
Well I have bought my Hambly online. It was shipped in a nice secure hard cardboard envelope without damage. But Hambly may be available at your local scrapbook store.... and if it isn't, tell them you want to see it there!

We would love to hear from you... where do you buy your Hambly?

I was just in Berkeley California and discovered this terrific scrapbook store Scrapbook Territory. If you live near the Bay Area you should check it out! They had a well stocked collection of Hambly Screen prints... very impressive. I loved how they not only had a Hambly section, but they stuck transiencies and papers into displays with other brands by motif. They even have a class coming up where you can make this awesome bound book... here are some pics! I love how this pirate design matches with this Rusty Pickle paper, and the transparencies work so great in this book... with each turn of a page you get a different look. Love this idea... one more reason to buy a Bind-it all!


Big thanks to Diane and KZ from Scrapbook Territory for sharing this sample with our readers! Stay tuned to my own blog for more on my Bay Area paper shopping tales, and come back for more on Hambly Screen Prints ALL WEEK... including a carnival on Friday!