Scrapbooking Supplies: Fabric / Metal Brads by Amy Butler / K & Company

This is a product review of some beautiful floral and botanical scrapbooking brads designed by Amy Butler. The brads are manufactured by K & Company. I recently found these brads in an online scrapbooking store, but very little information was posted about them in the store's description. I was looking for brads to use for decoration in a mini scrapbook that I am making.

I debated about whether to buy the brads or not, since I had no way of knowing if they would meet my expectations. I decided to take a chance on buying them because they looked so pretty. I am glad that I did! I am very happy with them. I think they will lend an elegant touch to my mini scrapbook, and I am thrilled that I will still have some of the brads left over to use in other layouts and projects too.

I thought I would write this review of these brads in case it would be helpful to other scrapbookers to have some of the information that I was missing when I made my decision to purchase them.

How big are Amy Butler's scrapbooking brads?

My first question was "How big are those brads?" They measure approximately 3/4 inch in diameter, and they are dimensional. They are roughly the size and shape of a button, and in fact they do resemble vintage fabric-covered buttons. Except, of course, instead of having a button shank on the back, they have prongs like a typical scrapbooking brad.

What are they made of?

My next question was, what exactly are these brads made out of? The front of the package says "metal brads", but they look like fabric. The back of the package, which I could not see at the time I placed my order, says both "Amy Butler Fabric Brads" and "Metal Brads". So, which is it? Well, the answer is "both". Apparently the brads are metal covered with woven fabric. Of course, you can't see the metal at all when you actually use the brads in your scrapbooking layout; only the fabric is visible.

What colors are Amy Butler's scrapbooking brads?

This particular package contains multicolored brads in shades of green, yellow-green , aqua / turquoise, pale blue, vibrant pink, and off white / cream. Please see the photos at left for a better idea of what these brads look like (although the colors might not appear accurately on your monitor.)

Do these brads coordinate with other scrapbooking products?

Yes! They do coordinate with other scrapbooking products made by K & Company. Amy Butler has designed both the Sola collection and the Belle collection of scrapbooking products for K & Company. You could use these brads with the papers, stickers and embellishments from either of these Amy Butler collections.

Of course, you can also combine them with other supplies as well; if you already have scrapbooking supplies on hand, you can use these brads with whichever manufacturer's products you might happen to have in your stash. I am going to use mine with some papers from Basic Grey and other manufacturers. So please do not feel limited in how you can use these brads. They are quite versatile.

What can I do with these brads?

Ah...I could go on and on...and on...giving you ideas for what to do with these beautiful brads. The short answer is "use them in your scrapbooking layouts". But, you could also use them to decorate your handmade greeting cards, altered art projects, diaries, art journals, mini books, and art trading cards. If you really want to get creative, you could even attach them to inter-office memos at work, or onto a letter to a loved one. I am sure you could come up with plenty of other ideas too.

In general, brads can be either functional or decorative. You can use a brad if you want to attach one piece of paper to another, or if you want to secure several layers. For example, if you would like to attach a journaling block to your scrapbook page, or a transparency overtop of a photo, you could use a brad to do it.

How many brads are in the package?

The package of brads that I purchased contains 12 pieces.

Where are these brads made?

Amy Butler's fabric / metal brads are imported from the exotic and fascinating land of China.

If you need more information about these brads, or if you would like to know where to purchase them, please contact K & Company:

K & Company, LLC
10715 NW Air World Drive
Kansas City, MO
64153
www.kandcompany.com

Code: 558366
Original artwork copyright Amy Butler
Art of the Midwest, LLC.