Randi's Review	Andrea's Review	Rachel's Review	Catherine's Review	Chris' Review

Review by Randi

Around The Block manufactures a myriad of papers, embellishments and tools, all of which add interest and excitement to our layouts and paper crafts. For this review I worked with their newest Christmas themed products. This collection offers a really nice variety of options from papers, to dimensional stickers, to brads and clips. They all coordinate beautifully together, of course.

Included in this review are:

• 7 two-sided Cardstock Patterned Papers
• Christmas Epoxy Stickers
• Christmas Microsquares Stickers
• Christmas Brads
• Clipper with Silly Christmas Clips

The patterned papers in this collection are cardstock quality and retail for about sixty cents per sheet. Their colors are seasonal shades of red, green, white, and blues. I especially liked the "Season's Sayings" paper which can be used as an entire 12" x 12" sheet, or as I did, by cutting individual saying blocks from this paper to use as quotes on a layout.

Title: Tree Day
Products used: Christmas Joy paper, Around The Block
Christmas Sayings paper, Around The Block
Christmas Ribbons paper, Around The Block
Dark Sage Prismatics Cardstock, Prism Papers
Christmas Brads Paper Treats, Around The Block
Silly Christmas Clips, Around The Block
Christmas Epoxy Stickers, Paper Treats, Around The Block
Microsquares Paper Treats Stickers, Around The Block
AlphaStructures Chipboard Letters, Zsiage
Aqua Opaque Art Glitter, Barbara Trombley's
Ribbon, Really Reasonable Ribbon
Permanent Bond Glue Runner, Adhesive Tech
Designer Dries Clear Adhesive, Art Glitter

As you can see in the layout, the epoxy stickers add dimension and shine, so much in fact that my four-year-old daughter asked, "Is it still wet?" when she was looking at the layout on my desk. She didn't want to smudge my "glossy accents" over the stickers! Now THAT is convincing!

This mega-sized pack includes four entire sheets of these stickers for $5.00. The stickers include images of ornaments, trees, elves, sayings and more. Along the same line, but much smaller are the Microsquares. These are teeny tiny splashes of color and dimension. There are thirty-nine stickers in each $3.00 package.

Brads are one of my all-time favorite embellishments. They can add texture and color so quickly and easily. Around The Block has a unique way of selling them - Brads in a box - $4.99 per box! Each box contains 42 assorted brads. The Christmas options include an ornament, stocking, tree, and Santa hat, as well as the words "Holiday Wishes," "Happy Holidays," "Christmas Cheer," "Santa Rocks!" and "Christmas." I used one of the tree brads in the layout above. I really love the color on these brads!

The Clipper was unlike any tool I had seen before. Just insert the edge of your papers into the end of the clipper and push down on the lever. These are great for card making, scrapbooking, kids crafts, and as I used in my altered composition book below, marking areas in a book. Each set comes with 50 reusable clips and a clipper. I found them online for $6.50 - $6.99 per set. Easy to use, and fun! Check them out for a low-cost gift.

Each Christmas I alter a composition journal for myself to help me keep track of wish lists, and who I've bought a gift for or still need to buy a gift for. Around The Block "Santa" paper made this year's journal a snap with the addition of a few of their stickers and clips.

Title: Christmas List Journal
Products used: Santa paper: Around The Block
Silly Christmas Clips: Around The Block
Christmas Microsquares Paper Treats: Around The Block
Two-sided tape
Ribbon
Permanent Bond Glue Runner, Adhesive Tech

The Around the Block Christmas collection also lends itself to altered projects. I created this advent calendar as a gift, using the Around the Block papers in serendipity art on the mitten. The bottom edge of the mitten is formed with Microsquares stickers.

Title: Snowman Advent Calendar
Products used: Wooden Snowman with drawers, Plaid
Patterned Paper, Around the Block
Microsquares Christmas Stickers, Around the Block
Pressboard Snowman with drawers, Plaid
Lime Sparkle Glitter Squeeze Art Paint, White Shortcut Paint, Crystal Clear Coating, Krylon
Metallic Olive Green, Citrine, Burnt Orange, and Crimson Lumiere Paint, Jacquard
Metallic Rub Ons, Craf-T
Espresso Paint Dabber, Ranger
Ribbon and Ric Rac, Tie One On Ribbon Club
Black Art Glitter, Barbara Trombley's
Mod Podge

This easy-to-create tree ornament is simply a wooden snowflake covered Around the Block Christmas papers (serendipity style) and features one of their Epoxy Stickers in the center.

Title: Serendipity Snowflake Ornament
Products used: Wooden Snowflake, ProvoCraft
Patterned Paper, Around the Block
Metallic Carstock, Prism Papers
Christmas Epoxy Sticker, Around the Block
Lime Sparkle Glitter Squeeze Art Paint, Krylon
Ric Rac, Tie One On Ribbon Club
Mod Podge

I really enjoyed the variety in this collection, and I think you will too. Check out Around The Block for top quality supplies for recording your holiday memories and creating art projects this season.

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Review by Andrea

If you want scrapbook products that offer a freshness over the regular offerings of paper and stickers, go visit Around The Block! Their innovative is just plain fun when it comes to their product line. For this review, we were able to work with the Christmas 2006 Collection which holds some great little surprises!

There was a great selection of products in our review packages! The first eye-catching items were the patterned papers. Made of heavy weight paper, both sides are printed with different patterns allowing for the ultimate in flexibility. A small strip on the edge gives the name and merchandising information for that pattern. The core of the paper is white and stands up to all kinds of distressing like tearing, crumpling and stamping.

The "paper treats" are plentiful with the Christmas Collection. That is Around The Block's pet name for embellishments. There are 2 types of epoxy stickers that are brightly colored to match the papers and have a clear domed top giving them a nice 3-D effect. One type is called Microsquares that are 39-3/8" squares of pictures, words and short phrases in the Christmas theme. The other type is a 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" matchbook containing 4 sheets of shaped and colorful accents matching the patterned paper designs.

The Christmas Brads are larger than the average brad and are painted a beautiful finish. With the 42 pieces in the box, there is a nice assortment for any kind of project.

The Silly Christmas Clipper and Clips set is a really fun addition to any page. The Clipper attaches small binder-type plastic colored clips to the edge of paper or ribbon in a snap. The clips have little sayings on them like "Grinch" and "No Peeking" which add a lot of fun to your project. They are easy to move around, so no worries about changing your mind once you see it on the project!

The double-sided paper is so perfect for creating scrapbook pages! The reverse side is usually a smaller more monochromatic pattern great for using as mats or as a background. This page came together quickly since all of the Christmas products coordinate - what a time saver! The different epoxy stickers make a simple collage block in the upper left of the page. The brads were a nice touch under the photo and a little doodling turned them into hanging ornaments.

Title: Scrap Party
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics: Frosted Teal & Intense Teal)
Patterned Paper (Around The Block, Christmas Cheer)
Epoxy and Microsquare Stickers (Around The Block, Christmas)
Brads (Around The Block Christmas)
Stamps (Green Grass Stamps, Back to the Futura)
Ink (Stampin' Up! Forest Foliage)
Sketch (www.inmymindseye.com)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

Talk about simple! In one sitting, I was able to create 6 holiday birthday cards using only 2 pieces of the patterned paper. The versatility of the double-sided patterns is striking and can be used for more than Christmas as shown by these birthday cards. The epoxy stickers and clips add unique touches to the cards that the recepient will appreciate!

Title: December Birthday Cards
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics: Intense Kiwi, Candle Glow Medium, Razzleberry Dark & Classic Green)
Patterned Paper (Around The Block: In Santa's Bag & Color Me Christmas)
Epoxy and Microsquare Stickers (Around The Block, Christmas)
Clips (Around The Block, Silly Christmas)
Stamps (Stampin' Up! and Hero Arts)
Ink (Ranger Distress: Peeled Paint, Fired Brick & Pine Needles)
Ribbon and Trim (Shoebox Trims)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

Around The Block has a fantastic collection here. Lots of variety and high quality just oozes from the products! There is a lot left from the products included in the review, so visit the Around The Block Gallery to check out all the neat projects being added, especially after the holidays. If you're looking for some fun products that make you smile when you look back on your Christmas pages, don't hesitate to get this collection today!

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Review by Rachel

I first saw Around The Block at CHA in July! I was impressed with their booth and even more impressed with their customer service. A wonderful gentlemen showed us around the booth and explained all the new collections to us and I have to say I was hooked at that time. I was thrilled when I found out I would be working the Christmas Collection for this review.

I received a package of Microsquares, a package of Clippers and Clips, Brads, Epoxy Stickers, and seven different sheets of patterned paper. The first thing to catch my eye was the beautiful colors of paper. It is double-sided and heavy weight. The seven different patterns I received were: “Christmas Ribbons”, “Christmas Cheer”, “In Santa’s Bag”. “Season Saying’s”, “Christmas Joy”, “Santa”, and “Color Me Christmas”. The colors are beautiful reds, greens, whites, and even some blue. There is a patterned paper for everyone and retails online for $.60.

The next thing that caught my eye and also caught my 6 year old daughter’s eye was the Clippers and Clips. They come packaged together and include 50 clips with different Christmas sayings on each clip. The clips are re-useable and the Clippers are very easy to use, so easy that my daughter was able to do it. There are instructions included on the back of the package, but she also figured out that you could just slide the clips on with your fingers as well. The Clippers and Clip sell online for $6.19.

The Epoxy Stickers are so much fun, bright, colorful, and easy to use. There are 4 sheets of stickers with a total of approximately 52 stickers in all. This retails online for $5.00. The Microsquares come with 39 adhesive backed pieces and retail online for $2.00.

The Brads all come in silver with red or green symbols or words. There are 42 brads included in the package that retails for $5.00 online.

I had so much fun working with this whole collection. It was the perfect collection for me to get caught up on my Christmas photos from years past. Everything coordinates perfectly and there is no guesswork. I love the weight of the patterned paper also. It stands up to everything you can throw at it.

My first project is a layout documenting the year that my daughter was an angel in the Christmas play and the year we built the Christmas Village in the gymnasium of our church.

Title: Christmas Village
Products used: Patterned Paper, Christmas Cheer, Christmas Ribbons, Around The Block
Cardstock, Herbal Green Medium, Prism
Brads, Paper Treats, Christmas, Around The Block
Epoxy Stickers, Paper Treats, Christmas, Around The Block
Clips, Paper Treats, Christmas, Around The Block
Letter Stickers, Fleamarket Blocks, Creative Imaginations
Ribbon, Offray
Flowers, Unknown
Adhesive, Permanent Glue Runner, Ad Tech
Hot Glue, ColdHeat Glue Gun

My next project was to make a Christmas card. This card was so much fun and easy to make!

Title: Merry Christmas
Products used: Cardstock, Herbal Green Medium, Blush Red Dark, Prism
Patterned Paper, Christmas Joy, Season’s Sayings, Around The Block
Brads, Paper Treats, Christmas, Around The Block
Epoxy Stickers, Paper Treats, Christmas, Around The Block
Ribbons, Flair Designs
Adhesive, Permanent Glue Runner, Adhesive Tech
Hot Glue, ColdHeat Glue Gun

I have thoroughly enjoyed using this collection. Their products are incredibly high quality and worth every penny. The collection coordinates perfectly and you will not have to be guessing about coordinating the patterned paper. You will want to have every piece of this collection as you get ready to scrap your Christmas pictures this year! It is fun, joyful, and cheerful. This is the perfect collection to show off your Christmas photos. I HIGHLY recommend this collection to everyone!

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Review by Catherine

Around The Block products are known by many in the scrapbooking world to be innovative and fun. The newest line of Christmas products from Around The Block is certainly in step with the familiar fun and innovative product line, and may be a surprise as well.

As I opened my review package from Around The Block, I was struck by two impressions: the number of different Christmas themed products available to review, and the beautiful, rich colors of the papers in the collection. I have some of the Around The Block Christmas papers from their release last year, and the colors are typical Christmas colors, exactly as one would expect. The new Christmas Collection from this year has deep, rich colors such as burgundy and sage green, as well as lighter colors such as lime green. Such interesting color combinations, these papers are sure to be one of this season’s favorites for anyone who is able to view them up close and personally.

I received a huge variety of products to review from Around The Block, besides the patterned papers. Also included were a Christmas Clipper and clips, Christmas Microsquares, Christmas Epoxy Stickers, and Christmas Brads in a Box. I must say that I loved using all of the different products that were included in this collection. The Christmas Brads are large brads that are embossed and colored, which come in nine different designs. The Christmas Epoxy Stickers are wonderfully coordinated with the papers in the Christmas Collection, with fun, interesting shapes, words, and designs. The Christmas Clips and Clipper are plastic clips that can be attached to the edge of photographs or papers, or can clip two things together. This is not a new product from Around The Block, but is actually one of the very first products that I was ever introduced to by this company. Certainly, each of the different types of embellishments in the Christmas line are wonderful quality products as well as being interesting and innovative.

By far however, the best parts of this collection are the double-sided cardstock weight papers. I decided to use them to create some decorations for my home. There are seven different patterned papers available and each is double-sided, making twelve different patterns available: each of them more beautiful than the next. I used all of the different patterns to create a Christmas Tree decoration and ornament.

Title: Christmas Decorations
Products used: Patterned Paper (Around The Block - Christmas)
Paper Treats (Around The Block - Christmas)
Brads (Around The Block - Christmas)
Brads (KI Memories)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech Ultimate Glue Gun, Ultimate Glue Sticks)

For the next project, I used my Around The Block products to create a layout about one of my wintertime addictions. The colors and fun patterns of the papers, as well as the different embellishments available made this layout easy to create, as well as fun and interesting.

Title: Christmas Joy
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Exclusives)
Patterned Paper (Around The Block - Christmas)
Brads (Around The Block - Christmas)
Clips & Clipper (Around The Block - Christmas)
Rub-ons (Making memories)
Glitter Alphabet (MAMBI)
Adhesive (AdTech Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

Because of the huge number of products included in this line, I had a lot of things left over, so I decided to use the papers and paper treats to embellish a paint can for a Christmas gift. I love the way it turned out!

Title: Christmas Paint Can
Products used: Patterned Paper (Around The Block - Christmas)
Epoxy Stickers (Around The Block – Christmas Paper Treats)
Ribbon (Assorted)
Glitter Alphabet (MAMBI)
Adhesive (AdTech Permanent Bond Glue Runner; Adhesive Tech PVA Glue)

I certainly have enjoyed having the opportunity to the Christmas Collection papers and embellishments from Around The Block. The beautiful color combinations, the high quality products, and the sense of fun that each of these different products adds to any Christmas project make these products some of my absolute favorites this season. I give the Around The Block Christmas Collection my highest recommendation. You have got to see these papers to appreciate how beautiful they are, but once you do, you’ll be itching to create something beautiful with them.

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Review by Chris

Around The Block arrived on the Scrapbooking block just a couple of years ago and clearly, they are here to stay. Their product lines are creative and colorful, inspiring and innovative. Their themed collections are comprehensive and may include papers, epoxy elements, chipboard shapes, brads, clips and more. While I was browsing their website, I kept finding new, cool products that I have not seen before. Around The Block definitely has an awesome creative team.

For this review, I received the complete Christmas collection. And I mean complete!! I received papers, epoxy elements, brads and a clipper with clips. In my package were 14 pieces of gorgeous double-sided heavy-weight patterned paper. The reds and greens of this color palette are beautiful. The patterns of the paper are innovative and detailed with a little whimsy thrown in. I received 2 sheets of: In Santa’s Bag, Christmas Ribbons, Christmas Joy, Christmas Cheer, Seasons Sayings and Santa. In addition to the printed papers, there were two sheets of “Color Me Christmas” paper designed in colored outline form. This very cute paper can be used as is, or you can color in the designs as you want. How fun is that!!!

I also received a selection of Paper Treats: a box with 42 large Christmas brads in shapes and sayings; a matchbook of 4 sheets of different Christmas Epoxy Sticker shapes and word sayings; and a package of 39 different microsquare epoxy stickers. Also included in my package was a Clipper with 50 Christmas clips. Wow! I could not wait to get started using this gorgeous collection. My head was spinning with ideas of things to make.

My first project was a layout. My son and I had recently been to the annual Christmas Tree Show, a fundraiser for a local Medical Center. The trees are created and donated for auction and the designers do an awesome job. I knew these Around The Block Christmas papers would be perfect for my photos. I used 5 different papers on this layout and I love how everything goes together so well. The bright papers have a corresponding subdued design on the back, allowing you to add more papers to your layout with it becoming overwhelming. I added dimensional interest by using Christmas brads and clips and some ribbon. This color palette adds an elegant look to the layout.

Title: Christmas Tree Time
Products used: Patterned Paper (Around The Block, Christmas)
Brads (Around The Block, Paper Treats, Christmas Brads)
Clips and Clipper (Around The Block, Christmas)
Ribbon (Really Reasonable Ribbon Club)
Sketch (Page Maps)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Tape Runner

Next, I wanted to make a mini-album gift for my dad, using coffee cup sleeves. I stitched the sleeves closed at the bottom, creating a pocket. I covered each page with paper. The patterned papers are heavy enough to stand alone as the tag pages for the pockets. The album is bound with rings. I used every one of the paper designs in this little book and I just love how it came out.

Title: Christmas 2006
Products used: Patterned paper (Around The Block, Christmas)
Brads (Around The Block, Paper Treats, Christmas Brads)
Stickers (Around The Block, Paper Treats, Christmas Epoxy Stickers and Christmas Microsquares)
Chipboard (Maya Road; Magistical Memories)
Stamps (Maya Road; Stampin' Up!; Autumn Leaves)
Paint (Ranger, Dabbers; Li’l Davis Metallic)
Ribbon (Really Reasonable Ribbon Club; Offray)
Die Cut (QuicKutz, tab)
Glitter (Ranger, Stickles)
Flowers (Maya Road, Sheer Collection)
Ink (Ranger, Alcohol Ink)
Rub-ons (Making Memories)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Glue Runner, A Fine Line PVA glue)

I still had more ideas! I wanted to make something to hold my Holiday cards, so I altered the Got Flowers? crate from Prima. First I painted the entire thing and then I decoupaged papers on the outside edges. I also covered a piece of chipboard to make a solid bottom. Now I’m just waiting for the cards to arrive!

Title: Got Cards?
Products used: Patterned papers (Around The Block Christmas)
Brads (Around The Block, Paper Treats, Christmas Brads)
Stickers (Around The Block, Paper Treats, Christmas Epoxy Stickers)
Flowers (Prima)
Crate (Prima)
Paint (Plaid)
Rhinestones (RhinestoneNY)
Ribbons (Really Reasonable Ribbon Club)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Glue Runner; Plaid, Mod Podge)

Around The Block has developed an awesome Christmas collection. The rich color palette is elegant and the variety of embellishments is fantastic. By the time I’m finished with all the projects I have planned, there won’t be anything left of this collection to put away!

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