By Angie Felix

The Basics of Brads

Circles, squares, stars, trees, flowers, snowflakes and balloons in golds, silvers, reds, yellows, pinks, greens and blues—the pure number of shapes, sizes and colors of brads is shocking and incredibly exhilarating at the same time. Whether you’re adding a tag, an overlay or a simple little accent to a handcrafted project, brads are a cool way to add a special touch.

These small metal paper-fasteners were originally found in office supply stores and have migrated easily into the world of paper crafting. The variety of shapes, sizes and colors makes brads a perfect fit for scrapbooking, tags and cardmaking while the decorative appeal and simple functionality make them a great double-duty embellishment.

Though similar in function to eyelets, there are definitely benefits to using brads over eyelets: Brads are quieter to attach—no hammering required—and easier to insert. Not only that, you can even purchase brads that look just like eyelets!

To insert a brad, simply punch a hole with a 1/16” hole punch or use the tip of your X-acto® knife to pierce the paper where you want to add the brad. Insert the brad prongs into the hole and turn the paper over. Flatten both prongs.

How or where do you use brads? Anywhere—the possibilities truly are endless! Brads are great for attaching vellum or overlays to a project, as they eliminate the need to hide the adhesive. Brads are also perfect for creating the finishing touch at the top of a tag. Try tying fibers around the brad or securing a ribbon behind it to accent the tag even further. Brads are even great just to decorate—try a simple circle brad at the center of a flower cut-out, a brad put through a metal pinwheel or a brad on each of four corners of a slide mount as shown here.

Here are just a few samples of how designers LeNae Gerig, Paris Dukes and Shauna Berglund-Immel use brads in their everyday paper crafting projects.

Shaped Brads
In this Nanna & Cloe layout, LeNae used cute little mini blue heart brads. The heart shape is perfect for this precious baby page and the soft pastel tone goes well with the pinks, yellows and greens. LeNae used the brads to accent the bottom border, decorate the tag near the top of the page and attach a folded piece of ribbon to decorate her journaling.

Adding a Decorative Pinwheel Accent
Pinwheels are a perfect accompaniment for a simple little brad. Paris added a folded over piece of ribbon to her slide mount using a brad and pinwheel. She easily punched a hole through the slide mount and ribbon, stuck the end of her brad through the pinwheel, then inserted the brad through the slide mount and ribbon as usual. It’s a great little decorative touch!

Attaching Overlays
Shauna’s birthday layout was the perfect place to add brads. She used white mini brads throughout her design, securing clear overlay images to slide mounts. Shauna mixed up the way she used the brads—14 around the opening of a circle slide mount, one on the edge of another circular slide, one on each corner of a standard square slide mount and another slide with two diagonal from each other. The mini circle brads work perfectly with the dotted paper, mimicking the small dots, and their white color stands out, which helps the eye flow to all of Shauna’s slide mount embellishments.

“Hanging” Accents with Brads
Brads are also great for “hanging” embellishments like journaling or slide mounts. In this layout, LeNae looped string through the loops on these special loopy brads and attached the string to the back of the slide mounts to give the appearance they were hanging from the brads. This is a great way to add a small matted photo or journaling block as well.

These fun little functional embellishments are truly a timesaver and a paper crafter’s dream. Whether you’re looking for a perfect little leaf accent for your fall page, a bright colored paper fastener to add to a citrus toned layout or simple little silver brads for a handmade card, you’ll be amazed at the numerous styles, shapes, sizes and designs. There’s something perfect for every project!