Hi everyone! It’s Kate here, with another edition of our Hybrid How-To series. Travel season is on the way, and I thought it would be fun today to show you how I made these cute hybrid luggage tags for my kids.

SUPPLIES

• Digital scrapbooking kit of your choice (I used Happy Camper by Mari Koegelenberg)
• Photo editing program like Photoshop (PS) or Photoshop Elements (PSE)
• Cardstock
• Self-seal laminating sheets
• Scissors

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In PSE, I built my luggage tag templates (if you’d like to use mine, you can DOWNLOAD THEM HERE).

2. Add digital paper and elements to each of the tags, by using each PNG tag shape as a clipping mask (Ctrl-G in PSE or Ctrl-Alt-G in PS). Make sure you duplicate the templates so you can create a front and back for each tag. You can also add text to one side of each tag, if desired. Once you have them ready, send them to the printer and cut them out.

3. The next step is to adhere the front of the tag to the back of the tag. I used thin glue dots for this (don’t use anything too thick, or it shows up through the cardstock once you laminate).

4. Place your tags on a self-seal laminating sheet, and add another sheet to the top. Using your nail or a smoothing tool, smooth out the bubbles — especially along the edges of the tags. Cut them out, leaving a little bit of lamination for the edges.

5. At this point, you can just punch a hole and add some string or ribbon for attaching to the luggage. I chose to add a colorful eyelet to each.

And that’s all there is to it! Easy, right? 🙂

If you want to give this project a try, you can earn TDP challenge points if you post a photo of your finished project in the May 2017 Hybrid Challenge thread in The Digital Press forum.

---

 About the Author  Kate is on the hybrid team here at The Digital Press. She lives on the Utah/Colorado border with her husband, 5 kids, 10 chickens, and a dog named Gracie. She’s a city-born girl who found she’s really a country girl at heart. She can be found outside, barefoot, and probably in her garden.

Hello everyone, It’s Tanya here for this week’s Hybrid How-to.  I’m going to show you how to create this cute and easy recycled project.   It’s  one way to show your child’s teacher ” THANK YOU” for all they do.   I loved creating things for my kid’s teachers when they were in school.  There are many opportunities throughout the year….the first day of school, teacher appreciation day, the last day of school, their birthday….just to name a few.  Today we are creating this project for the last day of school.

SUPPLIES Needed:

• digital kit of your choice ( I used School Rules by Mari Koegelenbern and Land of the learning by Anita Designs)
• empty gum container
• double sided tape
• pop up dots
• punches
• scrap piece of cardstock
• shredded paper
• gift card

These are the two kits that I chose, but there are many more fun “school” kits at The Digital Press shop to choose from.

I created the tags and note cards using the Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software using the print and cut feature.   It can be done in any photo editing program, print and cut with a pair of scissors.

I love my Silhouette and even when things are probably easier just to cut out  Old School, I still use my Silhouette instead.  It’s kinda addicting!!

Use the big scallop to punch out the bottom piece.  Continue using the different punches for the layered tag.

Add pop dots to the apple for dimension.  I have tons of pop dots on hand because I love the layered look.

Use the tiny circle punch to punch a hole for the ribbon to go through.

Before adding the gift card, add some of the shredded tissue to the bottom.  There are so many different colors and you can find them for a $1.00 a bag at the Dollar Tree.

After adding the gift card, attach the tag with ribbon of your choice.   Isn’t this a super cute way to give your child’s teacher a gift card?

Oh and don’t forget the bus driver.  Because of them, the kiddos get to and from school safe and sound.

For this one, I created little note cards for the teacher to use next year.   Imagine them stapled to the top of your child’s work.   This simple gift even without a gift card would be very sweet.

I hope that you have enjoyed today’s Hybrid How-To here on The Digital Press’ Blog.  Now it’s your turn to create something fun!

I hope that you have enjoyed today’s Hybrid How-To here on The Digital Press’s blog. Now it’s your turn to create something fun (with or without a cutting machine)! If you would like to earn points toward TDP’s monthly challenge system, visit the corresponding monthly Hybrid Challenge in the forum’s CROSSWORD SECTION (you’ll find it stickied up near the top during May 2017). We’d love to see your creations!

---

About the Author  Tanya is a part of the hybrid team here at The Digital Press. She has been hybrid crafting for at least 14 years now, and loves creating and sharing those creations with others. Her all-time favorite tool is her Silhouette Cameo. She has been married for 28 years to her high school sweetheart, Richard and has two sons: Chris, 25 and Chance, 20. She also enjoys crocheting, photography and woodworking

.

Hello everyone! It’s Saturday, and therefore time for another edition of our Hybrid How-To series here on The Digital Press blog! Today I’m going to show you how make a beautiful mini-album as a gift for Mother’s Day.

Supplies Needed:

• digital kit of your choice (I used For Mom By Little Lamm & Co)
• white cardstock paper
• any physical supplies/embelishments from your stash (I used only wood veneers and washi tape)

Instructions:

First, you will need two pieces of white cardstock, sized/formatted like the images below…

 

Next, after cutting the papers, you will need to score and fold them as shown below (to ensure they look like the format of the images just above this)…

You’ll want to glue the middle section (shown above) of the top paper to the same area of the bottom paper. This will create a thicker center section, along with multiple pages on each side that fold inward.

Next, it’s time to assemble and decorate the album. I chose digital patterned papers that I wanted to use in my mini-album, printed them, and then cut them to look like the images below…

*NOTE* These patterned papers, when printed, are a little bit smaller than the white cardstock sections, to enable us to glue them down on each section, as shown in the following image (below).

Glue your patterned papers down as a base on each section, and then decorate with photos, printed digital embellishments, and physical supplies!

 

Decorating your album is the most fun part of the process. Enjoy it!

Here’s a look at my album as I added photos and embellishments and it took shape…

I think this is a beautiful way to honor our mothers, isn’t it? And a beautiful and delicate gift. 🙂

If you’d like to give this a try, too, don’t forget that you can earn challenge points at TDP! Come visit the CROSSWORD SECTION in The Digital Press forum, and you’ll find this month’s Hybrid Challenge thread (*NOTE* for each month’s Hybrid Challenge at TDP, you get to choose one of the two (2) “Hybrid How-To” tutorial posts from here on the blog for that month, and then you get to make your own version of that chosen project). If you choose to give today’s project a try… all you have to do is make a mini-album like mine using some digital elements and papers. Give it a shot, and share your final results with us! We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Have a great weekend, you guys… and happy scrapping!

---

About the Author  Andrea Albuquerque is part of the Hybrid Creative Team here at Digital Press. Andrea has been a scrapper since 2010 and a photographer since 2012. Although she adores the flexibility and creativity of digital, she can’t resist playing with paper, paint, and embellishments… so hybrid scrapping is the perfect medium for her! She lives in Brazil with her hubby.

Hello everyone! It’s Saturday, and time for another edition of Hybrid How-To… and today I’m going to show you how to use digital stamps to create customized tags (and/or other projects).

Supplies Needed

• Digital stamps (I used stamps from Speechies and Love This by Rachel Hodge, and also This Life March Stamps from the Juno Designs shop)
• Digital Kit (I used In Living Colour by KimB Designs)
• Watercolor paints or distress inks
• Laser printer
• Optional — Minc foiling machine

Instructions

I used Microsoft Word to create my project… but of course you can use just about any word processing or image editing software. You will need to arrange your elements (stamps, etc.) on the page in a way that is conducive to printing. Don’t forget to leave some white space around each element (and around the outer edge of the page as a margin).

*TIP*  In Word, I set the ‘Wrap Text’ option to ‘In Front of Text’ so as to be able to easily move the elements around on the page.

If  you have access to a laser printer, then you can print your document before painting. However, if you only have an inkjet printer, you must decorate your page first before printing or your images will run.

Once you have your stamps printed… you can let your creativity run wild! Use watercolor paints (or similarly-styled inks) to create unique backgrounds. Here’s a look at what I did…

*TIP* Use washi tape or masking tape to secure your page to a board or desk. This will help the paper stay flat (rather than curling).

Color your tags as you wish — use ombre effects, splotches, etc. — it’s up to you. I even left a few of my images blank so that I could color them in after I had cut out the pieces.

When you’ve finished, carefully remove the tape and allow to dry. It’s a good idea to place a heavy book on top to keep the paper flat.

OPTIONAL EXTRA STEP — Because I used a laser printer, I could add foil to my pieces using a Minc machine. To do this, you place the foil on top of the paper and feed it through the machine. The foil reacts with the toner… which melts and grabs the foil. Foil is available in a rainbow of colour and adds a real luxury to your pieces. Check this out…

Finally, you will cut out your pieces (adding extra color or ink as you wish). You can die cut or use a cutting machine to get really creative if you wish.

Here, you can see that I created a card with one of my tags…

You can also add them to scrapbook pages, pocket scrapping projects, or even planner pages! Here’s a look at a few pieces I thought could work well in a memory planner…

Isn’t this easy and fun? Now you can create something unique with your digital stamps, and hold the end-product in your hands!

Want to give this project a try? You can earn challenge points towards the April 2017 challenges here at The Digital Press if you share your finished projects with us. Check out our monthly challenge information in the CROSSWORD SECTION of the forum.

---

About the Author  Morag Cutts is part of the Hybrid Creative Team here at Digital Press. Morag has been an avid scrapper and photographer for ten years.  Although she adores the flexibility and creativity of digital, Morag can’t resist playing with paper and embellishments – so hybrid scrapping is the perfect medium for her!  Morag lives in the UK with her hubby, two kids and recently adopted puppy.

 

Hello, everyone! Kate here to show you how to create these fun paper pouches — just in time for Easter!

Supplies

• Digital kit of your choice (I used It’s a Spring Thing, found in the Juno Designs shop here at TDP)
• Scissors or a straight cutter
• Adhesive (for this project, I prefer glue dot strips OR hot glue)
• Sewing Machine

Instructions

1. Print your chosen digital papers and cut into rectangles. Mine are 4″x5″ and 3″x5″…

2. Add the adhesive of your choice to the short edge of the rectangle and roll the paper up, adhering to the other short edge. You’re basically making a bunch of paper tubes.

3. Pinch one open end of the tube together and sew along the edge. Fill with candy, but don’t overfill or you will have trouble getting the other side to close. Once it’s filled, pinch the other end together — in the opposite direction (see below) — and sew along the edge…

And that’s all there is to it! I like to display these in a glass bowl on the coffee table, but they would also make an awesome edition to an Easter basket.

Want to give this a try (and earn challenge points toward the March 2017 challenges here at The Digital Press)? Come check out our monthly hybrid challenge information in the forum HERE.

---

 About the Author  Kate is on the hybrid team here at The Digital Press. She lives on the Utah/Colorado border with her husband, 5 kids, 10 chickens, and a dog named Gracie. She’s a city-born girl who found she’s really a country girl at heart. She can be found outside, barefoot, and probably in her garden.

Hello everyone! It’s Tanya here for this week’s Hybrid How-To… to show you how to make a fun and easy robot party favor! 🙂

The minute I saw this adorable new Automated | Kit by Laura Passage, I knew I had to do something with it. My friends ask me all the time, “why do you make all these wonderful things and you don’t even have small children?” Want to know why?! It’s because I looooove hybrid crafting and sharing those craft ideas with you. I always hope that it will inspire you to take a shot at hybrid crafting and create something fun.

I don’t think Robot party favors were Laura’s original idea for the kit, but that is one on the reasons I love hybrid crafting… there can be soooo many uses for a single kit!

I used my Silhouette Cameo for this project… mainly because I’m spoiled by it! There are other ways to achieve the same results, however, and you don’t need a cutting machine in order to do this project.

To begin, you will need to separate the pieces of each robot so that you will be able to cut each different piece of the “puzzle.” To do this, open the element you want to use and copy it a couple of times (I do this just in case I need to go back to the original for any reason). Next go to trace, uncheck the high pass filter and then select trace and detach. As you move the threshold slider to the right, you can see the parts that will detach (highlighted yellow in the image, below). I will do this a couple of times, each time moving the slider to highlight more of the image to detach.

In this next image, you can see the other part of the image that will detach…

To get the rectangle (shown below, circled), I simply picked the rectangle tool and drew it out to the size I needed…

Next, you can see how I organized all my pieces on the mat (this is also how I will set up my scrap pieces of card stock when I actually cut with my machine)…

Don’t forget to turn on the cut lines, as shown here…

For the base piece, I opened the trace image box and chose the trace outline box…

The neat thing about using card stock (as opposed to printing and cutting using digital papers/patterns) is that you can use up all your old paper scraps. As you can see, below, I actually chose the colors that were in the kit… but you can use any color scraps you have on hand. You can see here that I was able to put five different colors on the mat at the same time… and boy, is this a time saver! (also, if you scroll up, 2 images above, you can see how the paper scraps in this next image match the layout of images I created in the software).

Here’s a look at all of the pieces, once I removed the excess cardstock…

As you can see in the next image, I actually had to re-cut a few pieces because my calculations were off. Oops! (not that I really calculated anything; I eyeballed it!)…

And finally, once you have all of the separate parts cut out… you will simply group them together to put into a cellophane bag (for the end-users to be able to assemble and create their own robots!)…

Here are the tags I created to tie to the gift bags…

And that’s it! A ready-made party favor to send with your guests, so they can go home and assemble their own robots. So much fun!

I hope that you have enjoyed today’s Hybrid How-To here on The Digital Press’s blog. Now it’s your turn to create something fun (with or without a cutting machine)! If you would like to earn points toward TDP’s monthly challenge system, visit the corresponding monthly Hybrid Challenge in the forum’s CROSSWORD SECTION (you’ll find it stickied up near the top during March 2017). We’d love to see your creations!

---

About the Author  Tanya is a part of the hybrid team here at The Digital Press. She has been hybrid crafting for at least 14 years now, and loves creating and sharing those creations with others. Her all-time favorite tool is her Silhouette Cameo. She has been married for 28 years to her high school sweetheart, Richard and has two sons: Chris, 25 and Chance, 20. She also enjoys crocheting, photography and woodworking