the hybrid chick

This month our designer in the spotlight is Karen Lewis Designz!

Karen makes beautiful patterned papers that are just perfect for hybrid projects! She puts lots of floral, stripe, plaid and polka-dot patterns into her paper packs, which make for lots of choices when you’re planning out a project. Karen also makes great word art and embellishments that are well suited to hybrid papercrafting, too.

Here’s how you can keep up with the latest news and info from Karen:

• Karen’s Blog: Karen Lewis Designz
• Facebook: Karen Lewis Designz Fan Page

And here is just a small sampling of some of the beautiful things you will find in Karen’s shop:

Here are some adorable projects from the Hybrid Gallery using Karen’s designs. First, here’s a sweet card from Alice, using Karen’s Supreme Paper Pack Volume 1:

Here is a sweet little box from Kelleigh using Karen’s Close Up collection:

And here’s one from Sharyn using Karen’s Makin’ Mischief kit:

As you can see, Karen’s things print out beautifully. I was excited to make something of my own!

I thought about what I’d like to make and I settled on some boxes for my daughter and myself. I wanted to make a set of pretty boxes that I could use in my scrap space. I thought I could use these as little, decorative bins to throw flowers, ribbons and buttons into—that sort of thing. And I thought that my daughter would like to have a set of her own for the little things that she has in her room!

I started off with one of the new templates from The Cutting Files, the Gift Basket. Since I knew that I was going to be cutting out six boxes, I opted for the simplest pattern. Otherwise, I would have totally used the scalloped one. But I didn’t want to go overboard. That’s because I also wanted to make flowers to go with each box, too! I used Kelleigh Ratzlaff’s free Paper Flower Pieces for that.

Well, it didn’t take too long to trim all six sets of boxes and flowers out. I just did it while my daughter worked on her schoolwork:

Yup! That’s six boxes and 24 flower pieces. Yeah, yeah—I know. Santa needs to bring me a cutting machine like the Silhouette or the Circut. And a laser printer would be nice, too. You listening, Santa?! But in the meantime, I’m happy that I can still use things from The Cutting Files and Kelleigh without needing all that stuff. Options! Yay!

Well, here’s how they turned out! This one is my set. I used Karen’s Serendipity papers:

Top view:

And this is my daughter’s set (sorry the one box is so out of focus—I didn’t notice that until I transferred it over to my computer). For her set I used 5 Things I Love About You:

We love them! My daughter especially loves that CUTE birdie pattern. Me, too. It’s adorable!

So, I hope you are feeling inspired now! Be sure to take a look at the beautiful things in Karen’s shop! You’re sure to find something that’s perfect for your next hybrid project.

Happy crafting!

Other Articles by Nicole Seitler:

• Spotlight on: BasicGrey - February 26th, 2011
• For the Love of Hybrid! - February 24th, 2011
• Spotlight on: Jennifer Fox Designs - November 20th, 2010
• Make your own Autumn Centerpiece - November 8th, 2010
• Spotlight on: Dysfunctional Design - September 25th, 2010