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The Digi Nails – A Hybrid Manicure

I’ve been seeing lots of outrageous nail art lately on pinterest. One hot new product that’s really caught my eye is adhesive nail polish strips. I love the funky designs and bold colors with these products, but they’re usually a little spendy for me.

I have a great alternative and I’m super-excited to share with you a really fun, new way to use digital scrapbooking supplies! We are going to give ourselves a little hybrid manicure.

To begin with, you will need the following:

light color nail polish (white, light pink, cream, pale green, light turquoise, you get the idea….)
rubbing alcohol
small cup (I used a medicine cup.)
digital supplies (laser print or copy)
nail polish topcoat

1) Before getting started, quickly measure your fingernails. This doesn’t need to be precise, but it’s nice to have a general idea.

2) Open a new Photoshop document and create for yourself 10-15 boxes that are a little larger than your nails. My boxes were sized at 3/4 inch square. (In a perfect world, you’ll just need the 10, but make a couple extra just in case.)

3) Find some great papers that you’d like to have on your nails. I chose a rainbow striped paper from Mari Koegelenberg’s Hello Sunshine kit.

You will likely want to reduce the scale of your paper so that the design will better fit your nails. Clip your papers to the boxes that you created.

4) Print your page. (I have only tried this project with a laser print and I do not know if it will work with an ink-jet copy.) Cut out all squares and set aside.

5) Paint your nails with your light colored nail polish. You’ll likely need a couple coats. You want to have a nice opaque canvas. Let nails dry thoroughly.

6) Pour your alcohol into the small cup. It should be deep enough that it can cover your finger.

7) Working with one nail at a time: Dip your finger into the alcohol for 3-5 seconds. It doesn’t take long; you just want to completely wet the nail. Immediately press one of the paper squares onto your nail, image side down. Do not move the paper around. You can press so that it’s completely adhered. Leave on for approximately 30 seconds and lift to remove. If you notice that some paper fibers have been left behind, just gently rub them away with a damp finger.

8) Repeat for all of your fingers

9) Paint a topcoat on your nails to protect. I used a glittery nail polish as my topcoat.

10) Enjoy your fancy new nails!

A few thoughts:

This is a super-easy project, but it did take me a couple times to get it just right. Be prepared for that. You may have to practice a time or two to get the hang of it.
After doing this several times, I found that I had better results with simpler designs. My stripes (in this tutorial) turned out better than a red damask pattern that I tried. The transfer isn’t going to be 100% perfect every time, and the stripes (with a white background) were more forgiving.
You might notice that my stripes are all going the same way except for on my ring finger. That was um, intentional. Yeah. Cause my ring finger is special If none of your digits are more special than the others, you might make certain that your pattern is going the same way on all your nails.
Decals are also really great! My daughter was so excited about having hearts & flowers on her nails. Decals are actually much easier than an all-over pattern and can be used for so many different themes and occasions! You follow the same instructions, just decrease the size of any element you plan on using to fit your nails.

Here I used a sticker from Mari’s kit as an accent on my thumb nail:

Does it last, you ask? Absolutely! I found that my manicure lasted about a week and I didn’t have any trouble with my images fading.

Have fun!!

UPDATE (February 11, 2012):

I am blown away by the response to this tutorial! Thank you for the many wonderful compliments! It’s exciting to see so many people coming over to our little corner of the internet! If you’re new to The Hybrid Chick, welcome! We are digital scrapbooking site. We use digital supplies, print them out, then work our magic. In this tutorial, I am using a LASER PRINT of a DIGITAL scrapbook paper.

As I stated in the tutorial, it took me a bit to nail this (pun intended). I had to try several times before I got the hang of it. Saturating the entire paper and pressing firmly were the keys for me. And some paper fibers did remain, but those were easily removed.

A word about papers:

This tutorial uses a laser print (printed from my HP Color Laserjet 3550). You could also use a laser copy.
Inkjet prints are not recommended as the printing technology is different. Ink bleeds into the paper whereas with a laser copy/print, the image “sits” on top of the paper making it easier to transfer. Some readers have had positive results with ink jet, but the majority have not.
“Real” scrapbook paper (i.e. patterned paper you bought from the store) – again, not recommended. One reader had positive results with this, but I have personally not tried it.
One reader had luck with tracing paper. (I’m assuming that she used a laser printer to print onto tracing paper.)

Some feedback from readers:

Rebecka R. had success with this tutorial and shared her method: What ended up working was wetting the paper with the alcohol, pressing it onto the nail, applying quite a lot of pressure, and making sure to apply pressure especially to the ends of my nail (because they’re long) and the sides of the nail. I peeled it back after the alcohol dried, just enough to see if the entire thing transferred, if not, I laid it back down and wet the back of the paper with alcohol (since it just absorbs, the front gets wet too) and I just applied pressure again, especially to the places that hadn’t transferred . It took a while, but now it’s REALLY easy, and they turned out GREAT.
Leah also wrote about her success: Here’s what I did:1. cut out the squares; 2. paint nails with white; 3. here’s where i did it differently, get the squares wet with water; 4. place on the nail; 5. dunk whole finger tip with the paper in rubbing alcohol; 6. press it on for 7-10 seconds; 7. Done! There will be little pieces of paper left behind but they peel off after your nails dry completely. It took a few times of trial and error to get it to come out right but I am pretty much obsessed now. I used laser jet print and standard paper. But get this- I just tried it with a plain old piece of scrapbook paper and that worked too!

Hope that helps a bit! Thanks so much for visiting us & happy crafting!!

128 Responses to "The Digi Nails – A Hybrid Manicure"

Micaela says:

June 8, 2012 at 3:20 am

Also, I just noticed, that the date is off by a year.
LuAnn says:

June 8, 2012 at 4:43 pm

checkin’ the date on my reply
Jessica says:

June 13, 2012 at 11:06 am

I have tried this but instead of the design sticking to my nails, the polish sticks to the paper and comes off. Any idea why?
Kate says:

June 16, 2012 at 3:59 pm

This looks so cool to do but lots of people are saying it doesn’t work so i do not know .
Jo says:

June 17, 2012 at 7:14 pm

Tried it with a Brother laser printer…didn’t work :/ I tried several ways, letting the paper dry and pressing very firmly and waiting and waiting..but nothing…it did take off some of my nail polish though..
Miranda says:

June 20, 2012 at 10:29 am

Sadly, this didn’t work for me. I used the laser printer as well. Is there a special kind of paper I’m supposed to use?
Karen Clark says:

June 20, 2012 at 2:37 pm

Can you use the already made scrapbook designs at the craft stores?
Amanda says:

June 22, 2012 at 2:04 pm

This does work because I have tried it I don’t know if it would work with laser printers but if those aren’t working try using just a newspaper so you have words on your nails! It’s super cute!
Amanda says:

June 22, 2012 at 2:05 pm

Do the same process she said but use a newspaper instead! It works every time (:
Kassidy says:

June 23, 2012 at 11:18 am

If the paper sticks to your nails you either 1) kept the paper on too long or 2) didnt let your nail polish dry completely.
Maddie says:

June 24, 2012 at 4:52 pm

I haven’t tried something like this before and I don’t understand why you can’t use already made scrapbook paper, but I have done something similar to this. What you’re gonna need to do is to wet the paper with the alcohol and if you want to you can also wet your nails with it.
Morgan says:

July 2, 2012 at 11:37 am

When she says laser you have to use professional laser printers like kinks and FedEx. It is how the ink is left on the paper that allows it to be transferable.
rebecca says:

July 9, 2012 at 1:46 pm

I tried this method step by step and it didn’t work for me. the only difference was that I applied plain, fake nails from Kiss before putting the white polish on. When I tried to apply the design, nothing happened.

I did, however, find a method that worked really well!

after the first time I tried didn’t work, I removed the white nail polish and tried applying the design directly to the plain, fake nails which i had glued on. using alcohol didn’t work when I tried this so I decided to see if using acetone nail polish remover work… and boy, did that do the trick! instead of dipping my finger into the nail polish remover, I dipped the small piece of paper into the remover and then pressed it on my fake nail. the design looked perfect! the only issue, however, was that the design also was applied to the skin around my nail and it was very hard to get it off without messing up what was left on my fake nail.
I decided to give it an other try when it was time to apply a new set of fake nails. But this time, I applied the design to each nail before gluing the nail to my finger in order to avoid having to clean up the skin around my nail. this worked perfectly! after gluing on each nail, I was able to file them without messing up the design and then i applied a clear top coat.

hopefully you guys can have some success with the way I did! And thanks so much, Ccouch, for posting such a wonderful idea!
Elle says:

July 13, 2012 at 1:06 pm

You have to use rubbing alcohol and scrapbook paper. There is a certain kind of ink in the paper that makes it work.
Carolyn S says:

July 22, 2012 at 7:24 pm

This most certainly works! It does take some practice to make sure you have the pressure all over the nail. One thing seems to be key: The nail polish has to be fresh – like within half hour but not too tacky it sticks to the paper. I have transferred black and white and fine arts such as Van Gogh’s starry night with surprising detail. http://pinterest.com/pin/130182245449473302/ The possibilities are endless!!
Alyse Bingham says:

August 27, 2012 at 2:57 pm

Will this work with scrapbook paper you can buy in stores? I know there are so many beautiful designs, but um . . . I’m not exactly a scrapbooker . . .
Shaula says:

August 28, 2012 at 1:03 pm

Just tried it with wrapping paper and it works!!! Brilliant!!!! Thanks
Katherine says:

September 9, 2012 at 3:48 pm

Can you use regular scrapbook paper or regular paper
Mark says:

November 19, 2012 at 9:46 am

Hi Hybrid Chick,

We loved this guide so much we included it in our Ultimate Nail Resource Guide. You can check it out here: http://www.diamonddesignsuniforms.co.uk/resources/nailresourceguide.html.

Your guide can be found under the Art section in the middle.

We would love your feedback

Thanks again
me says:

December 31, 2012 at 5:29 pm

it dosnt works!
Iwone says:

January 25, 2013 at 5:21 am

Hi, English isn’t my native language and I have a hard time getting what kind of alcohol you’re using, is it regular alcohol, like vodka or rum? Or is it something else? Would like to know so I can make these nails as well
Malinda says:

February 4, 2013 at 11:34 pm

Iwone, it’s rubbing alcohol. You can find it in the store near the medical supplies (usually near the bandages).
luz marina says:

March 20, 2013 at 5:43 pm

soy Colombiana y me gustaría que publicaran enespañol
Melanie says:

March 27, 2013 at 9:42 pm

OMG this is just what I was looking for I’ve been searching the Internet for days!!!! Love love love!!
keara says:

March 31, 2013 at 1:56 pm

I WOULD JUST LIKE TO KNOW WHAT TYPE OF PAPER WAS USED FOR THE NAIL??

THANKS!
Ivonne says:

April 14, 2013 at 10:44 am

I would like to know what kind of paper I’m suppose to use and if I should print in an industrial printer? Is it plain paper, like the one we use to print/ copy/ fax or is a special paper?
Kaitlyn says:

April 24, 2013 at 11:43 pm

It worked just fine with regular scrapbook paper for me. I simply dipped the paper into the alcohol instead of the nail, but it may work either way, I haven’t tried it by dunking the nail.
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