See, every Valentine’s Day, mini mailboxes start showing up in the dollar section of Target, and there is always a mad dash to go grab them for pretty hybrid projects.

However, for some, a trip to Target would require loading children into the car and driving great distances. It might even require a hop on the airplane! So, I created a mailbox template that you can add your digital paper to, or simply print the lines out on paper from your traditional stash, and you don’t even have to leave your home!

Introducing, the Mini Mailbox Template!! Isn’t it cute? The template comes in two sizes and both are designed to be printed on a single sheet of letter sized paper on a standard printer. The large size is approximately 2.5 in wide, 2.75 in tall, and 3.5 in long. And, you can’t believe how easy this template is to put together!! Let me show you how!

Before I get started, let me direct you to some pretty good tutorials (if I do say so myself!) found at here at The Hybrid Chick:

Where to Start – offers suggestions for basic materials to get you started with hybrid.

Using Templates – guides you through the process of using my templates from downloading to adding digital paper, and preparing to print.

Borderless Printing – shows you how to find your borderless printing option on your printer . . . or at least gets you headed in the right direction.

Now, print your project! Of course, you can use digital paper or simply print the lines only version on some of the patterned paper or cardstock in your stash.

For this project, I chose the My Little Valentine digital kit by Quirky Twerp and printed my project onto Epson Premium Matte Photo Paper. You’ll notice that I changed the color of the lines on the template to blend in better with the digital papers I chose. My goal was that they would not be seen at all once my project was put together. I also added a few extra embellishments so that I could cut them out and add more dimension to my project.

Next, I scored the lines of my project using my bone folder for the straight lines and my embossing tool for the rounded lines. You could also use a dull fork to go around the curved lines. Other kitchen utensils like butter knives and pizza cutters also work well for scoring.

I cut my project out using a craft knife (which is the same thing as an Xacto knife) and micro tip scissors, similar to Cutterbees.

I folded all of the scored lines, and made sure to fold the tabs on the rounded back of the mailbox to the inside, like this:

Next, I added my adhesive. First, I applied Mono Adhesive Permanent to all of the tabs, and then I added a liquid adhesive along the side tab, just to make sure the project would stay together forever.

After this, you simply roll the top section over the bag tabs and meet up with the side tab to create the mailbox shape.

Now, attach the front “door” of the mailbox.

Next, attach the pull tab to the front of the mailbox like this:

Finally, attach the flag with a brad.

And, here is my finished project!

See how easy that was? It is the perfect project to create for your loved ones on Valentine’s Day. It also makes a great kids craft!

Go pick up the Mini Mailbox Template today and get started on your own cute mailbox!

Take it away, Laura!!

Today I will show you how to make a Mini Bloom Box or “exploding box” as some of you might know. It is so easy and fun to make! Let’s get to it shall we?

Products used:

• Used Photoshop to create this project but you can use any software that can manage .png files!
• Every Life Has a Story- The Collection by TDC Designers
• Coordinating color cardstock paper
• Kelleigh Ratzlaff’s Mini Bloom Box Template
• Premium matte photo paper
• Glue dots/ tape runner/ hot glue gun
• Cutter Bee scissors and paper trimmer
• Bone Folder
• Paper edger (rounded)
• Paperclips
• Tim Holz distressed ink in “Walnut Stain”
• Flower embellishments, ribbon, and buttons

HOW TO:
1) First I opened up Kelleigh’s template in Photoshop. I knew before starting that I wanted to add an additional little matte to the photos. To do that, I made a small square on each template where the photo should go. I sized them so that you could see all the edges and then I clipped my pictures to the smallest one. I left out the middle one (my matte) so that I could use it as a template later on. You can see in the photo, I have a gray square. This is my matte template. I did this for all 3 layers of the box. Of course, you can achieve the same effect digitally, however I wanted my project to have even more dimension. When I printed my papers, I flipped the paper over and printed an additional patterned paper on the back so that when I cut out the shape, the back had a design on it too! (You don’t have to “clip” it to the template either.)
2) Now let’s get to cutting!! Cut everything out with scissors or a paper edger. I wanted to assemble the lid first to let it dry while I worked on the rest of the project. I cut out the top box and assembled it. I placed paper clips on the sides to hold the edges in place.

3) Now it’s time to cut out the photo mattes! I used regular cardstock that I had lying around. I cut out each of the 3 templates I made, and then traced them on my cardstock.

Then I used my paper trimmer to cut them all out.

4) For a different look, I rounded all of my edges with a paper edger!

5) This is what it should look like when everything is cut out and ready to go.

6) Once you have everything cut out, you will want to score each of the layers of box. I also inked my edges.

7) Now we are going to put the box together. Start with the largest one and put tape around the edges in the middle. Do this for the next two layers.

When finished it should look like this….

After putting the box together, I started to glue the photos to the photo mattes. Then I glued those to the box.

9) Now that it’s assembled it’s time to decorate! I used flowers, buttons and ribbon!

And now here is the finished product!! It wasn’t so bad huh? Pretty easy and lets not forget FUN!!

So there you have it! These make awesome gifts for family or friends. Thanks for letting me share this with you!

With back to school stuff still on the brain, I wondered how it would look all dressed up as an apple! Could it be done? You bet!

For this project, I grabbed my Perfect Pumpkin Template Set, and Click. by Kelley Mickus.

Before I get started, let me direct you to some pretty good tutorials (if I do say so myself!) found at here at The Hybrid Chick:

Where to Start – offers suggestions for basic materials to get you started with hybrid.

Using Templates – guides you through the process of using my templates from downloading to adding digital paper, and preparing to print.

Borderless Printing – shows you how to find your borderless printing option on your printer . . . or at least gets you headed in the right direction.

Now, print your project! Of course, you can use digital paper or simply print the lines only version on some of the patterned paper or cardstock in your stash.

I chose a gorgeous red paper from Kelley’s digital kit, added it to the small version of the pumpkin template, and printed it out on matte photo paper.

Where was I? Oh, yeah.

We had an amazing weekend and we are so excited to see so much interest in The Hybrid Chick blog. Our goal is to teach and inspire . . . and possibly enable a little bit. Did we succeed? Well, good! Come back for more because our lineup of tutorials and giveaways for May is just awesome. You won’t want to miss a thing!

Here we go. The winners! If your name is announced here, please contact us by clicking on the “contact us” link in the sidebar.

The winner of the hybrid mini album giveaway is Sara!

I heard of you from the PCP group- it’s so very cool and now that I have some time i’m definitely going to be jumping in on all this fun fun fun!

Thanks for the chance to win!!!

xoxo
Sara

Thanks for popping in from Papercraft Planet Sara!

The winners of Julie’s hybrid jewelry giveaway are:
Heather Manning

Ok, this site is going on my blog roll so I never forget to check in. I LOVE those! So cute!

and Tracy

Wow! these are absolutely fabulous! I might have to take a step to the other side

The winners of a single episode of Jessica Sprague’s Scrapbook Alchemy class are:

Jane

I seem to be on a digi phase right now, but have not completely given up paper yet.

Melissa

I am starting the whole digital scrapping, but have done paper for years.

ShannonG

WOW!
What a great chance.
TY for the opportunity to win!

Anne Quade

I’m totally sold on digi, I used to do paper, but I hated the mess…digi is so much better

(We’ll bring you back over, Anne!)

Heidi

I have been a paper scrapper since 1995. I started digital less than a year ago. All my paper friends think I’m crazy, but I love digital.

The winners of the Score-Bug are

Sharyn (ShabbyShaz)

I twittered it here. *****

Janice

this gallery is just filled with breathtaking projects WOW!
this one in particular caught my fancy!

http://www.thedigichick.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/399

OrianaVianey

Ohh I really need to try this

http://www.thedigichick.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/3653

Seems so useful and cute!!!

Tracy Kosofsky (SunshineTK)

How can I ever choose??? Well, since I have a gun, I mean great prize, to my head, I have to pick

http://www.thedigichick.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/2036

It’s such a beautiful little gift and will make a wonderful keepsake for this little girl’s birthday.

I’m also about to post on my blog for a second entry!

Rachel Bogner

This is one of my FAV. projects found in your gallery. I actually found the tutorial on this project a few weeks back on the website and have made a couple of them. I am actually using the template for a mother’s day present for the mother’s at church! Thanks for the inspiration!

http://www.thedigichick.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/2128

Rachel B

The winner of the Verve Stamp set is Sonia!

Ohh how i love these stamps, i would love to have these in my collection making everyone in the UK envious lol..

The winner of Mari’s adorable wooden clothes pegs magnets is Donnatopia!

Oh, these are tooooo cute. Just added clothes pins to my shopping list. My favorite hybrid projects are mini albums…. especially accordian albums in altoid tins. They are always such a hit as gifts.

If your name was announced here, please contact us by clicking on the “contact us” link in the sidebar.

There’s still time to win!!

We are extending the deadline of the Box It Up Challenge until Saturday, May 9th! Get those projects into the gallery!

The deadline for the Hybrid Chick Card Swap is May 10th! Don’t miss out!

You have until Saturday, May 9th by midnight EST to enter the Hybrid Layout Challenge to win the ENTIRE Season One of Jessica Sprague’s Scrapbook Alchemy classes!

And, you have until Saturday, May 9th by midnight EST to enter to win the Hybrid Home Decor challenge and a chance to win $10 to Mari’s shop!

Thanks for entering everyone! See you Monday for another awesome tutorial!

PS – Check out that adorable card created by Julee Tilman (Vervegirl) for our Hybrid Card Swap. Go leave her some love! I’m telling you, you DON’T want to miss out on that card swap!!

Are you ready to find out who won some of the giveaways??

Oh! But wait! How about a quick summary of everything that has happened over here at The Hybrid Chick this weekend?! You can wait a little while longer, can’t you??

First, Sugarplum Paperie’s Nicole Seitler gave away a gorgeous set of digital papers. These papers will always be available here at The Hybrid Chick and can be found in the menu bar at the top of the blog. Be sure to pop in to her post to say a big Thank You!!

Next, I jumped in with a nice, fat hybrid giveaway: a chipboard album, physical supplies from my stash, a HUGE collaboration kit by The Digichick designers, and a template to help you put it all together. Judging from the number of entries, I’d say we need to do this again!!

Julie was up next with an awesome tutorial on making hybrid jewelry. Many of you entered to win her finished projects, and I don’t blame you. Stunning work!!

That evening, I came back on to gush about Jessica Sprague and the amazing classes offered at her site. Jessica offered up a Scrapbook Alchemy class of your choice to 5 different winners. She’s so cool!

After that, LuAnn popped in to give away the Score-Bug Embosser to 5 lucky readers. Hope you entered that one, ’cause that little Bug looks fun!

The next morning, Julie came back to challenge our readers to Box It Up! One random winner will win $25 to my store at The Digichick, and my favorite project will win $5 or a guest spot on my Creative Team!!

Shelley was so excited about the Box It Up challenge that she popped in with a great tutorial about creating a little Box Of Surprises for her mom for Mother’s Day. So cute!!

Sinead, the master of the TDC card swaps, is hosting our first ever Hybrid Chick card swap for print-ready hybrid cards. By the end of the card swap (May 10th), each participant will “walk-away” with a large file of matching ready-to-print-and-assemble hybrid cards that are absolutely perfect for gift-giving. You’ll want to get in on this swap because we have some real card-making masters at The Digichick, and I’ve seen what they’ve been doing. Go check out the gallery, if you don’t believe me! One lucky participant will win $5 to Sugarplum Paperie’s store.

We loved the idea of the cards swap so much, Sinead is making it a special May workshop, too! Go check out her post in the forum to get the low-down.

Ah, where was I? ( I just get so excited about card swaps!!)

Oh, yeah.

Nicole came back to issue a hybrid layout challenge and tell you about another SUPER generous prize from Jessica Sprague! The challenge: follow the guidelines and create a hybrid layout. The prize: The ENTIRE Season One of Jessica Sprague’s Scrapbook Alchemy series. OH MY GOSH! That’s TEN (10) classes in all! Wowsers! And, you have until Saturday, May 9th by midnight EST to enter. Come on! You can do it! Especially since Jessica has a new FREE hybrid class up on her site. Go. Learn from a master. Come back and enter. You know you want to.

Up next, Jen Tapler showed up to wow us with her hybrid masterpieces. She is SUCH a diva. No, really. She is! Jen’s beautiful work typically combines digital papers, traditional products and beautiful stamping. Jen is giving away a HUGE stamp set donated by Verve Stamps (owned by our own Julee Tilman!). Looks like you gals LOVE your stamping! Rest assured, we heard you. We’ll be doing some “inky” tutorials in the future!!

Sharon showed us a quick round-up of hybrid home decor and issued a fun challenge, too! You have until Saturday, May 9th by midnight EST to enter the challenge for a chance to win $10 to Mari Koegelenberg’s shop at The Digichick. We’ve seen some gorgeous entries already. I’m so excited to see what you come up with!!

Speaking of Mari, she posted a fantastic Wooden Clothes Pegs Magnets tutorial which has totally inspired me to create some cute clips. One lucky winner will get the adorable pegs shown in her tutorial.

And, finally, Mel jumped in to show us some of the totally cute and totally USEFUL hybrid projects found in her store at The Digichick. Mel, a preschool teacher, KNOWS how to motivate your little ones to learn and has shared her years of experience with you in the form of cute printables, templates and projects designed with kids in mind. Check out her store to see her entire collection (and keep checking back for more!).

Whew! That summary took me a long time to write!! Good thing it’s still early on the West Coast. I’m gonna go grab a drink of water and come back to post those winners, okay? BRB.

PS – Are you seeing that GORGEOUS project created by ShabbyShaz for our Hybrid Home Decor Challenge? Eeek! I love it! Go leave her some love!

Since The Hybrid Chick is all about teaching and learning and growing, we are excited to bring you a very generous giveaway donated by one of my favorite people in all of digiland, Jessica Sprague. Jessica is donating one Scrapbook Alchemy class of your choice to 5 different winners! Thank you Jessica!

All you have to do to win is post here in the comments. We want to know: are you an all paper scrapbooker (at this point), a little bit digi (hybrid gal), or totally diggin’ digi (completely won over to the dark side . . . bwah, ha, ha, ha!!)? We will pick our five random winners by Midnight EST on Sunday, May 3rd.

Want another entry for this giveaway? Mention it on your blog, Facebook or Twitter with a link to this post and you can be entered again. Just leave us another comment for each thing you do with a link to your post or Tweet.

Don’t forget to hop on over to the Happy Little Chickadees Forum at The Digichick for more awesome giveaways by The Digichick designers in honor of National Scrapbooking Day!

AND, while you are out and about in the digi world this weekend, cruise on over to The Playground where Jessica Sprague has launched two new FREE classes! Can’t beat that price!!

Keep checking back, because Jessica was CRAZY generous this {inter}National Scrapbooking Weekend! You won’t want to miss the next Jessica Sprague giveaway!

Is hybrid scrapbooking new to you? In the spirit of National Scrapbooking Day, The Hybrid Chick would like to encourage you to try something new! And, to make your project go together quickly and easily, we are having a giveaway!

First, some traditional goodies from my personal stash: A Maya Road Tag Album, ribbon and fibers from Prima and Close To My Heart and Making Memories, Flowers from Prima, Kaisercraft and Close To My Heart, chipboard from Close To My Heart, brads, buttons and bling from Prima and Close To My Heart (and a couple of “unknown” sources).

Which matches perfectly with the Springtime In The Afternoon Collab by The Digichick designers:

And, to make the project go together quickly and easily, this Maya Road Tag Album Template Set:

All you have to do is leave a comment in this post for a chance to win! Tell us how you heard about The Hybrid Chick Blog, and we will pick a random winner by Midnight EST on Sunday, May 3rd.

Want another entry for this giveaway? Mention it on your blog, Facebook or Twitter with a link to this post and you can be entered again. Just leave us another comment for each thing you do with a link to your post or Tweet.

Don’t forget to hop on over to the Happy Little Chickadees Forum at The Digichick for more awesome giveaways by The Digichick designers in honor of National Scrapbooking Day!

As soon as I saw Kelley Mickus’ beautiful new Whisper kit at The Digichick, I knew that I wanted to print those beautiful papers out and hold them in my hands. I could have simply and easily printed out each paper one by one (without even opening up Photoshop), but I don’t like to waste paper and ink, so I was deliberate about measuring and creating a single sheet that I could print out.

First, I measured the diameter (length across the middle) of the ribbon spool. My spool measured roughly 3.25 inches.

I went into Photoshop Elements and created a new, blank document with the following settings:

I selected the eliptical marquis tool (which toggles between looking like a rectangle or an oval):

and typed in a Fixed size of 3.25 x 3.25in. (click to enlarge)

I clicked down on my blank canvas, and a circle created by little marching ants appeared. I created a new layer for my circle in the layers palette, and then typed “K” to select the paint bucket tool. With my new layer selected, I clicked down in the circle to fill it with color. I hit control/command D to deselect.

Then, I opened up some gorgeous, soft paper from Kelley’s kit and I “clipped” the paper to the circular “mask” I just created. To do this, I dragged the paper onto my document, positioned it just above my filled circle, and held down the alt/option key while hovering my mouse between the two layers in the layers palette until it turned into a double circle. Then, I clicked down on the line between the two layers. This created a clipping mask! (For a little more about “clipping masks” see this post.)

I duplicated these efforts a few times, since I wanted to make sure I had lots of options for my creativity! This was my page after I printed it on matte photo paper.

Oooh! Now it was time to get messy! This is what I did:

1 – Carefully peal off one side of the ribbon spool to expose the inside. Save that piece for the lid of the box.

2 – Tear off any extra pieces of paper that stayed behind, and sand the edge to make it nice and smooth.

3 – Paint the ribbon spool with acrylic paint. I eventually painted the entire thing, inside and out. I wasn’t terribly neat about it, but I did apply a couple of coats.

4 – While the paint is drying, cut out the circles that you printed out. I really wish that I had a circle cutter that would cut 3.25 in circles. (sigh) However, neither of my two wonderful circle cutting systems had a 3.25 guide, so I was left to cut by hand. I got a little crazy with inking the edges of my circles with a sponge, but I think it worked out!

5 – (Now, you’ll notice that I switched up my “example” spool. I was just playin’!) This is the part that I totally experimented on. I had NO idea how to close up my little box and was thinking on this dilemma for a couple of days. Finally, in a stroke of brilliance, I decided that I could close it with some ribbon! (Sad that it took me a couple of days to figure that out, huh?) To do this, I applied two-sided tape (Tombow Mono Adhesive) to the ribbon of choice, and attached it to the outside of the ribbon spool as pictured.

6 – Then, I applied some liquid glue (Beacon Zip Dry) to the spool and wrapped a strip of paper around the whole thing.

7 – Next, I pulled the ribbon tight across the top of the spool and glued a smaller circle to the underside of the ribbon (thank goodness for pictures, right?).

8 – I placed my decorated lid (remember that piece you saved?) on top of the small circle I just glued to the ribbon, and attached the two with liquid glue.

9 – I attached another piece of ribbon to the bottom of the ribbon spool box, and covered it with paper.

Here is my finished ribbon spool box! I can picture this filled with little candies or bath salts. I can also see it filled with a little circular mini album (accordion style would be so cool!). Wouldn’t it be a great place to store paper flowers or little embellishments – perhaps even ribbon scraps?

Let your imagination run wild as you create your own recycled ribbon spool project!

Yep.

Let me show you how!

First, go grab some gorgeous digital paper and print it out on regular old copy paper. We want it to be copy paper because that stuff is thinner than photo paper or presentation paper. I thought I would try covering three eggs, so I printed three different “swatches” that were approximately 3.66 x 8.5 inches.

I cut the pieces apart, then started covering the first egg. Now, please understand that I was totally flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants here. I thought I would just try it and see how it goes. This is what I did:

1 – I sanded the middle of the egg just to make sure the Mod Podge would adhere properly. I have no idea if this is important, but a bonus was that I smoothed the little tab thingy (oh, so technical!) that held the two sides together so that my surface was nice and smooth.

2 – I used 2-sided tape to glue the egg to the edge of the paper strip.

3 – I applied Mod Podge with a foam brush to the paper, and then to the egg itself. Well, okay, I added the Mod Podge to the FIRST egg, but I totally forgot for the second egg, and by the time I got to the third egg, I figured it didn’t really matter. Like I said – flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants.

4 – Next, I wrapped the paper around the egg and trimmed the extra paper so that there wasn’t too much overlap. Then, I cut slits in the paper about every .75 inches or so on both sides (as pictured!) all the way around.

5 – At this point, I just started “wrapping” the egg with the paper. I used my scissors, when necessary, to trim pieces of the paper that were just too long. And, of course, I really only trimmed paper on the first egg. After that, I figured it didn’t matter so much. I just didn’t want the paper to be too thick at either end.

6 – I smoothed it with my fingers so that the pretty pattern on the paper was nice and neat. I also rolled it around in my hands to kind of smoosh down the paper.

7 – My eggs were screaming out, “LET ME DRY!!” But, alas, I didn’t listen to them. And, that was okay, because it all worked out in the end. I simply applied a final coat of Mod Podge to the outside of the eggs to seal them up and make them a bit shiny. Since I am the impatient type, I used my heat gun to dry them in record time. AND, since I didn’t listen to their tiny little voices, some green fingerprints were discovered on the blue egg, so I covered up that “happy mistake” with a little flower and a shiny button. So cute! And, seriously, SOOOO easy. These probably took me about 45 minutes from start to finish. Pretty impressive for a fun little hybrid project!!

• First, purchase one of my hybrid template sets, located at The Digichick.
• Then, click on the download link to download the template. I typically download everything to my desktop so I can find it easily.
• Now, unzip the file. Your computer probably came with a program that will allow you to unzip a file by either double-clicking on the icon, or right-clicking and choosing “Unzip”. This will create a folder on your desktop. Open the folder and inside you will find my templates.

Most of my templates come in layered psd (for use in Photoshop programs) and png (for use in other programs). Since I use Photoshop Elements, I will lead you through using the psd versions. Let’s get started.

Open Photoshop Elements, then go to File > Open and choose the .psd file you will be using. This will open the layered .psd in Photoshop. Many of my templates come in two different sizes. I will be using the Large version of my Puff Box Template Set.

The next thing I do is open up a new, blank “canvas” by going to File > New > Blank File. I set the width and length of the paper I will be printing on. Here in the US, we typically use 8.5x11in. paper (or letter size), but I realize that your paper might be a different size, so go ahead and enter the dimensions of your printer paper. Choose 300 dpi and white background, then click OK.

Now, go back to the template and select all of the layers by holding down the Shift key and clicking on the bottom layer and the top layer in your layers pallet. All of the layers will be selected.

With the Move tool selected (hit V), click the template in the main window and drag it onto your blank canvas.

Close the template file so that you don’t accidentally save over it.

At this point, you can resize the template to fit your canvas by dragging the corners of the template. Make sure all of your layers are selected when you do this. Also, be mindful of what your printer will do to the page when you try to print. Will it cut off the edges? Then shrink the template. Can you print edge to edge? Then you might want to increase the size of the template.

Now, we will add paper to the template by treating it as a clipping mask. Open up your digital paper of choice in Photoshop Elements by choosing File>Open, and then navigating to your chosen paper. My beautiful paper is from Danielle Engebretson’s Love From Ava kit.

Click on the layer that you would like to cover with your paper. In my example, there is only one layer to choose, and that is the main “box” layer, however many of my templates allow you to choose to add different papers to different sides of the box. By clicking on this layer, you have selected it in the layers pallet.

Now, bring up your digital paper layer by clicking on the thumbnail of that paper. Click and drag the paper onto the thumbnail of your template in the photo bin at the bottom of the screen. Look over at your layers pallet. Your paper layer should be right above the piece of the template that you would like to cover or “clip” with paper.

There are different ways to clip your paper to the template. One way is to hold down the control or command button while hitting “G” on your keyboard. The way I do it, though, is I hold down the alt/option key while hovering my mouse on the line between the two layers until it turns into two intertwined circles, then I click my mouse. Either way, you will have just “clipped” your digital paper to your “mask” (the template) thus creating a “clipping mask.”

Now, you can move your paper around by clicking and dragging it from side to side or top to bottom. I love the butterflies in the upper left of Danielle’s paper, so I moved them around and resized my digital paper (by dragging the corners) until I was satisfied.

Let’s deal with those lines. On my example, the lines are showing up white, which would really stand out badly on my printed project, so I want to blend those lines in a bit, but still be able to see them. There are a couple of ways to do this. Some people change the opacity of the lines (click on the lines layer, then select the opacity % in the box at the top of the layers pallet). Some people create a clipping mask with a coordinating paper (just like we did above.) What I usually do is change the color of the lines using the eyedropper tool.

Click on the foreground color swatch on the left side of your screen. This will bring up the color swatch box. Click on a color in your digital paper that you would like to sample. I chose a dark blue. Click OK.

Now, with your lines layer still selected in the layers pallet, go to Edit > Fill Layer and choose Foreground Color, making sure the “Preserve Transparency” box is Checked. Click OK. Your lines should have taken on your selected color. If you find that the lines are still too noticeable, or maybe not noticeable enough, repeat this process until you have selected the color you would like.

And that’s it! That is what I do to prepare my hybrid template for printing. Go ahead and print your project, then follow the instructions included with your download to assemble your hybrid beauty. And, keep watching the blog for more posts about choosing the right paper for your project and figuring out your borderless printing option.