Today I am working with Kelleigh’s Tapered Box and Madame Wing and MKC’s kit All a Flutter . To begin my project I opened up the template in Photoshop Elements and added my digital paper from the kit. These papers and elements are truly gorgeous and so perfect for hybrid projects! I printed the template off and printed a second portion of the same paper to use as part of the project.

After trimming and scoring the box, I inked all the edges to help hide the score marks and to give the box more dimension. I then added Scor-Tape to the few areas to be adhered and closed it up. After looking back at the images of the box from Kelleigh, I realized that I made it upside-down—oops!! It still works! Nevertheless, it is a very simple box to put together and I love the clean lines!

I decided to add a magnet to the top to keep the lid shut, so I also added a bit of Scor-tape to the back of each magnet to get a stronger hold. Another cute way to close it would be put tie a ribbon at the top, but being that the box is going to my kids, a ribbon would last about one second!

I then got to work on decorating the box. To make a three-leaf shamrock, I punched three hearts out of the same green digital paper using a heart paper punch. I inked all the edges of all three hearts, and adhered them one over the other using mini glue dots. Once you have all three adhered together you can wiggle them around a bit to get the right shape and angles.

The button is threaded with twine and I left a long trail to serve as the stem of the shamrock. I adhered the button to the shamrock also using a glue dot. Super simple and cute!

The last piece of my project is a stamped saying and frame, which I then cut out and matted with brown cardstock. That also got adhered to the box, this time using foam tape. I decided to add a second shamrock to the back so it is fun to look at from all sides!

I’m thinking of filling this with candy to leave for my kids to find on St Patrick’s Day. You never know what the sneaky leprechauns are up to! I hope that you have been inspired to create something fun for St. Patrick’s Day!

I loved the cheerfulness of the birdhouse image against the soft background papers of this card by Alice Wertz and, of course, all the pretty pink buttons scattered around. There are more beautiful cards in her gallery if you’re looking for some card-making inspiration!

The bold colors and stacked flowers made this fun set by Jacinda jump out of the gallery at me, and I love the dangly trim around the edge of the bottom box.

This next project by putri caught my eye because it’s one of the few hybrid layouts that I came across. I love the mix of digi and traditional papers and the title spilling across the photo.

These baby onesies by juliemomof4 are simply adorable and I love the little bit of ribbon added to each one. The sayings are so fun too!

I love the rich colors of this card by SylviaB and the texture that the velvet flower adds.

This beautiful hybrid layout by Cathy Pascual is such a wonderful example of mixing digi supplies with the paper scrapbooking style. I love the handmade flowers and rounded edges.

I am totally in awe of this beautiful floral bouquet made by sinead! The colors are so lovely; I can just imagine how pretty a row of these would look on my fireplace mantel, if I had the patience to make them all.

Last for today is this sweet card by vervegirl; I love the scalloped shape and the fibers and butterflies!

I hope this tour through the gallery inspired you to get crafty! Don’t forget to post your gorgeous creations using the fabulous goodies from our Digichick designers in the gallery… you just might find your project spotlighted on the Hybrid Chick blog.

Let’s dive right in with some examples of Hybrid recycling. I love to make projects with things I find laying around. Who wants to spend money, right? I want to save all mine for Digi Kits!

I did a tutorial on candle wraps a bit ago..they look awesome and make a great gift. Instead of going out and buying Chipboard, I just used a cereal box!

Here is another candle wrap I made with more cereal boxes. I gave this away as a gift for BUNKO. The girls loved it.

I made these Photo Blocks with a piece of wood that was laying around in the garage.

Look at this project, by Jessica, using an empty Hot Cocoa tin.

And how about these flowers made from yogurt containers!

Oh and look at these cute containers made from recycled ribbon spools!

Look at this one using a mint tin! Mint tins make the cutest little mini albums too.

There is so much you can do when you get creative with your recyclables!

So, your challenge is just that, make a hybrid project with an item you would normally throw away!

What will you win? The wonderful and talented designer Mel Wilson has a super cute prize for you.

You all know those lunchable containers? Well, Mel has come up with a way to recycle it into an adorable gift!

Isn’t that cute! There are so many possibilities!

Complete the challenge and you will get the template to make these cuties in any style you want! Deadline to enter is 11:59pm EST March 19, 2010

Submission Instructions:
Upload your creation to an online photo gallery (e.g. The DigiChick, SplitCoastStampers, Flicker) or your blog. Copy the direct URL to your image/blog entry and then and post a link to your project in the comments section below this post.

Have fun, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Speaking of love , with June and wedding fever just around the corner you may be attending a wedding. Or perhaps even planning one yourself.

It is wedding week here at The Hybrid Chick and we have some awesome wedding related tutorials and projects here to inspire you.

Today I want to show you how to decorated this Love frame. Pretty it up in the bride and grooms choice of colour and use it as a gift for the special couple. You might even want to make it in your colour scheme and keep it for yourself.

Mind you, you can’t go wrong with white – or black!

I have used:

• Kaiser Love Frame (purchased in Australia)
• White & Black Paint
• Digital Scrapbook Kits – Fabrications Classic from Quirky Twerp and Foxy Chic from Jennifer Fox
• Lace
• Ribbons
• Emphimera – little heart charms
• Bling – stick on crystals
• Glue Stick
• Hot Glue Gun
• Fabric Flowers
• Buttons
• Thread

I always start my wooden projects with a coat of white paint. Just plain old house paint as there is nothing “crafty” in big enough supply available here. This is a semigloss and it seems to work well sealing the wood and giving a nice base to work on.

After letting the paint dry, sand the rougher edges down with some sanding paper. It looks nice like this and it was tempting to leave it my usual shabby white – but this time I am after more drama which meant giving it a couple of coats of black paint too. Let each layer dry well in between coats.

Now hang it somewhere pretty and you are done!

Just kidding.

Print out some strips of paper and tag’s from the kit of your choice. Here you can see I have done some wider bits as well as narrow area’s and also a few different choices in paper design. This is usually done before I paint, so I know my paint colour choice will work with the paper. Plus it lets the printed paper dry out really well. Important if you are using glue or mod podge so as to make sure there is less likelihood of smudging.

Usually I have an idea of the desired outcome but don’t know exactly what I want to use on the piece. So I gather up a bunch of ribbons, and other pretty things in the colour scheme and have them ready. Here are some for inspiration.

You can even paint them if the colour isn’t what you need.

Start by laying out some paper strips and other bits you have collected on the wood piece. Tear the paper, and cut around the edges to fit the letter or frame.

To get the paper to fit roughly cut the paper strips and tear down some of the edges. This can be made easier by lightly folding the edge over, not creasing it real hard though – just a little. Then tear the paper towards yourself with the printed side facing you.

When you have done that you can also curl some of the edges around using a thin skewer or shish-kabob stick. When you are happy with the layout of your pieces begin to glue them down, starting with the paper. I like to use the glue stick for the paper as it allows me to slide it around a bit and position it right.

For the lace, flowers and ribbons I prefer to use a hot glue gun.

Keep adding ribbon and bling till you are happy with the result.

Add a little tag to the frame – you could write the bride and grooms name on there. Or the wedding date.

I hope you enjoy creating your own Love gift!

I created these elegant favors using Kelleigh Ratslaff’s Heart Purse templates.

Kelleigh’s templates include a pdf and png template that you can use to make the project your own by using digital papers of your choice or you can use the “Lines only” file to print directly onto your favorite scrapbooking paper.

I used the “Lines only” file to print directly onto my Linen paper. Talk about easy!

Additional supplies used to create these favors:
• Red River 60# River Linen •paper
• printer
• scissors
• scoring tool – I use a Scor-pal
• Tombow adhesive runner – or other strong adhesive of choice
• Misc. elements to decorate your favor – 3/8″ ribbon, lace, buttons, etc

Open Kelleigh’s heart purse template. (The following steps I am going to show you are using the small purse template so that you can see what I am doing. When I created my favor, I used the lines only file and printed on Red River Linen paper.)

Resize the template canvas to 8.5 x 11.

Rotate the template to the right 90 degrees.

As you can see, now the template as is doesn’t really have a “dress form” look to it so go to Image > Transform > Free Transform. Click on the center square at the top of the template and drag it upward. Repeat grabbing the center square at the bottom of the template and drag it downward so that your template now looks like this:

Erase the lines in your template that would be used as a “closure” for the purse. Erase it at the top of your template and also at the bottom. You won’t be needing them for this project.

Next, change the cut and score lines color. To do this, add a new layer above your cut and score lines. Choose a color that is a few shades darker than your background (for mine, I chose a light to medium gray color) and flood fill that new layer. Hit Control + G to clip the color to the cut and score lines layer. Merge the new color layer with your cut and score lines layer.

Print the template – I use Epson Matte Presentation paper for most projects but I really loved the texture and look of the Red River Linen paper so this is what I printed my “Lines only” version of Kelleigh’s template on.

Cut the template out on the solid lines. Score along the dash lines.

Using an adhesive of your choice (Tombow adhesive tape runner, double sided tape, glue), glue flaps to the inside.

Decorate the favor to your liking using an adhesive of choice. Add a touch of color using ribbon. Add a bow or a pre-made little flower. Add small buttons for a country touch. Try some fine glitter or rhinestones for some sparkle. How much or how little you add to the favor will depend on the look you are trying to achieve.

To create the Princess dress favor with the lace, I measured the distance from the “waist” of my dress to the bottom. Mine was 3 inches. I purchased 3 inch lace from my local fabric store. I then cut a piece of lace 8 inches long.

Next I used a needle and thread to do a basic running stitch through the top of my lace from one end of the lace to the other. Make sure you knot the end of your thread.

Gather the lace by pulling the thread and position the lace “skirt” around your favor like this:

Pull the thread more to gather the lace closer around the favor. Position where the edges of the lace meet up in the middle of the “back” of your favor.

Do a few quick stitches at the top of the skirt to sew the lace edges together. Adjust the gathering evenly around your favor.

Cut a length of ribbon and adhere in place over the gathered lace at the top of the skirt. again, make sure the ribbon overlaps in “back” of your skirt. Add a bow if you choose to do so.

To create the edging around the bodice of my favor, I simply glued ribbon with a decorative edge to the inside of one of “bodice” pieces and then adhered both bodice pieces together sandwiching the ribbon between the two pieces.

Lastly, don’t forget to fill the favor – mine are holding about 10 hershey kisses. yum!

I hope you enjoyed this project and are inspired to give these a try. If you do, I’d love to see! Feel free to drop me a line here in the comment section if you do!

and as always, if you have any questions about any part of this project, post here in the comment section and I’ll answer your question.

It’s all about making it personal and making a connection between the newly married couple and the receiving party. And I thought what a special thing it would be to share the music used through out the wedding and ceremony (like the wedding march, first dance, father’s dance, etc.) and add some of the special love songs for the couple.

For this very simple wedding favor I used the following items from the Digi Chick store:

• Printable CD Card with Additional Pockets and Wraps by Mari Koegelenberg
• Lovely Little Birds by Boutique Cute Dolls Designs
• wedding party labels {silver} by Michelle Batton
• Fuss Free: Photo Mats by Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs (Feb Guest DT, check out this month’s Guest DT items @ the store)
• KD Everyday font by Karla Dudley Designs

From my Traditional Stash

• Martha Stewart Light green twill
• K & Co Green Pearls

Tips and Tricks when making these CD Cards:

1. I like to print out the actual CD Card on a heavy cardstock, it makes it sturdy enough to protect the CD/DVD inside. I then like to print the CD pocket and band in paper weight paper, this helps to avoid unnecessary thickness and make the card lay flat.
2. For the inside CD pocket you have two options – you can make it all digital or you could make the pocket one piece and the band another piece.  I chose the later because I wanted to cover a bit of the circle cut-out on the pocket and because I wanted the layering look I achieve when doing it as two different pieces.
3. Even though the CD card closes perfectly with the little latch and slit, I wanted a more sophisticated look.. remember it’s all in the details.  I cut a slit on the fold on the top and bottom of the CD Card, slid the ribbon through and then glued the CD pocket and band.
4. Add 3D items to the front of the CD for a special look, but remember to keep it sophisticated as every wedding should be…

I hope you had fun with this and all the other Wedding projects coming this week.  If you have any questions regarding this project, please do not hesitate to leave a comment.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Matchbox Template Set by Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

Digital Paper & Elements – I used Kitschy Mix Mini by Wendy Page Designs, new at the Digichick today!  Choose a digi kit that coordinates with your wedding colours or theme.

Font of your choice – I used KD Everyday Font by Karla Dudley Designs

Printer, Ink & Paper – I used the lovely Polar Matte Double Sided 60 lb paper from Red River Paper

White self adhesive address labels – Avery 5160 or similar size (1″ x 2-5/8″), OPTIONAL: Microsoft Word & Avery Wizard

Photo Editing Software – I used Photoshop (Kelleigh’s templates also work with Photoshop Elements, Paintshop Pro and Adobe Reader)

Cutting & scoring tools, and adhesive of your choice

Hershey Nuggets or similar sized chocolates

HOW TO:
1) I clipped the papers of choice to the Photoshop template, and added the frame & text (which reads Thank you for helping us celebrate today, Alison & Wes, 1 April 2010).  (See Kelleigh’s post here for a how-to on using templates).  I managed to fit two of the Matchbox 2 templates onto one 8.5″ x 11″ paper – being thrifty!!  Since the Red River Paper is double sided (i.e. prints well on both sides of the sheet), I also printed the blue paper on the other side so I wouldn’t have a “naked” inside of the box!

2) I then printed the striped paper onto my sheet of Avery labels.  I used the Avery Wizard program with Microsoft Word and printed the names of the bride and groom and the date onto some of the labels.

3) Cut out and assemble the matchbox.  It’s pretty easy to figure out how to assemble this one – score on the dotted lines, cut on the sold lines.

4) But WAIT!  This is the fun part…I mean, besides the eating of the chocolate…  Take your Hershey’s Nugget (or equivalent sized chocolate of choice…)

(looks so plain and boring, eh?!)

5) Now take one of your labels and dress up the nugget!

This size label fits perfectly around the nugget…

6) The smaller of the matchbox templates can fit 2 layers of 4 nuggets.

A “sweet” way to thank your guests for sharing your special day, and easily created en masse.

Every other Saturday, we’ll be checking out some of the gorgeous items you can find for sale at the Digichick that are just perfect for your own hybrid projects.

There are so many different types of digital items available for sale in our shop—and over thirty wonderful designers! It’s easy to get lost and not know where to start if you’re new to hybrid. What items are best suited to printing? Which kits should you pick? Well, we’re here to help answer that question for you!

Today’s featured designer is Kellie Mize. Kellie is not only a talented template designer (you can check out her templates here), but she also makes the most beautiful, printable papers as well! Here are just a few of my own personal favorites:

Here is a gorgeous card by Sylvia using Kellie’s Blueberry Cobbler collection:

And this afternoon I made a set of gift boxes out of Kellie’s beautiful Nesting Instinct kit and Kelleigh Ratzlaff’s Jewelry Box template:

Thought I’d whip them up now so that the next time I need a tiny little gift box, I have something on hand! I actually had a lot of fun with this. I had to run to Kinko’s to make copies today, so I used their online ordering system to upload a .pdf I made out of my Photoshop document (it had Kellie’s papers and the Jewelry Box inside). Very easy! And I’m really happy with the quality of the printing job they did—nice glossy ink and great cardstock that’s strong, but still flexible. Also, I didn’t feel like it was “fragile” and would bleed on me, so I didn’t Mod Podge it up. I’ll have to try this again in the future. Much nicer than my home printer! It made Kellie’s gorgeous papers look so shiny and pretty!

So take a little detour today and peek in Kellie’s shop! Lots of beautiful goodies just waiting for you to use in your next hybrid project! Enjoy!

First, the supplies I used were:

• Premium Matte Photo Paper
• Ready for Spring by Elise and Jude
• Kelleigh Ratzlaff’s Jewelry Box Template
• glue gun
• mod podge/brush
• buttons/ribbon
• craft wire

First I gathered all of my supplies. I opened up photoshop and used Kelleigh’s template for my base. I knew that I wanted to use the pretty little flowers in this particular kit so I just added a bunch of them on the parts surrounding the template.

I then proceeded to cut all of the little flowers out as well as my template. I used a technique that I got from Mari’s Hybrid Hair clips for the flowers! All you have to do is scrunch the flowers up a bit and mod podge them so they will look like they are actual flowers.  You can find the whole tutorial here.

After about 20 minutes or so, the flowers should be dry. While they were drying I assembled my box. (You can add some weight inside the box by using some glass stones or even pebbles if you want. Just about anything will work since you won’t be seeing it. Just make sure you use your glue gun to secure it to the bottom!)

Now take some craft wire. Wrap it around a pencil, or wooden dowel in a spiral shape. Make sure it’s long enough so that you can fold up the edges to hold the picture, and also make a base to stick inside the box.

Now get your glue gun and glue it to the inside of the top flap of your box!

Once it’s dry, go ahead and start adding your flowers!! I added buttons and some ribbon as well as a cute little tag to jazz it up a bit!

Now that you are finished you can place your photo in the holder!! Wasn’t that easy?!

I really hope you enjoyed this as much as I did making it! Thanks for looking and happy (hybrid) scrapping!

I used the adorable papers from the Songbird kit by Sugarplum Paperie and Boutique Cute Dolls and the Gable Box Template Set by Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs to make this project.

Since I don’t have a wide format printer, I shrunk my gable box template a little in Photoshop to fit my printer.

I also sized the trees, birds and the bushes according to the box and the card sizes before I printed them out.

The assembling of the box and the card were real easy:

I added a stamped sentiment for the card and hand drawn the bubble around it. I also decided to add a button sun to the card. I just poked some holes and used embroidery floss for the sun rays.

This is a real simple and easy project and is perfect for children’s birthdays. Hope you will try it, too! =)