What is “Hybrid” Scrapbooking?
Paper and pixels. Type and titles, edited photos and embellishment, printed and placed on a page. Any use of your computer as a scrapbook tool on a paper layout is considered “Hybrid” these days. And many scrapbookers don’t realize that using your computer as a scrapbook tool isn’t an “all-or-nothing” proposition. You don’t have to create all-digital layouts just because you pick up your mouse. :)
In fact, if you’ve ever used your computer to create one of the parts of your paper layout, you’re a hybrid scrapbooker!
What this means is that in its broadest sense, “hybrid” scrapbooking isn’t new. People have been printing journaling for years. But only within the past two or three years have people really started using Photoshop as a design tool, for every aspect of a paper layout. This is really where hybrid scrapbooking took off, and what makes it so interesting and exciting right now.
Hybrid Examples
Hybrid layouts can range from the very simple, like this one, in which the only hybrid aspect is type, finished up with cardstock, patterned paper, and rub-ons:
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Hybrid layouts can also be more complex, such as this one, in which I layered a photo, photo frame, and type over a digital patterned paper, printed it onto photo paper, and created my paper layout around it:
Click for Larger Here’s one more example, in which photos, frames, brushes, and a digital title are layered over a digital patterned paper and printed . I created the journaling block and date accents on a second sheet of digital paper and printed them. I punched and mounted the circles on painted chipboard, and completed my layout with pattterned paper, chipboard, a rub-on, and stickers:
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Here are some more examples of hybrid layouts.
Getting Started in Hybrid
What do you need to do to get started creating hybrid layouts? You’ll need two things: equipment and instruction.
Here’s the equipment:
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0
(or the full version of Photoshop - currently CS3, or another image editing program)
- A photo-quality inkjet printer (I use the Epson Stylus Photo R1800 Inkjet Printer
, but a letter-sized model will do in most cases). If you are going to be doing more than a tiny bit of hybrid scrapbooking, having your own home printer will become a necessity.
- Digital materials, such as patterned paper, word art, brushes, and photo frames are excellent ways to incorporate computer tricks into your paper scrapbook pages. Check out my favorite stores for hybrid-friendly goodies:
Here is the instruction:
- Computer Tricks for Scrapbooking (a Creating Keepsakes Special issue) - 67 tutorials with full-color screen shots and step-by-step instructions to help you unlock the secrets of hybrid scrapbooking and take your pages to a whole new level. ($14.95 + shipping)
- My online column at CreatingKeepsakes.com, called Paper + Pixels. A new tutorial twice a month. Here’s the one for May! (FREE)
- Photoshop Friday - geared toward both paper and digital scrapbookers, most of the tutorials here translate well into a hybrid approach. (FREE)