Going Hybrid with PL in 2014 - tips???

lcpereyra

You won't believe my blue streak!
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I've done great with my paper PL this year and love it! I love the hand crafted feel of it but I want to do more of it digitally next year so I'm planning on going hybrid with it. I'd love to hear from others who are hybrid and know what tips you have! What parts do you do digitally vs. paper? How do you approach your spreads each week?

Trying to get a plan in place so I'm ready to go with 2014 - going to be here VERY soon! :)
 
I definitely do a mix of paper + hybrid. I think my favorite spreads are hybrid, because I just love to coordinate color (OK, I'll admit it .. I am a bit obsessed :giggle), but end up using paper supplies quite a bit to save time (plus, I am an equal opportunity kinda gal..). :)
I am almost current (6 weeks behind, working on Week 43), which considering how busy this year has been is quite remarkable for me.

For my hybrid pages, I don't really do that much planning.. I usually grab a kit that's caught my eye lately, and go for it. Some recoloring here and there, and adding text on top of photos in colors that match the kit. I do keep some basic journal cards and word art on hand but most of the time I print as I go.

My spreads are rather photo heavy and I swear by Lili's photo collages.







 
Oh wow, those photo collages are awesome!! I need to look into getting me some of those!!! :)
 
Super tips Cristina! I like the collage templates and will have to check those out. I have been using On the 6's from Amy Martin.

 
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I'm gonna lurk in this thread. I'm just getting into PL for 2014 so I have no tips yet, but I wanna know what y'all say! Those collages do look like they could come in real handy for sure.
 
oh, I love all of those photo collages! That will be a great help with planning. I'm usually photo heavy as well. :)
 
Love the collages! But I'm too lazy to do them in PS so I just use PicFrame on my Mac (a photo collage app). I'm thnking of trying out PL next year.
 
I'm 100% hybrid and I'm not a planner... but I have a routine that helps me keep caught up

Monday: edit and prep photos for print... I use Lili's photo collages if my week is photo heavy, otherwise if it's a light week I do all my print prep in Lightroom where I have templates set up for different sizes... then I send them off to Costco to print and pick them up in the evening...

Tuesday: insert my photos in their pockets and find and print the journal cards/filler cards or background paper I want to fill the pockets and print them

Wednesday: journal and print and cut any elements, labels or tags I want to add

Thursday: add any finishing touchs, date stamps and other stuff... then photograph and edit the spread for uploading to galleries

Friday: upload to galleries


I'm not really a planner, but the constant routine really helps me stay on top of it

I have my photos printed at Costco and the paper goods I print from home on Bright White cardstock... I used to use Epson Presentation paper, but that cost added up fast and so changing to the cardstock freed up some of my budget for buying other things lol

I also have a major love for mixed media... but can't paint my printed cards without it al smearing and stuff... so I add digital paint and grunge to my cards

I do however handwrite my journaling... since I'm not a planner, I tend to just print out stuff I love but don't do any pre-planning of where everything will go... so I find it easier for me to add the journaling after I've put my spread together... I used to do more planning in Photoshop but I found it took me tons longer to complete and I needed something faster for me and my go with the flow personality... so getting rid of that extra step worked best for me, buy I know it doesn't work for everyone :)
 
ooooooooh, Heather, thanks for the fantastic info! I like to hand write my journaling as well so that is one of the reasons I want hybrid and not full digital. I love your routine!
 
I'm keeping a close watch on this. My kids asked me to go back to paper (I switched from paper to digital in July), so I'll be doing some hybrid stuff. Not sure how to go about it just yet!
 
this is a little tip that I use ALL the time - in Picasa, you can create a 4x6 photo collage with two photos - making two 3x4 photos - print with your regular prints, cut in half (i round corners) and voila! i do PL hybrid and love it because i can do as much or as little to it as I want - I am happy with it when it is printed and simple some weeks, and other weeks I just need to add a little something sparkly or thready or (well, usually sparkly or thready!) and i love being able to add the 'pocket treasures' that I have always collected :)
 
Could someone please explain the exact difference between "paper project life" and "hybrid project life"?
I really have problems to differentiate between both...
 
I think paper means you only use physical paper scrapbooking products, but hybrid means you incorporate digital designs, like journal cards and other papers/embellishments you can get here at the Lilypad, and you print them out and add to a physical page project life page protector album.
 
I think paper means you only use physical paper scrapbooking products, but hybrid means you incorporate digital designs, like journal cards and other papers/embellishments you can get here at the Lilypad, and you print them out and add to a physical page project life page protector album.

yes, this. This past year I used a physical kit from Becky Higgins (2 actually) and lots of odd and ends that I purchased at craft stores. So my binder is pretty bulky. I didn't use any digital elements at all - it was all traditional scrapbooking.

For me, doing it more hybrid means still using the same divided project life page protectors, but using more digi elements on my photos and using some digi journal cards. I like the idea of digi paint splatters, digi glitter, digi overlays, etc. I was originally going to do full 12x12 digi layouts and print as one sheet then cut apart to put in the binder and add my personal touches but that will be more expensive printing so I'm not going to do that and will continue with printing 4x6s.
 
this is a little tip that I use ALL the time - in Picasa, you can create a 4x6 photo collage with two photos - making two 3x4 photos - print with your regular prints, cut in half (i round corners) and voila! i do PL hybrid and love it because i can do as much or as little to it as I want - I am happy with it when it is printed and simple some weeks, and other weeks I just need to add a little something sparkly or thready or (well, usually sparkly or thready!) and i love being able to add the 'pocket treasures' that I have always collected :)

I do this too in Lightroom - it works so well and they fit the PL pockets perfectly! :)
 
yup... paper means traditional scrapbooking products you buy from a store... hybrid is digital product that you buy to print yourself or have printed by someone and adding traditional "real" elements... basically a mix of both worlds :)
 
Heather do you have atutorial anywhere about resizinf and using photo templates in LR? I have LR and would love to be able to do it from there as opposed to doing it in PS....
 
I don't... I learned it from a 2Peas tutorial video by Melissa Stinson... it's just a matter of setting up the templates which I tweaked to my liking and then it's easy peasy

a workflow tutorial is on my list of things to do though since so many have requested it... just haven't had the time to devote to putting it together lol
 
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