Help!

[bigcitygirl]

I am very into making cards and I really want to venture into hybrid….do I need to have a cutting machine or can I use my two hands..lol…please give me any and all help and I will love you forever!

 

[keepscrappin]

I am very into making cards and I really want to venture into hybrid….do I need to have a cutting machine or can I use my two hands..lol…please give me any and all help and I will love you forever!

You can definitely start with just printing out stuff and cutting with scissors and/or a paper trimmer. Give it a try and see how you like doing hybrid before you invest in a cutting machine.

 

[bellbird]

Totally agree with Kayla, I made do with scissors and a trimmer for years & from watching YouTube paper scrapping & card making videos, some people love fussy cutting (can't say it relaxes me but works for them!), so if you're one of them, you might enjoy it more without learning the cutting machine software!

 

[bigcitygirl]

What kind of kits do you look for and how do you print stuff out? Total newbie at this hybrid stuff!

 

[A-M]

@bigcitygirl I dabble in some hybrid card making. I print using my Epson Inkjet Printer onto 260gsm photo quality cardstock which is white and the brand I buy I can print either side.
I do not own a cutting machine - cut with my fine scissors but do not do a lot of cutting. Here is a page featuring two card I made and nothing is cut out from what I printed. On the card with the flower I did add a gold sticker to the centre of the flower and the red and white card I added small silver stickers. I like using the tiny pearl and gem type stickers on my card to add a little extra to them.


Here are bookmarks I made where I printed and cut out by hand the worm and the sheep.

 

[mocamom]

What kind of kits do you look for and how do you print stuff out? Total newbie at this hybrid stuff!

Oh there are so many wonderful things to play with here! For me, I like kits with sticker type elements because I'm NOT a fan of fussy cutting (using scissors to cut around an object). I like using my trimmer or elements with a white border because it's faster. There are a ton of hybrid people here that do an amazing job at fussy cutting and if you can get a small pair of sharp scissors, the world is your oyster in regard to what kits you can use!

I design my card in Photoshop and in the beginning, I'd print my one or two pages at Office Max for a few dollars (or cheaper with a coupon). I eventually got tired of having to pick up the copies, so I asked around here and got an Epson Ecotank 3850 from Costco. That was 14 months ago and even though I make 4-6 cards per week, I've only used about a 1/4 of a tank of ink! That was a great purchase for me.

I do have an electronic cutting machine and an electronic die cutting machine, but just as often as not, I'll cut my papers out with my regular trimmer. So, I think you can easily start out with a trimmer, some scissors, and whatever kits you already have (maybe a printer if you want to print at home). Just like with digital scrapbooking, the great thing about buying digital products is that you only print what you want to use, you can adjust them in Photoshop or whatever scrapbooking software you use, and then reuse those same products over and over!

Check out different posts here, the TLP blog, and YouTube and you will find PLENTY of inspiration! I can't wait to see what you come up with!

 

[bigcitygirl]

Thank you! I appreciate all the help!

 

[keepscrappin]

What kind of kits do you look for and how do you print stuff out? Total newbie at this hybrid stuff!

You can print out any of the kits available here at TLP. Some of the kits have print/cut files already setup for you in pdf files so you just can just print and fussy cut or cut with a cutting machine.

The Memory Pockets Monthly or MPM kits are some that have the ready to print files already set up for you. There is a new MPM kit on sale this weekend or you can subscribe to MPM to get an even better deal.

I'm not sure what software you're using to scrap/print with, but many here use Photoshop Elements (PSE) or Photoshop creative cloud (PSCC) to size and print just what they want from kits. Those software programs are the most commonly used here and mostly likely that someone could help you with, but you don't need special software to start printing things out.

Back in the 90s when I was a paper scrapper, I was actually a hybrid scrapper and didn't even know it. I used to use Word or MS Publisher to type up my journaling in text boxes or cut into word strips and then adhere to my layouts. You can use Word, Google Docs, Powerpoint, PSE, PSCC, Gimp, etc to insert elements/journal cards/etc and size to your liking to print things out. If you're not printing at home, I would recommend saving your print sheets in pdf format so when you send to the print shop, the sizing with stay the same and you won't have to worry if their computers can read your files. Nothing's worse than putting in all that work creating a print sheet to find out, the print shop can't print it in that format.

I can't wait to see what you create! Here's some info on how to add your creations with TLP products to our gallery.

 

[Annsofie]

You have already got a ton of great answers. I’m a hybrid scrapper and I have a cutting machine but I never use it. Don’t put your money on that, at least not in the beginning. I love sitting in the sofa fussy cutting all the embellishments that I want to use for my cards/projects. For the straight parts I use a paper trimmer or a scalpel and a metal ruler.
I would recommend you to by a sturdy printer paper, with smooth structure. They are a bit more expensive but the quality on the cards will be so much better.

I use Affinity Photo (almost the same as Photoshop Elements) on my iPad to assemble the elements I want to use in a document for printing, that way I can get the size I want. I always make the card/project digital first which makes it so easy to print the right size by just splitting the project up in the document.

Here is an example how it looks before and after

 

[Aerobigirl]

These are all beautiful examples! My best suggestion if you're going to fussy-cut and you want dimension is to print on regular paper and then before you cut, glue your printout to a thicker card-stock (I use a brayer to get the glue to spread consistently and thinly). This way, any tiny pieces will be less likely to bend / tear, and you'll also have a bit of dimension.

Or if your printer will do it, you could print directly on thicker paper (my current printer can't handle thicker paper)

 

[Aerobigirl]

One of the things I used to do when I had a cutting machine was take a digital stamp and then outline it in photoshop elements by 20 to 25 pixels and make that into a cut file. That made a slightly bigger cut than the stamped image. Next, I'd cut that cut-file on a 4 by 5 1/4 card front (just a little smaller than the card front so I could have another colored layer for the card. I'd print the stamped layer, cut it just a bit bigger than the hole created by the cut file, and adhere it behind the cut file. This was my way to get a stamped image inside a cut shape.

 

[mocamom]

These are all beautiful examples! My best suggestion if you're going to fussy-cut and you want dimension is to print on regular paper and then before you cut, glue your printout to a thicker card-stock (I use a brayer to get the glue to spread consistently and thinly). This way, any tiny pieces will be less likely to bend / tear, and you'll also have a bit of dimension.

Or if your printer will do it, you could print directly on thicker paper (my current printer can't handle thicker paper)

Brilliant idea for using a brayer! I do some delicate die cut frames and this would work perfectly!

 

[Karen]

I'll also suggest that if you are planning to cut things out by hand, but you're not a fan of scissors, an exacto knife and a cutting mat work just as well as scissors for some people. I go back and forth between the two methods depending on my mood.

Here's another thread with a few links to how to get started on hybrid too if you're looking for paper suggestions: https://the-lilypad.com/forum/threads/i-dont-know-where-to-start.89915/