With less than a week before Valentine’s Day it would be easy to admit defeat and not do anything special for loved ones, but before you do that I ask that you reconsider and instead try working some hybrid magic. Hybrid crafting, or incorporating digital products into your paper crafting, is becoming more popular, and I remain a big fan!

Before you worry about Photoshop and your lack of digital know-how, let me tell you my favorite trick: I open up Microsoft Word, insert the images I want to use, resize them as needed, and click print. In under five minutes, you can be on your way to paper bliss.

For the projects shown here, I used the lace border set, word art kit, and the backgrounds kit by Rhonna Farrer at House of 3. I really like all of her 2010 Valentine releases, but these products were the ones I knew I could use over and over for sure. After selecting these products to work with, I decided I wanted to pick one other main element to work with: doilies. They have long been a favorite of mine, and lately they seem to be coming back into fashion. So I dug into my stash and pulled out a package.

I printed a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 patterned paper (parts of which can be seen peeking out from my folded doily) in addition to printing out the valentine sentiment on a sheet of vellum. I also inked my folded doily (with worn lipstick distress ink) to add some color and detail before I stitched on the vellum sentiment on the bottom and two sides. Doing this created a pocket and secured the vellum. Now I can tuck love notes inside and give it away!

I liked my folded doily pocket idea so much that I made a second one. This time, I used it as a gift card holder and I added some accents as well. A major selling point for digital products like this word art kit is that I can use it for cards or other items I need to make multiples of with ease.

If you find an idea that works well, why not stick with it? I decided to try and convert my basic idea to a traditional card format:

I used a piece of patterned paper (digital – printed onto white cardstock) as well as some rhinestone brads and pink tulle for this simple card, and I’m happy with the results. None of these projects would take more than 15 minutes to recreate, and they are really budget friendly as well.

Of course my true test of digital products like these that are so strongly themed is “can I use it for other stuff too?” and the answer here is a huge yes! To show you what I mean, I’ve created this layout (doily and all!) to illustrate my point:

I re-colored the patterned paper (pink one) and then layered on some brushes and one of the fabulous word art titles as well and printed onto cardstock. I trimmed off the excess paper (to a finished size of about 8×8) and placed it on a sheet of die cut patterned paper from The Girls’ Paperie. From there it was fun and easy – just adding some stitching, a few fun accents, my doily, bits of patterned paper left over from my digital printouts, and before I knew it I had a layout all finished.

For your boyfriend or mom, favorite aunt or dear friend, any project you put a few minutes of hand crafted love into is sure to be well received. If you make the most of your paper stash and combine a bit of digital goodness you can have unique cards, layouts, home decor, and so much more in less time than it would take to watch your favorite TV show.

Before I head off to make some more love inspired creations I have some more digital product suggestions to check out this Valentine’s Day:

Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals has been prolific in her offerings this year. A favorite pick of mine is these lovely photo masks.

Melissa Esplin has a font called Classy Cupid that I’ve fallen in love with.

Betsy Tuma has a free kit available at Two Peas that’s perfect for so many love filled projects.

Ali Edwards for Designer Digitals has these love embellishments that would be fantastic for so many projects and layouts.

I hope you too embrace this opportunity to spread happiness and love to all those that mean the most to you. If you’re interested in learning more about working digital scrapbook products into your traditional scrapbook pages, I invite you to check out my on-line six week workshop that starts in just two weeks at Big Picture Scrapbooking.

Until next time – happy {hybrid} crafting!

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