Hybrid Holiday Card

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Reported by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

I’ll admit it, I was very anti-digital scrapbooking for a very long time. And, while I don’t think I’ll ever go all digital, I have fallen in love with hybrid scrapbooking! If you’re not familiar with hybrid scrapbooking, it’s using a mixture of digital and traditional paper products together. It’s very cool! And, this year, I decided to try making a hybrid holiday card.

I bought two holiday kits from Two Peas In A Bucket: “A Cold Winter’s Night” by Sande Krieger ($4) and “Holiday Style Card Kit” by Rhonna Farrer ($6).

If you’ve never bought a digi kit, they’re really easy to use. When you buy it, simply follow the instructions to download it to your computer – usually just clicking a link. (BTW: I’m on a MacBook Pro and using Photoshop Elements 4.) The zipped file will download to your desktop. Then you can simply open the elements and use them as you wish.

“A Cold Winter’s Night” kit consists of fifteen black and white elements (sort of like stamps). They are offered as both .png (similar to jpegs) files and as an .abr file (photoshop brushes). Don’t worry if that’s Swahili to you. On their website, Two Peas provides easy to follow tutorials on how to use their digital downloads, as well as some examples. There are also plenty of free tutorials all over the internet. I really like the images in this kit. They have a scratchy, worn feeling that I find very appealing. And, when used, they definitely have an old-fashioned stamped look. I had no problems printing them out and using them. The print out quality is sharp and excellent.

“Holiday Style Card Kit” contains four cards in three variations: 5x7 cards, gift tags, and imprintables. The major difference between the three sets is the type. The 5x7 cards have basic holiday greetings such as “Merry Christmas” or “Shine.” The gift tags have text such as “To and From” or “For You.” As for the imprintables, one is a journaling card, another is a party invite, and so on. All the files are jpegs. These rich and colorful designs have a frenetic freestyle look and the bright colors really pop! I had no problems printing them out and using them. The print out quality is sharp and excellent.

Here is my holiday card…



The background is one of the 5x7 cards from the “Holiday Style Card Kit” turned on its side. I added the black and white tag from “A Cold Winter’s Night” kit and then added a photo to the empty space on the tag. To blend the photo with the tag, I used both the eraser and blur tools in PSE. Finally, I typed the salutation: “Season’s Greetings.” My main image was done.

I printed the main image onto an 8.5x11 piece of white cardstock. I then cut that down to 7x10 and folded it in half to create the card.



To create the tree, I used the cookie cutter tool in PSE and cut it from one of the 5x7 cards from the “Holiday Style Card Kit.” I placed it on top of a yellow background and printed it out. I cut it out neatly and then added the rhinestones. The crown is from “A Cold Winter’s Night” kit. I simply printed it out, added the rhinestones, and glued it to the main image. I also added rhinestones to the dot on the “i.” Finally, I attached the tree to the main image with foam adhesive. And, voila! Just a quick message and the card is done!

Now I just have to make forty more…!