Mon 7 Sep 2009
Hybrid Scrapbooking Tutorial: Using Digital Alphabets for Card Making
Posted by MissMint under Hybrid Crafts , Tips & Tutorials[10] Comments
Tutorial: Using Digital Alphabets for Card Making
By: Mary Jo Johnston
One of the things I love about making cards is fun titles using hybrid letters! By hybrid, I mean taking a digital image and printing it onto cardstock, then cutting the letters for your project. But, I’m somewhat of a perfectionist and those tricky centers to the o’s, b’s and d’s can leave me wanting to throw my scissors across the room!
I’ve got a solution! You can use the clone stamp, in Photoshop, to duplicate the same pattern for the inside of those pesky little letters! Here’s how:
1. Choose the letter you’ll be printing for your project. Open it in Photoshop.
2. Choose the Clone Stamp Tool (it’s the one that looks like a little stamp in your tool box)
3. While holding down the ALT Key, click inside the center of the circle on the pattern you want to duplicate. You may need to change the brush size just a little.
4. Now, click inside the letter to duplicate the pattern.
5. Continue filling in the center until complete.
6. Now you can print and cut your letter without having to worry about the center. You can leave it as is or you can use a hole punch for the desired size you prefer. Voila!
Here are a couple of examples I created for you:
Supplies:
Polka Chipboard Alphabet – Yellow (recolored)
Polka Chipboard Alphabet – Pink
Craft Cutters Vectors – Jungle Nursery Animals
Cardstock
Rub Ons or Stickers
Foam Squares
Ink


September 7th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
SQUEEEEE! MJ!!!! These are way too freaking CUTE!!! You two crack me up! Thanks for the blog surprise – I LOOOOOOOVE seeing your darling cards!!!
September 7th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Wow these are so cute! I have to try this.
September 7th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Wow, what a fun cards! Really inspiring!
And great tip with the alpha!
September 8th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
This is so stinkin’ cute, MJ ! These are my new faves of yours ! Oh before i forget, i have a quick question ! Can you tell me what kinda scissors you use for your hybrids, i want to invest ! ;)
September 8th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Oh, Ingrid! Get the Cutter Bee Scissors!! They’re perfect for all of that precision cutting on hybrids, you’ll love them ;) But, be careful! They’re sharp (I learned the hard way, LOL!)
September 8th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I love your card!
I have a question that I hope you can answer, or if not, please tell me where I can go to get the answer…How big are the letter you used on your card, and how did you resize them?
Thanks for your help!
September 9th, 2009 at 2:43 am
MJ, you are just so talented
September 9th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Thank you so much for the info Mary Jo ! I made a quick search on the internet and i found a french store when i can buy the Cutter Bee Scissors for about 15€ ! :)
September 9th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Hi Helen!
Thank you for the sweet comment about my card!
Those letters were actually printed just as Miss Mint designed them at almost 1 inch each. You can drag your letters onto an 8.5″x11″ canvas and print on standard paper. Let me know if you have any more questions! =) MJ
September 25th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
What a great idea!