Prima Hybrid Grand Opening - Blog Party!!!!

Alright time to get down and groooove! Prima Hybrid grand opening is today, so check by the forums and see what's happening! And don't forget to pop by DST tonight for a chat with the designers and flowergirls (including me!). Anyway to celebrate the Prima Hybrid grand opening us flowergirls decided to hold a little blog party and offer some lovely blog candy, and goodies!

Here's how it works if you haven't partied before! This is my blog party gift: an 8" x 8" layout template. Now I know some of the other girls did layout templates the same size so potentially you have the makings of an 8 x 8 album! You can download my template here.

Naturally I have to do a layout to show you what you can do with this template, so here is a little 8" x 8" sample page using the first blush collaboration kit from Prima Hybrid. This is a hybrid layout. Everything except the flower and brads are digital printed onto Epson Photo paper using my Epson RX680.

Layout credits: Digital kit: “First Blush” Collaboration kit, Prima Hybrid; Flower: Prima; Fonts: Bickham Script Pro, Georgia; Misc Brads; Template by Di Hickman

Now you have to go visit Amy, Andrea, Angel, Cathy, Danielle, Jess, Julie Ann, Kristin and Melinda to grab the set! Most of us did templates, some did quick pages with Prima Hybrid Goodness, but we all worked hard to bring you some great digital goodies to use in your hybrid projects. Though you can use the sketches as-is and do a layout 100% paper too!

For details on how to use the digital templates, see my tutorial below.

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Using Layered Templates

One of the questions I’m frequently asked is “how do I use a layered template?” so I thought I’d put together a little tutorial to show you how to use a template. First we’ll assume you have some layered templates. There are many different kinds to choose from including layouts, cards, mini books, and ATCs. For this tutorial I’m using a template I made myself, and the Prima Hybrid “First Blush” kit. First open up your layered template .psd file in Photoshop, then open the paper you wish to use for the template layer.

Using the move tool, click and drag the paper file ONTOP of the shape layer you wish to make into patterned paper. You can see the layer palette on the right of the screenshot shows that my striped paper is above the layer I wish to clip it to.

To make the paper take the shape of the layer beneath, we simply add a clipping mask. Imagine this like a die cut, the layer beneath is the die and it ‘cuts’ the paper into the shape. To do this have the patterned paper layer selected (as shown) and press “Ctrl G” (in Photoshop CS and above the command is ctrl, alt, G), the patterned paper should now have the same shape as the layer beneath it.

Repeat with all the layers you wish to change, and complete your layout. The clipping mask is a great tool and for templates it makes pages quick and easy!

Layout credits: Digital kit: “First Blush” Collaboration kit, Prima Hybrid; Template by Di Hickman

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Card Sketch Jan #5

Happy Wednesday!!! Wow I cannot believe that January is almost over... where did the month go? I have to say that we all are ROCKING these card sketches!!! I am slightly behind in commenting but I'll catch up don't worry! Anyway here is this weeks sketch.... with the digital template available in my store. Don't forget while you're there to check out the other templates too!

I have to say that this was one of those sketches that happened 'after the fact'. Meaning I made the card first, then sketched it. Sometimes it happens that way, sometimes it's the sketch first. Mine is nice and simple with lots of (literal) white space. I love my cards like this, quick and easy too!

"Hello" card by Di Hickman
Supplies: Patterned paper: Dreamstreet (card), DCWV (envelope); Alpha: Miss Elizabeths; Ribbon: Maya Road; Other: Pens, staples;

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Ok onto the sketch girls cards! Each week these girls amaze me with their creativity. I sent the sketches out, and they blow me away with all the different interpretations! Thanks girls!

"Get Well Soon" card by Kristin Shulz
Supplies: Dreamstreet and Basic Grey papers, American Crafts brads, Chip Chatter alphas, Ranger Tattered Rose ink, Souffle pen, Queen & Co felt, MM silk leaves

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"Birthday" card by Jackie Price
Supplies: Scraps of Three Bugs in a Rug; Prima flowers; Rhinestone; Stickles

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"Thinking of you" card by Beverley Todd
Supplies: Papers: Rusty Pickle; button, ribbon, card blank: from stash; rub-ons: free with a magazine; brown ink: Colorbox Fluid Chalk, Chestnut Roan; black pen: Zig Millenium 05

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"Sweet" card by Chrys Rose
Supplies: Love, Elsie pattern paper and chipboard button; Daisy D's pattern paper; ribbon N/A; American Crafts thickers; Making Memories staples

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"Happy Birthday" card by Jan Tatomir
Supplies: PP: Paper Salon; Ribbon: American Crafts; Rub: Crate; Copper Ring: Papier Valise; Bird Button: Rebecca Sower; LAce: Caro Lace; Other: machine stitching

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"Pirate" card by Annette Taylor
Supplies: Supplies: Digi doodles from the Kate Hadfield collection at the LilyPad; Ribbon: from stash; Ricrac: Maya Road; Ink: Colorbox

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"do lunch" card by Wendy McGlinchey
Supplies: White card, Sizzlet patterned papers, Navy Ribbon, Silver brads, clear gems, Stickles Icicles glitter glue, Sprinkle and Sparkle Stamp Plate 325 - Rodney Sea Critters.

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"Herd it's your birthday" Card by Natalie Dever
Supplies: Patterned Papers: CTMH; Stamps: My Favorite Things; Ribbon: May Arts; Ink: Versafine; Big Button: Autumn Leaves; Pens: Sakura Glaze; Unknown: Cardstock, flower and little buttons

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"the best" card by Jo Willis
Supplies: Papermill card, star paper by Anne Langpap for TwoPeas, polka dot paper from LetteringDelights.com, chipboard star covered with DCWV paper, doodled on and Glossy Accents, gingham ribbon, Papermania brad, Creative Café rub-on sentiment, black gel pen.

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"Best Wishes" card by Linda Flinders

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"Aloha" card by Jolene Johnston
Supplies: WorldWin cardstock, KI Memories paper, Colorbox chalk ink, Dream Designs flowers, JoAnn brad, Ribbon Trends rick rack, Basic Grey ribbon, Cricut & Opposites Attract cartridge, Walmart colored staples

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"Super Cute friend" card by Kim Huges
Supplies: Patterned and Solid Paper: Basic Grey; Alphabet Stickers: Basic Grey; Flower: Prima; Button: Autumn Leaves; Ribbon: Beaux Regards

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"Chicken Soupy" card by Lynn Anne Cutler
Supplies: Stamps (If Droopy; Lady Chicken) by Ruth's Jewish Stamps; Patterned Paper by Shalom Scrapper; Cardstock, twill ribbon and watercolor crayons by Stampin' Up!; Versafine ink; UHU glue stick; AdTech glue runner; Tonic Studios Tim Holtz craft scratcher

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"Birthday Wishes" card by Raechelle Bellus
Supplies: pp, die cuts and sticker: Scenic Route; Black pen; staples

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Don't forget if you create something with the sketch, hook me up in the comments! I love to come check them out!

more soon!

Di

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believe in you...

January is coming to an end so I'm sharing a card I made for the card column of the ezine. We put out a call for "encouragement cards". When I envisioned the article I was thinking of good luck and encouragement type cards that showed someone that you were thinking of them in their goals for the new year. Really you could choose from a simple "thinking of you" to "dream" themed cards.

For my card below I got inspired by this "believe" tag by Colorbok, added the 'in you' with MM rub-ons. Love this paper by Boxer, just cannot stop using this. One of my all time 'go to' papers. Lucky me that one heart... one mind does a similar paper too, just with the dots all in lines not offset! Love that! Best of both worlds! Once I laid the card out I thought it was a little bland, so I added the touch of pale blue, and it made all the difference!

Supplies: Cardstock: Worldwin; Paper, ribbon, brad: Boxer Scrapbooks; Tag: Colorbok; Rub-ons: MM; Flower: Prima

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Also a heads up that Prima Hybrid is having a Grand Opening Celebration! We hope you will enjoy the celebration we have planned on our Grand Opening Thursday January 31st! Here's the scoop!:

25% Off EVERYTHING at the PRIMA HYBRID shoppe!

This sale runs Jan. 31st - Feb. 4th.
See new kits from your favorite designers and check out the growing selection of Physical goodies too! Don't miss it.

• Enjoy a chat on Jan. 31st at 10pm EST in the DigiShopTalk Chat Room to learn all about PrimaHybrid and ask questions. You might find a freebie too! **(this is gorgeous I got a sneak peak yesterday!!!)**
  
• Participate in added challenges! Prizes of both digital and physical products.
• In the shoppe, pick up your Free True Love Candy Wrapper from Iron Orchid Designs. This is just de-lish!
• Blog party with some of the flowergirls!!!
  

So come along and join in the fun!

Card sketch coming tomorrow!

Di

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Monday Madness...

Monday morning greetings! I swear, I looked at my to-do list and about fainted!!! Yikes! Anyway, the winner of my extra copy of Scrapbook Dimensions Magazine is:

Alison Molumby!!!

Email me your mailing address Alison and I'll get this to you asap!!!

Look for more Friday Freebies coming soon! Gonna try and do these every week or so. Should be fun!

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Also today I'm sharing a couple of recent cards from the Dec/Jan issue of Ready Set Create. They have the new edition out soon, which you can find details here of how to get $1 off the cover price! This is a PDF download ezine and it's HUGE!

Everything else that I had in the Dec/Jan ezine has already been featured on the blog, so no point in sharing those. Lots of Christmas cards, and holiday projects.

Ok time to tackle that to-do list

more tomorrow!

Di

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Nice weather for ducks!

That's what the British always say, little reminder of home. So, seriously who ordered all this rain? It's been raining here in California for almost a WHOLE WEEK, we had a little sunshine one day only for it do disappear again behind rainclouds! Urgh! I'm fed up with it. Totally fed up. If I wanted dreary skies, constant rain, and having to towel the dogs off constantly I'd have stayed in England!!! At least this morning I managed to get the girls out for their walks with just a light sprinkling. Though right now as I write this is it THROWING IT DOWN. Seriously noisy. At least today it isn't cold either.

Anyway, crafty stuff. Again with the scallops! I don't think I've used so many scallops than I have since being on the one heart... one mind design team! Their papers make it so easy! The sassy line is one of my favorites (probably a close tie for first place between sassy, merry merry too, and formality).

Supplies: Papers by one heart... one mind; Cardstock: Bazzill; Ghost flower: Heidi Swapp; Rhinestones: Westrim Crafts; Font: Dream Orphan; Pen;

The Peach strip with the sentiment is made in photoshop and printed, I was really happy with how that turned out! One of those cards I look at and still love!

Off to build an ark...
More soon!

Di

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Sharing the love

I've been submitting to scrapbooking.com's online ezine for a few months now. Mostly Boxer projects that I've made, but in November I was browsing their website and saw they were looking for freelance writers. As I don't get chance to write many paper articles these days I figured I'd apply. Long story short I am now a freelance writer for scrapbooking.com :) (If you'd been sneaky you'd have seen a link to the left added last weekend). Below you can see a few of my projects from my January article. If you wanted to check out the full article, with more projects, you can find it in their archives here.

Patterned Paper: Boxer Scrapbooks; Stickers: Boxer Scrapbooks; Cardstock: DCWV; Die cut: Sizzix (double heart die); Felt: artists own; Envelope template: one heart... one mind

Patterned paper: Boxer Scrapbooks; Stickers: Boxer Scrapbooks; Die cut: Sizzix double heart; Ribbon: artists own; Felt: artists own; Ink: around the block

Cardstock: Worldwin; Patterned Paper: KI Memories; Gold Thread: Darice; Ink: Rubber Stampede; Gold cardstock: artists own; Brad: artists own; Circle punch: EK success; Die cut: Sizzix (circle frames)

If you view the article, you'll also see full step by step instructions to recreate the projects yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed doing the article and loved the step by step part so much it's something I'm considering adding regularly to the blog. I submitted my first article as a freelance writer this month and love the projects I made. Definitely going to enjoy being on their team!

Oh, you can also view a bonus project I made for them. Another Valentine project for Boxer, gotta love their new themed papers for these holiday projects! In fact I got a nice little goodie box from Boxer just last week, full of new stamps and other CHA product. Gotta get busy with that!

more soon!

Di

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Scrapbook Dimensions

Ok Friday Freebie, something new I'm trying on the blog! My friend Kim is rubbing off on me with all the blog candy she's been giving away (in a good way sweetie!). Doing this slightly later than I planned, I got and got sidetracked! Me? Sidetracked? Imagine that! Anyway, somehow this month I've ended up with an extra copy of the current Scrapbook Dimensions magazine.

I figured I should get this RAK'd off before the newer copy arrives! So, if your hybrid, or interested in trying hybrid (after all it IS a hybrid magazine!) just pop your name in the comments and I'll draw a random winner on Monday morning.

I'm busy with CHA stuff, more soon!

Di

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through the years...

Been working on getting cards sent back home to England for February. Dug some birthday cards from my stash, but found that I really don't make many anniversary cards. So I had to make a quickie using yesterdays sketch. Honestly I'm not really that happy with it, and really it's not your typical anniversary card, but hey it works. Plus you can't be happy with EVERYTHING you make!

Supplies: Cardstock, Papers & Rub-ons: DCWV; Chipboard: Heidi Swapp; Fabric tag: Colorbok

This is for my Aunt and Uncle's anniversary on February 24th. Yeah I know I still have time yet but I wanted to get them done, and ready to mail, as the post to England is erratic at best. All supplies are from my stash. I've been on a total Valentine/love roll lately. Had a couple of love/valentine articles to do, and lots of projects to make and I cannot seem to stop using the "one sweet day" kit by Corinna Neilsen at Prima Hybrid. Lots of hybrid projects using that kit which I hope to share soon!

more tomorrow

Di

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Card Sketch Jan #4

Wow Wednesday already!!! Where is the week going? Well this weeks sketch is simple with lots of room for you're take on it, so show us what you got! As always the digital template will be available for a limited time in my digital store, grab it while you can! Also don't forget to check out the other templates in the store too!

I made 2 cards with this sketch so far, this one more closely followed the sketch than the other so I chose it for todays post. Using scraps from Fancy Pants, along with some lacey trim and a gold buckle, both from absolutely ages ago! Got some of Kim's stamps and wow that girl is so freakin' talented! Love this sentiment she has, and that is HER handwriting! (anyone else insanely jealous of her handwriting? mine is a total mess!) Anyway I'll share the other card soon.

"smooches"
Supplies: cardstock: DCWV; Papers: Fancy Pants: Buckle & Trim: unknown; Stamp: Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms; Ink: Tim Holtz/Ranger

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Onto the sketch teams cards. Lots of interpretations of the sketch, each adding their own twist. I have to say for me, I love seeing the cards as they come in and getting inspired all over again by the sketch. So cool, so here are the sketch teams creations!

Card by Ruth Trice
Supplies: Paper by Basic Grey, TLC and Maria DeMarco, Stamps by Heidi Swapp, Stampin' Up! and Clever Cuts. Buckle and Ribon from my stash.

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Card by Pearl Liu
Supplies: SEI's Penelope Potpourri pp & puff sticker , May Arts ribbon , K&Co Dimensional Heart sticker, Heidi Grace stick pin,

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Card by Krista Pearl
Supplies: Jessica Gorny and Amy Watson, Happy Scrapz - Sweet Friendship, DigibyDesign; Font - Pea Carrie Script, Fonts for Peas

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Card by Jo Willis
Supplies: Papermill card, Dovecraft paper, Nestabilities, Quickutz Studio skinni mini die-cuts, Prima flowers, Making Memories metal clip, unknown ribbons, white Signo pen, unknown gems.

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Card by Beverley Todd
Supplies: Patterned paper & rub ons: DCWV; Ribbon slide: AMM; Micro dot
twinkle gems: A Muse; Ribbon, velvet ric rac, pearlised card: from stash

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Card by Annette Taylor
Supplies: Bazzill Cardstock, Patterned Paper: Sassafrass Lass Dreamy, Petaloo Flowers, Heidi Grace Acryllic Stamps, Brilliance inks

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Card by Linda Flinders

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Card by Cindy Gilchrist
Supplies: Creative Imaginations Pattern Papers & Chipboard Sentiment, Bazzill Cardstock, Doodlebug Designs Button, My Minds Eye (green) Ribbon, Wrights White Ribbon, Red Gingham Ribbon (unknown brand), Doodlebug Designs Rub-On, Colorbox Chalk Ink.

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Card by Kim Hughes
Supplies: Patterned Paper; Fancy Pants, Button; Autumn Leaves, Ribbon; Beaux Regards, Sticker; 7 Gypsies, Sand Block; Making Memories, Corner Rounder; EK Success

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Card by Lynn Anne Cutler
Supplies: Giraffe stamp by Prickley Pear; Welcome stamp by Stampin' Up!; Exclusives cardstock by Prism; Patterned Paper by Creative Imaginations; Fine weave mesh by Magic Mesh; Ribbon by 7Gypsies; Retractable Craft Pick by Tonic Studios/Tim Holtz; Stampin' Write! markers, watercolor crayons and craft ink by Stampin' Up!; Versafine Ink (black); Zig 2 Way Glue Pen, UHU Scrapbookers' Pen, AdTech Permanent Glue Runner; also: finding from dollar store bracelet

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Card by Jolene Johnston
Supplies: Die Cuts With a View card, Heidi Grace flocked tags, American Crafts ribbon, Colorbox chalk ink, Ranger Stickles, Basic Grey chipboard

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Card by Kristin Shulz
Supplies: DCWV glitter card, Dreamstreet papers, Joanns sheer ribbon, Pebbles Ribbon slide, CM alphas, Tulip glitter 3D paint

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Card by Kelli Smith
Supplies: Die Cut with a View paper, ranger stickles,hearts from the paper studio

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Card by Jan Tatomir
Supplies: CS: Bazzill; PP: SEI; Paper Lace: KI Memories Pop Culture; Ribbon: Strano; Pin: Making Memories

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Card by Natalie Dever
Supplies: Cardstock: Unknown from Hobby Lobby; Patterned Paper: Scrappin Sports and More; Cardstock Stickers: Scrappin Sports and More; Ribbon: May Arts; Brads: Paper Studio; Black bling: Doodlebug; Ink: Versafine; Stamp: Fancy Pants

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Card by Wendy McGlinchey
Supplies: White card stock, Orange card stock, Sizzlet patterned papers, Black Ribbon, Gold Buckle, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Lyra water colour crayons, Black Versafine, Katie & Co text stamp, Penny Black Hedgie stamp.

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Card by Raechelle Bellus
Supplies: cs: Bazzill; pp: Love, Elsie and Doodlebug; Doodlebug frill; Making Memories epoxy flower; Doodlebug rubons; Offray ribbon; chipboard journaling spot: Autumn Leaves Rhonna Farrer;

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As usual if you make a card from the sketch, hook me up in the comments so I can come check them out!

more soon

Di

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