Tutorial: Printing Mediums

One of the questions I get asked most about hybrid scrapbooking is “what do you print the digital part onto?” The answer is: Anything, and everything! There really are so many options, that is the great thing about hybrid.

Obviously the choices for the beginner hybrid scrapbooker are probably going to be limited so I thought what better than a side by side comparison! The papers that almost every scrapbooker has in their supplies are: cardstock (smooth or textured) and photo paper (glossy or matte). Each one of these can be used for hybrid scrapbooking, and each gives the project a different look and finish.

• Cardstock: I use plain white cardstock a lot for hybrid. First it’s inexpensive and second I have a lot of it. Textured or smooth depends on my project.
• Photo Paper: I print my photo’s at home so I always have photo paper on hand. Photo paper comes in lots of finishes, matt and glossy being the two most popular.

My choice for deciding which paper to print on depends a lot on the project in question. I decided to make a hybrid card, and print it out onto different papers to compare the difference.

I printed the digital portion onto smooth cardstock, matte photo paper and glossy photo paper. The cardstock (left) gave a dull flat color and finish to the card. The glossy photo paper (right) gave the most vibrant color and detail, but in lights gave off a glare and sometimes made it difficult to see (and photograph). Falling in the middle is the matte photo paper, which really did fall between both. The colors were stronger than the cardstock, but the detail wasn’t as good as the glossy photo paper, but there was no light glare.

In this scan you can see the difference between the card on the left (cardstock) and right (glossy photo paper). The difference is much more pronounced in real life.

I’ll still continue to use all three papers, deciding which finish I‘d prefer with each project. I like the variety. Even though the cardstock gave a flat finish with duller colors, for some projects that works great, especially on grungy or heavily distressed papers. Each paper has pro’s and cons, each one is worth trying, and each one has a place in my hybrid scrapbooking!

Credits: Digital papers: Kitchen Curtains, Meredith Fenwick, Digital stitching: Robin Blankenship; Flower: Yellow Sprite, Prima; Gem: center kisses, Prima; Photoshop CS3

Of course this is just about papers, not taking into account transparencies, vellums and specialty printing mediums, that's a whole other tutorial ;)

Have fun with Hybrid!

Hugs

Di