How to pair paper & digital in scrapbooks

We’ve talked a little bit here about the concept of hybrid scrapbooking. At the most basic level, hybrid means a combination of digital tools or supplies and the tangible, material world. But our previous discussions centered on crafty projects that utilize digital supplies. What about the flip side?

Yesterday I touched a little on this idea of using your computer or digital supplies to turn a simple photo album into a scrapbook. Today, I want to take that one step further and explore the ways people are coupling digital with paper on real scrapbook layouts.

Let’s start with a comparison. Both of these pages below have typewritten journaling. Can you tell which layout is 100% digital? I couldn’t without looking at the credits!

It really could have been either layout, as digital products so easily mimic the real deal. But, while digital does offer a sense of realism, the very thing digiscrappers want to avoid (imperfection) is one key element of appeal in the paper world. Things aren’t “just so”, which brings scrappers and their stories closer together.

There are many ways in which digital images can be coupled with paper, glue and scissors. In fact, even the most dyed-in-wool paper scrapper is probably using digital photos! Here are a couple of options for bringing the concepts together in new and fun ways.

Strip it

Printing out your journaling in strips and blocks also adds a repetitive design element to the page.

Print it

Typewritten journaling on your background paper or card stock brings clean lines to your layout.

Merge it

Couple photos and journaling, as Cathy Zielske so famously does, on one sheet of photo paper. Then pair with papers and embellishments. You can find some great examples on Cathy’s blog here, here and here.

Digital scrapbooking is all about making memory keeping easier, allowing you to have more fun in the process. Hybrid techniques, in this context, combine digital’s time-saving techniques and paper’s artistic flair. What results is really the best of both worlds.

Have you experimented with hybrid layouts? Tell us your story of pairing paper with pixels. I’m so curious to see examples of scrappers who’ve taken the next step and used printed digital scrapbook supplies on a more traditional layout.

This month we’re sharing 21 ways to tell your story: #1. Photo albums. #2. Paper scrapbooking. #3. Hybrid scrapbooking.