Templates

I didn't use templates for a long time. I was using FxFoto to scrap and it didn't support templates for a long time. It just started having that ability a few months ago. This happened around the same time that I started learning to use Photoshop elements. I like the way templates work in elements a lot better than FxFoto. When I first started learning to use templates, I collected every template I could find. I have since found that a lot of them are hard to use or I never like they way they look with papers in them, no matter how many times I change out the papers. To me, templates are suppose to make scrapbooking easier, but sometimes I spent more time changing around the papers to find something I liked. I could have done a LO from scratch faster than that. I have found 3 template designers that I love though.

The first designer I like is Andrea Gold. Her templates are so pretty. They have a lot of detail to them. The LO below is made with one of Andrea's templates. The photo is of my children and their cousins from New York. They came down to visit in July. Andrea frequently gives away her templates on her blog. She has them available in both rectangle and square formats. I love that because then I dont have to resize it or make an 8x8 LO and have the top and bottom of the printed page plain white. Andrea also sells them in her store at Go Digital Scrapbooking . A lot of her stuff is on clearance right now.

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The next designer I love is Ruby Hammer. Her templates are funky and fun. She has done a template with every letter of the alphabet. I am going to be making an alphabet book for my neice and nephew for Christmas using her alphabet templates. The LO below was made using her "X" template. I couldn't think of something starting with "X" to scrap about, so I had to be inventive in how I used the x. You can also easily take the letters out of the template and use it that way. Ruby usually gives away a new freebie every Tuesday. This LO is of Rachael at her dance demo in May.

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The 3rd template designer I love is Tracy Drane. I had one of Tracy's templates before Make it Scrappy opened. Since the grand opening, I have been able to collect a lot more of her templates. Tracy's templates are very original. I also love that they use most of the page. I hate LOs with one little picture in the corner and the rest of the page practically blank. One of the templates that I really likes was her "LIFE" template. It is a 2 page LO set up to look like a game board. Tracy sponsers a template challenge at Make it Scrappy and I have loved participating in those challenges. She makes it easy by having such great templates. You can get her templates on her blog or at Make it Scrappy in the Links and Download section. This LO is of our dog Bruce. He is an Akita/Lab mix. He is a 100 pound baby!!

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Now, I don't want you to think that I use templates a lot. I probably only use a template for 1 out of every 15-20 LOs, if that much. I have done more template LO since I joined Make it Scrappy than I ever did before. I would much rather do a LO on my own but sometimes it is fun to use a template. I have gotten some good LO ideas from various templates.