MAKE IT FASTER WITH TEMPLATES

I couldn't accomplish my May goals as I mentioned. I started very excited but then real life called me and I couldn't  make any other layout. I have been willing to scrap since then, so last week I got Overseas kit and a template and created a page in less than 30 minutes. I couldn't believe how fast it was.

Well, I'm not very good at themed kits, I always try to use them in a different way because it's very hard for me to think of themed memories - instead of love, family and babies, of course. This kit is traveling focused and it's one of the most difficult themes for me because we don't travel very often - hopefuly it will change some time soon.

Then, I remembered a very quick trip we took, it was one day trip to a romantic town in São Paulo State. The most important wasn't the trip itself, but making it. I dreamed of going there with my husband for years when we finally went and this is the pciture we took in front of the city "entrance".

>> MAKE IT FASTER WITH TEMPLATES

When I started digiscrapping back in 2006 people wouldn't use templates as much as they do now. Some people would even turn up their nose at templates as if you used them you weren't original or creative enough. I never agreed to that. I think templates can help us a lot, especially when you don't have much time to scrap or you are creatively blocked, you can use templates for many reasons.

     REASONS TO USE TEMPLATES

• You don't have much time to scrap
• You are in a creative block
• You want to try a different style
• You want consistency within a whole album
• You want to challenge yourself
• You want to use multiple photos

Reasons will depend basically on your skills. Some scrappers find it very difficult to work with multiple photos, so templates can be very helpful. I always loved layering and sometimes I felt I wasn't doing it correctly. Templates gave me a good direction to start my own way of doing it.

Some templates nowadays are very full of layers, clusters and blocking - which I really love!! - but is not recommended when you don't have much time to scrap. If you have a deadline to meet, choose a basic template with fewer layers because it will be much less time comsuming.

What you have to bear in mind is that you can't feel stuck with templates. If you bought a pack of templates and used only once, I will challenge you do use it more times. You can always change something and make it unique - rotating, adding stuff, removing stuff, resizing stuff, options are endless. 

Take a look at the layout below. It is suggested that you use the blocks for pictures, but I used patterned paper instead and only one picture. Besides that, I punched the background paper at the top, added a little label to the bottom and a frame under the picture. It is only a little difference, but I could play rotating the whole design to have pictures on the left or right side or even move everything slightly towards the center of the page.

I changed a little bit more on the next layout. I was also supposed to have multiple photos, but I used patterned paper instead - love patterns! - I wanted to make a list as journaling and I added all those labels changing the whole design of the page.

The next template is one that I changed a lot. I deleted some layers and used brushes/masks instead. Some followed the template shape as you can see there's a kind of scalop border under the picture. I also added a big title.

As I said, options are endless with templates and they are so helpful. Take the advantages of their benefits and shake things up a little bit.