You ever have moments in your life where someone points out a far more simple way of doing a particular task than the way you’ve been doing it? This happened to me a couple years ago. When I first started scrap booking digitally I would build all my own layouts in photo shop. They were beautiful. They were time consuming. And there was no time saved when you were doing a book or a themed event where you wanted to have the same layout or a variation of 2 or 3 on each page. However, that is when I discovered templates, not just showing you ideas of layouts but pages that you could drag and drop your photo into. No lining up edges perfectly it was already done for you. No figuring out the sizes etc.   I didn’t have to even use the whole template, I could mix and match.It was an amazing lifesaver!

Well two or maybe now three years later I am still using the same templates to speed my digital scrap booking. I am currently working on dropping my week in the life pictures into some templates, then putting the collage I’ve created onto my patterned “paper” adding embellishments etc.

Templates can be found all over the internet but I got my original set from Creating Keepsakes. They have all sorts of photography and scrap booking downloads for free on their website. I think I have about 40 templates and I can always find a layout that works for me. http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/index.html

Go get some templates and get busy!

*** After posting this I was using a couple of templates in a project and I realized I think they actually came from scrapbooks etc. http://www.scrapbooksetc.com/layouts/ I had been using them so long I’d mistaken where I’d found them, though creatingkeepsakes also has some templates. I’m so happy I went and looked because there are some cute new shaped templates I’d like to use on scrapbooksetc page. Time to get busy***