Do you use templates?

Do you use templates?

  • YES! as often as possible.

    Votes: 75 64.1%

  • Sometimes (would love to see your reason below!)

    Votes: 38 32.5%

  • Nope, never!

    Votes: 4 3.4%
  • Total voters
    117
  • Poll closed .
I voted yes, as often as possible. After almost 9 years of scrapbooking I am about out of LO ideas. There are only so many ways to turn and put photos on page so I rely on templates to get my creativity going. Doesn't mean I always stick with the whole template. I mix it up for how it works best for me.
 
kinda think of a template as a recipe - just a place to begin...

more of a like general guideline, not a rule per se . . . LOL!
 
nikkiARNGwife said:
I'm another template junkie...I really love to take one and try to make it my own...and I STRUGGLE with photo placement..I don't know why..it's just something I can never get the way I want it on my on..so templates help me a lot with that..usually when i open one up I delete everything except paper layers and photo layers and then it's pretty easy to make it your very own..I don't look at them any differently than using a sketch as inspiration.

And in 4 years I have nearly 1400 layouts done...after that many it gets hard to come up with new ideas every time lol :)
Click to expand...

This is my problem too. Sometimes I take a temp and delete everything but the freaking photo layers and just go from there. I don't know WHY photos are so hard.
 
Total template junkie here!! I use them in a few ways - sometimes I use them as they are, if the page comes together that way (i.e. all photos and elements are placed where the template tells me to! :p). Other times I use them as a starting block, and move things around and make it my own. I am in LOVE with Cindy's templates. I only discovered them a couple of months ago, and picked up two huge bundles at her last sale, so they'll be keeping me going for now :thumbup:
 
I have been kinda 50/50 with templates lately. I love them for a starting point, and they get to scrap outside my usual comfort zone. I never used them before this year, and am happy I gave them a try! Sometimes I deconstruct them so much they don't look anything like the original template!
 
I voted sometimes but my last few layouts have been templates. I love templates when I am stuck because it really helps with placement. I wouldn't get half as many layouts done if I didn't use templates.
 
I use to use them a lot and I have a ton of them, but I probably haven't used as many this year because I was trying very hard to have more than 3 photos on a page.

I like them, just depends on my mood.
 
I love templates- either my mojo's out the window or I'm just blocked or I REALLY like the design someone else has.... It's esepcially helpful for busy working mamas like me!
 
I am a total template junkie!!! TOTALLY love them!! Of all the layouts I have done - I think only 1 didn't use a template.......
 
I use them occasionally. I find that my pages usually flow better for me when I don't use a template. Like Jamie and La, I have a hard time scrapping "outside" the template. I think it is the anal side of me that feels like I am "bending" the rules or coloring outside the lines.....I don't know....I'm weird. I probably use a template once for every 10 to 15 layouts I do.
 
I love templates; I'm a template junkie,lol. Also, I'm on a CT who's got a fab template designer right here in SSD, Darcy :D! Penny makes some great ones as well :). The cookies for kids are fantastic. I'm just sorry I missed a few,lol.
 
I love templates and always use them. Like Colleen said, I like to move things around, flip it, etc. and I love how, like she said, it just jump starts my creativity.

Traci's, Julie's Sketchers, Darcy's, Lauren's and of course, of course, Cindy's are some of my absolute FAVS!

Yep, I use templates and I am not ashamed. LOL :)
 
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I actually wish I could use them more but I use Memory Mixer and I can't use most of the templates here. If there is one I really like I can purchase and then take over to Memory Mixer and try to create a photo box to replace each layer but it gets a little complicated to use because I end up with a series of grey photo boxes on top of each other and I'm very limited with shapes.
 
I hate hate HATE figuring things out. HATE it. All those Discovery shows abt how to build a bomb, how clocks work, etc. bore me to TEARS. I do not CARE how things work. That's someone else's job, not mine.

That's the same reason I use templates and why I will never ever be a designer. Why do that work when someone else can do it for you and do it so much better?!
 
I go in spurts. For a while I'll scrap with nothing but templates and then for a while I'll do everything from scratch. But I have found that if I'm in a rut, pulling out a template and slapping a LO together with someone else's ideas is a great way to get my creative juices flowing again. :thumbup:
 
I love templates. I need to make them a little more my own, but I truly do love using them. I also struggle with photo placement....oh do I struggle with that!! For instance, I used a template today with 5 photos...no way could I have pulled that one off on my own, lol!!
 
I sometimes use them. I have problems with some of the multi-photo templates as I sually don't ave those kind of events warranting multi-photos. And currently as I'm doing a 6x6 Daily December album, my "layouts" have really been more 3.5 x 5 layouts which are hard to use templates for. But a lot of times I do like them as sometimes I can get a bit "stuck" trying to figure out placements of things.
 
Love templates.
They give ya a nice place to just "start".
Sometimes I change it completely about and other times
I just leave it like it is and pile on the goodies.
 
I voted sometimes..but it's really not a ton..lol! I am doing my December album and so I am using those...lol! There are a few people that make super fab templates that I love to use and other than that they are just too different for me...I adore Cindy's templates! I love being able to shrink them all down into my style! (though when I cleaned my HD recently I lost them all. *cry* I have been looking for weeks and still can't find them! :( )

In general I don't use them a lot though.
 
I love templates right now too ! I love how they help me to get started! and with all the templates I used I learned a lot!
 
crystalbella77 said:
I voted sometimes..but it's really not a ton..lol! I am doing my December album and so I am using those...lol! There are a few people that make super fab templates that I love to use and other than that they are just too different for me...I adore Cindy's templates! I love being able to shrink them all down into my style! (though when I cleaned my HD recently I lost them all. *cry* I have been looking for weeks and still can't find them! :( )

In general I don't use them a lot though.
Click to expand...

As a template designer, you are supposed to say they are fabulous and everyone should buy them. ;)
 
LOL Mari!! I am not that clever! I should edit my post! LOL!

*******Everyone Loooooves templates!! they are the most awesome thing ever....you must go buy all templates you can find..**********
 
Oh, I love using templates. They are great because you have the option of using them as they are or just use them as a starting point. They allow one to try something different...

I sometimes feel guilty for using them, but I had to get over that because they help me to preserve my memories. 20 years down the road my kids aren't going to be looking at the pages and thinking, "hmm, Mom sure used a lot of templates. I wonder if she was feeling less than creative when she did these pages."
 
I've always used templates, but I've started using them even more recently. They just help me get the bones of my layout laid out when my brain isn't coming up with any fresh ideas. I think one trick to using templates is to not feel too tied to what is set up for you. Feel free to change a photo to a journaling block or add or take away elements, etc. You can flip it, rotate it, etc. Templates are a great way to get the juices flowing and still let you be creative.
 
I really, really <3 templates! I struggle with photo placement, too, and scrapping is so much more enjoyable if I start with a template and skip that step. I change the template a lot while I work with it, often adding photos and deleting elements, so I feel like my pages are still my own. I'm taking Cathy Z's Design Your Life class in a few weeks, so I'm interested to see if what I learn there lowers my template usage.
 
I am template challenged. I completely S U C K at using them. I don't think I like any page I've ever done with one (though I keep buying them thinking maybe one day the template fairy will visit and magically turn my template pages into creative genius).

I'm also a scraplift disaster survivor. I can't lift someone to save my life.
 
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