I have never used templates for scrapbooking. I guess I’m too much of an artist in that I want the design to be my own. But, I am really feeling guilty that Raeleigh is 3 and does not have a single finished scrapbook with pictures of her to look at. Danielle has been asking me when I’m going to do some scrapbooks of Raeleigh. So, I’ve been thinking I should consider using some pre-designed templates. I started by buying the cluster frames from Designer Digitals. But, they didn’t really save me any time on the Cheer Camp layouts. It may have been because I was working with Maroon which I found a bit of a challenge…guess I better get used to it!

Yesterday I ran across a freebie template and I decided to try it out to see how much time it took me. I am happy to say it only took me about an hour and twenty minutes to do this layout which beats my average by a landslide! My resulting layout does not look much like the design I started with so the snobbish artist in me is still happy. I almost always scrap in double page spreads, so I will be on the lookout for sales!

My hint for this layout is that you can still use those photos that have soft focus because the setting was not ideal. The gym had horrible lighting, she was too far away for the flash to do any good, and I didn’t have time to switch out to my 50 MM 1.4 AF lens. So, I used a gradient blend to make the photo part of the background layer and the soft focus almost looks on purpose!

I should close with saying that Danielle is NOT a high kicker! LOL! But she thinks she is! I’m not about to journal that because I don’t want her to have a complex! Hopefully I’ll remember the “truth” and will someday tell her how much my dh and I giggle when she isn’t looking! That will wait until she will think it is funny too.

CREDITS:

Postage Stamp Frames: Katie Pertiet

Title: MK Designs

Clock: Christina Renee

Ribbon Cluster: TADA

Brown Ribbon: Sunflower

Papers & Pink Ribbon: Holly Designs

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