Back to the BASICS..........

Scrapbooking and making cards is just a part of paper crafting in general...being able to do quite a few things with paper, depending on the adhesives you use, and the project you are working on!  Scrapbooking can also be very therapeutic too, if you are struggling with something in your life.  I lost an ex to suicide and my dad 5 years to the day later; nobody understood how hard it was on me, I was suppose to be the same ol' me..

In between the above, we were dealing with other things...family drama we will just say, from both my side and my husbands side...  While dealing with all of that, paper crafting came to place for me...once I organized all the stuff I had, then I learned what could be done with what I have available to me. 

Back to the basics, once a week I will focus on a certain basic item or technique...  This weeks technique is using templates in your layouts!  Fall is coming up, if you take a ton of fall related pictures, you might need to have more fall embellishments than normal...however, if you only take a few "fall" related pictures, find a template you can use to create your own die cuts...or, border type templates such as the Border Buddies system such as the layout here...  Underneath the blue portion is hidden journaling, on top will be a photo of my husband and I! 

With this template, not only do I have borders available, each side is a different border creating 4 borders.  If you do not use all of them, I will assure you there are aspects of each border template that make it worth the costs! 

In this layout, I used a different "border" template, still the Border Buddies, to create the top of the "book" on the left side.    The rest of the "books" were easy to create,  using scissors and a paper trimmer!   This example is fun to recreate, under the "book" is more hidden journaling, which as you know I am a fan of!  By doing hidden journaling on your layouts, you have a place to put a few words you would want others to learn by, but not necessarily be out there in the open for everyone to see.  

Templates are a great way to save a bit of money, especially on themes you do not or would not use a lot of.  Learn to look at your budget, and get tips for ways to save money on this craft.  Yes, it can be expensive...but stick with me for money saving tips and I promise you, you will be able to get YOUR memories on paper too, for little money!   Now, how am I an expert on all of this.....I have been there done that with no money...  My husband was taken out of work, and I was forced to use up what I had already bought.  Challenges will be this week to help you get all of your stuff in one area, and start to look at ways to organize them!  

Lynda Jeffs

Memories in Tyme