Hello Girls!

Katharyn here. I'm one of the {lucky} new chicks at Jennifer Fox Designs and I've gotta say, I'm thoroughly stoked to be here.

Just a heads-up, I'm an Aussie, so any slang or spelling oddities you may come across here today are perfectly justified. ;)

I've got this layered template for you and I'm soooo hoping you'll have fun using it. I am an unashamed user of templates. I know there are some of you out there who consider it "cheating" unless you create something totally from scratch. I'm not one of them.

Why not use them? If you need a no-stress layout that records a story and illustrates it with a photo or two, then what's wrong with taking this easier, quicker approach to get it done? I'm all for learning new photoshop techniques and sometimes attempting to create absolute masterpieces that would make even Martha Stewart blush (or Ali Edwards, or Cathy Zielske, or whomever it is who's your scrapbooking goddess).

But between you and me, there are times that I just want to scrap like nobody's going to be looking at it. It's just for me. It just needs to make me happy. Not every page needs to be perfect, gorgeous, or even created from scratch. In the same way that not every cake you make needs to be made from scratch - I sometimes use a packet mix - Eeeekkk!!!! Does that make me less of a mum? Do the kids say it tastes different? Nah. It's all good.

I'm not saying cut all your corners. But just don't make it harder than it has to be. There is a time and a place to focus on all aspects of your scrapping - from developing your photography skills, to learning how to fix them up digitally. From focussing on your titling work, to working on your drop shadows. And there is a time to painstakingly 'umm and ahh' about where to place all your elements and photos about the page, and a time to say "You know what? I'm going to concentrate on the story / photo/ kit this time around." Using someone else's sketch, and crediting them for it, is ok.

As busy mums, or working career women, or volunteers, or whatever - our scrapping time is finite, so we need to use it wisely.

And just so you know, we who make layered templates, enjoy doing so. And we enjoy it all the more if it makes your life easier too.

Happy weekend scrappers!

Download this template from here.

And here's what I made with it.

My layout uses Jennifer's "This Woman's Work", available at The Digi Chick here.