The gr-EAT templ-ATE deb-ATE....

Love them or hate them, it appears that templates, particularly the layered styles that have burst onto the digi-scrapping scene in the last couple of months, are here to stay. There seems to be full saturation of the market for designers and people are drawing lines in the sand and making stands on using them.

I suppose one of the strongest reasons to use, or not use, is why you scrap? and your style etc... If you have a mountain of photos or memories, and all you really care about is getting the layouts made and in an album, templates will save you HOURS. And that means you get more done. And the point has been made that your DH, MIL or anyone else for that matter will neither know, nor care if it was "original" or not... HOWEVER if you scrap for an artistic outlet, then you may find templates harder to swallow.

I come into the later category... I wasn't at all interested in them before, and as usual, I'm slow to catch on. I doubt very much that I'll ever be a full-on, every layout, template user, but once in a while for a bit of a break, hey, why not?

Which brings us to the LAYOUT... you know that's the reason why you're all here :)

I used a template from ShelleyRae at SBB, and all papers and elements are from Jomi{Designs} Delight from TheDigiShoppe. Lace is by Suzy Nunes, Crisp Cotton Hideaway from SweetShoppeDesigns. Fonts used are Jane Austen and Times. Created in Cs2.

I still feel that this layout, although a template, is still unique. No-one but me has put those papers, photos, text etc together. And, as a sort of a "busman's" holiday, I had a heap of fun making it. And isn't is a gorgeous photo!

The jury is still out on templates in my house....

Meanwhile, have any of my blogger buddies considered changing over to the new BETA? It looks pretty cool, I'm just not sure of the whole - you can't go back part - what if I can't get my head around it? Any opinions?