It used to be, many years ago, that scrapbooking was a hobby done at the kitchen table with paper, scissors, glitter, and glue.  Only the most creative and artistic person was able to come up with a design that was not only beautiful, but barely presentable as well.  And then scrapbooking became almost a national pastime, with kits and papers and pre-made templates available.  Soon online businesses joined the fray, as some people began to prefer to make their albums on their computers, rather than as physical books.  And with that, suddenly there are websites after websites offering free scrapbooking page templates, whether made by individuals who simply want to share their scrapbooking abilities, or created by professional companies.  If you've seen these sites and have been tempted to download these free scrapbooking page templates, or already have, you may be wondering how to make the best use of them.  Should you print them off and use them as a hard copy page, or can they be used on your computer for online scrapping?  Are there any secrets to making the most of these free scrapbooking page templates, and how do those expert scrappers make their albums look so good?  Let's explore these questions here.

Being Selective With Your Free Scrapbooking Page Templates

The first thing you may want to remember is that there are dozens, maybe even hundreds, of sites that offer these free scrapbooking page templates.  Because of this, you shouldn't feel a need to "settle" for the first few you see, or for any that aren't quite going to fit into your particular scrapbooking album or pages.  While some individual or experienced scrapper may be proud of her creation, don't feel as if you need to use their work for yourself.  If it's not quite the right colors or design, move on to the next site.

The Program They Are Using

Additionally, there are a variety of computer programs that can be used for these free scrapbooking page templates.  You need to make sure you are using programs that are comfortable for you and that you can easily work with.  For example, many free scrapbooking page templates are offered in Microsoft Word, which may be the most familiar program for you.  However, Word is not designed to work with a number of clip art additions and such.  When you open the Word document on your computer, your version of Word immediately and automatically formats the documents to match your default printer.  If the person who designed the page has a printer that can print all the way to the edge of the paper, they may have designs that take up the whole sheet.  For your home printer, this may not be possible, and so Word automatically adjusts your page for your printer.  When using Word for free scrapbooking page templates, many people have noticed that certain parts of the page seem to "jump" or move around.  This is how Word works.

A better program for these free scrapbooking page templates is Microsoft Publisher, which doesn't do this.  When using Publisher, where you put a picture or graphic is where it's going to stay, regardless of who opens that document.  This is a small but important difference when talking about the right program to use when creating and sharing these free scrapbooking page templates; however, the problem is that not many people are as familiar with Publisher as they are with Word.

A way around this type of problems is when the designer of these free scrapbooking page templates saves them as a picture, meaning a JPEG or GIF file.  This way, you can use whatever program you're familiar with and simply import that picture, kind of like pasting it on top of a blank page.  Then you can add elements on top of that template, such as text boxes, additional graphics, pictures you've uploaded into your computer from your camera, and so on.  By saving these free scrapbooking page templates as a JPEG or GIF file, they designer is actually making it easier on you to use.

How to Put Them Into Your Physical Album

Making your scrapbooks on your computer is a common habit for many scrappers, especially the younger ones who do everything on their computer, however, many traditional scrappers still want actual, physical scrapbook albums.  So if you're working with these free scrapbooking page templates, how do you get a physical, hard copy to put into an album?

The first thing to remember is that you will of course need to print these off.  However, if your album is the standard 12 x 12 size, you must have a printer that supports that size paper.  Not many do.  You may need to create albums that are the standard 8-1/2 x 11, or letter size.  This may not be your first choice of album sizes, however, when working with free scrapbooking page templates, you need to do what your equipment at home support.  These size albums are very attractive and are large enough to support most photos and focal points with plenty of room left over for wording, embellishments, etc., so don't feel as if you are sacrificing quality by using this smaller size.

Also, you may be willing to sacrifice the habit of using the standard size albums once you see how beautiful and breathtaking so many of these free scrapbooking page templates can be.  This is especially true for someone who is somewhat creatively challenged, or who does not want to continue to spend money on new pages, kits, and so on.  You may very well find that the challenge does not lie in "settling" for these free scrapbooking page templates, but the challenge will be going back to standard pages sold at your local scrapbooking supply store.  So if you're looking to start working with these, then don't hesitate to do some shopping online and chances are, you'll find some beautiful choices that match your albums perfectly.