Did you know that there were actually free printable scrapbook templates available online for you to download and use?  These templates include everything from holiday pages and themes to graduation day, weddings, baby showers, all the other important events you might want to commemorate, and of course just general pages for your use.  You might be tempted to start looking for free printable scrapbook templates and just use these for your scrapbooks, but before you run out and download any and all you can find, consider a few important points.

For one thing, most free printable scrapbook templates cannot be manipulated.  This means that all the embellishments and everything else cannot be moved, changed, deleted, or anything else.  It's like adding your photos to a magazine page - what you see is what you get, period.  This is great if you find some free printable scrapbook templates that work for you and for what you need but very often you're going to want to take away some items or add some things as well.  Sometimes you can find free printable scrapbook templates that can be manipulated with special software programs like Adobe PhotoShop but these programs are usually very expensive.  If you don't already have them on your computer they're probably not worth the investment, and after all, that really defeats the purpose of finding free templates!  The money you save with these free items is going to be wasted trying to purchase a program that allows you to manipulate them.  So keep this in mind when searching for free printable scrapbook templates; assume that you won't be able to change anything on the page and will need to work with them as is.

When you do work with free printable scrapbook templates you'll need to make the decision about whether or not you'll leave them as digital scrapbooks that you store on your computer or if you want to actually print them.  Many people simply create digital scrapbooks that they share with friends by forwarding as a file, but if you're looking for free printable scrapbook templates then of course you're going to need a printer that can support the full colors of these pages and templates.  Your little desktop printer at home might not do these pages justice and may very well run out of ink very quickly.  Remember that ink cartridges are very expensive and may also use up the money you're saving by finding free printable scrapbook templates.  It's something of a trade-off, that you get free templates online but must use your own printer's ink to print them off.  So again, consider this carefully.

Another consideration when it comes to using free printable scrapbook templates, and one that you probably hadn't thought about, is that sometimes using these templates that are virtually completed for you can really take the fun out of the hobby of scrapbooking.  Most scrappers agree that the creative process, of considering how you can incorporate different embellishments and design a page from scrap, is what is really fascinating about the hobby.  When you use free printable scrapbook templates, it's like buying a woodworking project that's already done for you.  Really, what's the purpose?  Of course this is entirely up to you and your discretion and some people are just very challenged when it comes to their artistic abilities, but if you simply download free printable scrapbook templates and add your photos without doing much else, it's almost like putting your pictures in a frame and not much else.  Taking the time to learn about scrapbooking, studying the examples of other scrappers and their projects, and even going through a lot of trial and error can make the hobby that much more interesting.  So while you may be tempted to just fall back on free printable scrapbook templates you might want to consider trying your hand even more so with actual scrapbook pages and templates.  Remember, there are a wealth of options online when it comes to seeing how others have put together pages and you only need to do a simple search to see those examples that might inspire you.

It's also true that you might be somewhat limited when it comes to choices for free printable scrapbook templates.  For example most use certain phrases on their pages, such as Merry Christmas, Happy Halloween, or simple words like Love or Fun.  This is great if you don't need anything else added but usually scrapbooks are much more personal than what you're going to get with free printable scrapbook templates.  While you might find a template that says Vacation, you might want to add something about where the vacation was or what you were doing.  This can be difficult with some free printable scrapbook templates, but of course when you do an actual scrapbook you can add or delete any verbiage you want.  Of course once you print off those pages you can then add something to the page with your own handwriting or with stickers, but it can be difficult to make sure that everything matches and coordinates.  Just remember this when working with templates; making them personal for you can be tough.

Of course, there are some good things about free printable scrapbook templates.  For one thing, it's fun to work with the kids when doing scrapbooks but they may not have the patience to actually create an entire page.  If you can print off a template for them they can then add a photo and a few other embellishments and they have a beautifully finished page.  You might also be able to coordinate many different photos or focal points when using free printable scrapbook templates since many different designs coordinate with one another.  They're handy for times when you are pressed for time and want to create a scrapbook quickly and often look a bit more professional than homemade scrapbooks, in case you were looking to give them away as gifts.