Yesterday we looked at creating two page layouts for your albums.  Two page layouts allow you more room for more pictures and journaling and they also help give a cohesive look to your pages.

Today we are going to look at using templates to help you create two page layouts.  If you are unfamiliar with templates, then you should start with our article USING LAYERED TEMPLATES.  It is no secret that I LOVE templates…I love creating them, I love using them, and I love seeing how people can make them their own.  If you want to know my reasons why you can check out my series of posts on “10 Reasons to Love Templates” part one, two, and three.  Ever since I first starting selling templates (in September 2006!) I have created two pagers for people to use.  And in my own scrapping I reach for them all the time.

Today I am going to show you three ways to use templates:

• Using a two-page template
• Cropping a two page template to make one page layout
• Using a one page template to create a two-page layout

USING A TWO PAGE TEMPLATE

A two page template can be used just like any other template.  Just open the psd or tiff file, prepare your page, and then crop to separate and prepare for printing as I explained yesterday. I opened up this two pager (coming soon to a DIGI FILES near you) and about 15 minutes later I had this:

Imagination by Dani Mogstad, staples by Shabby Princess, template by Janet Phillips, font is Typewriter scribbled

CROPPING A TWO PAGE TEMPLATE TO MAKE A ONE PAGE LAYOUT

Sometimes you have a great two page template but you really only want half of it…easy peasy!  Just select your crop tool and set it to crop 12 inches by 12 inches at 300 dpi and select the side you want to keep.

Just note that in your layers palette the layers from the side you cropped off will still appear — they will just be blank.  I usually just throw them out.

After cropping my two page template I ended up with this simple and quick layout:

Scrapping and Snapping kit from THE DAILY DIGI, template by Janet Phillips

USING A ONE PAGE TEMPLATE TO CREATE A TWO PAGE LAYOUT

If you can’t find that perfect two page template you can create your own!

I created this one page template but then decided that I wanted to use it for a two pager. In order to modify it, I went to Image > Resize > Canvas Size and changed the dimensions to 24 x 12.

After my canvas was resized, I selected all layers and then dragged all the the layers up the the new layer icon to duplicate them all.

With all the layers still highlighted, I went to Image > Rotate > Flip Layer Horizontal to create a mirror image

I then moved the new layers over to the right side of my page, did a little tweaking (stretching paper, adding a photo spot) and then in about another 20 minutes ended up with this layout:

Scrapping and Snapping kit from THE DAILY DIGI, stitching by Lisa Whitney, template by Janet Phillips, fonts are Clementine and CK Handprint

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Happy two page scrapping!

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