Why I'm A Sucker For A Good Template

I mentioned in yesterday's mish-mash of a post that I'm a sucker for a good template.
I bought quite a few last fall whenever a designer I liked would have a sale or coupon code, but like any good sale, it still adds up.

But the longer I do this business thing the more I'm a believer that great templates are essential to me.  I've learned the complicated way over the past 2 years that the end result of the photographs, the products, are where I'm able to make money and please my clients.  And let me tell ya folks, there's no shortage of fantastic products available!

I really really really stink at graphic design but I know exactly the design and style I like to showcase my images.  This is where the templates come in....I can buy beautiful templates for albums, cards, frames and everything else to create a very unique and eye-catching product that my client will love.

Here's some examples for you...this is a 4x8 Accordion album which is one of my absolute favorite new products I just started offering.  I bought this template...

...and turned it into this beautiful accordion album...

Graduation cards are another thing that are so easy to customize and the templates I've chosen for grad cards just pretty much blow the school cards out of the water!  Look how gorgeous...

My true weakness though is album templates...I have to restrain myself from buying every album template by Crave Design.  Here's their French Script Ohh La La which I've made several times into albums for Children and High School Seniors...

Since I'm kinda decent at working in Photoshop Elements I can alter all the text, colors, frames and pretty much rig all these templates up to fit what I need.  That way they're truly unique to the images that I'm creating them for and each client gets the product thats perfect for them. 

Anyway, templates have become a slight obsession and I've shown ample proof as to why I love them. What about you...are you a template junkie?

And since I want everyone to have the guilty habit I do of splurging on great templates, here's a few of my favorite sites for designs....Enjoy~

www.cravemydesign.com

www.jamieschultzdesigns.com

http://www.simplicityphotography.com/design/

Accordion Books - My Newest Obsession

Now that I officially have "clients" {I prefer to call them models}, my absolute favorite thing is finding the absolute coolest products to offer them.  Accordion Books are my newest obsession as the coolest photo product ever!


I had seen them on several of the big lab sites and the ones that weren't carrying them just a few months ago are carrying them now....WHCC, Millers, BayPhoto, MPixPro....pretty much anywhere. I ordered mine from WHCC and was very pleased with the quality and quick turnaround.


These little brag books are just so perfect for throwing in your purse and then popping them out whenever you want to show off pics of the kiddos or the family.  They're small and stay together with a hidden magnet so no need to worry about your pics getting crumpled or bent.


You've probably seen them before so instead of showing you more pics of the finished product I'll show you how I created the ones I've made...


First of all, you don't need a template to place your photos in an accordion book, but I couldn't resist the templates on Jamie Schultz Designs.  She's got tons of ultra modern, way cool templates to purchase that are specifically arranged for these brag books.  I purchased the SOHO Mini Book Collections for $45 which I think was the best bang for my buck considering I got 6 different designs in the collection.


Here's the template I chose to make my first book:
 This was the front~

This was the back~

And this was the cover~

When I opened the template in photoshop elements 6 for Mac this is what my layers palette looked like:

There are A LOT of layers!  I was intimidated!

But after working with it for a while and just taking my time I figured it out.  The reason there's so many layers is because you can pretty much change/alter/delete any graphics or colors you want to.  I was really pleased with how customizable they are.

I even figured out how to change the first pic from a horizontal to vertical orientation...I was pretty proud~

Here's what my final jpeg looked like:

Front~

Back~

...and final...

I used the Pearl paper and the colors are Fantastic!  I don't think I'll even offer anything but the Pearl from now on.

I decided on the leather cover for this one but ended up using the cover design for a different session and the photo cover was excellent.

Here's one more using a different template:

Here's my screenshot of the layers palette....LOTS more layers!

But I figured out how to change the colors and here's my final jpeg:

And the beautiful product~

I just love these little things!

So if you're looking for new products to offer your clients I would definitely add Accordion Books to your list.  But even if you're not a "professional" you can still order these great brag books.  All you need to do is sign up for an account at whatever print lab you choose then make the books for yourself and everyone else you know!

As I mentioned, I love the templates at Jamie Schultz Designs but I would love to look at more templates....any suggestions for sites that offer fabulous accordion book templates?  I'd love to check them out!