Lindsey here and - this week - TEMPLATES. This is one of my personal favourites. I have a very large collection of "shapes" which I have been collecting for many years. I have traced them onto quilting or template plastic which you can buy at sewing shops and Spotlight. I now punch a hole into each shape and thread them onto a book ring - all the star shapes together, all the heart shapes together, all the flower shapes etc etc. When I first started doing this I used cereal boxes but if you use proper template plastic it will be stronger, easier to draw around and they are transparent so you can get the exact bit of the design on the paper within the outline. If you see anything with an interesting shape, trace it. Before I use a diecut which accompanies a paper collection, I always take a quick copy and I ask to borrow other people's templates and let them copy mine. Now, when I need a tag for instance, I've got dozens and dozens in different lengths, widths and shapes.

Hearts, and flower petals, on this layout traced from some of my many templates which I use repeatedly. Pretty sure that this is a Pagemaps Sketch incidentally.

I've still got, and use regularly, those old orange plastic Fiskars basic templates (they've got really interesting borders) but I've added many others to the collection including quite a few of the Crafters Workshop stencils.

Papers: Echo Park - This & That - Charming.

Papers: Echo Park - This & That - Graceful.

On the same kind of theme - PUNCHES. Whilst it's easy enough to draw a few large scallops or a zigzag edge freehand, I wouldn't be without my collection of border punches from EK Success, Martha Stewart and Fiskars. I use them over and over and over again and never get bored of them. On a cost-per-use basis, therefore, they are excellent value for money and they just transform a ho-hum strip of paper into something quite spiffing.


Similarly - shape punches - circles, squares, scalloped outlines, butterflies, flowers, leaves. Love 'em. You can, of course, use a template and cut out circles and squares by hand - which I often do if I am away from home because I can't possibly carry every single punch I own. However, if you are repeating a shape over and over again as I did on the layout below (circles), you really need a punch. Here I think a special mention should go to Martha Stewart again and her lovely butterfly punches. Buy them all! You won't regret it. When there's a little gap on the page and you just can't find the correct embellishment - pull out Martha's butterflies. Oh, and leaf punches, every shape and size you can get your hands on. You can put maybe just one fabulous flower on a layout or card and surround it with flourishes and fancy foliage in various colours and, lo and behold, that single flower becomes a stunning centrepiece. Nifty and thrifty ay?

All the scalloped borders are, in fact, punched out circles.

OK that's it for this week. Come back next Thursday and I will share some more nonsense with you.