Great Possibilities, Templates

Mirkwood Designs has a number of really wonderful templates that she offers for free. The designer recommends tracing the templates onto cardstock, but I thought I'd try something a little different. I printed the template on regular  paper (20#), scuffed the glossy surface of a chipboard box I pulled out of recycling, and glued the template to that. Then I cut out the template, which gives me something much sturdier than cardstock, and includes the instructions and copyright information on the template.

I was trying to find some good templates for envelopes of various kinds, things that I could use with the papers I bought, intending to use in my altered book. However, the colors for that are much more muted than the colors I have been using... now I need to decide if I'm screwed with the colors my hands chose, or if I can Go With It, and just not continue with the really bright colors for the entire book. 

If an altered book journal is a stream of consciousness sort of work, then I can't believe I screwed up. Color is immensely important to me, and the only colors that really don't resonate for me are pastels and navy blue. (Navy actually makes me feel kinda off. Seriously.) So even though I have a pile of paper in the mustard, olive and paprika sort of spectrum, maybe I can still make those work with the pages I have. That's what I wanted the envelopes for, especially since many of the papers are double-sided; fold open a "petal card" and reveal a whole new color inside, and enough space for a little journaling. Plus, that may work to calm down the brightness of the pages. Or maybe it will look completely weird. I think the only way I'll be able to tell is to actually cut one out, and try it.