I’m thinking of moving toward printed pages in an album - I’m woefully behind and need permission (from myself!) to scra out of order. I’m going to continue doing books for the kids, but this way I can print a copy of kid-specific pages to keep...anyway, those of you who use albums - do you have a particular favorite type or brand? I used three ring back in the day, but the pages kind of flopped down, so thinking of trying a post-bound album. Any recommendations?
I have post bound 8x8 albums. I create at 12x12 and can print at home on matte paper. I have always worked out of order so I have a set of them, and separate by topic/person or date when I put them away. I do also have some 12x12 albums but I am really bad about sending out for printing at that size
@ElizabethW I have always wanted to do kid specific books. It is on my get it together and do list. I did post books printed first at 12x12, and they were ridiculously hard to keep together, and to sit on lap and browse thru in our home. So, I tried 10x10! I can still do 12x12 if needed and they pop in the publishing houses I use. Shutterfly. I am a coupon collector of theirs. I also do Walmart for a few 8x10 albums. I scrap out of order, but keep (old school, paper list of photos/events to scrap) and print in order. I do 2 month increments. I am currently on may/jun 2017, but my dyd 2019 is almost done. added note. The first time I printed, I just did 20 of my favorites, and that hooked me to print again. Pure awesome! I had been printing at home on regular paper and putting in page protectors for years. but no matter how you print, they will be looked at again and again!
i have albums in lots of formats. I have done 12x12 printed book (don't like it, it's too big... but it was on sale at the time, so cheap wins) I have done 12x12 post bound - the post bounds are super hard for me to maneuver and ADD pages too... like to extend the posts. but once they are together, it's not so bad. I still think the size is too big I have done 10x10 printed book, this is a lovely size for a printed book! I have done 8X8 printed book - also a lovely size for a printed book! I have done 8x8 ring bound - currently my favorite when I do not scrap in order. (some albums i do, some I don't) BUT... the ring bound 8x8 albums are a PAIN to find. I am currently looking for one for my holiday album, but Hobby Lobby only has two - a unicorn one, and some other that didn't fit holiday for me. I'm tempted to buy one, and either redecorate the outside... OR... switch it with my existing Week in the Life album that is ring bound. I have done 8x8 post bound - same issue as the 12x12. I find the extension posts really hard to manage, but once they are together, I'm fine with these. This seems the cheapest option... I can almost always find a post bound album at hobby lobby on sale or with a coupon. The page protectors are almost always in stock. I have 6x8 ring bound album - GREAT size for small albums... not too many pages or quick projects. It was a perfect gifting size. I have 6x8 photo album... i did my 2016 project life album in two 4x6 photos stacked on top of each other for each week. this is my favorite when I need motivation to keep going on a long project. I also used this size to create a recipe album for my sisters a few christmases ago. It's just SO EASY to print 4x6s and any inexpensive photo album will hold them. I am super intrigued by learning to create 8x10 horizontal pages, or 6x12, or 9x12 pages. They are just not my typical square, so I definitely find them challenging. Even the 6x8 album I made for a gift was semi struggle... i ended up making 8x8s and trimmed off the two inch side. I'd say each size/album has a place in my world. Everyone is different and prefers different things.
The majority of my albums are 12x12 as I started scrapping traditionally with Creative Memories in that size. I have quite a few traditional albums and still have supplies to do more albums of older photos that have not been scanned. So I just kept up with doing 12x12 prints and I still use the CM albums and they all look nice on my shelves. The other thing about this is I can actually put digital and traditional layouts in the same album! They are a strap-hinge instead of a post. I have tried some small post albums and found that I prefer the strap-hinge. I do love that I can rearrange layouts easily. Just this last month I have been switching layouts between albums and now my albums are more theme oriented instead of true chronological as in an album for a year. I have not done a printed 12x12 book but have done 8x8 books. Size is OK but I find that because of my vision a lot is lost in that format for me. I have not tried a 10x10 but I do have a future project that would be good for that and I would give the book to my cousin since it is all about her family. I did do one specific project in 8.5x11 so I could print at home and put in sleeves in a ring binder. Only because it was of past class reunions and I took it to a reunion for others to look at. Every page was essentially the same with no journaling, only photos. The reunion number/year was designated so people knew where one reunion ended and the next began. Very simple project. But in the long run, I really didn't like scrapping in that size nor do I like the 3 ring binder. In my rearranging I have found lots of stuff that I missed out on scrapping so have been filling in the blanks so to speak with my recent scrapping. I have a spreadsheet that I can plan the pages for these albums and using a spreadsheet Cheryl showed here on the board, I can now easily see if I have scrapped everything I need to for each activity/event. To me that has made me much more efficient in my scrapping. Bottom line is I will stick with scrapping in 12x12 and have prints printed by Persnickety Prints. Beauty of that is that if I need something in 8x8 or 10x10 I can use the 12x12 layouts and scale them down. Did 2 different gift books that way. I have the 12x12 but had Shutterfly do the books in 8x8 using the same layouts.
I use yearly 3 ring 12x12 albums that I can add layout into as I print. I dont scrap in order. I print at persnickety prints- at least twice a year they have sales for the 12x12 prints for $1.50. Their quality & customer service cant be beat. For my albums, I actually prefer the becky Higgins brand at our local craft store. I stock up on those & page protectors with coupons & sales. I print 8x8 bound books for dyd or the occasional vacation album usually from shutterfly.
I print 8x8 photobooks annually around the holidays. I make slightly different versions for parents and in-laws. This year I had close to 300 pages, so I printed multiple book (to save money, I printed 3 - 80 page books and for pages I wasn't crazy about, I put 4 to a page). This is the first year I broke it up, but it was just way cheaper. I mostly scrap in chronological order, but I'm pretty forgiving about not making it perfect. I don't think most people who look at my books are going to scrutinize that aspect and I pretty much date everything.
I print in photo books, 12x12 size. I just love how big everything is. I like the Shutterfly lay flat. They are mostly chronological but I'm not terribly horrified if they are out of order.
I've tried several different ways of printing.... Here's what I'm doing lately - 10x10 layflat album from Shutterfly. You can read a little review on my blog about it and see it compared to my other albums, including a traditional 12x12 album. http://www.scrappingwithliz.com/2019/11/10x10-shutterfly-layflat-album-review.html
I like the 12x12 lay-flat from SF, but Liz's blog post has me wondering if I should try 10x10 for non-yearly albums (I make "coffee table" books for the kids/family to look at. 10x10 might work just because kids could handle them better lol.) As for chronology: my yearly albums must be chronological, but fun books? Doesn't matter as much. The kids like seeing pages about them as babies and then flipping the page and seeing layouts about vacations from a year ago. It's like a surprise to them.
