Since I posted this earlier today I got a crash course in the different printing methods. I tracked down Wendyzine and had a convo with her about allowing for bleed and why some places enlarge and some do very minimal enlarging, apparently it depends on what type of printing they are doing.
Here is what I learned (C and P from my email with Wendy)
There are basically 2 methods printers use for scrapbook pages. The photographic process and the cardstock (cmyk) process. The photographic process that Persnickety uses tends to lose very little on a scrapbook page. They only use the photographic process for their prints, though, not their bound books. The bound books are still cmyk process. The cmyk process, however, requires bleed or extra background paper beyond the 12x12 area so that when the pages are stacked up, folder and trimmed, they can withstand any shifting without ending up showing white edges.
Persnickety's process actually hand checks each image as it's printed onto already cut 12x12 paper, enlarging it only every so much so it covers the edge of the paper. They can do this because each image is photographically imprinted onto an individual sheet of paper at a time.
The other method prints on oversized paper because the print rollers need paper to pull into the machine that doesn't have ink on it. So the pages are printed 8 up, folded and then trimmed. The pages can shift slightly so the extra bleed allows the shifting to be unnoticeable.
Sooooo what does that mean for you?
If you print with Persnickety, you can either use resize actions to add a slight amount of bleed, letting them know when you order that bleed as been added. Or, you can send them the layouts as is and request minimal trimming.
If you print elsewhere, you will likely want to use a standard amount of bleed (which is 1/4" to height and width) or use the action for those printers.
Hope this helps someone else too!
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