S/O printing - let's talk about the actual album
 

I have always wanted to do printed/bound albums, but the one time I did that I ended up having some pages to add a few months later (obviously impossible!) - so since then I've stuck to 'traditional' scrapbooks with sheet protectors. I still like the look of bound albums better, but I don't think it works well for the way I scrap.

If you print pages and insert into sheet protectors in an album, where/what brand do you buy your albums? What are your faves?

I'm an album girl because someday, my boys are going to want to split the albums amongst themselves when I'm gone (cause you KNOW they aren't getting their hands on them til then).

Up until this point, I've been using Pioneer albums from the craft stores, but they don't hold up well to my thick books. So I switched to American Crafts kraft 3 ring binders, but they don't make them any longer, so I haven't found a replacement to redo all the albums with (I want them somewhat matchy-matchy which is why I went with the Pioneer in the first palce). So..I'm still looking, too!

I ADORE any of the American Crafts albums. ADORE I SAY! Leather, cloth, courudoy, so many options!

We R Memory Keepers also makes some good ones with different tecture options (like Linen or Leather).

i buy american crafts too :) so far i've used their corduroy - both 12x12 and 8x8 ... i think i've purchased mine from scrappingrannies ... sometimes i want to be like darcy and have everything match, but i think i'll give up on that (since companies stop making certain items/etc) and just be content to have everything be a certain size and Ding .... :)

I just buy the $9.99 ones at Wal Mart and the additional inserts are like $2.58 for a 10 pack. I have about 10 of them and they hold up wonderfully!!! I buy the 8x8 size but they also carry 12x12's too!!!

I have Making Memories 8x8 3ing corduroy albums. I bought 10 all at once (during a sale) in the same color so they look cohesive. My issue now is deciding how I want to divide up all of my printed pages. I can't commit to an organizational scheme, so they're all just sitting in a huge pile.

Where do you get your 8x8 3ing refills? I've had trouble finding them.

I've had to buy my Making Memories refills online - what a pain! The best price I've found is Saveoncrafts.com.

I, too, have a lot of problems trying to figure out how to organize everything. For example, I can't figure out if I should put all of the pages of Wesley together for a scrapbook just for him, or if I should put ALL of my LOs together in one big book, or both? It's confusing! If anyone has suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

It's really a personal preference, but we like doing it choronologically, best we can. It's just how our family is wired. Since I use post-bound or 3ing, I can reorganize into dates as I get an album filled, and I do 2 albums per year, so I just break those into Jan-Jun and Jul-Dec.

It depends on how you scrap I think. I'm a random scrapper. I scrap whatever inspires me, so there's no real organization and definitely no semblance of chronological order. So for me, I would just throw pages into books willy nilly as I finish them, lol.

I do plan on doing a separate book about the wedding, and probably 1 for the honeymoon too, but other than that, I'm all over the place, lol.

If I actually SCRAPPED at all anymore, I would probably use Stacy Julien's system of People we Love, Places We Go, Things We Do, and All About Us.

I have the CTMH 9x9 albums and my friend that sold Creative Memories quit selling and I bought four 6x6 albums off her. I love them and will probably buy more when I need them.

I am a chronological scrapper - and I have books for each of my kids.

I also don't scrap chronologically, and I like the idea of themed albums. I've tried organizing my pages using a modified Library of Memories scheme, but there are a few things I'm undecided on. So there they all sit untouched, with the exception of my daughter's gymnastics pages. They're all in one album right now.

I'm off to look for MM refills. Thanks for the tip!

After much initial deliberation, I went with a Pioneer Snapload album. Snapload is a combo of postbound and strap-hinge. I thought it would be great to be able to expand the album up to 3 inches, totally not realizing how heavy a book (er... cinder block) that would be. I also didn't realize how non-chronological I would scrap.

With hindsight, I wish I would have gone with the D-Ring... and I'm leaning towards American Crafts. Saw some beautiful ones at the store - but D-Rings are certainly hard to find.

I have the matchy matchy disease too - so not sure what I will do with the Pioneer album.

Like Col - I'm a random scrapper. I scrap whatever photo fits my mood, the kit I want to work with, etc. And so printed bound books do not work for me. I also am a user of the American Crafts D-Ring binders. I love love love them! They can fit up to like 100 pages or something like that, and the pages flip easily and lay flat (because of the rings). I also use corduoroy Chatterbox albums (got a smoking deal on them - less than $5 an album when they are normally $35!!), and a could by Colorbok which are very good too!

Thanks for starting this thread! I just printed a bunch of layouts and have nothing to put them in. (Yes, I'm an idiot.) I'm going to keep all of this in mind when I go looking for albums.

I use the AC 8x8 Modern Albums as well - Ive filled 3 so far and they are great the only downside is that getting the 8x8 refills is hard, I had to get them at ScrappinGrannies too through a friend

I am partial to the Creative Memories Picfolio albums--just slide in the 8x8s or 12x12 prints. Also, the newer side-slide pages for their regular albums with their regular coversets.

I scrap out of order, but like my pages to be in order, chronologically. My sister is really good and does the bound books, but I haven't tried that yet.

I had the postbound 8x8 books and have about 10 of those books. But -- I recently decided I wanted to do the 3ing instead of the post bound and bought some of the 8x8 American Crafts Modern. I liked them because I could do my own covers... but now that I have them, Not sure if I REALLY like that or just should've done the cloth ones instead. So, I'm back to square 1 on what to do.

I like these because I am not a chronological scrapper --- but I like my Family albums to be in Chronological Order. My books are fat too!

Aggie - Can you share a picture of a finished one? I'm not sure what I want to do with the cover and would love to see an example :)

I dont decorate the cover as Im so bad with paper and scissors. I also havent decided which way to go - chronological or like Stacy Julian's Library of Memories so I just store them they way I make them. I just try to stay on top of printing my LOs. I didnt print them for 2 yrs and it cost a lot when I finally printed them all! LOL

i've gotten my refills online - i think always from ScrappinGrannies (whenever i see that they have them i stock up) - maybe from some other sites too? so far i organize as follows: annual 8x8 albums for each of the girls (jan - december), annual 12x12 albums for me with EVERYTHING (me and dh, and kids combined), heritage albums with family history/older photos in them, i'll also do a P365 album this year ... but - the organization is a work in process for me :) (which is why i like the ding binders - LOL - i can change it up) ...

I assume scrapgrannies.com doesn't always carry 8x8 3ing refills? I don't see them there now, unless I'm missing them. I only see the 12x12.

Another fan of the American Crafts albums here. I use their 8.5x11 D-Ring Cloth albums and I really, really love them. I just combine my 8.x11 pages and my 8x8 pages into the same album.

My albums are set up based on Stacy Julian's Library Memories system. I've got four main albums: Us, People, Places, Things. The pages within the albums are divided into sections, some based on theme, some chronologically, depending on the topic.

Here's what mine look like:
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...ep/binders.jpg

Love those Lynnette!!!

I haven't printed anything out.....I should really do that sometime soon.....

I'm not a chronological scrapper either. But I have an album for each of my kids (4 soon to be 5), Those LO's only contain photos of that kid...alone. I have a family album, that contains LO's that are of multiple people. I have an album of LO's that contain photos of me alone, DH alone or us together.

I also print books every once in a while for special occasions like Christmas, vacation, baby books ect.......!

They have them, they're just a little hard to find. They're usually listed with the 8x8 albums. You can find them here: http://www.scrappingrannies.com/albu...ums_order.html

I've got all sorts, lol...I've got mostly Chatterbox albums right now, with a couple of All My Memories Urban albums (LOVE the looks of them, they're awesome), and I have 2 American Crafts corduroy albums. What I love about the AC ones is that they're Ding binders so they fit a lot more. I also got this one really cool Colorbok one at Michaels, I'm in love with it (it's leather, gated...it's just awesome).

I'm not a chronilogical scrapper...whatever I'm in the mood to do is usually how it goes for me. I am wanting to switch to the AC binders as well. Now that I mostly digi scrap more will fit in one than when I was a paper scrapper. I only have one son, so I don't have to worry about dividing up the layouts. I do like Stacy Jillian's system and have thought about organizing that way, too. So many choices! I really think it's a personal preference. As long as we're actually scrapping those events and every day moments, that's what matters, right?! :)

I'll come back with faves shortly...but DO NOT BUY...I repeat DO NOT BUY the 6x6" Karen Foster books that come with these little "flip up" screws...they are designed so you don't have to use screw drivers...you just "turn" them. Piece of SH*T. Bought about 8 of them at one time...have more troubles with them breaking, not screwing correctly into each other. Company promised twice to send me replacements and never did. These are for my recipe albums which I use constantly...and I HATE them!

The picture makes it look like they're post-bound refills, so should I assume that's just a generic picture and that they're actually 3ing refills?

The refills look exactly the same, Rochelle...the holes are just positioned slightly differently for each brand. So those are likely the correct ones.

Lynette,

Where are those letters from that you are using for your Album spines? They look raised and look like a good size.

I think all their refills are the same no matter if it's D-Ring or post bound. This is from their site:

Available in the five most popular sizes, as well as our popular new 12x12 photo protectors that each hold twelve 4x6 photos, they conveniently fit both interlocking Ding and post bound albums. You can see all the page protectors here too: http://www.scrappingrannies.com/albu...rotectors.html

I saw those, but I don't see any that would fit in my albums. Mine are 3ing. I don't know if your Dings have 3 rings or 2, but I need 8x8 3ing refills, and I only see 12x12 3ing refills there. Thanks for the info. I'll keep looking.

I'm not home right now so I can't double-check, but I'm pretty sure they were the American Crafts Thickers Chipboard - Shoe Box in White. These ones: http://www.scrappingrannies.com/stickers/shoebox.html.

My albums are 8.5.x11 but I think all of the AC albums have a similar spine width so they'd probably work with the 8x8 albums too.

Oh yeah, that would make a difference. I think 8.5x11 and up have 3 Dings and the 8x8 and 6x6 only have two. I know the 8x8 holes fit just fine into my 8.5x11 albums without having to punch holes. Maybe if the two holes line up, you could just punch a third hole? What brand of albums do you have?

Yea, I would just punch a third hole with a regular old hole punch to make it fit. You're not gonna find a price cheaper than that.

I ♥ Thickers. LOVE!

I believe these could work for you, but I haven't personally seen them so can't vouch for them. LOL
https://www.shopwer.com/items.asp?Cc...atus=0&Tp=&Bc=

haha, me too! Our local Archivers has an entire wall full of them. I always have to stop myself from buying them because I don't really have that great of use for them. But I'm a sucker for clean, modern letters! :D

I have Making Memories 3ing corduroy 8x8 albums. I love the look of the albums, but finding refills that don't cost $5 a pack is a challenge. I could get the Making Memories brand, but don't want to spend that much for refills. I'm definitely open to punching a third hole if I have to, but so far, most of the refills I've found are too wide and stick out the side of my albums because they're designed for postbound books.

Those look promising! Thanks! And the price is pretty good, too. I've searched and searched and searched and never found that site. The picture shows it as a 2ing refill even though the product name says 3ing. I've had that trouble before, but I've emailed them and asked for clarification.

While I was disappointed, I'm actually grateful that all my local scrapbook stores have gone out of business, LOL! There are no Archivers up this way, my Recollections closed 2 years ago, and the other local one (that actually sucked) closed a few months ago.

It's much easier to avoid temptation by being forced to shop online, lol.

I've moved to only buying black, brown, white, or red alphabet stickers. Those go with just about everything I would ever need to do.