Sweet Shoppe Designs

  #1  
Old 02-24-2020, 09:05 AM
KimGeling's Avatar
KimGeling KimGeling is offline
Sweet Tart
 
profile gallery send pm
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Posts: 415
Default Printing Photo Books

Hi everyone,

I've been looking at photo book options all afternoon and can't decide on a few things so I'm hoping some experienced scrappers can help me out.
  1. Firstly, how many pages do you think is ideal for a hard cover book? I'm thinking the minimum 20 is far too small but how thick can you realistically go without being hard to handle or risk damage?
  2. Secondly, how do you get it to not cut off the edges of the pages? I've resized my pages to 95% based on a suggestion from someone here a while back but it looks like the page just expands to fill the space. I would prefer a white edge around the layout than to have things missing.
  3. Lastly, how much do you think about the order of your pages in your book? Do you put them chronologically? Do you make sure each pair of facing pages 'matches' or at least 'compliments'?

I'm really confused! I have a couple of pages uploaded to two different sites but I can't make up my mind which way to go. Thanks for your help.
__________________


Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 02-24-2020, 11:42 AM
aussiegirl's Avatar
aussiegirl aussiegirl is offline
Sweet Talker
 
profile gallery send pm
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Michigan
Posts: 1,953
Default

I have printed 100 page hard cover books from Shutterfly. Since the pages are so thin, I don't think the handling or wear and tear are an issue, at least to me.

I don't have any advice on how to make your pages "fit". I'm still figuring this out myself! If you feel they are still expanding to fit the page, maybe try adding a small white boarder around the page yourself to see if that helps? The whole page thing still annoys and confuses me. I will still get portions cut off my pages, so I have no advice on this one!

I do like my pages in chronological order in my albums. But I also like the pages to go together fairly well. But since I scrap all over the place, that isn't always possible...at first! I will change the order of pages just slightly to make 2 facing layouts fit better together! I try not to change them too much (maybe 1-2 pages over from where they would originally be). Just enough that their colors or themes compliment each other, but they're not an Easter page and a Christmas page side by side. More like an Easter page and a regular spring page. Or a Christmas page and a Winter page. Make sense? I will draw out a small template of the pages I need to print and their order in the album as I"m getting ready to print. That way I am thinking ahead of where they will go, but also keeping it open to switch out pages as needed.
__________________
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 02-24-2020, 12:18 PM
nesser1981's Avatar
nesser1981 nesser1981 is offline
SugarBabe
 
profile gallery send pm
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: South Eastern Michigan
Posts: 7,164
Default

My replies are below.

Quote:
Originally Posted by KimGeling View Post
Hi everyone,

I've been looking at photo book options all afternoon and can't decide on a few things so I'm hoping some experienced scrappers can help me out.
  1. Firstly, how many pages do you think is ideal for a hard cover book? I'm thinking the minimum 20 is far too small but how thick can you realistically go without being hard to handle or risk damage? So, I've printed in the neighborhood of 50 hardcover photobooks. I don't think I've ever done more than 160 pages. And honestly I don't know if I've actually even done that many in one book. I just know that prestophoto.com (the site I've been using since 2009) use to have a 160 page limit. I think it's higher now. I'm at the point in my scrapping career that I'm doing about two books a year, January - September and then an October - December.
  2. Secondly, how do you get it to not cut off the edges of the pages? I've resized my pages to 95% based on a suggestion from someone here a while back but it looks like the page just expands to fill the space. I would prefer a white edge around the layout than to have things missing. I add a .25 inch of white border to my layouts when I resize them. That way if I do happen have something cut off, it might be the white space. I've had some that the white space shows up, and I'm ok with that.
  3. Lastly, how much do you think about the order of your pages in your book? Do you put them chronologically? Do you make sure each pair of facing pages 'matches' or at least 'compliments'?
I like my pages to match. I always use the same kit for "facing layouts" even if the are different events". I print chronologically, but I don't always scrap that way.

Here is a blog post I did about the way I print/organize that should answer some of you questions.
https://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/i...be-sunday-712/

And here is another blog post from a former babe about her photobook printing.
https://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/i...be-sunday-823/


I'm really confused! I have a couple of pages uploaded to two different sites but I can't make up my mind which way to go. Thanks for your help.
Hope that helps.
__________________
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 02-24-2020, 12:29 PM
GraceLee GraceLee is offline
Sweet Shoppe Designer
 
profile gallery send pm
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 2,905
Default

I've printed big books, around 100 pages. For the year 2016 (my last books printed) I had to split them into 2 books! Each around 90 pages and they're holding up great.

I create an action that resizes my layouts to 95% and adds a white background to them, so they all have a white border. My 2016 books are my first ones doing this and I LOVE it.

I organize chronologically by month, but allow myself to mix the layouts within the month so I don't go crazy figuring out what happened first. My layouts do match somewhat color-wise so they look good side by side. I've learned early on that it's better for the people in the photos to look inside rather than outside the book. So if the people in the photos are looking to the left, I try to keep that layout on the right side of the book. I hope that makes sense.
__________________

Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 02-24-2020, 12:50 PM
knittingbec's Avatar
knittingbec knittingbec is offline
Sugar Rush
 
profile gallery send pm
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Alaska
Posts: 922
Default

1. Each of my books is 100 pages (or 104...project life). I feel like this is a manageable size & a "good-looking" thickness on the bookshelf. Plus, 100 seems like a decent number to aim for & a good accomplishment to celebrate by printing a book! I'm (still!!) working on a book of Disneyland pages and that will probably be closer to 140 pages...hoping it doesn't make much of a difference to the spine-size.

2. For my PL book, where things always go really close to the edge, I open a new canvas that's 13" square and then duplicate all of the layers from my layout and plop them in the center. I like the way these turn out. I always forget to do this process for regular pages & the white edges in the "regular pages" book aren't always a consistent width, but I don't think I've lost anything too noticeable.

3. I decided not to care & my pages aren't chronological at all. Many- but not all- kind of have similar color or at least "feel" on facing pages. If I have, say, 6 pages from a vacation, I'll put those consecutively. Otherwise, I don't mind if my son is 2 years old on one page and 8 on the next. (I also think it's easier to make sure pages are close to "evenly distributed" between kids this way.)
__________________
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 02-24-2020, 12:59 PM
LynnZant's Avatar
LynnZant LynnZant is offline
Sweet Talker
 
profile gallery send pm
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Ohio
Posts: 3,809
Default

I use Blurb and select the layout option to put a border around my pages so nothing is cut off and I don't have any extra work. I choose dark brown to hide fingerprints. I've printed a huge book with four vacations in one (maybe close to 300 pages), and it's holding up great so far. If I were you, I would print how you scrap--chronologically or not.
__________________
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 02-24-2020, 01:19 PM
nesser1981's Avatar
nesser1981 nesser1981 is offline
SugarBabe
 
profile gallery send pm
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: South Eastern Michigan
Posts: 7,164
Default

Here are the last two books that I've ordered, just to give you an idea of how I lay them out.
January - September 2017

Disney 2018
__________________

Last edited by nesser1981; 02-24-2020 at 01:46 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 02-24-2020, 07:05 PM
KimGeling's Avatar
KimGeling KimGeling is offline
Sweet Tart
 
profile gallery send pm
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Posts: 415
Default

Thank you all so much! I have my layouts sorted on the computer by year so my goal, at least for the busier years is to have an album for each. Vanessa I'm off to read your links now but just wanted to acknowledge all your replies.
__________________


Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 02-24-2020, 07:24 PM
MamaBee's Avatar
MamaBee MamaBee is offline
SugarBabe
 
profile gallery send pm
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 13,464
Default

I've done minimal number of pages like 20 and I've done maximum that it can hold... they all have held up well.

I don't worry about cut off, I scrap taking that inconsideration and don't put anything like writing too close to the edge.

I print in order, but I don't scrap in order.... so when I have the maximum amount of pages for a book, it gets printed... so that means in vol two, I could have a page from Feb and then the rest is are October through December or whatever. I don't care if they are facing pages match, unless it's a double page - but I don't do many of those.
__________________
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 02-24-2020, 07:35 PM
Kiana's Avatar
Kiana Kiana is offline
SugarBabe
 
profile gallery send pm
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Michigan, USA
Posts: 4,920
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by MamaBee View Post
I've done minimal number of pages like 20 and I've done maximum that it can hold... they all have held up well.

I don't worry about cut off, I scrap taking that inconsideration and don't put anything like writing too close to the edge.
^^^^^^
This is me.
and
I don't scrap in chrono order and my books aren't either
__________________

Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 02-26-2020, 09:33 PM
KimGeling's Avatar
KimGeling KimGeling is offline
Sweet Tart
 
profile gallery send pm
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Posts: 415
Default

Thank you all so much. I am playing around with my 2019 album and I've resized them to add a 1/2 inch border around the layouts which seems to be working. I also decided to do what some of you suggested and roughly order the layouts but not be too concerned. I'll work on getting one printed and see if I need to change things up next time. I love having you ladies to bounce ideas off.
__________________


Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:25 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
All Creative Content © 2007 SweetShoppeDesigns

Making your memories sweeter

Copyright © 2016 Sweet Shoppe Designs – The Sweetest Digital Scrapbooking Site on the Web | Site by Lilac Creative