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Hello,
Here's the situation: I was a dyed-in-the-wool, Creative Memories album enthusiast until about six months ago. It was at that point that I realized some of my older albums (circa 1994) were starting to fall apart at the staples (that hold the pages in the album). A quick call to my current consultant confirmed this problem and she really offered no good solution. Basically, she could order me replacement pages, but, since CM adhesives have always been strong, my pictures are pretty much permanently adheared to the pages that are falling out of the album. And, removing the pictures from the page (at this point) might damage them. I felt kind of cheated and vowed to move to top-loading albums. That way, if the album ever fell apart, I could still move the pages to another album.
Sooooooo...sell me on the Stampin' Up albums. What do they have to offer??
__________________ "Just because it's unexplicated does not make it unexplicable." - HOUSE
First of all, I love the fact that they are post bound and top loading! I am playing catch up with my albums... my oldest child is 14 and I only have his first year scrapped!!! However, with that being said, I get tired of working with baby pictures! I did do his first album with CM, but all my other albums are SU!. I like the fact that if I want to work on pictures from last week, I can scrap them, put them in an album, and take them out and rearrange later if need be. I felt like I had to work in chronological order with my CM album.
First of all, I love the fact that they are post bound and top loading! I am playing catch up with my albums... my oldest child is 14 and I only have his first year scrapped!!! However, with that being said, I get tired of working with baby pictures! I did do his first album with CM, but all my other albums are SU!. I like the fact that if I want to work on pictures from last week, I can scrap them, put them in an album, and take them out and rearrange later if need be. I felt like I had to work in chronological order with my CM album.
I think I will like that about post albums, as CM pretty much DOES require one work chronologically. I also hate having to trim down my 12x12 papers to fit their pages. ;)
__________________ "Just because it's unexplicated does not make it unexplicable." - HOUSE
I currently work 8.5 x 11, although I do have a couple of 12x12 albums too. I NEVER liked to use just the white pages in the CM albums, so I always had to cut CS down to fit!!! Have you bought any of the SU! albums yet? If so, which did you get?
I currently work 8.5 x 11, although I do have a couple of 12x12 albums too. I NEVER liked to use just the white pages in the CM albums, so I always had to cut CS down to fit!!! Have you bought any of the SU! albums yet? If so, which did you get?
I haven't purchase any SU albums yet. I have used some of the Pioneer Post Bound albums... but I'd rather give more money to my crack dealer/SU demo (hooknstamp). Do you have a preference within the SU line?
__________________ "Just because it's unexplicated does not make it unexplicable." - HOUSE
Since I've been working on my kids' albums, I have gotten ones with patterns on them.. LOL, don't have a catalog so don't know the names right off hand. However, I think from here on out I am going to stick with plain albums - I think they look better all lined up on the shelf! So with that in mind, I personally am going to go with the leather bound albums from here on out....
Gotta get some work done before I leave for the day in 30 minutes. Have a good one!!
I have the SU! albums in all sizes(5x7, 6x6, 8.5x11, 12x12). What do you want to know? I just recently bought the linen one with the D-ring. I'm thinking this one is going to be VERY convenient as I like to scrap our of order as well.
The only thing I don't like about ring binders is that when you are looking at a two page spread, there is a gap in between the two pages. With post bound they stack on top of each other so it is more continuous. Still easy to change, you just leave the page protectors in place and remove the pages from the top and put them where you want them!
Scarlett75 - I'm surprised your CM consultant didn't check into that more for you. I have always believed and have been told that CM albums have "lifetime" guarantees...unless, of course, you used contraband or wallpapering in your albums, which I've been told "voids" this guarantee. Don't know for sure, but I would think something could be done besides refill pages.
As a recent convert myself, I adore SU albums!! I got tired of seeing all that white paper in front of me and ended up in my last CM album completely wallpapering the whole thing (oops, there goes that guarantee I guess! ;) ) To me, if felt after a while that I was being drained, constantly looking at that white void. I always felt I had to scrap chronologically and although it was okay to start out that way, it got very tiresome after a while. I didn't want to have white pages sitting around not in their protective sleeves, plus I dreaded having to put the album back together each time. I've had my eldest CM album for about 7 years now and it's held up fine, contraband included. Love, love, love the toploading feature and the albums are easy to expand with the posts - if I can figure it out, anyone can! CM albums are great for certain types of scrapbookers - they have great quality and the "look" of the overall outside of the album is nice. I just prefer now to use top-loading and I love the fact that I can switch my pages around. (See, I'm an SU demo - did I bash CM at all - nope!) :p
__________________
*Shari*
�Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.� ― W.B. Yeats
�I think you learn more if you're laughing at the same time.� ― Mary Ann Shaffer
I *love* the SU! leather albums. They are soooo nice and worth the extra few bucks. We recently started a book for our church and the burgundy or what ever reddish colored leather is bea you tea full!!!
I also am stuck with a couple of CM books, and thanks for the heads up on the staples, but I always wallpaper too, so I guess if that problem starts, I'll be out of luck. I would be able to redo my pages though because all I ever use is mono.
I believe they are referring to the practice of layering a colored or patterned piece of cardstock on top of the white page that comes with the CM albumns.
HTH,
Sharon
Last edited by sperez; 04-29-2005 at 06:38 AM..
Reason: Grammar correction
I, too, have been a die hard CM album user. That is, until a friend bought me a top loading for my third daughters birth and I realized that it was much easier to use since I do not scrap in order. With the CM, I had to wait until I caught up in a particular time period, before I could adhere my pages to the album pages. With top loading, moving pages around is a breeze. I'm moving on to the leather SU top loading now!
The CM Albums are guaraneed for life. What you have to do is this: contact your consultant and ask for one of the drop in pages they sell for their albums, then you'll have to cut the edges off both sides of the old page that lost the staples and drop it in like a top loading page using the new page she gives you.
I love the CM albums, but I got tired of the white backgrounds also, so now I use the postbound, top-loading albums. I use the ones from K&Company and Pioneer. I hope these will hold up over time. I like them because I can get them at 1/2 price at Hobby Lobby.
One of the BEST things about SU's Albums is the QUALITY! Ring or post is always a personal preference! But, once you hold the top loading sleeves in your hands, you will know what I mean! The poly used for them is very HIGH quality, which is a must if you are using a lot of embellishments. I have a couple of leather albums that I just purchased, not SU. Gotta make more $$$ to get the SU ones! Anyway the leather ones I have are very nice and the sleeve quality is decent but, I am going to replace them with SU's.
My up-line and myself are hoping for new albums in the New Catty! Oh please, oh please???
I, too, started out with CM. I LOVE the quality of their albums and the fact that they come in MANY great colors. But I do NOT scrap in chronological order.
I am now a diehard top-loader!!! If SU! would put out more colors, I would be buying TONS!!!!!
I think I've read through most of the posts, but I'll probably still end up repeating something.
I LOVE the post-bound albums SU has. I started out also with CM, because I heard of them about a year before I did SU. Once I tried the post-bound album, I realized I would not go back to the strap-hinged!
**With Post-bound they are top loading, so yes!!!! you don't have to stay chronological when doing albums, because pages can easily be slid in & out to put them in order.
**When,or if, you make a mistake in a strap-hinged album, you are more than likely messing up the entire page of the album. With a post-bound you are just working with a piece of card stock. Messed up beyond repair? Just slide it out & put another piece of cardstock in it's place.
**Also (an I'm discovering this now that my children are really into looking at their old albums) that the page protectors on the strap-hinged albums can rip & tear quite easily. The page protectors on a post-bound are part of the album and are VERY sturdy!
After sharing some of these things with friends & customers I've gotten several of them into using the post-bound albums, and they are now convinced (as I am) that they are the easiest & most durable way to go when scrapbooking.
Scarlett75 - I'm surprised your CM consultant didn't check into that more for you. I have always believed and have been told that CM albums have "lifetime" guarantees...unless, of course, you used contraband or wallpapering in your albums, which I've been told "voids" this guarantee. Don't know for sure, but I would think something could be done besides refill pages.
:p
Actually, in the albums I was referring to, I used NO contraband. LOL They were made back before there WAS contraband. CM was it.
But, even if I had used contraband, it wouldn't change the fact that there album is falling apart. :/ But...apparently they will honor the guarantee, but all they will do is send new pages. Doesn't exactly help me since my pics are pretty much glued to those pages and, because all they had back then was sticky-sticky tape, aren't coming off.
__________________ "Just because it's unexplicated does not make it unexplicable." - HOUSE
The CM Albums are guaraneed for life. What you have to do is this: contact your consultant and ask for one of the drop in pages they sell for their albums, then you'll have to cut the edges off both sides of the old page that lost the staples and drop it in like a top loading page using the new page she gives you.
I love the CM albums, but I got tired of the white backgrounds also, so now I use the postbound, top-loading albums. I use the ones from K&Company and Pioneer. I hope these will hold up over time. I like them because I can get them at 1/2 price at Hobby Lobby.
Thanks for the advice. I'll call and ask her for a few of those pages. ;)
__________________ "Just because it's unexplicated does not make it unexplicable." - HOUSE
Same here! I started out scrapbooking totally CM. Got tired of the white bg and i am an emotional scrapper. Get real stiffled if yo make me go chronalogically! I bought a SU 12x12 album and have been hooked ever since. Color me SU post bound leather!
__________________ Shelly
Central Florida
Stamper, Scrapper, Knitter, Homeschooler, Mom and Wife... not necessarily in that order!!
My girlfriend accually cut with an exacto knife the CM pages out of her album and put them in SU album and they fit beautifuly. The page protectors are the softest and nicest out there. Everyone who orders the albums rave about them and would never trust their pages to any other album. I have to agree.
Hello,
but, since CM adhesives have always been strong, my pictures are pretty much permanently adheared to the pages that are falling out of the album. And, removing the pictures from the page (at this point) might damage them. I felt kind of cheated and vowed to move to top-loading albums. That way, if the album ever fell apart, I could still move the pages to another album.
Sooooooo...sell me on the Stampin' Up albums. What do they have to offer??
First of all, I LOVE SU! albums. I am all about post bound, everything is so neat and tidy looking, and I love how a 2-page spread looks. Plus, the SU! albums are great quality and I like to show off my little 6x6 books. They are small enough to fit in my diaper bag!
Second- have you tried using that product called Un-du on your pictures? It is a photo-safe adhesive remover. Click on this link, scroll down to the bottom and read how great this product is!!! http://www.archiversonline.com/adhesivearticle
__________________ -Flo Wife to Tim 10/23/99 Mom to Isabelle 5/4/04, Sam 8/16/07
SU scraps the way I do with bright colors, top loading and post bound. I'm not a big fan of CM books due to the style, but I will point out one great quality feature they do that, that SU has as well. CM books have a very strong middle section. SU has that as well. The middle section on most post bound books are paper. Once the book begins to fill up, that paper seems weak to me. I can't say enough about top loading books. I scrap out of order, and rearrange my books all the time. I haven't purchased a book from SU up, but I did look them over, and was very impressed with that middle binder. I'm not sure how many pages it holds though.
SU Scrapbooks
