scrapbooking album question....

[Onita76]

Hi there, I am fairly new to the whole scrapbooking thing and am curious about the types of albums and what works best. I am currently working on my daughter's album which I bought from Creative Memories... it seems like they are more expensive and it's frustrating to me to have to cut down my 12 x 12 paper (I tend to cover each page with a piece of background paper or cardstock rather than using the plain white)... I am pregnant with our second baby ( ) and would like to make an educated purchase for this baby's album... are post bound albums easy to use? How exactly do they work? Do you just slide your page into the page protector even if it is done on a thin sheet of background paper? Do post bound albums hold as many pages as the Creative Memories type album? What types of albums does everyone else use and prefer? TIA for any answers and guidance you can give me!!!!

Onita

[photocropper]

Well I love the CM albums - I tend to use the white background more often than not. I just used printed background paper in my album for the first time a few months ago. I don't mind cutting down pages (the strips can be used later to decorate pages as well). I like to stamp directly on the white page to make my own backgrounds.

Selling points for me are:
I can work on pages outside the book (and purchase the book later if need be)
They are nice albums for gifts or beautiful sitting on my shelf!
They are made to last (3 ring binders tend to look flimsy to me)
Can stamp directly on page (they are buffered)

I am sure there are more reasons but I can not think of them right now!

[photocropper]

Oh I knew I would think of something else! The page lay flat when you are looking at the book unlike post bound albums that tend to form an M in the middle of the book!

[eplercs]

First, congratulations on your pending new arrival!!!

Second, on scrapping: I've been using the SU albums for a few years now; I started with the CM albums. I've always used a piece of cardstock for my 'base'; if I was going to use patterned paper as my base, I'd probably just stick the whole thing on a piece of USW for stability. Other than that, yes, I just slip that "page" into the page protector - well, actually, I put two pages into the page protector - one for each side. And that's the biggest improvement for me vs. the strap-hinge albums - I'm not 'stuck' having a particular front attached to particular back once I've 'stuck' down my pages (lol- weak scrappin' humor). Say I have a HersheyPark 2-page spread, followed by a Summer garden 2-page spread. If I find more HersheyPark pictures to scrapbook, I can move the Summer Garden page from the back of the HersheyPark page 2 and add more HersheyPark pages. Or if I get pictures that fit in between the HersheyPark trip and the Summer Garden pictures chronologically, I can go ahead and put them there, just by moving the Summer Garden pictures.
Okay, so I'm not explaining this well - but hopefully you'll get it anyway!

A couple other quick opinions:
-I haven't noticed a lesser page capacity with the top-loading albums vs. the strap-hinge albums. Although I don't have as many pages in my current albums as in my older CM albums, I think that's mostly a function of my now more dimensioned pages vs. my early days.
-I like having the protector opening being at the top of the album vs. on the side - in the sad event of water damage, hopefully we wouldn't flood all the way to the top of my albums. (Not that I want to see my albums sitting in a few inches of water!! But if that does happen, I think the top-loading may save my album pages better than an opening along the entire side.
-I don't mind the slight gap in the post-bound vs. the strap-hinge.... ring bound I don't think I could handle, but visually I just don't notice the post-bound gap.

Okay, I really should go - gotta clean up my stampin' room! (Have a hostess/ recruit lead coming over - don't want her getting too overwhelmed!)

I hope I've been some help! It's all JMHO - do what works best for YOU!

Happy Stampin' and Scrappin'!
Susan Epler

Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrator

[stampindonna]

Onita,

This has nothing to do with your question as I don't have a real opinion on albums as I'm just starting scrapbooking as well (although I'm sure I'll choose Stampin' Up! since I'm a demonstrator.)

BUT... I just wanted to add that I LOVE your Avatar. The Muppets are my "dear friends" and I just laughed when I saw Beaker. Thanks for brightening my afternoon!

[mary williams]

I don't have a SU album yeat, but have had a customer (former CM Consultant) ask me about them. She is looking at trying something different and really likes the looks of the patterned albums, for something fun and different. Here are her questions: 1. How many refill pages can the albums hold? 2. If she happened to run out of refill pages and needed them right away while waitng for her order, could she easily find them as most general craft/scrapbooking stores? 3. What is the garenttee on the albums, she knows that CM offers a life time garantee, with their products?
Thanks so very much for your help!!!
Mary

[Benniesma]

I started scrapbooking with the CM albums and switched over to the top loading. I like being able to switch my pages around. I'm not a chronological scrapper, so I can move pages to fit extras in. And I didn't like the white background (which was all that was available when I was a new scrapper) so I put patterned paper on each page. It seemed to make the album so heavy! I have just slid in a thinner patterned paper with no problem. I use the SU albums and really like them. I did buy a CTMH album and liked that too (shhh) but now that I'm an SU demo, I'll only buy SU.

I too love your avatar! My sister Rebecca's nickname was Beaker as a child. She hated it then, but I think he's so cute!!

[Laurie FW]

I use mainly white, black and tan backgrounds, so the CM albums work great for me (I must admit they are cheaper for me because I trade babysitting with a CM demo for her discount on CM albums!). I use stamped paper or colored paper only for borders or accents. I don't have any trouble moving the pages around in them, but it is definitely harder than the SU albums and ones that are like them.

My friends (Including my SU demo) who love to use background papers prefer the non-CM top loading pages because they just use the background paper as their page and they can be moved more easily. I think you should go with the album according to the type of pages you will be making. If you love the backgrounds and lots of embellishments, you probably won't want to use the CM type of albums!

Good luck! It's okay to try both kinds and then decide what kind you want to stick with! My SU demo started scrapping before demoing SU, so filled up her CM albums, then moved on to SU albums after that.