Which Album?

[Annie Brown]

I think I posted this on the wrong forum so am re-posting here.
Hi, This is the first time I have posted ... kept forgetting my password because I have so many! Wld like to know your opinions - what type of album is more practical? I have only completed three 12 x 12 so far. I have heard something about 3-ring binders and they appeal to me. But never having done one I am at a loss to know how the page protectors are inserted [do they have holes in the right places]. Are they 12x12 binders? I am coming to the end of an
8 x 8 album and I think they are too small for me and my millions of photos!
One of the reasons I have only completed 3 albums is that I am a little overwhelmed by all the photos I have and can't seem to get organised! I would be so grateful for a few friendly tips and instructions.

[Mrs Cheshire]

Welcome to UkS Annie! Would definitely recommend D ring albums if you don't scrap chronologically! I tend to just scrap which ever picture takes my fancy and hated having to take them out to put them in order later on! I scrap 12x12 although I am thinking of trying A4 soon!
As for photo organisation I'd recommend putting all your digital photos into files by year on your hard drive and then I file by month within the year if that makes sense so all the photos I take this month will go into a FEB 2012 album within the 2012 folder!
If you've got lots of printed photos then keep them by year too!

[Nerlly]

I use postbound albums because they're cheaper and take up a little less room than D-ring albums. But I do prefer the D-ring ones.

As for photos, the advice above is good. I organise my photos by year, then by month, and then within each month I have additional folders for certain events, eg holidays, trips, weddings, school things. I find this helps me to keep the photos in check, so I can make sure I have plenty for each event and get rid of the dodgy ones!

I would also recommend that you save your photos in more than one place. I have an external hard drive but they're no more infallible than the computer's hard drive so it's best to also save onto a disk, or another external hard drive, memory stick, whatever. I also upload my photos onto Facebook, Photobucket, and onto the websites of whatever photo printing services I've used.

Every so often I get a batch of photos printed out - I have a printer, but the professional ones come out better and it's far easier to order them online. I usually do this for special occasions like holidays, and then I'll add in some other special photos such as rugby ones, or birthday ones, or whatever.

[CraftyPrincess]

I really like the D-Ring Albums so would defo recommend you trying one out. They're like ring binders with three rings on the inside and the page protectors have holes in the sides to slide over the rings. All mine are the American Crafts ones but We Are Memory Keepers do them too. I do like to make 'touchy feely' layouts so I've found that with the spines on the D-ring albums already being deep I can add the more bulky kinds of layouts to them.
The American Crafts ones are larger than 12x12, (the album itself) but the page protectors they come with hold your 12x12 pages. With the 12x12 albums I also mix in some of the 6x12" and 8.5x11" size page protectors so you can vary your page sizes without having to invest in different album sizes.
With you having lots of photos have you thought about the divided page protectors you can get? They come with pockets for 4x6" photos front and back so you can mix in pages of just photos alongside your scrapbook pages. It's a good way to fill an album with photos without scrapbooking all of them. If you wanted to include extra journalling you can just fill one of the pockets with a piece of card with your journalling on there.

Hope some of that helps

[MiniOwner]

I started with a couple of post-bound albums but now I wouldn't buy anything but D-ring. They are bigger but they hold a lot more pages. We have some here.

[Brummie40]

Hi Welcome to UKS!!!
In answer to your photo organising question...It is so easy to get overwhlemed! I don't scrap in any kind of order & use a 12x12 album to temporaily store pages until I have a proper home for them.

For photos I usually get a batch printed out of say 200 photos as it works out cheaper (5p each). I then sort through & pick out all those I'd like to use for scrapping. I use the wallets from the photo store to temporarily store the recent 'to scrap' photos (approx 30) & put the others in a normal photo album. I then sort the 'to scrap' ones into themes like trips, holidays within the wallets. I then go to this stock of photos when I have time to scrap & pick a few photos for my page & focus on just those.

For older photos I look through my photo albums & pick out any that jump out for scrapping. Working one LO at a time - this way I have gone back to do baby pages for DD & DS (they are now 7 and 11!)

I hope this helps. there's no right or wrong way, but it may take a while for you to find 'your' way of scrapping.

Most of all have fun!