Scrapbook Friday - What size album is a good start?

Another week went by and here we are on Scrapbook Friday again. It is amazing.... hard to keep up with the writing ;-) but I do my very best to stay on schedule.

We talked about "Why we should scrapbook" and "What we should do with our pictures" so what is next? Let's talk a little about albums and what size would work for you:

Albums
Having the right sized album for the right project is key. There are many different sizes on the market all depending on how big your project is. For beginners, how about a small 4"x4" or 6"x6" album which makes for a quick project and gives you an instant result.

Close to My Heart offers a great 9 3/8"x8 1/4" albums which uses 6"x8" memory protectors. A perfect medium sized album.
And then there are the "big" albums for the 12"x12" pages.
If you are a beginner you may say "WHAT"????? is she talking about. Sorry about that, occupational hazard ....so let's take these numbers apart.

Albums can come with pre-installed pages that are fixed and can be decorated, but most common are albums that have a ring-binder or post-bound system.

Ring-binder system:
The album has 3 rings which snap open to place memory protectors inside. They are great, because they make changing pages in or out a snap. Add pages to them? No problem.

Post-bound system:
As the name indicates, here you have posts instead of rings. These posts are crewed in and every time you want to expand the book you need to take the book apart to add post extenders. Changing pages is not that easy either. You can either take the pages out of the sleeves and re-range them or you need to take the book apart.
I personally love the ring binder system. Just make sure you get a nice sturdy one. The good ones are not cheep, but you want them to last. I bought a couple cheaper ones years ago and both broke. The hole ring system came out of the book...so look out for a good quality book.  

Memory Protectors
Memory protectors are clear plastic pouches that protect your artwork/ pages. They have a strip on the left side with holes to fit your ring/post album. The pouches have an opening on the top (top loaded) or on the side (side loaded) where you can slide you finished pages in. You can place two pages in one pouch (front and back :-) ).

There are also protectors available that are divided into smaller sections for more and easy photo storage. But for now lets work with the regular protectors.

• A "big" album is perfect if you decide to create 12"x12" page layouts. 
• The medium sized album mentioned above would hold pages measuring 6"x8". 
• And the little albums can hold 8"x8", 6"x6" or 4"x4" pages. 

You see, a size for every project. If you are new to scrapbooking, start with a small size album. These albums are great to preserve and tell your story, but you can use them for so much more. How about a recipe album? Yes, the medium size is perfect to right down your great family recipes and pass them one. All you need is the recipe in writing and a picture of your dish. Maybe you have a cute story that goes along with it? Remember grandma's secret Christmas Cookie recipe and how we made them together with her? Lot's of possibilities..... I think Close to My Heart still has a kit available with a Christmas theme to make your own personal recipe book.

The set has pre-cut recipe cards and décor papers in it, plus you can use the divided page protectors for the medium book to make this job really easy. The picture shows the complete kit with album, page protectors, paper inserts/ cards and a stamp set. You can get only the paper inserts and cards as well, if you already have an album and protectors on hand. Try it, it is a great first project.

I know, a lot if info and maybe even more questions on your part. Feel free to shoot me an email with all the questions you have. Start with a small project and built on it. You will see how much fun it is to finally get all these pictures in a book to look at. Leave a comment and tell me what size album you use or what else you use them for.

Next week we talk about cardstock and design paper choices....so stay tuned and start planning :-)