Scrapbooking Albums- How to Choose

If you are a scrapbooker, then you know that there are many, many types of albums on the market today. There are strap-bound albums, post-bound albums, binder albums, paper bag albums, spiral-bound albums and more. Then albums come in many different sizes! How do you know what album you need?

The first thing you are going to need to decide on is the size of your album. You may be tempted to go with a smaller album because they are cheaper. If you have a lot of photos to scrapbook, you are going to end up spending more with a smaller album, because you will need more than one to hold all of your memories. Small albums are good to scrapbook events where you want to dedicate one album to the event, but you do not have very many pictures. If you are starting to scrapbook many years of photos, go with a 12 x 12 size album.If you are making a memory book for a gift, this is where the smaller 8x8 and 5x7 albums work well.

Once you have chosen your size, it is time to choose your type of album. Strap-bound albums hold the pages through rubber straps and a metal hinge that is attached to the scrapbook page. These tend to hold up very well and as long as the album is not over-filled, when you open the page, you will have a two-page spread that lays flat. This works very well when you want a design that spreads over two pages. However, if you need to change the order of the pages or add one in the middle of the book, you will have to disassemble the entire book. If you are using a post-bound scrapbook album, plan your pages carefully before you begin.

Post-bound scrapbook albums use metal posts to attach the pages to the album through holes in the edge of the page. When you open a post-bound album it will lay flat. The pages of the post-bound album are actually page protectors, where you slide your page in through the top of the album. This means if you need to re-arrange, all you have to do is slide a few pages back out and re-arrange. You do not have to completely disassemble the album. Post-bound albums can be added to by screwing in a post extension.

Ring-bound albums look like a three-ring binder. They hold the page protectors through the large ring in the center. Like post-bound albums, these can be added to or re-arranged simply by taking the page out of the page protector and putting it where you want it. However, if you do a two-page spread, you will have a large gap in the middle of the page where the rings are.

A paper bag scrapbook is made out of lunch-size paper bags. You actually scrapbook on the paper bags! When doing this type of scrapbook, make sure you mount your pictures on photo safe products, as paper bags are not acid-free.

Whatever type of album you choose, pick one that has a look that matches the theme of your album. This will do a lot to making youRingbound Scrapbook Album have the perfect scrapbook.

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