<p>DO YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC TYPE or BRAND OF PHOTO ALBUM TO RECOMMEND? </p>
<p>This week our goal is to put photos from our May Europe vacation and put into a binder. I usually don’t do photo albums, but this trip was special. We bought an album a Target with acid-free paper, “magnetic” cling pages. Ack - they don’t stick. . Even as a new album, the photos are not staying. </p>
<p>We like the idea of being able to arrange the photos free-form. (Some are portrait orientations , some are landscape. Some will be cropped down to a smaller size.) We are continuing to organize our are arrangements on sheets of paper, but I’d like to get them into an album soon too. Help?</p>
<p>I use photo albums made by Creative Memories - they are pockets as opposed to pages that pull back and have sticky backs to hold the photos in place.</p>
<p>It’s hard to find albums that don’t have pre-made pockets these days, which are limiting.
You could try the Kolo scrapbook albums, but you’ll need to mount the photos on the pages yourself with corner fasteners, or double tape of some kind.</p>
<p>An alternative that you may wish to consider is having a photobook made with whatever you most prefer. Costco, Snapfish, and many others make these books and they are bound and gorgeous, organized exactly as you prefer. Several friends & relatives have done this and it’s very nice.</p>
<p>Thanks for the hints. I have been contemplating 2-sided tape to anchor the photos, with the clear cling layer just being protection. The photo squares might be better.</p>
<p>I’m leaning away from pockets due to our mixed orientation photos. </p>
<p>If I had to do it all over, I’d probably go the Snapfish album route. That would give more options for resizing/cropping. But we now have photos printed (way too many - I need to get DH to be more choosy when printing the next batch for. (He printed too many from Barcelona batch).</p>
<p>I am heading to Michael’s with a coupon tonight. I will check out the photo squares. Should I consider scrapbooks too? Or better to stick with photo album section?</p>
<p>I uploaded about 1000 pictures from our trip to facebook and google. Then we ordered a 27 page photobook from Shutterfly. It sits on the coffee table. I get offers daily from Groupon and similar services with deals on these types of photobooks. Apparently the business has gotten extremely competitive. Seems like I haven’t made prints from photos in years.</p>
<p>We went to Michael’s last night. Their albums/scrapbooks were 50% off. We went with a 12x12 sized page, with a big pocket for sliding in the a 12x12 sheet. We also bought the photo squares for sticking the photos to the page. </p>
<p>No excuses now… hopefully we’ll make progress soon. We have company coming next Friday - I’ll need the dining room table for real purpose, not photo staging area ;)</p>
<p>Good luck with that. When D was in high school we took our first family trips to Europe, and I got bit by the scrapbook bug in a big way. I kept ticket stubs, and museum maps, and restaurant menus . . . I did two really elaborate scrapbooks, and enjoyed it a lot but became a little obsessed. Towards the end I was taking folders with my photos to Michaels to find paper that matched . . . Those took so long to finish that I now have boxes of photos fom three trips that I need to just put into photo albums.</p>
<p>No risk for me to get overcome with aesthetic details. I once did an album of an Ireland trip quickly and am forever thankful I got it done. (That one included quite a few postcards - I like that method, mixing professional photos with our personal shots). But this is joint project with DH, and he is more likely to dilly dally. </p>
<p>A few weeks after we got home from the trip we did make a lovely collage in a large poster frame. It’s a mix of maps, tickets, mostly photos. I love that - it hangs in the kitchen.</p>
<p>The 12x12 format does allow lots more photos! Most of ours are Landscape orientationation, but we don’t like the look when the all touch with 6 per page. We started by cropping with scissors. Tonight we bought this cutter at Hobby Lobby - $15 ($9 with 40% off coupon from web). It is awesome! It’s DH’s favorite new toy. </p>
<p>Prior to digital photos, I also used something similar to the photo squares (same company), but they are the old fashioned style, that mount on the corners of the photos. The old fashioned ones were black paper. The new ones are clear and acid-free. That allowed me to replace or move photos as needed. I would generously crop (with a similar cutter previously noted) and place on an 8 1/2 x 11 acid free card stock paper, then place the sheet in a clear acid-free sleeve, and store in a standard 3 ring binder. The card stock and clear sleeves were bought in bulk.</p>
<p>All the above was a much less expensive method than using more formal albums, allowed for flexibility, and also standardized the system over many years. When the children were young, I occasionally needed an old photo for various school projects or functions. Now, I still use an old photo now and then, to scan and make a funny card, or gift calendar, etc. I even occasionally visit the old albums for memories.</p>
<p>However, with the switch to digital photos, I don’t take the time to print and place in albums. As a result, I rarely see them. I don’t understand how there is less time now for all these projects as there was when the children were young! ;-/</p>
<p>Since we got the new camera a few years back, DH downloads to his computer. Hardly and get printed. Also… my yearly folders (and BEST_20xx folders) are out of date. But yikes, he printed too many for the albums! (And 2000 is too many to show friends on the tv!). At 9 cents each it is not a terrible expense, but it doe make it hard to hone them down for the album.</p>
<p>I would recommend that you scan the pages of your photo album as back-up. You could always print them into a book if you wanted to at a later date.</p>
<p>My DH burns back-up cds for all of our photos. The cds are kept in a location other than our home for safekeeping.</p>