Thanks to the success of my recent foray into Photoshop/Picasa (detailed here: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=429791&highlight=photoshop - many thanks to everyone who gave me advice there, BTW, it was really helpful), I am now at the point of making a scrapbook. I bought a nice book with clear plastic sheets inside, each containing a 12"x12" sheet of paper. The opening to slide the paper into is on the top of the page.
Now, here’s my question: when I bought the book, the clear plastic deals lay flat. But, now that there are thicker pages in them (what with photos, etc.), they are sort of open. Are you meant to close them up with something? Tape would look shitty, I think, but I can’t think of anything else. I’m also worried that the sheets will slide out just a bit and get dogeared/wrecked.
Would the weight of the stuff you put on the page help keep the page from slipping out of the opening on top?
If not, I agree that taping the opening wouldn’t look right. I wonder if there’s a scrapbooking tool for closing that opening, like snaps or something.
Thanks, but I have to admit I put this thing off FOREVER. It’s only because it’s a gift for a friend that I will be seeing next week that I’m doing it at all!
I’ve never scrapbooked before, and I went to look for a scrapping forum, but all the ones I found were really intense seeming. Maybe I’ll look again.
I e-mailed my daughter-in-law about this. She’s almost a professional scrapbooker, goes to scrapbooking conventions all over the country, etc. If/when she answers, I’ll be back.
I’ve also emailed my SIL who is a fanatic about scrapbooking - I will post her reply when I hear from her (she’s a bit of an insomniac so hopefully we’ll hear back soon).
Great! This is fantastic - scrapbooking isn’t the sort of thing I would normally do, but because I have a background in art I ended up with all these photos and the task of transforming them into something. I don’t know that I would do this again, but it is giving me an appreciation for how much work people put into these things - it’s pretty insanely labour intensive.
I am a scrapbooker (Hi, Red…). The top loading page protectors are left open. If you are using 12X12 paper and not tossing the scrapbook around like a football, you’ll be fine…really! DON’T use tape. Not only will it just look tacky , if it isn’t acid and lignon free, you could wind up with acid migration damage to the very memories that you are trying to preserve.
If you run into any problems, you can e-mail me and I’ll attempt to help you. Good luck!
*Well, the openings should be at the top of the page with that type of album, so the pages shouldn’t fall out unless the book got tipped upside down. I don’t use “lumpy” stuff on my pages, so they are pretty much flat, even when they’re finished.
I do have 3 albums like this, and I haven’t really had any issues with pages coming out at all, and the openings in the page protectors has been fairly minimal. No, they aren’t meant to be closed with anything…just left the way they are.
Sorry…I don’t know what else to tell her. I’ve never really thought about it before. *
Scrapbookers (and stampers) are every bit as insane as any other serious hobbyists. My fiance’ is a huge stamper (she makes cards & other odd projects) and a part-time scrapbooker (mostly to give to other people as gifts), and I’m routinely astounded at the amount of money that these people put into that hobby- generally speaking, it seems to be more expensive than homebrewing, and probably closer to r/c airplanes.
When I put the pages in, a few were upside down (because I’m an idiot), and last night I took the binding apart, flipped those ones over, and put it all back together. After doing that and leaving it laying closed overnight, everything seems to have flattened out a bit and looks better, so I guess it should be okay.
As for the intensity of scrapbookers - it certainly is expensive. I figure between photofinishing and supplies I’m over $100 by now, which is a lot for me as a student! I was asked to do it instead of giving a gift at my friends wedding though, so I would have been shelling that money out somewhere anyway. I just hope she knows how much work went into it!
Thanks again, and extended thanks to the SIL/DIL team!
, if it isn’t acid and lignon free, you could wind up with acid migration damage to the very memories that you are trying to preserve.