How to Select the Best Album for Your Scrapbook

Scrapbook Album Selection

With so many options on the shelves, it can be tough deciding which scrapbook is the best for your project. Use this guide to learn about the advantages of the different types of albums, including 3 ring scrapbooks and spiral binders.

Three-ring binders are versatile and easy to use. Choose a binder that is oversize to accommodate sheet or page protectors. Many scrapbookers recommend D-Ring style binder to keep pages flat, but the O-ring style will make page turning easier.

Advantages:

• Album can be expanded.
• Pages lie flat when opened
• Pages can be removed and moved around very easily
• Highly available in different cover styles

Spiral binders are wonderful albums for single themes. Be aware that not all spirals are acid free, so choose carefully. Consider using the larger spirals since they can expand to accommodate the bulk of additional photos and memorabilia.

Advantages

• You can often use your own creativity to decorate the cover.
• It is a self-contained album, including both binder and pages.
• Pages lie flat when opened.
• There are page protectors designed to slide onto a spiral bound page.

Flex-hinge binders have a plastic strap binding that allows your albums to expand and your pages to lie flat and side-by-side. Look for pages that are heavyweight, acid-free and lignin-free.

Advantages

• Album can be expanded
• Pages lie flat when opened
• Page protectors are available
• Pages can be removed or moved

Page Protectors: Page or sheet protectors are not required or used by all albums. However, they do ensure the safety and protection of precious photos. Protectors serve two purposes. The first is to hold the scrapbook page within an album, and the second is to protect your pages from oily fingerprints, dust, dirt, accidental spills, or contaminants. Not all page protectors are created equal. Openings can be top or side. You can chose non-glare or clear, but choose only those that do not contain PVCs. You might consider the slight additional cost of heavyweight protectors for your scrapbooks you open frequently—the extra support reduces bending on pages and photos. Some albums do not require page protectors.

Page Size: You now select from standard 12” x 12”, 8 1/2" x 11, 9” x 9”, 8” x 8”, and 6” x 6”. There are also even smaller mini scrapbooks from 1” x 1” to 4” x 4” which are perfect for themed memory albums.