One of the most satisfying parts of scrapbooking is placing finished pages into albums. This final step caps off the entire process and signifies “memory kept”. While there are a variety of albums on the market, not all are equally effective. I have a favorite brand in particular that just plain makes me happy. To me, the best scrapbook albums:
- are widely available,
- come in an array of sizes (and colors)
- are D-ring for simplicity, and
- have a labeling area on the spine.
To me, the best scrapbook albums are from We Are Memory Keepers. I use both the 8.5×11 leather albums and the 8×8 linen albums. I don’t personally scrap in 12×12, but would still use WRMK albums if I did. They have clean lines, attractive colors and make labeling super easy. I especially love that the 8×8 size offers 3 rings, eliminating the dreaded page droop.
My Favorite Sources
Do you have a favorite scrapbook album? What brand is it and why do you love it?
We R Memory Keepers black leather in 81/2 x 11 and 12 x 12. I especially like the label holder on the spine.
I have two of the We Are Memory Keepers 12×12 Linen post bound albums. They are beautiful! They are the best album I’ve found, but I still have complaints.
The post is a full 2 inches long. I believe they will technically hold 100 page protectors, but my albums at 40+ page protectors and nearly 100 printed layouts are already pretty heavy. So there is a lot of unused space in the album (which would probably be great for paper layouts). They are wider than they need to be and take up more space. I wish they made a post-bound album that was more suited for digi.
I’ve used a Pioneer post-bound album before that (I believe) had 3/4″ length post segments, so it was very flexible in terms of thickness. I don’t do double page LOs, so I find D-ring much easier to manage.
I use WRMK leather 12×12 for my Library of Memories albums. I store all different page sizes in these. For smaller theme albums I usually use AC Modern albums because they’re inexpensive and you can decorate them.
I’ve been using the Pioneer SJ-100 11×14 album for 13 years and have never looked back. It has become harder to find over the years as 12×12 became more popular. I order a bunch online at a time and keep them in my closet. They fit quite a number of pages (I don’t use sheet protectors) and the large size allows for many pictures and larger things such as news articles.
http://almostneverclever.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/the-cadillac-of-scrapbooks/
Hi Nat, I like the idea of not using page protectors – can you do this for all different types of binding (eg postbound and 3-ring)?
Also can you buy paper/card with the holes in the right place, or do you need to add the holes yourself?
Thanks!
My favorite albums are also the We R Memory Keepers albums. I only have 12 x 12 albums, but incorporate 8 1/2 x 11 pages within those albums. I LOVE the colors of the albums in your photo. I’m hoping that I’ll have enough money one day to switch out layouts in my older albums into We R Memory Keeper albums.
These are my favorite. Mine are color coded so I can instantly tell what they are!
I have a question about the ability of the linen albums to stay clean. I have the leather albums and love that they’re easily able to be wiped off if something gets on them, but, I’m interested in a particular color that isn’t offered in the leather albums for my daughter. I’ve looked for them in a store so that I could just feel the material to see if they’re silky (which would be bad probably as far as the potential for stains) and the rough linen feel that might work out better. Thanks for any help in the area : )