As a traditional scrapper I would just do my LOs and shove them in an album. I’m not sure what to do with my digi ones. Sort them in files then make a photo book. Print the individual LOs and then put them in a traditional album. What do you do?
I print my pages once a year in a photo book. I don't try to sort them chronologically because I don't scrap that way. My 2017 book just has all the pages that I created in 2017, even though some of them were old photos from 2008. I figure get it printed so the kids can look through them! I compared prices and found that printing in a photo book (with a discount coupon!) is cheaper than printing each page individually and then putting them in a page protector. You'd have to buy an album, the page protectors and then pay for printing each individual page. That adds up! However, if you print each page individually, you have a lot more flexibility about what order you put them in!
I've done both shutterfly photobooks and printed pages through Persnickity Prints to go in an album. @Scrapping with Liz just did a blog post on printing her Document Your December album here. http://www.scrappingwithliz.com/2018/01/finished-and-printed-6x8-document-your.html I know she's printed other places to and done photo book comparisons but I'm not finding those posts right now.
I do both. I individually print my Project Life Layouts, stick them in a page protector and binder. I use Persnickety Prints for that. I buy print credits on sale, and then use them through the year. I also use these full size individually prints to hang on our walls. I also will do books, especially of trips or the year. The year ones I always call "Vol 1" or "A glance into" because I'm pretty sure I don't have a single year done! I love to use the free 8x8 books for my kid from Shutterfly. I don't worry about him destroying them when he looks at them. I do recommend paying to print a few pages individually because it helps you see what it looks like in real life. I found on the first ones I printed my buttons were too big! And the font I used was huge. I'm better at it now, but it helped me to see those things once it was printed. What looks okay on the computer screen can be off. Even using a ruler to estimate the font size. I would have hated to spend money on a book and hate half the pages in it!
I print my pages and then put them into an album. I use Persnickety Prints as well. I've tried a few photo books, but I really prefer the look of pages in a sleeve, plus I mix them in with my traditional pages in the same album, so it works better that way. I keep thinking I want to make a photo book with all of my pages together (scanning the paper pages so that they can be included) but I haven't decided if it would be worth the extra effort. I probably should, since I only do one set of albums, so that the kids can take copies when they leave, but they're not that old yet and I keep procrastinating.
Thanks for all the help ladies. I don’t have a lot of pages yet but DH asked me what I was going to do and I realized I had no idea!
I'm slowly working on that! Not so the kid can take them, but because most of them are older pages with photos I don't have a duplicate of, and I don't want to lose them in a fire or anything!
I've done both. I don't scrap chronologically because there are a lot of years of my older kids' lives that happened before I started scrapping, so for those I like to print individually so that I can put them in order in albums myself. I print my PL every year in books. I took advantage of Shutterfly's unlimited pages sale this past year and printed 2 100+ page books for like $60 (a savings of over $250).
I mainly do individual pages. I have done several small books but I prefer the pages in albums. I don't scrap in order and put them in albums that way either. Even when I did traditional I did albums by subject not date. I still do that. What I love about individual pages is that I can move them around if I want. For a very short time, CM had an album with a Disney castle embossed on it. I snapped one up and have now moved all layouts that were Disney into that album. They were in my "travel" album before. I have also had old negatives scanned and can now scrap old stuff. They can be inserted in the albums where they belong, by date if known. In other words, I love that I can move them around!
Here's one of the comparison posts! http://www.scrappingwithliz.com/2015/01/scrapbook-album-comparisons.html Here's how I printed my 2016 album & I'm doing the same for my 2017 (just haven't ordered the pages yet). http://www.scrappingwithliz.com/2017/02/my-2016-album-review.html
I do my yearbooks and Disney books through Shutterfly because I have a specific order. WhenI I do print my traditional pages, I use 8x8 through Persnickety and put them in page protectors. I don't do a lot of traditional style digiscrapping, so I don't have many of those.
I print at home on a wide format Epson on 68 lb Ultra Pro Satin 4.0 paper from Red River. They go into my We are Memory Keepers 12 x12 albums, just like a paper page would. I really, really like the instant gratification of printing right after I finish scrapping a page and the flexibility of moving pages around.
I will second @lmccandless paper recommendation. I am using their Polar Matte for printing on my Epson Wide format and LOVE IT. Confession, I am a hybrid scrapbooker, so I print everything out and then work with it!! LOL
I only have one traditional scrapbook for pages that I print individually (Persnickety Prints) and those are all the random old photos pages that are from my youth or my family's history. Everything else I printed in photobooks. I've used both Shutterfly and Blurb for my 12x12 books... whoever has the best sale is who I use and I've been happy with both. I don't scrap chronologically, but I do keep a running list in an excel file in chronological order, so when I complete enough pages in a row to fill about a 100 page book, I print. I don't even care where they start and stop as far as month or year. I'd love to have one book for each year, but I scrap more than 100 pages for each year, so I just keep them in order and move on.
I've heard good things about PP's individual 12x12 pages, and I love their "regular" prints (8x10, 4x6, etc)...maybe this is what I should do with my miscellaneous pages, because, like you, I have random pages I'd like to put in a book but I would also like the option of adding to the book--which of course a bound scrapbook wouldn't allow. But (and as my reply to Karen suggests) to answer the original post: I keep LOs in folders according to what book I want them in. So, "2018" has LOs for 2018, and I title my files by YYYY-MM-People_Event, so that way I can easily place them in order in Shutterfly's program. Plus it lets me know when the events in the page took place. And my PL pages are in a folder titled "2018 PL" or "2017 PL" and I name files by YYYY-MM-Week##-Right or YYYY-MM-Week##-Left so that my pages are next to each other in chronological order.
PP is where I get all my 12x12 prints. They have sales quite often on prints and print credits. I will buy credits and hold onto it until I have enough to print. Last time I printed I got 100 prints and shipping was $5.00. They actually charge $5.00 for each order so when I placed the order I was charged $10.00. The next day a $5.00 credit was put back on Paypal for me. I didn't even ask for the credit! I just looked and I have 100 print credits I bought almost a year ago. The one thing I do though is always print 50 at a time since the credits are bought in lots of 50. I just might be close to having 100 pages to print with what is uploaded but not printed and what I have scrapped these last 2 months.
I have also been using Persnickety Prints for individual pages and then putting them in traditional albums. My albums are chronological but I tend to scrap in a semi-chronological order (usually working on the past year or two at the same time). This allows me hold spots for pages I plan to do or to move pages if necessary. I typically get two years in one album, even though the albums are big and heavy. I would love to switch to an annual printed book, I just don't know that it would work given the way I scrap. I also keep a digital album. I keep web size versions of my pages sorted by year in a dropbox folder that I can access from my phone, iPad, or computer whenever I want. This is really nice for sharing with people (like my parents, friends, etc.) if I don't want to haul out the big albums or if I'm not at home. Every page I create goes in the digital album, even if I don't plan on printing it.
Thank you for your last tip re printing a few pages individually to check the scale in real life. I’ve never read that before and it makes perfect sense for a newbie. I think I will print pages in different sizes too so I can see what I like best for books. Are the typical/standard choices 12x12, 10x10 and 8x8?
They are for me, and for square sizes! I scrap 12x12, love the 10x10 size the best! but often print the 8x8 because that's the size that's free, and works great for little kid hands. Non-square - the most popular that I see is 6x8 and 8.5x11.