Scrapbooking without Page Protectors

Hey all! I am brand spanking new to scrapbooking, but over the past few months, I have accumulated photos, sheets, and stickers that I'd like to assemble into a scrapbooking album.

I received an album for Christmas that had page protectors in it. One of the gals at JoAnn's showed me how to insert more or take out those sheet protectors, so I know how to do that.

But, my question is....how do you get the pages INTO the album without a page protector? The reason I am not wanting to use the page protectors is...some of the sheets I have and the embellishments are 3 Dimensional or textured and I feel that being inside a page protector would make it lose that impact.

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Hi and welcome!

It is possible to convert an album, but not cheap. Check out what kind of album you have - post-bound? Strap hinge? Open the album up, and fold back the strip that covers the binding. If you see some little screw heads, it's post-bound. You can unscrew this (this takes 2 people!) and remove the page protectors. You would need to replace them with sturdy, acid-free board, thicker than card-stock, cut to the same size as a the page protector, and punched in the same places. You'll probably have to pay someone to do that for you.

Creative Memories used to make albums with no page protectors but since they were taken over/rebadged, I don't believe they do.

Actually, page protectors don't inhibit the look of the dimensional elements as much as you would think. They definitely do protect them from falling off and getting lost. If you know you're going to use lots of 3D, try trimming a quarter inch off the width of your background paper or card-stock before you start, and that will stop the page protector from warping when you put it in.

Good luck!

I agree with you, melmay. Page protectors almost kept me from scrapbooking. I saw pages that people had made and thought they looked awful...but I gave in and used them. The page protector question is what got me onto this site.

Some people put heavily embellished pages in a shadowbox for display, changing it out as new pages are made.

Rosey has a good point about using a protector so pieces don't get lost. I still hate the look of the protectors, but instead I just gave up the idea of lots of thick embellishments except for the occasional one for shadow-boxing.

I hope you find a solution that works well for you.~Judy

Sometimes you just have to work out the problem. I've done slide-outs by cutting a slit in the protector to make the page interactive.
Here is an example where I cut a 3" X 3" hole in the protector to allow a flip-out feature to work; http://www.scrapbook.com/myplace/index.php?mod=gallerie...

It does depend on the type of album you have. I find that the albums with the little screws under the front and back cover flaps are the easiest to alter. My way of doing things, might not be the "best" way, but it does work. I pull my album apart and remove the page protectors. Then I remove any blank sheets (usually white) that are inside those protectors. I then put my book back together, usually with no pages in it. It looks strange at this point. I use the page protectors for organizing things and making my own kits. I even tuck photos inside the protectors and keep all of this stored in the box my album came it (usually it's a kit that someone gets me). When making pages, I keep in mind the "binding" area" and don't put anything there that I don't want covered up. Using a page protector as a guide, I mark where I want holes in my pages, punch holes and I'm done. I then move on to the next page. Sometimes this creates pages that have nothing on the backside, but I address that later. Once my pages are done, I again take the album apart and put my pages into it using the holes I made. This causes 12x12 to not be 12x12 and 8.5x11 tend to be closer to 8x11. Once pages are added and I can flip through them, that's when I address the blanks. I use left over materials and turn those into "journaling" for the page they are facing. So it's like a 2 page LO, but 1 page is decorated journaling. This works great when I have something that needs a LOT of journaling. I don't usually use a lot of 3D elements like flowers, etc.

You used to be able to buy albums without the page protectors, Wal-Mart carried them for years. They began as books that were put together with string, they looked "old" sort of. This was the kind my grandmother would always buy for her albums. None of her scrapbook pages EVER had page protectors, and they weren't fancy, but they are a genealogist's dream. I know so much about family members that I never met, could never meet because of those books. When I was pregnant with my oldest son I got a blank book similar to the one my grandmother got except that this one was spiral bound and contained white pages. The down side to these albums, you can't add more pages. The upside, at least with my son's album, was that my husband enjoyed that book as much as I did. My DH was an artist, so he would draw in the book. Some of the pages that were done when I was pregnant had to be altered later because during the pregnancy, we were told "it's a girl", but on delivery day we were informed "it's a boy". My first reaction to my son's birth was "oh my gosh he has to go home in a dress!" On all the pages that had been completed with "it's a girl" we went back and added notes or little hints indicating that maybe they were wrong