How much can I expand?

I'm making my first scrapbook so bear with me if this is a newbie question.

My local store has a choice of scrapbooks that "hold up to 20 pages" and "hold up to 50 pages." The 50-page ones are too big for me, but i need more than 20 pages for sure. My question is if I can expand the 20-page capacity scrapbook to hold somewhere between 30-35 pages.

I know that there are extension posts, but the staff at my local store said that I can't add them to the 20-page scrapbook to expand it since the spine will not stretch beyond being able to hold more than 20-pages. Is this the case? Or is a way to make it into a 30-35 page book?

Thanks!

By 20 pages, I think you mean 10 protectors which would be 20 scrapbook pages. I add to those all the time - most will have a spine which allows for additional pages. You can actually pull the covering for the spine off and see if it is adjustable to accommodate more pages.

I always add 10 more protectors to them to make them where they will hold 40 layouts.

However, you will probably need to get or make cardboard separators or spaces to make it wider at the spine end so the other end doesn't flare out so much from the pages. The books will not line up on the shelf nicely if the "open side" is flared out wider than the spine side.

I've purchased the 50 pages scrapbooks before - they don't have spacers in them and by the time I got 20 pages in them - it was completely flared out at the "open edge" side. In fact it would even let me put layouts in all the pages. Those would work if you put no embellishments on your pages at all. I thought the 50 page scrapbooks would be a great idea until I bought a few. I ended up taking part of the pages out of them so it would lie or stand flat once I got layouts in them.

How much you can get in a scrapbook will really depend on how thick your finished pages are. If you use a lot of flowers and embellishments and bling, you will not have as many pages in the book as someone who is a flat scrapper (I'm a flat scrapper) - I use just papers and flat embellishments.

A lot of scrapbookers get around that by using 3D ring binders which will hold about 50 protectors for 100 layouts. I hated those because there is a huge gap between pages when they are open- I just didn't like them. Also, I never found pretty or nice ones - just plain ones which was disappointing. I had 27 of them full and went back to post because they just look nice to me but that is a personal thing. I actually took all my pages out of the 3D and got rid of the 3d binders.

Also, when I had 100 pages in them, they were so heavy you couldn't manage them. You had to put the books on a table to turn the pages and often when they got full the rings popped open.

That said, they are the books of choice for a lot of people and there are advantages to them which are good. You can move pages around without taking the entire post apart (a real pain).

When I'm using the post binders, I find it extememly difficult to add pages after the original ones are filled. So much easier to fill before you start putting layouts in the book.

When I bring them home from the store I add my cardboard spacers and the 10 extra protectors and put it back together. Then I start out with 20 pages for 40 layouts and if I don't use them all, I don't mind the few extra protectors in the back. It just easier to add them that way.

Not all post albums are made with the same quality and cheaper ones don't have the flexibility for the extra pages as well.

I would go with Volume 1 and 2.

Henri is well versed in the ways of albums, Don has a terrific solution too as I find adding extensions sometimes tedious work that I am not very handy at.

I have seen three different sizes (lengths) of extension posts so I would think you could expand most albums, at least a little. And if you do not like your books to "flare" when loaded, replace with the longer extension posts without adding any or as many pages.

I can't stand extension posts. They often behave badly. I started using D-ring binders years ago and haven't looked back since.

Instead of extensions, go to the hardware store and ask for Chicago screws. They're exactly the same thing as scrapbook posts but they come in several different lengths.

I agree with the others... but I want to welcome you here
Thhis is an awesome friendly place with incredible people here to ask anything you want.

I have a thread titled what are you working on this week or weekend we talk about scrappiing, cards, altered items things we bought, albums, pages we want to do or what we are working on now..
I would be ECSTATIC if you joined our thread it is on this page here in this forum

I didn't know about the Chicago screws Kara - I am going to keep that in mind!

All my albums are designed for "up to 20", as in, they came with 10 page protectors. As they are double-sided, that means 20 LOs.

A lot depends on whether your LOs are flat or have lots of foam dots and dimensional embellishments on, such as buttons, big flowers, beads.

My LOs are a mixture. My fattest personal album contains 20 page protectors, which means 40 LOs. I had to use spacers. It probably would fit more, but it would be too heavy to lift without breaking. I did make a 50-LO album for someone, but I used very little in the way of dimensional embellishments, and it was absolutely at its limit.

I know Henri is a member of the "flat scrappers" club so hers have very little dimension, so she can fit more into an album before it becomes unwieldy.

Hope this helps?

I need help with my scrapbook! I finally finished it (added longer posts so it would close nicely) and I closed it....only to have the adjustable spine pop out because it's too short!! I haven't seen this problem mentioned anywhere. My scrapbook isn't super thick, it's probably 2". Can I somehow put a different spine on the book or should I buy a more expensive book? This one was cheap but I liked it!
Thank you!

I have read - don't remember where - about making your own wider spine. You could use the old one as a pattern for the holes but make it wider of course. It won't match the rest of the book of course but it would be a fairly easy fix and for sure less expensive than buying a new book!!

I hate not being able to use what I purchased so I try very hard to find ways to make it work!!
Who knows, you may find some paper/ribbon/tape for your spine that matches you album fairly well.

The easy solution is to go to a 3 ring binder!

Hmmm... I am in the process of scrapbooking a personal project - Happiness Box 2017 and I went a little overboard with the notes and photos. I bought a 30 page album and filled up until 31 May 2017; I've put until August 2017 in other layouts and trying to figure out how my scrapbook will expand. If it doesn't fit the whole project, I'll buy rings.

I really want to finish this scrapbook before I open up Happiness Box 2018 and have to scrapbook that in 2019.

I never heard of chicago screws either that could come in handy

A Chicago Screw is an album binder post. The scrapbooking industry doesn't like you "girls" thinking about hardware stores.