Questions about Strap Hinge Albums

I got a strap hinge album for Christmas. I have NO IDEA how to put finished pages into the album. Does anyone have instructions or know where I can find them?

I trim about 1/2 inch off one side fo my cardstock or other paper so it will fit inside the stabilizing piece before I do my page. After I have finished my page I glue or tape it to the scrapbook page and then put on the page protector. This whole trimming process is why a lot of people prefer top loading albums. But once I knew I needed to trim it hasn't botherd me. If you scrap CM style, you attach everything directly to the page.

Ok...now here is an even dumber question. How in the world do you get it in the stabalizing piece.

Told you I had NO IDEA. However, it does look like it will be a good book to scrap my son's high school days.

I do the same thing Lynette described. I make my LO by using cardstock as background then use adhesive to stick it onto the white page that comes in the album.
Many people say they don't like strap-hinge albums because they don't scrap chronologically. I don't either, but dont have a problem since I make all of my pages first, then put them into the album in order when I'm ready.
Good luck - hope this helps.

Thanks ladies...now I think I have an idea! I appreciate your help. I think this album will work best for me because I am putting it together in chronological order.

Thanks

Yes, you need to trim 1/2 inch off the width of the paper, but not the height. That could be a problem with your pages already being done. hope not! Then you just fit it by pressing the side along the edge fo the side protector piece. You can use double sided tape, glue, or whatever suits your fancy to stick it down. Don't use a gluestick, my pages have come up by doing that no matter what brand. Might I suggest what I use? Elmers Rubber Cement that says Photo Safe No wrinkling on the front (the label is dark blue). Its real cheap and does the trick, and if you get it on like the edge thing, let it dry and rub over it with clean hands to roll it up! comes off easy but stays glued well. I dont like leaving sections of the edges of my pages not glued down so i just go all around the margin, and put a little haphazardly in center then stick page down. gotta be quick though! the stuff dries quickly but it has a brush to do it with!

I have seen people just cover the little side protectors with paper but their pages end up getting ragged on the edges. thats whats nice about the side things...you use those to turn the pages and no problems!

page protectors can be a bit of a pain to slip on but once they are there you are good to go!

I don't scrap in chronological order but when I assemble an album, they are in chronological order. I will have an album set aside for say, Jan-Jun 2004. Then, when I finish layouts that fall in that timeframe, I'll put them in the album temporarily. By temporarily, I mean that I slip all the page protectors on the empty album pages first. Then, I'll just slide the layouts in underneath the page protectors without adhering them to the album pages. When I'm ready to assemble a complete album, I'll take off the page protectors, put the layouts in the right chrono order, adhere each layout to an album page, slip on the page protectors and the album is complete. So, I use the albums as temporary storage for a while. It's a nicer way to make sure that the layouts don't get ruined than keeping them in my hanging files. And, the finished layouts are ready to be seen by anyone - even though they're not in the right order just yet.

I never permanently adhere my pages to the album. I use paper clips top and bottom and then put on a page protector. Works wonderful for me. I've never had a problem. I just always find pictures years later and want to add them to my albums. This method makes it very easy to change things around. Oh and save the little strips you cut down the background paper. I have weaved them together to make the first page of my albums. Or you can use the little strip on the following page to tie them together.