When I last posted about the Great Album Swap-a-roo (I know, it was only about a week or so ago), I talked about how I was going to buy a few albums each month and proceed that way until I had all my basic 8.5 x 11 albums swapped.
Then someone told me they heard the albums were going to be discontinued.
I do not know if this is true (and for the love of scrapbooking, if you know the answer, by all means CHIME IN, because I do not want to cause mass hysteria in three-ring binder land), but I decided to take NO chances.
I promptly used all of Dan’s Amazon free points to buy seven more albums.
This brings my grand total of swapped albums to 11.
(This one goes to 11.)
Ah… there they are. The F albums stand for Family. I have two more Family albums that have to be swapped. The D, for Dan, C for Cathy and Cole, etc.
And yes, I have more albums than anyone else. Remember: I am a HIGHLY trained professional scrapbooker and sometimes we have to take multiple pages for the team.
But don’t think I’m getting all high and mighty on you. Remember, I still create pages here:
I find popsicle molds to inspire so much creativity. That and WD-40. And my sun hat. And Dan’s red swim trunks in the near foreground. I keep a dish towel handy in case of profuse sweating, a common occurrence in middle-aged scrapbooking.
And speaking of middle age, what’s that pile in the very back corner?
Why that would be Dan’s piles. He commandeered a corner of my scrap room for his…stuff. He’s a pile-er, that one. Sigh. I want to hear from all of you who share your creative space with OTHER non-crafting humans. Please, let us commiserate together.
But back to the point: my album swap-a-roo is coming along. I have two more albums for Aidan and Cole that need to be transferred as well. Those hold all pages from the 2002 to 2004 era.
I have a few other random albums with Things We Do and People We Love. Plus a host of 12 x 12 albums that at this point, I don’t even feel like keeping. (BLASPHEMY!)
When I get a complete picture, I’ll share the entire breakdown of my albums.
Right now, it’s moving in the right direction.
FREE BINDER LABEL: Want to label your We R Memory Keeper albums? Download my free label here.
Esther says
What is going on?!! Just when I decided that the WRMK 8×8 albums were the bees knees for all of my family history pages and started investing in them, the 8×8 started disappearing from the stores, too. Come on WRMK. We NEED these albums!
Cathy Zielske says
Those are great albums!
KathyinMN says
“Plus a host of 12 x 12 albums that at this point, I don’t even feel like keeping. (BLASPHEMY!)”
How many other people feel this way? And what’s the next step? Pitch? Purge? Is it good to let it go?
Cathy Zielske says
Having gone through all my pages in the past few weeks, I’m going to admit: some of them are really kind of pointless. I say that factually, not emotionally. There are many that I did just to use some particular embellishment. It wasn’t that it wasn’t fun in the moment, but there is less value to me on a page that is a) just to try and be pretty or b) full of puffed up journaling. 🙂
I do have some pages in a box that I purged years ago. They fit the above criteria. The photos I used on them were already in a photo album, so I thought, we’ll move these to the basement for now. Time will tell.
One thing I realized recently being at a high school grad party, if there are too many things to look at, I feel some of the value can be lost. That is only my opinion.
Katie Jones says
I find it funny that you don’t like the 12×12 albums. I like the square-ness of them. Especially now I have Project Life to make the size of the layouts a million times less scary for me! But I get that they can be a bit cumbersome to look at – especially for little people, but we just put them on the sofa and my 3 year old daughter especially loves leafing through them!
I just couldn’t really get my head around doing rectangular shaped pages, which I know is odd, but it is how my brain is, sorry! Love your pages, though, Cathy!
Have you any ideas on how to deal with your feelings about the 12x12s? Will you discard them, will you re-do the pages to fit in your 8.5×11 binders, will you photograph them and create digitally printed books of them instead? I am intrigued as to your plans if you don’t keep them – especially as I am a horder who struggles to get rid of anything even slightly sentimental or memory-related! (Including blurry photos, though I am getting better at hat one…)
Cathy Zielske says
Oh, I’ll keep them. 🙂
It’s just for me, once I realized that it was okay to do 8.5 x 11 pages, I was hooked on scrapbooking. Seriously. I would not have been able to keep it up with the 12 x 12. Now that said, I do like smaller square formats. 8 x 8 is a great size to work with, though I only have one or two 8 x 8 mini albums.
Jennifer says
Have you ever thought about putting the 12×12 albums “up” somewhere? Maybe like a bin under the bed or up on a top shelf or something like that? I have certain albums that I don’t put out for public consumption or that I just don’t have room for, and I put those up on the very top shelf of a guest closet. You know the shelf that is too high for anyone to reach without a ladder? Yeah, that one. Anyway, that works pretty well for me. Not sure if you have a spare shelf though. Just a thought! Think of what a treasure that would be for your kids to find one day!
Kate Greenslade says
Completely non-album related, but I am swooning at your cardstock rack. *sigh*… Back on track, I never really got the 3-ring binder thing. I still like the strap/post bound albums. Now (after around 14 years of scrapbooking/crafting) I finally have my very own scrapbooking/craft room, so I am carefully and steadily working out how it all fits for me to work. And I don’t have to share it with anyone (well, except the airing racks for the washing at the moment, because it is the depths of winter in New Zealand and my finances (at the moment) don’t extend to a dryer). It’s bliss….
Cathy Zielske says
I had that made back in 2005 and paid around $600 for it at the time. I was so excited to have a shelf. I use it to store a lot of product besides paper, too. I’ll put a whole collection from one company on a shelf. It gets a bit full from time to time. Also, my son has several shelves containing his stuff, too. 🙂 Enjoy that NZ winter. You have the most beautiful country and I loved visiting there back in 2006.
Kris Beauregard says
I did the same thing last year. I switched out some 12×12 albums that I just did not love for the WRMK 12x12s, and I gotta tell you, it was money very well spent for me! I often look at my albums all lined up in a pretty little row and feel such a sigh of satisfaction! I still have about 5 more that I need to switch and have been waiting for a good sale. Can’t wait until I can switch them all!
So I guess all this is to say, I totally get it!
Gail says
“a host of 12 x 12 albums that at this point, I don’t even feel like keeping. (BLASPHEMY!)”
No, it’s not blasphemy its just that you prefer a smaller size. I must be the opposite of you though – 99% of my albums are 12×12, I think I have 1 that is 8 1/2×11 and a couple of smaller ones. I just feel more comfortable with the 12×12 size but I do wish I knew of a way to adapt your 8 1/2×11 templates to work on 12×12.
Kelly says
“Why that would be Dan’s piles. He commandeered a corner of my scrap room for his…stuff. He’s a pile-er, that one. Sigh. I want to hear from all of you who share your creative space with OTHER non-crafting humans. Please, let us commiserate together.”
YES. YES. YES. Recently I redesigned our office space, copying Ali Edwards layout! My side is a beautiful picture of organization and efficiency. His side is piles of crap. 🙂 I keep trying to “help” him organize, but, alas, it is of no use.
D says
In your desk photo, my eye immediately went to the books & now I’m wondering “Okay, what books are on Cathy’s table?” Loved seeing Dan’s pile – especially the Saints tickets. Looks like a number of games in your collective future.
Cathy Zielske says
Ah books! Yes, there is a copy of Strength Training for Women, a book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal called “I wish you more than” (a GORGEOUS children’s book) and some book by Kurt Vonnegut. Oh, and a cook book from Nutritional Weight and Wellness!
Caroline says
I share my crafting room with my husband who has his own desk and expedit unit (although he very kindly gave me 4 of his cubby holes). Plus a single bed as this is also a spare bedroom when we have more than one person/couple staying. I plan to turf the bed soon in favour of a sewing table. Just planted the seed in dear husbands head and now waiting for him to come up with the idea. He does get around to seeing things my way eventually 🙂
Kristi K. says
Great post! I share my scrap space/home office with my son at the moment. He’s not messy, but his computer has a loud fan that bothers me while I work. I certainly don’t miss the white noise when he takes the computer back to college. Miss HIM, though.
My husband also has a “piles” problem. And he gets cranky when I try to neaten/thin/move it. He puts his piles into boxes, creates new piles, another box, another pile. Over 20 years of this. At this point I’ve had to make peace with it. I think you have, too.
Cathy Zielske says
Yep. I have made peace with it. There are many things I do that he’s had to learn to deal with over the years as well. 🙂
Tracy L says
I agree with Gail. I know somewhere in one of your classes or tutorials you explained how to adapt your 81/2×11 digital templates to a 12×12 format but I can’t find that video. I’ve tried on my own and only manage to screw up the dimensions. This is assuming I don’t just plunk an 81/2 X11 page on a 12×12 piece of card stock! Can you direct us to that tutorial Cathy? Thanks!
Cathy Zielske says
Hey Tracy,
I’ve included it in a few classes, from a digital standpoint. In Clean & Simple and in Digi Basics.
It’s very simple: change the digital canvas size to 12 x 12 and extend the background to fill the space.
Then if all that white space is bugging you, select ALL layers EXCEPT the background and hold down your Option or Alt Key and drag out to make the core content a little bigger.
That’s it! : )
Tracy L says
Thanks CZ! Ill give it another go!
Marilyn says
At last count, I had over 70 completed 12×12 albums. Yes, I did…
Quinna says
I have 39 completed 12×12 plus several other sizes …. I’ve run out of storage …. Have you figured out a system?
heidig says
I’m definitely a 8 1/2x 11, 6×8, 6×6 or 4×4 scrapper now. I just don’t have room for 12×12 albums. The only 12×12’s I have are METAV and DYL (both Cathy classes) and two PL albums. I’m now doing PL in the 6×8 format (hybrid). I love smaller albums. They’re easy to store and family and friends tend to gravitate more towards the smaller albums rather than the larger ones.
Jackie says
Great look-nice and clean and will never go out of style. I would love to do this! I am trying to figure out how to convert all of my 12″x12″ strap hinged album pages to 3-ring binders. Anyone have any suggestions short of scanning every page?!
Amanda S says
I set up a white poster board, two lights and took pictures with my camera on the tripod, so all the shots were uniform. Once I got the framing right, shooting went really fast. There’s some computer work. I used RAW so fixing any light color issues was easy and cropped in Photoshop.
Good luck.
Kelly Buss says
“Why that would be Dan’s piles. He commandeered a corner of my scrap room for his…stuff. He’s a pile-er, that one. Sigh. I want to hear from all of you who share your creative space with OTHER non-crafting humans. Please, let us commiserate together.”
Yes. Yes. Yes. I’m married to a piler. Piles in the bedroom. Piles on the kitchen island. Piles on his desk. Recently I reorganized our office, basically copying Ali Edward’s office, complete with the same floor plan and desks from Ikea. I can’t hardly stand to look at his side! I’ve tried and tried to “help” him organize. However, he stubbornly insists that he is organized, just in a different manner than me. HA.
Teresa says
Ok, I have always picked one 12 x 12 Album at a time. The beginning of my scrap time is all post bound. Now I have 3 ring albums, all different colors and texture. I might change that in the future, but right now I like it the way it is.
Scrap room: We recently moved and have a “sitting corner” in our master bed room. It’s mine now with lots of storage totes from the move…still need to work on getting everything organized the way I want to. Its always a work in progress. 🙂
Alaina says
You’re awesome – I love the Spinal Tap reference!!
Helen High says
Oh Cathy you are the best! I have recently been blessed enough to have my very own scrap room! I sometimes just stand int he doorway amazed that I have a space that belongs to me, but other parts of my house are where my husband keeps his multiple piles, so I do feel your pain.
I have no news on the WRMK binders, but I so hope they do not discontinue them. They are super fantastic in all sizes and I can’t imagine that they are not selling–especially based on the feedback I’m seeing here, but I was at my local Joanns just yesterday and they are getting rid of the WRMK binders they have. The plus side is I found a super cute red 8 x 8 one, but I’m really sad to see them go.
Lisa Russo says
Man, I REALLY wish I’d gone with the WRMK albums instead of the plain brown ones. Those label holders make me swoon and mine don’t have any. If I didn’t have like 50 of them I’d change over. LOL
And ditto on the purging – I did a HUGE purge a few years ago – sooooo many pages for a “thing” that didn’t have any real meaning. Time to go through and do another!
Cathy Zielske says
I should do another purge. I have a post brewing in my head about looking at pages with no story and big bulky embellishments.
Rachel says
Hi Lisa,
Regarding the label holders, have you checked out the Martha Stewart Home Office ones (made by Avery) from Staples? They look like the ones that come on the WRMK binders and just stick on to whatever albums you have.
Best of luck!
Holly Corbett says
How can we find out for sure if these are being discontinued? I just spent lots of money to redo some of my albums and I’m going to be so disappointed if I can’t continue using the same albums. GRRRRRRRRR!!!
I hope someone knows the answer!
ARC says
Those albums look so nice all in a row 🙂 I like the idea of having them all match, but I didn’t really think about that when I bought random empty AC albums for super cheap at Tuesday Morning. Sigh.
I’ve recently decided to focus on 8.5×11 and drop the 12×12 – I was never comfortable with that huge size (except for PL) and the albums are WAY too big to share and view easily. But I’ll keep the ones I have.
If you have an album type that doesn’t have a label holder, Martha Stewart sells very nice metal label holders with strong adhesive at Staples for a pretty reasonable price.
Quinna says
I was ordering a few albums at a time but made the plunge and bought 6 more…. I now have them all swapped out!
Still looking for brown 12×12!
The reason I like these albums is for their super duper 3 ring binder clips. The project life albums I spring them and then the pages catch.
My fear is they will replace these with a lower quality product. I don’t trust American Craft…..
Miriam says
One of the scrapbook boards suggested that they are being discounted because they will be repackaged now that the company has been sold. But this post scared me enough that I went out to buy more – and was happy to discover that my local A.C. Moore has them all clearance to $9.99 (12×12 too, if that’s your happy size). Worth checking out if you have one near you!
Shawna Zervos says
When I began scrapbooking, I would ONLY use Colorbook post bound. Fast forward to today, and my preference is WRMK 3-ring. LOVE the blacknkeather to be specific. Over the years I have purged my stash when my LSS has an annual spring yard sale. I would suggest doing the same in terms of your unwanted albums/supplies. It gives me a feeling of justification in purchasing a new album or tool.
Kim L says
Ok, seriously – look at that healthy beautiful orchid???!!! I have one from Mother’s Day with no flowers or buds left – just the stalk!! Points for the leaves still being green, right?
Love reading all the album suggestions!
Cathy Zielske says
Well, it IS a lovely orchid. Got it for Mother’s Day last year, but what you don’t see is some unknown fungal infection. Dan is the primary caretaker of the orchids. I know better. I still with my nearly indestructible succulents. 😉
Audrey V says
Am I the only one who doesn’t love the fact that the spine label holder scratches my wooden table?
Cathy Zielske says
Audrey! That totally happens with some of them. I have a very old (as in 100+years) table that is scratched beyond repair, so I am not as worried, but I am mindful of this all the time!
judyinhuntsvilleal says
I’m almost finished with the same project!
(And yes, I tossed some pages…)
Rachel says
Hmm,
I was so bummed when WRMK discontinued their 12×12 linen albums! I found out after it was too late! I had started buying the black (Onyx) ones (and a few beige (Silverstone) ones, and when I needed more they couldn’t be found. 🙁
Such a bummer when that happens! If anyone has any they don’t want, please let me know.
sueTR says
I’m working on a smaller scale album swap plus pulling together my girls school albums (since they are going into HS in the fall, this would be a good time to start right?!) I love the continuity but now I’m worried maybe I should pick up a few more before they are gone for good??! yikes!