Printing

In response to a comment and having had a few people ask me about printing before, I thought I'd just make a post about it.

First I'll tell you what I do. When I first started digi-scrapping a year ago, I was finishing up Kathryn's scrapbook for her 2nd year of life. And I had done those with paper and they were 12x12. So, I printed my pages individually, 12x12 so that they could go in the same album. I used Scrapbookpictures.com. I thought that was what I was going to do, so I printed everything I had done when there was a sale and it ended up being enough to finish off 2006. I was extremely impressed with the printing job and since I was still using freebies, it seemed cheap enough.

While waiting for another sale, there was a buzz about Shutterfly books and got a couple free ones to try out. Even before I ordered them, I decided that's what I wanted to do. It is much cheaper than printing individually and you don't have to pay for an album and page protectors (which you don't really need for digital anyway!). I had read a lot and realized that most people print their layouts at 8x8. I had never even thought about it, but it sounded good to me! Plus, that's much cheaper than 12x12.

So, I personally prefer the books and that's what I intend to do. I have used Shutterfly and was very impressed, but for my next book, I am going to try Viovio. The navigation on their site is pretty confusing, but their prices are so much better. They don't have 8x8, which at first I didn't like, but then I decided it didn't really matter anyway. I would like my books to be consistent in size, but it's not a big deal if they're not. And hopefully they will be from here on out anyway. I plan to do an 8.5x8.5 book with them. Supposedly the quality is as good or almost as good as Shutterfly, but they aren't as big a company and don't advertise as much so they can afford to keep the prices low. Something like that... :)

Here's a little overview:

You should definitely check out Digiscrapinfo. They have a TON of information about sites that print.

• Photobooks
• Photo printing (individual)

I have personally tried:

• Scrapbookpictures (I highly recommend them and there is a sale through the end of February too!)
• Shutterfly (also highly recommended, except that will hopefully change after trying out Viovio)
• Scrapbooks to Share (I didn't care much for this. They let you get a sample, so check that out. I had two problems. I didn't like the white border around the edge-12x12, not sure if there is one for 8x8--and I didn't like the paper. One is way too thin and the other is just cardstock with a nicer finish. I just prefer photo paper I guess. The prices are decent, but shipping is not unless you order a bunch. I did just look again and it appears they are offering photo paper now, but it's not cheap!)

A lot of people use Costco and print a 12x12 and 2 6x6s on a 12x18 sheet for about $3.00. Doesn't sound bad but I don't have a membership! And I no longer do 12x12 and don't know if I would use the 6x6s.

Like I mentioned above, digiscrapinfo has some great information.