Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Great Aussie Scrapping Question...

We have made a change to this week plans. (Nic is at work...she will never know we snuck by to interupt her timetable xx).

This morning I woke to find a post on Ali Edwards  Facebook page (yep I confess...love FB) asking "Anyone in New Zealand use a photo developer/printer for 8.5x11 photos/pages?" 
Sadly for those of us in Australia and NZ who like to dabble in digi scrapping the answer is NO!


However we have come up with a way around this. In Australia the closest we can get is an 8x10 inch print which is very close in ratio to an 8.5 x 11 (not perfect but close). SO we have been printing all the wonderful templates available in this size and adhereing them to an 8.5 x 11 peice of cardstock. And to be honest the girls here at SAG's love what essentially becomes a hybrid page.


We decided to pop in today to share some of the layouts we have created this way.
 1. Simply print and stick. Here I have rounded the top edges to match the template.

 

2. Print, stick and add a strip of matching colour or pattern paper.




This also lends itself perfectly to double pages.



3. It is also a great way to add some dimension to digital page. Most of us at SAGs love to add letter stickers to the page.



And dimension can be added buy using some digital papers and 'real life' embellishments.


As far as 12 x 12 goes the one solution is to crop the page to an 8x8, drop it into an 8x10 canvas in PS or PSE the print it as an 8x10 and simply crop off the unwanted section and pop it into an 8x8 page protector.


Although this is not a perfect solution it works well for templates or pages with one or just a few photos.
All the templates used in these pages are available at Designer Digitals and are by either Ali Edwards or Cathy Zielske. 

Also please pop over to these posts on some of the SAGs team members personal blogs to see more examples. Especially Nicole...lots of great examples here.


Thanks for dropping by. A few of us will be doing this...



so please drop by in a few weeks to see what we have come up with.

37 comments:

  1. great post Di, and I have enjoyed revisting all of these pages - insprired me all over again.

    Have been meaning to try out persnikity prints - they will ship to Australia for $10, which seems VERY reasonable, if you can bear to wait and pile up the layouts to get printed (bonus though, they will do 12 x 12)

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  2. Great idea for us Aussie girls! Just wondering do you print them in the 8 x 10 at home or do you recommend anywhere in particular to get them printed in that size? I'm in Perth!

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  3. I used to be really frustrated of the lack of printing options - now I work with the limitations and am pretty happy with the results.

    Natalie, most of us use Harvey Norman, they have loyalty cards/VIP cards which produce great reductions - my 8x10's cost $2. I also print at home on an Epson R800, but the inks are expensive as it takes 8 cartridges - the results are excellent though.

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  4. Excellent topic! Seen as I didn't send mine through in time, I'll add a few to my blog this afternoon!

    Natalie, I use Harvey Norman for all my printing. Overall they are good quality for a cheap price! They print the bigger sizes as well and usually all while you wait which is the best part!

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  5. Natalie, as I don't have a HN close by (they are expensive online) I have used snapfish quite a bit, as well as photoenlargements.com.au which offer great prices on bulk.

    and when I am impatient, I print at home.

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  6. Hi Natalie. I too use my local Harvey Norman for all my printing.

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  7. Oh wow thanks ladies....I'm going to give Harvey Norman a try!!!

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  8. Hopefully Natalie, you local HN girls is as nice as ours...i go there so often she does them super fast for me...just enough time for a coffee ;)

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  9. Coffee sounds great lol! Meant to ask do you get them printed in gloss or matte?

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  10. dunno about the others, but its matte all the way for me!

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  11. Matte wherever possible for me too!

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  12. I go to Officeworks because they are only 3 minutes away, and if I go at a time of day that is not busy, they are super quick.

    One idea I have been thinking about [but having yet gotten around to trying out] is to get 8x12's printed. I noticed last time I was at Officeworks that they do 8x12's at the same price as an 8x10. I thought that I might add 1" of white space on to the top of an 8x11 layout, which I can trim off after printing. Pop it into an A4 protector and live with the 1/2" gap on the side!

    I'm motivated now to actually get some more scrapping done! So then I can stop pondering and start DOING!! Too much procrastinating in my life at the moment.

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  13. Ahhhh, so this it what goes on here while I'm at work! Stolen double page spreads and hijacked posting schedules! hehe, just kidding - Nice post Di!

    Natalie: Harvey Norman and Matte!

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  14. Lovely pages and great solutions to a 'problem' - which makes it not a problem at all, but a creative opportunity. Each of these pages is delightful.

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  15. great post - lots of lovely LO and inspiration for dealing with the US size domination in digi templates. I've re-sized my fav templates and Cathy Z's The Monthly in PSE to A4 size and use 8x8 when I do suare LOs. Will try the print and stick next time

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  16. Hi this is great information thank you and I love the layouts.

    I love Ali's work but being from NZ have been struggling with what to do, where to get supplies from and who to ask so had asked her if she had any ideas/contacts - I am so pleased/grateful she has sparked off this conversation...

    I've more recently got into scrapbooking and had decided to go the digital way but was feeling a bit frustrated as I thought I had to wait to print layouts in a photobook or pay much more for the 10x12 prints and cut them down. I have used snapfish but they won't print the layouts individually.

    So another probably very basic question, where do you purchase the a4 photo protectors and albums or do you get them shipped internationally?

    I also liked the idea of trying out persnickety as it seems quite reasonable for page pricing and postage, though I guess it would require 8.5x11 albums?

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  17. Ooops another question - can you print 8.5x11 photobooks bound in a portrait format rather than landscape in Aussie? So far I've only managed to find landscape printing in NZ?

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  18. Its great that everyone is so interested in this topic!

    Natalie, definitely Matte! I work for a professional photographer she only uses Matte paper as do the majority of photographers. I much prefer it!

    Toni, glad you found us! I'm not really a digital scrapper but I do scrap in both 8.5x11 and 12x12 format and put them all into the one album (12x12). I have never used A4 size (and for that matter, have never seen it), however I do purchase 8.5x11 inch albums and page protectors. I get them at Remember When online scrap shop which is based in NSW so means postage isn't too bad. Most online Aussie and I would assume NZ scrap shops would probably sell this size. Hope that helps.

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  19. Thanks Emma - that's great. I'll look into the Remember When store. :)

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  20. Toni, I just buy regular 8.5x11 page protectors locally too - they are easy to come by and I'd say there would be plenty of outlets in NZ.
    I've not made a photobook yet, Nicole and Di and Sharon all have so they will be able to better answer your question.
    I had also thought of using Persnickity Prints but had a big environmental footprint pang and decided it was utterly ridiculous to get my layouts flown in from the US - that's just my feelings and I'm not judging anyone else's decision on that front - I decided to make do with the local 8x10 and then adapt ... I either add extra cardstock or just leave them as is, the difference is barely noticable.

    All my pages in all sizes, except very small ones, go into 12 x 12 albums, they are versatile and I don't mind pages looking different.

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  21. Thanks Amy. I had only made a couple of 'ordinary' photobook albums then stumbled across scrapbooking, saw something of Ali's, loved it and have got into scrapbooking since then. I really enjoy her (and Cathy's) simple templates.

    I had decided to do WITL but thought I would need to publish portrait layouts in a photobook that was landscape orientation and therefore it would open unusually i.e. because of the binding. So I started questioning different options.

    I guess part of this is caused by the fact that having only got into it more recently and only doing it digitally, I don't have any other supplies yet for adding to the pages i.e. albums, protectors, papers, cardstock etc...

    I like the idea of printing 8x10 though. Thanks heaps for all the ideas/comments.

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  22. Sorry keep hitting the wrong button and turning up anonymous :)

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  23. Toni, I have printed my pages as 8x10 photos at snapfish, who also offer 8x8 AND 12x12 photo books now! I haven't looked for awhile,but they did only offer landscape photo books last time.

    However blurb (who have an aussie site now) do offer portrait style books in the same size, you follow a similar process as you do with snapfish.

    I also put all different sized layouts in my 12x12 albums, and use 8.5 x 11 page protectors (sticking the 8x10 photo on some cardstock)

    thanks for joining in, hope this discussion has helped!

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  24. Oh my goodness OMG OMG OMG - where do I start...

    I just found this blog via Ali Edwards twitter and it feels like home!

    I am so excited...I will be back... with my cardstock and patterned paper.

    Regarding printing - has anyone checked out Artscow?

    http://www.artscow.com

    I dabbled in digi a while back and found artscow via the forum on Jessica Sprague's website. I think they are based in Hong Kong so the environmental footprint 'pang' is not as large. I printed some (about 6) 12x12 digi pages there and they were great quality and very reasonably priced both for the printing and the shipping (I think it was about $NZ30-35 to get all 6 printed and sent). They shipped my layouts rolled up in a tube but they unrolled and went into albums with no worries at all. And they arrived in less than a week.

    Toni - I am a kiwi scrapbooker too - I feel your pain! It is hard to get decent supplies - albums especially - in New Zealand - it's the tyranny of distance. You have to shop around a lot which can be frustrating. For albums - I have actually just found Scrapboutique online in Australia has a good range (and much cheaper than we can get the same thing here - if you can actually find it!!) with reasonably shipping prices to NZ. Scrapbook Outlet (also online but NZ based) has a pretty reasonable selection of patterned paper http://scrapbookoutletnz.co.nz/shop/) and Artful Crafts (http://www.artfullcrafts.co.nz/)is OK too but has a larger range of general scrapbooking supplies too.

    Also regarding A4 page protectors, Warehouse Stationary seems to be the only place that sells A4 page protectors in NZ. I can't remember the brand name unfortunately but they are in the aisle with the 'office supplies' type of page protectors (rather than the scrapbooking aisle) but they are much thicker than the normal office supply type ones and photo safe. They come in packs of 5 and I use them in normal A4 ring binders instead of albums.

    I have found 8.5x11 anything really hard to find in NZ - I think Scrapboutique is probably the best option but I am interested to check out the site that these girls recommend too.

    If you want to send me your email, I can send you all my online scrapbook shopping links. My email is lemondelicious at vodafone dot co dot nz

    Cheers
    Sharon

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  25. SharonD, glad you found us as well! Thanks for providing all the info from a NZ perspective. Look forward to seeing you back here again!

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  26. Toni, just remember that A4 is a different size to 8.5 x 11". Basically you can't really get A4 page protectors, as basically noone makes A4 albums, being and Australian/NZ only size. However, I and most of us here, use 8.5x11 page protectors and albums, both made by American Crafts and both of which I buy through rememberwhen.com.au .

    And creative Memories as well as blurb do portrait style photobooks.

    Love how Alexa said, 'it is not a problem, merely as opportunity to be creative'. Couldn't have said it better myself!

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  27. I have added a link to Remember When on the side bar. If you can't find what you need be sure to email Lee and ask...she is very very helpful.

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  28. Ladies - you might want to try Costco, if you happen to live near one. They do great prints here in the US. I know they're not in every city in Oz or NZ, but maybe you have one near you?

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  29. Nicole suggests A4 is NZ, Aussie only but it is also used in UK and I just looked on the internet out of curiosity and Canada and USA are the only places that do not use A4 as the basic paper size.

    I use normal office supply A4 page protectors and d ring albums to display my pages, and collectors trading card page protectors also come A4

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  30. Sorry Helena, good to hear that A4 is a standard size for more than just us.
    I meant that there aren't A4 pages and albums made specifically for scrapbooking here, as I have researched this and found none in Australia. There was one once, a post bound album made I found in 'officeworks' but it is no longer available.
    If you are using regular office supplies for your albums, just make sure your sleeves are of archival quality and PVC and acid free etc. You don't want my pages turning yellow for the future generations. Thanks for your your ideas, and for visiting the SAG blog!

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  31. all of my pages are digital so I'm not worried about page protectors being acid free because I archive all of the digi files in case I (or future generations) want to reprint. even when I add them to some cardstock or add a bit of pattern paper the main parts of the LO are saved digitally so again some yellowing in decades to come is not something I worry about

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  32. Natalie...matt for me to :)

    SharonD...LOVE your enthusiasm, and welcome to your second home :)

    Lisa...checked out Costco, only 2 in Australia at present and they a do not print 8.5 x 11 either. I got excited when I saw your comment...being a US company I thought we might get lucky. Bugga no luck but will keep an eye on them.

    Helena...it really is a mystery why we have 2 sizes that are so similar but also vastly different. And I guess if we weren't scrappers we'd never know lol. So are you able to get A4 printed at a printer in Uk? We are limited to just the 8x10 hence my "print and stick" system. Thanks for you imput.

    Alexa...love how you think xx

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  33. Diane, yes I can print A4 in UK with online store PhotoBox

    they also do A4 books landscape and Pixum does A4 books portrait as well.

    But for my photo a day book which had an a4 layout a week I put them into a square book with empty space along the spine edge to make sure I didn't loose anything in the binding

    really enjoying this discussion

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  34. Was at Warehouse yesterday and had another nosey at the A4 page protectors. The brand is called GBP the logo is black red and yellow - they are heavy duty, acid free and photo safe according to the label - Might be an option for anyone dead keen on using A4.

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  35. I don't do digi but love looking at all these pages, as always they are beautiful in thei simplicity!!

    I too am looking forward to WITL next week. Can't wait to see how you all approach it.

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  36. I use persnickety in the us. Postage is $10 but prices are cheap. Quality amazing. Just get a reasonable size order together 1st.

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  37. Hi Just found you all by searching for D ring albums. I'm here in NZ and just finished Stacy julian's Finding Photo Freedom/LOM class. I'm on the hunt for the Pioneer 2up or 3 up photo albums she recommended in her class. I have come upon many dead ends so I am researching other options. I jaust wanted to add to Toni especially tha I get my American craft 8.5 x 11 page protectors from Spotlight. They sell both 12 x 12 and 8.5 x 11 pages. More 12 x 12 books but the pages fit in the 12 x 12 scrapbooks. Just another option. Thanks very much for letting me jump in and read all this info. Being Digi i have just had the same dilemma. I may have found someone who prints in Wellington but yet to trial so will wait and see. Cheers Karen

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