? about CM albums (how expandable?)

[Tiger926]

My CMC is away right now, but I have a question re: CM Traditions 12x12 Album & I know that there are some CMCs on this board, so any help would be appreciated:

1. How expandable is the Traditions album?

2. Are all CM 12 x 12 albums expandable to the same width?

3. In your opinion, would this album be a good choice for my DVC album? It says in the catalogue that it has an "open back," - does this refer to the open spine?

4. Can the covers of these books be decorated? If so, what would you suggest for doing a title such as our family name with Disney Vacation Club on the cover.

I am currently working on our last Disney vacation (cruise/parks) in a cool Mickey Sandylion album (almost finished). I want to start a different album as we are now DVC members - this album will be added to each year & that is why I thought of trying out my first CM album. I really like the Sandylion albums (they are postbound), but I thought I'd give a different album a try. I don't want to purchase an album at Disney because I frequently read of the problems that people here have with getting extra pages, so that is not an option.

If anyone reading this has any other suggestions besides CM albums, please feel free to suggest away. My goal is to have a variety of albums in our collection (my daughter's album is the Pooh Sandylion album, so we can't use this one for vacations either) and these will be added to as the years go by.

Thanks, Tiger

 

[pattyT]

I LOVE the cm 12x12 albums!

The number pf pages depends on how bulky you pages are really!
CrazyforPooh's dd's album was PACKED with a ton of pages - mine with all the bulkies are about 40 pages (meaning 80 actual scrapable pages)

you COULD alter the covers BUT I don't - I spend to much on the albums to do that myself - CM offers a GREAT program to have spines and covers personalized - it is called persona

http://persona.creativememories.com/?GID=0

Personally I am just having all my spines done cuz of the $ and the fact that when on the shelf you can't see the covers!

Hope that helps you Tiger!
and your right on all the probs with the disney books!

 

[nicurn]

can't help ya with the cm book question as I don't use them. I go between the pioneer top loading and then a 3 ring binder. Have to say, I love the 3 ring binder! lots of layouts can fit in there.... and you can alter the covers without to much difficulty. of course, we seem to frequent disney and the pictures are all beginning to look the same so now I don't really need a seperate album since I only scrap the really (really) good ones. I have stuffed probably 40 pages into the pioneer, don't know that I would do that again... (but I also scrap on the very lumpy side). sorry that probably didn't answer your question at all. maggie

 

[Franne]

My CMC is away right now, but I have a question re: CM Traditions 12x12 Album & I know that there are some CMCs on this board, so any help would be appreciated:

1. How expandable is the Traditions album?

2. Are all CM 12 x 12 albums expandable to the same width?

3. In your opinion, would this album be a good choice for my DVC album? It says in the catalogue that it has an "open back," - does this refer to the open spine?

4. Can the covers of these books be decorated? If so, what would you suggest for doing a title such as our family name with Disney Vacation Club on the cover.

Hi, I hope I can help a bit..
1. The CM albums can "safely" hold 30-40 pages, that's about 2 1/2 packages. But of course that depends on what you are putting in them...they suggest the 30-40 page range for "simple" pages without all the other stuff

2. I believe they are

3. Yes, open back does mean open spine...I personally don't like that look, but I have customers who do....to each his own

4 As for the Persona I just checked the site and they don't do Traditions Albums But if you choose a Premeire album, you can have that one Personed

I hope that helped!
By the way, just got back from regionals! Lots of new stuff, I will post later!
Franne

 

[crazyforpooh]

As Patty mentions my DD's second album is stuffed just counted the pages 47 so that is 94 scrappable pages, this second book was way before I got into any lumpy stuff so they are all flat pages with probably half of them wall papered.

As for the open spine album for my first album this is what I purchased and I really didn't like the look of it on the shelf so it was the only open spine one I purchased.

Good luck with your decision

 

[Tiger926]

Thanks for the great info! My DH doesn't like the look of the open spine either (I thought he would as it's more casual), but he prefers the Premiere Album (we like the idea of engraving - thanks Patty!) We figure that over a lifetime of scrapping our DVC vacations, the coloured albums will look lovely on our bookshelves just as you mentioned! Actually, my DH and I are waiting patiently - as I know most other people here are too - for a Disney 12 x 12 CM album - that would be the greatest!

On a sidenote, I am already starting to see a wee bit of wear on my Sandylion book (my 1st Disney vacation scrapbook) just from us reading it daily - it's nothing major, but a few scratches and indentations can be seen already. I have a simple scrapping style - no bulky pages - but being that these albums are just cardboard, they are not as sturdy. I am trying to keep it in the box, but my baby loves looking at it (that's the point of our scrapbooks, isn't it?), plus I still have over 50% of the book to complete, so I am opening & closing it several times a day! I am very anxious to start using CM albums as our vacation albums will be our most popular albums around here, so sturdiness is very important! Just another quick question - I just purchased a beautiful K & Company album for our family album - anyone work with these albums - how are they for sturdiness? They make gorgeous products so that is why we purchased, but I don't see much about this company on these boards.

Thanks for the awesome info as usual, Tiger

 

[Spinning]

Can't help you on the sandilion albums or K&C but some things that I have found to look for in albums if you are still deciding on style or type of books.
If using post bond:
1. make sure it has at least 3 post
2. make sure the page protector has an extra space from the holes. (usually this is an added seam space about 1/4 inch long. This is especially important if down the road you decide you like bumpy or lots of layering
3. make sure the corners of the album are rounded. That way they don't get bent as easily
4. make sure the spine is not just paper, (Mrs. Grossman's, SISA albums are or were)

CM definately has the most sturdy albums. But Be careful about not storing them correctly (upright) I had my son's school album in a basket with something on top (had the album for a long time before I started to work on it) Anyway I must have had something that was hard and smaller than the album on it and it kind of intented the cover left and impression and kind of bowed it. It is slowly coming out not that I have it stored properly. Finally finished it too which is a good thing!

My favorite top loading album is the Forever Yours series. I just love them. They have a feel and similar look to CM.

 

[nicurn]

I have several of the k and company albums.... they are fine. I had a problem with one of them.. trying to get the darn screws out of the album so I could add more pages... I just called the company and they replaced the album. Just make sure you get the right refill pages for those.. there are apparently 2 different kinds of refills for the k and company albums... I bought the wrong kind once. (of course, I have since used those refills in the 3 ring binder... ) maggie

 

[Tiger926]

Thanks ladies for the tips on the albums. Unfortunately, my Sandylion albums have pointy corners & the spine is made of cardboard (these albums were a gift). They are very cute as one has Mickey on cover, and the other has Pooh, but you are right, I don't think that they are going to be super sturdy throughout the years. I guess I could always replace them down the road with a CM album (I'll have to look out for the Forever Yours at one of our LSS). I have been storing them properly in the boxes that they come in, so hopefully this will protect my albums.

Good tips, Tiger

 

[Stephres]

My baby albums are K&Co. and they have held up fine so far throughout the frequent viewings they receive from the kids.