By Monica Ewing, Sunset senior designer
Confession All my photos are still in photo boxes or on my hard drive.
Excuse #1 Scrapbooking isn't for me. It's too time consuming. Plus, I want my photos to take center stage, not some pretty paper cutouts.
Excuse #2 I’ve never liked the idea of a collection of mismatched photo albums, which is what happens when you buy new albums over time.
Solution I made my own albums out of 3-ring binders.
10 reasons I love these
1. I can make more with matching or coordinating fabric
2. All my albums will be the same size
3. Minimal sewing is required
4. The cover is washable
5. They hold up to 200 pages (100 front and back)
6. They accommodate regular photos or digital printouts—no cutting required
7. They’re expandable and editable
8. The sleeves protect photos from fingerprints
9. They’ll last forever because I’ve used all archival-quality materials
10. I can make and fill five of these in the time it takes to fill one scrapbook
Supplies
Standard 3-inch, 3-ring binder (had on hand)
100 pack heavyweight acid-free, archival-quality sheet protectors (Staples, $13)
100 pack acid-free black card stock (McWhorter’s, $11.50)
Heavyweight photo-quality printer paper (had on hand)
Photo-safe removable double-sided tape (Staples, $4)
1 1/2 yards of heavyweight fabric (Joann’s, $9)
Black fountain pen (had on hand)
White “Gelly Roll” pen (McWhorter’s, $2)
Step 1 Make the cover
This is basically made the same way we folded paper-bag book covers in school. I started by cutting a piece of fabric that was 14 x 49 inches.
Then I folded the two short sides 5/8 inch, pressed, and sewed them. Next I folded and pressed the top and bottom sides 1 inch each. Then I folded over each side 11 inches, pinned, and sewed all the way across the top and bottom of the cover about ¼ inch from the edge.
Finally I slid the binder into the cover by turning the binder inside out.
Step 2 Fill the pages
Here are two ways to do this: You can tape your photos onto sheets of black card stock and slide them into the sheet protectors, or use a graphics program to print your digital photos onto a sheet of photo paper and slide that into the sheet protectors. I did both. I also left space to label each photo by hand (white pen on black paper, black pen on white paper).
It’s that easy. Did I mention these make great recipe books and gifts too? The only drawback: They're heavy.
In two weeks: Amazing alstroemeria
