Pocket scrapping?

I'm riding a wave of nostalgia at the moment, and I'm thinking one way to conquer it is by getting my massive backlog of photos sorted into albums. BUT I'm toying with the idea of going down the pocket scrapbooking road, so I can add notes and other little bits and pieces. (Plus I've started doing some smashbooking which has invoked a serious love of patterned paper :p). So, I have a few questions:

Has anyone done the pocket scrapping? If so, what's your advice to a newbie?

Sizes: I'm tossing up between the standard 12x12, and the smaller pocket-scrapping size of 6x8. Do the larger albums fit on your shelves ok, or do they turn into a permanent storage PITA?

Album styles: D-rings vs. post bind I see a lot of the pocket scrapping albums are based on "non-snagging" D-rings. I'm not sure I believe that any D rings are truly non-snagging. Also, how do the pages stay in place without the weight of the photos tearing the holes. Is this a problem with the post bind ones? I guess the D-rings are probably more flexible (ie you can add additional pages to any part at any time) but I suspect the post-bind ones are actually structurally more sound. Advice?

I'm also interested if anyone has got any thoughts about the best product to run with? Are all the main ones you see at the shops acidfree (Captured moments, Simple Stories Sn@p, Project life, etc)?

There's a good facebook group called Project Life Australia - that's a good place to start.

I am in the process of changing all my post bound albums to d-rings. If you go for a good quality d-ring, it comes with a page lifter - a hard bit of plastic that helps keep the pages flat. Some of my post bound ones have creased the pages when they've been shut, some I can't find refills to fit, and plus once you get past about 15 pages, the fasteners don't work that well, eg keep coming loose.

I have 12x12 albums - can fit more photo's in. I have the Billy bookshelves from Ikea, and they stick off the shelf, but I just have them on the bottom shelf. Luckily, the albums seem sturdy enough to cope with this. They apparently fit well in the Ikea Expedit or whatever the new one is called.

I have mainly Project Life kits, and as far as I know all the main ranges are acid free - if you stick to one that is by a scrapbooking company, I'd be very surprised if it wasn't archival quality.

If you want to do a lot of photo's fast - keep it simple!! I like the Becky Higgins range, as she has filler cards (eg pretty pictures or quotes) and journaling cards, and if you buy a kit, its all coordinated so you don't have to worry about colour selection and stuff.

Just a warning, it gets addictive lol

Thanks very much for replying. I like the idea of smaller albums but I've looked at some layouts and I'm more tempted now to go with the larger format. Any suggestions for brands of good albums?

I'm fully aware this will be quite addictive - but I have to re-house my photos anyway. Part of that process will be culling some of the bad old photos from back in the day when you had to print them to see them, so you kind of kept them all. But part of it is also about writing some notes, putting some extra information in with the pictures. I was shocked the other day, there were a few photos where I didn't remember what event they were taken at, or I'd forgotten someone's name. I still have enough info in other places (eg my journal) to work some of it out, but it would be better just to have that info right there.

Also - and I might be making a bit of a mistake - but I'm not overly keen to have the whole album looking matchy-matchy. I'd like to mix it up, add some of my own off-range papers, rather than aiming to have it looking like perfect scrapbook spreads. The weight of attempted perfection is too great, I think it would stifle the process. Do you scrap all your photos, or do you have separate albums that are just for photos, like regular photo albums?

Also - do you both sides of each pocket page, or just one? Like, in any pocket, does it have two photos, back to back, or just one? If you do two in each, does that make the page too heavy?

I have the Becky Higgins ring binder albums, and have just bought a WRMK. Happy with the quality of both.

My pages don't match - I kind of pick a couple of colours and then choose cards to match. Often I start by choosing a card that might have a quote that suits and then choose the other cards to coordinate. I also use photoshop to put two photo's onto a 4x6 so I can then cut it up and slip into the smaller pockets. If you want to use some papers to make your own cards, then go for it. You can buy a die that cuts them out to the right size, if you have a die-cut machine. Some of the scrap brands do 12x12 papers that are meant to be cut into 3x4 and 4x6 cards.

At the moment, I am only doing the last two years, so all my photo's are digital so I select the ones I want to print and then just have the others on the computer. I have a family year album on the go, plus when I get chance, each kid has an album too. The family one is month by month, and the kids one will be events specific to them and if there is a photo of just them. I'll put one photo of their birthday in the family album and then put more into their own album. I also make collages of photo's on a 4x6 so that if I want to put lots of photo's in, then its not going to go over pages and pages if that makes sense.

I do two sides, back to back. I haven't noticed that it makes the pages too heavy or bulky.

If you're on facebook, that group I mentioned up above is good. Otherwise, Becky Higgins has some good examples on her pages. Or pinterest or instagram. Some people keep it really simple, others make each card into a mini work of art. Personally, I keep it simple, with the odd sticker or washi tape here and there.

I have the Becky Higgins ring binder albums, and have just bought a WRMK. Happy with the quality of both.

My pages don't match - I kind of pick a couple of colours and then choose cards to match. Often I start by choosing a card that might have a quote that suits and then choose the other cards to coordinate. I also use photoshop to put two photo's onto a 4x6 so I can then cut it up and slip into the smaller pockets. If you want to use some papers to make your own cards, then go for it. You can buy a die that cuts them out to the right size, if you have a die-cut machine. Some of the scrap brands do 12x12 papers that are meant to be cut into 3x4 and 4x6 cards.

At the moment, I am only doing the last two years, so all my photo's are digital so I select the ones I want to print and then just have the others on the computer. I have a family year album on the go, plus when I get chance, each kid has an album too. The family one is month by month, and the kids one will be events specific to them and if there is a photo of just them. I'll put one photo of their birthday in the family album and then put more into their own album. I also make collages of photo's on a 4x6 so that if I want to put lots of photo's in, then its not going to go over pages and pages if that makes sense.

I do two sides, back to back. I haven't noticed that it makes the pages too heavy or bulky.

If you're on facebook, that group I mentioned up above is good. Otherwise, Becky Higgins has some good examples on her pages. Or pinterest or instagram. Some people keep it really simple, others make each card into a mini work of art. Personally, I keep it simple, with the odd sticker or washi tape here and there.