Old Photo Albums

[rainbowmeow]

So I have about 5-6 old albums, some in okay shape, some kinda falling apart at the spine.  I need some ideas on what I can use them for, either a use for just the plastic sleeves, or all of the album.  I really don't want to throw them away, but without a lot of TLC, they are pretty useless.  Any ideas?

[TCinTX]

Are they the 3-ring binder type of album?

[rainbowmeow]

Four of the albums are binder types, the others are bound.  I suppose I could always recover the binder ones, but they're odd sized.  I don't know where I would find paper to fit them.  It could be kind of fun to maybe cut down some colored paper to fit them, and make notebooks out of them.  It just depends on how hard it will be.  I feel bad about throwing out the plastic insides.

[lovesclutter]

And that leads to the question, what to do with old yellowed brittle plastic? Maybe they can be washed up and used for something? Soak them in soapy water for a few days and see what you get. I have an old yellowing binder album too. I do look at the pics on occasion.

[rainbowmeow]

Actually, the plastic inside is still pretty good.  Some of it is torn, but for the most part, still usable.  We switched from albums to storage boxes and scrapbooks for our photos.

[lovesclutter]

are they the plastic that is on both sides of a hard cardboard that is sticky? They would fold open and you could make re-usable stencils, see through file folders for patterns, hmm, let me think

[rainbowmeow]

I have about 5 different styles of album going on, but they all just are thin plastic.  Some have paper behind them.  I'll get some pictures up once I can find my camera, which seems to have wandered away.

[lovesclutter]

I think that kittie behind the shower curtain took off with it. LOL

[rainbowmeow]

I would have thought my cat hid them, but unless she's secretly tall, I put them in a high place... so I wouldn't lose them.     Well, there's pictures now!

[lovesclutter]

Great shots. I didn't realize they were the pocket type, I have one of those too. Well, recipes, is about the only thing that comes to mind. These look like they are in good shape, so I would use them for storing anything. Do you make inchies or ATC's. Are they big enough to hold CD's.

If you have to take them apart I would just say, give them to another crafty person who like me loves to Trash to Treasure. If they were mine I would put glitter and such all over them and hang into a window. Too bad they aren't large enough for placemats. You could seal images inside.

You could always reinforce the spines. Decoupage fabric over them and put plain or fancy paper for journaling. Lots of journalers in papercrafts. I just like fabric more than paper. I don't scrapbook, but you could check that section as well. Pockets and any organizational tools are great for crafting.