Product Highlight Wednesday: Divided Page Protectors

Happy Wednesday! Today, let's talk about the awesome divided page protectors available through your favorite MemoryWorks Consultant!

This Spring, MemoryWorks released their awesome new Simple Stories line. One of the most important parts of this ground-breaking scrapbooking system is the We R Memory Keepers divided page protectors.

They allow you to easily add photos, and smaller journaling blocks or titles and quickly have a completed page. Thousands of customers have purchased the Simple Stories kit and have been busily scrapbooking their memories this way. But, have you considered that you can also use these divided page protectors using your "stash" of supplies and the other awesome theme sets and lines offered by MemoryWorks, as well?

One of the things I love about MemoryWorks is the theme sets and coordinating embellishments...it's made scrapbooking so much easier for me. I don't have to wonder if the items "go" or not...they do! Check out these pages I created using the Cosmo Cricket JoyRide line in conjunction with some of the We R MemoryKeepers Page Protectors. I had a huge stack of photos from a weekend trip my son and husband took in December - and this allowed me to use 21 of them on 2 page protectors (back-to-back)!

I left room for my hubby to journal the trip for me (I'm going to have him just type it up in Word, then I can format and print it out, then adhere on my pages).

Some tips for using the divided page protectors:

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  Use the photo sleeves as pockets to store memorabilia as well as photos. You can store the memorabilia and photos in the pages in your albums until you have time to make your title and journaling block(s). This way, you can see and share your photos while they're waiting to be scrapped, too!
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  For quick creating, use 6x6 paper pads (check out ones by Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket, and Pink Paislee), plus coordinating embellishments like stickers or diecuts so it all "goes". I used page protectors with 4x6 sleeves, so I only needed to crop paper down 2"...!

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  You can treat page protectors like transparencies - Ali Edwards (March 2008 issue of Creating Keepsakes) mentions the idea of altering the top of the page protectors (versus just putting things into the pockets.) Try rub-ons, brads, even stamping on them. [Her blog at aliedwards.typepad.com is a great source of inspiration for using divided page protectors.]
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  If the pocket is going the "wrong" direction for your horizontal or vertical photo, consider cropping your photo down to fit and mounting it on a piece of patterned cardstock to fit, like I did on this photo:

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  Crop down the page protectors to different sizes. You can use them to even create mini-albums by cutting the pockets apart. Check out the mini-album created by TeamWorks Member Wendy Morris here. She cut apart a 12"x12" page protector with 4"x4" square photo sleeves to create a mini-album.
• Mix and match! The fun part of using a 3-ring album, such as the We R Memory Keepers Leather or Linen albums is that you can easily move things around. Mix pages created with the divided page protectors in with your "regular" 12x12 layouts. It makes your albums more visually interesting!
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  Get inspired from the My Simple Stories website and MemoryWorks Idea Gallery. Use ideas from layouts created using the Simple Stories system to create your own layouts using other patterns/theme sets.

What other divided page protector tips do you have? Feel free to leave some of your favorite tips or even questions about them in the comments section. Hope you're inspired and ready to open up those big boxes of photos to get some serious scrapping done quickly!