Newbie 8x8 printing question

[IglooWigwam]

Hi - I'm thinking of putting together an album for my mother this Mother's Day and I was wondering how people print out their 8x8 photos at home. Is there a place where you can buy glossy 8"x8" printer paper, or do you just use glossy A4 and then cut it to size with a guilotine of some sort? The latter approach seems like it would be easier (I couldn't find any 8x8 paper to buy after a quick search), if a little bit wasteful!

Sorry if this question has been answered elsewhere (there's so much info on these forums that sometimes it's hard to know where to begin!).

[debilou]

I do print my 8 x8 scrap book pages at home. But I don't print them on glossy paper.

Instead I print them on Epson Premium presentation paper (47LB). I print them on an HP wide print - but any other good printer should work fine.

This paper is 8.5 x 11 inches

And, Yes my DH is kind enough to cut it to size...

You can get a good paper cutter at any office supply store or hobby lobby, michael's, etc.

And, they fit just perfectly in the 8 x 8 albums...

If I do print on glossy, normally it is for a photo or something like that...

Many of the people here at DSP, send their scrap book pages to various places to be printed such as Costco, Walgreen's Artscows, just to name a few.

All do an excellent job of printing... for a very reasonable price...

[Kathleen]

And if you are set on an album (something with a beginning, middle and end), you might consider a hardbound book. You can do all the design in your editing program, upload your pages as JPG images and order a complete, bound book.

There are tons of companies out there that print bound photo books, just think of a custom coffee table book.

There is a whole forum on Printing (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=770). You might specifically check out these thread:

Let's compile a list of printing vendors (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35990)
Help! Shutterfly vs VioVio vs Blurb vs... (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36229)
Thank You for Viovio (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36113)
Making hard bound books (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31332)

And lots of good reports on Artscow (http://www.artscow.com/) lately. REALLY great prices. Lauren (head designer here at DSP) has posted some information recently on her blog (http://create4u.blogspot.com/), and I think Ruby (also a designer here at DSP) posted a template for their covers, but I need to find the link later.

Different companies have different size albums available, and different cover options (full wrap, just a cut out cover, etc.)

[Kathleen]

And here is the template Ruby Rynne posted for the cover of an Artscow book if you wanted to give them a try.

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/data/500/thumbs/covertemplate_LO.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=301446&ppuser=139203)
Artscow Cover Template (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=301446&ppuser=139203)

[Lauren]

Most photo paper comes in standard letter size - you can just trim it after its printed - thats by far the cheapest way to print your own

[IglooWigwam]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I think I'll start out with trimming A4, but will definitely investigate those online companies as a possibility in the future.