Print Compare

I had been printing my layouts at Scrapbook Pictures for two or three years now. They have regular sales and the prices during the sales are really reasonable, and I've been extremely happy with the prints. Whether I printed 12x12 or 8x8, nothing was ever cut-off.

A couple of weeks ago, Scrapping Simply was having a print sale. I had heard other people in the digital scrapbooking community rave about Scrapping Simply's prints, so I thought I'd give it a try. Why not? The sale was pretty good.

When I got my prints back from Scrapping Simply, I was not happy. Six out of my 26 pages had things cut off the right side of the page. Upon further inspection, Scrapping Simply cuts off the right side of the pages more than the left side. So if you had some kind of border design that goes all the way around the edges, your print would look quite uneven.  Fortunately, the same week that I got the prints back from Scrapping Simply, I found out from my friend Tracey that Scrapbook Pictures was having their sale.  So I got those six layouts, plus a few newer layouts printed at Scrapbook Pictures.

Let's take a look at the six layouts and compare them.


This one I had a word border that went all the way around.  The bottom one is Scrapping Simply and the word border got cut off on the right side.  The top is the Scrapbook Pictures print.  The border looks even all the way around.

A closer look at the Scrapping Simply print.


The Scrapbook Pictures print.

I think the prints speak for themselves.


For this layout, I had a border and mat that was equal-distance from the left and right sides.  The top print is from Scrapping Simply and it totally cut off the sides and even part of the border/mat.  The bottom print is Scrapbook Pictures and the border/mat was not cut off.


For this layout, I had a red stitch border all the way around. The top print is Scrapping Simply and the stitching on the right side is cut off, and some on top too.  The bottom is Scrapbook Pictures, where the stitched border looks intact and is equal-distant from the edges.


For this layout, the top print is Scrapping Simply and the "S" at the end of "CHRISTMAS" is cut off the page.  The bottom one is Scrapbook Pictures and the "S" is intact.  Plus, I noticed the color difference on this one and I prefer the brighter Scrapbook Pictures one.


For this layout, the bottom print is Scrapping Simply and the end of my date stamp, the "9" is cut off, as is the journaling block and journaling. The top print is Scrapbook Pictures.


This photo isn't very clear, but the top print is Scrapping Simply and the journaling on the right side is cut off. The bottom is Scrapbook Pictures and the journaling is not cut off.

Now to be fair, Scrapping Simply guarantees their prints 100%, so if you're unhappy with your prints for any reason, they will reprint it for you or give you a refund. So I'll be sending these six prints back, unless it costs me more to send them back than to get the refund. They also included a slip of paper with my order that said the following:

"Oops! One or more of your files was designed very close to the edge! We try our hardest to make your pages look just how you design them! It is difficult for us to do this when small edges, borders, or important text are near the edge. This is an issue because a 1/16th trim on one edge and a 1/32 trim on another (caused by paper feed or print head alignment) make these borders look uneven. This can easily be fixed just by adjusting your border size. If you have larger 1/4" borders we can then adjust the print position (a small 1/16" edge is still trimmed), no visible cut is noticed. At ScrappingSimply.com, we pride ourselves in providing the best print on the market. We use the most archival paper and have the highest quality printer which we specifically optimize for scrapbook pages. If for any reason you are not happy with this order, please contact us at info@scrappingsimply.com for a reprint."

I think this information should have been included somewhere prominently at their website. If I had seen this, I would not have ordered my prints from them.

Yes, they do guarantee their prints 100%, but so does Scrapbook Pictures. And I can scrap however I want design-wise and have my prints turn out fine with Scrapbook Pictures without having to adjust for the cutoffs. And with no real price difference during sales, why would I go with Scrapping Simply? If all places cropped some edges off, then I might think twice about the design of my scrapbook pages to avoid the edges. But I've never had any problems with the edges cut off at Scrapbook Pictures. They make me feel free to create my pages as I please, putting borders and journaling on the edges. So I will go with them from now on and not stray.