Its a milling issue with the manufacturer when sizes vary between boards that do not allow a tight fit when tapped together properly, or any out of square ends that causes gapping. Gapping when there are no out of square ands or piece size differentials is an improper installation issue wher ethe boards were not tapped into place properly or moved during the installation process. Best you can do is file a claim with the manufacturer and ask for an independent inspection, then go from there. You can do this through the retailer and see what they say. Or you can go straight to the manufacturer circumventing the retailer of you think they are trying to screw you. What I see in those pictures are end joints that might not ahve been properly tapped together and I see possible manufacturing defect in milling from the manufacturer. Its difficult to tell for certain without a physical inspection.

Shelayne....thanks! Not quite sure how I feel about the LG yet....I think the cycles are too long....DH and I work in offices...do our clothes really need to wash for an hour? I think the shortest cycle is speedw wash and I think its 35 min....which was about how long my 15 year old Maytag did any cycle. And water temperature is pre selected,maybe you can override it buti haven't figured out how yet. Drying seems to take longer than my Maytag as well. But boy, can you fit a lot without an agitator! I've only had it a month and I probably need to read the manual some more, but the jury's still out...

Yes, even though I have been scrapbooking for about a year, I just realized that there are about 10 different sizes. I thought that 12 by 12 meant 12 x 12. But it doesn't. If you use page protectors with holes in the side (like the kind pam talked about), then the 12x12 pages DO fit inside and you can change them around. This is very nice and you have the added benefit of it looking very similar to the strap album. (I hated the fact that the strap albums limited you to the back of the page in front.) These can go inside post albums or 3ring binders made just for that size. These albums can be expensive but price is relative if you consider you will be keeping these albums for years and years. However, since we are very poor, and yet I really want to do this scrappin' thing, I opted for the 81/2 x 11 size because you can buy the page protectors for cheap at Sam's Club and yes, I can find the "safe" kind - and then the paper is fairly cheap, too. I have six children and I can't imagine doing big albums for all of them as well as all the other ones I want to do. I have big dreams. I may do one of the big ones for my husbands 40th birthday (sort of a life tribute) because they will hold a page and a few photos, too. But be careful when looking at the aisle with paper because I have bought paper and when I bring it home, it will fit in the album and be a different size than something else I am using. That is because some 12x12 have the holes punched within that frame which brings your space to 11 1/2. If you use the 12x12page protectors, it extends them to 12 1/2. It's a big difference. I miss not being able to put a lot of pictures on one page - but I solved this with two thoughts. 1) I realized that I took too many pictures of the same thing and 2)if I really like all those pictures, make 2 or 3 pages. Hey, it's my album. Have fun with yours.

I am definitely a "3 ring binder with page protectors" scrapper. I started making these scrapbooks this way before I had even heard of Creative Memories and they work great for me. I definitely like the flexibility it affords me to move pages as I am organizing. Norma - I am in the middle of doing a heritage scrapbook of my maternal family. It sure is fun but a lot of work! Where have you gotten some of your ideas for arranging pictures on the pages? Do you have any advice for the heritage scrapper? I would love to hear any ideas and suggestions. I am looking for 5X7 embossed frames with rectangular centers but can't find any. They only carry ovals. Any ideas? Thanks! :-)