from what I've read here it varies, some people print them on regular cardstock and use the background they want, others use colored or metallic cardstock (for the cover), some use plain printer paper, and others use scrapbooking paper that has a decoration they like.. as I just posted in another thread I'm going to try to print my pages out using vistaprint flyer pages and I applied a background I found on there because it didn't work when I uploaded my image. I think the paper is shiny so I don't know if I'll like it but I'm going to see what it looks like and go from there.