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Post by myboysnme on Aug 17, 2014 23:43:26 GMT
There is only one reason that I never scrapped CM and that is because I could not afford it. I started out the first few years with archival 8.5 x 11 document protectors from Office Max and cardstock packs. I had no problem with CM scrapping and I tried to mimic it with my contraband. But then I discovered other supplies that were affordable for me at the craft stores and then the LSS. I always felt CM supplies were overpriced.
I would not ever scrap using CM albums because I hated the limitations of the strap hinge style pages. I loved the quality of CTMH, then called DOTS, but again, album cost was prohibitive for me.
I had no problem with CMCs encouraging people to get their pages done, and I think having a formula worked for many many people. The idea was to get your photos into books and tell the story with some embellishments (stickers, etc). The place I think CM blew it was in their cutting tools and encouraging people to mutilate their photos. For photo preservationists, the philosophy of 'focus on the face' and cut away the so called background was just a marketing ploy for people to buy pricey cutting tools.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Aug 18, 2014 0:14:28 GMT
Now that think way back, someone did a CM presentation for the stamp club I belonged to years ago. We were supposed to bring several pictures and $5 and could make a page. Well, the pictures I brought weren't very good ones and none of the stuff she had there to decorate the pages really appealed to me. I think I ended up cropping my pictures into ovals and that was about it. None of us in our group were sold on it and there were a couple people who made art/photo journals in the group.
As time went on and I eventually learned more about CM later, I could never get behind the strap hinge albums. I'm simply not organized enough to scrapbook stuff in the right order, so sticking things to both sides of the page would end up making me go nuts. And the fact that the pages weren't true 12x12 was kind of a deal breaker for me too. That little bit that it was off from being square would set off the OCD in me big time. I did like that super skinny tape runner that they had though!
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Post by woodysbetty on Aug 18, 2014 0:15:41 GMT
Now you gotta remember this was EARLY on.... back in the shadows of the beginning of scrapbooking ,....in a land far far away..... Creative memories began their quest educating us on Acid free and lignen free ---- archival safe products. They produced quality papers and albums, gave us wonderful durable adhesive that was not available at the local box store. The had bragging rights that their products would stand the test of time. They educated us that if we used non- high quality products in our books we would reap the death of our pictures! Fear broke out among their people and ...many drank the koolaid and became power mongers!! Now this tale --- while scarey... did not stop those renegade scrappers...no ..it made them (me too) REBEL and buy other pretty papers and even bumpy items like <GASP> BRADS AND EYELETS!!! The Creative Memories princesses felt their kingdom was threatened by this uprising...and tried to yet control them by telling them DO NOT MAKE BUMPY PICTURES!!! and only use paper/stickers approved by CM! Again the people would not be held down and we would WALLPAPER all of our albums and .... stick down metal, and chip board..and bottle caps OH MY!! The creative memories could not contain this mutany..thus their company and their kingdom crumbled...and now the die hard adhesive loving/album devoted scrapperes are left in the desert without a runner to stick with  Thank goodness that other kingdoms have risen and their is ACOT and Scrapbooking.com to fill their dreams with happy lumpy bumpy sticky goodness! The end  Oh good. Grief I laughed so hard my drink came out my nose!!!! Too freaken funny!!!! |
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ReneeH20
Full Member
Posts: 452
Jun 28, 2014 16:00:48 GMT
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Post by ReneeH20 on Aug 18, 2014 1:32:24 GMT
Sigh. I know people love to bash CM. Some of the CMCs were over zealous, but back in the early days everyone even the mags like CK were preaching Acid Free. It wasn't until digital cameras that it started being accepted to use non-acid free products. If you've ever seen a magnetic photo album from the 70's & 80!s, you will see what acid can do to photos. Not pretty. The main concern was protecting fragile photos and preserving memories.
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Post by herecomesthesun on Aug 18, 2014 2:58:05 GMT
I'm a first time poster, jumping in here to share my CM experience. This seems appropriate since I started scrapbooking with CM. (1996 or 97) I loved my CMC and the great group of ladies that attended her crops. She was pretty party line about CM products and contraband but never down right rude. Twice a year she hosted a slumber party crop in her large home. I ask her if it was okay for me to bring my new (original) Cricut to one of these overnights and she reluctantly agreed. I convinced her because I would be using all CM paper with it. And she knew I was a very good customer! I tried to be low key about it but everyone was fascinated. I lost a lot of scrapping time by giving Cricut lessons. When I turned in for the night someone ask if she could cut something later. I agreed & gave pointers again. The next morning more than one person told me that my Cricut had literally hummed all night! The CMC's cousin had been one of the Cricut users and had actually gone through a whole album and made titles for every page! What?!? Believe me, I was incredulous when CM came out with exclusive Cricut cartridges years later! I wish CM had been more flexible and kept up with the industry. Still, I remember those crops fondly and am grateful to CM for starting me on the path with this scrappy hobby that I love.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 24, 2024 13:29:30 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2014 13:30:33 GMT
I too got my start with CM and had an awesome CMC. She never looked down on people and was always very encouraging. Eventually, like a lot of other posters, I got sick of simple and found the new local LSS. My scrapping has never been the same, in spite of using contraband!
I do miss their tools and can't find my corner rounder. The blade is also going on my 12" cutter so I guess it's time to look for something new.
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,449 
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Post by scrapnnana on Aug 18, 2014 15:24:59 GMT
Sigh. I know people love to bash CM. Some of the CMCs were over zealous, but back in the early days everyone even the mags like CK were preaching Acid Free. It wasn't until digital cameras that it started being accepted to use non-acid free products. If you've ever seen a magnetic photo album from the 70's & 80!s, you will see what acid can do to photos. Not pretty. The main concern was protecting fragile photos and preserving memories. I had those magnetic albums. I saw what they did to my pictures. I still try to scrap acid-free, even after 18 years of scrapping. Yes, CM had good products. I liked many of their tools, including their cutting system. There are some things I still do that I learned from CM, even though my style is no longer the CM way. CM obviously wasn't all bad. I had more good reps than bad overall. Unfortunately, CM didn't offer enough to keep me interested. CM's rigid attitude about scrapping and lack of competitiveness didn't exactly entice me to go back once I found greener pastures. They had to know some of their reps were giving them a bad name and alienating customers. They could have worked harder to train their reps to value all potential customers, even those who used contraband. I was honestly sad to see them fold, but not particularly surprised. |
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clarita
Junior Member
Posts: 79
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Post by clarita on Aug 18, 2014 16:00:37 GMT
So I have a very good friend who back in the late 90's was teaching rubber stamping classes and swore up and down that she would not get into scrapbooking partly because all she'd seen was CM style pages. Sometime in the early 2000's I introduced her to other styles of scrapbooking and converted her way of thinking. Sometime during that time period she attended a CM event mostly out of obligation but figuring she'd buy something she could use on her pages. Well she was looking at the punches and the CMC told her that those were too advanced for her and that she needed to start with the beginner stuff. Needless to say my friend was not amused.
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christinec68
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,433
Location: New York, NY
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Post by christinec68 on Aug 18, 2014 16:01:23 GMT
When I first started scrapbooking, it was a class being offered by a CM rep who also used non-CM products in her albums. She admitted to signing up because of their high quality albums and tools. She talked about being AF/LF and gushed over Stampin' Up after her first SU party. I love that she stressed journaling and that every page does not need to be a masterpiece. Not your typical CM rep. There was one woman in the class who went to a CM party with a different rep. I remember her telling this story and still chuckle about it..The classmate pulled out her acid free photo safe glue stick and the CM rep gasped and told her that "we don't use glue sticks in our albums". The woman said "It's ok, it's acid free." The rep said, "so is peanut butter but we don't put it in our albums." |
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Post by love2scrap on Aug 18, 2014 23:45:17 GMT
I think the proper term was contraband not counterfeit. Bringing non-CM products to a CM event was often frowned upon and was the reason many got called out and bullied for daring to be creative. They poo-pooed vellum, a product that has been used by architects for many decades, until suddenly CM started selling vellum...then it became "ok". The corner triangles... I had a CMC tell me once that she attended the Creating Keepsakes Convention as a vendor to spread the word to other scrapbookers that they were doing it wrong and spending money on inferior products. She was on a mission. I wonder how far she got on that mission..... |
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Post by katieanna on Aug 19, 2014 18:40:15 GMT
That was cute, st1tches1! 
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Post by katieanna on Aug 19, 2014 18:48:13 GMT
It took CM many years to embrace the true 12x12 size along with "wallpapering" and using bulkier embellishments. I really believe if CM had rolled along with the industry as it changed they would still be in business today.  |
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Post by mommaho on Aug 19, 2014 18:55:46 GMT
A friend and I signed up for a weekend crop, not knowing that we were the only non CMC's attending. We had our own little area to ourselves (set up by the CMC's) because they didn't want us to blend with them. I hammered eyelets, tore and inked paper and just had a grand time. Behind us we hear "What in the World are they doing?" That just isn't right!
After they all went to bed one of them came back downstairs and said she was just recruited and loved what we were doing, wanted to know what CM products we were using. None at all - she stayed up with us all night and tore, inked and left her pictures whole. She said it was so freeing. LOL But then she hid her pages she did from the others and went back to the CM way with her up-line the next morning.
She later became an owner of a scrapbook store . . . .
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,449
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Post by scrapnnana on Aug 19, 2014 19:44:29 GMT
A friend and I signed up for a weekend crop, not knowing that we were the only non CMC's attending. We had our own little area to ourselves (set up by the CMC's) because they didn't want us to blend with them. I hammered eyelets, tore and inked paper and just had a grand time. Behind us we hear "What in the World are they doing?" That just isn't right! After they all went to bed one of them came back downstairs and said she was just recruited and loved what we were doing, wanted to know what CM products we were using. None at all - she stayed up with us all night and tore, inked and left her pictures whole. She said it was so freeing. LOL But then she hid her pages she did from the others and went back to the CM way with her up-line the next morning. She later became an owner of a scrapbook store . . . . What a great story! It made me smile. Thanks for sharing it. |
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debduty
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by debduty on Aug 21, 2014 23:43:49 GMT
I was introduced to CM in 1995 and started scrapping the CM way - right in the book with die cuts and stickers. I think it was around 97 or early 98 I started noticing scrapbooking in Michael's and Hobby Lobby. My CMC didn't say too much about it and I don't remember any complaining at the crops when I brought in a few extra things. I do remember she was going to give a free gift to anyone who completed 98 pages in 98 and I was trying hard to reach that number.
I loved scrapbooking so much that I decided to become a consultant. I placed my first order as a consultant - lots of stuff so that I would have some inventory. Then the next day we left for the beach - my husband and I, plus our two little boys and his whole family. He drowned three days later. I called them and told them what had happened and that I didn't want to be a consultant any more. They were very understanding and cancelled everything I ordered. I totally stopped scrapbooking after that. It took me 11 years to decide to get back into it. That was 2009, and by then I was remarried and my boys were 14 and 12. I found two peas... everything was so different and I was in awe!! I discovered card making, scrapping out of order and PL! I'm just sorry I stayed away for so long because scrapbooking truly brings me a lot of joy.
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scrappington
Pearl Clutcher
in Canada
Posts: 3,139
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Post by scrappington on Aug 22, 2014 0:13:14 GMT
I had a similar experience last year at an SU s place when asked if I scrapbookedi said yes. But I had never been to anSU . Then she said oh you do other stuff. I said I guess I do. Lol it was really awkward.
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Post by zoeybug on Aug 22, 2014 0:28:11 GMT
I always liked the CM tools, but was so turned off by their refusal to keep up with the industry. It drove me nuts that they wouldn't get on board with true 12 x 12 paper and albums. What I remember, too, is the hurry up and get it done. What fun is that? (I was a CM consultant from 1997 to 2002) the idea Rhonda Anderson had was that it was a lot better to get photos out of the magnetic albums that really did ruin your photos and into a photo safe album. I really don't think she and the company she co-founded intended for it to be a "hobby" like to turned put to be. I stuck to using only CM products until the last year I was a consultant and one of the reasons I quit was I just thought it was so boring to have albums like that. I also just couldn't tell women at my crops that they couldn't use "contraband." Another thing CM didn't count on beside their customers wanting more creative choices was that eventually the acid-free/lignin free didn't really matter much once we all went digital. My former "up-line" eventually went all digital using just their (CM's ) digital products-she was a die hard ! I always have thought their tools were the best thing they had going. I still use both my double square and my double circle punches and my circle cutter-and they are old now! |
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oaksong
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,167
Location: LA Suburbia
Site Supporter
Jun 27, 2014 6:24:29 GMT
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Post by oaksong on Aug 22, 2014 2:20:59 GMT
Debduty, sorry to hear about the tragedy that sidetracked you. Things at Two Peas were certainly different from the CM way. Glad you found the love of scrapbooking again. I have had many time outs from scrapbooking over the years. Thanks to discovering the Peas and online resources, I'm back at it more than ever.
Most of my tools are CM, and I started hoarding albums when they announced their bankruptcy. I am all set should there ever be a scrapbook supply apocalypse.
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Post by lesleyanne on Aug 23, 2014 2:31:39 GMT
My CM story is more recent. I was at a local crop with just 6 ladies. Three were scrapping CM way: photos matted and adhered directly to the white strap-hinge album. As a group, they just couldn't wrap their heads around using a piece of 12x12 cardstock or patterned paper. I had to explain it, in detail. Finally, I just grabbed a 12x12 post-bound album and showed them how it just slid in. The former CMC ranted about how the dust would get in from the top. Seriously? This is a worry? The just-starting scrapping lady was enthralled -- the idea of a non-white background? FABULOUS!
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