Close To My Heart and Anhi & Zoe or Creative Memories

First – a disclaimer.  I am not signing up for any other direct sales company.  

I am a huge fan of the DS business model.  There are so many wonderful reasons to be a DS consultant but at this time that option is not a good fit for me.   I appreciate the offers and invites that some of you have shared with me.  I promise if I ever change my mind I’ll let you know. 

 

Now – for some encouraging news.  Last weekend I saw some Close To My Heart albums in person.  I was very, very impressed with them. 

I know what you’re thinking – but they’re post bound!  Bear with me – there just aren’t any albums out there that I have found that are both strap-hinge and great quality.  Yet!  (Always hopeful!)

Yes, they’re post bound albums.  But they’re a very nice quality album and the page protectors are very strong!

That’s a very full 12x12 album that Carolyn is holding by one, single CTMH page protector!

The Memory Protectors are thick and gusseted so if you have thicker pages they can lay flat.  They are top loading – BUT in January CTMH will be making side loading Memory Protectors that FIT CM’s STRAP HINGE ALBUMS!!  How refreshing that a company not only listens to requests from customers but are actually acting upon those requests!  I think these are going to be first offered for a limited time but who know what will happen in the future!

CTMH sells Spine Extenders that you add every 3 or 4 pages to help your pages to lay flat.

You can modify the CTMH Memory Protectors to fit in CM Strap Hinge albums. 

This was my first time meeting Carolyn.  I gave her the quick version of my history with CM & what was going on w/the company and she showed me a bit of their scrapbooking related items. 

Carolyn loves CTMH products and it shows! She was excited but not pushy at all.  She was very, very helpful to help me navigate through CTMHs product line.  I have been a loyal CM gal for all of my time as a scrapbooker  and although I’ve been to a few CTMH parties & ordered a few of their products I’m pretty new to their world.

Carolyn gave me a catalog.  I don’t know how much consultants in other DS companies pay for their catalogs but as a CM consultant I always considered the cost of catalogs as a business expense for me.  It was a write-off, like credit card fees and order forms.  Even in the good ole’ days when CM catalogs contained ideas I never sold them.  Giving away catalogs got my information into the hands of others and that isn’t something I’ve ever felt comfortable charging others for a catalog…or paying for one as a customer.  So I was very happy to get a free catalog  

Here are a few things I liked:

CTMH printed papers – they have a strip on one side that lists what pack it’s from and the colors it coordinates with.

When you trim this strip off it has a pretty pattern on the other side that you can use in your projects.

CTMH Cardstock – it cuts like a dream in electronic die cutters!  They have lots colors to choose from, too.  The CTMH cardstock has a white core which may or may not be an issue if you’re used to CM cardstock.

Flip Flaps – these are great items that allow you to easily put extra photos or other items on your pages.  They are like mini clear page protectors and have a strip of adhesive that allows you to adhere them to your pages.

You can see the CTMH albums & Flip Flaps in this video:

CTMH has a lot of  items that work well together or coordinate. You can tell that people familiar with the scrapbooking & crafting industry have a hand in designing their products.  I like that!

So – those are my first thoughts about some of the CTMH options that might work for those of us searching for new homes for our scrapbook pages. 

If you have specific questions about the products please ask your CTMH consultant!