Concerns About Our Memories For Life (OMFL)

I’ve been reluctant to post this because admittedly, I have personal issues with the fact that Rhonda Anderson is associated with this company.  Her past shenanigans, including leaving AZ in a very unethical manner and publicly calling out a friend of mine who speculated (almost 100% correctly, I might add) about the speculation as to what AZ would offer, contributed to my less-than positive opinion of her.  I was afraid that her (lack of) ethics may impact this new venture.  The OMFL product line is “inspired by Rhonda Anderson” but, unfortunately, it looks like the way OMFL is conducting business is, too.

Regardless of my opinion of Rhonda Anderson there are some issues that customers need to be aware of with regards to OMFL products.

Many, many, MANY scrapbookers were hoping that the albums we miss so much would be produced by OMFL.  OMFL is making albums but they are not like those that were offered by CM.

No Jeeping

The album pages have no jeeping (the reinforced edge.)  This is something that we, as CM Consultants were taught was necessary for several reasons.  Consultants and customers were taught that jeeping was necessary to increase the durability of the pages, avoid excessive wear due to the turning of the pages and also help cut down on photo abrasion because the jeeping would give a bit of a buffer zone between pages.

Here’s a page from a CM Consultant Demo Book that states this:

Now – Rhonda Anderson is telling us that we don’t need jeeping.

Rhonda Anderson said that she has dozens of older flex-hinge albums with NO double jeeping and NO page protectors.   She goes on to say that after 50 years, the pictures still look amazing.  

I’m confused.   Jeeping was important to Rhonda Anderson when she was with CM but now that she’s with OMFL it’s not important? 

What’s a scrapbooker to do?  To Jeep or not to Jeep?  Fortunately we have Dr. Mark Mizen to help us. 

Dr. Mark was Director of Technology for 11 years with CM.  From August 1998 to April 2009 Dr. Mizen established and was head of the in-house Technology Center, which rigorously tested and evaluated Creative Memories products. Dr. Mizen led the effort to coordinate ISO photo-safety standards with Creative Memories product labeling. He developed specifications to ensure the longevity of photo books, digital printing, CDs and DVDs, and inkjet paper for scrapbooks. He helped more than 60,000 Consultants link the emotional aspects of memory preservation with photo-safety and performance of Creative Memories through monthly column in Scraps and presentations at national meetings. He was responsible for a laboratory of seven people with a budget of approximately $500,000.

Dr. Mizen is no longer associated with a company that produces scrapbooking products but he is Chair of the ISO WG5 TG2 committee responsible for physical properties and durability of imaging material. He’s a scrapbooker, too.  He has addressed the jeeping issue several times on his All About Images blog.

Personally, I prefer jeeping – especially if pages have any dimension to them.  I would imagine, even with page protectors, those items would cause some wear from abrasion without the added protection of jeeping.

“100% Photo Safe”

Recently, Dr. Mizen doubted the claim that OMFL albums are “100% Photo Safe” and also raised concern over that fact that PVC was found in OMFL album components.  What a kerfluffle this caused! 

Noteworthy is this response from Rhonda Anderson
(Click to enlarge)

Unfortunately, this seems to be a typical response from Rhonda Anderson.  It has been my experience that she chooses to ignore facts that don’t suit her current situation and encourages others to do the same.  She even tries to discredit Dr. Mizen.  Remember, this is the same person that asked CMC’s not to go searching for information during the bankruptcy process and encouraged us (CMC’s) to get our information only from her & CM.  Thank goodness I didn’t do that! CM and Rhonda Anderson was less than up front about many issues that consultants needed to know about in order to effectively manage their business.

I can find no official word from OMFL regarding this safety issue.  I have recently head that a new strap is coming.  It is supposed to work better with the new pages that are in the works, too.   If you have an OMFL album I would contact the company to get safe, PVC free replacement straps.

Border Maker Cartridge Woes

Most recently I am hearing about an issue with the Border Maker Cartridges that OMFL  is selling.  These are designed to fit the CM Border Maker System.  I’m hearing that they do fit but some are having a problem with the cartridges staying in the CM Border Maker securely.  They fall out with the slightest jiggle – especially when it is held with the cartridge facing down.   Just something to look out for.