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Thursday, September 25, 2014

Scenes from the Ahni & Zoe Auction

A HUGE thank you to Janell who attended the auction and shared her photos.  Dr. Mark Mizen was also there and he blogged about his experience on his blog.

I can't believe all the inventory that was sold (in large quantities - usually by the pallet.) Cases & CASES of albums, paper packs, tape runners and lots of other items we were scrambling because customers wanted these items & we were told they were no longer available. Such a sad way to wrap up. 
Wonder if we'll see our favorite products on the shelves at Big Lots or Tuesday Mornings? Keep your eyes open!

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Rolls of Bookcloth

This cabinet sold for $360 – with all the albums included. 
Those are 8x8s on the top shelf.

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Looks like Cricut cartridges in this box

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Cloud <3

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A&Z Tape Runners

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LOTS of Everyday Displays

Shape Maker Systems

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An incentive prize

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This is Vicki Morgan.  I can’t believe she showed up to the auction. If you’re not familiar with the doings of the Morgan family you can read about it here.

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The New CM

CM  is getting ready to launch!  More details were revealed in a Webinar held today with Caleb Hayhoe, owner of Flowerdale Group which purchased the rights to the names CM, AZ & some of their equipment (more info here.)

The new company – to be called “CM” will offer products from both Ahni & Zoe & Creative Memories!   CM promises it will be a simple product line in the beginning but more will be introduced in the future.

The new company wants to ensure that they can have businesses that last! 

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Offerings from the AZ line

F2F albums have  laminated paper covers.  F2F will come with pages.

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Offerings from the CM line 

BOOKCLOTH Coversets – do not come with pages.

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WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All albums & pages will be true 12”x12”

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The Vintage, Primary, Bright, and Neutral Paper Packs will coordinate with the FasT2FaB designs. 

One side will be solid – the other in a simple pattern.

Business Plan

It sounds like the new business will be a hybrid of direct sales and an affiliate program – it is supposed to be SIMPLE to understand!

It will allows the opportunity for people to run business as you wish.  If you want to be a workshop consultant or build a team the business will be flexible so you can have the business that YOU want. 

CM is moving away from career levels, rules of minimums.  There is no kit to purchase & no minimums.

CM will launch first to AZ consultants – probably in late October, then to the rest of the world.

AZ Leaders will be starting all over again – there will be no way to keep your team structure.

***For now – there are no restrictions on being a rep with other companies ***

Advisors are the new Consultants.

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3.  Advisors – Low annual fee; Discount/profit based on volume; Earning % on Advisors under you; Rewards for group activity.

2. Preferred Customers – for those that love the products & would like special perks.  - Low annual fee; Discount on products; Access to Advisor promotions.

1. Customers – can purchase in person, online or via a link provided by Advisors.

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Specific details regarding the % discounts and fees are supposed to be shared in next week’s call.

I am very excited to learn more details & will share when I do!!


UPDATE:  You can watch/listen to the video of the webinar here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96AzLXXK9vM#t=33

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Free Photo Book at Shutterfly

Get a free 8x8 photo book or save on a larger sized book when you use code BOOK4FREE – hurry! expires Wednesday, 9/10/14!  extended!  Thursday 9/11/14

Here’s my affliliate link to Shutterfly (Thanks!)

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Wednesday, September 3, 2014

An encouraging sign at CreativeMemories.com

Looks like an old friend is making a comeback! 

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Don’t take my word for it – go see for yourself! 
Be sure to click on the links in the upper right corner, too! 

From “The New CM” under the “Home” link:

“It’s my plan to invest in continuing to build and improve the simple Ahni & Zoe line AND restore some of the beloved items from the Creative Memories line (bookcloth albums, pages, paper, etc.) for those who enjoy that approach to preserving memories.”

Clicking on “About” brings you to a page that mentions Consultants.

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“CM Consultants offer expertise, encouragement and the highest quality photo albums and scrapbook albums to help you express yourself and tell your stories, one meaningful page at a time.

If you find you have a passion for photos and stories, and if you have a passion for helping others, becoming a Consultant offers you the ability to make money, meet people and be your own boss. It's a home-based business that makes a difference, and we'd love to have you join us when we open in October 2014.”

You’ll find information about product safety and standards by clicking on “Our Promise.”

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When you click on “Stay in Touch” via the Home tab you’ll get a chance to submit your email address & you will receive notifications & updates and also get a chance to answer a few questions regarding some past CM & AZ products.image

I think this is great news & I’m excited to see what products return with the New CM!

P.s.  If you haven’t given your input regarding personal sized trimmers you can do it here.  Link to Survey. 

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Monday, September 1, 2014

Our Memories For Life is not Associated with Creative Memories

Creative Memories and Ahni & Zoe are closed.  They are not re-opening.

Caleb Hayhoe bought the rights to the CM & AZ names along with some production equipment. The albums that other companies offer(ed) are not the same as those CM sold.

What I stated above are facts, available to anyone from various reliable sources.  Many (myself included) are hoping that Caleb Hayhoe will re-introduce CM quality albums & tools.  Personally, I am very encouraged because he is asking for input as to what customers want.  There is still a lot of uncertainty about this new venture and those still searching for archival quality albums to replace those that were made by CM will have to wait & see what happens.  I am cautiously optimistic! 

There is still a lot of confusion about CM/AZ/OMFL which is due mainly, in my opinion, to vague and misleading posts being made by consultants for the various companies as well as being posted on various Facebook pages – including the A&Z FB Page.

If one stumbled upon this post and was not up to speed as to what’s been going on recently I imagine they’d get a completely wrong idea as to what’s actually happening:

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Yes, there is a start up team, no they aren’t associated with A&Z.  Some of the people working for A&Z are going over to the new company that is gathering opinions regarding the future business.

Our Memories For Life is not Associated with CM

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*Sigh!*

Looking at the OMFL Facebook Page I’ve seen a few people post questions about the relationship between OMFL and CM.  The situation is confusing enough on it’s own and it’s made worse by Rhonda Anderson tossing the CM brand name around and reminding everyone that she was the co-founder of CM while posting about OMFL. 
No matter what anyone says, OMFL products are NOT the same as CM products!  

Adding to the confusion for scrapbookers is the way posts are deleted rather frequently on the OMFL FB page. Have a question that may be less that all sunshine & rainbows or attempting to provide factual information about the way things are actually happening?  Chances are that type of post will be deleted.  I’ve seen this happen myself when someone posted a polite reply to a question that asked if OMFL was the replacement for CM.   It’s like déjà vu as this is how A&Z often operated, too.

Regarding Ms. Andersons’ claim that OMFL has “photo safe products” - “photo safe” is a claim that is not worth anything unless it can be backed up by scientific research, tests & standards.  Being that she was co-founder of Creative Memories, a company that produced ISO certified albums, you would think this is something Rhonda Anderson would be familiar with.  No word yet as to when the OMFL album components that contain PVC (definitely NOT “photo safe”) are going to be replaced.

Similar is Not the Same

While the OMFL Border Maker cartridges do work in the CM Border Maker system and vice versa these aren’t identical as evident from many people finding that the OMFL cartridges will fall out when used in the CM system. The cartridges are designed to be released by pushing a button but all it takes is a little shake, especially if you’re holding the maker with the cartridge facing down, and it will fall out of the maker. 

This wouldn’t be such a big deal if it was acknowledged and communicated to consultants and customers. 

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This is more than just one or two “bad” cartridges, unfortunately.

Those cartridges are heavy & I’d be pretty upset if one came crashing down on my wooden table, ceramic tiled floor or my toe!

Also, there are reports of the fan cartridge not working properly. 

I’ve seen a few people mention that if you go slow sometimes the results are better but sometimes, no matter how slow you go, it just isn’t punching correctly.

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As in the past the familiar “negative” label is being tossed around quite frequently to describe those that are attempting to share facts so that customers and consultants can make informed decisions.
Sad to see that some things never change, do they?

Mistakes are made by all companies and I think how those mistakes are handled say a lot about the company.