ISO: a creative memories consultant

I found the following CM consultants in York, PA (I looked on the CM website):

Donna Grim York, PA 717-741-2565

Rebecca ( Becky) Tallman York, PA 717-767-9158

Denise Miller York, PA 717-747-8947

Jana Dykeman York, PA 717-767-4933

Emory Vincent York, PA 717-600-0673

There are probably more in the area, but CM only lists the consultants that sell a certain amount on their website (AKA the high sellers), so I am sure there are more than these 5 but this a place to start!

Hope this Helps!

Hannah

What color album are you looking for, I have some on hand from when I was a consultant that I would like to sell.. I have a pink and mulberry that are retired, a champaign (pale yellow) and a white window album (white with silver frame). I also have tons of antique and arebesque blades (retired) for the 12" pattern of cutting system, oval patterns , mat & blades, and celestial patterns for ccs,the small blue file folders, all are new and sealed in plastic, I also pens and patterns templates, storylines journalers and bunch of the different organizer sleeves that hold stickers and strips for the big organizer, about 4-5 sets of page patterns already sorted and in the folder thing. Plus much more and too much to list ... If any one is interested in any of the above, email me!! I will sell it for catalog price with free shipping!! I also have tons of the markers, including the precious elements that have only been used a few times, because I bought them in like May or June and then deactivated due to lack of sales and with 4 kids, and having to go back to work I just haven't had time to use them or work on my albums...

I have gotten all of my Creative memories albums off of ebay. You can get them cheaper a lot of times off of there. But watch out because when you add shipping in it might be the same or more that what the consultant sells them for.

ditto here.. ebay rocks... I live in the cradle of CM (antioch started CM here) and we are overrun... and all CM nazi types... I found one lady that sells at discount but it takes a while to get stuff... if I need it NOW I ebay.... which is rare... I have one of thier big albums and its peeving me off. Every time I pick it up the dust thing for the end of it slips out.. UGH. what a pain... I've been post bound ever since.... except the 7x7, just love those....

I have gotten all of my Creative memories albums off of ebay. You can get them cheaper a lot of times off of there. But watch out because when you add shipping in it might be the same or more that what the consultant sells them for.

HEHE Maybe ebay is the reason I didn't make it as a CM consultant and I have all this inventory sitting here, everyone went to ebay!! LOL !!

On 2004-10-22 14:59:58 -0400, "Tanya & Jimmy Williams" said:

Well to be honest, CM is the reason you didn't succeed.... They refuse change. The scrapbooking industry has changed leaps and bounds and they refuse to move with it... every market in every hobby or product line changes and businesses that don't change with it, die eventually. Not to mention the reputation CM has for being too pushy and exclusive. I own alot of CM but only tools pretty much. Their stuff is nice, but I got tired of being preached at. Antioch in general has started to branch out with other scrapping lines, but still tries to push the CM line like its the "only". I think that alone is hypocritical. They sell secondary lines but tell the CMC's to preach "cm only"??? Also, when you only make 30-20% on an item you sell, you have to sell ALOT just to remain fluid. Heck I sold Mary Kay and made 50%. I could have succeeded in the business if the business would have became my life. It still would have been hard tho. 50% is the average any small buisness owner makes on a single item NOT including overhead... and mass retailers like Michaels and JoAnnes take losses on some items to bring people into the store... you and I as small business owners couldn't afford to do that. I was going to sell SU. I still want to but with school and all, I don't have the money to lose in a venture. I know I'd lose or make little or nothing. Its not cost effective for me. I can spend my 4 hours working PT somewhere and let THEM absorb the overhead and costs. I know what I'm getting... 9 bux an hour is better than not knowing if you will make anything for your work or havign to absorb costs you didn't expect, or trying to compete with..... Ebay. So sorry your venture didn't work out. If you do want to make some money at your hobby... work at an LSS. They have already invested in the overhead and you already know what your getting. Plus, you get a discount usually and your supporting an existing (and probably struggling) LSS.

Excuse me, I'm a CMC and I'm not pushy. Please don't generalize. EVERY company has people that push a little too hard.It is our business. Why would we send someone somewhere else when we have the products they are looking for? CM is not going anywhere. They are not about to die!!!!!!

Lynette in AL

On 2004-10-22 22:16:08 -0400, "Lynette Peete" said:

I'm sorry but I didn't name you and say "Lynette is a pushy CMC" did I? Didn't think so. Well lets look at the growth of other companies that came out AFTER CM.... they are booming... and CM is doing about the same as always. If mediocrity is okay, then great... just like Amway and other companys that are "still around"... they aren't around enough after so many years to make any difference. CM is becoming the Sears of scrapbooking...A little more expensive... less selection than some competitors, but they always have that "following". So yeah, you will sell, due to the following.. but I don't consider scrapbooking as a hobby as much as an artform and art has a life cycle of its own. Step out of the cycle and you won't thrive. CM should have seen thier profits rise over 500% in the last year compared to some other companies out there if they were truly competing. They didn't tho. I know since you are a CMC you have to be defensive about your company. That is fine. This is MY opinion and I will state it. If you look on other forums, you will find that this conversation has already been held hundreds of times and 90% of scrappers there agree with me. I defended CM for a while until I saw more of what was going on too. I was invited to a retreat with a number of CMC's and their people. These people were more interested in my stuff and my albums than doing any of their own. They acted like starved animals when they saw that my albums weren't all that "thick" and I had tons of NON cm stuff in them and it was like a revelation to them. I warned my CMC about this happening. I stopped going to CM events because this happened once before but she said come anyways.. so I did. Alot of those CMC's hate me and HER now because they lost a TON of business because of it. These same ladies are the ones I see at my LSS all the time now. CM is trying to limit what people see as scrapbooking supplies. When you limit the view of someone, they don't have much of a choice do they? When you show them the choices they have, they are free and will come, like me, to CM for some tools, but not much else.

When will I buy CM again? When its available in my LSS and they offer

probably true, Lynette - CM won't die because they have a product that has a demand and scrapbooking is such a rapidly growing hobby. There are many CM consultants out there who are not pushy and don't mind OSS. I've me a lot of people who scrapbook in the past couple years and there are those who only want to document their family's life in an appealing manner and there are those who actually view SB as a craft. CM works for all kinds, especially busy people who want to get their photos in a safer environment and in a way that people will enjoy viewing them. Don't worry about generalizations worry you - many of us have CM to thank for introducing us to this wonderful hobby!! And not all pushy people sell products for CM.

I think what Ronni might have meant was their philosophy was too limiting and purist and yes, while not all CMC's are pushy, let's face it, CM isn't exactly telling you to encourage your customers to try all these new and exciting products found down at the LSS that CM doesn't offer. They like you to scrap their "way" and compared to all the new products and techniques, CM is very limited.

FWIW, most of the CMC's I've dealt with were not pushy at all and understood what I wanted from CM. It sounds like you are that type of rep.

JennP.

And if you have to say one thing about CM it's that it has helped to spread the word about scrapbooking. How many of us started sb'ing because we were invited to a CM workshop?

JennP.

I have to add my two cents now also. It was thanks to CM that I got started in this. They "indoctrinated" Mariann my neice. Everyone she knew that had pix, well she tried like the devil to "talk them into the hobby and USE THEIR products." It took her 5 years on me.

I started but really hated the prices. i had seen the same stuff at Wally World and asked "why can't I use that?' i was told by Mariann and the consarned CMC we "used" that THEIR PRODUCTS WERE FAR MORE SUPERIOR and thus the prices were justified, plus that is how they made their living.

I totally understood the living part, but like Avon and other "door to door" sold products it is only a sideline unless you have a BIG and DEDICATED customer base. You do not get that by "PUSHING" your product on US and saying your way is the BEST and if you start with us you need to STAY with us and only use OUR stuff. BULL.

As of last October when I went to a crop last, the CMC told me that I was welcome to come to crops but could not tell where I bought my stuff from. Plus I needed to buy product from her more regular. SAY WHAT? I very politely told her "thank You" for the fine stuff I had already bought and I left. I went back later and got Mariann . Further, as we know, every CMC has their stash of products that they were always selling off. I helped her out a lot and bought a TON of it from her. I used it for raks and gifts and still have a bunch I "PLAN" on sing myself some day!!

The bottom line here, FOLKS, this is America. WE HAVE THE RIGHT to speak our opinion and point our values in the way WE want. It is the land of OPPORTUNITY for not only us being an individual, but to start and run a business too. Business' and products come and go daily. Some stay because of customer base and quality. Just like Avon and Mary Kay, Schwans home foods, Watkins food products, Amway and others that many of us know. Most of them stay around because of loyality and/or quality, not because they pushed their PRODUCT being this and that on MOST people they encountered. If gven a decent COMPETITIVE price I would be more than happy to buy CM products for their quality, BUT THEY ARE NOT THE BEST out there, or have the widest selection, variety or style. They do have their niche and that is where they are happy to be. SO BE IT!

(sorry, finally letting out some steam, err OPINIONS after recent dilemnas)

OKC Dave

Nice to see you again JennP!

I agree with all those that find CM products too limiting. It does offend me somewhat when I hear stuff like well all other products will damage your books or we have the best albums out there. And since you don't have to pass a personality test to enroll as a CMC, there will be those who just don't have the right personality for it.

Personally and I repeat personally I dislike their strap hinge albums as it seems to me that no matter how hard I try to pull things tight, once I pull the book apart to add more pages, the album is never as steady as before.

I also like to do layouts, keep them in one album together for a time and then disperse the pages to the various albums that they belong in. In that fashion I can usually access my last few layouts to show people. Frankly that trend started in March when I came out here to meet Kenda and then Deb and Renee. I also find that I like things in chronological order in my albums, but don't scrap that way. I have tons of pictures that need to be scrapped. That means that I often have to move my pages around, because I didn't leave enough room for something. That is hard to do in a CM album as you then have to figure out what to do with the extra blank page(s). For that reason, my scrapping style is more in tune with post bound albums where the sheet protectors open at the top and for the most part hold true 12x12 pages.

However, I always go back and check out the CM tools, because they are of such high quality and are guaranteed. Before leaving FL, my CMC changed out a couple of things that I found were not working as well as they should. So bottom line, like every other company out there there are plus and minuses.

Do you have any die cuts and stickers for sale? How much are the organizers and is there a way i can get a list of prices of what you have..? thank you cathy

Do you have any die cuts and stickers for sale? How much are the organizers and is there a way i can get a list of prices of what you have..? thank you cathy

Hi Mindi, how are things going? Life treating you right?

Its treating me.. Im desperately trying to come back to all the things that I love.. make my life balance some how..

How r u????

"M-C" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com... Hi Mindi, how are things going? Life treating you right?

Keeping busy... LOL! Just figured out that there isn't a lot of time between now and Xmas and I've got a heck of a lot of presents to make!

Thanks. It's brief though. The baby is due any day now.

I agree. I can never get those albums back together again. I've been struggling with them for *four* years! I just bought a post bound album last night and wondering why I waited so long to make the switch.

You know, I used to use mine all the time, but I just don't anymore. I love the Cutterbee and EK's scissors. I like the toolbox from MM (of course, CM doesn't have a need for those type of tools) and I'm a die hard Hermafix user now. I've thought of selling off my CM tools.

JennP.