Are you near Buffalo, Rochester, Batavia? We are having a plant swap and I have many plants I could give you. Email me for more details.

Hi Angie, Would it help if we all posted what we do and don't like to use? ~mar~

The way it works here in NH (I've been to several different CMC's [Creative Memories Consultant] workshops and classes) is a class is $10. At the class you learn about preserving your pages and how to get started. You leave with 1 completed page, of which the CMC has provided the page, stickers, and paper, (you're told ahead of time to bring 6-8 photos with you) and a pair of scissors. If the hostess, not the CMC, decides to provide snacks and beverages, that's her call. Workshops, which take place at teh CMC's house, are $5 and she includes snacks and beverages. Any supplies you use you purchase. Crops, which are usually long sessions, are $10 at the CMC's house and include snacks, beverages, a "crop talk" where she discusses new ideas (sort of like a mini-class), and prize raffles. Ours here last 6 hours. One other little feature my regular CMC offers (I no longer go to different ones - just the same one all the time now) is that after 5 workshops (the $5), the next one is free. Also, after you spend $250, you get a $25 gift certificate. So basically, if you're invited to crop, it most likely is like the 6 hour one I described above. If it's a class (also $10), then it wont be as long. I really like going to the crops for the ideas that I get from others. I also look forward to getting out of the house without a 2 year old on my hip!! :) Patti

I'm not a big CM fan. Their paper cutter is too small and doesn't cut the 12 by 12 pages. Mine also cuts a ragged edge from the start it never did cut well. Their circle and oval cutters are the best that I have ever found. Why anyone would spend mega bucks on things like their square punches is beyond me when it is so simple to take an ordinary cutter and cut a square. I love the Friskars type cutter because it is a cinch to make a frame using this type of cutter. Many of the girls at our local scrapbooking store started with the CM albums and are getting very bored with the white pages and end up covering them with the fancy papers. Their albums are expensive but the quality is better than some of the cheaper albums out there. The best albums I have found are from a company called Fraser-Grimm. It's a small company that I believe operates out of Windsor Ontario but my local scrapbooking store sells their albums. They are durably made and covered with fabric and they have quite a selection. I bought some special fabric and had them make me an individual album and they did a beautiful job. I'm not big on stickers. I make most of my own embellishments so I can't comment on those since I don't use them.