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My sister bought one to compare.... and I am flipping through it tonight. It is SO confusing!!! Maybe I'm dumb, but I find it very hard to figure out! What's up with the levels of stuff??? I guess I have finally figured out that level 1 is if you don't want to do much, level 2 is if you want to add some embellishments and level 3 is if you want to go all out with embellishments??
I *hate* that the stamps are at 50% view!!!! Oh, that makes me so frustrated!
I think I have the BEST company! Stampin' Up is just too rockin'! I am so happy I found SU first
I bought a CTMH catty off of ebay because I did not want to go to a CTMH demo here in town only to have her waste her time (I bleed real red & wear old olive & basic black ...).
It is always good to see what the competition is doing.
I like that it is spiral bound. I do not like the overall size of the catty. A few stamp sets appealed to me; however the catty as a whole did not blow my skirt up.
I have never been to a party but, I can honestly say I am not too impressed with their catty. I got one last year from a woman (consultant) I met at a crop. :(
I think SU just appeals to me. I like some of their stamps. I think they are higher on the exact same items, like Versamark. But I guess it comes down to preference.
I did buy their origianals program. It is a portfolio with beautiful samples and even tells you how big to cut the pieces to make the cards. I like it, and plan to buy all the packages.
Sometimes I like their paper because I like to sand and get the worn off look.
I *hate* the spiral binding. The covers are too flimsy to support the binding...I'm thinking of seeing if I can have them lamitanted and rebound.
I like their samples. Some of the stamp sets look really, really close to the SU ones. The unmounted prices are good, but the mounted prices are a bit higher than SU.
I like their personalized stamps more than ours...and I may have to get one or two of those.
I'm so glad this was posted! I also found the CTMH catty confusing too! Didn't want to admit it, because it usually doesn't take much. :oops:
I refrained from buying one after I was told about the skimpy benifits..was rather disappointing really. JMO I like their stuff but I also like to know a hostess or someone is getting some perks and it didn't seem too grea tin this department.
Right after I became a SU! demo I went to an Angel Company party and loved that their catalogs were spiral bound too. So, I went to my local copy shop and got my SU! Idea Book/Catalog spiral bound. If you get the acetate cover put on the front and the back of the catalog when they bind it, it makes it very durable and sturdy. It cost me about $2 to do that. I have even considered spiral binding all of my idea books that I use at workshops. It makes it much easier to flip through and to lay open to CASE a card. All demos in favor of spiral bound Idea books, email DS so maybe next year ours will come that way already!
I *hate* the spiral binding. The covers are too flimsy to support the binding...I'm thinking of seeing if I can have them lamitanted and rebound.
I like their samples. Some of the stamp sets look really, really close to the SU ones. The unmounted prices are good, but the mounted prices are a bit higher than SU.
I like their personalized stamps more than ours...and I may have to get one or two of those.
I have never seen an angel co. catty. Can you look this up online? I know a person that works at a retail craft store near me, mentioned this co. one time before but I did not know what it was.
I used to ALWAYS go to CMTH instead of SU, because I liked their styles (until they all became almost all the same, just a different theme.) The thing that is nice is that they come mounted and they are perfectly mounted, no sitting there lining things up. If you stamp something someplace it's going to be right where you want it. I love thir ginghams, especially the larger ginghams. I too like the card stock for sanding because the inside of their cardstock is white. It also makes a nice look when you want to tear and have a different textured/layered look. I am glad that now I have mostly SU stuff, although I still used some of CMTH stamps for certain projects. They do have some good ideas for cards and scrapbook pages in the book that I'll break out and use when I am having a dry spell.
I had swapped catalogs with a CTMH demonstrator last year, so this year I called her up to see if she wanted to do it again. It's always good to see what the competition is doing and to be able to talk knowledgeably about the differences if someone asks.
The CTMH demo is getting out, partly for personal reasons, but also because of the acrylic switch-over. All her stamps that she has stashed for the past 5 years are now obsolete. She can still stamp with them, but they are useless for demonstration purposes. She said that CTMH sent out a free acrylic set to get their demos started with them and she has used it and didn't care for them at all. She was mad that she had to replace her stamps if she wanted to use them for demonstration, so she cut her losses and didn't renew. CTMH demos, BTW, have to pay $90 every year to keep their demonstratorship.
But she still had some new catalogs so we swapped. I found the catalog very confusing too, so don't feel it's just nursing-mommy brain (I've had that and totally know what that is like, LOL!) The level thing really is very confusing. And they have not had their images at 100% in years. I have a very old DOTS (that's what CTMH used to be called) catalog from 1996 or 1997 and they used to have the images at 100% like ours. They've always had fewer samples than SU!'s as well. I like SU! All my DOTS stamps are going in my garage sale!
I know a local CTMH demo that I got a catalogue from. Curiousity was killing me. Overall the catalogue was a bit confusing, but she took the time to explain the layout to me. I also got to try some of the acrylic stamps. I have numerous "unmounted" stamps from various companies and love the unmounted storage benefits and don't have any problems using the acrylic blocks. However, I don't use these stamps as much as I do my wood mounted ones. If I have an unmounted stamp that I use a lot, it gets a wood block and becomes permanent.
One of the things I did like was all the alphabets in the CTMH catalogue and at a more reasonable price. Might have to think about this one? But still need to stamp with the acrylic stamp--don't like the way it inks--don't get a rich coverage.
That's my 2 cents worth.
Two of my very closest friends are demonstrators. One Stampin UP and one CTMH. I love them both to death. While I understand your thoughts on the CTMH catalog and stamps, I need to express mine. CTMH has come along way in the last year to update their images. The cards my friend produces are absolutely gorgeous. Different than Stampin Up cards, but gorgeous none the same. I like their catalog because it gives new stampers so many options. And, it really focuses on the scrapbookers (that's why there are 3 levels, so if you just scrapbook and not stamp you can buy the kit that way). Anyway, I know I'm rambling, but I felt the need to defend.
Carol
They do have nice images! I am not saying their product is junky or anything!! I was just SO confused by the beginning of their catalog!! The end part is totally normal... (well, images still at 50%, but...).
Plus, they have a bazillion alphabets and I was drooling over that! And they are a lot cheaper for the alphabets! There are definite pros and cons to all programs!!
I like their catalog because it gives new stampers so many options. And, it really focuses on the scrapbookers (that's why there are 3 levels, so if you just scrapbook and not stamp you can buy the kit that way). Anyway, I know I'm rambling, but I felt the need to defend.
Carol
Ahh....that makes sense then. I was thinking of it from a stamping company point of view so I didn't really understand that part. I personally thought they had some good sets, I was just not fond of the set up of the catalog. I found it big and confusing. The actual stamps were good. They have a ton of alphabets. Most of my confusion could be because until now I had only ever seen SU catty's and theirs is very different. Don't be offended or feel the need to defend CTMH....we're just loyal SU fans....
I have never seen an angel co. catty. Can you look this up online? I know a person that works at a retail craft store near me, mentioned this co. one time before but I did not know what it was.
I know you used to, but they've recently changed their site pretty drastically. Here's the link if you'd like to poke around: http://www.theangelcompany.net/
PM me if you want the email of the person I got my catalog from
Did you notice how similiar some of the stamp sets in TAC were to SU sets? Did one of the designers work for SU at one time and then take their designs with them to TAC? My friend that buys SU from me bought a catalog and she pointed out the similiarities to me. She was ready to call TAC to find out about this.
I have bought SU for 6 years, and have been a SU demo for a little more than a year. I was introduced to CTMH about 6 months ago.
Here are my thoughts,
Things I love about Stampin Up
I love SU images much better. A lot of variety, tons of different styles.
I love being able to get free exclusive sets with hostess orders.
I love our Stay shut Ink pads.
I love our catty with it's full size stamp set images, and all of it's wonderful stamps.
Things I love about CTMH
I love CTMH alpahbets: You can line up the letters on one block and stamp a whole word at once.
I love their new clear acrylic stamps: in premise. It is great to see exactly where you are stamping. However, they don't stamp as clean and clear images as rubber stamps (IMO)
I love their new scrapbook sets,with all of the different words that go together.
I love that they have a lot more colors to choose from.
I think it's great that each company has things that I love, however, my husband wishes that I didn't love so much (read BUY so much) :lol:
Well the one thing I liked the most about the idea of arcylics was the storage!!! :o However I do love my wood mounted . I also have purchased their reflections and originals idea programs and love them too. I agree "it's a girl thing" from TAC VERY FUNNY :lol: :lol: ! Lisa
I really like the selection of background papers, as well as the new scrapbooking stamps. I love all kinds of word stamps, so I want alot of the new ones. I think the catalog does have a lot of great samples.
Of course, SU is my first love. I actually was introduced to CTMH first, and then joined SU after.
About the Angel Company..from what i heard from my upline when i was a demo was that the owners of the Angel company were some of the first people to sign up with SU when Shelly started it. there was some sort of falling out and they decided to come up with the Angel company..and that is why the stamps look so much alike. Like i said this was from someone else and it was probably changed somewhere down the many times it was told. So i don't know for sure this is true...
Close to my heart catalog....
