Flashback Friday #5: How-To Books Past and Present

Welcome to another edition of Flashback Friday! Today I want to share a couple of the CTMH idea books, both past and present. The picture above is how the Reflections Scrapbooking Program and the Originals Card Confidence Program looked around 2003/2004. Yes, I still own these!

They used to come in a 3-ring binder, divided by tabs. I believe that there were three packages of "cards" to purchase for each program. Since I have them organized the way I want them, and not by purchase date, it's very hard to tell anymore.

Would you like to see what they look like today, ten years later?

Wow, talk about a make-over! Both books are now soft-cover (more affordable!), spiral bound, and contain ALL of the templates making up the program; no more purchasing separately to add to a binder.

Something to note that I can't get across in a photo, is that the WEIGHT of the books has gone WAY down. The binders were bulky and very heavy. The newest books are light-weight, with thinner, magazine-like pages.

Here is another look at the transformation:

Here is the interesting part... these books are truly timeless, so the actual program has stayed the same! Layouts and cards from a decade ago, still work within this program today! Take a look at the Reflections program:

It's the same layout with a modern day look and feel! While the newer books highlight newer stamps and papers, the templates remain the same. How about the Originals program:

Again, the same template, with a new look!

If your wondering why I still hang on to the binder books when I own the newer copies, I really can't tell you. Nostalgia maybe? Perhaps the big investment I put into the binders make them harder to part with? I do like to see the older papers and stamps on display, so I'll go back to the nostalgia excuse :o)

To learn more about these How-To books, and all of the others in the CTMH line, please see my in-depth post HERE.

I'll see you in the craft room,