To Be or Not To Be - Stampin Up Demonstrator

When I got back into using my Stampin Up supplies while making the last two card series I seriously considered becoming a demonstrator. I have thought about this before and then would get sidetracked by something else during my research about being a demo, y'all remember I have a squirrel problem right? I started to think I am much like their logo in that I do like to inspire, create and share so why not! I started doing a little more diggin into their policies to see if I really wanted to take the plunge.

First off I don't think there is any doubt about my love for Stampin Up and the quality of their products. When I first started doing some stamping I picked up cheap stamps thinking I would just get those and build a collection. I soon found out that all stamps are not created equal! In no time my collection of Stampin Up products started to grow. I almost exclusively use their cardstock for card bases and I have every ink pad of the old color sets from when I first started stamping, thanks to Kristen Long and her 6 month clubs! 

I recently acquired their program My Design Studio 2, which I still haven't figured out how to use but I do love the SVG files that are available through it and have used them on several different things, remember some of the wall quotes I did a few months back? I also love being able to cut shadow layers for the punches I have, one of my true loves is shadow layering, don't believe me? Just go look at most of my cuts and there are shadows. One day I am going to figure out how to print and cut those dang images in that program. I know there are some awesome tutorials out there but I can't seem to focus long enough to really watch them and get the program down, it probably isn't even really that hard! *okie curses her dang squirrels*

Oh back to my research...

Last year a friend of mine became a demo and she soon found she didn't like it because they told her she couldn't use her website to promote her Stampin Up because their rules only allow for their products to be used on blogs and websites if you have a demo website and you can't promote your personal blog or website on the blog or website that you have for Stampin Up. I was hoping that had changed and I found out it has not. 

I guess I can understand their point of view because they are a business but the sad thing is that I think allowing merging their products with other products makes more sense. Can I explain how I cut their SVG images with Make The Cut without my readers knowing what Make The Cut is and how awesome? Nope. Do I think allowing this would encourage more sales of their program...YEP! But then again I am not a marketing expert nor a business owner so maybe I don't understand. 

It didn't take me long, or much research to figure out that there is no way in Hades that I want to run two websites *okie can picture herself in a nice white jacket if that were to happen* where I have to separate my crafting. I am not just a stamper, not just a scrapbooker, not just a cardmaker...I am so many things when it comes to crafting and they all seem to tie in together that it would be impossible for me to separate the different phases of crafting I do.

My final decision as you might as well have guessed by now, is NOT TO BE a Stampin Up demonstrator but to instead just be a consumer that has the freedom to create whatever I want with their awesome products!