New stampers often ask me why I use Stampin’ Up! products exclusively. Yes, there are a lot of other choices and many of them are quite good. But SU! can’t be beat for coordination, quality, customer service, community and being on trend!
1. Coordination
This is the main selling point for Stampin’ Up! to me. When you buy your supplies from SU! you’re guaranteed that the papers, inks, and embellishments will either match or coordinate with each other. Have you ever bought a beautiful piece of patterned paper and then tried to find matching cardstock and all of the cardstock you find is just a little off of the colors in the paper? Or you’re looking for the perfect ribbon to complete your project and despite seeing rows and rows of ribbon, none of them are quite the right shade? That just doesn’t happen with SU!
2. Quality
Stampin’ Up! is known throughout the industry for their quality. Their cardstock is dyed all the way through so you don’t see a white edge after cutting it. Their stamps are made with high-quality red rubber with labels that stick to the clear blocks or photopolymer that never yellows.
Their Whisper White and Very Vanilla cardstock gives crisp stamped images every time. In fact, when someone says to me “My images don’t look like yours.”, I have them bring me a sample of the cardstock they’re using. Then we do a comparison. Stamp the image on their cardstock, then stamp it on SU!’s cardstock. Once they see the difference, they never buy the “cheaper” brand again!
3. Customer Service
Stampin’ Up! has amazing customer service. If something is defective, they replace it with no questions asked. If a snail refill doesn’t work – they replace it. If a stamp is defective and doesn’t stamp a crisp image – they replace it. If the cardstock or designer series paper is the wrong size – they replace it. Any problem can be fixed with a phone call to customer support.
They’ve even pulled a complete product line and refunded the purchase when it was determined that the products weren’t manufactured well and couldn’t be fixed. You just can’t beat that!
4. Community
Many of my closest friends are people I’ve met through Stampin’ Up! For example, I met my friend Chris because her friend Joanne wore a Stampin’ Up! necklace to work one day. I recognized the necklace and asked who she knew that does SU!. Joanne introduced me to Chris and we’ve been traveling buddies ever since. Not only do we go to SU! events together we’ve also gone on two European river cruises!
You meet so many interesting people when you become part of the SU! community – from the SU! employees to demonstrators to customers. You all share the creative hobby of using stamps, paper, and ink to create and it creates an instant bond.
5. On Trend
To keep things interesting and current, every year SU! introduces 5 new In Colors that are fresh and on trend and are only available for 2 years. It amazes me when I see the new In Colors in the new catalog and then I go into stores and they are everywhere – table cloths and home decor and clothing and outdoor furnishing and on and on. SU! is on trend.