Stampin Up

Stampin' Up! began in October 1988, when sisters Shelli Gardner and LaVonne Crosby started selling decorative rubber stamps from Gardner's Las Vegas living room. Gardner later said they thought they would fill orders while their children napped. Three months later they moved into a warehouse. Gardner grew up in Kanab, Utah, and the company built its stamp manufacturing there and later moved its home office to Utah too.

By 2005 the company was big enough to open a 300,000-square-foot headquarters and distribution centre in Riverton, Utah. The Deseret News reported that year that Stampin' Up! was a $220 million company and had sold 6,875,000 stamp sets the year before.

We were just in it for fun — a little creativity, a little extra money and to help create something we couldn't find for ourselves.

Shelli Gardner, co-founder and then CEO, Stampin' Up! — Deseret News, March 2005

Leadership. In 2016 Shelli Gardner appointed her daughter, Sara Douglass, as CEO. Gardner stays on as Chair of the Board. The company describes itself as a papercraft company driven to make a positive difference in people's lives, and it sums that up in a short Statement of the Heart: “To love what we do and share what we love, as we help others enjoy creativity and worthwhile accomplishments.” It runs an annual Day of Service for employees and ties some product sales to charity; in 2025 it donated part of the proceeds from the Love & Courage stamp set to breast cancer organisations.

Where it sells. Today Stampin' Up! operates in the United States and its territories, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Austria, the Netherlands, Ireland and Belgium. The official site is stampinup.com.

Products. The heart of the catalog is the stamp set, sold in photopolymer and cling rubber, with coordinating dies to cut the stamped images out. Around that sit Stampin' Pad inks, card stock and Designer Series Paper in the company's own colour families, refreshed each year with a new set of In Colors. There are embossing folders, punches, ribbon, adhesive gems and pearls, a Stampin' Hot Foil line and ready-to-make card kits. New products come out in seasonal catalogs and mini catalogs through the year, with online exclusives in between.

Paper Pumpkin. This monthly subscription sends a box with pre-cut pieces, a stamp set, ink and envelopes to make a small batch of cards. It is popular with beginners and with busy crafters who want a finished project without planning one.

Close To My Heart. When the Utah scrapbooking company Close To My Heart announced in February 2024 that it would close on June 30, 2024, founder Jeanette Lynton said she was working with Stampin' Up! on a path for her Makers. Many of them joined Stampin' Up! as demonstrators that spring, and the closetomyheart.com site was set to send visitors to stampinup.com after June 30. Former Makers say Stampin' Up! has since grown its scrapbooking and memory-keeping range.

Stampin' Up! does not sell a fixed starter kit. New US demonstrators pay $100 and receive the Get Started Bundle: a coupon code worth $125 in products and eight complimentary catalogs to share. You choose what to spend the coupon on, so you can build your own kit around the style you like. If your first order goes over $125, you get your demonstrator discount on the rest, and that amount counts toward your first quarterly minimum.

Joining also gives you access to the demonstrator-only Facebook groups, training through Stampin' University and the weekly Succeed Weekly email, and the option of your own online demonstrator store (Demonstrator Business Web Services, a paid add-on). Prices and offers differ by country and change with promotions, so check the current join page before you sign up.

Stampin' Up! is open about this: it calls its demonstrator pay a modest commission and its opportunity a source of supplemental income. Many demonstrators join mainly for the discount and never sell much beyond friends and family. You can stay a hobby demonstrator, become what the company calls an influencer with a few customers, or build a team.

New demonstrators start at the Bronze title with a 20% discount on qualifying purchases. On top of that, demonstrators earn a monthly commission that rises with their sales volume. To stay active you must submit $300 in sales each quarter (measured in Commissionable Sales Volume, or CSV, so the rule works across currencies). Your own purchases count. Miss the minimum and you drop as a demonstrator, though you can rejoin after a short waiting period.

If you sponsor others, you can earn team commissions on your team's orders. The title ladder runs from Bronze through Bronze Elite, Silver, Silver Elite, Gold, Gold Elite and Platinum to Platinum Elite, based on sales over a rolling 12 months and the size and strength of your team. There are also incentive trips and events such as OnStage. Exact rates change, so check the company's current compensation plan with a demonstrator before you join.

PROS

• Exclusive products designed in-house, with a coordinated colour system crafters love
• Low $100 entry that comes back as $125 of products you choose
• Honest company messaging about modest income
• A long track record: in business since 1988 with stable family leadership
• Strong teaching culture: classes, clubs, Paper Pumpkin and lots of free project ideas online
• A welcoming home for scrapbookers since the Close To My Heart closure

CONS

• The $300 quarterly minimum adds up if you only buy for yourself
• Commission is modest; most demonstrators earn little beyond their discount
• Papercrafting is a niche hobby with a mostly older, loyal customer base
• Products retire on a set schedule, so stock bought for classes can date quickly
• Your own website costs extra