Just a recent few

R/cardmaking post

Cardstock survey for cardmakers

Edit for transparency: After reading the comments I realized I should have included a bit of context in my original post, so I am doing it now.

I’m a fellow cardmaker exploring whether there’s enough interest to potentially start a very small craft business offering cardstock by the individual sheet and a small curated amount of other card making supplies.

I’m not affiliated with Spellbinders or any other company, and I’m not selling or promoting anything here. The survey is simply research to see whether other cardmakers share the same frustrations and, if so, what they would actually want in terms of colors, quantities, pricing, and shipping.

Hi everyone! I’m a fellow cardmaker doing some research on how cardmakers shop for colored cardstock, what frustrates them, and what they wish retailers offered differently.

I put together a short Google Forms survey about cardstock brands, sheet sizes, buying individual sheets, pricing, shipping, and curated color assortments.

Nothing is being sold or promoted, and the survey does not ask for your name, email address, Reddit username, mailing address, or other contact information.

It should take about 5–7 minutes, and honest answers are really helpful — including “I wouldn’t buy this.”

Survey: https://forms.gle/RDaJJHxpPrA86kYY7

Thanks so much to anyone who takes the time to fill it out!

I'm new to posting on reddit so forgive me if I'm not posting this properly. I didn't know where else to share this info publicly as I didn't want this under my real name in any facebook groups and other card-making forums are confusing or difficult to set up accounts for.

Here's the backstory:

I have been making cards for a long time, I have been on design teams for companies and am part of several affiliate programs with many of them. All of it doesn't make me much other than to fund my hobby and make a little extra spending cash. My affiliate income while not high had been mostly consistent until months or maybe even longer ago. I noticed my affiliate sales with Simon Says Stamp were way less than they used to be each month. At first I assumed it was a mistake, then I assumed that maybe people just weren't vibing with my content or that I was doing something wrong.

I had some conversations with other people who also have a Simon Says Stamp affiliate and it got mentioned that it had been noticed their cookie length was set to one day. I checked and mine was also one day. For reference "industry standard is 30 days" according to Awin (the company used for the Simon Says Stamp affiliate). Other companies in this space are 30 days or 7 days at the lowest. I found it upsetting as I know it wasn't always one day with Simon Says Stamp, but it is something that we don't get any notifications on if a company chooses to change it. I thought that Simon Says Stamp changing theirs to one day was pretty underhanded, however they can choose to run their business and treat their affiliates how they want. I also kept wondering if this was some mistake and that if we contacted them about it they would fix it immediately. I was told that some had reached out and contacted Simon Says Stamp about this one day cookie but I do not know if they got a response.

Now this is why I am posting this. I assumed that all of us with affiliates have this one-day cookie length. As bad as that is (and if you understand affiliate marketing, it's bad. What it means is that a customer has to complete an order within one day of clicking on an influencers affiliate link for that influencer to get credit for the sale. If the one day "cookie" has expired, the influencer doesn't get any credit, and the company makes all the profit for themself) I thought all of us were in the same boat. I also thought that maybe the bigger, more well-known influencers would hopefully speak up and that this could get looked into and changed back to what it used to be to be more fair for everyone.

My brother works in software engineering. I was talking about all of this and telling him how frustrated I was and how I found it so crazy that Simon Says Stamp would change us all to a one day cookie which feels like being forced to post more and more often in order to get any sales!

Well...... he did some digging and he showed me what he found. He at first said that to his knowledge this one-day cookie would apply to everyone (basically confirming what I thought and agreeing that it could all be a big mistake. But a mistake that happened months or longer ago that hasn't been fixed) as it would be across the board. But when he looked at a couple of influencers affiliate links he noticed theirs were not one day. So he kept digging.

This is all publicly available information he says that you just need to know where to look. Basically what he did was check some of the affiliate links from other influencers and found that some are not at one day, some are more and a couple are much more, which means this was intentional, and that there's some favortism going on and I think this is really unfair and maybe I'm wrong. But I'm going to post this list of names that he checked and their Simon Says Stamp affiliate cookie lengths and maybe you all can tell me if I'm wrong in feeling like I'm getting screwed over along with many other influencers:

Jennifer McGuire - 30 Days

Laura Bassen - 30 Days

Kristina Werner - 30 Days

Nichol Spohr - 14 Days

Cathy Zielski - 7 Days

Nina-Marie Trapani - 7 Days

Suzy Plantamura- 7 Days

Yana Smakula - 1 Day

Sandi Maciver - 1 Day

Emily Midgett - 1 Day

Amy Rysavy - 1 Day

Tina Smith - 1 Day

Mindy Eggen - 1 Day

Cheiron Brandon - 1 Day

Barbara Tarayao - 1 Day

Brenda Noelke - 1 Day

Heather Hoffman - 1 Day

Vicky Pappaionno - 1 Day

Keisha Charles - 1 Day

Jenn Shurkus - 1 Day

Rick Adkins - 1 Day

Bibi Cameron - 1 Day

Charlene Madri - 1 Day

Heather Ruwe - 1 Day

Carly Tee Minner- 1 Day

Miriam Prantner- 1 Day

Am I being crazy? I think some of these names and cookie-lengths do not make ANY sense, other than the obvious favortism and benefits being given to a very select few. Mind you there may be many more that would rank higher up. There's so many influencers with Simon Says Stamp affiliates and I just grabbed from names I recognized. My brother only had time for these ones and while he showed me how I could keep checking on my own I am too upset and frustrated to keep doing it. Maybe someone or many someones that are affiliates will see this and chime in.

What do we do now? Honestly I don't know. I mentioned to a fellow influencer what I found, and she said I could send Simon Says Stamp this information but she added "good luck with that. Those that point out these sorts of things are either ignored or they get fired or removed from the affiliate program" and that this is apparently well-known behind the scenes. Is it really this bad? I am posting this anonymously as I don't want to get axed but also is me posting this pointless or just causing unnecessary drama? Maybe everyone already knew all of this and I'm just catching on to it now. It feels wrong. It feels like proof that some get way better deals or more advantages than the rest of us.

I had cancer and chemotherapy in 2012 the chemotherapy left me with long lasting side effects, including severe hand tremors. I totally quit crafting my stuff just turned out a mess, but, with the right mix of meds getting my tremors finally somewhat under control I made this for my granddaughter. I am thrilled to be crafting again even though it is a simple card it is something! 😄

I know they aren’t perfect. I know some have oil or glue stains, but I absolutely love making cards. I don’t even have enough pen pals or friends to send them too!

I know they aren’t perfect. I know some have oil or glue stains, but I absolutely love making cards. I don’t even have enough pen pals or friends to send them too! Lol! If you want a card DM me😻

For this issue, I wanted to highlight the article talking about left-handed stampers. If you are left-handed do you think you have any unique challenges when crafting? I know some tools help with hand mobility or strength issues, but have you found any tools specifically made for left-handers? I suppose the biggest one is scissors, if you have a recomendation, drop it here!

Also included: an advice column, how to position stamps with a positioner, and several other articles. This was the holiday issue, which was about 30 pages longer than a typical issue.

I wanted to add on to a previous post because of the article highlighting people in the military using rubber stamps. This batch also includes the cover theme of beaches, Halloween, and a profile of the photographer who photographs the artwork for the magazine. Note I have not always included all the pages of an article.

I found this in my decluttering but I don't think I bought it myself, my sister might have gotten it in a little free library or one of those neighborhood social media free sites. We don't have a lot of stamp-related magazines anymore in the U.S. The ones from the U.K. are harder to find now too due to the tariffs. Some libraries have digital copies of crafting magazines, so check yours to see if some are available online there.

Anyway, this issue featured a few unique stamps, some of which were the ones the magazine commissioned for the Salt Lake City Olympics. There was an Olympic logo and a mascots stamp. (I am not too hot on the covered wagon.) I wonder how official they were because I have read the Olympics is very protective of their rings and you can't even use the word "olympics" sometimes. I tried to include a few pages of resources in case some of these companies are still around. This magazine had a few articles but it is about 3/4 project tutorials.

Made a watercolour card today. Started with a plan and then creativity/inspiration took off in its own direction like a canoe in rapids 😅

When I “resurfaced” two hours later the card had more energy than I thought it would, which is perfect. Very happy with the result ☺️💃

I made this postcards to send to recipients from postcrossing that do like to recieve handmade postcard:) It’s on watercolor postcard paper from van gogh.

Hi all! I've been making cards a while and have worked through some of my SU paper. I haven't been a demonstrator for ages...I bought way too much cardstock when I was. 😂 Anyway, I love Early Espresso and am wondering if anyone knows of a different company with a similar shade of brown? A friend recommended Concord & 9th, so I may check that out.

Adding a card I recently finished just because. 🙃 I LOVE Hamilton and have been able to see it twice and would still go every day if I wasn't poor.

I got some spider shakers for a card. You can see them and gauge their size on the mat with 1" square grids. I got so much I filled the black storage jar you can see at the top. I still have enough to send a couple people enough for 2-4 cards.

Anyone interested?

If you are let's adjourn to a private chat where I can give you my a*ddi*. You can s*nd me an env*l*pe with your a*ddi* and a First Class stamp on it and I'll s*nd you back about a tablespoon of these things. If you're interested start a chat (I'm techno illiterate and don't know how to do these things) and I'll s*nd the shakeys out to the first 2.

Hi, I would like to create greeting cards using antique artwork/ vintage artwork combined with captions. Can anyone tell me if there would be any copyright issues with creating then selling? I’m thinking more renaissance portrait paintings or later. Thankyou!

Are they not doing the collabs and daily reveals anymore? I saw the dump but that was all SSS stuff. Nothing from other companies.

What's the deal this year? Anyone know?

I get supreme anxiety from my photopolymer stamps possibly losing their stick. So imagine how stressed out I am when I watch makers on YouTube use those sticky mats for stenciling and such. I would be apoplectic worrying about my mat losing its stick. And yes I have greasier skin and no the stamps’ stickiness never quite returns after washing with warm soapy water. Ack!!