Stampin Up! Madness and Shopping

If you follow Craft Critique on twitter this won't be news to you, but for those who haven't Stampin Up! have issued a new contract to their Demonstrators in the US. They all have to sign this or effectively they'll be cut off from all SU services.

It essentially includes clauses to control all SU Demo's forms of internet presence, from Twitter and Facebook through to blogs and websites, not just those used for SU business but those strictly for personal use. It even specifies that links to other sites, including personal friends, who mention or link to competing products are now forbidden. So, for example, if you're an SU Demo with a facebook account, and your best friend owns a stamp company or sells stamps of another brand and mentions this on their facebook account, you can't have them as a friend on Facebook. You can't link to their website or blog.

I've never heard the like. It's draconionan, 1984'esque, unreasonable and unworkable. I hope many Demo's vote with their feet, I certainly won't be buying from.

On a more positive note, what was supposed to be a quick in and out trip on Saturday to pick up a pair of crutches the lovely Polly had left for me at Sugar and Spice turned into a very lovely chatty afternoon with the gorgeous Marion. She valiantly tried to debate the nature of need versus want when it came to the Cuttlebugs she had on special offer. I've been debating getting a bigger die cutting machine for a while, I love my Sizzix Sidekick and use it quite a lot but I want to be able to cut chipboard and I love the Cuttlebug embossing texture folders. She then very kindly helped carry it to the car :D

I haven't had a chance to even unpack it yet as Saturday night was spent cooking - GF cheesecake, Chicken and Pork Terrine with a cranberry and orange sauce and tomato and pepper salsa for a party in Chester on Sunday. Which was brilliant, and a fab night was had by all, but 430 miles of driving in 48 hours was exhausting. I met some lovely people who I'd ony chatted to online before, one of whom is also gluten intolerant and she brought along the most gorgeous Almond butter cookies, which I'm going to be doing a batch of this weekend.

Results will be posted here!