I’ve been using products designed by Stephanie Barnard since she was a designer for Sizzix and I love her stuff! Mostly, I like that her die sets are for interactive cards. A lot of those card styles can be made without dies, but boy are the dies great time savers! Well, she now sells her designs under her own company – The Stamps of Life (TSOL) and they have various monthly clubs. Generally, I’ve found her price point to be fair but a bit above my budget. I mostly shop clearance sales and larger companies like Sizzix and Spellbinders have FANTASTIC clearance/warehouse sales all the time because they can afford to and probably need to in order to clear out space.
I could not pass up this club subscription deal and you can also get the same deal too!
I signed up for the Die Hard monthly subscription. Here’s what you normally get for $24.90/month:
- 4×6 stamp set
- Coordinating die set
- Free shipping to the USA
- Free stamp set and die set as a welcome gift
- Freebies a few times a year
- $15 Gift Certificate to TSOL on your anniversary (if you stay subscribed for the full 12 months)
- 15% off all purchases on TSOL (starting right away)
- You also earn loyalty points when you shop on their site and they can eventually be redeemed for discounts
Now, the stamp & die set you get isn’t exclusive to club members. You can buy these even if you aren’t a club member. The stamps usually retail for $14 and the die sets are usually around $18. So, right there, you are saving $7 plus shipping (since you get free shipping as a club member). So, that already sounds like a pretty good deal, but until now, it wasn’t enough for me to sign up.
Why Did I Join the Club?
TSOL is offering a FANTASTIC promotion right now and I believe you can still sign up to their club! You are going to get TWO free die sets starting in July and through to the rest of the year! That’s six months of extra dies. And my understanding is that these are “Stephanie die sets” – meaning they are new products and not old things they are trying to clear out. Kind of exciting because that means if you’ve purchased a lot of their products before, then you know you aren’t going to get any duplicates.
So, for $25/month, you’ll get a stamp set and THREE die sets!
Now, is that the only reason I signed up? No, but this promotion is that extra icing on the cake that made me take the plunge. Here are some of the things I really like about TSOL and the Die Hard club in particular:
- The coordinating dies are unique. You get not one but TWO styles of coordinating dies. What does that mean, you ask? One style will cut the image out with a white border and the other style will cut out the stamped image with no white border. I don’t know any other company that offers this. It’s more useful than you’d think. Sometimes when you’re composing a collection of die cuts you want the white border and sometimes you don’t. The Father’s Day card I made with the May club set I cut the grill with the border but the meats without because it looks more “realistic” that way.
- The stamped images are simple and easy to color. I’m not an expert colorist, so I really appreciate images with lots of open area because that feels easier to color for me. The image sizes are nice too. You usually get some that make good focal images, some additional smaller graphics and sentiments.
- The aesthetic. I really like the aesthetic of TSOL. They offer something more than flowers and butterflies so I feel like it’s more likely I won’t already have something in my stash that is similar. That’s important to me because I don’t want a lot of the same ol’ thing. Also, while the images are simple, they aren’t childish or cartoony.
- Gemini machine. Ok, this sounds weird as a reason to sign up, but TSOL offers a fantastic price on the Gemini die cutting machine — even at regular price. But as a club member and getting 15% off, I have never seen the machine at that price. I want to eventually get the Gemini machine (when I earn enough affiliate money), and when I do, I think I’ll get it through TSOL because I don’t think I’ll find a better price.
Things to Note
There are some important things to keep in mind. They aren’t unusual per se, but it’s important to know what you’re getting into:
- 3 month minimum commitment. You have to stick around for at least 3 months. So that’s a minimum commitment of $75.
- No skips. It’s sort of all or nothing. You are either in the club or not. Some programs let you stay subscribed but skip if there’s a particular month you aren’t interested in. But your spot is still reserved for the following month and pick right back up. With TSOL, if you want to “skip” a month, you need to cancel and then subscribe again the following month.
- Extra discount. If you are willing to pay upfront annually, you will save an extra 5% on your club membership cost and of course, you’ll be guaranteed the $15 gift certificate on your anniversary.
I’m not affiliated with TSOL, I just want to let you know that I found this to be a great time to sign up. If you were ever considering it, maybe it’s a good time for you too!
If you want 100 extra club points, email me at info@lvhandcrafted.com before you sign up. I can send you a special referral invite to sign up for any of the clubs. If you use that link, we both get 100 club points. You need 500 points before you can start using it for discounts on your purchases.