The Stamp Man 3rd Annual Awards!!!

For the last 2 years we have held The Stamp Man annual awards and we'd love you to join us for our 3rd year by proudly presenting your best/favourite project that you feel you have made during the year.

It doesn't have to be something you entered for our challenges, the most important part of this is that we would like you all to have fun and enjoy taking time to look back on your crafting over the last year.

There will be a random prize draw for the top prize which will be

£30 of Stamp Man Gift Vouchers, and 4 runner up gifts!

For a chance to win a prize you must:

- Display our award blinkie in your sidebar
- Link to a post about our annual awards.  Within the post you should then either show your project again or you can place a link to your original project whichever you wish to do.
- Use Inlinkz to link to your post.

The design team show their favourite challenge projects, and what a great selection there is from the team!  If you have the time, do call at their blogs to read more about their projects and perhaps leave them a comment.

Here is my favourite project of 2011

It started as an address and birthday book with a plain red cover.   The reason I have picked this project is that it has proved the most useful.  I have carried this book around with me all year and I did wonder if it would stay intact and apart from losing a sticker (it's probably in the bottom of my handbag!) and it looking a little more aged, it is still doing well.  I made it for the embossing challenge back in April, you'll find more details about my original project HERE

On behalf of the team I would like to thank everyone who has taken part in our challenges this year, it has been such a pleasure to see all your creativeness throughout the year and we hope you will join us again in 2012.

Happy New Year!!

Jill and The Stamp Man Design Team

Click here to visit our Challenge blog for more details about the awards.

Shop and website - important update!!!

We are still working hard adding even more products to our website, it is hard to believe that there are over 5,000 products on there already!  We intend to add more features to help with your crafting, so please bear with us. 


Just a little note about the discounts on the website, I have been through all the products and changed all the prices so that the price you see is the discounted price, before it just gave a blanket discount at checkout.  I'm sure this will make shopping even easier!

Last posting date for orders before Christmas is Thursday, 22nd December.   We will be accepting orders thoughout the Christmas and new year holiday and will despatch these, where possible, during this time.  We will be back to full service on Tuesday 3rd January.

We have also started selling on Ebay, our shop on there is simply called 'thestampmanshop', so keep an eye open for more bargains there.

Now that our new website is up and running we have decided to finally close our actual shop to visitors, our last day open will be this Wednesday 21st December.  We will now be concentrating on the website and will also be attending many more shows in the coming year.

We have 3 shows booked for January and we are looking forward to meeting people who are local to the venues which are...

SUNDAY JANUARY 15TH 2012

Ross Papercraft Shows
Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield (10am-3pm)

More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SUNDAY JANUARY 22ND 2012

Ross Papercraft Shows
Rainton Meadows, Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland (10am-3pm)

More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SUNDAY JANUARY 29TH 2012

Leeds Grammar School (10am-3pm) Ross Papercraft Shows

More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk

Thank you for your continued support and we wish you a happy Christmas and best wishes for 2012.

Jill and Ian

The lucky winner of the shabby chic bag is....

We have been offering a chance to win this shabby chic bag to everyone that shopped with us on our new website or in the shop up until Thursday 15th December.

The prize draw has now revealed that the lucky winner of this gorgeous bag

Containing all these goodies...

 is.....

Lynn Wild 

of Lancashire

Congratulations Lynn!!!!

Hopefully your prize will arrive in time to be an extra Christmas present.

Watch for a new competition coming in the new year!

Jill

Website update

There's over 5,000 items reduced by 20 % on our website, some are reduced by 50%.  It took some doing but I've edited them all so it's easier to see the price you'll pay straight away rather than a blanket discount at checkout.  I think I deserve to eat chocolate now:) 

Don't forget there's a chance to win this gorgeous shabby chic bag full of shabby chic loveliness if you order before 15th December!!!!

Well done if you are keeping up with Tim's 12 Tags, our price reductions are on everything on the website so if you need any of Tim's stuff for your tags, do look on our website as Alcohol Inks are now £2.80 each for plain colours, Distress Inks and Stains £3.99, basically there's 20% off everything!


I hope you are keeping warm, it's freezing today, but at least we don't have any snow here at the moment!!


Jill x

Make an Ornament Challenge - Block Art

I attended a Woodware Retailer Day back in September and one of the projects I made was this Christmas ornament designed and inspired by Woodware designer, Jane Gill.

There were so many inspiring projects that weekend but this really fits our ornament theme over on our challenge blog this fortnight.

I thought this was such a brilliant idea and a great way of using all the wooden blocks lots of us are busy removing our rubber from!  Are you dis-mounting yet?  I spoke to a lady in the shop this week who wasn't doing it yet so perhaps I should explain...  As our wood mounted stamp collections have grown and grown over time, lots of us are finding storage difficult and as more people are getting used to using unmounted stamps, it seems logical to remove the rubber from the wood blocks to save storage space.

I don't know what everyone is doing with the resulting pile of wood but we gave a lots away when we moved out of the shop to a customer who has a wood burning stove.  I think this is a much better use for them.

I'm sure this idea will suit us crafty hoarders who don't like to throw things out, we can simply alter them!  I think it is a perfect idea for a gift or an alternative to making a card, the greeting can be put on the back and can be made on any theme appropriate to personalise it for someone.

Anyway, back to this ornament, we used the following products that you'll find on our new website, it may look a long list but I'm sure you'll have some of the things.  The Clearly for Art film is a very interesting new material and I'm sure it will work really well with Jane's other large flower designs, not just the Christmas designs.

Block Art - inspiration from Jane Gill

Large wooden stamp block
Clearly for Art
Woodware JGCL551 Christmas Verses
Woodware JGS260 Festive Background
Woodware JGS256 Christmas Rose
Sakura XYKT49 Identi Pen - Black
Sakura 41301 Pen-Touch gold pen
Woodware Peel Off Pens (red and green)
Lucky Squirrel PS8/TR Translucent Shrink Plastic
Stampendous Embossing powders, Red Dragon and gold ep
Burgundy card
Pale patterned 12" x 12" background paper
Woodware Crafty Edger starter set
Mark Richards Cluster Gems - Autumn
Woodware RIB09 Olive green ribbon
Woodware GG3 Red Glitter Glue
Plier punch, Versamark pad, crafty glue, hot stuff mat, ds tape, Glue dots


Cut background paper to fit all around the block with a little extra for overlap.

Stamp and emboss the wording background on the middle of the landscape paper.

Place the end of the block on the back of another piece of the background paper, draw around, cut out and fix in place.

Use wet glue to ensure the embossed paper is stuck down firmly over all the wood surface.  Allow to dry.

Punch ribbon border with the crafty edger, the ribbon pattern comes with the starter set.

Thread the ribbon through and fix the ribbon ends to the back of the punched piece.

Fix this to the block.

Make a tag with shrink plastic stamped with a greeting, make the hole before shrinking!

Attach a ribbon bow to the tag and use the same ribbon to tie the piece to the ribbon border.

Stamp the flower onto Clearly for Art using black Staz-On ink and cut out.

Turn over and colour the reverse of the flower with red and green peel off pens.

Using a black Identi Pen, draw patterns such as swirls or dots.

Put the flower onto a hot stuff mat and heat for a few seconds using a heat tool.

Shape the film quickly to a desired finish.  Apply more heat if you need to reshape any parts.

Fix the flower onto the block with a few gluedots.

Decorate with cluster gems and apply some red glitter glue to the centre of the flower to finish.

Hopefully you've managed to get down this far and are interested in entering our Ornament Challenge.  Our design team's work is, yet again,  truly awesome!!!  There are so many different ideas so hope you will join us and share yours with us too.

Have a great weekend!

Jill x

PS:  A little reminder... All orders in the shop or online placed before 15th December qualify for a chance to win a fantastic shabby chic bag. See the post below for details!!

Lucky Shopper's Shabby Chic Bag - with a new You Tube Slide Show

To continue with the launch of our new website, we have a very special, LIMITED EDITION shabby chic bag up for grabs for a lucky shopper!

From now until 15th December, all orders placed online or purchased in the shop will qualify for a chance to win this fabulous shabby chic bag filled with lots of shabby chic loveliness!

As our old bags proved very popular, we decided to go for a shabby chic theme this time.  I gathered lots of lovely goodies together at the shop yesterday, I haven't actually tried to put them all in the bag yet but I have a feeling now that they won't all fit in the bag as I got a bit carried away, (it'll be fun trying to pack it later!!!)

Anyway, as you probably know, we are offering 20% discount at the moment on all orders over £20, and there's also free p and p on orders over £20. (UK only)

So it's a great time to grab a bargain AND a chance to win an extra special Christmas present for yourself!

I've made a You Tube slide show of most of the contents of the bag, it doesn't all feature there but it will give you a good idea of what you could win, click HERE for a little peek.

To help spread the word I've made something for you to copy and paste into your sidebars, it would be great if you could share the news about the giveaway with your friends.

I've been adding more to our website so there is more choice there now and I still have lots to add, so it is worth checking regularly, if there is something you'd like that isn't there yet then please email us.

Recently added are Dreamweaver and Magenta products, they are pretty much up to date with what is now available from them, I still have loads of photos to add but I'll keep at it!  Just to point out again, the discount is deducted from your shopping basket now and you can see how much you have saved on your order (and spent I hear you say!).

I've enjoyed revisiting these companies products while I've been adding them, I've mentally gathered some ideas, perhaps once the website is fully loaded I will have some time to play again.

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend, it's foggy and gloomy here today but at least it isn't as cold as it should be for this time of year.

Have a great week

Jill x

New Stampendous Fran-tage stamps

Hot on the heels of the Merry and Magical supplement, Stampendous have released yet another brilliant supplement!

Fran has been very busy and I love her latest designs, it was difficult enough to pick a few examples to show here let alone try to choose which I would like to play with

If you pop over to our website www.thestampman.co.uk you will find all the new stamps along with some inspiration from the Stampendous Design Team

Fran has also put together some great videos on the Stampendous You Tube channel You'll be able to watch Fran's Fran-tage techniques

Associated products for Fran-tage are the chunky shabby embossing powders, shaved glass

The glitters

And not forgetting the delicious mica fragments

All too yummy for words!!

Here's a few more stamp designs, if you want to see more, please pop over to our new website www.thestampman.co.uk, HERE for the powders and mixes, and HERE for the stamps

Thanks for visiting

Jill x

New Prima Paper Pads in stock and Old Bag prize claimed

We have some of the new Prima Paper Pads in stock, plus other bits and bobs

Pixie Glen - £5.25 (less 20% if total of order is over £20)

Romantique - £5.25

We also have the Jenni Bowlin Die Cut Pad - Vintage 1 - £3.99

Plus some new papers we have added to the website, including Bazzill A4 and 12" x 12" Kraft cardstock, and My Minds Eye Journaling 1

I designed the free cover stamp for Craft Stamper December issue that is now available.  The papers we used for the card ideas with the stamp were from Craft Creations and are available on our website HERE

There are plenty of other new things added recently to the website, I'll tell you more about them in my next post, for now though I wanted to also let you know that Sarah has contacted me to claim her blog candy 'Old Bag' prize.  Congratulations Sarah!  So, the very coveted, and LAST remaining unique 'Old Bag', now leaves the building!!

When No. 8 came up I visited Sarah's link and took a little look at her blog, and from my little peek I've joined as a follower as I want to visit again to spend more time looking at Sarah's previous (and future) craft projects, I LOVE your wanderer frame Sarah!!  

I'm sure Sarah will provide a good crafting home for her prize 

Happy Halloween and have a great week everyone!

Jill x

The Old Bag Blog Candy Winner Announcement!

The winner of the Old Bag Blog Candy....

....who will win the fabulous bundle of goodies below,

who was picked with a random number generator is  

drum roll, drum roll.....

         

No. 8

and.. No. 8 is ...

  Sarah!

Congratulations Sarah, please can you email me at thestampman@btconnect.com with your full name and  address and we will post your bag of loveliness on to you, you lucky lady!!

Apologies for the delay announcing our winner, but we have given Sarah extra time to claim the prize.

Thank you to everyone that entered, sorry you couldn't all win but hope you will join us very soon for more great giveaways.

We will shortly be announcing a couple of new giveaways for November that will be focused on our new website, www.thestampman.co.uk.  The new website is coming along nicely now although we still have lots more to add there.

There is 20% off EVERYTHING to launch the new site plus there's some extra discounted products that we're adding to the Special Offers section.

We also have some new products in stock too that I'll blog about another time.

I hope you have all had a great weekend and have made the most of the extra hour, congratulations again to Sarah!!

Jill x

The Old Bag Blog Candy Giveaway - NOW CLOSED

Roll up, roll up....  It's BLOG CANDY TIME again!!!!

It's been quite a while since we had a giveaway and I thought an Old Bag would be a perfect prize.

As I mentioned before, we sold out of the fab Old Bags at the Harrogate show, we did say they were LIMITED EDITIONS but, I saved one:)  I hid it away for this.

It is one of the Game theme collections but there are lots of general bits and bobs in there too.

Here are the contents of the Old Game Bag that the winner will receive, it includes a package packed with paper/card pieces (a glassine sheet and pocket envelope, adage tickets, die cuts, tags etc) plus an 8" x 8" Bingo paper (rolled up in the kraft paper).

There are all sorts of embellishments in the bag that are ideal for configuration boxes that are not just game themed.  Configuration boxes and other things by Tim Holtz can be found on our website HERE

For those with blogs - to enter all you need to do is leave a comment below this post and spread the word on your blog by putting a picture of this blog candy onto your blog sidebar linking it back to this post. If you would like to sign up to become a follower that would be great, as we'd really love you to follow our blog.

For those without blogs - please leave a comment below this post. Please note that you will need to leave your full name within the comment to be entered, otherwise anonymous entries cannot be accepted.

One entry only, duplicate entries will not be counted.

This candy will run from now until

 Midday (GMT) on Tuesday 25th October 2011.  NOW CLOSED

The winner will be selected at random and announced soon after.

You will need to call back to see if you have won. If the prize has not been claimed by midday Thursday 4th November, a new winner will be drawn.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

 If you'd like to find out more about our old bags please visit the following links, 

http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.com/2011/09/old-bag.html

http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.com/2011/09/old-bagrevealed.html

http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.com/2011/09/old-bag-configuration-box.html

http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.com/2011/09/old-bags-sold-out.html

YOU TUBE

Click HERE to visit our new You Tube Channel to view a clip about the Old Bags, you can subscribe there to see future videos

We would love it if you could spread the word about our Blog Candy Giveaway and our new You Tube channel with a mention in your blog posts.

 Thank you :D

Jill Tuck x

Night Time Challenge and Blog Candy Reminder

Just a quick post this morning as getting ready to leave and set up for the Stamp Magic show in Doncaster tomorrow.

Before we set off I wanted to show my Night Time card that is for our challenge this next fortnight.  The theme was set by Michelle and she certainly challenged some of us on the design team!!  I think the projects the team have made are all awesome, so do pop over for a look, grab some inspiration and join us for the challenge.

Our new website is coming along now, have you visited it yet?  We've loads more to do but really pleased how it's looking...  Here's the new link to bookmark,  http://www.thestampman.co.uk/index.asp

Also wanted to remind you that the Old Bag blog candy finishes on Tuesday so if you haven't joined in yet, get a move on :)

I better get a move on now...

Have a great weekend, see you at Doncaster if you are going

Jill x

Website update

I'm still busy adding products to our new website, www.thestampman.co.uk, there's almost 2,500 products on there now and still much much more to add, it's going to keep me busy for a while!!

All of the Stampendous Merry and Magical stamps are on there in the new product section, but there are also hundreds of stamps and sets from Woodware in their own section that we didn't have on our old website, I need to add pictures of the Woodware stamps still, that will take me a while I think, but I will keep at it!

We will be holding a prize draw for people who have shopped with us each month, the first draw will be at the end of October.


We've got loads of 20% bargains to launch the new site, with 50% off other items, plus FREE p & p when your order is over £20, so do pop in for a browse.

Have a good weekend

Jill

New website - open for shopping!

Our new website is up and running and receiving orders!

Here's a few notes to help with your shopping on our new site that are different....

- You may need to update your bookmark for the website, the new address is http://www.thestampman.co.uk/index.asp

- As we have started the website from scratch, you will need to log in as a new customer

- To launch our new website, we are offering 20% off everything if you spend over £20.  (UK only)

- If the total of your shopping, after the discount is deducted, is over £20, you will also get free P & P!  (UK only)

- You now pay when you place the order.

- You are now able to pay by Paypal.  If you don't have a Paypal account (and don't want one), you are able to pay by debit or credit card by following the instructions (Paypal handle the payment process but you don't need an account, you can remain a guest).

- Everyone that shops with us and spends over £20 will also be entered into a monthly draw, more details about that another time, but I can tell you that the prize for October is unique and something different!

We still have lots of products, pictures and info to add and we are working our way through as quickly as possible but if there is something you want to order that isn't there yet please let us know, and if we can add it, we'll bump it up on the list of products we're adding.

Do keep an eye on the new product section as we will be adding new things there as well as in the main part of the website.  At the moment the whole of the new Stampendous Merry and Bright supplement is there.

There are also other features on the site that we will be using once we have added more products.  One of the great features is that we can have 5 images for each product so we will now be able to show a card or project that we hope will help with inspiration, we also intend to link things up with our You Tube videos too.

Our new online shop is open 24 hours a day, so please feel free to pop in and have a browse around!

Jill x

Our new website

Please note:  We are in the process of moving to our new website, our old one is now unavailable, we are still tweaking the new one and will let you know as soon as the new site is live which we hope will be in the next day or 2.  Orders are being processed as normal but if you have any account queries please email thestampman@btconnect.com

Apologies for any inconvenience caused by our move but we are sure you will find it much improved once we open.

Please continue to the blog candy post below...

Thanks

Jill

Yippee.... Computer says YEEEESSS.... to my first You Tube Video :D

I do LOVE my new lappy!!  

My old one wouldn't allow me to upload videos from my camera onto it, but this new one does: D  

So, although it's not brilliant, here's my first little You Tube Video.  I made it before I started packing the old bags so there's a lot of lovely stuff piled on my desk, lots of it has gone now though.  

As I mentioned in my last post, I saved an Old Bag for some blog candy and this video will show the sort of things the winner will get in their Old Bag.  

You can visit our You Tube channel HERE where you are able to subscribe and watch other clips etc.

We'll be adding more there in due course, especially now that I can add proper videos!!

Well, I've managed to get that done but I'm struggling to get the graphics bit ready for the blog candy, I'll keep at it and will be back with it asap!

Jill x

Grrr... Computer says noooooooo!!

I've been AWOL as my old lappy slowed down and down to a stand still then it finally gave up:(  It's been so frustratingly slow and painful to work on and I really should have got a new one ages ago, why oh why did I struggle with it for so long!!!  

I got a new one this afternoon and I'm busy filling it up and making it mine:)  I cannot believe how quick this new one is compared to my old thing, I'm sure computer life will become so much easier now.  The difference is unbelievable, a whole new world :D  I think I've lost some files for good, my fault for not backing up more regularly but it really was a painful chore on my 7 year old:(  I did ask Dell about renewing my warranty a while ago when the screen gave up, the man just laughed!!!  I don't think they have stock of spare parts for it any more, it's just a little too vintage!

Ian and I are now squabbling about who gets to drive the van over the old one, 'cos it is going to happen!!!  We may wait until it's fully laden with stock for Port Sunny show and then really squish it ;D

Anyway, blog candy got delayed, but it will be coming soon...

Jill x

Our 1st You Tube Video is here on our blog!

Well, look at me and technology... It's our first You Tube Slideshow, there are a couple more there now with more clips to follow... Want a peek at more?  Visit us and perhaps subscribe HERE

The kit is sold out but we will have more available soon!

I hope you are enjoying your weekend

Jill x

The Old Bags - Sold Out!

Thank you to everyone who visited us at the GNPE show in Harrogate this weekend, it was great to meet up with new and old friends.  Hugs all round are always nice:)   (That's the only reason Ian goes LOL!!)

I cannot remember the last time I came home from a show with clean hands!  I didn't demonstrate inks or stains this time but the Crafty Edger from Woodware, that is such a clever gadget!  I know that all that bought it will enjoy using it and it was great to hear from those that already have it that they love it too after using it for a while.  

We took the original photo that Ian and I had when we dressed up in the Edwardian outfits 20 years ago and it was lovely to reminisce with customers who remember us around the time we had it taken, how wonderful to see that those early customers are still making cards and enjoying their hobby and Ian is still getting the blame for starting them off with it all!!  

As far as their husbands go, it was particularly interesting for Ian to hear from a husband of a long standing customer that he had just attained second place in the world karate championships, he missed becoming world champion by a fraction of a point.  It is great to catch up and hear all the news from customers we have known for so long.

Even Batty Barb flapped in from France accompanied by the lovely Stef and Pam who I haven't seen for a long time.

That's the great thing about shows:)

The Old Bags were a real hit and another lady came back this afternoon and told me that she'd bought one yesterday and after seeing what she had was REALLY pleased with it, I could see that she and her friend were so excited, I think they had a Numbers and Letters Old Bag.  

Ian has told me tonight that a lady looked at a travel kit and said I don't care what else is in the kit, I just want that aeroplane!!!!!  I know she also got a little car, I remember packing that particular kit, I'm sure she will be happy with the rest of the contents too.  See, I told you I became far too attached to all the contents of those kits!

If you have missed my previous posts about them, I should explain that they are Limited Editions, and are all different.   The good news is that there will be more, so watch this space!

It's been a lovely weekend, so just to say thank you everyone for all your support!

Jill and Ian xx

The Old Bag Configuration Box

Just a swift post before I head to bed before the show tomorrow.  

I wanted to show you a really quick small configuration box I made using some of MY kit (sorry but of course I HAD to have a kit myself to test:)  ...Who am I kidding!!

I used a letters and numbers kit, now I do need to point out that you don't get everything on my work desk, and every bag is different so there won't be any straight copying of this going on I'm afraid!!  Your kit will be a mystery and a challenge just for you.  

I honestly could have kept and stroked all that stuff daily and I will inwardly weep when those bags go, but I know they will go to good homes so that is OK:)  (Sort of)  My fault for bonding with craft stuff, I'm a terror for it, Ian calls it hoarding!  I don't know why:)

Sorry, I digress...

As my work desk is still full of lovely stuff (yes proving that there is definitely hope for more Old Bags), I had to make this in the kitchen and PDQ.  I've not been able to craft much recently so I absolutely loved making this.

I need to point out that I haven't used tissue tape around the apertures, it's the repro newspaper in strips.  Since I made this I've included them in the Old Bags but we will also sell this separately as it is fab for die cutting etc.  Unfortunately Tissue Tape wasn't an option for pack splitting, although I  have been thinking of how to do it...  Anyway, the repro stuff is great with distress inks and does the job.  Tip...try mounting it on chipboard before using to make it extra sturdy.

Right, I'll upload the other photos of it now, and stop waffling as I need to get to bed.  The photos aren't great but better than nothing...

Before I go, thank you for all your encouraging comments about the Old Bags, I'm so excited about them and have loads of ideas and if you want them too, I'm sure we can organise mail order for them, even to the USA Deanna:)

Thanks for visiting

Jill x