Sunday 20 June 2010

Welcome to The Stamp Man ATC Swap Blog!

I am delighted to announce that Janet, Clarky J's Play Space is taking up the challenge to run our monthly ATC swaps.  Janet has past experience of running ATC swaps (over 3 years), so she does know what she is in for!  I can also tell you that she is one VERY excited lady!!

I didn't labour the point that one of our previous monthly swaps had over 320 ATC's for the month!  Apart from the time actually swapping them over, there is a lot of time spent looking and studying them as you are swapping, that's the REALLY nice bit, and of course that's got to be done  and enjoyed!! Then there is the satisfying bit when you've got them all swapped and packed up ready to take to the post office.  I'm sure Janet will love every minute of it!

We will be announcing the first themes and the instructions soon.  Some members of our Design Team will be posting ATCs here for you to see to get things going, no doubt we'll all dip in here and there in future swaps too.

You do not need to have a blog to enter the swaps and we hope you will join in when they start.

Overseas swappers are most welcome, although you will need to send stamped addressed envelopes with appropriate UK postage costs for your return swaps.  Visit the UK's Royal Mail website, where you can work out postage costs, buy and print off a label to fix to your envelope for your return ATCs.

Please join as a follower now to be updated with news about the swaps.  The swaps will begin on 1st July although the informtion will be given in advance of this.

We hope you will help us get this off the ground by advertising it on your blogs.  As a reward for doing this you will be eligible to enter to win some blog candy so watch for details about that!!

In the meantime, to get your ATC creative juices flowing, please view our gallery of past ATC swaps (there are about 900 photos) please click here.

Finally, thank you Janet for taking this on, I am sure it will be very successful and a lot of fun for all!

Jill

Thursday 17 June 2010

Swap Instructions and Contact Details

Please send your swaps, with the correct postage on your stamped addressed envelope to arrive by the due date:

ATC Swaps - (Theme you are entering for)
The Stamp Man
11 Craven Nursery Park
Snaygill Ind Est
Keighley Road
Skipton
North Yorkshire
BD23 2QR
UK

Email us at: atcswaps.thestampman@btconnect.com

Postage safety
You may like to send your swaps in a padded envelope for ultimate safety however you could also send them in a piece of folded card or bubble wrap to protect them . As atc are the same size as a credit card another suggestion would be to write hand made card please be careful on the top left hand corner of your envelope - this does seem to deter them being "opened" or becoming lost.

If your preference is for a padded envelope and you would like it to be recycled for return postage please ensure you enclose an address sticker and the correct postage sticker/ stamps.

International Swappers
Please click HERE for instructions

General Notes - the boring bit!

Only send one envelope per set of ATC's for the theme you are entering.

ATC's for future swaps can be sent in advance at your convenience.

Please keep to the theme and send the required amount of ATCs, these MUST be in multiples of 3, if you wish to send more than one set, you can, please adjust the postage for your returns.

Please ensure the return envelope is sufficient for the safe return of your swaps.

We cannot be held responsible for any swaps that are not delivered to us or yourself or any that are lost in the post. It is your responsibility to ensure adequate postage is paid for the sending and receiving of your swaps.

Please add your email address to the back of your swaps so we can contact you if you are a winner. The winner will be chosen from the swaps received not just those in the inz linkz this means EVERYONE has a chance at winning. The winner will be asked to chose 3 themes for future swaps. Not all themes will be used but at least one of the winners choice will be a future theme.

Future themes will be announced one month in advance to allow you to send 2 themes together if you wish. Remember you must send a SAE for each theme you enter.

Apologies for all the boring bits above, hopefully if everyone can follow these few rules, we'll all have a hassle free fun time swapping!!

Wednesday 16 June 2010

International Swappers

As it sounds like the Royal Mail service for printing postage labels isn't an option. We have worked out the following to enable you to pay by Paypal or Visa/Mastercard.

The costs for the postage and transaction fees are:

Europe - £1.61
Rest of world - £2.10

We have added a new product to our website for purchasing ATC swap postage so that we can collect your card payment information securely.  If paying by Paypal please order the postage online and we will send an invoice to your email address.  Please click HERE to go straight to this on our website

You will need to send a suitable return envelope with your address with your swaps.

We are announcing themes in advance to allow plenty of time for you make your ATCs but please ensure that you allow plenty of time for your swaps to reach us.

We hope this way helps!