Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi there.

Thanks for popping in. The Crafts beautiful Award winners have just been announced, and I am delighted to tell you that Clarity was Highly recommended for Best Stamp Range, Customer Service and the SHAC – and our One Day at a Time Blog won! Wow. Many many thanks to all who voted for us.  It is great to still be in the running after all these years!

I have always said I don’t want to build an empire. Never was my aim. Don’t want to get bigger, just want to get better. That’s what it’s all about. Quality over quantity every time. And may I say also, that there are many, many little craft companies out there that so totally deserve awards for design, art and creative drive, but you have probably never even heard of them.

I am also super chuffed that the SHAC SHAC was recognised. That is one really GOOD thing which has come out of the Pandemic – a superb,  creative community of kind and caring people. How good is it that we have a place to hang out and keep each other company – whatever the weather? To doodle and draw and design stuff TOGETHER.

There are those who might say it’s not good business sense. Where’s the dollar? And I would respond, it’s perfect business sense. It’s perfect Barbara Business sense – hey! My ride, my rules! Of course we at Clarity are very grateful for the Craft awards, but to be completely honest, my personal reward for writing this blog and driving the SHAC Bus is the knowledge that it actually does help a lot of people get through. I receive so many lovely messages, cards, letters and gifts from kind folk who benefit from the SHAC or the blog! That’s my reward.

There are those who call the SHAC and the Blog shrewd marketing. Well, whatever. It feels right and good to me to care for the people who care for my company. In fact, forget the company bit. It feels right and good to me to care for people. That’s not business speak – that’s humanity.

I also want to say that the blog probably wouldn’t be alive if you didn’t read it! Since October 2013 I have been posting most days… that’s over 3,000 posts! Why do I do it? Because there are people who want to read it and enjoy it. Simples.

And the SHAC-SHAC? I love it. I love the vibe, I love what we do together. I love that I’m allowed to drive the bus. I just love it. But if you didn’t turn up at 10am on a Thursday – and if you hadn’t bothered to turn up at 10 every day for over a year during Lockdown – well, there’d be no SHAC. The bus would have stayed in the depot.

So not only THANK YOU for voting, but thank you for making these things happen! It’s a team thing, you know. And on that note, a huge SHOUT OUT for Paul Church. He deserves a blimming medal putting up with me sometimes !! He’s always there, mopping my brow, making sure everything’s working, helping me do it all. Thanks Paul

What’s the word I’m looking for? STRENGTH. That’s it. We all give each other strength. A pat on the back – an award even – gives one the strength to crack on with renewed vigour!

 

Time to stop.

Love and Hugs

Barb xxx

 

74 thoughts on “Thank you.

  1. Well deserved recognition for all that you , Paul and the team do for us .Keeping us going during difficult times and putting a smile on ours faces . Have learnt so much and am still learning love it all so a heartfelt well done and thank you xx

  2. Thank you Barbara. Well done.
    The Shac has been brilliant for a lot of us.
    Never done anything craft wise until you have shown us how to do it. Love and now need a craft room. I still have my L plates on. Thank you Joy x

  3. Well done you are my insperation i remember some 16 yrs ago i had to give up your club because of a break up and you sent me a card that i still have ! It all worked out and 18 months later i forgave and we are still together 44 yrs minus the 18 months you put me in a good place you deserve to be were you are ,never stop caring, but also take time for you 💖

  4. Hello Barbara,
    I get what you mean. I have always said the Claritystamp community never feels like a company and its’ customers (even though we all know that is what it is}. It is, first and foremost, a family where we all look out for each other. Some people I have met through Groovi and have become very close friends. Others I have only met through the facebook pages. But we are all friends.
    This is down to you, Barbara. And Paul. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, my life is so much the richer for having Claritystamp in my life.
    Love,
    Roz.xxx

  5. Huge Congratulations to all, very well deserved.
    Love reading your blog its like catching up with an old friend.
    As for the SHAC – love it!
    Take care, keep safe everyone.

  6. Congrats, Barb… and thank YOU! I’ve been talking to a number of people today and opining exactly this… Clarity is what it is because it’s NOT anywhere near the others. There’s no ego… well, not much, grin. Family/ community means everything to you, Dave… can’t forget your right hand man… Paul, Jeannine, and the rest of the team. So, thank you really is not enough for everything y’all do! You rock!

  7. I’m so glad the SHAC and your blog in particular got awards -well deserved. These days we look at the Shac at the weekend mostly, or later in the day on Thursday but after we’ve finished our Christmas cards we hope to be back on a Thursday morning with the gang.
    Congratulations Barbara, Paul and all the Clarity family. Special thanks and congratulations to Jeannine (sorry forgotten spelling) for customer service recognition.

  8. Thank you Barbara for
    All that you and your dream team do. We all feel like family helping and supporting each other. It always will be. You deserve the recognition, well earned. Love and hugs from a very grateful lady. The last Yr has been horrendous for me, but having had your love and support has helped me through it all. Now I’m strong I can carry on with my future life, oh and all things clarity of course xxx

  9. Congratulations! You so deserve this recognition. I look forward to reading the blog every day and the SHAC has taught me so much and given me the confidence to draw and colour. All Clarity products are the highest quality and the customer service second to none. Thank you so much for keeping us all going. Xx

  10. Congratulations Barbara (and Paul!). Blow what others say, we wouldn’t come here if we didn’t like what you and Claritystamp stand for or did. Clarity is like one big family as you’ve always said and your customers make up the family, you only need to read the comments here or on the FB pages ! Well done once again, considering the year you’ve had and you’ve kept us going (hope we’ve kept you going to!) you deserve this! X

  11. Congratulations! Your award is so well deserved as you have brought so much happiness to so many of us through the blog and the Shac. If the world had a bit more Clarity goodness we’d all be better off.
    Well done team and here’s to the future.
    With love
    Zara xx

  12. Well done to all at Clarity for your care and concern, you feel like friends not a business. As for you Barbara, you are everything I wish I could be, kind, talented and generous of spirit and all the good adjectives you could think of. May your hopes and dreams come true. The shac and your blog have been a life line for many ,me included and I miss you when you don’t blog. It’s been a tough couple of years for us all and you have kept us going. My crafting has gone backwards after fast growing cataracts , twenty years earlier than most people, have removed my clarity of vision. After scraping the bottom of my savings I have now had them treated and looking forward to creating more skilled work, with your guidance.
    Can’t see well enough yet to find your gud people this year but having fun looking.
    Have a fabulous Christmas, hope everyone can come and share it with you.
    Many many thanks

  13. Congratulations, well deserved, you work so hard.
    You and the team are an inspiration to us all and for some of us the only family we feel comfy with.
    Thank you so much for all you do, you certainly have the right mix between business and caring for your customers.
    Stay safe.

  14. So pleased for you and the team. Shak has kept me sane all these past months. I look forward to everything you bring. Certainly looking forward to Sunday. Need a clue what we need for Thursday as many of us don’t watch from a craft room – just saying 🤗

  15. Many congratulations Barbara, to you and Dave, Paul, Grace and all of Team Clarity! So well deserved for all the hard work and amazing things you do to keep us inspired and happy in our crafting. But so much more than that, especially over the last year or two with the SHAC and your blog. You have been so generous with your time, inspiration and terrific tuition throughout some difficult times for us all. I am so grateful for the way you have enabled us to be part of the greater Clarity community, to be able to interact regularly with such a wonderful group of like minded artists and crafters. So please keep driving the bus and all of us happy passengers will be along for the ride – and we might be persuaded to buy the odd “souvenir” or two along the way, but only because we really need them!

  16. A caring and sharing community is what you’ve created Barbara and we thank you for it. Congratulations on your award and thank you for being you 💕❤️💕

  17. Congratulations to you Barbara! It’s a very special community that you’ve created! Who’d have thought when you started the company that you’d be where you are today. I’m so glad I discovered you all those years ago and that I’m now part of your DT. It’s a privilege.
    As for the SHAC I am very grateful that it happened and is still going.
    Sending much love. Xxxx

  18. Your reward is well deserved.
    You may be running a business, but you are also running a bus that has request stops for those that need a bit of help, you give mental health support with your friendly voice and face in the SHAC, coaching us to improve our drawing and colouring passing on hints and tips and it isn’t just you but the rest of the Clarity team right down to that pair of vikings. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

    1. Congratulations Barbara and all of your team! Well deserved! Thank you for helping so many of us in the Shac and on Groovi Tuesdays. I watched Paul and thought it’s good but not for me. I now own so many plates and I’m hooked, addicted and having so much fun! Thank you so much!

  19. Congratulations Barbara &Paul Well Deserved for all the time you put into getting ready for the Shac couldn’t have got through that first lockdown without yous

  20. Congratulations to you Barbara, Dave, Grace,Paul, Jeannine and all those lovely people at Clarity Towers. Very well deserved. I love being part of the Clarity Family, for all the inspiration and friendship. I have also learnt a lot on the Shac bus and have loved our journeys together. Thank you for your time Barbara. Xx

  21. Congratulations Barbara on a well deserved award. You, your family and everyone at claritystamp deserve the recognition for all that you do for us . I have never before delt with a company that is so careing. So a big thank you from me💕💕💕

  22. Congratulations on the awards which go to show how much the Clarity Team means to us all.
    The SHAC Shack has been a great place to meet up & share hints, tips, tears & laughter over what has been nearly 2 years. A hour spent doodling & colouring is a great way to forget what is going on around us. Yes many of our doodles have turned into products but I feel that we have been a part of the process that is needed for production & have purchased many a souvenir !! We must not forget the Groovi Tuesdays with Paul & Linda which has also been a great source of hints & tips x

  23. absolutely fantastic news and so well deserved. You have done so much Barbara for so many people that it only right that you get the praise you deserve. I know i for one really appreciated the SHAC SHAC during lockdown as did my mum and my sister. We had a common link and all thoroughly enjoyed comparing each other’s work and seeing how much we improved over the year. Haven’t managed to get to the Thursday shacks but if i had the time i certainly would and i know that i can dip back into each and every one of them! Thank you again from the bottom of my heart

  24. I am delighted that you have so rightly won so mny awards on many levels you really really deserve it, not only are your products so good, your customer service is amazing the company leader ie YOU so shows so much care and attention to your customers. I for one have loved the Shac Shack and the feeling of belonging to a large crafting family with a great friend teaching us many things. Like you I have had many worries about my Husband (who needs a heart op) and family but have loved being distracted by art and your great humour. THANK YOU.

  25. I never really knew much about Clarity until the Shac Shack started. I was staying at my elderly mums during lock down as I didn’t want to leave her on her own. So daily for 2 months I joined in, found my love for Art again and loved listening to Barbara’s family stories which mirrored my childhood as I too had an Oma. My mum loved it too. I can’t tell you what it meant to us both. I’m an Oma myself and my 2 granddaughters love crafting with me and without Barbara I don’t think I would have set up my craft room and found my passion for crafting.

    Then I also found a crafty friend that I have met quite a few times now and I message and speak to others – all because of Shac Shack and Barbara’s kindness. The nomination is well deserved for allocating Clarity. The quality of the products also needs to be mentioned!

    Thankyou Barbara. Can’t wait to meet you one day so I can thank you personally!

  26. Many Congratulations to Barbara and her magnificent team. I love everything Clarity and although I stick with Groovi and Dies, I get such pleasure from looking at and learning about your entire range. The quality of your products in exceptional and I’m so glad I stumbled across you 20+ years ago! Have read all your blogs from Day 1 and am forever dipping into them. They are inspiring, uplifting, teaching, thought-provoking and so much more. We share your laughter and tears, good times and bad. I guess the majority of us have never met you, but we each regard you as a personal friend. Thank you for ‘being there’. Oh! And very special thanks to Barb’s little helpers in particular Paul, Linda, Josie, Glenys,Grace,Jeannine, and everyone at Clarity. We wouldn’t be without you! Love and hugs Pam xx

  27. Congratulations, I don’t often comment but I nearly always read the blogs, keeps the motivation going. Thanks for everything xx

  28. Congratulations – well deserved. What a long way we have travelled since your photo laying on a bush showing us what the stamp of the month was meant to look like, to the age of the computer!

  29. Congratulations and well done to you and all the team. You so deserve the awards for all you have done for us. I can’t do the SHAC live any more, as Thursday is my line dancing class, but I catch up later. I can’t tell you how much I love it and I have drawn most of my Christmas cards this year, thanks to you and my new skill. Love and hugs to you and all the team. XX

  30. Well said Barabara, whatever people say, you got us through the pandemic with your blogs and Shac shac. Even at the other side of the world (Australia). Congratulations. Well deserved winnings.

  31. Congratulations to you and your wonderful Clarity team. Thank you for all you do, my days not complete, till I’ve read your blog. To me, you and all at Claritystamp are “Simply The Best”. xxx

  32. Huge congratulations to you and all the team. A great pat on the back, a massive bear hug of love and recognition well deserved. You have helped so many people get through such a bad time just by being you. I think of you, as many of the SHACKERS do as a great friend and love to listen in to your wonderful life, family, troubles and accomplishments. I wish you all the best and lots more recognition for the future x.

  33. Congratulations, Barbara. Very well deserved as it is by the rest of team Clarity, especially Jeannine who gets 10/10 for Customer Service. Hxx

  34. Congratulations to you Barbara and all the Clarity team. Thank you for all the tuition, tips and tricks, laughs and inspiration. x

  35. Huge congratulations! Every accolade is very much deserved and I am particularly pleased that you got the award for most inspiring blog, because that is you through and through. I don’t mean to diminish the fantastic Clarity team, who deservedly share in the glory. Thank you for all you do

  36. Congratulations Barb, Paul and all the Clarity team and family. Vey much deserved recognition. Thank you for all you do and all the inspiration and though you put into what you do. Take care and stay safe everyone. Bx

  37. Well done Barbara and all the Clarity Team so richly deserved. You have steered us through, perhaps the worst possible times experienced by so many. Thank you is a simple acknowledgement but we all know how huge the meaning behind it. We feel together in the Shac, motivated, safe, have lots of fun, even shed tears but learn so much and it’s good to feel part of this special community. THANK YOU and congratulations to you all x

  38. Congratulations a well deserved achievement. All of the above comments portray my feelings so I say ditto to all above and Thank You.

  39. Congratulations to everyone involved in the shac Shac and the Clarity team. I can honestly say I don’t know how I would have survived the past, getting on for two, years without the shac. I have doodled, coloured and drawn things I never thought I was capable of. I have laughed and cried along with many others at various times but for me it is the support we give each other. You have created a truly wonderful
    caring, safe space for us all for which I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Take care and stay safe everyone xx

  40. Hello Barbara, congratulations on the awards. Take no notice of what those people are saying. They are just jealous of our close family. I believe that a lot of people would not be here today if you had not started the shac journey. These people have nothing else to do only pull people to bits. They must be very lonely. My husband as dementia and I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have Clarity. When I have some spare time I go in my room and craft and that re charges my batteries. You all deserve a medal for what you do for people. I recommend you to all my friends or anyone else that I know are crafters. Please take care everyone lots of love ❤️

  41. To say that any award is well deserved is an understatement! Awards or no awards, we love you, the Clarity team and everything that you do
    Love, Cx

  42. Congratulations on your awards and to Paul and all your team , don’t know what we would have done without you especially in lockdown it was the highlight of the day never missing one is only now I have to catch up as work Thursday mornings, looking forward to many more hours with you all xxxx

  43. Thank you Barbara, the Shac shac has got me though some hard times and still is, I have learned a lot from both you and Paul, I watch you every week, so keep up the good work.

  44. A very well deserved Congratulations to you Barbara, your lovely team and family. I am so glad I discovered Clarity and their amazing products, I really look forward to our weekly get togethers, both Shac Shack and Groovi ,
    Sometimes I watch on Youtube later but whenever it is, I feel that I am in the room enjoying the companionship and do sit there chuckling to myself and often laughing out loud as there are so many comparisons with my own life.
    Thank you for Clarity Stamp.

  45. Congratulations! So deserved! ( I sent a longer post yesterday but for some reason it didn’t get through.)
    Hugs xx

  46. What a result! I am so pleased for the Clarity team. You lead from the front in such a caring way – no wonder that the company pulls together so well to look after us. Thank you Barbara, you certainly deserve the accolades. x

  47. I am so sorry Barb, as I didn’t even mention the blog and it is the only one I read every day. It is amazing that you have kept up your wonderful daily blog, even through the many tough times you have experienced over the years. You introduced me to the wonders of Maya Angelou and several others, who have enriched my life too. You truly are inspirational, so thanks again and well done on such a well deserved award. XX

  48. Well done Barbara
    As I told your daughter before you are the best
    Unfortunately I don’t have the pennies atm to buy your amazing stuff you come up with but most Thursdays I am on your bus much love from me too you keep going I know you don’t have it easy either but you trying to always make us all smile
    Anja

    1. Congratulations to all the clarity team – brilliant – though how you didn’t also win for customer service astonishes me because it is even more than exceptional. What other firm could possibly be better? Personally I think you should be sainted for the SHAC, Barb xxx

  49. Love the blog. Read it when I can catch up and them read what I missed. Thank you for you’re time in the Shac Shack. With you’re help I have learned to draw so many things, I used to say oh no, and then I did it. Have a lovely Christmas and enjoy time with the family, and make sure you get some rest. See you on Thursday Xx.

  50. Congratulations ! You give us so much inspiration with your blogs, both on crafts and life in general. I always look forward to reading it.
    Love and hugs
    Yvonne

  51. Many many congratulations Barbara and all the Clarity team. So well deserved. Just keep doing what you love to do and just being you, you are wonderful!
    Love Diane xxx

  52. Congratulations !!! You would receive my vote any day even though it would not accept my vote living outside of the uk Clarity truly exceptional xxx

Leave a Reply to Miss elizabeth dick Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *