For those new to our little blog every Christmas we play our own version of Secret Santa.  Being the creative lot that we are, Secret Sketch Santa has a slight twist on the traditional secret santa format.

1, Each staff member picks another staff member’s name out of the hat.

2, Draw them in such a fashion that their likeness will be suitable to place on the blog without causing widespread offence.

No one (apart from me) knows who has drawn whom and it is down to you, our plucky readers to vote on which is your favourite – we will reward one of you witha lovely bag of sweeties at the end of the day for your efforts.

To be in with a chance of winning, cast your vote and tweet a link to the post, including a #SecretSketchSanta hashtag.  A random voter will be drawn out of the hat just after voting closes and a bag of Haribo will be promptly stuffed into a jiffy bag and put in the post.

Voting will close at 3pm at which point all of our artists will be revealed and the picture with the most votes will earn some sort of prize for it’s artist.

*********** VOTING CLOSED – WINNER IS NICOLA! ***********

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

MARK was drawn by JO

JAMES was drawn by PETER

MITHUL was drawn by CLAIR

RACHEL S was drawn by JAMES

MARTIN was drawn by ADRIAN

MIKE was drawn by CHRIS

SCOTT was drawn by RACHEL S

BEN G was drawn by LEE

CLAIR was drawn by RACHEL A

SARAH was drawn by BEN E

CHRIS was drawn by MITHUL

NICOLA was drawn by MARK

GRAHAM was drawn by MARTIN

ADRIAN was drawn by BEN G

BEN E was drawn by SARAH

LEE was drawn by MIKE

RACHEL A was drawn by NICOLA

JO was drawn by GRAHAM

PETER was drawn by SCOTT

It started when I made cupcakes for everyone in the office one Tuesday, it’s the day of the week that usually is the most stressful, not Monday and not quite the middle of the week, so as a fun way to share a little joy a week later Martin made some yummy flapjacks and coined the phrase ‘Free Food Tuesday’. We posted to Twitter using the hashtag #FreeFoodTuesday.

The rules of Free Food Tuesday are simple.

1. 1. Items MUST be homemade, not from a packet or shop bought.
2. 2. Items can be anything you like, savoury or sweet.
3. 3. Items must be shared on a Tuesday. (This rule has been broken a few times!)
4. 4. There must be enough food for everyone to try.
5. 5. You must write on the list what you intend to make at least 1 week before.

We’ve had everything from cakes to trifles and here’s a look back over the last 6 months at the ones we managed to get photos for.

After my cupcakes and Martin D’s awesome flapjacks we decided to open the floor and ask people to sign up to a list! So Rachel S (well her brother since she spent the night in A&E) made chocolate crispy cakes, and plenty of them! We then saw shortbread from Iain, and chocolate brownies from Clair that were eaten so fast we didn’t get a photo!

We had lemon drizzle cake from Mike and two types of cake (fruit cake and vanilla sponge) from Ben E. Scott wowed us with his raspberry & white chocolate cookies while on my second round, I made fruit mini pies (pictured above on left), a spin on the new fad of pie pops. After that Graham treated us to a pineapple and cherry upside down cake which got us in a fruity mood for James‘ genius trifles (pictured above in centre) which had us all ooooooing and ahhhhhhing followed by yummy vanilla and chocolate cupcakes made by Sarah (pictured above on right).

September said hello to a cake made by Martin P and a late entry from Rachel S with some melt in the mouth shortbread. We were then all in cake heaven when Martin D stole the show with his coffee and walnut cake (pictured above on left and centre) which he transported to the office in a frying pan because his cake tin wasn’t quite big enough. October was finished with Jo’s double chocolate cupcakes, Rachel A’s brownie muffins (pictured above on right) and I made some Halloween inspired cupcakes, cinnamon and apple topped with apple and caramel (pictured below on left).

Lee swooped in with a triple surprise. Three cakes, and yes, all three were yummy. He made (well Hayley his talented wife made shall we suspect) a chocolate brownie cake, a lemon drizzle cake and a cherry loaf cake (all pictured above in centre) Mike took another go and gave us a lovely soft marble cake and Clair gave us another delight of her chocolate brownies. For my final attempt in 2011 I made lemon biscuits for my birthday (pictured above on right).

Finally in 2011 we have the last stars of the show. Chris broke rule 3 and decided to treat us to his cinnamon buns on a Monday (pictured above on left). They were good so we let him off. And if one rule breaker wasnt enough, Hayley also broke rule 3 with her stain glass window biscuits and Gingerbread Cake with Orange Festive Icing. Made by Hayley, decorated by Iz (age 5) (pictured above on left and right).

We have one more week for this year and so we’ve already started a list for 2012 and we’re hoping to have a few savoury options next year too. We have names on the list to fill 2 months and a few beyond that. So go on, try it in your office, see who bakes like a king, and who can barely bake a cookie. Get a calendar printed up with a name and food column and get baking!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Young Jack Henderson could well be his own worst enemy.  What started out as a small and well meaning fundraising idea has escalated into an adventure which has consumed his life – as well as those of his parents, Ed & Rose - and turned it into an internet sensation which has charmed thousands.

Jack – armed with his trusty Crayolas and felt tips – set out with an idea: to raise money for the Children’s hospital that cared for his younger brother Noah by drawing whatever visitors to his website requested in return for a charitable donation.  The only restrictions he imposed were the type of rules that you would reasonably expect of a 6 year old: nothing naughty – and in Jack’s words ‘I don’t want to draw anyone dying or being died’.

Their initial target of a raising a humble £100 has been well and truly blown out of the water with the current total on their just giving page (which is still accepting donations!) standing well in excess of £27,000.  Not only this but they have also amassed over 7,000 Facebook fans and nearly 1,000 followers of the Twitter account, diligently and warmly run by his Dad.  You may have seen them in the media recently. Oh, and he now has a book available too.

After completing an amazing 536 drawings, Jack is pooped.  Regular readers of our little blog will know that I enjoy a good doodle myself and I’ve loved checking out Jack’s masterpieces – so I thought I would track down Ed Henderson who has kindly spared us a his time to answer a few probing questions…

So for all the parents out there – just how do you rein in the ego of a 6 year old who has suddenly found himself in the media spotlight?

We made sure we kept him very insulated from too much of the nonsense that can go on. While it is great that everyone wants to congratulate him, being a 6 year old is quite simple, he gets a few people bigging him up, he gets  a big big headed, he gets a few meanies, he gets sad. We had to let him enjoy some of it but made sure that whenever we felt he overstepped the mark, we made sure he knew his standing in the family and the world.

To what extent are you ‘trained’ in web design and social media? Was there a steep learning curve involved in managing a site that suddenly attracted so much attention?

I build websites for a living and have used/advised social media for myself and my clients. On this scale however, no training. When you are at the eye of this social media hurricane it was manic. A couple of times I was so overwhelmed with communication I had to close the Mac and walk away for a while. Its relenting, tough but ultimately rewarding interacting with wellwishers, fans and followers. I wouldn’t have swapped it for the world.

"Gorilla swinging in the lianas in the jungle being chased by a tribe of indigenous people"

A question for Jack this time: who would win in a dancing contest between John Barrowman and Mr Bean?

Mr Bean – because he is a really funny dancer

Did you have a conscious strategy behind your online presence or was it something that grew organically?

We didn’t even have a Facebook page till Day 6 and even then Rose (Jack’s Mum) had to convince me! Jack had a Twitter account since birth (because I am a geek and reserved it for him). After that, “suck it and see” and “make it up as you go” are two phrases that spring to mind.

"Unicorn taking his pet baby elephant for a walk"

Another for Jack – what’s more fun? Getting a Hug from your mum or jumping on your Dad?

Both of them, I like jumping on my Dad becuase its fun and I like getting a hug from Mum because shes warm!

How did the book deal come about?

Someone posted it on their Facebook wall, no idea who. Sara O’Connor spotted it, twas the Heatblast picture.  Sara is a Senior Editor for Hodder Childrens. She called me, I thought it was a windup at first. It progressed from there.

Now that Jack has finished all his drawings and you look back – is there anything that you would have done differently if you had the chance to do it all again?

Jack – Nothing, I loved it all.
Dad & Mum – Closed picture requests a bit earlier than 2 weeks, 536 pics was a lot.

With all the media furore that has surrounded Jack combined with the technical and logistical challenges that surround managing such a popular website, there’s one thing that we really need to know – what does Jack want for Christmas?

Guitar, Space Shuttle (Lego), thats all.

Huge thanks to Ed, Rose and Jack.  Do something nice today and drop them a little donation. Or a really big one if you want to.

Unfortunately, we have a couple of rule-breakers, check out rule #4:

“There is to be no joining of the handlebars to your chin.”

We’ll be dealing with this rule-breaking accordingly.

Take a look below to see how the boys are getting along and if you like our efforts, why not donate a little something to our team page? http://mobro.co/fluid

Scott

Adrian

Ben

Chris

Lee

Martin

Mike

Movember Day #2

Our times (tracked by Endomondo) were as follows:
Lee Turner: 4h:24m:23s (61.33miles)
Martin Downton: 5h:18m:40s (62.31miles)
Scott Green: 3h:50m:04s (60.5miles)

So far we’ve managed to raise £1,351 for Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust and The Christiewhich is amazing, a massive thank you to everyone who has sponsored us, it is very much appreciated. We are still collecting donations too if you’d still like to sponsor us, simply visit http://www.justgiving.com/manchester-to-blackpool-2011 to make a donation, thank you.

Here’s a map of our route and a few photos from the day – sadly we didn’t get any crossing the finish line because we were all too fast and arrived before our designated photo-takers did!

Don’t forget, you can still DOWNLOAD July’s Desktop Calendar in support of Jo’s Trust.

Thank you once again to all of our supporters, and we hope to see more of you on the Manchester to Blackpool Ride in 2012.

UPDATE: Nicola has added a sign to ensure that no passing smokers will compromise the safety of our new mates.  Foolproof, this:

UPDATE – 18/05/2011 – 8:54 – We have a shot of Mummy bird in the nest!

UPDATE – 18/05/2011 – 15:34 – All tucked up for beddy byes. Some of us are still working. Lazy.

UPDATE: 23/05/2011 – 15:55 – Our little chums have started to get feathers! They’ll be reading next…

UPDATE: 24/05/2011 – Our winged chums now have names!

UPDATE:  26/05/2011 – Wormy Jim has gone awol!  Where is he, Mum?

UPDATE: 27/05/2011 – We’ve managed to get a video of Daddy bird dropping by the nest! Blink and you’ll miss it!

For those of you following me on Twitter, you will be aware of my affinity for that purveyor of cooked dead animals, Gabbotts Farm.  As their range of tasty corpses are more than reasonably priced I thought I could spin this into a bit of a novelty challenge:  spend £4.50 on as much food as you can and consume it. Simple.

You may think that £4.50 will get you a few sausages, and perhaps a chicken wing or two.  You’d be a big wrong idiot.  For this princely sum, I purchased a whole chicken and a chicken burger.  With this feast set up, it was then down to myself and Ben to tackle it – gladiators READY!

And they’re off!  In case you’re asking, the cans of drink don’t come out of the £4.50 budget.  They’re more of a necessity.

It turns out that strategy plays a big part of the Gabbot’s challenge.  I made the fatal flaw of taking the chicken down before the chicken burger.  Trying to eat a dry bun after a bellyfull of chicken was too much for me and I fell halfway through.  Looks nice though, doesn’t it?

Ben effortlessly cleared his plate, leaving  him the winner.  Well played, sir.  Well played.  I’m not a sore loser or anything but Ben is looking a little smug.

Incidentally, if Gabbott’s Farm are reading this and want us to take them on as a client and knock up a lovely new website then we’d love to hear from you.

Chuck us an invite, kids!

Amongst the Royals, dignitaries, politicians, celebrities and family members we feel we’d fit right in – if only we had the right NAME. That’s why we’ve borrowed this formula from Twitter for creating our very own Royal Wedding names:

Lord/Lady [first name of grandparent]-[name of first pet] of [name of road you grew up on]

So, ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, the Fluid Creativity wedding party:

• Lord Jane Snowy of Hillary AKA Lee Turner, our respected MD
• Lady Jane Worthington of Spring Gardens AKA Sarah Ozdemir, our honourable office manager
• Lord James Gail of Flodden AKA Graham Nimbley, part of our regal web development team
• Lady Hannah Bugsy of North AKA Nicola Thomas, part of our esteemed graphic design team
• Lord Jim Harry of Lingfield AKA James Chapman, part of our august search engine optimisation team
• Lady Beryl Sooty of Beech AKA Rachel Armstrong, our queenly office assistant
• Lord Alfred Blackie of Park AKA Ben Greenwood (ME!) of our majestic SEO team
• Lady Gladys George of Renfrew AKA Julie Abbott, our highborn business development manager
• Lord Parbhubhai Polo of The Fairway AKA Mithul Mistry, the final member of our resplendent search marketing team
• Lord Derek Dexter of Gainsborough AKA Martin Downton, another of our eminent web developers
• Lord Derek Muffin of Mora AKA Scott Green, our kingly motion graphics expert
• Lord Reginald Prunella of Shelley AKA Martin Proffitt, yet another of our aristocratic web development team

We’re angling for a (very) late invite right now. In the meantime, what’s YOUR Royal Wedding name? Let us know in the comments…