Polka Doodles

Week 4 - Template

2012-01-27T08:59:00.102Z

Week 4 - Tempt us with a template project

Hi there everyone, It's Dee here with this weeks challenge. Before we get to this week's challenge I'd like to announce the winners from Week 2 Vintage/Retro set by Fliss. As always we had some fab entries, you don't make our jobs easy do you? The winners are:

1st place: Tracey MacDonald, 2nd place: Paula Tidman, 3rd place we have a tie with Lovely Linda and Suzanne B well done everyone! Can everyone please email Nikky for your blinkies and to claim your prizes please! Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number - this will make Nikky's life a lot easier!

Now, onto this week's challenge - I would like you all to use a template in your project, It can be a physical one or a digi template, it's up to you.

The Polkadoodlers have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blogs:

1. Please follow the challenge!

2. Only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polka Doodles.

3. Please link your blog post and not your blog address with the link below - this saves us from searching your blog for your entry.

4. And please no back-linking to previous posts - these will be disregarded from our top three voting.

5. If you have comment moderation and word verification on your blog it really does slow us down when leaving comments - please consider turning word verification off especially now that comment moderation has a spam section.

Dee: I've made a toy soldier card for my project this week, although it's from the Paper Boutique Vol II-Creative Christmas it's one that could be used all year round. I simply printed off all the bits and layered it up using silicon glue.

Nelly: I have used the Paper Boutique vol 1 cd and used the Sugary Cake template, placed it on an 8x8 card and cut around. The design papers are also from the cd except the dots the text swirls paper which is from the Sugar Birdies CD and the images are taken from Pretty Sweet CD. I used a Martha Stewart punch to create the border and ribbon and raffia from my stash, the sentiment is from the Pretty Sweet CD.

Joni: I used the Paper Boutique 111 CD - the Country Cottage template.

Emma - Polkadoodles make some fab templates, I have used the cupcake one from Paper Boutique Volume three this time to make my card. I printed the cut and create template in A6 size which has pre colured elements which saves time. I backed the template onto different sized mats to build up my card and then decorated the heck out of my cupcake - (hmmmm no surprise there then!)

Louise- I have used the paper Boutique Cd for my card this week and printed out the lovely house and then used a character from the Pretty sweet CD.

Clare:- I've used the birdhouse template from the Candy Doodles CD. I printed the papers from the Sugar Birdies CD onto card and printed the template onto the back of the papers. This template makes a really good size birdhouse. I filled the inside with paper flowers and printed out the cute owls from the Sugar Birdies CD.

Shary I have used the Paper Boutique Vol 3 for my project. I've done a mixture of using the papers from the CD and I've also printed out some of the elements to colour with copics. The little flowers have been punched out using the papers and I've added a little gem to each flower.The sentiment is also from the same CD.

Joanna - I've used a seed packet template from Sundae of Seasons CD, the papers are from Sundae of Seasons and the seed packet image hidden at the back is from Not For Girls CD. The butterflies are from the Fairy Flutterfly Maxine stamp set and the flowers are a free stamp designed by our talented Nikky for the Craft Stamper. All coloured with Inktense pencils.This template is so versatile! If you'd like to see more inspiration with this template, visit my blog - I have a tutorial, too!

Shell-for my card this week I used the cut and create cupcake template off the Paper boutique lll cd, I made a card blank using my nesties, added a few layers and distressed the edges using worn lipstick distress ink then simply added a ribbon and a few pearls.

Colette - I have used the green cupcake template from Paper boutique lll and followed the instructions on the CD to make my cupcake shaped card. The stars are covered in glossy accents and I added some string and a button from stash to make it look a bit more masculine.

Carol - I have used a template from the Paper Boutique Vol III and decoupaged the layers for more depth. I also added some stardust stickles for some bling.

Norine: I used a template from the Paper Boutique 3 CD this week as well as background papers from the Pretty Tuff CD. After cutting and piecing all the pieces, I stitched beads on for sprinkles on the cupcake.

So there is our inspiration for this week - some fab and fun projects! Your closing date to enter is Sun 5th Feb at noon GMT.

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Week 3 - Sketch and Blog Candy

2012-01-20T09:00:00.036Z

Hello everyone and welcome to another week at Polkadoodles!

Woohoo we have a bit of a landmark at Polkadoodles - 1000 Blog followers!! woohooooo!! In celebration of this we will choose 5 random people who leave a comment under this week's post who will each receive a free stamp! But you have to be a follower and you have to leave a comment under the post to qualify. The winners will be announced next week.

Before we get down to business this week, did you all know we now have a great Under 16's monthly challenge over at Diddydoodles! We think it's really important to get the youngsters crafting and give them a bit of motivation so if you have young hands that are always in your craft stuff then please get them joining in! It's all a bit of fun but it's run by kids for kids and we would love it if you can help spread the word please.

Before we get to this week's challenge, onto the winners from Week 1 which was to follow the sketch in Shades of Grey. As ever we had some fab entries and the winners are:
1st: Jackie and tied as runner ups are Emma, Sandra B, and Lindsey well done everyone, Jackie wins a special set of Grey Flexmarkers and the runners up all win a Digi!
Can everyone please email Nikky for your blinkies and to claim your prizes please!

Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number - this will make Nikky's life a lot easier!

So, onto this week's challenge - the sketch! It's my birthday this week so the theme is to make a Birthday Card and follow the sketch. The winner of this challenge will win a free stamp which has not even been released yet so we can't even show you the design, but if you like cute owls you are going to love it!!
Now I felt generous so I've let the Design Team use one of their stamps from their stashbox this week, let's see what they all came up with but please make sure you follow our simple rules when you enter...

The Polkadoodlers have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blogs:

1. Please follow the challenge!

2. Only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polka Doodles.

3. Please link your blog post and not your blog address with the link below - this saves us from searching your blog for your entry.

4. And please no back-linking to previous posts - these will be disregarded from our top three voting.

5. If you have comment moderation and word verification on your blog it really does slow us down when leaving comments - please consider turning word verification off especially now that comment moderation has a spam section.

Ruth: I've gone with a round card and I've used two butterflies from Sundae of Seasons and added some wire. The ribbon ruffles are made by simply ruffling up ribbon and sticking it down to some very very sticky foam tape (I think its DIY stuff!) Confession time - I can't remember which cd I printed the paper from!!!

Daniele: For my card I used papers from All Around and Everywhere, the bird cage die is from Memory box and I couldn't resist adding feathers. The stamp I have used is from Stampavie but there is also a delightful birdbox on the Cd to go with the papers.

Claire: For my Stashbox stamp card I have used a freebie star stamp from Craft Stamper magazine and also a birthday cake stamp. It's my middle child Caleb's 7th Birthday soon so enjoyed using Nikki's sketch for his card. The papers are from the Magical Winter cd and the alphas are from Sugar Birdies CD..... Just with a little added doodling and gold leaf

Enfys: I made a New Year resolution to use up some of the papers I have printed out from various CD's - the great thing about Polkadoodles CD's is that all the papers seem to coordinate with other CD's - you get so many colour families on each one that it is easy to match papers. The image I used is a Lili of the Valley, coloured with Promarkers (did you know that Nikki is one of the few suppliers to sell markers individually?)

Fliss: I'm on a bit of a nature kick with my cards at the moment so my card here is no exception as I wanted to use this really cute owl from Tattered Angels and I thought the papers on the Pretty Sweet CD a perfect match with their shabby look and gorgeous vintage colours. I stamped the owl with Memento Rich Cocoa and left him uncoloured for impact. I added die cut layers and inking on the edges for emphasis. I finished off with a great sentiment from the Back To Nature CD.

Miria For my card I used a LOTV stamp coloured with Distress, the papers are from Paper Pretties cd, I just added some buttons.

Josie: This week for stash box stamp I used a Lili of the Valley image. I am hooked on the pink and turquoise colours at the moment as well as these papers. They are from the Pretty Sweet and Magical Winter CD Roms.

Net - Hi and oops! I kind of got a bit.... er lost on the sketch! Its sort of in there but the sizes and shapes are a bit different. A case of do as I say not do as I do! My hand immediately went to these lovely dotty papers. I love dots! A new magnolia was inked for the occasion. So please don't be like me follow the sketch! ~slopes off to the norty glitter free corner~

Ashley- For my card I used the Pretty Tuff cd, for the awesome stars and stripes papers and stamp image. I added some cool PTI stamps to create a fun "rock star" theme. A little glitter here a little glitter there and BAM you have a "ROCKIN" card.

Anne...For my card this week I've used papers from Sugar Birdies CD and a stamp from Sparkle n Sprinkle which I've coloured with copics. Some punched flowers and leaves finish the look.

ALAN: For this challenge l went straight to Sugar Birdies CD-Roms 'Collectors Edition' for my backing papers. There is such a wide range that can be used for any occasion. I wanted a softer card creation that l could give to Mum-in-Law on her Birthday. The flowers were again from the Sugar Birdies CD-Rom 'Collectors Edition and were just glued together and a button threaded with Butcher string to give detail.

So there you have this week's entries...aren't they fab!

You have until Sunday 29th January at noon GMT to enter so make sure you get your entry in to have a chance of winning that candy!

Just use the cute little InLinkz button below - all you need to do is add the URL of your image(not your blog post!) on your blog (or Photobucket etc if you don't have a blog) and InLinkz will load your thumbnail. It sometimes takes a little while to refresh so if it doesnt load first time just check a little later on.

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Week 2 - Vintage/Retro

2012-01-13T09:00:00.022Z

Hi there,

We hope everyone is back in to the swing of things now 2012 is truely underway. We had some amazing entrants in our Challenge 50 - Through the Window challenge, it was so hard to choose but our winners are

1st place: Michaela 2nd place:Pauline 3rd place: Donna - well done to all of you!

Please email Nikky for your blinkies

Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number - this will make Nikky's life a lot easier!

The Polkadoodlers have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blogs:

1. Please follow the challenge!

2. Only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polka Doodles.

3. Please link your blog post and not your blog address with the link below - this saves us from searching your blog for your entry.

4. And please no back-linking to previous posts - these will be disregarded from our top three voting.

5. If you have comment moderation and word verification on your blog it really does slow us down when leaving comments - please consider turning word verification off

especially now that comment moderation has a spam section.

Hello there everyone, it's Fliss here with the challenge details for this week and I've been a bit naughty as I'm on Team A and this is really a Team B week - tee hee! The reason for this is that my younger daughter will be turning 21 in just a few days and I wanted to pick a theme which she loves as much as I do which is why I chose Vintage or Retro.

Fliss: My card is Sarah's 21st card and I chose a sewing theme as she's doing a fashion degree. The gorgeous dress form, sentiment and pincushion are from the Sundae Of Seasons CD and I printed them out on beige parchment card for a vintage look. I used papers all from the Pretty Sweet CD and an embossed panel of recycled kraft paper. I finished off with some lovely embellishments.

lis-m ; For my card I have used "Pretty Tuff" for the whole thing... i love this little boy image . I have coloured him with Promarkers, and added a couple of buttons to finish.

Nelly; I made two cards for this weeks theme and couldn't choose so for my easel card I have used images and design papers from the Pretty Sweet CD and for the retro card i have used Sugar Birdies CD Candy Doodles CD and Pretty Sweet CD

Clare:- I've gone for a sixties feel, retro card. Very plain and simple to fit the sixties style.

The papers are from the Polka Doodles "Candy Doodles" CD, the colours were a great match for my Flexmarkers. The flowers are black and white stampies from the "Sugar Birdies" CD and the image is from the Polka Doodles "Meeshelle" Fairy Flutterby" rubber stamp set.

Norine: For my card this week I had fun exploring all the CD's again and decided on a vintage card with paper and images from the Sundae of Seasons CD. I love the subtle colors and designs and when paired with distressed, inked edges and scruffy lace, you have an easy to make vintage card for almost any occasion.

Shell- For my card this week I went with vintage, the Papers and the adorable image are from the Pretty Sweet cd, I have distressed the edges with distress inks, the flowers are die cut using a page from an old book.

Joni: Pretty Sweet CD

Supplies: Pretty Sweet CD

Louise For my card I have used this cute image from the Double sprinkle of kraft CD and coloured with copics.

Dee: I've used a selection of papers and a sentiment from the mini CD Pretty Sweet this week. I decided not to use an image and just concentrate on the papers, so I've used quite a few Spellbinder dies. I've even added some of my favourite spotty ribbon to this pretty card. Everything has been edged with an Old Paper distress inkpad.

Shary For my card this week I've gone for vintage. I used coordination card and sanded it and embossed it. The papers are from the Pretty Tuff CD and I've distress inked them around the edges. The image is two of the stamps from the Magic Neighbours range. I've coloured them with Copics and lightly gone over with the distress ink. And finally the sentiment is from the Fairy Flutterby Babsie set. I punched the flowers out of the Pretty Tuff papers and inked them too , also adding a little pearl to the middles.

Diane My card this week uses the stamp Fairy Flutterfly Babsie and I've coloured her with Copics and Prisma pencils and given her a very girly, vintage setting. All the papers are from the Pretty Sweet Mini CD Collection.

Joanna: For this week's vintage theme I looked for inspiration in Not For Girls CD and oh boy, this CD is full of vintage goodness! My papers are a mixture of Not For Girls and Paper Boutique vol III CDs and the tickets, sentiment and alphas are from Not For Girls CD. A lot of distressing with distress inks later and my card was finished! ;).

Carol : This week I decided to use the Pretty Sweet cd rom and printed these dps off as well as the image which I have coloured in with Copics.

Colette For my vintage card I have used the Not for Girls CD's printed one of the plain papers onto my card for the background and then layered more papers and the vintage cars poster on top. I have added some grosgrain ribbon, brads and a mini bulldog clip to finish it off.

Week 1 - Giveaway & Shades of Grey sketch

2012-01-06T09:00:00.092Z

Well helloooo Polkadoodley's! Happy New Year!! We all hope you've had an amazing Christmas and New Year and it's now time to work some festive calories off with lots of fab new challenges! We have some really exciting things going on this year so make sure you check in regularly for all the news...

We are all VERY excited to announce our brand new Polkadoodles Club - the Pen and Paper Circle! There are no costly membership costs to this, you just sign up on pre-order if you want the issue and wait for it to drop through your door - simples! We'll be bringing you an exclusive stamp and some other goodies each time together with a fabulous step by step project magazine which is entirely put together by the Design Team and is full of inspiration - there will be at least 12 projects plus loads of other hints and tips each issue! If that's not a good enough reason to sign up we don't know what is! We're overwhelmed by the response so far (Nikky has had to quadruple the initial stock she ordered) but you still have until 15th Janua

ry to order your kit, so get in now to make sure you can get hold of yours!
Also, make sure you tune into Create and Craft TV (if you can't get it you can see it on www.catchup.tv) on Sat 7th Jan at 11am and 4pm for lots more ideas and inspiration with Nikky!

Before we get onto the challenge let's announce the winners from challenge 49 - A Quick Christmas Card:

1st place: Julie B, 2nd place: Neli, 3rd place: Pauline - well done to all of you!

Please email Nikky for your blinkies - the first placed winner receives a £10 voucher to spend in the Polkadoodles shop!! Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number - this will make Nikky's life a lot easier!

The Polkadoodlers have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blogs:

1. Please follow the challenge!

2. Only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polka Doodles.

3. Please link your blog post and not your blog address with the link below - this saves us from searching your blog for your entry.

4. And please no back-linking to previous posts - these will be disregarded from our top three voting.

5. If you have comment moderation and word verification on your blog it really does slow us down when leaving comments - please consider turning word verification off

especially now that comment moderation has a spam section.

It's my turn - Nikky - to set this week's challenge and for this one the lovely peeps at Letraset have kindly donated a special set of Flexmarkers which I've asked them to put together for us...all in shades of Grey! The challenge runs until Sunday 15 January at 12noon GMT.

I love using sketches and find them really useful when I've lost my mojo, but in addition to the sketch I also asked everyone to use different shades of grey for this challenge too. You can do this with your papers or just with your image if you like but the project overall needs to have a monochromatic look. If you're clever you might be able to squeeze some greyish blue hues in there too. So let's see what everyone made...

Nikky...*cough* I set the challenge and kinda missed an important point - the shades of grey bit LOL!! I decided to upload my card anyway and if you want some great tutorials on how to colour with Grey tones then get yourself a copy of Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine this month and checkout the first in my series of monthly features I'll be doing this year which are focused on colouring techniques. On this card I used Kuretake's Kurecolor alcohol markers and our Be Nighbours range of rubber stamps. The papers are my favourite of all time and are from the Pretty Sweet CD...

You can see a tutorial on my blog for the colouring for this one and also the samples which used Greys in the magazine features here.

Josie: Loved this challenge for the sketch but also the colour shades. I recently got all the grey Pro Markers and this was good practice. First of all I printed the backing paper from the Pretty Tuff CD Rom, then I took the image from the Pretty Sweet CD Rom. I coloured the image, the ribbon and the flowers with my grey Pro Markers. On the rose in the image I went over it with a clear Wink of stella glitter pen and glossy accents on top of that. I then added a Craftworks Sentiment and some Frou Frou Bling.

Daniele, what a great challenge, I have used images and papers from The Love & Cherish Cd to create this anniversary card, adding a feather and grey pearls for a touch of bling.

Anne - I used the Not For Girls Definitely For Men CD and started by colouring up the image using my copic markers. Then It was a simply a print job with these fabulous papers. I also loaded the plain grey papers into my graphics programme and added my own text to match ( or as near as I could) so it all matched. Some brads, eyelets and a bit of white cord for the embellies and I was sorted.

Lana - For my card I have used papers and toppers from the 'Not for Girls Definitely for Men CD. I was worried when I realised we needed to make our creations in shades of Grey as I love bright and colourful cards, however I think the mod scooter images are perfect for this challenge. I did the complete card using Photoshop.

Doreen - For my card I used the image frome the fantastic Pretty Sweet CD Rom and the paper is from the Pretty Tuff CD Rom. I embellished with ribbon, lace and flowers. I love the monochromatic look.

Miria For my card I used images, sentiment and papers from Pretty Tuff. I coloured Claude and the car with Zig Art&Graphic Twin and Wink of stella.

Joanna - For my card I used papers from the Sundae of Seasons CD and the stamp from the Neighbours range. The image was coloured with water colour pencils and cosmic shimmer water colour paints. To embellish the card I used lots of die cuts and glitter!

Claire - Loved this challenge Nikky. Gave me the chance to use up some papers I'd printed from Not for Girls cd alongside the cute dog from the Pretty Tuff cd coloured with promarkers, a little added doodling and crackle glaze.

Fliss - The image, sentiment and background paper on my card perfect for the boys in the family came from the fabulous Pretty Tuff CD and the script paper from the Not For Girls CD. My oval panel was embossed with a brick wall folder and inked with Pumice Stone Distress ink. My image was coloured first with Promarkers in all the shades of grey I possess and I then added some detail with Prisma pencils.

Ruth: I've delved way back into the Polkadoodle archives and used Not For Girls cd for all my card plus a bit of embossed acetate (you can just about see it!) plus some buttons and embroidery thread from my stash.

Net - I've been norty! So no change there then ;)) I've printed out various grey papers from the Pretty Tuff CD - (which is B E Y O N D lush) I then inked up the super sweet BevvieBoo and coloured her in various greys. Then I thought... which is always dangerous..... and the pink came out. Well just a bit and then pink card to layer up with. I hope I'm forgiven.... but i

ts stuck down so I guess I am.

Alan: For this Challenge l used the FAB cd PRETTY TUFF. Has loads of images that you can build and create a card for those Men/Boys in your social circle. I tried to keep it clean. All the papers and images were worked on using a simple D.T.P that we all have access to and normally some are free to get hold of. Any questions please ask. will reply a.s.a.p Happy crafting in 2012 you all.

Good luck with the challenge (please remember our rules!) and the deadline for entries is Sunday 15 January at 12noon GMT.
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2011-12-31T19:25:00.002Z

Happy New Year everyone!
We will be back on 6th Jan with a brand new year and a brand new challenge and looking forward to seeing all your lovely creations! Thankyou to one and all for your support in 2011 - here's hoping 2012 brings you all much happiness, good health and wealth and success in whatever you do!

Week 50 Challenge - Through The Window and Blog Candy for grabs

2011-12-16T09:00:00.055Z

Hi everyone - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

The year has flown by and for us here on the Polkadoodles blog we are taking a little well earned break for Christmas. We will be back again on 6th Jan with a brand new year year of challenges from our fabulous team and lots of very exciting news and new products! As a big thankyou to everyone for your support this year and because it's Christmas we are offering some great blog candy this week! A random entry from this week's challenge will receive a £10 gift voucher for the Polkadoodles shop! Woohoo! What a great Christmas pressie!

The theme for this last challenge of 2011 is:

Through The Window...

And because we are all so busy at this time of the year, the usual deadline has been extended to Sunday 8 January!

The winners from challenge 48 are:

First Place: Norma, Second Place: Jo Price, Third Place: Gale - well done everyone, please email us for your blinkies and winner's prize!

We have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blogs:
1. Please follow the challenge!
2. Only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polka Doodles.
3. Please link your blog post and not your blog address with the blue frog - this saves us from searching your blog for your entry.
4. And please no back-linking to previous posts - these will be disregarded from our top three voting.
5. If you have comment moderation and word verification on your blog it really does slow us down when leaving comments - please consider turning word verification off especially now that comment moderation has a spam section.

Good luck with the challenge - deadline for entries is Sunday 8 January 2012 - this gives you a little longer to get your entries in!

Colette For my window card I have used images and a paper from the Magical Winter CD's The window section of the card is bowed out and I used a Martha Stewart border punch to make my window frame. I added glitter to the holly berries and glossy accents to the bow. The lamp-post is a Marianne Creatables die.

Nikky...My take on through the window is slightly different...well a frame counts as window doesn't it? This is a project I made for Craft Stamper magazine using our Be Neighbours range of stamps all coloured in with Promarkers...

Nelly I have used a Polkadoodles Windy Tree Stamp and free Polkadoodle stamps from a magazine for the image and sentiment, coloured using a combination of Flex and Promarkers, design papers are from magical winter cd the window/aperture was created using layers from Nestabilities shaped dies. i used an embossing folder to create the snowflakes on the card stock.

Lana I decided to make an Aperture box card for this challenge and thought the Nativity characters would make a perfect little stable scene. I have used 'Magical Winter' CD for this project.

Josie: I used the backing paper from the Pretty Sweet CD Rom and the flowers and fences from various Polkadoodles CD Roms. I also used the Windy Tree Rubber stamp and a Totally Gorjuss Rubber stamp. All images coloured with a mixture of Pro Markers and Flexi Markers. I cut up some old material for the curtains and used some Gingham Ruffle ribbon for the valance.

Carol: I have used the Gracie Fairy Flutterfly stamp to create this lovely window shaker card...it's very pretty!

Claire: I have used the lovely girl from Magical Winter part 1 cd along with papers and elements from the Polkadoodles papercrafting kit magazine. I die cut my window from a dl kraft card and gold leafed the edges, adding lace and a little bell to finish. I loved this challenge and ended up creating two cards so pop over to my blog to see the other one!

Dee: I have used the CD Magical Winter once again for this weeks card. I added curtains and pelmet to the window to help make it look like it's the inside. The Bow window is going the wrong way really but in my world you can do anything, lol.

Fliss - All elements on my easel shape card are from the Magical Winter CD set and although it's not easy to see from the photo, the front of the card has a circular frame on foam tape with the cut out toadstool house inside and the elf is on the outer frame. I finished off with some fluffy stuff snow, Stickles glitter and some punched glitter snowflakes.

Guest Designer Lisa - I used double sprinkles of kraft for my window card. I also added stickles snow and a border punch

Guest Designer Dawn - My card was made using the gorgeous Pretty Sweet Collection...

Guest Designer Claire - I used Cory from Pretty Tuff for my christmas themed window...

Daniele, I was inspired for this challenge by the house stamps called Be Neighbours, which I stamped onto Kraft paper and coloured with Prisma pencils and added lots of glitter for the snow, the papers are from Magical Winter Cd 2. The tree and sentiment are part of the Christmas Kit from Polka Doodles available in Newsagents...

Happy Christmas!...

Shary For my window card I use papers and images from the Sundae of Seasons CD. I coloured the images with Copics and added some diamond sparkles to the snow on the trees. The kraft paper for the window and the sentiment are from the Magical Winter part 2 CD.

Shell- For my card this week, I have made a tent card.....the papers on the back of the card and the trees are from the sundae of seasons cd, the little dude is from pretty tuff and lastly the sentiment is from the Magical Winter CD too...I love the contempary trees on all the cd's...

Doreen For my window card I used the magical winter cd. I embellished with leaves, flower, lace and sentiment.

Anne - I've used the Magical Winter (2) this week and made an aperture card. I began by printing the backing straight onto the card then cut the aperture to show the little girl checking out the snow covered flowers. I added loads of stickles to the inside so it really sparkles. I then decorated the front with a frame, a holly garland, some extra bows for some depth and the Christmas trees. Oh and loads of red stickles for the berries:)

Joni: Magical Winter Part II

I think you'll all agree - absolutely AMAZING designs from the team this week! So all that remains is to say from the whole of the Polkadoodles Design Team...

Have a very Wonderful and Creative Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you all!...
Good luck with the challenge and please remember our rules!

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Week 49 Challenge - Quick Christmas Card - Win a Gift Voucher!

2011-12-09T09:00:00.108Z

Hello Polkadoodlers,

Hows the Christmas planning going? Can you believe its so close! This week we have a £10 Gift Voucher up for grabs but before we move on to this week's challenge, the winners from challenge 47 are as follows:

First Place: 24. Lesley , Second Place: 4. Sandy, Third Place: 10. Catherine Carney - well done, please email for your prize and blinkies - the first placed winner receives a download. Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number.

We also had Blog candy up for grabs on week 47 and the lucky winners are: Sharon Basel and UK Sharon

Congratulations Ladies! you have won a PD stamp, please email Nikky with the title PD STAMP WINNER.

So onto another challenge...Hi, Colette here, welcoming you to another Polkadoodle challenge, and the theme I have chosen this week is Quick Christmas Car

ds. You've suddenly realised that there is only two weeks to the big day and you still need to make a load of Xmas cards, so this week we want to see simple cards, not too many layers or embellishments, easy enough to make lots in a couple of hours.

The challenge is open until Sunday 18 December at 12noon GMT and any entries that do not follow our challenge rules will not be eligible for any prizes so please read them carefully! If you want more detail on how the Design Team have created their project

s, just click on their name and you'll be taken to their blog. The winner of this challenge will receive a gift voucher for the Polkadoodles shop worth £10, so make sure you're in it to win it!!

We have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blogs:

1. Please follow the challenge!

2. Only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polka Doodles.

3. Please link your blog post and not your blog address with the blue frog - this saves us from searching your blog for your entry.

4. And please no back-linking to previous posts - these will be disregarded from our top three voting.

5. If you have comment moderation and word verification on your blog it really does slow us down when leaving comments - please consider turning word verification off especially now that comment moderation has a spam section.

Emma Hello there, this was a quick make using elements from the M

agical Winter CD, coloured with distress ink all available from the Polkadoodles shop.

Daniele......For my quick card, I kept the colouring to a minimum jus

t using Flex markers to colour the background of the image and scarf, paper and image of Pip is from The Magical Winter Cd part 1,the base of the card was embossed with a snowflake folder.

Clare -This challenge was ideal for me as I needed lots of quick cards for school. I selected a pre-coloured topper from the Magical Winter 1 CD and added a customised greeting for each child, I printed these four to a page and added glitter to all the snow once they were printed (these are only some of them and, all told, I think I spent less than one hour making them all).

Nelly: I used elements from Magical Winter for my quick card...

GDT Stephanie-Emma - I printed a coloured topper from Magical Winter an

d mounted it on some fabric and spotty backing paper. I also added some Candi.

Audrey... For this simple Christmas card I used the CD Sundae Of Seasons. i inked the trees and used 3D dots to give them some dimension and used a corner ticket punch for the top corners of the card.

Enfys: I used ready coloured element from Magical Winter for this quick card - and it shows how versatile this CD is because I printed the background with the star and hills from the Nativity collection, and added houses printed from the bear collection. The houses are pop

ped with foam pads and the sentiment oval is a purchased one - simples!

Colette - I used the trees and reindeer images from a Sundae of Seasons, layered them up in a graphics program and coloured in a sky background, printed them straight onto card, cut, folded, added a ribbon, some glitter to the trees and layered up the reindeer's head, added a couple of Jingle bells (coloured with Promarkers) to his antlers and neck and there you have it, my very quick card.

Louise My card is super quick I have printed out the Christmas tree from Magical winter 2 and added a little glitter.I have cut out a shaped card and added a sentiment.

Joanna: For my card I used a fabulous collection of papers and a pre-coloured image from the Magical Winter CD part 2. I also used a touch of glitter, a few punched snowflakes and a snowflake embossing folder. Once you've decided on the size of your panels, you can cut multiple copies in seconds, which is perfect for "Christmas cards mass production" ;). And if you need any more papers, you can just print them off with a click of a mouse!

Shell-My card this week was mega quick to put together, I've used a pre coloured image from the Magical Winter CD part 1, then simply embossed a panel of white card & added a ribbon and some card candi to finish.....

Joni: S I used the ready colored penquin from the Creative Christmas CD

Norine: I got a little carried away this week and made TWO cards in the time it usually takes me to make one!! That's how quick and easy they were!! Most all of the papers and images come from the Magical Winter 2 cd with a few scraps of green thrown in from other cds. The tree was an easy "build" with scraps and adding a star brad at the top and stitching down the center completes it.

This sweet little girl awed at the sight of a snowflake tree is also from Magical Winter 2, as is the sentiment and other papers. Add a Spellbinders die and some machine stitching around the edge and you've got a quick and easy card!

Shary I made this card real quick! I used the Magical Winter part 2 CD. I printed out a topper, a sheet of patterned paper and a sentiment. I cut out four strips from the paper and glued them to a blank white card. I then layered the topper onto blue card added some stickles and stuck that to the card. I added the sentiment and two punched snowflakes. Done!

Dee : My quick card is made using elements from the Magical Winter CD. I made a square card from kraft card, I tore the backing papers and added some ribbons before adding the sentiment and image.

Miria For my quick Christmas card I used image and sentiment from Magical Winter, the digi is coloured with Zig Kurecolor and Wink of Stella. I just added a ribbon, easy peasy!

Ruth: Super quick cards made with offcuts of white pearl card - the Santa from Paper Boutique Vol 2 has been printed directly onto the card and I've added a glitter border around the edge of the card - I think it took me 15 mins to make 6!

ALAN: For my card l took an image from MAGICAL WINTER cd'c. Just a simple image that after printing l just went over with my Giltter pen and then added some highlights. Then mounted onto some dull silver mounting board and a simple Phrase printed out. There you have it a simple card that took moments to put together.

So that's it for this week! Don't forget to get your entries in on time to win some candy!
*****

Week 48 Challenge - Secret Element Christmas Card

2011-12-02T09:00:00.046Z

Welcome to another Polkadoodle challenge! I hope you are feeling Christmassy - not long to go now!

Before we move on to this week's challenge, the winners from challenge 46 are as follows:

First Place: Lizzy
Second Place: Michaela

Third Place: Claire

Please email Nikky for your blinkies - the first placed winner receives a download. Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number - this will make Nikky's life a lot easier!

The Polkadoodlers have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blogs:

1. Please follow the challenge!

2. Only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polka Doodles.3. Please link your blog post and not your blog address with the blue frog - this saves us from searching your blog for your entry.
4. And please no back-linking to previous posts - these will be disregarded from our top three voting.
5. If you have comment moderation and word verification on your blog it really does slow us down when leaving comments - please consider turning word verification off especially now that comment moderation has a spam section.

Hello, it's Enfys here - my turn to set the challenge this week, and as I have four adorable small grandchildren who are the apples of my eye, I asked the team to make

A Christmas card or project for a child, with a secret or hidden element

The challenge is open until Sunday 11 December at 12noon GMT and any entries that do not follow our challenge rules will not be eligible for any prizes so please read them carefully!

If you want more detail on how the Design Team have created their projects, just click on their name and you'll be taken to their blog.

Emma, hello there, this time I made a gatefold card hiding a Santa from the Magical Winter CD, all coloured with Distress Inks.

Audrey... For this Tri Fold Treat holder I used the CD Sundae Of Seas ons. I did some inking on the gingerbread man and used 3D Dots to give him dimension. I used my S.U. Corner Ticket Punch to add a little detail. The secret is the pouch on the inside for Christmas candy.

Colette I have made a card for my grandson, the bottom section of the card front is bowed out and behind the bear I have added a lollipop holder and chocolate lollipop. I have also made up a little verse for the inside of the card to let him know there is a hidden treat. I used images from the Beary Cold section of Magical Winter CD 2 , and added glitter to parts of the bear and some of the snow.

Lana - I decided to do a card for a teenager rather than a small child and use the gift card as the surprise element. I have used the newly released and fabulous CD - Pretty Tuff. I think this little guy looks really festive in his deerstalker hat ;)

GDT Claire - I used the new Pretty Tuff CD to create my explosion box

Enfys: Well considering this is my challenge, I didn't have a clue what I was going to do until I saw the snow boys from the Magical Winter CD and knew I had to build a little scene with them in an Advent calendar for my little grandsons Max and Milo. The drawers are covered in a variety of festive paper scraps, the boys were coloured with Promarkers, and the trees and merry Christmas sentiment were cut with my Cricut. I used those springy thingies you can buy to make the boys and trees stand out. So loads of hidden surprises for them as the little drawers are stuffed with tiny cars, ornaments for their tree, and sweets......

Louise: My card is not really very Christmassy but I set off with the secret element part in my head and wanted to use the rocket paper and cute little boy on the Pretty Tuff CD.The secret element is the bookmark but although not traditional Christmas colours a little boy who love rockets would be happy to get this as a Christmas card.

Claire I have created a magical box and tiny envelope this week for my oldest son Jacob who is 9. I have used the Magical Winter 2 cd and elements from the Polkadoodles magazine/craft set. His Christmas present is hidden well inside and the tiny envelope should hold a music voucher which is evading me at the moment......

GDT Lisa: I made two crafting kits for a child for this weeks challenge. Both projects use images and papers from Double Sprinkles Of Kraft.

GDT Dawn : I used the gorgeously girly Pretty Sweet CD to make my box this week. I used the beautiful papers and a lovely picture of Piper

Fliss I've also made something for a teenager rather than a little one and it has more of a surprise than a secret. All elements are from the Magical Winter CD set and the surprise is the gift card holder on the inside which will hold something for my game and music mad nephews.

Anne - I've gone for an inbetweener (is that a word) Not quite a toddler or a teenager card. I used the Sundae of Seasons CD and began by printing the polka dots straight onto both sides of my card. I then printed out all the elements and folded the bottom of the card up, first cutting our two flaps to make pockets for the tag which I cut with my cricut and the toy voucher which I made again using some elements from the CD. Once I'd all that in place I decorated the front with this cutie patootie. A snowflake and a couple of wee hearts complete the look.

Ashley- I used the lovely Magical Winter CD part II to create this adorable little girls pop up gift card holder. I just love how the sweet images create a magical 3d winter scenery.

ALAN. For this card l used Images from Magical Winter Multi Buy cd's. There is a full 'How to Make on my blog. It is a 3 sided card from 2 sheets of A4 card.
[Sorry if the images is not as sharp as it could. I wanted to put all sides up so you can see the card.]

So that's it - over to you now! Good luck with the challenge and don't forget our rules - deadline for entries is Sunday 11 December at 12noon GMT.

Week 47 Challenge - Italian Christmas & BLOG CANDY

2011-11-25T09:00:00.097Z

Hello everyone, it's challenge day again! Before I go on to details of this week's challenge I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone that took part in our Swirls Pearls and Pastels challenge (45). You made some really fabulous creations with it!

Without further ado, here are our top 3 creations from that challenge:

1st Place - Karen, 2nd Place - Jo Price, 3rd Place - Ira

Congratulations everyone, please email Nikky for your blinkies - the first placed winner receives a download and as a special treat a set of pens from Letraset for hair! Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number - this will make Nikky's life a lot easier!

This week it's me, Miria, hosting the challenge and I chose the theme Italian Christmas: as you probably know, the Italian flag is white, red and green and these colours have to be in your projects. This week is our Stashbox Stamp challenge - all the Design Team have to use a stamp from their stash they already own. We can't wait to see your creations!

We also have some BLOG CANDY up for grabs this week so anyone who enters this Italian Christmas challenge will be in the random draw to win a Polkadoodle stamp - and there will be two lucky winners chosen! Woohoo! So make sure you get your entries in on time to be in with a chance!

The Polkadoodlers have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blogs:

1. Please follow the challenge!
2. Only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polka Doodles.
3. Please link your blog post and not your blog address with the blue frog - this saves us from searching your blog for your entry.
4. And please no back-linking to previous posts - these will be disregarded from our top three voting.
5. If you have comment moderation and word verification on your blog it really does slow us down when leaving comments - please consider turning word verification off especially now that comment moderation has a spam section.

The challenge is open until Sunday 4th December at 12noon GMT and any entries that do not follow our challenge rules will not be eligible for any prizes so please read them carefully!

If you want more detail on how the Design Team have created their projects, just click on their name and you'll be taken to their blog.

Miria For my twisted easel card I used this santa Edwin and Tree from my stashbox stamps, coloured with Zig Art and Graphic Twin and Kurecolor, all the papers and sentiment are from magical Winter.

Emma, hello, this weeks card was made using elements from the Magical Winter CD coloured with Distress Inks, all available from Polkadoodles shop.

GDT Stephanie Emma - I made my card using the Christmas Fun Stamps, papers and elements from Magical Winter and some flashing lights!! I also used some gorgeous ribbon.

Audrey... For this Double Z Fold card I used the CD Magical Winter Part 1. I used my Gelly Roll pen for the stitching. I did some paper piecing and glittering on the stocking stamp and used S.U. Real Red ink for the sentiment.

Enfys: I had fun making this one. I thought the post box card from Creative Christmas CD was perfect for Mirias Italian Christmas challenge, printed out at A5 size, decoupaged and glittered with Martha Stewart crystal glitter. I added the little girl stamped and cut out (who makes this stamp? Anyone know?)

Nelly - I combined elements from Magical Winter and Pretty Tuff to make my triangle shaped Easel Card.

Colette Great challenge this week, perfect colours for a Christmas card. I have used papers from Sundae of Seasons and Father Christmas from the Polkadoodles Christmas Fun Clear Stamp set. Image was coloured with Promarkers and I added glitter to his hat and belt, the mats are made using X-Cut nested Bookplate dies, and I used a snowflake embossing folder on the white strip.

Lou: I have used one of the papes from the magical Winter CD and then created a topper also from the same paper. I drew and then cut out 2 holly leaves finished with a green ribbon bow and a red button berry. A very quick and simple card . . . must make more of these!

Ashley-This weeks card was made using digis from the Magical Winter CD all available from Polkadoodles web site . I used some home made seam binding and a sentiment, Polka Doodle stamps are not only adorable but oh so versatile.

Clare: I have used the image "Elfie" from the Magical Winter CD Part One. I chose a pre-coloured image and added gloss and glitter just because it's a Christmas card! The papers, ribbons and sentiment stamp are from the Christmas Boutique pack. I coloured the sentiment and gem using promarkers.

Doreen: For my tent card (first try) I've used the image and the paper from the Magical Winter CD. The sweet girl I've colored with Copics. Flowers, leaves and gras are die cuts. I embellished with lace and pearls.

Norine: For this card I kept it nice and clean and simple with a design from the Sundae of Seasons (Primitive Winter) cd. The polkadot paper is from that cd as well. The scallop circle is cut with a Spellbinders die and the rest is card stock. I decided it was enough just so, and put the greeting on the inside.

Shell-for my card this week I've used papers from the Magical Winter CD and have teamed them up with a stamp, the bear is coloured with copics I then added a few gems and some string.

Joni: Supplies: Paper Boutique, Magical Winter Part Two. I colored the focal image with copics.

Shary My card for this week is one using a digimage which I've coloured with copics and papers from the Magical Winter Part 2 CD. The sentiment is also from the Magical Winter Part 2 CD. I've inked around the sentiment with distress ink and added a little gem for a bit of bling! All the little embellies have been die cut with the same papers.

Louise For my card this week I have used papers from the Sundae of seasons CD and used my nesties to make the shaped card,my stamped image is from Penny black.

Lis-m. This week I reached for the papers from the Paper Craft Boutique Vol. 2 "Creative Christmas". Matted the layers onto black card for extra "pop" .. added some ribbon , and coloured my image with my Promarkers.I added buttons for that final detail.

Nikky...I'm in love with our Belles n Whistles range of stamps at the moment so I just had to use these for the stashbox challenge together with papers from the Pretty Sweet CD and some lush velvet ribbon...

So that's our ideas for this week, make sure you get those entries in to win the blog candy too! See you next week!
*****

Week 46 Challenge - Shaped Christmas

2011-11-18T09:00:00.058Z

Welcome to another Polkadoodle challenge! I (Ruth) am your host and my challenge to you is:

Shaped Christmas Card

So no squares or rectanges - it really does need to be shaped!

Now, the winners of challenge 44 which was a shaped card theme. Fabulous creations as ever from everyone who joined in!

Congratulations go to:

First Place: Pauline
Second Place: Jessica
Third Place: Norma

Please email Nikky for your blinkies - the first placed winner receives a download. Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number - this will make Nikky's life a lot easier!

The Polkadoodlers have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blogs:
1. Please follow the challenge!
2. Only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polka Doodles.
3. Please link your blog post and not your blog address with the blue frog - this saves us from searching your blog for your entry.
4. And please no back-linking to previous posts - these will be disregarded from our top three voting.
5. If you have comment moderation and word verification on your blog it really does slow us down when leaving comments - please consider turning word verification off especially now that comment moderation has a spam section.

The challenge is open until Sunday 28 November at 12noon GMT and any entries that do not follow our challenge rules will not be eligible for any prizes so please read them carefully!

If you want more detail on how the Design Team have created their projects, just click on their name and you'll be taken to their blog.

Ruth: A quick and simple card from me - I used the pre-coloured A5 template from Paper Boutique Vol 2 and layered it up how I wanted. I've added seed beads plus some ribbon and that's it - complete!

Patty: A quick and simple card from me - I used the pre-colored image of Boys outside from Magical Winter Vol 2 and using my spellbinders shaped layered it up on how I wanted. I've added some glitterly path and the red ribbon and Voula, it's - complete!
Emma: Hello there, I made a simple rocker card using elements from Magical Winter CD for this weeks card all coloured with Distress Inks and embellished with some Card Candy and Doodle Dewdrops available from the Polkadoodles Web Shop

Audrey... For this Christmas test tube holder I used the CD Magical Winter Part 1. I used 3D dots to make the penguin pop out a little and used my S.U. corner ticket punch on the top of the holder to give it a little more detail.

Enfys: I used the Creative Christmas CD to make this Christmas wreath card. I was in a hurry, so printed it out already coloured, and just added a little twist of bakers twine and some red gems to make it pop

Daniele.....I've made a stepper card for this weeks challenge using the delicious papers from The Magical Winter Cd 1, I cut out some of the trees and then added them on the top for added dimension, and of course lashings of glitter.

GDT Lisa - I used elements from Double Sprinkles of Kraft to make my snowy owl card!

GDT Claire - I made an acetate card blank and added Jay from "pretty tuff" and used polkadoodles stamps free from papercraft essentials

GDT Dawn - I used Paper Boutique 2 - Creative Christmas to make my super cute reindeer card.

Colette - I used the penguin from Magical Winter 1 CD, printed him out on the right hand side of A4 card, folded the card so that his flipper touched the fold, then cut through two layers at once, except for where his flipper touched the fold and a couple of centimetres at the bottom.. I decoupaged his flippers and scarf, adding some pompom trim at the bottom of the scarf and tucking a sentiment panel under his flipper.

Lou: I have used Mr Tweetie as my template and made an owl inspired Christmas card using elements from the kit in the Polka Doodles magazine that was recently issued. A very quick and easy card and I've even used cotton wool on his hat to add texture!

Fliss: For my card I've used the Magical Winter CD set and have made one of my favourite shapes at the moment. I used one of the gorgeous cute eskimo toppers for speed and combined this with some of the lovely papers from the CD adding some of the cut out embellishments and a lovely big sentiment panel.

Louise: My card is very simple this week and I have used my grand nesties to make the card shape, the image is from the 'Sundae of seasons' cd.

Clare: I have made an easel card for this week's challenge. The images and sentiment are from the Magical Winter CD and the paper is from the Pretty Sweet CD.

Anne - I've used Creative Christmas for my card this week. I printed the image from the PDF file in A4 size and used it as a template. Once I'd cut the first layer out I matted this onto red card stock flipping it over to fold at his hat, Then decoupage the layers to complete. He stands 7.5" tall so looks great!

Shell-For my card this week I've used the papers and images from the Magical Winter part 2 CD, then I added a bit off string and a button to finish.

Joanna: For my card I've used the GORGEOUS kraft papers from Magical Winter 2 CD and the snow flakes were punched from Pretty Sweet CD soft pastel papers. The sentiment panel was cut using Nesties and mounted on sticky pads to add dimension. Then I added a few sparklies with gems, acrylic paint "snow" and LOOOOOTS of glitter :). The edges were distressed with distress ink for a more vintage feel.

Carol : I have used this gorgeous snowman from the Sundae of Seasons cd rom and the papers were printed off from the Magical Winter Part one cd.

So that's it - over to you now! Good luck with the challenge and don't forget our rules - deadline for entries is Sunday 28 November at 12noon GMT.