Friday 25 December 2009

Challenge 30 Winners

Hi everyone, just popped by for a quick post to announce the winners from Challenge 30 which was to use an envelope on a card...

First Place: ScrappyMax
Second Place:Teri
Third Place:Irit

Well done and congratulations to our winners as we're feeling festive all 3 of you will receive a prize - please contact Nikky for further prize details and blinkies.

Hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas, see you on the 8th Jan!

Thursday 24 December 2009

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Hi everyone, I would just like to take this opportunity to wish all of our bloggy friends the most wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!


It's been a busy one here at Doodle Towers and I'd like to say we're looking forward to a break, but there is no rest for the wicked as they say and we will be very busy all through the festive season. 2009 has been a fab year for Polka Doodles and I would just like to thank you all for your continued support, we love seeing your entries every week and you inspire us to keep going! I'm really excited about what 2010 will bring and I know all the Design Team girls are too...so have yourselves a Merry Little Christmas and keep some Sherry Trifle for me please!
love Nix xxx

Hi everyone, it's Enfys here, adding my good wishes for a wonderfully happy Christmas to you all, and wishing you all the very best for 2010 - good heavens, we are out of the 'noughties' already. Skip the sherry trifle, mine's a G &T!x


Hello! It's Ruth (Tip Top) wishing all a great Christmas and New Year! Sherry trifle and G&T? Not for me - I'll have a snowball hehehehehe!!!x

Friday 18 December 2009

Week 31 - Free Theme

It's Friday again so its another Polkadoodle Challenge! We are on the last challenge of 2009 - time has really flown since our first ever challenge was launched back in May!


Before I tell you the theme for Challenge 31, I need to announce the winners from Challenge 29 which was to make a scalloped edge card, split into 9 squares and to stamp in at least half of them (which is a challenge in itself!)



First Place: Teri
Second Place: Littleted62
Third Place: Ribenaruby


Congratulations to our winners! Please email Nikky for further details and your blinkies!

Onto this week's challenge! Nikky challenged her Design Team to use her brand new cd Back To Nature but we could make anything we wished! So your challenge (should you accept!) is to make anything you like! Please remember the rules when entering - they can be found on the sidebar.

The closing date for this challenge is 28 December at 12noon GMT and the first challenge of 2010 will be on 8 January when we will revert back to allowing just over a week to enter. To enter please leave a comment on this post with a direct link back to your blog post so the DT can visit you and spread a little Christmas cheer!

To find out more how each DT member made their creation please click on their names and as if by magic you will be transported there! All items have been made using Back to Nature cd.

** ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ **



Boni has used the Shake A Tail Feather collection to create this wonderfully layered card featuring a peacock. The panels have been layered onto black card to make them stand out and with a slash of ribbon, this is one elegant card!


For Brenda's sample, she has used the Stackies Floral collection and layered them after resizing them to fit her requirements. The stems have been stamped using the Candy Doodles stamps (now this is such a good idea!) along with the sentiment.
Claire has made a wonderful Ruby Anniversary card for her Mum and Dad using the Heritage collection from the cd, flowers coloured with Copics and some pearls and gems added this card really is very special!
The shaped cards on Back to Nature are just so funny! Here Dolly has used the sheep to make a very funky First Birthday card. All the elements are on the cd and the animals can be made to have a front and rear.


Enfys has gone for a round card with some fab big bows! She's added the little girlie owl and cut out some of the tree stampies to add depth along with the alphies to spell out a sentiment.

This is Fliss' DT sample and just look at her creations! She has also used the Stackies Floral collection, enlarged the flowers and layered them. The box has been painted with acrylic paint and then stamped with the Candy Doodles stamps along with a matching border on the card.



For Kate's sample she has made a very cute step card with the lovely owls. The owls can be decoupaged and this is what she has done on her card.

Kerry has cleverly used the swinging girl image and added a branch so she's not floating! A little bit of doodling and the adding of funky flowers really adds to the card. The sentiment has been stamped with the Candy Doodles stamps.


Here Kris has used the very pretty and delicate peacocks to make her sample and the black and lime green borders really make the images pop! There are different elements to her card and she's used the toppers, papers and sentiment from the Back to Nature cd.

The animals are certainly popular with the DT this week! Nettie has used the pig and made an easel card. All the printed paper elements are from the cd including sentiment and flowers!

Now you may just have seen this card before as it appeared on Create and Craft with Nikky! Nikky has created this card using the shaped card section on the cd and this shows the horse has a front and rear and that the barn doors really do open!


For my sample I've made the spiral flowers, layered some of them up and added craft wire and wooden beads for added interest and texture. I made these as samples for Nikky's TV show too!


Remember, this challenge is open until 28 December at 12noon GMT and you have to be in it to win it! Please leave the DT a comment with a direct link back to your creation from your blog and good luck!

The winners of challenge 30 will be announced at 9am Christmas Day (just in case the family are driving you crackers and you need to get on the internet!) and the winners of this challenge will be announced with the first challenge of 2010!

On behalf of Nikky and the Polkadoodle Design Team, I'd like to wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!

Friday 11 December 2009

Exciting Week!!

Yayyy what an exciting week we've had here at Doodle Towers! First of all, I just want to say a mahoosive thanks to all of you that applied for the Design Team, as always we had squillions of entries and we all genuinely wish we could have you all but that would leave no-one to enter the challenges boo hoo. So huge hugs and thanks to all of you that emailed in, it was a tough job as always and if you didn't make it we hope you will apply next time up, we all really appreciate your support. There are some awesome blogs out there and in the New Year we will be having a regular monthly Guest Designer so you never know where I might turn up!  Anyway, so on with the important bit, I'm very proud to present our new fabulous teamies, some of whom you will know, some maybe not, but I'm sure you will welcome them all and will be amazed at their stunning work...(the cheek has started already you know, they're fitting in well, let me tell ya)...so we have...


Kate, Brenda, Nettie, Fliss and Dolly who was with us as Guest Designer in November. HUGE welcome to you all girls, I know everyone is going to love your creations from what I've seen so far...(if only they knew how hard they will be worked, mwwaaahahah).


So the other thing this week is we've been stacked out following last Thursday's show and the launch of the new CD Back To Nature, this one seems to be going down a storm, I knew you would all love the florals and  feathered friends on this one, must admit I do like it loads.  I also just need to tell you that if you struggle with your computer for the first time we have included an Autorun feature on this CD so it will automatically load and lead you through the pages, which are all in PDF format. So if you've bought our CD's before be prepared for a slightly different and hopefully easier experience with this one! So you will find that this week it's featured heavily as we want to show you the goodies.  I'm back on Create and Craft on Thurs 17th Dec at 11am again so I hope you can tune in, email in, will try and get you all in the cup of chance! Have to say Magic Hands was a bit of a lovely last week, young Tom, think they showed a quick shot of him if you caught it, LOL! Oops OH is reading this over my shoulder! 
I was also really chuffed to find out today that Simply Cards & Papercrafts Cardmaker of the year winner was spotted using PD stash, how flattering is that! Haven't had time to check it out yet but congrats to the winner, think it's on sale today - she obviously has impeccable taste, LOL!
Right let's get on with the winner of last time shall we... So week 28 challenge was to use 3 different papers and a rubber stamp and you had some fun with this one! I think this one was quite hard to judge, took me ages to vote and I left it to the girls in the end! 
3rd place... Aquarius............2nd place...Milnie.............and the winner this week is Pinky, well done! I really liked Pinky's card, really simple colour scheme with the red and white but it just goes to prove that sometimes simple really is best, I thought this was quite striking. So girls, email me please for blinkies etc!


Well, it's almost Crimbo! I found out this week that those of you in the US don't understand the word Crimbo! It's our nickname for Christmas, lol! Well, that's what Diana at Magnolia Stamps told me anyway, she thought I was off my rocker! (that means crackers, crazy, mental!), LOL. Ok I'm shutting up, getting delirious! Before I forget, make sure you do join us next week on the 18th as it's our last one for this year, I do have to give the Doodle Dollies SOME time off, but we will be back on Friday 8th Jan. (Just in time for a new CD launch again on Create & Craft 10th Jan, no Crimbo time off or turkey for me (what a lie, sure I will be able to ram some down my throat along with copious amounts of chocolate), work work work! Feel like an elf)...Anyway this week's challenge is a sketch with a difference...

No, you don't have to make an envelope! Well, you kind of do... You need to make a card which uses an envelope format, so you could decorate an envelope and make it into a card I suppose, or you could have an envelope on the front of your card, you get the idea...and it can be ANY shape and any theme, the sketch is just for ref. Closing date as always is a week on Sunday which I make 20th December at noon...and as a spesh Xmas prize the winner will get the brand new Back To Nature CD AND the Daisy Doodles stamp set which is worth a total of £30! Yayy!
I asked the girls to do the same but they were supposed to make a card for New Year's - some of them managed, some forgot! But I think we can let them all off, don't you!...We're a little thin on the ground this week with various crisis' going on with some of the designers but we still have lots of yummy inspiration for you and here ya go...


Created by Brenda...WOWSER! fab card from Brenda, LOVE that dark pink with the dots it's lovely! And a great sentiment too! Here she's used the Havin A Hoot collection from the new BTN CD and stamped the background with the daisy doodle stamps (so versatile)...fabulous!...



Created by Fliss...she asked if she could keep this one back as she forgot New Years but it's TOO lovely not to share! She's used the Shake A Tailfeather collection which is chocka full of Peacock tailfeathers and I LOVE this collection, it's yummy...love that little notecard, soooo cute! "I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of stash on the BTN cd! I fell in love with the peacock collection as lilac and green are a favourite colour combo of mine and have gone for a mix and match look. Hope you like it."...errr YES we do Fliss!

Created by Kate...Great take on the challenge by Kate, fancy some of that champers!"I have used the jingle jangles cd and added a little gold foiling to it .I used my cricut to cut the bottle and i couldnt find an envelope style that i liked or that fitted the card, so i made it myself"...we love it Kate!



Created by Kris..."I used the paper and sheep from BtN, fashioned a little envelope and then computer-generated the sentiment and little strips for the envie. I'm sure we all "will" and won't" this time of year -hope you're more successful than I usually am!"...Love this card Kris, it's SO cute!

Made by Claire...Another stunner, they really are all awesome this week! Claire's made this fab party invite using Jingle Jangles, she loves those reindeer!..




Created by Ruth... I love this invitation it's so colourful..."And here is mine. And that is my house but not my number hehehehe!! Don't ask me how I folded the envelope - it just happened (drinking wine and not concentrating!) " What a shame, I was gonna start stalking her...


A second creation from Fliss, we couldnt leave this one out..."I'm having such fun with the cd that I decided to do another one anyway. Sorry about the pun but couldn't resist lol!"...why, thankyou very much Fliss!




Made by Boni...oops I missed this one, sorry Boni! I love this card it's so cheerful and the little envelope is very cute!...




And finally for this week we have Kerry who made this little wonder..."papers from Back to Nature plus a little glitter and some ribbon. Thought this would be fun. Hope you like my take on the challenge!"...we sure do Kerry!






So don't forget you have until 20th December noon at GMT to enter this one and it is a rather fab prize I have to say!

Friday 4 December 2009

Week 29 - Sketch & Stamping

It's Friday again! And the weeks are disappearing fast - Christmas is just a whisker away! This week (whilst Nikky is busily unpacking from being on Ideal World / Create and Craft yesterday - did you see the launch of Back to Nature? I hope you did because it is a fantastic cd and it should be on every crafters list for Santa!)

Before I go any further, I need to announce the winners from Week 27 which was to use a sketch and the colour brown. Some entrants had to be discounted as the specific challenge criteria hadn't been followed (it is important!) but without further ado:


First Place: Biscuit Lid
Second Place: Fliss
Third Place: Cornish Mist

Congratulations to you all! Please contact Nikky for further details!

This week, Nikky challenged the Design Team to use a scalloped edge card, sectioned as the sketch below and also to stamp in half of the squares. A little bit different, but the Design Team rose to the challenge and below you can see their creations.



If you want more detail on how each DT member created their example, just click on their name and you'll be taken to their blog.

This challenge (week 29) is open until Sunday 13 December at 12noon GMT and there will be a Polkadoodle prize for the winner with blinkies for the runner ups!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Boni has used the polar bear from Jingle Jangle Christmas plus the sentiment and has stamped snowflakes using the rubber Jingle Jangle stamps. Nice touch with the ribbon to break up the squares!

A winter owl from Claire with lots of wonderful doodling! The snowflake stamps are from the Jingle Jangle rubber stamp collection and are really detailed and look so real! The owl at the top of the card is taken from Sugar Birdies and has been coloured with sakura pens.


Kerry has used lots of fine glitter to make this a Winter Wonderland! Papers are from Jingle Jangle Christmas and she's used the rubber Christmas stamps to add detail in the little 'windows'.

Now Krista has been cheeky and added some extra rows onto her creation to make a calendar clipboard for each month of the year! Now we completely forgive her as it is stunning! Papers are from Jingle Jangle Christmas plus the little snowman at the top corner.
This is such a striking card from Kris who has used papers from Sugar Birdies with Polly from Candy Doodles. The flowers have been stamped with the Candy Doodles rubber stamps and coloured with Prismas and OMS. Do like the little ladybird in the centre and the oodles of doodles!

Another winter wonderland scene this time from Lou who has used Christmas trees from Jingle Jangle and then added the snowflake rubber stamps. She's layered the window look with strips of card and I wish I could write like that!


For my example, I've used papers from the new cd Back To Nature and weaved / layered the strips together to form the sections on the sketch. The owls are also from Back To Nature and they are decoupaged. A little bit of glitter glue on the girly owl and swirly bits from the Candy Doodles rubber stamps.


So don't forget - you have until Sunday 13 December at 12noon GMT to enter - please use the sketch shown and stamp in at least half of the squares to be in with a chance of winning! You can use any product you have in your stash but we would love to see you use Polkadoodle products!

Good luck!

Friday 27 November 2009

Challenge 28



Hey Doodlers! And Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends in the US!

Well, another busy week at Doodle Towers, we're on Ideal World next week so we're currently up to our neck in CD's and artwork and packing and..and...and...stress! It's always a bit manic the 2 weeks prior to a show and then the week after (funny, in a month that means there's only one week which isn't!? hmm) but this time is worse due to the swine flu taking me out for a week and being way way behind..never mind, soon be Christmas and there is a brand new CD launch next week so that more than makes up for it! If you look closely at the Design Team entries and blogs this week I'm sure you'll see some sneaky peeks at the new stash! The show is Thurs 3rd Dec on Ideal World at 2pm.

I also have to just mention that myself and the fabulous Kirsty Wiseman will be holding a joint workshop in York on Saturday 5th December 10.15 - 1.15pm - craft fun and mince pies galore if you can join us, we have a couple of places left so if you want further info please click here.

Right, winners of Challenge 26...we asked you to use this sketch and use a Male theme...
in 3rd place...Teri
in 2nd place...Cornish Mist
and in First place is the lovely Little Ted - well done!
So email me for your stash and blinkies girls please!

Don't forget! Closing date for Design Team applications is Fri 27th (today!) so you'd better be quick if you want to join us! We're looking for a couple of new teamies so don't be scared, we're all very friendly!Email me here with your details. We've had lots of entries so it will take a while to plough through them all so give us a couple of weeks for the results! :D

Before I go any further I have to give a massive thanks to the very fabulous Dolly, our Guest Designer for November, my that's flown! It's Dolly's last week with us but we have all loved her projects and we hope she'll be back soon, I am LOVIN' her card this week!

So on with the show as they say...No sketch this week, but to make it easy you need to use 3 different papers and a Rubber Stamp - the rest is up to you! I think the Doodle Dollies enjoyed this one and we have some fab cards this week...

November Guest Designer, Dolly...

Dolly's doing a Crimbo take on all the challenges so here is her lovely lovely card, I adore this, think it's because of my 2 favest things - green and dots!! Just adorable this Dolly and thanks again for all your efforts during the last few weeks...


Made by Kerry..."I've been making Christmas cards from non Christmas papers, so decided to do the same for this challenge. The background paper came from Candy Doodles, the papers for the trees and center strip came from Sugar Birdies. I embossed stamped snowflakes and glittered the trees. Added a few gems and stamped the sentiment across the paper ribbon also from Sugar Birdies."...just fab!

Made by Ruth...Ruth's given us a cheeky little peek at something new from the new CD Back To Nature here and this card is just lush..."I've used one of the images and all the papers are from Sugar Birdies. I made the flowers myself by roughly following the flowers on her hat. Stamps (around the flowers and sentiments) are the Candy Doodle ones."

made by Enfys...I just adore En's style and this week is no different...En says "Got to use up all my scraps of jingly papers for this one! Happy thanksgiving to our American doodlers!" En's used the snowflake stamp here and papers from the Crimbley Doodles download and Jingle Jangles...

Created by Claire...Easel cards seem to be a big new trend and Claire took this great fold as her inspiration this week...Here she's used the Not For Girls CD...

Created by Kris...Another sneaky peek at the new CD here...tut tut those naught girls..."Well not only did I manage the 3 papers (plain green from Sugar Doodles, Presents and Hugs from Jingle Jangle) and the stamp (present); I also snuck in one of the fabulous new images from the new CD. I think the look on her face is very sexy. I used a circle card and also cut some additional hearts and popped them on." Not sure she's meant to be sexy, think it's Kris's colouring! lol!...




Created by Sue...Sue lives in flooded Cumbria so it's a miracle she managed to create anything in the floods! Typical crafter, I bet she made sure all her stash was on high ground! Here she's used the Jingle Jangles CD...

Made by Boni...Boni's done a totally different look this week and it's lovely...she's used the Not For Girls CD and actually created the pink backing paper with the flourish stamp from the Daisy Doodles set, such a very versatile stamp and one of my all time faves ever. Love how she's made that cute flower by punching circles and stamping into the middle of each one, very creative and a great idea...

So, that's our offerings for this week - don't forget you have till Sunday 6th December to enter this one, leave your links in the comments below. You can still enter last week's challenge until Sunday 29th at noon so make sure you get your entries in!
In the meantime I will see you all (hopefully) for the show next Thursday 3rd Dec, which is on Ideal World at 2pm. ttfn!

Friday 20 November 2009

Challenge 27

Well bloggers, the cold weather has well and truly kicked in, together with the old swine flu. Yep yours truly has had it all week but thank goodness today I actually feel (relatively) normal again and thanks to everyone who helped me feel better in my hours of self-pity! Needless to say everything has been on hold for a week, so I am well and truly behind with the new CD and it will now be launched a week later on Thurs 4th Dec at 2pm on Ideal World. Methinks you will like. Me hopes anyway!


So on with the matters in hand! First of all, let's get this little thing out of the way...





So if you would like to be worked like a navvy week in week out for a miserly pittance sign up now! We are looking for a couple of new suckers sorry peeps so make sure you send me an email now! We will consider any age/gender/ability etc but please make sure you can commit to entering challenges at least every 2 weeks and can also help with samples for TV shows. New teamies will be announced beginning of December and the closing date is Fri 27th Nov at lunchtime.


Right, next on the agenda...winners and winners...you are all winners in my book...for challenge 25 you had to make Crimbo decorations, looks like some of you might have struggled with that one but thanks for the massive effort of those of you who entered...
The runners up are...Siobhan and Ribena Ruby...
and the winner of a fab set of Daisy Doodles stamps is, drum roll pleeeese....Cornish Mist! yayy! Well done to all of you, please email me for your stash and blinkies...


So, here we are on challenge 27 already, 2009 is flashing past my piggy eyes this year...So I asked the fab Dolly Doodlers to make cards using the Not For Girls CD this week. BUT they had to make a card which WASN'T for men. AND they had to use this here sketch too...



So for all of  you lovely challengees you need to use the Sketch and in keeping with the season I'm going to ask you use the colour theme BROWN as well. That's it! Entries have to be in by Sun 29th November at 12:00 GMT and the winner will receive a free CD for their troubles! I might even throw in some choccy coins as it's near to Crimbo! wahaaaay! So let's get on with the show...


Made by Lou...This is so creative! I love the way Lou has used the train background which couldnt be any LESS girly to make this fab Crimbo card..all aboard the santa express...just inspiring Lou! She's used several "plain" papers, layered the papers & then cut out some holly leaves & berries. The sentiment is made with rub ons.

Created by Krista...Krista's used the Tweets here and coloured one pink to make a lovely couple in love! hehehe sooo cute...

Made by Boni...I love this card, I'm so into nature images at the moment...here everything is from the Tweets collection on the CD, I just love it, could be for any occasion this one...

Created by Enfys...she always does it doesn't she? En can make the most beaut cards and this is one of them, just gorgeous...She's turned the sketch on it's head and used the stars and stripes papers. The flowers are from Cricut and she's used Glossy Accents to give them a glassy patent finish. A decoative punch border and lush ribbon finishes it off...

Made by Kerry...there seems to be a blue theme this week! Kerry has been very creative in her thinking here...the polka dot flowers have been cut from the "Bowls" papers, they are in fact, little bowls balls, but how well they work! She's also used the Not so plains which is a plain paper with a bazzill effect texture, we are all lovin' that one...





Made by Ruth...Ruth loves the Tweets with 'tude! Here she's used pencils to colour in the Tweet and added a charm. The backing paper is a brick effect which works really well...



Made by Sue...Here Sue's used the black and white stripes and one of the sentiment frames to make a really simple but elegant card, sometimes less is more...

Created by Kris...how cute is this! Kris has used the Not-so-Plain Plains with the Tweets and coloured "her" with Prismas and OMS, fashioned her a crown, and computer-generated the sentiment. Just adorable, this so makes me chuckle!...




Made by Claire...the Tweets have deffo been popular this week! Here Claire has used several backing papers and layered them all up together, and has torn the main tree paper to show the sentiment behind, inking the torn edge in blue.  I just adore the stamped leaves around the edge which is from the Daisy Doodles stamp set and she's doodled some little swirls which look gorge.  She's finished the whole thing off with the little seed packet which is a template on the CD...




Made by Saskia...We're all really sad this week :( because this is Saskia's last week with us.  She's been with us from the start way back in May and she will be a sad loss to the team with her quirky ideas and inspiration but she has oodles of other stuff she has to do. She has promised to look in on us from time to time though and I'm secretly hoping we will entice her back in the future! 
Here she's used the vintage gardening papers to make this lovely card - can you believe she crochets those little flowers herself! A lovely card from a lovely lovely lady...






So, now onto our amazingly fabulous Guest Designer for this month, the uber talented Dolly.  All through November Dolly is taking the same challenges as the Design Team but she has to make a Christmas equivalent! (I think she liked this cos she is slowly amassing all her crimbo cards, lol!).


So here she is with another fabulous project for this week...


"Another simple one from me!  A christmas take on the sketch using Jingle Jangles CD and the christmas stamp set.  Used the snowball papers again but resized the sheet to A5 to get more snowballs on the card front, and the stitched paper saved me doing the stitching!  

I decoupaged the stamped tree to give a bit of dimension and added some gems!"



We love it Dolly!...


So that's it from us this week folks! 


Remember you can win a fab CD for this challenge so get creating now! Please remember to follow the rules properly and entries must be in by Sunday 29th November at 12:00 GMT.   Don't forget! You still have time for last minute entries to last week's challenge, entries don't close till this Sunday at 12:00, so make sure you get in on the action!
ttfn xx