get a sugar rush...

Well, another busy week at Doodle Palace, oops I mean Doodle hovel if you take that filthy word we don't mention into account. Funny how other things can always take priority over the bleach and polish, think I might have to call in Kim and Aggie soon though. Still, after the last show we finally managed to ship out the last of the Jingle Jangle Crimbo backorders today and it's always a bit of a relief, I hate people having to wait to get their hands on stash it's sooo annoying. Treated myself to Copics last week but haven't even had time to play with them :( Still, they are waiting for me with all their colourful yumminess...I also have to mench this week that we now have a new forum, Polkadoodles hot gossip, which you can find here...we only launched it last week so we're a tad thin on the ground for members at the mo but the girls are all absolutely lovely and we would love it if you pop in and say hello and help us get it jiving a bit more...you can win candy this month!...

Right, the winners of the last challenge which was to follow the previous sketch were:

in 3rd place...Teri

in 2nd place...Dolly

well done girls, and our fabulous winner is Peggy with this baby...this deserved the winning accolade and if you don't normally go look at the winners entries you really do need to see this one, I love neverending cards but I've never actually made one myself, any of you who know me know I don't do that measuring thing and my patience would be gone within 5 minutes! So well done Peggy, I know how much effort went into this one girl, and it's a well-deserved win this week...could you all email me for your blinkies and pwize pleeeez...

Anyway, this week we have another sketch challenge for you again and once more, some stunning Design Team inspiration, I don't know where they get it from week in week out... So here is the sketch and the rules...

You can interpret this sketch how you wish, it can be a circle card if you like but it doesnt have to be, as you can see from the DT designs. The closing date on this one is Sunday 6th September at lunchtime and the winner will receive some lovely candy for their troubles!

Now, we have a special guest designer in September, yaaayyyyyy Ruth is taking the screen and giving me a break! So next week Ruth will be setting the challenge and she's a hard task-master I can tell ya, she keeps me on the straight and narrow that's for sure! So in celebration of Ruth's first week in the chair there will be some extra candy for the challenge winner.

Right on with the show! Here are this week's entries from those gorgeous girls on Team Doodle, they had to use the sketch and also could only use the Candy Doodles CD...

created by Boni...this is such a bright and cheerful card! Boni's coloured in the flowers with inks and I love the way Marmaduke is just popping up above the message, is that a curiosity killed the cat moment?? lol ....lush....
created by Enfys...I love En's style and ideas and this baby is just adorable, those polkadot stars are SO striking! She's used one of my fave papers here which are the banners, I've had a good play with those and they're really versatile...love the ribbon through the paper button too...
created by Claire...wow, we all love this fab creation! Christie is gonna be one lucky lucky peep to get this lovely! I really like how she's done the doodling here, think I will be nicking that idea, she's highlighted all her black doodles with white and it looks amazing. I also love the star layered up onto the flower, a fab touch...
created by Kath...another stunner this week, boy these girls are good! Kath's used the lovely butterflies here and the "raggy" flowers - by keeping it fairly simple it's just stunning...
created by Kris...she's switched the sketch around a bit here and we have more butterflies, this time coloured to match and how gorgie is Polly and Marmaduke here. Likin the doodles round the circle too!...
created by Kerry...the sketch is on it's side here too, but still fabulous! A great man's card using Jack and Fudgey, the DT just love the garden collection because its so versatile and this is a great card for anyone of the male species....
cute whiskies (Fudge not Jack!)...

created by Ruth...proof that keeping it plain and simple = gorgeous, Ruth always manages to make her flowers look stunning and yet again - stunning! These look mega expensivo I think...

created by Lou...Lou always likes to manipulate the images on the CD and here she's taken one of the Stampes and scaled it up massivo to make a lovely truck card - how fab! This is such an awesome card for the guys, who wouldn't wanna get this one! Love how she's put the star behind the window too, clever...
Ok doodle peeps lets see what you got this week, chop chop, vite vite and all that, clock's a tickin'....x

Challenge 14...

Well hello you lovelies!

Crikes, Friday soon comes around doesn't it, don't know where the time goes, obviously getting more decrepit as the weeks pass by and life seems to get more manic by the day. We launched the brand new Jingle Jangle Christmas CD on Create and Craft Monday this week and if you missed it and want to grab a peek at a couple of demo's and the faberooni samples made by the wonderful Team Doodle, it is being repeated at 11am on Sunday over on Create and Craft, so make sure you set record or check it out over your Sunday breakfast.

At this point I'd just like to say a few words about challenges. I've had loads of lovely emails from you all over the past few weeks and I know we have 100's of people who look at the challenge every week and do use the cards as inspiration and ideas. But, some of you have also told me you are too scared to post your own cards into the challenge competitions because you don't have the confidence in your own work...and that makes me really sad :( No matter what your ability and what age, what you use or what you do, you should always feel really proud of your creations. Think of all those people who would never even attempt to make anything because they don't know one end of a pen to the other and we ALL have to start somewhere. But what I

'm trying to say is that it doesnt matter whether you're a total beginner or if you're advanced, whatever you think of your own work, other people see it in a totally different way and every single person who enters our challenges is admired by the whole design team for putting in the effort and having a go, and for us, if we inspire you to do a little something different, all the better. It makes us feel all warm and gooey inside. So please please please don't feel intimidated and do have a go! The Design Team make some absolutely awesome cards and projects week in and week out, but each and every one of the team has a different style and we all do things differently. What we want is for you to look at one of our cards and think "I could do that" and then have a go! Even if it's just taking one little element that means our work is done! And you'll do things different too, and that doesnt mean it's wrong, it's just different! And you should celebrate that because how boring would it be if we opened up the blog each w

eek and we had all made the same card - ughhh! So come on all you secret bloggers who watch in silence, get your entries in, you've got to be in it to win it!

Well I've bored you all too long, so last week's challenge was to make a circle card with a large flower or element on it...and as always we had some really creative entries from you all.

The winner's are...

In joint 3rd place...Rose and Allison

In 2nd place... Sue

and our Winner is Shelly - yayyyy well done to all of you, please email me at

sales@polkadoodles.co.uk for your blinkies etc.

This week we are back on a sketcheroo, which I know you'll all love, and here it is...

The only rule here is that you must use the sketch and you also have

to use at least one Polkadoodle product which can be anything - if you need a downloadable (can be any you like) you can choose your downloads here.

created by Lou...Lou's gone all flowery and girlie this week to create this fab little number, the team have done wonders with the flowers from the Daisy collection, never realised how versatile these ones were when I designed them...

created by Ruth...Ruth's turned the sketch around this week and this card is lovely, great soft colours. Ruth used the strawberry and actually made her own backing paper by copy and pasting the image into Word, clever girl...the seeds on the strawberry are pearlidoodles 3D paints (tip: if you can't get these easily Dylon also do them as a small squeezable fabric paint and you can find them in your local haberdashery places)...

created by Kris...Kris was a tad naughty as she was supposed to use the Candy Doodles collecsh this week but this is so adorable we let her off...here she's used the Halloweenie download collection - LOVE this card it's spookily great!
created by Kath...apparently Kath says this started out as a disaster but I don't see it myself, except it's disastrously gorgeous! She's used the distressable flowers here and use the border strips from her scraps...lush....
created by Krista...another Halloweenie download, but we'll let Krista off too! How cute is this, love how she's cute her pumpkin from that gingham...
created by Boni...What a lovely bright summery card this one is, the butterfly is adorable and a great choice of colours...I think this is the first team outing for the Candy Dandies paper in the background, I love layering butterflies, it's always such a great look...created by Saskia...A totally different take on the sketch by using it on this lush little candy pocket! That candy looks lovely too, maybe Polly is going to nick it! She looks like butter wouldnt melt in her mouth!...created by Claire...This is lovely, Claire's used the distressable flowers and distressed them even more to create this fab card with a bit of funky doodling around the edges...add those lush Candy butterflies and it's just great...
created by Kerry...Kerry's used Candy Doodles CD here and has used the elements from the Scrummy Strawbs projects to do her own take....yummy yum yum...lovin' Polly's Strawberry hat!! what a funny idea, love it...heheh...

So there you have it, this week's lovelies. Right I'm off to rest my weary tootsie's so whilst I'm doing that you can be making your entry!! See ya next week! xx

craft craft craft!

Feels like I am consumed by craft this week!
Not that I'm not every week, but somehow it feels especially so this week for some reason, maybe cos I'm in Crimbo mode now having just finished the new CD, it's made me want to make yummy stuff. But, who am I to complain, no wayyyy Mrs, let me at that stash (note to self: shouldnt brag about being in a crafty mood when u havent made a card for the challenge, hmmmph). We are still mid holiday season over at Team Doodle Towers but the girls are returning all bronzed and chilled and, on your behalf, we who've been left behind are making sure we whip 'em back into making cards pronto a la Speedy Gonzales. And lets face it, they never let us down do they.
Before I forget, don't miss Create and Craft on Monday morning (17th August) at 9am for the opportunity to have a good laugh at yours truly making her usual gaffs and cockups, I promise not to try and be clever with the ribbon this time, it never works live on air. It's also a great opportunity for those of you who have bought the CD's to record the show and then you can view all the fab samples the girls have made, there are lots on there which aren't online yet.


Well, the Doodle Dollies and yours truly had a few technical traumas this week and Mr Blogger almost locked us out of the blog thinking we were spammers (or maybe they thought we were spanners, LOL!)(I think it might have been my swearing that caused this, it usually is) so we had a minor panic on our hands which we're hoping is sorted now. I think living with Frank Spencer is rubbing off on me as well, I've had a few near misses this week with various other things, and nearly ended up judging the wrong challenge, eek! Right, on with the show!

The week 12 challenge was to make a card which is also a gift and we had some lovely entries.

So without further ado, the winners are:

in joint 2nd place....Dawn and Jill

and in 2st place...Dolly

Yayy! Well done to all 3 of you they were lovely creations and well deserved winners. Please email me at sales@polkadoodles for your pwizes and blinkies.

Don't forget you still have a couple of day to get your entries in for last week's challenge which is the circle card - closing date for that one is Sunday 16th Aug at noon.

Right, this week I challenged the Doodle Dollies to make a card with at least 2 folds using the Sugar Birdies CD. I think this one got them thinking a bit and I love doing cards which have more than one fold to them so I hope you will like this challenge too! Obviously there's no sketch this week, so it's up to you to work your magic hands and show us what you can do - wonder whats the most folds someone will come up with? LOL! The closing date for this challenge is Sun 23rd August at noon, so show us your goodies! The winner will receive a Sugar Birdies CD and the 2 runners up will also get something yummy too...

Ok, here's what we came up with this week, hope it gives you some inspiration, these girls are very very good indeed...

created by Claire... This card is a gorgeous shape, I'm really into making different shapes like this at the mo and they can really take your cards to another level so give it a go. I love the way Claire's used eyelets as the flower centres here...

created by Kath...nice doodling my girl! Apparently the ribbon on here has brewers droop but I don't know what that means, perhaps Kath can explain...? I love this fold, it always looks really complicated but is soo easy to do, another week another stunner...


created by Boni...what a pretty this one is! Another adorable shape and a real girlie card that would be great for any age. Lace is so popular on cards right now, come on, rejuvenate that old nicker elastic in the back of your drawers! well, ok, maybe not, go buy some instead! Boni has used the new Jingle Jangle CD here so you're getting a sneaky peek!...

created by Ruth...I think Ruth and me have the same kinda taste, I always love her creations and this is another of them...what an adorable bag, she always makes such great details, check out the beading on this...


created by Lou...wow! I think there are 3 folds on this one, this is a really dramatic card, this will get lots of admiring comments by the recipient I think...

created by Kris...How many folds? I think there are 5?? Anyway, a fantastic creation, again not as complicated as it looks, do the folds first and then just 2 cuts!...this is one of those folds which has been around forever but never loses its appeal, it's ever popular and there's no wonder when you can make something like this...


created by Kerry...a great idea here, love how she's tied this gatefold with the double ribbons



and finally my last minute effort (sorry about the rubbish pic) - I was making crimbo cards with the new CD ready for Monday's show so I decided to enter this one my pleating has LOADS of folds, hahahaha! So here is another sneaky peek at the new Jingle Jangles...

...round and round we go...

Yippeeee it's that time of week again! I think I am a bit stirrr crazy this week, cooped up designing at lastminute.doodles as usual heheh. Have had a bit of an eventful one this week with a sad death in the family, a fridge door episode and now a sudden giant crack in the bath which I'm getting blamed for due to my fat lardy backside. tut. And headaches and bad hair days galore, what joy. Anyway, to hell with the headaches I am munching a Mars bar as I speak and will suffer the consequences later. Now you know why there is the crack in the bath. tee hee!

Right on with business!

First of all this week I have to say a massivo welcome to our 3 new Doodlers, Kris, Claire and Boni...wahahaaaay girls, welcome welcome, what have you let yourself in for! hahah! The newbies have done us proud this week and we know we made a good choice - mind you, they've been a little quiet so far but I have no doubt that will soon change! If you haven't checked out their blogs yet then you need to get on over there, links are on the sidebar.

I also need to just mench that we are back on Create and Craft TV on Monday 17th August at 9am (OMG that's like a 4am start for us to do that, eeeek!!!) when we will be launching our brand new Crimbo CD Jingle Jangle Christmas. You can actually pre-order this from our website right now if you want to make sure you get your mitts on it first, as we think it might be another big seller again.

Well, last week's challenge sketch seemed very popular and I have to say it is a format well used by moi, I find it quite a useful format. As always it was pretty hard to choose the winners this week but we had to do it and the lucky peeps are:

in joint 2nd place - Raindropecho and Cornish Mist

and our winner for this week isJo! Yayyy well done to all 3 of you! Pleeeese email me for your pwizes (sales@polkadoodles.co.uk).

Right, this week we have another sketch for you and I'm sorry but I love love love circle cards, so here ya go...

So here's what the teamies came up with this week, some fab creations I think this week, what a treat and lots of inspiration here I think. The closing date for this one is Sunday 16th August at noon GMT. You can also see a fabulous tutorial for this sketch and another idea from Lou, who is our Guest Designer for August, so if you're struggling with this one make sure you check out Lou's fab idea here. Right, let's get on with the show...

created by Krista....spoookeeee! Krista's used the Polly on the ladders from Candy Doodles and used the circle as the moon, way to go Krista hun! Love the thinking on this one and in nice and early for Halloween too (if you're thinking about Halloween too make sure you checkout the Polly Halloween download bundle on the website, there will be more sneaky peeks of that coming soon from the DT I'm sure!)...

created by Claire...wow! the team all LOVED the colours Claire used here and I like the way she's used the circle but has just used it on top of a normal card without the cutout shape. Those colour combo's have made this such a bright and cheerful card and she's been busy with her markers too...
created by Boni...I love this. Boni has cut the card shape using a scallop cut on her Cricut and then backed it with black, then she's used the raw edge flowers from Candy Doodles but combined the black with the Lulu collection from Sugar Birdies - lovely!...


created by Kris...wow! Lovely bright offering here from Kris. She's combined the flower from SB with the paper and gingham flowers from Candy Doodles and this is a great card, I LOVE what she's done on the inside here...

created by Kath...I always run out of adjectives each week when I get to Kath, her work is truly scrumpsh and I need to think of some "Kath" words I can use. Well, it's just, just, it's Kath! Awesome! She's used Candy Doodles papers combined with one of my Stackie flowers and well, I am always a sucker for gingham in any form, bra, knickers, paper, ribbon, anything...
created by Enfys...some of you may have already seen this stunner on the TV shows, it always gets picked out of the samples by the presenters and there's no wonder, it's simply devine, a really unusual colour combo but it works so well! En has used the same cut as Boni here for the scallop and it works soo well...


created by Sue...dots and flowers and that lush butterfly from Candy Doodles, all my faves in one place! LOVE this one Sue, it's very simple but it works soooo well, black is awesome on cards it gives such a striking combo. If you need to make a last minute card and don't have much stash to hand you will always win if you make a black/white/pink combo, I don't know anyone who doesnt love it...

created by Saskia...I love the way Saskia has distressed the edges of her circle here, it looks great with the patchwork effect, this is such a pretty card...


created by Kerry...a fab flower effect from Kerry, those stitched layers look fab! here she's used my ditsy daisy chain papers from candy doodles and I think the flower shapes are also from the daisy collection too (you'd think I'd know wouldntcha!)

created by Ruth...I think Ruth has a thing for these distressed flower circles and she always inspires me with them, I love love love 'em! This is a really contemporary card and it works for any occasion, just lovely lovely!

So make sure you have a look at Lou's fab tutorial below and we expect to see loads of circle bags this week!! Enjoy :D

hugs from the team xxx