Week 18 Challenge - DIY Flowers

Once again it is Friday! And another Polkadoodle Challenge! We had a great response to Challenge 17 last week which is still open until Sunday 20 September so you still have time to enter if you've not already done so!

Did you see the launch of the Polkadoodle Rubber Stamps earlier in the week on Create and Craft? It was their world wide launch and they are very very limited in supply - to the extent that not all of the Design Team have got them. I've been very lucky and been able to play with both sets - one complements the Candy Doodles cd and the other one Jingle Jangle Christmas.

You do get a lot for your money - the deeply etched rubber sheets are packed to the rafters with designs and although they work best with their cd's, they will look great on any contemporary or traditional project. The shows are repeated frequently on Create and Craft so hope you get to see them! Click here to go to the Polkadoodle shop to buy!

But on with the challenges! We had some great entries for Challenge 16 and it was a close contest to find a top three! But there can only be three winners and they are for the Spots and Stripes Challenge:

In Third Place: Dolly

In Second Place: Aud Cards

And the Winner is: Auntie Nonnie

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

Once again I am hosting the challenge, and this week I have challenged the Design Team to:

DIY Flowers (Do It Yourself / Make It Yourself Flowers)

The Design Team once again have made some stunning samples to get your creative juices flowing. Or should that be flowering? Bad joke, I know!

Boni has created some wonderful flowers by cleverly folding shapes cut from Candy Doodles. I really like the way they overlap and crowd each other. Big blooms always work well on cards - bigger the better I say!

Claire has been creative and has made her flowers with the brand new Polkadoodle Candy Doodle stamps! These really do look stunning stamped onto acetate, coloured, trimmed and added to the front of the card.


Just look at this stunner from Kath! She has also used the brand new Polkadoodle Jingle Jangle Christmas stamps and papers from Jingle Jangle Christmas too. The snow white snowflakes look so festive stamped onto the pale brown background. Kath's flower is made from folded hearts - I really must give this technique a try!


And from Kerry this week, not one but two cards! Both have been made using papers from Candy Doodles. The top card uses a very similar technique to Kath's - the flower is made from hearts and the flower on the lower card is made from distressed circles layered to create dimension.

Kris stunned us all with this creation! Made to celebrate her Grandmother's 100th Birthday in early October. Would you guess that the flowers are made from Jingle Jangle Christmas papers? They look so real and life like that I wish sometimes that my pc had smelly vision! The birdie is from the Sugar Birdies cd. A very Happy 100th Birthday to Kris' Grandma!

Krista has created a wonderful paper folded Christmas tree by using Jingle Jangle Christmas papers and a ruched ribbon rose on the very top! The owl is also from Jingle Jangle Christmas and he looks like he's wondering how to fly to the top of the tree!

Now this really does make me feel all cosy and wintery! Lulu has created her flowers by cutting individual petals, layering them and adding tiny fronds of curled wire - just stunning and such good colour combination! Made using Jingle Jangle Christmas.

Nikky has come up trumps with this lovely touchy-touchy card! She's used papers from Jingle Jangle Christmas and the stamps are the brand new releases! The stamps are so versatile and just look how crisp and clean they stamp!

Now this is one cute card from Saskia! Made using elements from Jingle Jangle Christmas and her flowers are windmills! The two little presents and the sentiment you see are from the Polkadoodle rubber stamps - if you saw their launch earlier in the week on Create and Craft you'll know just how wonderful they are! The round card really lends itself to the snowy feel of this card!

What a great bunch of flowers! Sue has created each individual flower by layering up and adding a central fastener to randomly cut scraps of Candy Doodles papers. At least this bunch of flowers will be longer lasting than shop bought ones!

For my challenge card I made flowers using the dandelion collection from Candy Doodles. I've simply snipped parts away from a circle to create petals and then rolled the edges to make them 3d. The strands in the centre are curled strips of off cuts. A tutorial on how I made these flowers is immediately before this challenge post.

I do hope you are able to play along this week - closing date is noon on Sunday 27 September - and all you have to do is leave a comment on this post along with a direct link to your creation so that the Design Team can pop over and have a look!

Good luck and I'll see you next week for my final challenge of September - and I think you'll like it! A tutorial will also accompany the challenge and keep your eyes peeled for my little helper!