Week 21 Challenge - Sew and Sew

Hi everyone, Lou here and guess what? It's Friday . . . YIPPEE . . . and like the well known TV advert, I've definitely got that Friday Feeling! Now the challenge this week is called

"Sew and Sew"

I would love you to add some sewing to your project this week. You could do this with your sewing machine, by hand, faux sewing/stitches or some of you might even have a rubber stamp that looks like sewing. The choice is yours!

Well done to the 5 lucky winners of our 1st Birthday giveaway. The following ladies will each receive a set of rubber stamps and a CD and the winning entry will get an extra CD.

1st place: Siobhan

2nd place: Croms

3rd place: Katie Oakley

4th place: Karen Everton

5th place: Donzabub

Please email Nikky for your prizes and our much treasured "blinkies".

To get the ball rolling (as it were), here is some inspiration from the Polka Doodlely DT . . .

Brenda I used Gracie, one of the new Fairy Flutterfly stamps, stamping her three times to decoupage, stamped her wings on paper from All Around CD then again on acetate and glittered. I used the same paper for the background and machine stitched round the edges - not my strong point.

Ruth: I've used Sugar Birdie papers and flowers printed onto vellum. The spotty ribbon came from my stash and I've faux stitched the flower stems and also around the edges of the card. The sentiment stamp is from the Fairy Flutterfly collection.

Kris: I am definitely a "sewing-challenged" person so this was quite a feat for me. I did make use of faux stitching around the edge but (and this is a first) I did stitch the flower stems with floss. The cute backing paper and adorable fox are from the new All Around & Everywhere CD - shaped cards. I just cut Mr. Fox out and used him as a stand-alone feature. I added a sentiment from the same CD and stamped some extra flowers from one of my Fairy Flutterfly sets and popped them on.

Kerry - All Around and Everywhere again for me too. I used embroidery thread to hand stitch (it's a bit scary seeing me with a sewing machine!!) around the bottom of the card and then stitched beads on her hat and bag.

Tracie I chose this weeks challenge to make a door hanger for my Little Girls newly decorated bedroom. I used papers from the gorgeous All Around and Everywhere CD, as well as the bunting template from the same CD. I machine stitched (badly) round the edges of the bunting and the name square. Then used the distressed flowers template from Candy doodles onto All Around and Everywhere paper to make the flower. The centre is from the embellishments section and covered in Glossy Accents. The alphabet stickers were a poundland bargain!

Fliss - I've all used the All Around & Everywhere CD and have been a bit sneaky as one of my TV samples for Nikky fits the theme perfectly so I just had to show it to you. I've used brown and blue papers and layered up one of the lovely roses. I made a pretty lace backing piece for the rose by running stitches along one edge and gathering it up to form a pleated circle. I used one of the button embellishments for the centre and made a central strip with more lace, pearls and a border. I did faux stitching all round the edges with a fine brown pen. I added one of the pretty circular greeting embellishments to finish.

Nettie: Well for this challenge I have dusted off my sewing machine!! Lots of zig zagging......I have used the All Around & Everywhere CD for this one and this gorgeous tree image. I also added a little glitter and glaze to this card, just for a bit of sparkle.

Enfys - I used papers from the All Around & Everywhere CD (floral frenzy collection) and cut out the funky flowers. Some stitching around the edges with my trusty Singer, and lots of doodling. I love these sentiment tiles on the Cd, the sentiments are great and there is one to match every collection. Clever Nikky.

...

Week 20 Challenge - Something For Mum

Welcome to another Polkadoodle challenge! I hope you enjoyed our Birthday challenge that was set last Friday - remember you still have until Sunday 23 May at 12noon GMT to enter and to grab the free download to create your entry!

Before this week's challenge is revealed, here are the top three from week 18:

First Place: Sandra
Second Place: Ruby
Third Place: Sabine

Well done! Please email Nikky for further details and your blinkies!

Hello everyone, Fliss here and it's my turn for this week's challenge. As 20 May was my dear Mum's birthday, I'm always thinking of her a lot at this time so my challenge to you all is to make Something For Mum, whether it be a card, gift, scrapbook layout etc and in my Mum's favourite colours of Blue and Peach/Orange.

Fliss: For my project I decided to make a scrapbook style layout on a piece of 20 x 20cm mount board to be hung on the wall or displayed on an easel. I covered the mount board with peach paper from the All Around & Everywhere CD and then made a patchwork pattern on the lower half with blue and peach papers from the same CD. I added a piece of floral paper cut the same way as the words and inked the edges with black. I then added a panel with letters from Back to Nature printed on blue paper and cut out and mounted on peach. I finished off with my Mum's photo (the best we have of her at 21), a flower, ribbon and pearls.

Kris: Fliss has given us a heartfelt challenge in memory of her Mum and her favorite colors...blue and peach. If you saw Nikky's free download last week you would know that one of the sets of papers is perfect for this challenge. In addition, I used a peach/orange paper from Sugar Birdies, then flowers, buttons, and a sentiment topper from All Around and Everywhere. I also added some butterflies stamped from one of Fairy Flutterfly sets.

Dee: What a special way to remember a loved one. Sadly my photography skills have deserted me right now and I seem unable to take a decent picture, but I'm sure you can make it all out. I made my card for Fliss's Mum from papers and bits'n'bobs from the All around and Everywhere cd. Extra bits used are stitched ribbon, Sakura Stardust and Metallic pens, small paper flowers and brown pearls.

Nettie: For my mum themed project this week I have made a Bookmark. My mum loves to read, so I thought I would make her a special Bookmark. I have used papers from the All Around & Everywhere CD and the gorgeous Maggie from the Fairy Flutterfly collection.

Tracie: I also used the lovely Maggie stamp to make my Easel Card. . I stamped and coloured her with promarkers and stamped her wings onto acetate, coloured again with promarkers and sprinkled with glitter. I also used the Candy Wings paper and Candy Alphas from Candy Doodles, a Sentiment from All Around and Everywhere and borrowed the tiny butterfly from the Meeshelle stamp set to create a background.

Kerry - I found these pretty tissue paper flowers online and they are so easy to make. I cut out 2 circles of patterned paper and 6 circles of tissue paper. Then layered them 1 patterned, 3 tissue and repeat. Pop a brad in the centre and scrunch the layers upward around the brad then unravel, to give a nice shabby look. I just lightly inked the tissue to add some colour. Papers are from All Around and Everywhere and Back to Nature.

Stacey - This weeks project was a bit different for me as I have made a scrapbook page! I have used my nan as inspiration as she is the most amazing woman in my life! I have made the page 8" x 8" and the papers and alphies are from All Around and Everywhere. More pics and full details on my blog!!!


Ruth: I had the inspiration to make a gift box! I've used a paper from Sugar Birdies and also the flower templates from the same cd (I printed them to a quarter of a sheet of A4 as I wanted them small!) The flowers have been coloured with Promarkers and you can see how I've attached the flowers to the top of the box. It's quite a small box so no big bars of chocolate here! For more views please pop over to my blog!


Claire I have used the lovely Flutterfly fairy(without wings) Gracie and she has some springy pipecleaner Polka doodles flowers sprouting out from behind her....

Please remember that the maximum number of challenges you can enter your creation in to including Polkadoodles is 10 - more than this and you will not be eligible for a prize. Please also remember to follow the specific challenge requirements and the deadline for this challenge is Sunday 30 May at 12noon GMT. Good luck!
..........

So, if you're up for the challenge but want to have lots of fun then apply now! The pay is pants and I work you hard but hopefully we have a little fun along the way too. Just email me here and explain in 25 words why you would like to be on the team by Sunday 23rd May...we look forward to hearing from you!!

Week 19 Challenge - Dimension & Texture

Happy Birthday to Us, Happy Birthday to Us!

Hi doodlers - can you guess it's Polkadoodles' Birthday this week - yahooo!
Yes, one whole year since we started this fabulous blog, my how time has passed! We've had a few changes over the past 12 months, a few faces have come and gone but one thing is still the same - our Design Team are still THE best as far as I'm concerned and continue to bring you all amazing inspirational projects week after week! I just want to take the opportunity to thank all my teamies, they do sterling work on here, usually in my long absences and keep the old Polkadoodles blog machine running for me and I honestly could not do it without them all - so big ups to you my gorgeous Doodle Dollies, I luvs y'all to bits. Anyway, I wont blather on as I've just hijacked En's post here and she'll kill me, BUT just wanted to let you know about our Birthday Celebration this week...

As a massive thank you to all of you who follow us and those of you who just pop in now and then, here is a great FREE download bundle for you all - Father's Day is coming up here in the UK and I hope this is useful for you all! Also, you MUST use this download for En's challenge this week, so make sure you get it, there are 12 sheets included in this for you!

As it's our Birthday we had to do something better than just a download for you, so the challenge winners announced below will each receive a set of PD Rubber Stamps. Also, our top 5 fave entries into En's challenge this week will also receive a set of Rubber Stamps AND a CD - PLUS the winning entry will get stamps and 2 CD's - phew, what a giveaway!! So come on, get downloading, everyone's a winner this week but you gotta be in it to win all those goodies!
Right, enough from me, it's over to Enfys for this week's challenge and the results from last time...


The winning three entries from our Week 17 challenge which was to Alter It, are...
Mummylade
Debs
Emily

Congratulations girls, you will all be receiving a set of PD rubber stamps, please email Nikky with your details!

This week my challenge is to create Dimension and Texture on your creation. And if you are stuck for ideas, just have a look at what the Design Team have created! Remember, you need to use the freebie download for this challenge too!

Enfys - For my card I used the Love and Cherish CD, the gorgeous rose was fussy cut from one of the papers, the flower was cut out 3 times and pop dotted on. Lots of cuttlebugging, the black panel is embossed as well, a bit of stitching, a bit of bling and I was done..........



Kris: Dimension and texture...hmmmm. I put on my thinking cap and then turned to a new technique and an old one. For the dimension I first made an easel card. Then I stamped some of Nikky's gorgeous butterflies (this one is from the Meeshelle Fairy Flutterfly set) on acetate and colored the backs with alcohol inks. I scored on either side of each butterfly body and folded the wings up. For the texture I found some old squares of Magic Mesh in one of my stash drawers. I cut some circles and put them under the butterflies. The backing paper is from the new All Around and Everywhere CD. I added a computer-generated sentiment to my punched "fence" and a stamped sentiment from the fairy set to complete this sympathy card.

Brenda - Enfys said dimension, so hopefully six layers will be enough. It's the lovely cake from Paper Boutique CD, cut and decoupaged to make a whopping A4 card, liberal helpings of glitter, glitter paper and ribbons, plus lots of punched butterflies as this bride - my future DIL, who will be receiving this card, loves them almost as much as she does glitter.



Ruth: I've used the ladybird from Paper Boutique, cut out all the layers and stacked them up with foam pads. I've embossed the body of the ladybird (no animals harmed) with my Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls folder and the grass with Swiss Dots. I made the antenna with wire and card candy, added some ribbon and wrote the sentiment! Great for a little girl's card!


Kerry - Umm Dimension and Texture, what to do, but then came up with the idea of creating a Touch and Feel cube that babies play with. Used fur, beads, mini mirrors and crinkly flowers for soft, bumpy, shiny and rough. Papers are from All Around and Everywhere. Not sure it would conform to any health and safety guidelines though!!

Nettie: Yeah Happy Birthday Polkadoodles.xx I have gone with the freebie download for my card this week. I have also used the Dad template from the Paper Boutique CD to make my Father's Day card.

Fliss: I absolutely loved this challenge as I really like using dimension and texture in my creations. I've used the All Around & Everywhere CD yet again to make a card with a vintage feel. I used the gorgeous shabby papers in shades of pink and grey along with the beautiful lace doilies and butterfly. I printed these out on white and also pink marbled card for variety. Texture comes from some inked Cuttlebug embossing, silver embossing powder and glittery embossing powder. Full details on my blog.

Claire - Great fun Enfys! I went more for the texture than dimension with some crackle accents, glossy accents, stickles, Martha Stewart punches and added textured cardstock....Those cakes on All Around and Everywhere are just so yummy!

Dee: I've used the fabby free Birthday downloads for my card too. I've made a card in readiness for Fathers day next month but I've gone a little mad with the circles lol, but can you have too many? You'll have to decide for yourselves. I've used the humble ribbler and cuttlebug folders to add some texture which I highlighted with distress ink, then I stacked all the bits up on top of each other with 2mm foam pads to create different levels. Gorgeous lime green organza ribbon adds more texture and scrummy chocolate Pearlidoodles adds yet more texture and detail.

Kate - I decided to use the birthday freebie too make my card, the rosette is also made from the circles on the download, I just snipped all around the circles and layered one on top of the other, using the strips for the ribbon.

So there you have it! Are you ready for our challenge?! And we'd all enter if we could as the prizes are fantastic! The deadline for entries is 12noon GMT on Sunday 23 May and please remember to be eligible for a prize you can only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polkadoodles. And for this challenge you also need to use the freebie download!
Good luck!
...

Week 18 Challenge - Summer Blossoms

Happy Friday everyone. Brenda here and it's my turn to host the theme at Polkadoodles this week and as it's 'hopefully' almost Summer I would like to see projects with the theme:

"Summer Blossoms"

Lots of scope there to get the creative juices flowing and a colour palate as wide as your imagination.

Before you go look at the Design Teams wonderful inspiration, here are the winners from Challenge 16 which was Netties monochromatic theme:

First Place: Dora
Second Place: Jenni
Third Place: Gillian

Well done everyone, please contact Nikky for your winners blinkies.

Brenda - I'm still loving the the All Around and Everywhere CD and have used some of the lovely lilac colourways for my card this week. I enlarged the floral tree before printing off, cut it with nesties and added crackle glaze. I made the three roses from the same lilac pattered paper and added pearls, sizzix swirls and lace plus a border punched with Martha Stewart 3 dot scallop.

Kerry - I saw these flowers on the web, can't remember where now and thought how pretty there are. The petals are made using either U's, C's or both which you can cut out freehand, with a Cricut (which I did) or templates etc. Just touch the ends of the letter together and glue onto a circle of paper and decorate the centre as you wish. The shape of your letters will determine the shape of your flower. I used papers from All Around and Everywhere.

Enfys - I decided to make a bag, well it started life as a flowerpot, but that went wrong, so I turned it into a handbag. The gorgeous flowers are cut from one of the papers on All Around and Everywhere, and were perfect for this project. There is a tiny clear sentiment sticker on the fastener of the bag.

Kris: Well, I decided to take Brenda literally and give you a Summer Blossoms card! I just kind of got carried away with printing the stacking flowers from the new All Around & Everywhere CD and decided to pile them all onto a stair step card. All of the flowers have been doodled on and they are not stacked but scattered. I also added some leaves and birds from the same CD along with a diecut sun and sentiment. I've given you 2 views - one to see the dimension and one of the card full on.

Nettie: I have joined the gang in using the All Around and Everywhere CD too. These flowers are so adorable, I can't stop using them. Just a slanted tri-fold card from me and a few punched leaves. I love the idea of summer colours and flowers.

Claire Yes it seems we all like that CD - All Around and Everywhere and those wonderful stacking flowers! There is so much on the CD, I have just come across this beautiful dragonfly and fun leaves.Martha Stewart punch from the Polkadoodles shop to make the edges on the joy fold card. A lovely finishing touch.

Ruth: I've taken the theme literally and made flowers on plant sticks! All the papers (printed double sided) are from the new cd All Around and Everywhere and I've used the flower sheets as the templates. Ruffled the edges and added seed beads to the centres. And the sticks, in case you are wondering, are bamboo planters from Sainsbury's.... More pics on my blog!

Kate Here is mine made with cut out flowers from several of the cds , the backing paper is from sugar birdies and the cute little bunny is from paper boutique

Stacey - I have once again turned to All around and everywhere for my paper this week! I have used blue and brown for my scheme which should make Nikky happy!!! I have made some 3D flowers using my nesties and I have added some beads and wire, the brown leaves have been saved from something that I had torn apart last week!!! More pics on my blog x x x

Fliss : I've also gone for the new All Around & Everywhere CD as I've been exploring all the different things on there. I've made an easel card but it's flower shaped in keeping with Brenda's theme. It was made using a Nestabilities die but you'll need to pop over to my blog to see how I did it as the original shape is a bit small for a card. I added circles of polka dot paper and made a garland from flowers cut out of one of the papers with a die.

Dee: I set a little challenge to myself as well this week to make a card with no embellishments or ribbons, in fact all I've added is faux stitching. I chose papers from Candy Doodles CD, and I used the A5 Funky Flower template from Paper Boutique to make this wardrobe style card.

Lou: I have been computerless for a wee while now so couldn't use any of Nikky's CD's for this weeks challenge, so I have used the versatile "Daisy Doodles" rubber stamp set to create my card ! I then made a large chiffon ribbon bow & used some gems in the flower centres. A little smiggen of Liquid pearls and my card was quickly made.

Nikky...Wow! Fab designs from the doodledollies this week and it looks like we all love the new CD lol! My card is from the picnic collection on All Around and Everywhere and I've made these distressed flowers using the ones on the CD as well...if you want to know how to make these you need to watch the next show on Create & Craft which is 27th May where I'll show how to make these again...I've also shown a pic of some 3D ones which are on sticks too (yes, both Ruth and me have a thing about flowers on sticks I think, I cant deny it, lol).

Now, before we go, next week is special for us at Doodle Towers - it's our birthday! One whole year of Polka Doodle challenges - my, how time has flown!! SO - make sure you check in next week as we'll be celebrating in true birthday stylee!! xx

Good luck on entering this weeks challenge - you have until Sunday 16 May at 12noon GMT and please remember the maximum number of challenges including Polkadoodles is 10 for your creation.