Week 13 - Easter BLOG HOP

Hi everyone! Welcome to our fantastic blog hop and candy giveaway!

Our fabulous sponsors Marianne Design are giving you the chance to win this adorable Garden themed Creatable as part of our blog hop!
Creatables are handy stencils that cut and/or emboss. They can be used in many machines, with all kinds of paper. The cut-out and embossed shapes are ideal to make your cards and other creative projects even more beautiful. We also have this lovely cuter than cute Snoesjes stamp, a fabulous 32 page paper pack and we adore this stunning flower ribbon - this candy is just scrumptious!!

In addition to this wonderful Marianne Design candy the first prize winner will receive a brand new Sugarplum Daisy CD AND a Candy Doodles CD from Polkadoodles PLUS 2 further winners will also receive a Candy Doodles CD - so there are 3 chances to win in our Hop and Challenge!!

Here is what you must do: (you might find some extra candy along the way from the DT so make sure you go visit them all!!)

CHALLENGE STAGE 1: Now, we know not everyone likes to do a hop for whatever reason, so we still have our normal challenge for the week which is EASTER themed - you must make a card or project which is Easter themed.


But that's not all...


CHALLENGE STAGE 2: Our second challenge is the blog hop - if you hop along with us this week you will find that the Easter Bunny has arrived early and left some hidden goodies on some of the Design Teams blogs - but you have to hop though the whole list to find who the Easter Bunny has visited!


You need to complete both the Easter themed challenge and the blog hop to be in with a chance of winning one of the fantastic prizes on offer! If you've never taken part in a blog hop before it's easy peasy...all you need to do is visit each blog in turn and for this hop each Polkadoodler will give you a LETTER (be careful - some of the Polkadoodlers may have more than one so make sure you collect them all!)

Now add all the letters together, unscramble them and leave a comment on the Polkadoodle Challenge Blog (comments will be moderated!) telling us what the word is. You MUST follow this blog and link to the blog hop on your own blog to be eligible to win, so make sure you click follow in the sidebar!


Your entry will automatically be judged for the Easter themed challenge BUT we will know if you have completed the Blog Hop so if you haven't you will still only be eligible for the random blog candy hidden amongst some of the Polkadoodlers. FOR THE EASTER THEMED CHALLENGE JUST LEAVE YOUR ENTRY AS NORMAL USING THE INLINKZ BUTTON, WE WILL SORT THROUGH THE ENTRIES AS WE WILL KNOW IF YOU FOLLOWED THE HOP OR NOT! ; )


The list to follow - just in case you get stuck is:

Polkadoodle Challenge Blog (you are here)
Nikky
Fliss
Anne
Claire
Doreen
Enfys
Miria
Lisa
Danielle
Lana
Ruth
Claire HD
Then back here to this blog to leave your unscrambled word!

The letter you need to start you off is.... P

Keep this safe along with all the other letters - and don't forget to leave a comment on each blog as you hop to make sure you're considered for the candy!

Before we get onto the samples from the team for this week's challenge let's find out the winners from our previous challenge which was to feature an Animal or Bird:

1st place - Jayne, 2nd place - Lori , 3rd place - Blackdragon

Congratulations! Jayne please email Nikky for your prize. Blinkies can also be requested from Nikky for the second and third place participants. Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number to speed up the process.

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 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 word verification on your blog it really does slow us down (and sometimes we cannot read it!) Please consider turning word verification off especially now that comment moderation has a spam filter.


Right, now onto the wonderful samples created by the Design Team! This challenge and blog hop is open until Sunday 8 April at 12noon GMT - good luck and please remember our rules and that you have to enter the challenge AND blog hop to be in with a chance of winning!


Lana: I have used the brand new SugarPlum Daisy CD. I must say this CD is jammed packed with wonderful cuties you will certainly fall in love with ;)

Patty: For my Easter card I used papers from Sundae Seasons, I wanted to highlight just a portion of the Bunny with color so used green ink and added as if were part of the same image. Added the white bow to make a subtle tone to all the bright green and pink. And used the sentiment form Candy Doodles CD

Ruth: I've gone for an old favourite - Paper Boutique Vol 1 and used the little bunny decoupage along with one of the matching papers. I've glittered the bunny and used an acetate strip so that he boings around! Promarkers have been used to colour the Marianne Designs die and then I've glued them on around the middle of the pouch.

Claire - I've used the gorgeous Sugarplum Daisy CD and Candy Doodles Collector's Edition to create my Easter bunting. I simply printed out six different papers from the Sugarplum Daisy CD. I then used the wordbook template on the Candy Doodles CD to create the letters and printed these onto the same paper. The rabbit is from the Sugarplum Fairy CD and I've simply resized and flipped him several in my graphics programme and placed him under the letters so that he looks he like he's peek-a-booing.

Claire: I have used elements from the new Sugarplum daisy cd for my Easter card. How gorgeous is that Bunny Scene. Coloured with promarkers and some safmat used to print one of the lovely ribbon designs on.

Doreen: I've decorated/pimped a little glass using images and a pretty border from the fantastic Sugarplum Daisy CD. I embellished with flowers and ribbon.

Daniele......although technically mine isn't an Easter card I couldn't resist the sweet bunny, one of the elements from the new fabbie CD.....Sugarplum Daisy to share with you.

Lisa - 'The Crafting Owl'. I decided to go for a very simple Easter Bonnet using the fab papers from 'Back to Nature' which I inked over. I cut out the flowers using a punch and the fab Marianne Design die set LRo11.

Fliss: I decided to make a little woven basket to fill with Easter treats using a tutorial I found on the internet. The gorgeous checked papers are from the brand new Sugarplum Daisy CD as are the adorable little bunnies. I used an Easter greeting from the Paper Boutique Vol 3 CD. The basket is decorated with layered flowers and a flourish branch made using Marianne Design dies.

Enfys: I used my Cricut to cut a doily shaped card, and the bunny from the Paper Boutique CD. the spotty bow is made with paper from the Sundae of Seasons CD, and the flowers were punched.

Anne -For my project I've used the new Sugar Plum Daisy CD I began by printing both sides of the paper for my little bag, a couple of smaller pieces and the images for my card and I was good to go. I then added the images to the backers, hand cut some grass for the bag, punched some flowers and added my favourite Marianne Designs die cut flower and the job was a good 'un!

Miria What's better for an Easter blog hop than two hopping bunnies? Here they are, ready to colour from new supercute cd Sugarplum Daisy; I coloured them with Zig Art&Graphic Twin. Paper and sentiment are from Candydoodles Collectors' Edition.

Josie: For this lovely challenge I decided to used the lovely Marianne Die which I covered in glitter! The backing papers are from the Sugarplum Daisy CD Rom.

Good luck! Don't forget that you need to enter the challenge as well as the blog hop this week to be in with a chance of winning one of the wonderful prizes on offer. Deadline for both entries is Sunday 8 April at 12noon GMT.
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Week 12 - Mothers Day

Good morning everyone, hoping that you managed to catch Nikky with the Letraset Pick of The Day yesterday as there were some fab bargains to be had along with the brand new Sugarplum Daisy CD which is absolutely gorgeous and full of lovely summery stash.

Before we get onto this week's challenge let's find out the winners from our Lets Hear It For The Boys challenge who are:

1st place - Shari , 2nd place - Margreet , 3rd place -  Priya Sondhi

Congratulations! please email Nikky for your prize and blinkies - the first placed winner receives fee download! Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number.
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.

Our challenge to your this week is to make a creation with Mum in mind as we all know that those Mums out there deserve some special treatment for all the wonderful things they do.
The design team have made some fabulous creations so read on for inspiration.

Emma
Hello there, this week, I have used some backing paper from the Double Sprinkles of Kraft CD Rom together with some Martha Stewart punches, Marriane Design die for the fern, and lots of lovely embellies to layer up this Mother's day creation.

NJ For my Mother's Day card I have used the Paper Boutique Volume 3 CD . I thought the images from the A Recipe for A Great Day were just the thing I wanted to make my Mother's Day card. It reminds me of the many hours I spent baking when I was growing up!

Nelly; for my mothers day card i used the flowers, leaves and butterfly images are from The sundae of seasons CD and alphabets from candy doodles collectors edition. lace from stash.

Shary - For my Mother's Day card I've used the brand new Sugarplum Fairy CD. I printed out the papers to layer up my easel card. I then printed out the quick and easy topper and border. The sentiment is also from the same CD. For embellishments I used the papers to make some pretty flowers and also one of the Sugarplum Fairy butterflies.



Joanna: For my Mother's Day card I used the ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL papers from the brand new Sugarplum Daisy CD. I distressed the edges and machine stitched the paper tiles and lace for a shabby chic look. The gorgeous die cut shapes are from Marianne's Designs. The green paper for the leaves was printed onto a vintage music sheet - I just love the way it looks! This CD is a real MUST HAVE, it's just packed with delicious sugarplum goodness!

Norine: For my Mother's Day card, I used combined images from the new Candy Doodles Collectors edition. The yellow patterned paper is from Sundae of Seasons cd and the green fade is from the Paper Boutique Creative Christmas cd. I used a Spellbinders die and a Martha Stewart punch for the papers and some matching butcher's twine and a Prima flower to finish it off.

Claire - For my mother's day card/fridge magnet I've used the newly released Sugarplum Daisy CD. I printed out some of the yummy papers and used one of the toppers from the collection to decorate the front of the card. I then created a mini box frame and decoupaged the same scene on the inside of the card (as we're all friends here I'll confess to not noticing that I'd reversed the image on the inside until it was way too late!). I mounted the box frame onto some magnetic strip and then placed it onto magnetic strips that I'd attached to the card.

You have until 12 noon on Sunday 1 April to get your entries in and good luck!

Week 11 - BLOG CANDY, Animal or Bird & Stashbox Stamp

Friday again and time for another challenge! 
But before we tell you all about it, if anyone is going to GNPE at Harrogate this weekend make sure you head over to the Polka Doodles stand to see Nikky with Leonie Pujol demoing lots of new goodie scrumpshness!! They will be launching a brand new CD at the show so make sure you grab yours first! I'm told they will also have their inky mitts all over some new Kuretake goodies which anyone who scraps or loves making brag books or smash books is just going to ADORE so make sure you check it out! Nikky is a really busy bee this next week as you can then catch her on Create and Craft/Ideal World TV from 9pm Wed 21st with 10 hours of crafting where she will launch the new CD together with a Pick of the Day product (top secret, sorry!)...and as if that's not enough you can then see her on the Kuretake show at 8am Fri 23rd with lots of Basically Bare goodies and more messiness no doubt! Again, if you love altered art, making homestyle projects, are a scrapper or just love being versatile with your cardmaking then check out the Kuretake show, you'll love it all!

Right, because it's such a mammoth week, Nikky is offering up 3 copies of the latest Candy Doodles CD to 3 random comments this week if we get over 50 comments on this post, but you also MUST mention our blog candy on your own blog and leave a backlink in your comment (we will check the links) - so you have to follow the blog and comment to be in with a chance to win!

In addition, our Enfys is also having a mammoth week on her blog Going Buggy too - she's giving away a free copy of Candy Doodles EVERY DAY this week - so go check her out too!

Before we get onto this week's challenge let's find out the winners from the Week 9 Stripes/Spots challenge which were:

1st place - Heather , 2nd place - Wenn1 107 , 3rd place - Tracy MacDonald

Congratulations! please email Nikky for your prize and blinkies - the first placed winner receives a free download! Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number.

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.

Now for this week's challenge which we know you'll love as we would like to see your creations with an Animal or a Bird on them. The Design Team have made some fabulous inspiration for you to feast your eyes on and they had the additional challenge of including a stashbox stamp this week. And the winner of this challenge will also win some goodies in the form of our gorgeous Pretty Sweet CD!!So make sure you get entering - in total between us and En's blog you have 11 chances to win a CD!!Wowser!!And don't forget you have until noon GMT on 25th March to enter and get all your comments in etc!!

Ruth: I seem to have a thing for butterflies at the moment! This one is from Sundae of Seasons - I've printed it a few times onto acetate and layered it up. The paper is also from the cd and I've inked the edges with brown and black ink, adding some half pearls and some rather lush satin edged ribbon I found in my stash!

Josie: This week I used the image called Wryn and Wren. I loved the little cute bird. This image seems delicate to me so I wanted to use some delicate style paper. For this I printed two different shades of the same paper from the Pretty Sweet CD Rom. I kept this card quite simple,  adding some lace and some flowers. The image was coloured in using a mixture of Pro Markers & Flex Markers.

Claire: Loving the new refreshed Candy Doodles cd especially this gorgeous tree image with the birdies! I've created a pack of notelets using elements from the cd. I have combined the two tree stamps on the cd as I love hearts and birdhouses......

Doreen: For my card I used the lovely image from the new updated Candy Doodles Cd. The paper is from the Pretty Sweet CD Rom.

Lisa -'The Crafting Owl'. I've made my first card as a new member of the DT from the Back to Nature CD. I added paper photocopied on to acetate for more interest. The tag and border are also from the CD. The stamp can be bought here.

Lana - My card uses one of the newly released CD's 'Pretty Tuff' which is such a versatile one you can combine with so many things. I love the fact that you can choose the coloured digis or the B & W ones to colour yourself.

Miria. For my card I used a Magnolia Tilda who looks feeling at home in this scene from new cute cd Candy Doodles collectors' edition. Both the images are coloured with Zig Art&Graphic Twin and Distress. The paper is from cd Pretty Sweet. I just added some half pearls and punched flowers.

Enfys: I used Polly from the new Candy Doodles CD for my card, I love her! Totally forgot about Stashbox stamp week, so my card is Polka Doodles, and nothing but Polka Doodles. Does a snail count as an animal? Well it lives and breathes, so lets say yes...... If you go to my blog HERE and leave a comment under every post this week, you are in with a chance of winning the new collectors edition of Candy Doodles, one to be given away for each day. Good luck!

Fliss: I decided to make a little bird house using the fab template from the Candy Doodles Collectors Edition CD which I printed out on the back of some lovely textured look papers from the Not For Girls CD. I made a stand for the assembled house using the roof printed out on paper from the Double Sprinkle Of Kraft CD using quite thick card. I added a little stamped robin and flowers (I made the roses from the spira blossoms on the All Around & Everywhere CD) to finish.

Anne - I used the Sundae of Seasons CD for the main image and little clothes line which included a teddy bear to keep with our theme this week. The papers are from my favourite CD Pretty Sweet, ribbon and other bits and bobs from my stash.

Daniele. for my card this week I'm showing you a sneek peek of something brand new being launched by Nikky this week and you will be spoilt with all the sweet cutie images on it, like this oh so sweet mouse.

Good luck! The challenge is open until Sunday 25 March at 12noon GMT.

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Week 10 - Giveaway...lets hear it for the Boys!

Fabulous Friday again!

Woohoo! We are so pleased to announce we are being sponsored this week by the wonderful Marianne Design . 

So, our Blog Candy giveaway this week is an adorable basket Craftable, Craftables are new from Marianne Design and offer more variety to your die-cutting with the additional embossing options and you can also decoupage layers if you're clever with them! We also have this lovely Boat themed Creatable die which is fantastic for using with men's cards and this flower ribbon is just scrumptious!! In addition we will also add our Pretty Tuff CD to the candy which means the value of the giveaway is approx £35!! Wowser!!

Before we get onto this week's challenge let's find out the winners from challenge which are: 

1st place - Michaela, 2nd place - Diamond Sky, 3rd place - Gerlinda

Congratulations! please email Nikky 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 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.

Well hello again everyone, it is time for a brand new challenge once again. This time we want to see all your gorgeous birthday cards for boys or men.  You have until Sun 18th March at noon to enter so make sure you get your entries in for a chance to win that fabulous blog candy! Now, time for some gorgeous inspirational designs from our talented team.  

Claire - I've upcycled an old magnetic pin board that my daughter threw out and made it into a gift for my son using the distressed polkadot papers from the Pretty Tuff CD , the skull image and word book letter templates from Candy Doodles The Collectors Edition.

NJ - I wanted my male theme card to have a fun element, so I've made it look like the boys are going out for a fun day in the country a 'Road Trip' with their little dog in tow! I have used Polkadoodles Paper Boutique Volume 1 CD for the car. The tree backing paper and tree embellishments are from the Candy Doodles Collectors Edition CD and I also used thePretty Tuff CD for the boys and dog.

Clare:- I've made a birthday card using paper, image and sentiment strip from the Polka Doodles "Not for Girls, Definitely for Men" double CD. I distressed, scrunched and inked the papers and painted crackle glaze over the image and sentiment strip.

Shary - I've made a grungy card this week for the male theme. Firstly I took a craft blank card. I've used the Polkadoodles Not for Girls CD. The papers have been ripped and inked with distress inks as has the image, ticket and sentiment. The image and ticket are taken from the Eclectic file and the papers are from the Back to nature and Readin and Ritin file.

When assembled I went over the whole card with distress stains.  I then addedd some buttons as embellies.

Norine - I had fun making this card using papers from Pretty Tuff and Not For Girls (after removing the color and printing them in straight black & white) and a Stampie sentiment. I kept it all in a black & white color scheme for a masculine feel as well as using the most masculine ribbon I could find in my stash!

Carol - I have made an easel card this week using elements from the Pretty Tuff cd. I love this cd for boys! The only thing I have added from my stash is some string. I have also printed out the sentiment and some cars and popped them up on 3d foam for some added dimension.

Dee - I've been waiting for a suitable card to use one of my favourite papers from Pretty Tough on. I love the red and black Harlequin paper and it goes really well with the car from the same CD. The other papers and greetings are from Pretty Tough as well. The buttons are from Candi Doodles Collectors Edition. I used a Martha Stewart border punch and some Bakers Twine to finish it off.

Nelly - Hello everyone, for this Male themed challenge I have made this card for my Hubby who will be 50 next weekend! I have used the image, embellishments and design papers from the Pretty Tuff CD the image is coloured with ProMarkers and the leafy die is from Marianne Designs.

Shell- Good morning everyone, for my card this week I've used papers and a fabulous image from the Not For Girls CD, the sentiment is of Pretty Tuff CD, I had to cut this a little smaller than it is on the cd because I couldn't find the right sized punch :-( The image was coloured with pro markers.

Joni: I used the Pretty Tuff CD to make my card.

Good luck with the challenge and please remember our rules! Closing date is Sunday 18 March at 12noon GMT.

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Week 9 - Polkadots, Stripes or both

Welcome to challenge 9! Have you ordered your copy of Pen and Paper Circle Kit yet? Issue 2 is available to order but hurry - you only have until 7 March to order!

Before we move onto this weeks challenge, here are the winners from challenge 7 which was to follow the recipe...
The very special random winner who receives the Marianne Design sponsored prize plus a copy of the new Candy Doodles Collectors Edition cd is: Margie Calenda who was No. 37 selected by our random number generator (Mr Doodles!)  Congratulations Margie!! Email Nikky with your postal details and she will get them sent off to you!

Our regular top three places are: First Place: Karen, Second Place: Twisted Witch, Third Place: Angela
Congratulations! Please email Nikky for your prize and blinkies - the first placed winner receives fee download! Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number.

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.

Right, onto the challenge for this week! Its all about using Polkadots or Stripes or both!! The lucky winner of this challenge will win a £10 voucher to spend on the Polkadoodles website - woohooo!!  The challenge ends on Sunday 11 March at 12noon GMT. Good luck!

Ruth: I've gone for the spots! This must be one of my favourite Polkadoodle papers of all time - and its from Candy Doodles. I've printed on both sides - pink to the front and black spots on the inside and used some co-ordinating flowers too. Simply cut out, doodled around the edges of the flowers, ruffled them a little and then layered up with some rather black gems in the centres. Some faux stitching around the outer edges and its done!

Josie: This week I chose an Image and papers from the Pretty Sweet CD Rom. The image is coloured in with a mixture of Pro Markers and Flexi Markers. I used the paper to make a medallion and then put a sentiment on top.

Enfys: I chose the stripes option and used the papers and dog from the Candy Doodles CD, the kennel and branches were cut with my Cricut. I love this dog! The sentiment is a stamp I have had in my stash for ages, one of those anonymous no name stamps, but I think it was Studio G.

Daniele here, for my card for this weeks challenge I have used another of those sweet characters from the new updated Candy Doodles Cd, coloured with Promarkers and Flex Markers, the papers are also from the same Cd and used spots and stripes. Love the new ticket sentiments.

Claire - I couldn't decide so its the best of both worlds for me - spots and stripes! Lovely image, alphas and subtle spot paper from the Collectors Candy Doodles cd and the main dp from paper boutique vol 1. With added stickles, sticky pearls and a little doodling.

Doreen: I used for my card the lovely image from the new updated Candy Doodles Cd. The paper is from the Pretty Sweet CD Rom.

Miria I chose stripes for my card, I used some paper scraps from Sundae of Seasons and the sweet image is from the new cd Candy Doodles collectors edition. I coloured it with Kuretake Zig Art&Graphic Twin. The sentiment is a stampie from the same cd, buttons from stash.

Fliss I couldn't decide so have both on mine as I couldn't resist using my absolute favourite Wonderland stamps and papers having got them out to make a wall hanging a few days ago (see my blog for this). Alice was stamped twice, coloured with Promarkers and decoupaged for a 3D effect and the frame was made from a scrap of Pretty Tuff paper embossed with a dotty folder.

Anne - For my card I've used one of the new images and sentiment from the Candy Doodles Collectors Edition. I coloured as always with copics but felt when I'd finished that he looked a wee bit lost so I added some grass and sky to create a bit more of a scene. The papers are from Pretty Tuff, flowers and lace from me stash and I've also used the Marianne Design Lavender die also available from Polka Doodles.

That's it - over to you! The challenge ends on Sunday 11 March at 12noon GMT. Good luck!

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