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.

*****

Week 8 - Summer Fever

Hi everyone - we all hope you had a great weekend and now for the Crafty weekend again! We have a great challenge this week and the winning entry will win a brand new Candy Doodles Collectors Edition CD! Woohoo!! This CD is STUNNING, so make sure you get your entries in to win!

Before we get onto this week's challenge let's find out the winners from challenge 6 which was to make a quick and easy Valentine's card using our free digi. As always there were some great entries but the winners are:

1st place - Jo , 2nd place - Jacki , 3rd place - Mags & Carol

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.

So onto this week's challenge! Joni here and this week I am hosting the Polka Doodles Challenge: Cabin Fever! Let's see your summery designs.

The Design Team are allowed to use a Stashbox Stamp this week - we love using our Polkadoodles products with our other stash we have because they're so versatile! Nikky's designs complement lots of other craft ranges which is really unusual, very often you buy one Design brand and you have to use it on it's own but not with Polkadoodles, we love that! Don't forget you have until Sun 4th March to enter so let's see all your lovely creations!

For my card I used the Fairy Flutterfly Gracie stamp with "A Wish for You" Sentiment. I printed out some bright pink summery paper from the Sugar Birdies CD.

Emma, hello there, this week, I have made a gorgeous summery card with juicy lemon colours and my favourite Magnolia stamp of the moment. I coloured with Prismacolor pencils, created the punched mat with a Martha Stewart Punch Around The Page set. The flowers and backing paper are all made from papers on the Polkadoodles Pretty Sweet CDRom, finished with a scattering of gems and a lovely little bow.

Nelly hello everyone, for this weeks Summery card i couldn't resist using this BBQ themed image from my stash box and coloured with Pro Markers. I have used the design papers from the Pretty Tuff CD the ivy and bird box die is from Marianne design.

Shary - I've made my summery card using the gorgeous green and yellow papers from Sundae of Seasons. I also used the same papers to punch my flowers. The ticket sentiment is from the brand new Candy Doodles CD. My stamp is a Gorjuss girl coloured with copics.

Norine - what a fun challenge this was - to get all summery!! I used a stamp from my stash, by Lockhart Stamp Co and all the papers and journal circles from Polka Doodles. Specifically, the papers are from Sundae of Seasons and Pretty Tuff. Coloring done with Copics.

Clare - I've always loved this summery stamp by Penny Black. It goes perfectly with the Polka Doodles pink polka dot paper from the Christmas Boutique Magazine. I've added a pretty flower from a Marianne rose die.

NJ - For my summery card I have used the Candy Doodles Collector's Edition CD. I found this Ladybug and friends stamp in my crafty stash which I forgot I had! I have coloured this using Letraset Flexmarkers.

Shell- For my cabin fever card I've use some gorjuss dotty papers from the Pretty Tuff CD, the image I thought was perfect for this challenge and she has been coloured with a mix of pro markers and copics, the sentiments is off the Candy Doodles collectors edition CD. I then just added ribbon and buttons from my stash to finish.

Claire - I've made my cute little box frame using some of the yummy papers and images from the new Candy Doodles Collectors Edition teamed with a stamp from Elisabeth Bell and some punched butterflies.

So there you have our inspiration this week - didnt the girls all do great! Make sure you get your entries in by Sun March 4th at noon and REMEMBER! No more than 10 other challenges!

Week 6 - Quick & Simple Valentines Card with FREE digi!

Hello, it's Friday again! Before we start this week we have some great news! We've had a few teamies who've had to wave bye bye to us in the last few weeks so we have asked some of our previous Guest Designers to join us here on the team - we loved their work when they joined us at the end of last year! So we are really excited to welcome NJ, Lisa and Claire to our happy team, we can't wait to see what these great bloggers bring for us!

Before we get onto this week's challenge let's find out the winners from challenge 4 which was to use a template in your projects.

1st place - Lisa Jane, 2nd place - Pauline, 3rd place - Eva

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.

So, on to this week's challenge with Norine and the design team!! It's getting close to Valentine's day but you still have time to make some last minute quick and easy Love day cards to give your nearest and dearest! Here are some fabulous samples to inspire the love and get you started and we are giving you this fab digistamp you can use for the challenge - you MUST use the digi to enter the challenge!
Just right click to save the image:

Norine: I made this card using the little girl from Pretty Sweet CD, the heart from Sundae of Seasons and the patterned paper from Pretty Tuff. I kept it simple with a Spellbinders die cut, a Martha Stewart punch for the paper lace and some ribbon. The little Prima flower is added to her hair for a little spot of cuteness! I did use Photoshop to merge the heart behind the girl and add the sentiment, but now I can print off dozens for fast and easy Valentine's day greetings!

Emma, hello there, well I made a simple card with a vintage feel. I used the Punch all over the Page by Martha Stewart, some gorgeous rtose stem backing paper from Polkadoodles Pretty Sweet CDRom, I made the vintage finish with Distress Inks, Adirondack paint dabber and some Distress Stickles. The centre hearts were cut freehand and I finished the look off with some Liquid Pearls.

Nelly; For my Quick and Simple Valentines card I've used an image from the Love and Cherish cd, printed a few straight onto Linen A4 card stock and scored in half, added a little sparkle using Wink Of Stella Glitter pens, I added satin ribbon from my stash and Doodle Dew Drops in Pink, Cute Valentines cards in minutes!.

Shell- For my quick valentines card, I went for a white on white card, the image is off the Sugar Birdies CD and was coloured using copics. I embossed some cardstock using my cuttlebug and folders and the flowers were made using a Marianne design die..

Lou: I have used the "All around and everywhere"CD for my papers and printed the background paper directly onto my card blank. A bit of layering using different Nesties, Mariane Creatable and Nellie dies. The chipboad hearts are cut by hand and covered with the same papers. The border has been cut in felt finished with a simple black ribbon.

Shary for my quick and simple Valentines card I have used a template from the Paper Boutique CD called Buster. I printed him out and added some glossy accents to his eyes and nose. For the coat and bow I used papers from the Sugar Birdies CD and inked around them with black ink. I then added a little ribbon and a decorative border. There - quick and simple!

NJ. My quick valentine card is made using the sugar birdies cd. You can see how I made it over on my blog.

Joni: Supplies: Digi, Sundae of Seasons CD. For my quick and easy card I colored in the Valentine digi and printed papers from the CD I die cut the hearts and added some bling.

Diane When I saw the challenge for a quick and simple Valentine card, I knew I couldn't print anything out for colouring because my colouring definitely isn't quick! These lovely images are from the .Love and Cherish and Double Sprinkle of Kraft CDs.

Carol - I used the winter section from Sundae of Seasons CD and added these yummy red polkadots to co-ordinate it.

Claire - I used the Sundae of Seasons CD for my card. I dropped the Jam Jar Image and Empty Jar image into my graphics program and merged the two. I added some text to the label of the jar and then placed multiple copies of the black and white heart image from the cd into the jar before digitally colouring them. I then printed out the image three times, cut and layered it up and then mounted it onto cardstock. To finish I doodled the line and stitches and added some Stickles and Glossy Accents.

So there you go, our inspiration for this week! So make sure you get your entries in by noon (GMT) on Sunday 19th Feb to be in with a chance of winning!

***

Week 4 - Template

Week 4 - Tempt us with a template project

Hi there everyone, It's Dee here with this weeks challenge. Before we get to this week's challenge I'd like to announce the winners from Week 2 Vintage/Retro set by Fliss. As always we had some fab entries, you don't make our jobs easy do you? The winners are:

1st place: Tracey MacDonald, 2nd place: Paula Tidman, 3rd place we have a tie with Lovely Linda and Suzanne B well done everyone! Can everyone please email Nikky for your blinkies and to claim your prizes please! Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number - this will make Nikky's life a lot easier!

Now, onto this week's challenge - I would like you all to use a template in your project, It can be a physical one or a digi template, it's up to you.

The Polkadoodlers 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 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.

Dee: I've made a toy soldier card for my project this week, although it's from the Paper Boutique Vol II-Creative Christmas it's one that could be used all year round. I simply printed off all the bits and layered it up using silicon glue.

Nelly: I have used the Paper Boutique vol 1 cd and used the Sugary Cake template, placed it on an 8x8 card and cut around. The design papers are also from the cd except the dots the text swirls paper which is from the Sugar Birdies CD and the images are taken from Pretty Sweet CD. I used a Martha Stewart punch to create the border and ribbon and raffia from my stash, the sentiment is from the Pretty Sweet CD.

Joni: I used the Paper Boutique 111 CD - the Country Cottage template.

Emma - Polkadoodles make some fab templates, I have used the cupcake one from Paper Boutique Volume three this time to make my card. I printed the cut and create template in A6 size which has pre colured elements which saves time. I backed the template onto different sized mats to build up my card and then decorated the heck out of my cupcake - (hmmmm no surprise there then!)

Louise- I have used the paper Boutique Cd for my card this week and printed out the lovely house and then used a character from the Pretty sweet CD.

Clare:- I've used the birdhouse template from the Candy Doodles CD. I printed the papers from the Sugar Birdies CD onto card and printed the template onto the back of the papers. This template makes a really good size birdhouse. I filled the inside with paper flowers and printed out the cute owls from the Sugar Birdies CD.

Shary I have used the Paper Boutique Vol 3 for my project. I've done a mixture of using the papers from the CD and I've also printed out some of the elements to colour with copics. The little flowers have been punched out using the papers and I've added a little gem to each flower.The sentiment is also from the same CD.

Joanna - I've used a seed packet template from Sundae of Seasons CD, the papers are from Sundae of Seasons and the seed packet image hidden at the back is from Not For Girls CD. The butterflies are from the Fairy Flutterfly Maxine stamp set and the flowers are a free stamp designed by our talented Nikky for the Craft Stamper. All coloured with Inktense pencils.This template is so versatile! If you'd like to see more inspiration with this template, visit my blog - I have a tutorial, too!

Shell-for my card this week I used the cut and create cupcake template off the Paper boutique lll cd, I made a card blank using my nesties, added a few layers and distressed the edges using worn lipstick distress ink then simply added a ribbon and a few pearls.

Colette - I have used the green cupcake template from Paper boutique lll and followed the instructions on the CD to make my cupcake shaped card. The stars are covered in glossy accents and I added some string and a button from stash to make it look a bit more masculine.

Carol - I have used a template from the Paper Boutique Vol III and decoupaged the layers for more depth. I also added some stardust stickles for some bling.

Norine: I used a template from the Paper Boutique 3 CD this week as well as background papers from the Pretty Tuff CD. After cutting and piecing all the pieces, I stitched beads on for sprinkles on the cupcake.

So there is our inspiration for this week - some fab and fun projects! Your closing date to enter is Sun 5th Feb at noon GMT.

....................

Week 2 - Vintage/Retro

Hi there,

We hope everyone is back in to the swing of things now 2012 is truely underway. We had some amazing entrants in our Challenge 50 - Through the Window challenge, it was so hard to choose but our winners are

1st place: Michaela 2nd place:Pauline 3rd place:  Donna - well done to all of you!

Please email Nikky for your blinkies

Please put in the subject field of your email your placing and the challenge number - this will make Nikky's life a lot easier!

The Polkadoodlers 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 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.

Hello there everyone, it's Fliss here with the challenge details for this week and I've been a bit naughty as I'm on Team A and this is really a Team B week - tee hee! The reason for this is that my younger daughter will be turning 21 in just a few days and I wanted to pick a theme which she loves as much as I do which is why I chose Vintage or Retro.

Fliss: My card is Sarah's 21st card and I chose a sewing theme as she's doing a fashion degree. The gorgeous dress form, sentiment and pincushion are from the Sundae Of Seasons CD and I printed them out on beige parchment card for a vintage look. I used papers all from the Pretty Sweet CD and an embossed panel of recycled kraft paper. I finished off with some lovely embellishments.

lis-m ; For my card I have used "Pretty Tuff" for the whole thing... i love this little boy image . I have coloured him with Promarkers, and added a couple of buttons to finish.

Nelly; I made two cards for this weeks theme and couldn't choose so for my easel card I have used images and design papers from the Pretty Sweet CD and for the retro card i have used Sugar Birdies CD Candy Doodles CD and Pretty Sweet CD

Clare:- I've gone for a sixties feel, retro card. Very plain and simple to fit the sixties style.

The papers are from the Polka Doodles "Candy Doodles" CD, the colours were a great match for my Flexmarkers. The flowers are black and white stampies from the "Sugar Birdies" CD and the image is from the Polka Doodles "Meeshelle" Fairy Flutterby" rubber stamp set.

Norine: For my card this week I had fun exploring all the CD's again and decided on a vintage card with paper and images from the Sundae of Seasons CD. I love the subtle colors and designs and when paired with distressed, inked edges and scruffy lace, you have an easy to make vintage card for almost any occasion.

Shell- For my card this week I went with vintage, the Papers and the adorable image are from the Pretty Sweet cd, I have distressed the edges with distress inks, the flowers are die cut using a page from an old book.

Joni: Pretty Sweet CD

Supplies: Pretty Sweet CD

Louise For my card I have used this cute image from the Double sprinkle of kraft CD and coloured with copics.

Dee: I've used a selection of papers and a sentiment from the mini CD Pretty Sweet this week. I decided not to use an image and just concentrate on the papers, so I've used quite a few Spellbinder dies. I've even added some of my favourite spotty ribbon to this pretty card. Everything has been edged with an Old Paper distress inkpad.

Shary For my card this week I've gone for vintage. I used coordination card and sanded it and embossed it. The papers are from the Pretty Tuff CD and I've distress inked them around the edges. The image is two of the stamps from the Magic Neighbours range. I've coloured them with Copics and lightly gone over with the distress ink. And finally the sentiment is from the Fairy Flutterby Babsie set. I punched the flowers out of the Pretty Tuff papers and inked them too , also adding a little pearl to the middles.




Diane My card this week uses the stamp Fairy Flutterfly Babsie and I've coloured her with Copics and Prisma pencils and given her a very girly, vintage setting. All the papers are from the Pretty Sweet Mini CD Collection.

Joanna: For this week's vintage theme I looked for inspiration in Not For Girls CD and oh boy, this CD is full of vintage goodness! My papers are a mixture of Not For Girls and Paper Boutique vol III CDs and the tickets, sentiment and alphas are from Not For Girls CD. A lot of distressing with distress inks later and my card was finished! ;).

Carol : This week I decided to use the Pretty Sweet cd rom and printed these dps off as well as the image which I have coloured in with Copics.

Colette For my vintage card I have used the Not for Girls CD's printed one of the plain papers onto my card for the background and then layered more papers and the vintage cars poster on top. I have added some grosgrain ribbon, brads and a mini bulldog clip to finish it off.