Week 50 - Birthday At Christmas/Young Adult

Good morning folks, it's Friday again and here at Polka Doodles today is a very special day as our Nikky is launching her brand new and totally gorgeous CD called Cherry Blossom Lane on Create and Craft TV.
The shows go out at 10am and 4pm and those of you outside the UK can watch the shows online.
You definitely don't want to miss this as Nikky has outdone herself to create the most adorably cute characters ever and the papers and embellishments are to die for and will have you longing for Spring as they're so very pretty.

This week the challenge chosen by Lou as her son has his birthday just before Christmas is to make a card for

A Birthday At Christmas Or For A Young Adult

We have some fantastic prizes for you this week too. The first placed winner from this challenge will receive a £50 Goodie Bag and the second and third placed winners will each receive a  Studio 12 Picknix Collection 1 CD!  Please don't forget to follow our rules which are below as we wouldn't want you to miss out, especially with these fabulous prizes on offer!

Before we look at the Design Team samples, we need to announce the top three from Challenge 48 which was the Sketch Challenge and sadly, there were not many entries for this. However, there can only be one top three and here they are:

First Place: Carla Suto - you win both of the fabulous Picknix Collection CDs and please use verification code PD1W5048
Second Place: Debbie Johns - you win a free download and please use the above verification code to claim.
Third Place: littlebee Sue -  you also win a free download and please use the above verification code to claim.

Congratulations to you all! Please email Nikky to claim your prize and all the blinkies can be found in the sidebar.  Please remember to add the verification code and the challenge week in the subject field on your email - you must use the code given above to claim your prize otherwise we cannot release it.

We have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blog:
1.  Please follow the challenge theme!
2.  Only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polkadoodles
3.  Please link your blog post and not your blog address with the linky tool - 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 when leaving comments - please consider turning off word verification especially as the comment moderation has a spam section.

Good luck with the challenge - the deadline for entries is Sunday 23 December at 12noon GMT.

Kimberly - Hi there, I've made this card for a young niece of mine. She just loves birds and the outdoors. Super simple card to create. I used image from Candy Doodles COLLECTORS EDITION and papers from the Picknix Collection 1 and Picknix Collection 2, they just went so well together. Added a sentiment from Candy Doodles Collectors Edition and some elements from Picknix Collection 1 and there you have it...super sweet.

Karon - I made this for a friend who is having a birthday this month.  I used the papers from the Studio 12 CD - Picknix Collection2 Gingerbread Twist .  The sentiment "Like a snowflake..." is also from this CD, which I merged into some of the backing paper using Word.  The main papers are backed with some from my stash.  I inked all the edges of the layers and popped up the main sentiment on some foam tape. Added some tulle fabric and a snowflake to finish off.

Karen - I don't know anyone with a birthday around Christmas time, so I made a card suitable for a young adult.  The image and BP are from the Sugar Plum Daisy CD. (the sentiment is computer generated).

Asha - I made this card for a good friend whose birthday is on the 23rd and who, like me, has a sweet tooth. What better excuse to use the pre-coloured gingerbread man image and patterned paper from the PickNix Gingerbread Twist CD. I did not go out of my way to ignore all things Christmassy simply because she is a huge fan the season. Lace, twine and brads are from my stash.

Astrid - Its my mother's birthday today and I made this card for her. The paper I used is from the CD

Sundae of Seasons. Also on this CD the cake and the banners.

In the corners I used the dies from Joy Craft and also on the middle of the card.

The ribbon comes from my own collection. A few pearls in Christmas colour and the card is done.

Sally - Here is my Young Adult - Cool Yule Card - I used an image from the Pretty Tuff CD Rom

coloured him with Promarkers, printed out a fence and skateboard matted him on a snowflake

background, cut out a frame using Spellbinders label in black cardstock then matted the frame on a dotty background paper and matted that on black cardstock.

Miria  I made a quick and easy tag for a winter birthday; I used some recycled corrugated cardboard I dabbed with white acrylic. The image and sentiment are from cd Magical Winter 2, I just added some embossing, pearls, button, pompom and a clip.

Monica For a young adult and a man, less is more, I think. So, with this idea I made this card using two papers from CD Picknix 2 (the red one in the big star, and the blue one in the small star). I used some strings for cross stitch (those ones with six strings on it). I wrote with my own handwriting "Happy Birthday Wishes". But when I almost have done... it was missing something for me. So I went through my things and I found a cork and it fit perfectly. Nothing more masculine to embellish my card. Have a nice challenge all of you. xxx :-)

Alethea: I made a card for a young adult using the Hoot Download Bundle. I didn't make it for anyone in particular when I first started it but as it came together I thought I'd give it to my friend who is my age but I'd like to think we are still young adults!! :) . So the Owl, the sentiment banner, the striped banner and the flowers arre all from the Hoot Download Bundle. I then just added the rhinestones and buttons and to finish off the card added some sparkle.

Fliss: My card this week is for one of my nieces as her birthday is on New Year's Eve and she loves quilting so I decided on a sewing theme using elements and papers from the Sundae of Seasons CD. I die cut the sewing machine topper and sentiment and made a collage style creation which I know she'll like as she's very artistic.

Fabulous inspiration I'm sure you'll agree and you have until 12 noon on Sunday 23 December to enter and not miss out on those fantastic prizes. Good luck!

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

Week 47 - Any Die Will Do

Welcome to another Polkadoodle challenge!  Christmas is creeping ever closer and I think the team are getting prepared judging by the samples for this weeks challenge!

Before we have a look at the samples, I need to announce the winner from challenge 45 which was to make a Christmas Party Invitation.  Entries were rather scarce so we can only assume that you are all going to parties over Christmas rather than hosting them!  Less cleaning up I say!!

Anyway, the lucky winner of the Studio 12 Picknix Vol 1 CD is Dawn!  Congratulations!!  Please email Nikky with your postal details - all the blinkies can be found in the sidebar.  Please remember to add the verification code and the challenge week in the subject field on your email - you must use the code (PD1W474) to claim your prize otherwise we cannot release it.

Onto this week's challenge and the theme is:

Any Die Will Do

So that gives you lot of opportunity to crack open those Christmas dies that you've not yet used!  The first placed winner will receive a copy of the Colour Therapy DVD!

We have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blog:

1.  Please follow the challenge theme!
2.  Only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polkadoodles
3.  Please link your blog post and not your blog address with the linky tool - 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 when leaving comments - please consider turning off word verification especially as the comment moderation has a spam section.

Good luck with the challenge - deadline for entries is Sunday 2 December at 12noon GMT.

Before you go, just have a look at the stunning Design Team samples!!

Ruth:  I've used papers from Here Comes Christmas cd (you can just about see them!) plus I've cut out some Poinsettia's from the cd too.  I've used my fresh out of the packet Marianne Creatables Poinsetta die and using some red card from my stash.  I've cheated slightly and made leaves with green card!  I've handwritten the sentiments which are on Sizzix scallop tag dies and then added some ribbon from my stash.  And the best bit - the card actually stands up!  Result!

Karen - I used the Picknix 2 CD for  the image, sentiment and BP for this card.  This image is ready coloured, so I just added sparkle.  All the dies used on this card are Mariannes.

Shell-For my card this week I have used the stamps and papers from the PPC5, the image has been coloured using a mix of copics and promarkers. I used some nesties to make the frame for her to sit on, the flowers are Marianne (LR0163) I then added a few pearls and a little lace to finish.

Helen - For my card this week I have used images from the Sundae Of Seasons CD ROM. I printed off 3 backing papers, a holly border and a text plate( which I added the text to). For the main image I combined the tree background with the snowman and put a little reindeer hiding in the trees. The dies I used are Marianne Icicle border and snowflake. I added glitter and pearls to finish off the project.

Anjie - For my card I have used an image, papers and embellishments from the Sundae Of Seasons CD. The image is coloured with ProMarkers. The doily is the Marianne D Designer Doily, the butterfly is the Marianne die CR1205 and the flowers are from the Marianne die LR0107. I've added Doodle Dewdrops to the centre of the flowers and some bling on the butterfly.

NJ I have used Sundae of Seasons for my card this time. I inked all the edges with distress ink, and die cut using Marianne design dies LR0131 and LR0118. I love buttons too so couldn't resist finishing off with them!

Anne  - I've used papers  from the Pen & Paper kit 3, this gorgeous girlie is from  the Candy Doodles cd and the sentiment is from Sugar Plum Daisy.  

                        

JAN:  I decided to wrap a present and make a gift tag this week, using papers from the 'Paper Boutique Vol II CD' and a little sentiment from the 'Here Comes Christmas CD'.  I used the little swirl die from the Marianne LRO108 Flowers set and cut it eight times adding it to the shaped tag.

Eva - I have made a shaped card using a cute snowman image and papers from Sundae of Seasons. The sentiment is from Picknix 2 - Gingerbread Twist. I used dies from Crafts Too and a Christmas Tree die from Marianne's CR1227. Used a Magnolia die for the fence, some sparkly ribbon and mini hat pins. Added lots of glitter, roses and mini snowflakes too.

Claire - I've made a little paper gift bag using a single sheet of A4 paper (tutorial on my blog). The gorgeous papers and image are from the Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 - Gingerbread Twist and I've used a snowflake die from Marianne Designs LR0125

Clare - For this weeks challenge I have made a circle easel card. The gorgeous paper's are from Studio 12 Picknix Collection "Gingerbread Twist" CD, the cute image is from Sundae of Seasons CD and the sentiment is from the Here Comes Christmas CD. The poinsettia die is by Marianne Designs. I have used Turquoise Doodle Dewdrops for the centres of the poinsettia's and covered the petals with diamond Stickles.  

Kitty - This week i decided to create a winter scene card with my favourite animals - penguins of course! The papers and images are all from the Here Comes Christmas CD. I also used Cheery Lynn Snowflakes die and Dienamics Snow Drifts (altho you can't see them!). I also added lots of Stickles Glitter to the trees and snow.

Good luck with the challenge and please remember our rules - deadline for entries is Sunday 2 December at 12noon GMT.

Week 46 - Square Card With A Round Element

Hi everyone, can't believe it's Friday again and that Christmas seems to be looming ever faster by the day! It's time for a new challenge and this week we're delighted that some of our new Design Team ladies have pulled out all the stops to be able to join us today and start showing off their talent.

The challenge this week is to:

Make A Square Card With A Round Element

The winner from this challenge will receive a copy of the absolutely gorgeous Studio 12 Picknix Collection 1 CD! Please don't forget to follow our rules which are below.

Before we look at the Design Team samples, we need to announce the top three from Challenge 44 which was 'Bright Colours and Sparkle'.  Once again, we had some stunning entries but there can only be one top three and here they are:

First Place: Carla Suto - you win a Picknix CD and please use verification code PD1W4644
Second Place: Caroline - KISS  - please claim your blinkie from the sidebar
Third Place: Judy Rozema - please claim your blinkie from the sidebar

Congratulations!  Carla please email Nikky to claim your prize and all the blinkies can be found in the sidebar.  Please remember to add the verification code and the challenge week in the subject field on your email - you must use the code given above to claim your prize otherwise we cannot release it.

We have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blog:
1.  Please follow the challenge theme!
2.  Only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polkadoodles
3.  Please link your blog post and not your blog address with the linky tool - 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 when leaving comments - please consider turning off word verification especially as the comment moderation has a spam section.

Good luck with the challenge - the deadline for entries is Sunday 25 November at 12noon GMT.

Fabi- For my project I made a rectangular card, I have used Kraft paper for the base of the card, and papers and elements from the Pretty Tuff CD-Rom . I have replaced the string of the balloon with a piece of twine. The round element is the ball.

Shell-For my card this week I've used papers from the Magical Winter CD's, the image and sentiments are from the Studio 12 picknix Gingerbread Twist. The fab snowman image has been coloured with copics....The trees are also from Gingerbread Twist I printed 2 sizes, cut them out and added some glitter. I then added some die cuts to complete the card.

Karen - For my card I used paper, sentiment and image from the Picknix 2 CD  I coloured this lovely image with ProMarkers and added lots of sparkle, I just love snow people.... lol.  The round elements are the main image and gems.

Karon - For my card I used backing papers from my stash.  The butterfly and flower were both from the Picknix Collection 1 CD. I used the pre-coloured images, however they are also on the CD as black and white digital stamps for you to colour.  I cut the butterfly twice, layered with pop dots on the body and added some decorative wire for the antennae.  The flower was cut twice in two different sizes.  The sentiment is from a set I bought many moons ago whilst still living in the UK.

Asha - It's Christmas in my world! I made a 5" square card using patterned papers, digi and sentiment from PickNix Collection Gingerbread Twist. I coloured Santa with alcohol markers and used twine and bling from my stash. All that's left is to convince the jolly ol' man that I'm nice ...most of the time!

Fliss - I've gone all girly for my card this week using elements all from the Pretty Sweet CD. I coloured the cute Amelia with Aquamarkers and did lots of matting and layering with some of the pretty papers. I added a doily, a wooden butterfly altered with a pink Promarker and some glittered up die cuts.

JAN:  Another snowman from me - there must be something in the air!  I made a square Christmas card using papers, images and sentiments from the 'Here Comes Christmas CD'.  My round element displays a little snowman joke - just twist the top circle to reveal the answer underneath!

 

Sally - This was my first card I made before I received my lovely downloads from Nikky. I used the Casey image from Pretty Tuff CD Rom and the footballs. Picked the backing paper from the Candy Doodles CD Rom matted it in bright green, matted the footballs in black and cut a Spellbinders circle in green and embossed it with a dotty embossing folder.

I've also made a second card and have gone with download papers and characters  that Nikky sent us  from the Picknix 2 CD. Matt and layered the backing paper with black card. Matt and layered the huge button with black card also. Added some ribbon in the button holes and some dew drops from my crafty stash for the berries on the holly.

Kimberly:  I loved making this project using Studio 12 Picknix Collection 1 CD Elements. Fun textured looking papers, tags and many elements to create many layers. I inked all my embellishments and I even added a tag that can be pulled out to place your new address. I have a few round items which include the doily, button and let's not forget the round number dial on this old fashioned phone..

Alethea - This is my first card made entirely in digital didn't think I even knew how to do it but I love the way it turned out!! All the elements and sentiment are from the PickNix Collection Gingerbread Twist. I love to colour so I chose to use an uncoloured gingerbread man and colour him myself... He looks a little on the well done side (hehehe) but happy with it all the same!! The round element on my card is the rhinestones!!

Norine:  Here's my card for the square/round challenge!  The front of the card is cut shorter than the back so the inside edge shows on the front.  I used Spellbinders dies and Fiskars edge cutters, and paper and images from the Here Comes Christmas cd and the green patterned papers are from the Pretty Sweet cd.

Valou250809: Here is my card for the challenge "Square Card With A Round Element". I used papers from the CD " Sundae of Seasons ". A fabulous mix of pink and mauve in particular. There are other colours in the same theme on this CD. The sweet bear is from the Spring collection. To stick the butterfly, the place mat and the leaves, I used  Zig glue. On the border, I used gems. Small mauve roses are stuck below on the right.

Helen: For my  card I have used an image from Here Comes Christmas. I cut out using a circle die, I then mounted on a red scalloped circle. I printed out 2 backing papers from the same CD. I distressed using Vintage Photo ink. I added a border I cut from a Memory Box die, also the swirl. The poinsettia was cut using a Marianne die. I cut out one of the tickets and distressed. I finished off with some pearls and a touch of glitter.

Haven't our new teamies done some fabulous creations! Now it's your turn and you have until 12 noon on Sunday 25 November to get your entries in. Good luck!

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

Week 44 - Bright Colours and Sparkle

Hello everyone, Happy Friday and we're all hoping that our US followers on the East coast are all safe and well after the nasty Hurricane Sandy. We send anyone affected our very best wishes and hope that you haven't got too much damage.

Before we get to all the gorgeous inspiration this week, we also have a little reminder about our DT call which closes on 5th November so if you're interested please be quick! Here are all the details...

We are looking for some extra talent for our International Design Team, so if you'd like to be part of our hugely popular team and live OUTSIDE THE UK then get applying now! You will need to be familiar with using digistamps as well as using normal stamps as we are primarily a digital company, but we have lots of great things on the go in addition to this blog, so we all always have lots of creative fun at Polkadoodles.

We now need to let you know the winners for our Week 42 Autumn Challenge, there were loads of lovely entries so thank you all so much for those but unfortunately there can only be 3 winners and these lucky ladies are:
First Place - wins a Colour Therapy and Sundae of Seasons CD -  wisienor  please use verification code PD1W4442
Second Place - also wins a Colour Therapy and Sundae of Seasons CD - Claire Day  please use verification code PD1W4442
Third Place - please claim your blinkie from the sidebar - Sue Bearhouse

Congratulations!  Wisienor and Claire, please email Nikky for how details on how to claim your prizes - all the blinkies can be found in the sidebar.  Please remember to add the verification code and the challenge week in the subject field on your email - you must use the code given above to claim your prize otherwise we cannot release it.

Now for this week's challenge which is:
                                               Bright Colours and Sparkle

We have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blog:
1.  Please follow the challenge theme!
2.  Only enter your creation into a maximum of 10 challenges including Polkadoodles
3.  Please link your blog post and not your blog address with the linky tool - 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 when leaving comments - please consider turning off word verification especially as the comment moderation has a spam section.

Good luck with the challenge - the deadline for entries is Sunday 11 November at 12noon GMT and the Winner will receive a Picknix CD for the best entry! Woohoo!

Fliss - A very festive card from me this week using elements all from the Here Comes Christmas CD which has oodles of papers and images to make the Christmas card task easier. I chose the cute carol singers, die cutting the image into a circle and adding to a card blank covered with some plaid paper and bright green card from my stash embossed with a holly sprig folder. The sparkle is the bright pink glittery border and I added decoupaged holly to embellish together with a sentiment I die cut and prettied up with tiny heart buttons.

JAN:  I thought I would have a change from Christmas this week and made a bright cheery card for a 'Special Day'.  The square paper pieces are all printed from the 'Sugar Plum Daisy CD' and are inked around the edges with matching distress ink.  I made the centre panel on my pc, using letters from the 'Picknix 2 - Gingerbread Twist CD' to spell the word 'Sparkle' (I exported them to Paint and played around with the colour to make them all bright).  The sentiment is also made on my pc and I added a sparkly star (printed from the 'Sundae of Seasons CD') then treated it to a generous helping of glitter for some lovely sparkle.

Anjie This week I've used bright blues, greens and oranges to create a bonfire night themed card.

The images, papers and fireworks are from the Sundae Of Seasons CD. The images are coloured with ProMarkers. The flower and leaves are from the Marianne Designs Floral 3 dies set. The flower is made using 3 flowers with the inner one curled inwards to give the effect of it still being partly in bud. I've finished it off with a Doodle Dewdrop in the centre of the flower and three at the top of the card.

Karen : Another Christmas card from me for this challenge.  The BP, sentiment and bauble are from the Picknix 2 CD. I printed the bauble out 4 times, cut them out, folded them in half and attached the halves together to create the 3d effect.  I also covered all the red pattern with red glitter, though it doesn't really show on this picture.

Here's a side view so you can see the bauble better.

Kitty - I decided to make a nice and simple card using the Here Comes Christmas CD. It has so many fabulous images on so I tried to add as many of my favourites as I could! The papers and images are all from the the CD too. I decoupaged the flower & added the robin with foam pads to make him 3D. There is a lot of sparkle on here but it doesn't show too well.

Fabulous inspiration don't you agree! Now it's your turn and you have until 12 noon on Sunday 11 November to enter. Good luck!

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

Week 42 - Autumn

Hi everyone! Well, Autumn is definitely in the air around here, it's been freeeeezing lately and it's time to pull out all those winter woolies and jumpers now I think!
I do love this time of year though, with the autumn colours and the swirly leaves, so that's the inspiration for this week's challenge - autumn, autumn, autumn! So get working with those reds, oranges, browns and lots of leaves for your challenge creation this week and show us what you got!  There will be 2 winners for this challenge and they will both win a special prize of Nikky's brand new Colour Therapy tutorial DVD PLUS a copy of our fabulous Sundae of Seasons CD which has a wealth of digi stuff for Autumn, Winter and the rest of the year too - it's a great prize worth over £30, and we have 2 to give away!

Before we have a look at the Design Team samples, we need to announce the top three from Challenge 40 which was 'Things With Wings'.  This was obviously a very popular challenge with tons of absolutely gorgeous entries and its been difficult to choose a top three, but without further ado they are:

First Place:  - Klaudia - Please use verification code PD1W4240

Second Place: - Julie B - Please use verification code PD1W4240

Third Place: - Sandra - Please use verification code PD1W4240

Congratulations to you all as you're all winners of a copy of the fabulous Here Comes Christmas CD! Please all email Nikky for your prize and you can all grab your blinkies from the sidebar.  Please remember to put your verification code and the challenge week in the subject field on your email. For all prize winners, you must use the code given above to claim your prize otherwise we cannot release it.
 

We have a few little rules which makes our life a lot easier when we come visiting your blog:
1. Please follow the challenge theme!
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 linky tool - 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 when leaving comments - please consider turning word verification off especially now that comment moderation has a spam section

Now for some inspiration from the Design team which you'll see is very colourful and sure to warm you up.

JAN:  I love the colour palette that this week's challenge offers and decided to make a word book for my 'Autumn' project using the letters and template from the 'Candy Doodles' CD.  The papers are all from various Polkadoodles CDs (see my blog for further details) and all the little embellishments are from the 'Sundae of Seasons' CD.  A couple of ribbon ties, some bling and the little 'FUN' pennants are from my stash.

Karen - I used the Sundae of Seasons CD again for my card, and Memory box dies for the swirls.

Claire - I too used the Sundae of Seasons CD to create my wall hanging which has been coloured with Distress Inks.

Fliss - I'm a little challenged at the moment as my printer is playing up so can only print out black and white until it gets fixed. This inspired me to do my favourite thing, making my own background paper and I used the Daisy Doodles stamp set for this, stamping a cluster of flowers, leaves and swirls with brown ink then inking the panel with Distress Inks. I printed out the mushrooms and some leaves from the Sundae of Seasons CD and stamped Gracie, colouring with Promarkers and Distress inks. I added an embossed border for texture. Full details of how I made the card can be found on my blog.

NJ I love autumn colours too. So rich and lovely. I have used the SUNDAE OF SEASONS CD and decorated a gift box using papers, leaves, flowers and a tree. I have also made a matching card.

Kitty - For my simple card I used papers & images from the Sundae Of Seasons CD and simply added a bit of ribbon, lace & some card candi to finish.

shell - I've used papers from the Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 - Gingerbread Twist CD with a gorgeous Emma Canning digital image coloured with Copics. Some pleated trim together with pearls and a Tim Holtz die cut clock complete the card.

Some fabulous creations here and you have until 12 noon on Sunday 28 October to get your entries in. Please don't forget to check the rules before linking up. Good luck!

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