Week 11 - Happy Easter

Good morning folks, Friday is here again and we have a new challenge for you.

If you're going to GNPE at Harrogate this weekend make sure you pop by the Polkadoodles stand where there are lots of yummy new goodies on offer including our latest new Digistamp Heaven collection, paper packs and all the new stamps, plus Nikky will be demonstrating the new Graph'It markers and Pan Pastels too - we think she'll be a busy girl at the show!

Before we give you all the details of this week's theme,  we need to announce the winners from the Week 9 challenge - Spring Flowers and you certainly loved this challenge but sadly there can only be 3 winners and here they are:

1st Place - Cass  - you win a Cherryblossom Lane CD and please use the code PD1W1109 to claim your prize
2nd Place - Scrappymax  - you also win a Cherryblossom Lane CD and please use the code PD2W1109
3rd Place - Dreamlaine  - you also win a Cherryblossom Lane CD and please use the code PD3W1109

Congratulations to you all.  Please email Nikky and don't forget to quote your winners code - we cannot release prizes without 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.

Now for the challenge and this week we would like to see your Easter creations - just take a look at all the fabulous goodies the Design Team have cooked up for your inspiration. We have some fab prizes this week too as the first prize winner will receive a Cherryblossom Lane CD and the two runners up a download! 

Asha - My Easter offering for this week's challenge is made entirely with papers and image from the Cherryblossom Lane CD. Everything in this CD is irresistibly pretty, made extra special by Nikky's flawless colouring. I'm using a pre-coloured image of Maisie. Come summer, you can very easily dress her up in vibrant colours but for spring she'll remain a pastel beauty. To wrap up, I used purple gingham ribbon and 2 purple pearls.

Karon - Thinking cap on for this one, well a little.  The Cherryblossom Lane CD was my perfect choice for this weeks inspiration, as it's full of rabbits!  I chose to use Lily on her bicycle and made her basket a little 3D by printing it out twice, she is coloured with alcohol markers.  I made some little Easter eggs from the same papers that were used for the main backing papers (all from the same CD), and placed these in her basket.  Made a little banner and added some ribbon and a bow to finish her off.

Astrid - I made this Easter card with paper from the  Cherryblossom Lane CD, It's a great CD for papers and images and all the stuff you need for the Spring.

I have used the new image from Fall Love digi, Time for Tea  they are soo cute.

The flowers are from Marianne Design dies and the rest is made by myself. The paper doily and tags are from my stash.

Sally - This is my Easter Card made with an Emma Canning Digi, available from www.polkadoodle.co.uk. I used the bunny image and coloured him with my promarkers. I printed of some backing papers from the Double Sprinkle of Kraft CD cut a frame using a Sizzix die out of kraft card which I had in my crafty stash, punched out some flowers out of the backing papers, added a bow, button and sentiment.

Miria I made an easel card with this lovely new digis from Emma Canning available from Polka Doodles , I coloured the image with Zig Kurecolor, I also used glossy accents for the egg. Papers are from cd Sugarplum Daisy. I just added some washi tape, buttons and pearls.

Alethea - I don't usually make easter cards so found it a bit hard to be creative but finally decided to use this Emma Canning Image - Bunny, which you can get from Polkadoodles. I used an insert from the Cherryblossom Lane CD. I then added some easter eggs which I cropped and resized from the Emma Canning image - Happy Easter,  which is also available from Polka Doodles. I then just added some rhinestones and kindyglitz!!

Fliss - I've made a card with the cute Easter chicks by Emma Canning (aren't they just adorable) and had to hunt through my paper scraps for papers in Spring shades of yellow and green as a certain person home last weekend practically wiped out the coloured ink in my printer! I hit upon the idea of cutting the scraps into strips and hope you like the effect. The papers are from CDs too numerous to mention but it does give you an idea of how well they all go together.

Lidia - I made my card in an Easter egg shape with the Fairy Flutterby stamp Gracie,  in pastel tones and added some flowers from the same stamp set. I cut several out and layered them to give dimension.

How about this for some fabulous inspiration! You have until 12 noon on Sunday 24 March to get your entries in and good luck!

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Week 10 Challenge - Distressing

Welcome to another Polkadoodle challenge!  Before we move on, I need to announce the top three from challenge 8 which was Fantasy / Fairy Tale:

1st Place - Tracey F  - you win a Colour Therapy DVD - please use the code PD1W1008 to claim your prize
2nd Place - Helen  - you win a download bundle and please use the code PD2W1008
3rd Place - Carol Gill  - you also win a download and please use the code PD3W1008

Congratulations to you all.  Please email Nikky and don't forget to quote your winners code - we cannot release prizes without 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.


Right, onto the challenge for this week and the theme is:

Distressing

Please don't forget our rules and good luck - the challenge ends on Sunday 17 March at 12noon GMT!  The winner of the challenge will win a copy of the Picknix 1 CD!  Now onto some wonderful samples from the girls!
Ruth:  I've printed some papers from the Wonderland cd and distressed them with a used tea bag!  Flowers have been made from a recycled kraft bag with some pink tissue paper for added girl power.  I also used one of the handles from the kraft bag too.  Some half pearls, seed beads and pins plus some faux stitching and the cards are done!

Lucy ~ For this card I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks, to distress the card, the papers, the edge of the image and the large flower. The papers are from the Pretty Sweet CD Rom. The image is from the Magical Winter CD Rom, Coloured with Pro Markers.

Anjie  For my card I have used an image from the Pretty Sweet CD and papers from the Studio 12 Picknix CD collection 1. I have used sepia tone ProMarkers to colour the image, and a distress ink pad to age all the papers. I have made a little tag and stamped it with a sentiment. I've cut some matching flowers using a Marrianne die, and finally added some faux stitching.

Margaret - for my card I have used the Pixknix 2 Cd  and printed off this lovely background paper, the Santa image and the deer along with the sentiment ticket are all from Here comes Christmas CD...I have distressed all the edges with distress inks, the die cut trees are marianne designs....hope you like it.

Pinky - for my tag I have used the Picknix cd Collection 1. I printed the background, embellishments and even the sentiment all from the Welcome Home section of the cd. Added some faux stitching, distressed the edges with my scissors and inked up using distress Inks. The corrugated card came from an old parcel and the lace is from my stash.

Anne - I decided to alter a little gift bag this week for a change.  All the elements are from the Cherry Blosson Lane CD. The papers were all torn and inked at the edges then I printed the rose three times and pop dotted it so it's standing proud from the bag.  A little bit of lace along the top edge finished it off.

Lizzie - For my card I used Distressing Inks by Tim Holtz. I have never used them before !! But wow they are gorgeous to use ! I made my card using the image from Candy Doodles Cd. The card itself is made from a Marianne Die. I rubbed ink over the embossing while still in the die, and around the edges of the flowers from the same die set. The leaves are also from a Marianne Die. I glittered the flowers using Stickles glitter glue to add some bling! A girl has to have her bling !!! I haven't added a sentiment yet as I'm not sure who is getting this card !! Hope you like it !!! 

Kim - I decided to make a 'Home Sweet Home' hanger for this challenge. I've used papers and sentiment from Picknix 1 and used TH distress inks on the edges.  Then used the Be Neighbours stamp, coloured with flexmarkers and promarkers. Then added a diecut flower, die cut swirl, wooden embellishment and lace and some twine for hanging. 

Clare - This week I chose one of my all time favourite Polka Doodles CD's Back to Nature for my card. I love these cute little owl's and the gorgeous papers. I used brown Kraft card  for my base which was distressed with my Ranger tool. I used my Antique Linen Distress Ink Pad and diamond Stickles Glitter Glue to spruce up the images of my card. 

 Inside of my card

 Side view

JAN:  I decided to make a tag for this week's challenge, using a gorgeous digi image called 'Fall Love' from the 'Time for Tea' collection, which is coloured with my Promarkers.  The background papers (and little fence) are printed from the 'Sugarplum Daisy CD' and I've torn/crumpled the edges before treating them to some distress ink.  I have stitched around the edges of the tag for extra detail before adding the quote, which is printed from my pc, then torn into pieces and inked. A twist of blue ribbon and a couple of blue candi to finish off.

Kitty - I decided to use some distressed looking papers for my creation, these are from Picknix Vol 1, i love them! The image and sentiment are from Sundae Of Seasons. I did distress the edges of the papers too. I also added some Dew Drops too.

Shell-For my card this week I've used one of the brand new digi collection from Time for Tea and this little beauty is called "I heart U" I've coloured her with my copics and the papers and sentiments are from the Candy Doodles CD. I distressed all the edges of the papers with a pair of scissors.

Eva - I used cute butterfly images and the sentiment from the Picknix Collection 1 CD. Added a bit of glitz on the butterflies with my Sakura pen. I used a embossing folder on plain card stock and distressed it with white distress ink. I used lots of punches to make the flowers and used a tool to curl the petals up. Added a fancy frame from Stampin Up and lots of pearls. Layered lots and lots with grey and white card stock. 

Good luck with the challenge and don't forget our rules - closing date is 12noon GMT Sunday 17 March.

Studio 12 - Vintage Memories

Hi there, it's Fliss here today with a very vintage piece of Studio 12 inspiration for you which came about because whilst looking for something else, I came across this absolutely gorgeous vintage photo of my husband's grandmother and her sister snapped around 1910.
The 2 girls look so sweet in their frilly frocks and flowery hats that I couldn't resist making something to show them off looking very pretty. The beautiful papers I used are all from the first Studio 12 Picknix Collection 1 CD - All Sewn Up Collection which is my favourite on the CD.

I started off with an 8x10 inch canvas board which I covered with strips of paper which I tore with the aid of a ruler. It's a really great way to use up some of those leftover scraps as you don't have to use just strips, any pieces can be given the same treatment.
I glued the strips to the canvas board with PVA glue, wrapping ends round the back of the canvas and brushing more glue on top to anchor down any stray sticking up bits. When it was dry it was a little dark for my purpose so I dry brushed the whole board with antique linen acrylic paint. You can see in the second pic that this softens the look beautifully.
I die cut a clock and inked this up with Gathered Twigs Distress ink then glued it to a mat of the same rose paper used on the canvas board - can you see the contrast?
I cut out the 2 girls from the photo background leaving a small border of the dark grey to make the images pop.
I assembled the canvas board as you see, adding a paper rose and leaves together with a vintage butterfly (from my vintage butterfly illustration book) and some inked die cut lace.

I hope you like my little vintage creation and that it might inspire you to create something similar yourselves - I always think the vintage photos are the best and this is a great way to make sure they get put on display rather then hidden away in an album.

Fliss xx