Happy Birthday To Us!

Woohoo, it's our 3rd Birthday celebration!...

Yes, today is our 3rd Birthday - 3 years ago today we launched the Polkadoodles challenge blog and we've been bringing you some awesome inspiration from our amazing Design Team ever since!!
So to celebrate this fabulous occasion we're having a BIG celebration and you can win over £220 worth of blog candy - so make sure you enter today's EXTRA challenge to be in with a chance to get some wonderful candy! woooohoooo!! We want to take the opportunity to thank each and every one of you who regularly enter our challenges from all across the globe for all your fabulous support over the past 3 years, here's raising a glass to another 3 and beyond!

So, of course, today's challenge is very simple - you need to make us a Special Birthday Card incorporating No. 3 to help us mark the occasion! The 3 can be 3 ribbons, 3 papers, 3 brads...you get the idea!...


As this is a really special challenge you have until 31st May to enter this one and we will announce it the following Friday. Our very most favourite entry will win a massive prize of TEN, Yes, I did say TEN, Polkadoodles CD's with a value of over £160!!  In addition, in appreciation of all our regular people who join us week in and week out around the world, We will also give a CD prize worth over £15 to one entry from the USA and Canada, to someone in Europe (non UK), someone in the UK and also someone from the Rest of the World outside those areas - that's an extra 4 chances to win too!...
**important** when you add your challenge entry, please include your name and your Country so we can see it in the thumbnails, ie Nikky, UK - this will make it a whole lot easier for us to see where you guys are coming from, thanks!
...And did you know we are also on Facebook and Twitter? Why not join up with our Facebook group, the Polka Doodle Dandies or tweet us at @polka_doodles - we love to hear from you all, talk craft and see all your amazing creations! It's really interesting to look back at what we were doing 3 years ago - even on our very first post there was just as much inspiration and wonderful talent brimming away back then as there is now at Team Doodles - take a look here and see what our very first challenge was: 

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 come on, get entering this great challenge for this lovely candy - don't forget you have until the 31st May to enter! Now let's see what the DT came up with to inspire you all...

Shary - What's better for a birthday than a lovely cupcake? I have used a template from the Candy Doodles CD for a cupcake! The templates are so easy to use, you get the templates, papers and embellies to print out. I've decoupaged all my pieces and added some diamond stickles to the dots on the ribbon and some glossy accents to the drops on the icing. The 3 is also from the Candy Doodles CD as you get a full alphabet and numbers on it. To finish off I added a happy birthday ticket with a sheer bow.

Nelly - To celebrate Polka doodles 3rd Birthday I just knew what ever I made needed 3 candles on it! so here we have an easel "Birthday Cake" card , looks good enough to eat doesnt it! the papers are taken from the Stamp and Circle magazine cd's and the image is from Pretty Sweet CD.

Fliss - I decided on a floral element for my card and used the gorgeous roses together with papers from the Sugarplum Daisy CD. The roses are printed on watercolour paper and coloured with Aquamarkers before cutting out. I layered and tore the papers and stamped 3 corners of the green backing paper with my fave stamp from the Daisy Doodles stamp set, embossing in white. I die cut some circular doilies with a Marianne Design set and added dry embossing and punching for texture. Happy Birthday Polka Doodles!

NJ Happy 3rd Birthday Polkadoodles, for my card I used the Pretty Sweet CD. The character I have used is so cute. I have used the Marianne Design Flowers Die LR0131. I used 3 of everything,papers, flowers, pins, lace and beads.

Claire A very special celebration indeed! I have used 3 dp's(Candy Doodles collectors edition), 3 ribbons(Candy Doodles collectors edition), 3 flowers (Double Sprinkle of Kraft), 3 images(Sugarplum daisy cd) and of course the number 3(Sugarplum daisy cd) for our special 3rd birthday card. Oh my it just so happens I used 3 cd's as well!

Enfys: Crikey - three years! I have been with Nikky from day one, and it has been a roller coaster journey of fabulous products, tight deadlines, and a lot of laughs. So happy birthday Polkadoodles. Nikky, this card is for you, you are a real honey......

I used Sundae of Seasons and some Memory Box dies, I used three bees to fit in with the challenge and doodled some little trails for them...

and the inside of the card, the honey pot coated with glossy accents...

JAN: I chose three yummy cupcakes for my card to celebrate Polkadoodles 3rd birthday. I used the cupcake stamp and stamped once onto card and twice onto shrink plastic - the large one is coloured with Promarkers and the two small ones are coloured with pencils, before I shrank them. The pretty flowered paper is from the 'Sugar Birdies' CD and the pink striped paper is from the 'Candy Doodles' CD, as is the sentiment. Almost good enough to eat!

Lisa: 'The Crafting Owl. Happy Birthday Polkadoodles!! For my card I decided to use the presents and papers from Sundae of Seasons. I added glitter glue and wire to add more texture and interest.

Miria To celebrate our 3rd blogversary I made an explosion box, the 3d cupcake is from cd All Around and Everywhere, papers and sentiment from Sugarplum Daisy , just added some gems and a doily from stash.

Join in our celebration now!                                                                         
Claire (Happy Days) - Happy Birthday to us!!! What celebration wouldn't be complete without a bit of cake?? So for my card I used the the Sundae of Seasons and Sugarplum Daisy to whip up a very special pop up cake with three candles! It's a huge card (well for me anyway) and I struggled to picture it, so please forgive the photos. However, the good news is it folds flat for posting!!!

Diane... for this Special Celebration I’ve brought together the wonderful Sugarplum Daisy CD and a Marianne Creatables die to create the rolled roses and the leaves.

Shell...I have made a 8x8 card for the special 3rd Birthday challenge...The image is from the candy doodles collectors edition cd and has been coloured with copics.  The papers and tag sentiments are from sugarplum daisy cd...Flowers, gauze and pearls are from my stash.

Nikky...I decided to keep my card really simple this week. I used the cupcake digi from Sugarplum Daisy and the lovely star papers which I adore. I think my 3 buttons have moved on this card!

 

Dee...I've used the cupcakes, papers, tickets and alphabet letters from the CD Sugarplum Daisy.  I printed the tickets onto Letraset Safmat then applied to printed card and cut out.  Each layer is set forward 1 cm to give extra depth, but it all folds down flat to fit into an envelope nicely.

 Ruth... I agree with En - 3 years - that time has flown by and its been a pleasure working with Nikky for the past three years!  All three papers are from Sugar Plum Daisy with image from Sundae of Seasons.  Cuttlebug and Sizzix dies used and the card is for my niece who will be 3 at the end of November (how organised am I?!!)

Lou: I have been very privileged to be with Nikky for the 3 years and she has made things a "blast" to say the least and agree with En and Ruth .... time flies when you are having fun! All papers and elements are from Sugar Plum Daisy CD. The alphabet was printed on to Safmat to make my sentient. My 3 things are my presents and flowers.

Daniele:  I've also used the bear from Paper Boutique Vol 3 plus quite a bit of sparkle! 

So there you have our inspiration for our Special Birthday! We really hope you'll all join us in our special celebration and get your entries in to win all of that amazing candy up for grabs!! Don't forget you have until noon (GMT) on 31st May to enter! ttfn! xx

****

B Week 16 - Red and White colour challenge/Stashbox Stamp

Hello everyone, NJ here. I hope you can all feel the buzz of excitement in the air with the pre-order of the Pen & Paper Circle Issue 3 now available. Issue 2 has just been sent out and if you are one of the lucky recipients who got your orders in I am sure you are all loving the fabulous tutorials from some of the design team. Don't forget too that Nikky is on our screens on the 24th & 25th on Create & Craft. Check out the Polkadoodles Website for a  fabulous selection of crafty goodies including Marianne Design Dies so many lovely ones to choose from. Marianne Design have a wide selection of crafting goodies including dies, papers and stamps too.  Also look at the fabulous selection of Polkadoodles CD'S and other products, there's always something new every week!

Before we get onto this week's challenge let's find out the winners from the Week 14 / Big Birthday challenge who have also each won a copy of the new Sugarplum Daisy CD...

1st place - Kimbo  , 2nd place -  Sandy's Stamping Scene, 3rd place - Jaybe

Congratulations! please email Nikky for your prizes and blinkies! 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.

Onto this weeks challenge which has been set by Enfys. As it is nearly St. George's Day we would like to see a red & white colour theme. Here's what the design team have made, this time they were allowed to use a stamp from their stash... the winner of this Challenge will receive a copy of our fabulous Sundae of Seasons CD.

Emma Hello there, I have used a favourite stamp with some Marianne Design Creatable die cuts along with some of the gorgeous stamps that were in the first issue of Polkadoodles Pen and Paper Circle. I made my own backing paper with the stamps, coloured everything with Distress Inks and then finished the flower with a fancy brad.

Nelly Welcome to another Polka doodle challenge :) for this weeks card I have used Fairy Flutterfly rubber stamps set "Maggie" and coloured her with promarkers. The red and white polka dot design paper is taken from Sundae of seasons cd and the toadstools that 'Maggie' is relaxing on came from the new Sugar Plum Daisy CD, the flower and butterfly edging trim is a stamp set by Marianne Design.

NJ Hello everyone, for my red & white theme and stashbox stamp I've used the Polkadoodles Dragonfly Neighbours Clear Stamp along with the Sundae of Seasons CD. The sentiment is from the Paper Boutique Volume 3 CD and the decorative paper the image is matted onto is from Marianne Design. I coloured the image with Polychromo pencils.

Lou: I have decided to make a dreaded "male" card for this weeks challenge using papers from the Pretty Tuff CD (although I have sneeked a little blue in there too .... lol ). The sentiment stamp was a freebie on a craft magazine which makes a great sign. The arrow is hand cut and so are the traffic lights which has been finshed off with buttons (coloured with Promarkers). A really quick and simple card.

Shell-I loved making this card, I used 4 cd's for this one. The papers are from Pretty Tuff, the tickets and sentiments are from Sugarplum Daisy and the image is of course off Pretty Sweet and lastly the fabulous flowers are from the Sundae of Seasons...the image was coloured with a mix of copics and pro markers.

Claire - My worst nightmare - Red and White and a Stashbox Stamp LOL. So I went for a Christmas card this week. I used the some of the elements from the fantastic Pond Neighbours Clear Stamp Set to create a mini scene in the aperture of my card before giving it a sprinkle of texture paste, Glossy Accents and glitter.  The snowflake die is from Marianne Design (LR0125).

Dee - I have used papers and image from the Sugarplum Daisy Cd. I've also used Polka Doodles sentiment stamps and bird stamp which I stamped on the main image sheet, and then on the polka dot paper, cut out and fixed over the first one with 1mm foam pads.

Norine - I loved this red and white challenge and I kind of got a bit carried away and ended up with two cards!! I didn't actually use any stamps from my stash because I didn't feel like any of my own went with the challenge well enough. The first card uses an image from the SugarPlum Daisy cd and paper from the Magical Winter 1 cd. The addition of some velvet ribbon, gems and a paper doily complete this pretty any occasion card!

The second card uses images from the Sundae of Seasons cd paired with matching PolkaDoodles paper. I used a Spellbinders die and an embossing folder to create the background and then layered the printed and hand cut images on top.

Shary - Here's my red and white card for this week's theme. Although it's a feminine card I've used the papers from the Pretty Tuff CD, even the punched flowers are from the same paper. I've added a little gem to the middles. The bird cage is a die by Marianne Designs which I die cut and then distressed a little and added a bow. The sentiment is from Candy Doodles which I cut out and inked around the edges. I've paper pieced the girl with the same Pretty Tuff papers.

Joanna: For this card I used all my favourites ;). The super delicious papers are from Sundae of Seasons and Love & Cherish CDs. The sweet image is from the Pretty Sweet CD and I coloured it with Inktense pencils. The magical sentiment is from our newest release - Sugarplum Daisy. To embellish the card I created some dimensional flowers from the same papers using Marianne's Design CR1202 die and the gorgeous leaf is Marianne's LR0150 die. The flowers centres were also decorated with a touch of Liquid Pearls.

Diane  For our Red and White Challenge to celebrate St. George’s Day, strawberries and toadstools seemed like good subjects to use – not often featured together but I hope you like it! The paper from the Sugarplum Daisy CD was perfect for the strawberry theme and the red and white.

So there is our inspiration for this challenge - you have until Sunday 29th April to enter!

Entries close at noon GMT - good luck!

Week 14 - Big Birthdays

Hello NJ here, I just wanted to say Happy Easter to you all and welcome to another fab challenge this week.

Have you all entered last week's fab Blog Hop?? We have more candy than you can poke a candy cane at and you still have until noon on Easter Sunday to enter so make sure you get hopping NOW! Those of you who watch Create & Craft TV, you can also catch Nikky doing the Paper Clinic 2 hour slot on Easter Monday at 11am - lots of colouring, hints and tips and answering questions, so if you have bank holiday boredom tune in! Don't forget to check out the Polkadoodles Website where you can find fabulous dies and stamps from Marianne Design and also lots of other gorgeous crafty goodies, don't forget to check out the Polkadoodles CD ROMS while your there. Who needs an Easter Egg!

Before we get onto this week's challenge, let's find out the winners from Week 12 which was the Mother's Day challenge which were:

1st place - Dee 2nd place - Sazzlecraft 3rd place - Sarah

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.

I (Ruth), have set the challenge this week as I am celebrating my Birthday today! It's one with a number ending in zero although I'd like to think I am 21 again! So, to help me celebrate (not that I will need much encouragement!) the challenge this week is to make a Birthday Card with a number on - the bigger the number the better! Our Top 3 winners of this challenge will each get a FREE Sugarplum Daisy CD - woohoo!! So make sure you get your entries in!...

Ruth: I've used a firm favourite with the Sugary Cake template from Paper Boutique Vol 1. I've used a Marianne Design Creatable embossing die on the card blank and also on the larger cake layers. Although you can't see it, the cake icing is rather sparkly as too are the numbers which I've attached with curled wire.

Emma Hello there, I have combined some of Polkadoodles gorgeous Pretty Sweet papers with beautiful Marianne Design Creatables die for this 21st bithday card. For the folded flower, I used a scalloped shaped ribbon style trim from the Sundae Of Seasons Cd.

Nelly - Hi Everyone for this weeks Big number Birthday card I have used images and design papers from the new Sugar Plum Daisy CD , the style is a Z gate fold and I have made the wrap to hold it closed, perfect for a sweet 16th Birthday :) embellishments are also from this adorable Cd!

Shell- For my card this week I've used a beautiful image and papers from the Sugarplum Daisy CD. The image has been coloured with pro markers. I made the rolled flowers using a Marianne Design Die LR0163, the ribbon, pearls and metal corner are from my stash.

NJ Hello for my big number I have made a card using the All Around & Everywhere CD I have hidden the '50' on a tag and popped it in a pocket. I used a Marianne Design Creatable LR0118.

Claire (Happy Days) - I've used the Sugarplum Daisy and Paper Boutique Volume 1 CD to create my handbag card. I've also used the alphabet and number set from the new Pen & Paper Circle Magazine 2 to create the sentiment tag. The gorgeous butterfly clasp is from the Marianne Design butterfly set LR0158.

Clare:- I've used papers, image, number and sentiment from the new Polka Doodles "Candy Doodles Collectors Edition" CD-Rom. I've coloured the image and number with alcohol markers and added glitter, clear ultra thick embossing powder and glossy accents as highlights. The roses and leaves are from the Marianne Design die "English Rose" LR0162.

Joanna: As I didn't have any "big" birthdays coming up, I decided to incorporate the BIG numbers into these cute frames for my 2 adorable nieces as a keepsake of what they look like in 2012 :-). The papers are a mixture of Sugarplum Daisy, Candy Doodles and Sundae of Seasons and the numbers are from the Sugar Birdies CD. The gorgeous die cuts are from Marianne Design CR1202 and LR 0141.

Dee: I have used the tree and birdhouse image, backing papers, ticket, numbers and a flower from the Candy Doodles Collectors edition CD, and the girl and the toadstool are from Sugarplum Daisy CD for this weeks card. The fence, birdhouse, bird, fence and swirl are Marianne Design Dies cut from a very pretty Marianne Designs backing paper. Some inking with distress inks and faux stitching finishes off the card just nicely.

Shary- For my card I've used the Not for girls Polkadoodles CD for the papers, letters, number and sentiment and the cute image is called Skating Don by Marianne Design. I've coloured him in with Copics.


Diane - My card for a lucky 40 year old uses the Fairy Flutterfly Gracie stamp and pretty paper from the new Sugar Plum Daisy CD. The numbers were also from the CD but the sentiment and flowers are part of the stamp plate, I just drew the stems and leaves for the flowers. The lovely corners are from a Marianne Design die and everything is coloured with Copics.

Carol - For my card I have used the brand new gorgeous cd called Sugarplum Daisy. I've played around in my graphics programme and merged a couple of images as well as printed out the little bees and bunny on the flower and popped them up on some glue gel for added dimension. The sentiment is also from the cd. I then printed the little girl onto some tissue paper and adhered it to the candle.

Lou:  I didn't want to go all "guns blazing" announcing the significant birthday, (not saying that this is Ruth's "0" birthday) but instead have created lickle dots with a number on! All papers are from the new Candy Doodles Collectors Edition as they are such a fab selection of papers and so versatile; as is the cupcake and sentiment (printed on to Safmat). The embossed panel at the back is a Marianne Design "Designables die which both cuts and embosses. I have also used a Marianne Design frame and butterfly die.

So there is our inspiration for this challenge - you have until Sunday 15th April to enter and be in with a chance of winning that fabulous candy! Entries close at noon GMT.

***

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.

*****