I must start off this weeks post with an announcement!!! I have decided to step down from the Polka Doodles Design Team!!! I am very upset about this decision but I am just unable to give Nikky the time and dedication that she needs and deserves. The whole team each week pull off the most amazing creations and I am lucky if I can get in 2 challenge cards a month. I wish Nikky and the rest of the team all the best and I want to thank firstly Enfys for spotting me in the first place and Nikky for making me a part of her wonderful team.

There must be a bit of trickery going on at Polka Doodles!! It seems that Brenda has gone and read my mind!!! She has set the challenge this week and the challenge is to make an easel card!!!! Now as you may have noticed I LOVE easel cards!!! So I set to work using the fab new CD which Nikky has just launched at Harrogate it is called Sundae of Seasons!!! She will be on Create and craft on the 20th I believe so tune in and take a look!!! It has sooooo many great images I love the Mummy image so I used all 3 from the sheet that I printed out and just cut around him, nothing else needed doind to the image he is just perfect!!! I have teamed the image up with the Halloween download over at Polka Doodles. The papers in this download are super spooky all they needed was some ink and some distressing!!! I added it to some corrugated orange card and set about layering my Mummys! I stuck the one on the left flat, the one on the right is mounted onto 3D foam pads and the one in the centre has 2 springs made from strong card so he really pops out!!! To finish off the card I have used a computer generated greeting. Check out the show for the new CD and hopefully a look at some of my creations!!!

Well it is finally here!!! It is my turn to set the challenge over at Polka Doodles!!! I picked a date so far in advance as I was so worried about setting a challenge! It caught up with me eventually and here it is. . . I asked the ladies to print or stamp onto vellum or acetate! It was a good idea at the time but the challenge was just that a bloody challenge!!! My printer had a huge argument with the acetate I picked so that killed that plan so I printed onto pearlescent vellum which turned out pretty good!!! I used the Jingle Jangle CD which I just adore!!! Vellum was such a bad idea as all the hard work is not really reflected as it is so hard to photograph!!! Next time I say the V word people you stop me!!! Hop over to polka doodles and see how easy the fab designers have made it look!!!

Firstly I must tell you all about the most fantastic competition going on at Polka Doodles!!! Get over there now to see how you could bag yourself some fantastic Aquamarkers from letraset the wonderful peeps that make Promarkers!!!

Right back to this weeks challenge! We have been set a challenge by Kris to make a Christmas card in July! I think the timing is perfect with the latest Polka Doodles CD that has just come out!! I have opted to use Nikky's fab fairy stamps to go with my xmas paper from the CD!!! I have used mt fav which is BevvieBoo, I just love her! I have stamped her using my Versafine Onx Black ink pad then I have coloured her in with Promarkers!!! To get the fab sparkle on the wings I have used stickles which I have recently fallen in love with!!! Bevvie has been backed onto a white piece of card which I have inked with a brilliance Dew drop ink. I have then matted it onto a piece of snowflake pattern paper from PB2 again this has been inked for added effect! I have used foam pads to give dimension. This topper was then added to aother piece of the pattern paper then added to an A5 tent card! The whole card was then finished off with ribbon and gems. I am now making this card one of my xmas designs this year, I think the fairy really suits Nikky's papers!!!

This weeks challenge over at polka doodles was set by Lou. The challenge was to. . . deep breath. . . abandon our designer papers!!!! ARGH!!!!!! As soon as I recovered from the shock I decided that this was in fact a fab idea!!! We had to create our cards using nowt but stamps!!!! So I set to work with Gracie. I stamped her onto a scallop die cut and gave her a cute lady bug for company!!! Nest I just cut freehand some grass and then layered her up! I used my promarkers from Hobbycraft to colour her in, I decided to stick with red and black as they work so well together! The background is not so much stamped as it is punched!!! I used a circle punch to create a ladybug background for my card finished off with some fab ribbon again from Hobbycraft!!!

I am a bit late with posting my samples but have just been super super busy!!! Here are my samples for the latest CD from Nikky at Polka Doodles. The CD is called Paper Boutique 2 - Creative Christmas. If you loved Paper Boutique then you will juat adore this! I have used 1 of the images that come pre coloured but they other 2 cards I used some of the other polka doodles papers to give peapole and idead of how else they can be used! The pressies are just so cool that they should not be limited to just xmas, so I used some papers from the all around and everywhere CD. There is just so so much and this disc please check out the blog and the shop gallery for some awesome inspiration! Nikky will also be on Ideal world Thursday at 9am!!!

Firstly I must say a huge welcome to the noobs at Polka Doodles this week!!! Its too late now ladies there is no turning back!!! Welcoma aboard Lisa, Jenny and Tracy!!!

This weeks challenge has been set by Lou who is celebrating a wedding anniversary this week!!! Congratulations Lou!!! Her challenge was to make her a modern / retro card! Now I have made an anniversary card but I must confess Lou it is for my husband! It is our 4 year anniversary this september so I thought lets be different and get organised!!! As soon as I saw this paper on the Not For Girls CD I knew that this was the one! He is such a huge comic book fan, so mush so that he has transformers tattooed all down his left arm!!! I decided that he needed to know how special he was a bit early this year so here is his card! The greeting is made in word with a simple explosion that I have added text to then layered onto red car then cut out! I used wire which I wrapped around a pencil for the wobblers!!!

So here he is my wonderfull husband of 4 years ( been together for 9 ) he is amazing and looks after me so well. . . Love you Konrad x x x

This weeks challenge over at Polka Doodles has been set by Fliss and tha challenge was to make something with mum in mind and use the colours orange ( or peach ) and blue! No anyone who knows me will know that my Mum and I do not speak ( long story for another day ) so I have used my Nan as my inspiration! She is amazing! She is still a dinner lady at 72, she still finds time to do everything for everyone and she still looks amazing, she looks younger now than she does in the picture!!! I found this fab pic of her with me when I was younger ( I am not much taller now he he! ) and I happen to be wearing a peach dress! So I decided that this was the time to go nuts and make a scrapbook page!!!

The page is 8" x 8" and tha base is co-ordinations cardstock which I got reduced at HobbyCraft. The orange gingham is from All Around and Everywhere. I have stamped the corners and inked along the edges of the page for some added texture. The flowers I love and to make them I printed out some of the small blue dotty paper from the same CD, I cut 16 small scallop circles with my nesties and inked the edges with a darker blu ink. Next I used my newly purchased Tim Hotlz mini misters and saoked them with water ( note to self - next time wait for the ink to dry ) then I scrunched them all up into tiny wet balls. Before they dried I carefully unwrapped them and layered them up into 2 piles of 8. I secured them all together with a brad and did a bit more scrunching ubtil they looked like flowers!!! When they were all dry I just added some stickles for some sparkle! The word Nanny has been printed form All Around and Everywhere, I printed some more blue dotty paper than printed the alphies onto that then just punched them out with a 1" circle punch! The picture has been die vut with nesties and layered up and for a finishing touch I made a swirl using shades of blue eyeleys!!! Phew and relax!!!!

This weeks challenge over at Polka Doodles has been set by Brenda!!! She has asked us to use summer blossoms as our inspiration! I have been struggling as it is wet and overcast as i look out my craft room window!!! But I have been inspired once again by the latest CD which is all round and everywhere! I have choosen to use a blue and brown theme this week! The flowers are smaller versions of the pumpkin I made last year, they are super easy to do, all you need is a scallop circle die or punch and some glue!!! I have added some brown leaves that I rescued from and old brooch that was destined for the bin and I have added some beads in wire for some bling!!! Please pop over and join in with us!!!!

I thought while I am trying new things ( promarkers ) I thought go on give this whole masking malarky a try and here it is!!! BevvieBoo now with wings!!!

Well I must admit that I have had these stamps for a few weeks now and this is my first card that I have made!!! My colouring is not great so I have been practising before I made Nikkys fab stamps look poop!!! This fairy is my fav she is called BevvieBoo and she is so cute! Now she has a bueatiful butterfly that she comes with whixh you can use to give her wings but for my first card I decided babysteps!!! This is a C6 card which I have decorated with some elements from an old QVC kit I had hiding in my stash, I inked the edges of the flowers and the sentiment for a bit of depth! The butterfly is from tonic studio and I bought it at HobbyCraft. Finally Bevvie is stamped using versafine onyx black ink then I have used pro markers to colour her in! I only have one set so expect to see alot of purples until next payday!!!

This weeks challenge over at Polka Doodles has been set by Ruth! She has asked us all to alter something!!! I had seen this fab idea online which involves putting the ingrediants for cookies into jar as a gift, I loved the idea so I thought I would have a go myself! It was all going so well until butter fingers Stacey struck! I dropped my first jar and it smashed into a huge delicious glass covered mess!!! After spending a silly amount of time trying to locate all the chocolate chips ( they fly far ) I was overcome with panic! I had to find another jar which was larger than the first then i had to refil it!!! Well of course I had no actual cookie ingrediants left so. . . I had to make do. My jar contains among other things a whole layer of bi carb!!! But dont panic the chocolate chips are not the ones I picked up from the floor!!! Anyway after all that I had enough time to make a quick wrapper using the polka dot papers from the new CD All Around and Everywhere. I turned it into a corset at the back so the wrapper is easily removed and can be put onto something more edible! I finished it off with a cute round tag from the same CD! Wish me luck for next week guys!!! How I don't fall down more is beyond me!!!

Another quick one!!! These are a few cards that I have put together using the new polka doodles CD!

Just a quick entry today as I am so so busy and I have fimo things to make!!! This is a card that I made for a friend in work! I love the colours! It was simple to make! The glitter letter are K & Co the mirror butterfly I got from work and the papers are Polka Doodles from the new CD!!! The size is DL!!!

This weeks challenge at Polka Doodles was set by Nettie and her challenge was Monochromatic ( I hope thats right ) We had to use one colour but we could use different shade of that colour! Given the lovely weather we have had recently and all the fields I see everyday I have used green! I cut a scallop card using wild card on the cricut at 5 3/4 then chopped it into 2 and folded one side in half, I have then cut anothe slightly smaller from one of the awesome papers from the new CD All around and Everywhere ( its ace ) Next was some flowers from the same CD in shades of green finished off with a sentiment and some cute buttons! As you may have noticed acetate is my friend lately and there are more to come when I can pop them up here, anyway I have added a super cute tiny flower as a dangler with a spotty green brad from my stash! Check out the new CD it launched today on create and craft it is sooooo pretty!!!

Sometimes I wonder if I am cut out for blogging! I am so behind this week! This is my card that should have been posted friday for the animal magic Polka Doodles challenge! As the title would suggest better late than never!!! It is a simple card using one of the fab backgrounds from the back to nature CD and the super cute sheep!!! I have done a little bit of decoupage to add some dimension, and clever Nikky has even considered the back of our cards when designing this CD so I have put the sheeps bottom on the back for a finishing touch!!! Don't forget to check out Nikky and the amazing new CD on create and craft Friday at 10am!!

It is time for another Polka Doodles challenge! This week has been set by Kerry and it was to create a wedding card using the love and cherish CD!!! Now I know I keep banging on about how fab this CD is but its true I just love it!!! I have decided to use the grey and silver papers as they are so subtle and elegant. The card base is A4 folded plain white card, I have they layered a piece of grey card that I have punched with my MS punch and ontop of that is a grey rose background paper with has also been punched. Using the cut off from my rose paper I have punched the edge then using and acordian fold made a paper flower! To embellish the flower I have cut out 3 butterflies using my tonic studios punch, I have cut 2 in the solid grey and one in a filigree background paper from the CD. To my butterfly I have added some pearls on string and some liquid pearls fabric paint! The sentiment is my first competer generated sentiment, I have used the title of the CD and it has then been printed onto the filigree paper and matted onto the grey card. Finally to finish of the card I have used some pretty ribbon and a diamante buckle! Fab challenge Kerry!!!

I have been making some wedding stationary samples over the last few weeks and now I am onto the favours! I thought that the papers from the Love & Cherish Polka Doodles CD would be fab!!! This is one of the first samples I have come up with, I do think it will need to be bigger but for a sample it will be fine! I have printed out on of the many fab designs from this CD and I have cut the page into quarters. Then I have just made a sour cream container and added a little gold tag which I have cut with the big shot and embossed with an initial!

This week over at Polka Doodles Nikky has set the challenge and if she doesn't mind me saying a challenge is exactly what it was!!! It started out with this sketch . . .



Then we were given some rules. . . We had to use 4 shapes and they should interlock or be matted and layered and we could only use brown and blue!!! So I sat down with cold sweats ( partly due to the challenge and partly to do with the flu ) and this is what I have created! Now the papers I just love especially the background roses form the Love and Cherish CD. Now it may look more on the grey side than the blue but I am claiming its blue and thats the end of it!!! The base of the card is A4 folded plain brown cardstock, I have added to this a plain piece of blue card then added the blue ( not Grey ) roses paper! The flowers are from the Love and Cherish CD also but the papers they are printed onto are from the Back to Nature CD. I have used the same pattern in two shades, then layered them up and curled the egdes for some dimension! I have punched a border with my MS punch onto brown packing paper that I had left over from something my hubby sold on ebay and I have run this across the bottom on the card. I have added some brown ribbon along the left hand side if the card and where they meet I have used a fab topper from the Love and Cherich CD. This topper is a leftover from last weeks challenge ( waste nothing people ) I have covered it with glossy accents and ( because I am too cheap to buy crackle medium ) I cracked it when it was completly dry and rubbed into it some glimmer mist ( using a sock as I had no tissue to hand - it was an old odd sock mind ) I just hope that the layers of the flowers count as different shapes x x x