Love Birds!!

Morning. It's time for another challenge over at Polka Doodles and this week we want to see "things with wings". Don't forget you don't need to use a Polka Doodles product, but we'd love it if you did!

This is a commissioned card for a lad that I work with. He wanted a card for his girlfriend to mark the six months that they'd been together. The stipulation was to include a photograph of them, the date they met, a bird, no flowers and no pink!!! So this it what I came up with.....

The papers are from the Sugarplum Daisy CD and the images are from the Candy Doodles Collectors Edition. I made a pocket for the tag which carries a photograph of the couple and I used the computer to generate the date they met text which has been printed onto the ribbon. The die cut hearts are some that the lovely Angie from Bumbles Bees Craft Den sent me ages ago. The sentiment on the die cut heart is also computer generated.

Well that's it from me today. I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Thanks for stopping by.

Claire x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

It's a Royal Affair!

Good morning, it's time for another challenge over at Polka Doodles. Now as it's the Queen's Diamond Jubilee weekend we want you to make a project to celebrate that, you can use anything that suggests royalty. Wether it be colours such as purple, red, gold or gemstones such as diamonds, or even using the union flag you decide!

I wasn't really sure what to do for this weeks challenge, but after a long hard think I decided that I wanted to make a fun project that I could use for my Jubilee party. So I've made a birdhouse, this photo heavy so be warned!

The birdhouse template has been taken from the Candy Doodles Collectors Edition CD. As the template is a bit bigger than I wanted for this project, I simply copied the image, pasted it into a Word document and resized it. The template was then printed onto cardstock. I placed the roof part of the template back into the printer and printed the free Polka Doodles Blue Jubilee paper on the opposite side. 

Once all of the house pieces had been cut out, I poked a hole in the centre of the roof and in the bottom of the floor. Gold thread was then passed through roof to make a hanging loop - I used a dot of hot glue on the knot to ensure that it was secure. I then passed a length of gold thread through the house floor and again used a dab of hot glue to secure the knot. The house was then assembled as per the instructions with the exception of cutting out a window at the front of the house.

The bunting was made using another free Polka Doodles paper that I resized and printed out several times before cutting down into triangles and gluing onto twine. I used the left over scraps of blue paper to create the heart shaped windows.

The hanging hearts and crown were made using an image from the same set as the papers (this was a freebie set that Nikky Hall created for this months challenge over on our Facebook page Polka Doodle Dandies). I simply resized the images in my graphics programme, coloured them with Promarkers, chucked a bit bling onto the crown and then hot glued them in place.

The little mouse image has been taken from the Sugarplum Daisy CD. She normally wears a pair of dungarees and a flower in her hair, but I have made her a new set of clothes especially for this project! The ER has been cut from a Tim Holtz/Sizzix Market Place Die. I've finally got around to using my Memory Box Wrought Iron Fence Die! I finished the whole thing off with a bit of organza ribbon from Crafty Ribbons and computer generated dates.

So if you've got this far well done!!! I hope you all have a fantastic Jubilee Weekend, and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that the sun shines forthe duration of it!

Thanks for stopping by today

Claire xxx

I'd like to enter the following challenges:
Kuretake - Red, White & Blue with a bit of bling
My Mum's Craft Shop - Red, White & Blue
Crafts & Me - Ribbon
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
 I ♥ ProMarkers - Use a digi
Cooking It Up With Katie - Celebrate with ribbon & a die cut
Divas By Design - Anything goes
Just keep On Creating - Anything goes
Penny's paper Crafty - Anything Goes
Creative Craft Challenges - Red, White & Blue
Everybody Art - Anything but a card
Bunny Zoe's - Anything goes
Cupcake Craft - Royalty
Make it Monday - Anything goes
OSAAT - Red, White & Blue
Pan Pastel UK - Diamond Jubilee
Craft Your Days Away - Red, White & Blue

Polka Doodles is 3 And We're Celebrating in Style

Morning! Well the day has finally arrived and it's now time to party! Polka Doodles is 3 years old today and to celebrate Nikky has organised a huge birthday bash with lots of fabby prizes. Now when I say lots, I means LOTS!!!! There's a total of £220 in prizes to be won, with the top prize being approximately £160 in value. Sounds fab huh? Well you could be the lucky recipient of one of these prizes simply by making a special birthday card for us. All you have to do is make a special card with three of something on it (it could be three different papers, 3 flowers or in my case 3 candles). Every single Polka Doodles teamie has made a card to celebrate, so there's plenty of inspiration over on the challenge blog. Here's mine, a pop up card (excuse the dodgy photo - It was such a big card it was almost impossible to photograph, so I've played with it in my graphics programme, but I think a little more practice is required :D)

So, what are you waiting for? Grab your stash and get creating!

Claire xxx


Materials
Images - Sundae of Seasons
Papers & Sentiment - Sugarplum Daisy
Promarkers & Flexmarkers
Stickles
Glossy Accents

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Make It Monday - Anything goes
Bunny Zoe's - Anything Goes
The Crazy Challenge - 3D
Joanna Sheen Challenge Blog - Happy Birthday
One Stitch At A Time - Anything goes
Paper Sundaes - Pretty in pink
Crazy 4 Challenges - Birthdays
Inspire Me Fridays - Anything goes
Divas By Design - Pink
I ♥ PROMARKERS - Anything Goes
Paper Shelter - Birthday cards with sentiment
Whimsy Stamps - Anything goes
Tuesday Throwdown - 3D

Sweet Sixteen Handbag Card

My niece has her 16th Birthday in a few weeks, so when I saw the challenge from Polka Doodles this week was for BIG NUMBERS, I thought I'd use my DT sample as an excuse to make her card and be slightly more organised. :D

Now whilst this is a card, it's actually going to be a bit of a mini scrapbook for her. I've left the inside of the card blank as I want to put a couple of pictures of her as a baby/toddler and then as the beautiful princess she has turned into (I'm hoping to get a couple of good shots of her in her prom dress) and add a little journalling. Anyway, here's the card....

I printed the papers from the Sugarplum Daisy CD onto heavy weight cardstock before printing the Elegant Bag box template from the Paper Boutique Vol 1 CD over the top of it. I cut two of the bag shaped pieces out, and then cut the handle off of one of them and the fold lines off of both of them. I then scored along where the handle meets the main body of the bag and folded it over to create the front flap on the bag. To make the base I simply cut a rectangle of card that measured 4" x 5.5". I then scored the card on the shortest edge at 1" intervals and folded to make an M shape. This was then glued to both the front and back of the card base.

The handle is made from a piece of craft wire and some pearls, which has been glued into place in the crease of the flap. I made the ruffle edging by attaching some masking tape to paper and then running it through the printer (I used one of the papers from the Sugarplum Daisy CD). I then simply pleated it to give a ruffle effect, brushed the reverse with some talcum powder to stop it sticking in the wrong places and attached it to the card.

The card is held closed by means of a strip of magnetic tape under the front flap. As you can see from my picture there is plenty of room inside for me to either write a simple message or as I plan to do add a couple of pictures and some journalling.

The keychain sentiment has been made from the digi alphabet and numeral set on the CD from the new Pen & Paper Circle Magazine. Simply use your graphics programme to arrange the letters and then print onto card, colour over the letters with a Promarker, fussy cut out and then add a couple of coats of Glossy Accents to give it dimension. Once dry, it's been added to a length of chain and attached to the bag.

The gorgeous little butterfly clasp has been cut using one of the butterflies from set LR0158 by Marianne Design (I've cut a few of the other butterflies from the set to add to the inside of the card once everything is in place). I've then added Stickles and folded the wings before placing one on top of the other and attaching to the bag. To finish I've added some ribbon that has been coloured with Promarkers.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope the Easter Bunny is very generous to you this weekend. Enjoy the break.

Claire x

Materials:
Sugarplum Daisy
Paper Boutique Vol 1
LR0158 Marianne Design
Pen & Paper Circle Magazine Issue 2
Stickles
Glossy Accents
Craft Wire
Beads
Chain

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Paper Play - Shaped Cards
Crafts & Me - Butterflies & Bows
Divas By Design - Anything Goes
Flutter By Wednesdays - Open
Whimsy Stamps - Ribbon
Just Keep On Creating - Anything goes
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Peek-a-Boo Bunny Bunting And A Candy Overload!!! Dontcha Know It's Easter and We're Hopping!!!!

Boo!!! Yep it's me again with my second post of the morning. This time it's to show you my Easter bunting and tell you about this weeks challenge over on the Polka Doodles Blog which is........ EASTER :D You may want to grab a coffee and some cake as this is an uber long post with more than it's fair share of piccies ;D

If you're taking part in the Polka Doodles Blog Hop then you should've arrived here from Ruth's blog.

The bunting was made using pre-cut flags which have simply been covered with some yummy papers from the new Polka Doodles CD Sugarplum Daisy.

 I used the letters from the word book Template on the Candy Doodles Collectors Edition.

To give them some depth and dimension I ran an embossing tool around the edges and then added some Glossy Accents.

 The bunnies are also from the Sugarplum Daisy CD

 I've simply flipped them around in a graphics programme to get them facing in different directions.

Then they've been cut so that they are peeking out from behind the letters.

Anyway, if you're still here, I think I'd better get onto the important stuff - The Challenge.......This week its going to be a bit different - we still have our regular challenge but we also have a blog hop which is also part of the challenge!! And you know what that means - LOADS of candy!! 

CHALLENGE STAGE 1: Now, we know that not everyone likes to do a hop for whatever reason, so we still have our normal challenge for the week which is EASTER themed - you must make a card or project which is Easter themed.

But that's not all...

CHALLENGE STAGE 2: Our second challenge is the blog hop - if you hop along with us this week you will find that the Easter Bunny has arrived early and left some hidden goodies on some of the Design Teams blogs - but you have to hop though the whole list to find who the Easter Bunny has visited! 

You need to complete both the Easter themed challenge and the blog hop to be in with a chance of winning one of the fantastic prizes on offer! You need to go to the challenge blog to see what is on offer but it is fabulous! There will be one grand prize winner and two second place winners!

If you've never taken part in a blog hop before it's easy peasy...all you need to do is visit each blog in turn and for this hop each Polkadoodler will give you a LETTER (be careful - some of the Polkadoodlers may have more than one!) Now add all the letters together, unscramble them and leave a comment on the Polkadoodle Challenge Blog (comments will be moderated!) with what the word is.

Your entry will automatically be judged for the Easter themed challenge BUT we will know if you have completed the Blog Hop so if you haven't you will still only be eligible for the random blog candy hidden amongst some of the Polkadoodlers. FOR THE EASTER THEMED CHALLENGE JUST LEAVE YOUR ENTRY AS NORMAL USING THE INLINKZ BUTTON, WE WILL SORT THROUGH THE ENTRIES AS WE WILL KNOW IF YOU FOLLOWED THE HOP OR NOT! ; )

If you have arrived at my blog from Ruth's Blog then you are on the right track! The letter you require from me is A  and the second letter is Y. Keep them safe and now hop onto the Polkadoodle Challenge Blog and leave a comment. If you get stuck, please go back to the Polkadoodle Challenge blog where you will find the full list of Polkadoodlers.

Good luck!

Claire xxx

I'd like to enter this bunting into the following challenges:
Fab n Funky - Easter
Anything goes - Easter
Creative Craft - Anything but a card
Top Tip Tuesday - Easter and/or Animals
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Charisma Cards - Easter
Delightful Challenges - Easter
PaperPlay - Easter
Decorate to Celebrate - Easter
More than favors - Easter