Saying Good Bye

>> Thursday, November 24, 2011

It hasn't been quite a year yet, but the Polkadot Door Challenges will not be continuing at this time. The blog will continue to operate as our personal blog, but at this time in our lives we feel that we need to concentrate our efforts to the people who are closest to us. We have enjoyed the challenges, feedback, and the new connections that have been made so much! Once life settles down and certain priorities are not so pressing we would like to continue with the Polkadot Door Inspiration challenges. Thank you to everyone for your comments, encouragement, and enthusiasm. We've been honored with all the interest this blog has garnered!

Sarah and Rebecca

P.S.  We will be announcing the winners from November's Blog Hop and Inspirational Challenge shortly.  We apologize for the delay and appreciate your patience. 

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Sketchy Thursdays 11.17 Challenge

>> Wednesday, November 23, 2011

We recently made a long distance move. Not a lot of fun with four little kids including a newborn, but on the bright side it served as a good catalyst to purge our belongings.  I must admit that I take an almost gleeful satisfaction in organizing our possessions and seeing a large number of things destined for the thrift shop and rubbish bin.  Of course, I also take immense pleasure in scouting out deals and re-accumulating more stuff once we are settled in our new house, but that is another conversation entirely. 

Generally I can be quite heartless when it comes to tossing or giving away stuff.  My kids tend to get a look of terror in their eyes when they see me headed towards their playroom with a garbage bag.  My husband has learned to keep really important things at the office where I can't accidentally throw them out in a cleaning frenzy. You're not likely to see my house on any upcoming episodes of hoarders.

Unless of course they start a new show called "Scrapbooking Hoarders". (Which, incidentally is a really good idea.  I would totally watch that if I had a t.v.)

I do go into my scraproom regularly with the intention of cleaning it out and purging the excess supplies, really I do.  I just get distracted and start working on layouts instead. Or I just sit and admire the pretty bits and baubles.  It's so hard to throw any of it away.  I mean, if I bought it in the first place it was likely because I liked it, and just because I now have more paper than I could possibly use in a dozen lifetimes does not mean I like any of it any less than I originally did. Sigh.

My husband suggested that the solution is to stop buying more stuff until I have used up everything that is currently in my stash - which would be really good advice except for the aforementioned buying addiction... 

Anyway, all that is to say that I have been feeling a bit guilty about the amount of supplies that I "had to have" only to put them away and never look at them again, so when I sat down to make this layout for this week's Sketchy Thursday challenge, I also challenged myself to use some of my "old" supplies. The end result is a layout of Oliver that uses Making Memories papers and embellishments that I bought to do a layout of Isaac... 4 years ago.
(Please forgive the crummy photo - apparently we don't get any sun during the winter here!)


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A handmade Wedding.

>> Saturday, November 19, 2011



After a very eventful few months, Rebecca is back to the blog! I don't have any recent crafty creations to share at the moment, but I thought I would post some pictures of the details from the wedding back in September. We were on a budget and decided to lots of the decorating ourselves. It worked out fantasticly! We were married in an outdoor ceremony at a heritage village and had a garden party reception. My Mom is an avid gardener and all the flowers were from her garden. While she didn't do the bouquets (a family friend did), all the other floral arrangements were hers, aren't they incredible?!

Between my husband and I, there are 25 siblings (yes, you read that correctly). We decided that instead of numbering each table, we would name each one after a sibling since we had exactly 25 tables of guests.

The guys boutonniere were Gladiolas. I wanted something other than traditional roses.

They also wore Morning Suits with Ascot ties, I made the tie pins with beads from my sister's collection and hat pins!

The ringbearer's pillow was the same one used at my sister's wedding 3 years ago, but I spruced it up a bit with a rose I made from left over scraps from the bridesmaids dresses.

The program was designed and printed at home, an easy way to save some money!

The invitation, which I also designed and printed at home. The wax seal made a huge impression on those invited. A simple, and fairly inexpensive touch to make it more personal.

I adored my bouquet. The flowers (with the exception of the roses) were home grown from my Mom's garden and hand tied by a family friend. 



I didn't make this detail, but these Mother of Pearl cufflinks were the perfect accent to the morning suits.

My husband's ring is a custom made titanium ring inlayed with blue box elder wood. Minter and Richter Designs on etsy has some amazing and unique rings. I knew he had to have one.



Another look at the centrepieces on the tables. That is one of the bridesmaids bouquets as well as a sunflower arrangement by my Mom.


Guestbook table. The antique typewriter made a perfect accent, we had typed out "Please sign our Guestbook" as instructions.




Instead of haveing individual favours, we incorporated an old fashioned candy table. It was a hit with young and old.

The Precious Moments figurine was a wedding gift to my parents 28 years ago, which they then passed onto my husband and I. Along with the little banner, it transformed the store bought cake into something a lot more unique to us, I just couldn't justify hundreds of dollars on a custom cake. We had some delicious sheet cakes as well.

All the food labels were made by Sarah, doesn't she have tidy hand writing!


To go along with our Thank You cards, I made the banner ahead of time and we made sure our photographer got this photo. The feedback from the guests was unanimous, they loved the idea!
The picture wall was made by my husband the night before the wedding. It was a perfect accent to our vintage wedding.


Dress details! You all were waiting for these, right? The dress was originally strapless, but my very good friend redesigned the entire bodice so I would be more comfortable on our wedding day. The guests couldn't tell it had been altered and I kept getting asked "where did you find a dress with sleeves?"

My amazing Mother basically designed and sewed all three of the bridesmaids dresses.

there are more photos I could post, but I should leave it at this. Thanks to everyone who is reading! I cannot wait to show you the December challenge, its just around the corner. Don't forget to enter the November Inspiration challenge, there are so many great prizes to be won!



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Sketchy Thursdays 11.3

>> Sunday, November 6, 2011

This week's sketch from Sketchy Thursdays was just what I needed as I was working with my November Apron Strings Kit

Oliver's sisters like to treat him like a doll so sometimes his outfits are... interesting.  Some looks are adorable on a baby but sure couldn't be pulled of by anyone else! I was pretty excited when I got these papers from from Fancy Pant's Summer's End line because the colors and the polkadots matched these photos perfectly.

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{November} Blog Hop and Inspiration Challenge

>> Tuesday, November 1, 2011


It's hard to believe that it is November all ready, but there is no doubt that fall has arrived.  Autumn is definitely my favorite time of year.  The turning leaves, crisp air, warm afternoon sunlight, pumpkins and apple pie... 

This month we have another gorgeous inspiration image that captures the focuses on one of the best things about this time of year - Thanksgiving! (and all the amazing food that usually accompanies that holiday):

 Here is what I was inspired to create:

Our wonderful designers have put together some amazing projects based on the inspiration photo.  Please visit each of their blogs to see their projects then come back to the Polkadot Door to vote for your favorite by leaving a comment and post your own entry.  We have some great prizes this month!

Lindsay
DeeDee
Amanda
Debby 
Lisa
Aki
Nicole
Smitha
Joanne
Diana
Erin
Ujjwal
Nita


This month's Challenge winner will receive a $10 gift certificate from Scrap Eco Chic
  • Create a project based upon this month's inspiration.  It can be anything - a card, layout, altered item... Post a photo of your creation to your blog or online gallery (use code PDD) and link it here using the Mr. Linky widget at the end of this post.  Please provide a direct link to your post.
  • You may enter as many times as you like, but you're asked to provide a newly designed project. We ask that you combine this challenge with no more than 3 other challenges.
  • We will choose one winner who will receive the prize provided by the sponsor and be invited to participate as a guest designer for our November Blog Hop and Inspirational Challenge. In addition,we will also invite the creators of a number of our favorite submissions to join the November Guest Design team and play for November's GDT prize and the title of Featured Designer!
  • Submissions will close at midnight on November 17th.  
  • We will announce the November challenge winner and December guest design team members on November 19th.
  

One blog hop commenter will receive a prize pack from  
Abby and Ellie!
  • After visiting all the stops on the blog hop, come back here and leave us a comment telling us which GDT member's project was your favorite (and make sure that you are a follower!) We'll randomly select one lucky commenter to receive the UmWowStudio prize pack.  
  • Earn Extra Entries! - Help us spread the word about the Polkadot Door Inspiration Challenge and Blog Hop.  Post about the challenge on facebook, twitter & online forums, or grab our badge and post it to your blog, to earn extra entries for the prize draw.  Just leave an additional comment letting us know what you did to spread the word (and leave a link if applicable).

  • We will announce the winner of the prize pack on November 15.

The Guest Design Team member with the most votes will receive a $50 gift certificate from Hydrangea Hipp and will be named November's Featured Designer
  • Remember to leave us a comment on this post casting your vote for your favorite GDT project.
  • We will announce this month's Featured Designer on November 15.


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