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Saturday, 18 January 2020

Week 2 Anything Goes Card Making & Craft Challenge

Welcome back to our latest challenge...

ANYTHING GOES
This challenge blog is sponsored by Polkadoodles.

RANDOM 1ST PRIZE: $10 download voucher to the Polkadoodles store. 
TOP 3 DT FAVOURITES: Each will win a FREE digi stamp voucher for the store. 
Closing date for entries: 29th January 
You do not need to use Polkadoodles products to enter our challenges, use any products you wish... 


The winners of last time's challenge are at the end of this post.
Thanks so much to all of you who entered!

We have lots of great images in the store, make sure you check them all out - and check out our Digi Choosday DISCOUNTS - don't miss the Tuesday code you can make sure you signup to the NEWSLETTER here so it's delivered straight to your email every single Tuesday....

So let's see what the Design Team have made this week...

Norma - using Too cute mouse love

Judy - using Too Cute Kitty Love


Ruth - Using Too Cute Llama Love



Michela - Using Too Cute Cheesy Love




Jennifer - Using Too Cute Bee Heart Basket



Lisa - Using Hamster Love



Željka - using Too Cute Bunny love



Beautiful work as ever, ladies!


Over to our winners from the last challenge...
You won a $10 download voucher to the Polkadoodles store.
Well done!!
Please email us HERE, quoting: code PG2001 Gem of a challenge Winner.
Claims must be received by 25/1/20. 

Please allow 21 days for a reply - we will get back to you asap, please don't keep emailing until after 21 days have passed.

100 Susan Sudbury
Each of you win a FREE digi stamp voucher for the store.
Yay! Well done!
Please email us HERE, quoting: code PG200123 Gem of a challenge Winner.
Claims must be received by 25/1/20. 

Please allow 21 days for a reply - we will get back to you asap, please don't keep emailing until after 21 days have passed.
Please take our WINNERS & TOP 3 badge from the Side bar..


Don't Forget to play along with our other teams & challenges too - You could win some extra Polkadoodles stash!
Digi Choosday Blog
Polkadoodles Challenge
WeLove2Create


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Saturday, 4 January 2020

Wk 1 Anything Goes Card Making & Craft Challenge

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
Welcome back to our latest challenge...

ANYTHING GOES
This challenge blog is sponsored by Polkadoodles.

RANDOM 1ST PRIZE: $10 download voucher to the Polkadoodles store. 
TOP 3 DT FAVOURITES: Each will win a FREE digi stamp voucher for the store. 
Closing date for entries: 15th January 
You do not need to use Polkadoodles products to enter our challenges, use any products you wish... 


The winners of last time's challenge are at the end of this post. 
Thanks so much to all of you who entered!


We have lots of great images in the store, make sure you check them all out - and make sure you check out our Digi Choosday DISCOUNTS - don't miss the Tuesday code you can make sure you signup to the NEWSLETTER here so it's delivered straight to your email every single Tuesday....

NEW RELEASE!    NEW RELEASE!  
We couldn't start the New Year without some new images for you all so make sure you check them out and as a special New Year offer you can save 30% on this collection for a limited time!
use code 
TOOCUTE30
We have 12 adorable cute images for you to choose from! 





So let's see what the Design Team have made this week...

Judy - using Too Cute Cheesy Love


Michela - Using Too Cute Bee Mine


Norma - Using too cute Bunny babe


Jennifer - Using Too Cute Llama Love




Beautiful work as ever, ladies!

Over to our winners from the last challenge of 2019...


42 Pam
You won a $10 download voucher to the Polkadoodles store.
Well done!!
Please email us HERE, quoting: code PG1001 Gem of a challenge Winner.
Claims must be received by 9/1/20. 

Please allow 21 days for a reply - we will get back to you asap, please don't keep emailing until after 21 days have passed.

64 Niki
9 Liz
44 Verada
Each of you win a FREE digi stamp voucher for the store.

Yay! Well done!
Please email us HERE, quoting: code PG100123 Gem of a challenge Winner.
Claims must be received by 9/1/20. 

Please allow 21 days for a reply - we will get back to you asap, please don't keep emailing until after 21 days have passed.
Please take our WINNERS & TOP 3 badge from the Side bar..



Don't Forget to play along with our other teams & challenges too - You could win some extra Polkadoodles stash!
Digi Choosday Blog
Polkadoodles Challenge
WeLove2Create

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Thursday, 2 January 2020

INTERNATIONAL DESIGN TEAM CALL



Want to join our DT?...
We have an amazing team of creative minds here at Polkadoodles and the focus is on TEAM and not ME!

We are always on the lookout for Team talent and prefer to find people organically rather than specific DT calls, so if you would love to join us please see below for our requirements....

ALL OF OUR TEAM MEMBERS MUST HAVE AN ACTIVE BLOG (active means that you post to it at least once a week)
WHICH SHOWCASES THEIR WORK AND BE ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES 
(if you don't please read ** at the bottom of the post why we have this criteria**)

Style of Crafter we look for:
We are famous for our downloads, digital stamps and clear/rubber stamps, dies and papers, but our products are in amazing collections which are a full printable paper kit. You will be expected to print out all your papers and have a handle (if not an expert) on how to download and print what you use.
So you must have a decent printer and be prepared to do this.
We also provide SVG cutting files so if you have a Silhouette Cameo or Scan n Cut or other electronic cutting machine you will love our images.

We are not all about colouring although obviously this is a big part of what we do - we also want traditional paper crafters who love florals, making boxes, decor, concept cards and mixed media too so dont think you cant apply if you dont colour - we have a lot of diversity in our team and we pick people who can bring something new to the mix that we don't already have.

Composition and Quality of work - as we are a high profile company we expect our team to showcase our products in the best way possible - this means we expect a decent skill level of crafter, composition of your cards and how you put designs together is important to us and you should be able to show this on your blog posts too.

1. Commitment....We have a large team which is split into smaller sub teams which have slightly different roles.
We are not a small business, we have staff, an office and a warehouse and crafters worldwide buy and use our products every day.  We have to be professional and our team is also expected to be professional too...
If you apply you need to expect to only turn in your very best work, with your very best photos and spelling too...these are basic criteria we expect everyone to have. We know you're not all David Bailey or Ansell Addams but we expect you to have basic skills in presentation that we can work on and help you get better. 

You need to be great at working to deadlines and fully committing to the role you are given - we don't mess about, we take craft very seriously and we take the education of our customers seriously - if we put our trust in you to interact and help us reach out to our customers expect you to do your best at all times.

We expect a good level of social level engagement from our team - so if you are someone who sits on the sidelines and turns up once a month to show your work, you're probably not for us. We engage together and interact a lot with our customers to enhance and encourage their crafting experience and our own and this makes us feel like one huge family which is very rewarding for everyone and feeds our creativity.
We are very team orientated and this will probably be like no other team you've been part of before....we want people who genuinely love our products and want to be part of something bigger and better than their own solo ambitions.
By being part of a successful team you will receive many rewards - including recognition across the crafting community, showcasing your work through our popular channels and large customer base and even the possibility of having your best work shown on TV and working on special projects, but this is earned and is part of the whole process.

You will be supported all the way in your crafty endeavours but in return we expect dedication and commitment long term.

You will be rewarded with lots of amazing products you will love, with a steady supply of free stash each month. 
We cannot pay you monetarily for your work but product value will outweigh any monetary value you would expect and you will receive a generous discount in the store.

Digi Choosday (Tuesday) - Weekly Posts on Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest & Instagram plus 1 Weekly Blog Post.
The team's mission is to specifically promote our Digital Downloads worldwide.

Polkadoodles Friday - Weekly Posts on Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest & Instagram plus 2 weekly Blog Posts.
The team's mission is to promote the full range of Polkadoodles range of products worldwide.

Our Facebook groups help encourage crafters of all levels to show and share their colouring work with like-minded people who love to colour and craft. In craft, colouring can be extremely competitive and I feel that people can often feel intimidated and overwhelmed by some of the amazing work they see. It can be difficult if you don't have much confidence to feel comfortable sharing what you make especially if you personally feel it's not as good as other work you might see. To try and combat this we encourage ALL colouring abilities whether you're advanced or a beginner to share.

Sharing your work is a HUGE and very important part of crafting - you will always receive encouragement and we will never allow any trolling or negative comments within the group. Every crafter had to start somewhere and we are all just on a different stage of the craft journey together....I like to think of it as a crafting road around the world....we all set off at the start line but we all start at different times so we all finish at different times and improve along the way. Some people are just a bit ahead of others on the road, that's all.
Our teams post several times per week across Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn and all other social media platforms and their job is to encourage and support members of the Polkadoodles groups with their work too.

2. Commenting and Voting - We love to thank people who enter our challenges so every teamie is required to do this on a rota system so it's not too much work.  If you are not prepared to thank people for entering our challenges please do not apply as this is a pre-requisite for our team and is non-negotiable.

3. Be nice! We don't like bad eggs in our team so please be nice and polite to both the team and our customers, we try to keep the riff raff at bay!

If you'd love to be part of this amazing, friendly and supportive team & want to apply 
Email us HERE!!
telling us why we should choose you and recent links to your blog and Facebook pages so we can see your work - we look forward to hearing from you!

---------------------------------------------------------------
*** ABOUT BLOGS AND SOCIAL MEDIA AND THEIR IMPORTANCE, AND WHY WE INSIST YOU STILL HAVE A BLOG IN THE DAYS OF THE FACEBOOK TAKEOVER ***
Here at Polkadoodles I insist that all my team have a blog where they can showcase their work. Many people don't understand this and think having a blog is unnecessary when we are all now so involved in other social media such as Facebook.
The reason I insist on it is this:

As part of the Polkadoodles Design Team your job is to showcase our products to as many people as possible across the world by showing them what they can make with our products. 

If you have a Facebook account you probably on average have maybe 200-300 friends. Some of these will be your family and friends that have nothing to do with craft.

Twitter - you maybe have 100 followers on Twitter
Pinterest - perhaps 100 followers
Instagram - the same.

Blog - perhaps you only have 50 followers on your blog.

Facebook works on engagement - meaning that if someone doesnt actually comment or interact with your posts ie sharing etc, after about 2 weeks your post stops appearing on their timeline. 
People MUST engage with you on Facebook to see what you post! 
This means if your Facebook friends don't like, share or comment on your crafting posts they will stop seeing them within 2 weeks! SHOCK!

So out of your 200 friends probably only 100 actually see what you post and maybe half of those are not crafters.
So you are actually promoting to about 50 people which is barely anything - you could share your work with more people in the supermarket every week....

MORE IMPORTANTLY - the only people who can actually see YOUR Facebook posts are your FRIENDS.

The same principles apply to Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram although your photos are able to be seen publicly.

With a blog you might only have 50 or even less blog followers but your blog is open to the entire world. Your Blog posts are fed through Google and can appear in searches. Basically someone in Timbuctoo can happen across your blog at any time and read it and comment and not ever have to sign up, sign in or make any form of contact with you.

I like to think of it this way, it's easy....

You're walking down Social Media street, a little cash in your pocket, window shopping for stash.
You walk into the Facebook shopping centre/mall....and you can see all your friends' shops, but you see a ton of other shops which all have their doors closed and you need to be a member or know the doorman to get in. That's so annoying! They are called Crafty Carol's and Creative Claire, but you can't see what's inside because the shutters are on the windows. So you have a quick look in your friends' stores then leave the mall and carry on down Social Media street and find Pinterest - oooo look! Pretty pictures!! You get lost in there for days!...Twitter - oooo lots of interesting shops and they just appear in front of me with their shops and offers and messages but I can't very easily see what was there beyond a few hours ago....Instagram - oooo lots of pretty stuff too and no salespeople, I can just mooch around but I have to really find the stuff I like!....Ohhh Blogland....Wow! Look at this shop! Here there's pretty pictures but this shop tells me how they made this and where I can buy all the stuff from, and they're in Timbuctoo, wow! Look they posted links for me to find stuff I  might like and oh! there's a video here let me save that link for later and Oh!! and I can see what they made 10 years ago too, it's all in a library look! cool!

Facebook is a closed door that you have to ask permission to access, and if you don't keep going in the shop and talking to the person on the till you lose your access within a few weeks and you're locked out again, missing out on all those goodies and you dont even realise it.

We need you to be working with open Social Media platforms and a blog enables you to build a permanent library of work where people can go back years and years and find things.  Wherever they are in the world, and whether they know you or not.

Quite simply it's about promoting to the WORLD, not to your circle of friends.
Although they're obviously important too ; )
So get a blog. Simples.
x