Welcome our New Design Team Members! And a fond farewell, too.

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We are SOOOO happy to have two great new design team members. We just know you're going to love their projects. We're also sad to see one of our members move on to other projects, but we'll definitely miss her.

Please welcome to the SU-Only Challenge Design Team:

Mary Brown

Hi…my name is Mary Brown and I have been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator since September of 1999 and a stamper since 1995 (wow…that's a LONG time!). I started out as a quilter (and still do that now and then) and then got into stamping. I love being able to finish projects in less than a year! I'm probably best known as stampercamper and my style tends to be more of a clean and simple nature. Honestly…I DO try to add more stuff and then just end up taking it back off. And as for watercoloring…once in a blue moon on that one; I like to stamp and go!

On a personal note, I've been married to my sweetie Randy since 1984 and was fortunate to earn the SU incentive trip to Hawaii the same year as our 25th wedding anniversary…COOL!!! We have 2 'fur children'…a spaniel mix (aka the BEST doggie IN THE WORLD) and her little brother a short hair havenese (known as a shavenese). Both are rescue doggies and little sweethearts. When I'm not stamping, I'm teaching full time at a local (and extremely large) community college. I am in the Allied Health Division and specialize in the new/beginning health care student. I LOVE my job and each quarter usually teach around 9 classes (approx 250 students).

I'm sooooo excited to be part of the SUO Challenge team as I am SUO ALL the time!

Cindy Elam

Hello! My name is Cindy Elam, and I live near San Diego with my husband Tom (aka the world’s most tolerant husband). We are blessed to have our two adult children living nearby. I am relatively new to stamping, having just started in February of 2008 after my BFF Barb suggested I might like paper crafting. She pointed me to a few blogs and Splitcoast Stampers, and that was all it took to get me hooked! I discovered Stampin’ Up! shortly after, and became a demonstrator in 2009, for the discount of course! Well, being a “hobby” demo has evolved into a business that now supports my stamping addiction!

I used to sew, do a little quilting, and various other crafts. I even had my own business designing and selling bra patterns (Élan Patterns) and the supplies to sew them. Threads magazine published an article I wrote on the subject, too.

Now I am devoted entirely to cards, scrapbooks, and 3D paper crafts. Card making is so rewarding – just one card can spread triple love that went into it. There’s the pleasure you get when you create it, and the pleasure it gives the recipient when they receive it, and then the pleasure you get again when you see their reaction to it. That little piece of paper has amazing powers!

We are so very happy to have these talented ladies join our group!

A Fond Farewell to Melina Pylant

Unfortunately, one of our original members, Melina Pylant, has decided to move on to other endeavors, and we are so very sad to see her go. I've just finished going through many of her contributions to the SUO Challenge Blog – what a treasure she has been for us and for you! We wish her well and invite her to join in the challenge when she can find the time!

SUO Challenge 25, Favorite New Stamp Sets!

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Now that many of us have had a chance to order some great new stamp sets from the 2011-2012 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog, we thought it was time to show them off! I know that I had a hard time trying to figure out which one of my sets was a "favorite." I had to remember that those stamp sets really didn't care which one I chose, so it wasn't going to hurt their little rubber feelings if I didn't choose them.

We'd like to know what YOUR favorite new stamp sets are, too! If you've not purchased anything lately, don't let that deter you! Just pick out your most recent favorite Stampin' Up! Stamp Set. We actually love seeing any Stampin' Up! stamps! But our Design Team really wanted to show off our new stuff!

Be sure to stop by next week when we have some exciting new Design Team Members to announce!

Deb's Card

Heidi's Card

Jennifer's Card

Karen's Card

Michelle's Card

Robin's Card

Here's a short reminder of the "rules": Stampin' Up! products only, a new creation in response to our challenge, and no links to posts that are selling anything. You can find all the finer details on the sidebar at the top left

Congratulations our challenge "Top Three" who entered some simply gorgeous Get Well Cards!

While I hope my friends never get sick, I now know that I will have tons of great ideas for Get Well cards if they do. Thanks for all your wonderful entries this time around! And our Top Three Winners are:

1. Leena Girsa. The layout and the coloring was so bright and cheerful it's hard to imagine this card wouldn't help someone get well quickly! We were really impressed with the way you paper pieced the umbrella!

2. Annie from Canada. We really liked the way you used this Valentine Layout for a get well card. The color combination is so very artistic, as are the layout's details like the layered ribbon, the button and the embossing.

3. Rosemary Morgan. The Sunflower Background set stamped on the First Edition Specialty Paper looks so peaceful, and we really liked the way that the So Saffron ribbon was accented in new striped embossing folder.

SUO Challenge 24, Get Well Cards

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We love to have a selection of pre-made Get Well cards on hand and ready to send. You just never know when a co-worker or family member will be ill or hospitalized. That is why this week it is "Stock up your Get Well card Stash" week! Let's make some Get Well cards so that we are prepared when one is needed! Here are the cards our design team created! We encourage you to play along! Let us see what you come up with! Just upload your creation to your blog and link it below!

Winners of the "For the Kids!" Challenge!

Wow! We had so many wonderful creations submitted this week! The creativity was rampant! And the winners are…

Cristy Butzen – Such an adorable monster card! Great combination of stamp sets and fantastic layout!

Cindy Elam – Adorable Pop-Up Stage card with dinosaurs! What kid wouldn't LOVE to get this!!! Amazing.

Jill Yamada-Murota – Kids adore piggies! And so do we! Jill's stacked pig card was a huge hit with our team!

Thanks for participating, ladies! Please pick up your "I was in the Top 3" badge from the left side column! Congratulations!!

SUO Challenge 23, For the Kids!

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As you read this, several of us are on our way to Salt Lake City, Utah, for the annual Stampin' Up! Convention, where we will act just like kids in a candy shop! You'll be able to hear the squeals on the east coast when we see or hear about some new goody that Stampin' Up! has for us!

So why not make the rest of the next two weeks "For the Kids"?! If we're acting like them, we might as well make something that reminds us of our own childhood as we celebrate the childhood of the many children around us.

Thanks for joining us to see what our talented design team has to offer this week. We invite you to join in the fun, make your own card or other project, "For the Kids," and enter it in our biweekly challenge competition!

Deb's Card

Heidi's Card

Jennifer's Card

Karen's Card

Michelle's Card

Robin's Card

Pam's Card

Pam Staples

Fun stuff! Love all those balloons! We hope you'll enter this week's challenge with your Stampin' Up! Only paper craft creations! Here's a short reminder of the "rules": Stampin' Up! products only, a new creation in response to our challenge, and no links to posts that are selling anything. You can find all the finer details on the sidebar at the top left.

Our "Summer Anniversary" Winners!

Our design team had a lot of fun looking at all the lovely creations in response to our last challenge to create something to celebrate a Summer Anniversary. Thanks to all our entrants, especially our top three for the week!

Patti Corriere WOWed us with her expertly colored and shaded design, with a beautiful layout accented with so much detail.

Kelly Birrell used texture and layers to create an elegant card, perfectly accented with pearl embellishments.

Jennifer Weide's shading of the central flower image really made it stand out as the focal point of her beautifully laid out card.