SUO Challenge 27, Ribbons and Bows!

9 / 5 / 119 / 5 / 11

There are so many new ribbons in Stampin' Up!'s catalogs that we decided we just had to have a challenge to feature them as more than just an embellishment on a card or scrapbook page. From the new Ruffles and Scalloped Polka Dots in the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog to the Velvet and Quilted Satin ribbons in the 2011 Holiday Mini Catalog, our Design Team has put together a luscious bouquet of greeting cards for you to enjoy.

And the challenge is for you, too, to make a card, gift or scrapbook page that features Stampin' Up! ribbons as a major focus. Please use any Stampin' Up! ribbon or ribbons you choose. Whatever you choose, we are excited to see your projects!

DebsCard

HeidisCard

JennifersCard

KarensCard

MichellesCard

MarysCard

PamsCard

CindysCard

RobinsCard

Invitation Top Three!

A big thanks to all of you who made time during this busy season to join in our challenge to create a Invitation with Stampin' Up! products. ALL of them this week were wonderful (as always), so we were hard put to come up with our top three for the challenge. But, (also as always) we did figure it out and send extra special congratulations to this week's Top Three:

Karen Szczepkowski wowed us all with the way the fold of her card put a special emphasis on the embossed flowers. The color on her card is just stunning – the whole card is so eye-catching it's hard to look away from it.

Lisa Martz made us all drool with her yummy candies – and what a great idea for recycling that Stampin' Up! packaging! There are so many excellent details in this card that it's impossible to list them all in this small space.

Donna/Butternut Sage created such an elegant invitation that we're all ready to go to whatever it is that she's hosting! We were especially impressed with the scoring details – so easy to do with Stampin' Up! new Simply Scored tool.

Congratulations to all three of you!

A Gentle Reminder

This challenge was created for fans of Stampin' Up! products and demonstrators to participate in and draw inspiration from. Hence the name of the blog, Stampin' Up! Only Challenges, we ask that you respect this by using only Stampin' Up! products. Retired Stampin' Up! product is welcome, as well as any outside products that you would normally not see offered for sale in any Stampin' Up! catalogs or publications, such as sewing on your card, stick pins, and so forth.

SUO Challenges is an advertising-free zone and is a challenge that is for fun only. Please respect our guidelines set forth over to the left at the top of the blog.

SUO Challenge 25, Favorite New Stamp Sets!

8 / 9 / 118 / 8 / 11

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 23, For the Kids!

7 / 12 / 117 / 11 / 11

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.

SUO Challenge 22, Happy Summer Anniversary

6 / 27 / 116 / 28 / 11

Last time we shared all kinds of ideas to help celebrate our June Brides and Grooms. And we sincerely hope that every single couple that's married in June (or any other month, of course) has many happy anniversaries.

When do you think they will have these anniversaries? Well, in the same month as the wedding. So here we are with a challenge to help all those Summer Brides and Grooms of years past celebrate their anniversaries.

Our design team has come up with an extra wide variety of cards for this occasion, and we're sure that you have some fabulous ideas of your own. We hope that you will join in the challenge and share an Anniversary project with all of us and our blog readers!

Heidi

A Note From Our Challenge Team

We are really enjoying this challenge blog, and are very excited that there are so many of you who are eager to participate in a Stampin' Up! Only Challenge. However, we've noticed with a few entries a trend that doesn't align well with our purpose for hosting this blog. What we're trying to do is to challenge both our design team and all of you to have fun creating something new with Stampin' Up! products only. But several entries lately have been from designs that were posted to blogs in the past – sometimes in the distant past! We're trying to encourage you to get your Stampin' Up! products out NOW and have fun designing something new. Going back to find something in the past to fit today's challenge isn't quite making that happen. So we'd appreciate it very much if you would post fun new projects for our design team – and everyone else! – to enjoy.

We have a great time every two weeks going to all of your blogs and galleries to enjoy what you've done and read more about your projects. We definitely have a hard time deciding who the "Top Three" for the week are going to be – you're all so good! But we respectfully decline to consider for the "Top Three" honors any project that is not Stampin' Up! Only and any project that has been posted to a blog prior to the date that our challenge is issued.

And Now for our Top Three Bride and Groom Designs!

1. Tammy Q. Howell enthralled us with the Spring/Summer feel of this design, and especially the very creative flower. The way Tammy carried the colors throughout this card, especially on the embossed border and the tips of the flowers is just exquisite. Just wow!

2. Alycia Tedford captured our attention with her oh-so-clever rendition of the Tie the Knot theme. The colors are so (here's that word again) cleverly arranged that we found it hard to keep our eyes off the card, looking at all the different combinations of the sizes of circles. Fun!

3. Sara Goke was our next pick for a simply elegant wedding invitation featuring a lovely fold to open to the invitation text. We especially liked the way that she carried the colors and theme from the cover to the inside, and then to the reply card that went with it. Beautiful work!

Thanks to all of you – and don't forget to grab the code for your blog badge – up to the left!