SUO Challenge 29: Leaves? Stampin’ Up! Has Them

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Fall is usually the time when the many of us who live in temperate climates think of leaves. Those on trees and shrubs go from changing colors to falling to the ground. Oh, those glorious colors! Oh, all the raking afterwards.

But Stampin' Up! features leaves all year 'round! Just this past year – from Nature Walk and Build a Blossom in the Occasions Mini to Fabulous Florets in the Summer Mini, not to mention all those gorgeous leaf stamps in the Idea Book and Catalog – Stampin' Up! has made sure that we know that Fall is not the only time to have fun with leaves. Of course there is that luscious new set, Gently Falling, in the current Holiday Mini. But there's so much more!

We "leave" it to you to find your favorite among the Stampin' Up! leaves – current or retired – and show us a project you've made with them! To get you started with some inspiration, here are projects from our Design Team. There's a place at the end of the post where you can share a link to YOUR project!

Deb's Card

Heidi's Card

Jennifer's Card

Karen's Card

Michelle's Card

Mary Brown's Card

Pam's Card

Cindy's Card

Robin's Card

Our "Fall Colors" Top 3!

Ann Craig with her gathered paper that so beautifully accented the nicely constructed layout. All the elements in the card worked fantastically well together!

Ulrike whose card’s layers made her whole layout seem 3-dimensional – we wanted to reach out and touch those flowers in her garden! We loved her use of Designer Series Papers and how she used the papers to enhance so many of the layers throughout her card.

Julie Gearinger, who offered two cards this week. The one with which we were especially impressed is the one with the medallion which carried the vintage feel of the embossing and coloring so well through her wonderfully-laid out card.

Please Read This!

This challenge was created for fans of Stampin' Up! products to get inspiration from and participate in challenges using Stampin' Up! products. 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! products are welcome. Products from other manufacturers that compete with Stampin' Up! products should NOT be a part of any project entered in any of our challenges.

SUO Challenges is an advertising-free zone and is a challenge that is for fun only. Please do not enter into our challenge any project for which you are selling a tutorial or template.

Please respect these limitations and all of our guidelines set forth over to the left at the top of the blog. We will remove from the challenge entries any projects that fall outside the guidelines.

SUO Challenge 28, Fall Colors

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Fall is definitely in the air in a large part of Stampin' Up! land. And even though Spring must be springing down under, our challenge this time around is to make something with Fall Colors. What would they be? When I think Fall, I think of golds and oranges and rusts, with a tint of green and brown. But, as you can see from our Design Team samples, there are some of us whose thoughts lean towards blues and purples. What do you think of when you're asked to make something with Fall Colors? We'd love to know – and to see your creations using those colors!

Your challenge, then, is to make any kind of project, using Stampin' Up! products only, that show off your idea of Fall Colors. We can hardly wait to see your projects!

Pam's Card

Deb's Card

Mary's Card

Heidi's Card

Jennifer's Card

Karen's Card

Cindy's Card

Robin's Card

Ribbons and Bows – Our Top Three!

Thanks to everyone who played around with Stampin' Up!'s ribbon the last two weeks. We loved ALL your creations! Here are those that we selected as our Top Three for our last challenge!

Jade's absolutely stunning card with her amazing ribbon flower was our top choice. We all loved how the ribbon almost acts as a frame for part of the card, and how perfectly the background, embossed with the new Parlor Prints background stamp, enhanced the whole look of the card.

Madeline Morcelo's gorgeous Christmas ornament. With all the ribbons and the paper from the Holly Berry Bouquet suite this almost looks like a needlepointed creation. It will be a fabulous ornament on someone's tree!

Lisa Martz had two entries this week, but the Design Team was especially taken with the garter look of the striped ribbon that is her first card's main feature. It's the perfect enhancement for this lovely Thanksgiving card.

Congratulations to all three of you for being our picks this week!

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 27, Ribbons and Bows!

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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

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!

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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.