SUO Challenge 52 – A Photo Op – Our Top 3!!

9 / 3 / 12

We were wondering what kind of entries we'd get for this unusual challenge for us. It did not surprise us at all that a good number of the entries were scrapbook pages, but we were delighted with the variety of the designs. I know it's hard to think of photos as the fronts of cards or as elements in a 3-D project. But we hope this at least got you thinking about those possibilities.

As always, we thank all of you for your entires – we loved looking at each and every one of them! But we did managed to come up with out Top 3 for this challenge, and hope you all like them as well as we did.

We'd also like to comment that two of this week's Top 3 are new to our challenges – a big thanks to Shana and CJ for their first-time entries!

Shana Gaff. Shana's die cut photo of a sunset seemed just to be a perfect use for the Stampin' Up! framelit. The top of the shape especially mimics clouds, and the bottom made us feel as if we were on the beach looking out at this scene. The sentiment goes beautifully with the photo, and was offset from it so nicely. Lovely, simple card!

Diane Vander Galien. This is a fantastic example of how to use photos in My Digital Studio by Stampin' Up! The background, with its low-opacity photo is the perfect backdrop for the oval photo. Of course, this is a gorgeous couple, too, which really makes this digital web page special!

CJ Thibault. What a great anniversary card! The sunset in the circles at the bottom accent the sunset shining through in the wedding photo so nicely, even though they were taken at different times. Another beautiful couple, too!

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SUO Challenge 51, Love Those Designer Papers – Our Top 3!

8 / 20 / 128 / 20 / 12

There are certainly many of you who do, indeed, love your Stampin Up! Designer Series Papers! We were thrilled to see all the different papers and all the different ways that you used them as part of our Love Those Designer Papers! Challenge. I've already had to pull some out of my Designer Paper box to see if I can CASE some of your projects – what fun!

So thank you all for your fabulous entries, from which we have picked this challenge's Top 3! Just remember that you're all tops in our estimation – lots of oohs and aahs this time as there are every time we send out a challenge.

Now for our Designer Papers Top 3. Be sure to click on the pictures of their projects to go to their blogs to learn more about them!

Diane Vander Galien.

We had no idea that so many of our design team members just LOVE pinwheels! And what a fantastic job Diane did in showing off the Designer Series Papers with the pinwheels as well as with the pennants. She even made that delightful holder to complete this wonderful centerpiece! (Your SUO Challenges Coordinator did NOT miss the candy on the table! Definitely MY fave!)

Julie Cluff. How did she do that??? Well, Julie described in quite some detail how she made that gorgeous Peacock with all those layers! Just a WOW! And how stunning is the bird against that backdrop of the International Bazaar Designer Series Paper – great accent!

Melissa Davies. We all loved the soft colors and delicate elements in this card. All the details just perfectly accent the design of this simply beautiful card. Fabulous look!

Thanks to all of you for participating in the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge!

SUO Challenge #50, Buttons and Brads – Our Top 3!

8 / 6 / 12

What fun to see all the different ways that Stampin' Up! Only artists use Stampin' Up!'s Buttons and Brads! From hardware to bright accents to the stars of the show, you all really showed us some fabulous ideas to think about as we go about using them in our own projects. Thanks so much for all the great entries!

As always, we really studied all of your entries; and, as always, we had a tough time of it selecting those of you to be highlighted as our Top 3 Designers for the challenge! But once again we managed to pick out three of your projects for special mention. Congratulations to our Top 3 for Challenge #50!

Paula Sievers, with her "all boy" project, showing off how rugged Stampin' Up!'s brads AND buttons are when they become part of a fun Stampin' Up! machine! All of those buttons and brads are just perfectly placed. "Too cute!" was the operative word in our discussions this week.

Darcie Bardach, who shared a simply gorgeous boxed bouquet of wonderful paper flowers with the brads forming the centers of some of them. It's so nice to have a beautiful 3-dimensional project as a challenge entry! "Stunning" perfectly describes Darcie's project!

Jade Boteler, who got our attention immediately with her riche brayered colors. Those Daffodil Delight buttons perfectly accented that bit of card stock peeking out from behind one of the textured layers. "Eye-catching" certainly describes this beautiful card!

SUO Challenge #49, A Special Thank You – Our Top 3!

7 / 23 / 127 / 24 / 12

After so many weeks of having to struggle to decide on our Top 3 for the week, we're thinking we may have to start having a Top 10! Well, we probably won't actually do that. But your entries are just so fabulous each and every week that our job the weekend after each challenge is – yes – a challenge!

We say all this each week to let you know that, while we may not announce your name as one of our Top 3 does not in any way mean that your creation was less than wonderful. And I know that every single person who receives one of the Thank You cards that each of you shared with us this week will be thrilled to receive it!

That said, we have chosen our Top 3 for our Special Thank You challenge! UPDATE: If you'd like to read more about each of our winning posts, just click on the photo of the project!

Beth Rush. Beth's Beautiful Butterflies are definitely colored, well, beautifully! We were especially thrilled to learn how she so carefully created all of the colors and layers for her butterfly thank you card with her very well thought out tutorial.

Cathy Parlitsis. There is so much in the way of gorgeous details in this card, including that delightful rosette in the middle of the ruffled lace flower and the mat for the framelit. The Fancy Fan embossing folder is also the perfect accent for the sheet of paper from the International Bazaar set of Designer Series Paper.

Bensarmom. We had trouble counting all of the many techniques that Sue used in this stunning card showing off the latest Stampin' Up! stamp set. And all of those techniques complement each other so well that it's hard to imagine this card without all of them.