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.

SUO Challenge #48 – Our Top 3!

7 / 9 / 12

Oh, my, you all seem to love our Stampin' Up! Birds! From chicks to chickadees and robins to roosters, you used at least 15 different Stampin' Up! Bird stamps and even a few punches! What fun it was for us at the SUO Challenges Design Team to review all of them. And, as always, it was a challenge for us to come up with a Top 3!

But we did manage to select three of the entries for our ""For the Birds" challenge as our favorites, though we really did love them all!

Diane Vander Galien. This is a perfect stamp for the spotlighting technique! And the card itself is beautiful overall, especially with the way that Diane used the Delicate Designs Embossing Folder and the Large Scallop Edgelit on the mat as well as on the stamped/embossed layer!

Vicki Parson. What an elegant card, with all those perfectly coordinated neutral colors! The understated tone and simplicity of this card is accented beautifully with that carefully designed bow.

Crystal Langton. What a gorgeous vintage-style cover for this journal! The collage is just done perfectly. I, for one, find something new and different in this project every time I look at it!

SUO Challenge #47 – Our Top 3!

6 / 25 / 12

Fun and frilly was definitely the name of the game with all of the fab projects that our entrants showed off for our Fancy Frills challenge! I read the word, "CASE," on several of our SUO Challenge Design Team voting ballots this weekend, and I've got my eye on a couple of your projects for that, too!

So, with a fancy drum roll, we are pleased to announce our Top 3 for SUO Challenge #47:

Melissa Davies. This Black and White design shows off Melissa's frills beautifully! And can't you just imagine the whole project in another single color of your own choosing? This is such a classically elegant card, with so many perfect little details – especially the new Doily Sizzlit with the black behind it showing off the details of the die.

Vicki Burdick. There are so many lovely details on this card, also! It was hard for our team to pick out any one feature – the way all the details go together in the card's layout just made us smile! If we had to pick a favorite detail, it's the way that the flowers are colored.

Diane Vander Galien. Oh so feminine! The muted colors and embossing would have been gorgeous all by themselves; but adding the ruched seam binding ribbon over the Edgelits border, and then the pleated paper underneath just sent this card over the top!

SUO Challenge #46 – Our Top 3!

6 / 11 / 126 / 11 / 12

First of all, I and all the members of the SUO Challenges Design Team would like to express a delighted, "Thank You!" to our first ever Guest Designers! It has been wonderful having them as members of our team, and they participated throughout the entire course of the last challenge, even providing their input to the voting for this week's Top 3! We can hardly wait to do this again, probably in late Fall 2012. All of our entrants are eligible to be invited to be Guest Designers, with those who have contributed the most to the challenges given top priority.

Speaking of "top," here are our Bright Summer Days Challenge Top 3:

April Jackson. This card certainly shows off the "Bright Summer Days" theme with the sunshine. And what a delightful way of displaying the tree from the "Season of Friendship" stamp set. Those bright flowers seem to love the sun shining down on them and that little bird reminded one of our Design Team members of the mockingbird singing outside her window – such a happy little fellow!

Patty Corriere. What a beautifully designed and executed card! All of the card's elements go together so well – the colors, the layout and the little piece of ribbon. And we definitely wanted to taste those cherries – they certainly look good enough to eat!

Diane Vander Galien. Diane did a fab job of showing off one of Stampin' Up!'s newest Hostess Sets and some of its newest colors and papers with this lovely window card. What makes this card especially easy on the eyes is the beautiful balance of all the elements that make it up.