SUO Challenge 30 – Congratulations to our Top Three!

10 / 31 / 1110 / 31 / 11

What fun our Challenge #30 – Treats for Everyone! – was for all of us! Such creative projects, both from our Design Team as well as all of you who entered your projects – thanks to everyone who participated – we loved them all and truly did have a hard time picking our top three. But here they are!

Beth Rush. The punched characters that top these treat holders are adorable, especially the Santa. The candy lovers among us love her choice of a long skinny candy bar, which is different from many treat holders. These are adorable and perfect for stocking stuffers, coming right out the top. Kids are just going to love these – almost as much as the treats in them!

Lisa Martz Elegant is the word that came to our minds when we saw this very classy stocking. The pleated rosette with the Mocha Morning paper and the Antique Brad really makes this elegant stocking, as do the stitching and all the great detail. Of course, we all love that different kind of goodie that fits everyone

Stacy Royster What a classy glassy bag! We all loved the cut glass look of the treat box – what a FABULOUS idea to emboss the clear window sheet! This could be used for any occasion and I dare say there's going to be some copying of this great idea.

Thanks again our top 3 and all of our entrants. If you'd like to see more of these projects, just scroll down to last week's challenge post!

SUO Challenge 30, Treats are a Treat!

10 / 18 / 1110 / 21 / 11

Aloha, all!

What fun all of us on the SU! Only Challenge team had this week. It all began when we started to post our projects and apologize to each other for something so simple. It ended up by us all realizing that, just because something doesn't take hours to plan and make, does not mean that it's something for which we should apologize. "After all," as one of us said, "I was first drawn to SU! because things just came together so easily!" Another team member said, "I absolutely love little candies packaged up and that is the hook that got me into Stampin' Up! in the first place. Why do we make it so hard on ourselves when SU! makes it so cute and easy?!"

So here we are with this week's challenge. Make something to hold a treat. Stampin' Up! has so many products to use to help us with that, from the tried and true bag toppers to the Sizzix Boxes and Bags to the newest "It's a Wrap" series of stamp sets. Just look through the Stampin' Up! catalog and you'll find tons of ideas for projects to hold treats in every section! We just know that you have a favorite and we'd love for you to share it with us.

And here are the cute and EASY projects made by our design team for this week. I have to tell you we've had a blast with them! (As an aside, did you know that two Kit Kat bars would fit inside an empty blender pen case? Did you know that the new 1" Cellophane Bags hold a twizzler perfectly?)

Mary's Project

Jennifer's Project

Karen's Project

Pam's Project

Michelle's Project

Cindy's Project

Robin's Project

Our Top Three for our Leaves Collection

Thanks to everyone who participated in our challenge this week. I'm sure that everyone who looked at them here and on your blogs got some wonderful ideas for their own crafting this season!

Beth Rush, who wowed us all with the way she made the stamped leaves look like a prized botanical collection and the primary focus of the card, not just something in the background. The card is so very simply in its design, but is just about as classy as a card can be.

Barb Rose, whose "not-a-Build-a-Bear" Pilgrim is just too cute for words. What more is there to say than, "Thanks so much for sharing it with us!"

Jenn Picard, whose leaves and distressing technique make this another very classy card. We particularly liked the way the layout was accented by the one sliver of dark card stock and the coordinating brads.

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.

We will only accept projects that are posted on your blog or other website after our challenge goes live on Monday night or Tuesday morning (depending on where you live) every other week.

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 29: Leaves? Stampin’ Up! Has Them

10 / 4 / 1110 / 3 / 11

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

9 / 20 / 119 / 26 / 11

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.