SUO Challenge #77, Happy Birthday – Our Top 3!

8 / 26 / 13

Oh, my! There are certainly going to be lots of wonderful birthday cards being sent out this summer and fall, if our entries for the latest SUO Challenge are any indication! We all loved every entry, and hope that those who are on the receiving end of the cards are as appreciative of all your creative work as we are.

Our work to select our Top 3 this time around was difficult as always. But we did finally come up with our Top 3 selections. We hope that you will take the opportunity to visit the blogs of the Top 3 entrants – which you can do by clicking on the photos of their projects. We also invite our Top 3 entrants to grab the code for our Top 3 banner over to the left of this post and add it to your blog sidebar! We know you'd like to show this off!

Now our Top 3:

Laura Mackie. What a wonderful use of the stars. The simplicity and color combinations made us smile. This card definitely denotes a celebration!

Lynda Day. This card stands out because of the fab use of a wedding cake image as a birthday cake. At least two of the design team put this set on our wish list because of this card! The way the background paper colors are accented by the cake colors is so much fun!

De Williamson. This card with a more masculine design to it sends out a celebratory feel with the overall layout and the fun red accent. "Make a Wish" is a perfect greeting for this card.

SUO Challenge #77 – Happy Birthday!

8 / 13 / 138 / 26 / 13

This is the time of the year – between showing off all the new Stampin' Up! Catalog and Convention-released products and the madness of trying to get all those winter holiday projects done – that I stock up on my Birthday Cards. I used the new Catalog products to stock up on my Thinking of You, Thank You and Friend cards, but there was nary a Birthday Card in the bunch. Now, at least I have one done!

And we're hoping that you, too, will get at least one Birthday Card done during this SUO Challenge, because Birthday Cards are the challenge! With over 40 stamp sets in the current Stampin' Up! Catalog collection that specifically mention Birthdays, not to mention those that have birthday-related images OR stamps that have been retired, I'm sure the every person who reads this challenge blog has at least one set that would make a dynamite Birthday Card! So drag out those stamps and Stampin' Up! Inks, Papers, and Embellishments and show your stuff!

To enter the SUO Challenge, make a card (or any project with a Birthday theme!), take a picture of it, post it somewhere on the Internet (such as your own blog or an open site such as Split Coast Stampers), and then add a link to your photo using the Link tool at the end of this post. As always, if you have any questions, please let Robin Messenheimer, our Challenge Coordinator, know.

Here (finally!) are our design team entries for this challenge, to get you started on your own ideas!

Robin Messenheimer

To participate in our challenge, make a card or other paper-crafted project and post a photo of it to your blog or a gallery on the internet. Then come back here and use our link tool at the bottom of this post to share the photo with us.

PLEASE remember this: We're looking for projects posted to the internet AFTER August 12, 2013. This is a NEW challenge! AND please mention/link to the SUO Challenge Blog in your post!

And, of course, your projects should be made with Stampin' Up! products only. The products may be those that are in current catalogs, or they may be retired products. But (as our blog title says) SUO – Stampin' Up! Only! This means that products from other papercrafting, rubber stamp, die-making or other companies may not be included in your project or in any other project included in your blog post if Stampin' Up! sells a like product. For example, Stampin' Up! does not sell sewing thread. So use of sewing thread from another company is just fine. Stampin' Up! does sell the Sizzix Big Shot, so use of die-cuts, texture plates or other such products from another company is not fine. If you have a question, please send an e-mail to our Coordinator, Robin Messenheimer, and she'll be glad to answer it!

Challenge Dates: August 13, 2013 (3 am USA Eastern Time) –

August 24, 2013 (6 am USA Eastern Time)

SUO Challenge #76, Back to School – Our Top 3!

8 / 12 / 138 / 12 / 13

After a slow start, we had quite a few people jump into this challenge with some great projects. Who says going back to school can't be fun! Of course, we did expand the theme a bit to include any "Kards for Kids." But that doesn't at all detract from the fine projects you all entered!

Thanks and High Marks to everyone who participated, and especially to our Top 3:

Susie Nelson. Susie got to the Top of the Class with her READ theme! There's so much fun detail in this card, including the Book Mark, the creatively placed letters, and the different reading subjects. All the colors were beautifully complementary which pulled this whole card together perfectly.

Nanci Simmons. Nancy gets an A+ for her creative use of the Owl Builder Punch! How cute are those Minions!

De Williamson. De received High Honors from our Design Team for her creative use of the old and the new. She remembered this retired Stampin' Up! paper set and combined it beautifully with the new and very current Hexagon Punch and the greeting from Regarding Dahlias.

SUO Challenge #76 – Back to School! Or “Kards for Kids”!

7 / 30 / 138 / 5 / 13

Our "Back to School" theme had our community about as puzzled as those kids who are handed a pop quiz on the first day of school! Poor kids – so let's make them all a card to cheer them up! Our modified challenge for SUO Challenge #76 now includes, Kards for Kids. Your challenge is to make a card for a school-age child and post it here for all of us to enjoy!

Before I introduce the projects on which our Design Team members have worked so hard, I'd like to ask something of all of you who enter our challenge. When you write your blog post or other online description of the project which you are going to enter, please make sure that you acknowledge that you are entering your project in the SUO Challenge and include a link back to this blog. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please let Robin Messenheimer, the SUO Challenges Coordinator, know.

Now for our Design Team projects!