SUO Challenges #50 – Buttons and Brads

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I know I'm giving away my age somewhat when I tell you that one of my fondest memories of my childhood is sitting and singing Dinah Shore's song, Buttons and Bows, with my mother. Yes that was the the 1940s. But even today I hum that song to myself sometimes when I'm making a greeting card or scrapbook page with Buttons and Bows!

Today's challenge on Stampin' Up! Only Challenges also reminded me of that song – but we've got a bit of a different twist on it – Buttons and Brads. And Stampin' Up! has lots of those! So your challenge is to make a card – with Stampin' Up! products Only, of course – that has either buttons or brads – or maybe even both!

We have 11 days for our challenge and, as always, please be sure that your projects are Stampin' Up! Only! When you've finished with your project, just click on the link tool at the end of the post and follow the instructions! And now here are our Design Team Member Buttons and Brads projects! To learn about each of them, just click on the name of the designer, which is a link to her personal blog.

And a special "Welcome Back" to all of our Design Team Members who just returned from the annual Stampin' Up! convention. You'll find lots on their blogs about their wonderful experiences there.

Cindy Elam's Card

Cindy Elam

Pam and Cindy

Pam Staples (top) and Cindy Coutts (bottom)

Jennifer Timko

Heidi Baks

Mary Brown

Karen's Card

Karen Barber

Deb's Card

Deb Hoekstra

Robin's Card

Robin Messenheimer

To participate in our challenge, make a card or other 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! We're looking for cards posted to the internet after July 24, 2012, and (of course!) 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 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!

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 #49 – A Special Thank You!

7 / 10 / 127 / 10 / 12

My favorite type of greeting card to make is a "Thank You" card. There are always people to thank for something, whether it be a little random act of kindness, a gift for a special occasion, or a very special treat. And it's so easy to pull out some paper, ink and embellishments and whip up a quick note card!

Sometimes, though, a kindness seems to call for just a bit more time and effort on my "Thank You," whether it be a card or a gift. And I want this to be a Special Thank You! We in the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge crew are pretty sure that this happens to you, too. So this week we challenge you create that Special Thank You card or gift and share it with all of us and our blog readers.

A big benefit of your participating in this challenge? The next time YOU need a Special Thank You, it will be there ready for you to use!

As always, you'll have 12 days for our challenge and, as always, please be sure that your projects are Stampin' Up! Only! When you've finished with your project, just click on the link tool at the end of the post and follow the instructions! And now here are our Design Team Member Special Thank You projects!

Michelle's Card

Deb's Card

Karen's Card

Heidi's Card

Mary's Card

Robin's Card

Jennifer's Card

Pam's Card

To participate in our challenge, make a card or other 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! We're looking for cards posted to the internet after July 9, 2012, and (of course!) 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 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!

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!