SUO Challenge #41 – Our Top 3!

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Oh, my! Another week where over half of the challenge entries received Top 3 votes from our Design Team! The change of seasons brings out the best in all of us, it seems! Thank you all for being so creative AND sharing your creations with us at the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge!

So, a drum roll, please, for those who received the most votes for this week's Top 3!

Tonya Denton. I think that one team member's response to this card says it all: "That lily rocks!" I'm sure that anyone that looks at this card will wonder why they can't sniff the scent of the Stargazer Lily, it's so realistic. What a beautiful job you did on this card, Tonya!

Paula Sievers. Last week's challenge was to "Think Spring (or Autumn)" because many of our readers and contributors are from the southern hemisphere. Paula is in Australia, and she created this lovely card to welcome Autumn. I particularly like how Paula made that lovely background with squares of Cajun Craze and More Mustard, and how well the colors in the "Lovely as a Tree" stamp make that central layer just pop off the background!

Patty Gorka. There are so many little details in this card that just make it a joy to look at! The rows of piercings, the way that the cherry blossoms are colored, the whole color combination – these all combine to make a very beautiful card!

Thank you ALL for being a part of the SUO Challenge!

SUO Challenge #40 – Our Top 3!

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Once again, over half of the entries in our challenge received Top 3 votes. Your ingenuity shown in all the fab entries for "It's Fun Being Green" just amazed us all. We are just so pleased to have such talented people entering our challenge and we look forward every time to seeing what you design for us!

But, as always, we like to single out three of the entries for recognition as one of our Top 3. It's so hard, because we'd like to make it a top 6 or 7 or 8…. But not. So here are our Top 3 for this challenge. You may click on any of the pictures to go to the artist's blog for more details about her project.

Paula Sievers. Everything on this card is just fabulous! The hills outlined with the edgelits, the little rosette in the lower left corner, the sun – and all the textured elements – really make it a very special card!

Karen Szczepkowski. This card really took the idea of making the green the focal point to heart (sorry, but one of the design team said it first, so I'm not to blame for the pun). And what a unique way to use the Sprinkled Expressions Sale-a-bration stamp. Just darling!

Patty Gorka. Again, the use of Edgelits for the hills in this card was definitely unique. And that butterfly just really shows off the design of the stamp from Mixed Bunch. Finishing the card off with the diagonal grid is a perfect complement to all the other texture in the card.

SUO Challenge 39 – Our Top Three

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Ladies, this is getting harder and harder to do! All of us on the Design Team were overwhelmed with all the fantastic entries for our Birthday Card challenge; this was a tough one. One of our members even asked if we couldn't do a Top 5 this time around! Every single one of you who entered our challenge last time definitely had a winner of a card!

But we did finally figure out our Top 3 for this challenge (and I had to use our tie-breaker system to get there, too!). So with a virtual drum roll, please welcome the SUO Challenge Top 3 Birthday Cards! (Click on the pictures to go to the individual websites.)

Paula Sievers' gorgeous, beautifully embossed and colored roses from the Fifth Avenue Floral collection are stunning with the special fold of this birthday card – for someone very special, we're sure! Be sure to look at Paula's website to see more about the fun fold of this card!

Catherine Pooler created a fabulous "shabby chic" card with a flair that had us all looking at the details and wondering how we could do that, too! Not to worry – check out Catherine's website for a video on how to make this very card!!

Patty Gorka (aka LaLatty) gave us another card with all kinds of details that, put together, make a simple yet beautiful layout. We especially like that center cupcake with the crimped "liner" and the little button all mounted with Stampin' Dimensionals to make it stand out from the rest.

SUO Challenge 36, New Techniques for a Whole New Year!

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If you are anything at all like me, you often find yourself using the same paper crafting techniques over and over. My "go-to" techniques are heat embossing and 2-Step Stamping. Many of Stampin' Up!'s stamp sets lend themselves beautifully to these two techniques. So when the idea for today's challenge occurred to me, it wasn't hard to find a technique to use that I haven't used in a while.

What about you? Are you a technique junkie, or do you pretty much stick with the same-ol'-same-ol' techniques? Whichever you are, I'll bet you can point to a technique that you've never used – or that you haven't used in a long while. That's our challenge this time around – pick a technique that's something you use infrequently – or not at all – and share it with us here at Stampin' Up! Only Challenges!

Our design team members have come up with some great examples of techniques they rarely or never use, and it's been a lot of fun for me to see what they can do with them. One thing's for sure, though. Even with different techniques, they each have their own style and it comes through beautifully no matter which techniques they use. I'm sure yours will, too!

Please remember, use ONLY Stampin' Up! products and share only something that you've made in response to this challenge. For a complete list of the guidelines for the SUO Challenges, please refer to our write-up down on the left.