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 39 – Happy Birthday!

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I love birthday cards, especially on MY birthday. No, my birthday isn't this week – but someone's birthday must be sometime soon! And even if you don't have a special friend or relative who has a birthday coming up, you're going to need a birthday card sooner or later! So why not take some fun time to make a birthday card you'll have a blast making – with no deadline except for the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge team deadline of two weeks from now!

Our design team has started out with a wide variety of designs for this challenge theme. And I can hardly wait to see what kind of a card YOU make. Use your favorite of everything – stamps, papers, embellishments – anything in your stash, as long as it's a Stampin' Up! product, and you make the card for this challenge. And when you're finished, you'll have a card ready for that next special birthday in your life!

SUO Challenge 38 – Our Top Three

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What fun to see all the color combinations that you all showed off in response to our last challenge. It started off as a Valentine Color challenge, and segued into use of two colors for any project once we got past Valentine's Day. Thanks so much for everyone for participating, and especially to this week's Top Three:

Bonnie Klass. We all loved the way Bonnie used the white space on this card to set off her colors so nicely, and we really enjoyed the way that she used the black gingham ribbon to accent the white as well as the colors. And those pearls on the hearts are just the perfect accents for this beautiful Love card!

Karen
Sczcepkowski. What a unique color duo for this Anniversary/Valentine's card. We loved the way she stamped on the side panels and then used the embossing to accent the top and the bottom panels. Lovely combo, and I think a couple of us may be using this color combo before long!

Lana Horton. Lana showed us how we can transition from Valentine's Day to St. Patrick's day with this unusual set of colors to set off her sparkly heart! The way she tied the ribbon was a beautiful way to finish off this card!

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.