SUO Challenge 32, Our Top Three

11 / 29 / 11

The holiday season's just started and already I'm beginning to feel a bit frazzled! But I have so many people and projects for which to be thankful – including all of you who entered our last challenge, "Thankful," with your delightful projects which all of us on the design team thoroughly enjoyed!

But we try our best to pick a Top Three, reflecting a consensus of our Design Team members about whose projects did a special job of perking us up – although, as always, we love them all.

Kris Lynch. OK, we all want to know how people like Kris come up with these ideas! Just, wow! My favorite comment from our design team was, "I think what I like about the punch art turkey lady is that she's obviously FAT and cute and motherly!!" followed closely by, "You have got to be KIDDING!" This punch art is beyond cute and made us all smile (even a giggle) when we first saw it. After focusing on that, we were also impressed by the use of the DSP for the apron and gloves, and the Sizzix frame for the platter. Well, well done!

Denise Pustelniak. This is simply a delightful My Digital Studio gatefold card, with warm colors that made us feel, well, warm – and cozy. We especially like the diamond orientation of the front panel of the card. Just a nice card!

Lisa Martz. We definitely liked the whole layout of this card, and especially the flower that accents all the colors in the DSP so well. The use of the ribbon in the flower to accent the pieces of ribbon over on the side is so very artistic – a gorgeous card as yours always are!

SUO Challenge 31, Thinking of You!

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With all of the very specific kinds of greeting cards to make, you'd think that we could all keep busy with those! But so much of the time, I just want to make a card that uses that special stamp set or that special Designer Series Paper or that technique that I just read about on the Internet, and I don't really have any other purpose in mind. Until, that is, when I get to the end of the design process and realize that I really do want to "say" something with the card. More often than not, I end up using a simple greeting such as, "Friend to Friend," or "Thinking of You." But what do you do when you START with the idea of making a "Thinking of You" card? That's what we'd like to find out in this week's challenge.

So join with us in today's challenge – to make a greeting card just for the purpose of sending to someone to say you're thinking about them. I've already used the card I made for today's challenge to send to someone who's going to be undergoing some medical tests. I want her to know that I'm thinking about her as she approaches this day that will be somewhat of an ordeal. I can hardly wait to see what kind of card YOU would make to say, "Thinking of You"!

Here, as always, are some cards from our Design Team to get you started as you design your own card. Please remember to post your card using the InLinkz tool at the end of this post – and be sure to use Stampin' Up! products ONLY, and post only cards that you've made in response to (that is, after) we've posted today's challenge.

SUO Challenge 30, Treats are a Treat!

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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 28, Fall Colors

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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.