Where Did January Go?!!

I close my laptop for what seems like one second and ZIP, it's the end of the month already!  I hope your month has been full of colorful cards, memorable layouts and fun altered art.  I hope you stretched your creativity and stepped out of your box with January's challenge to TEAR into your project by using torn paper.  I know I had fun with it!

As you can see on the sidebar, we have two new Blog Badges.  One is for you to advertise our blog and its challenges, and everyone is welcome to snag it.  The other button is for the winner of each month's challenge.  There were just a few challengers this first month of our new blog.  We hope each month this number will grow.  But for January, the crafter who gets to snag the winner's button is...
Karissa!!

Congrats, Karissa!  Here is her card. I love her torn vellum holding the tag!  Go ahead and snag the winner's badge, Karissa!

And to all you crafters who didn't win this month, your cards were amazing, but the winner is drawn randomly!  You'll have another chance starting on February 1.

Now for some fantastic news:  We are going to have a BLOG HOP! 
The date is February 29---that's right, the day that only makes an appearance every four years.  We have some amazing crafters lined up to play in THE LEAP DAY BLOG HOP, so mark your calendars now!  More info to follow on this creative adventure!
But wait, there's more!  We didn't announce the February Challenge!!  This month, we want to see those ATCs but with a twist.  We want you to make a 2.5x3.5" card - any theme, any color, but it has to be the size of an ATC (the size of a baseball card). 

I gave out these tiny cards to my co-workers every Christmas except this last Christmas and several people asked me if I were giving them out again.  I had been too busy to make them, and I found out that so many people looked forward to my tiny little pieces of art.  So now I have to work like the devil and make about 20 Valentine's Day cards the size of ATCs.  Time for YOU to inspire ME!
If you are a scrapper, use an ATC that YOU made on a layout.  For those who love to recycle, show me what an ATC can be made into (or onto).

You'll have all month (that's 29 days this year!) to come up with your ATC-sized cards.  Remember to link it below.  For those who don't have a blog, link to your photo in whatever gallery you use (PaperCraftPlanet, SplitcoastStampers, CreatingtheHive, to name a few).  For members of Your Scrapbook Place Yahoo Group, upload your photos into the album named 2012 Blog Challenges.

And as always, happy crafting!