I’ll start off by just saying we’ve never had this many winners, but we’ve also never had this many submissions before! As I go through the submissions, I keep a list and I put a heart by the ones that are in the running to be a winner, and I’ve never had so many hearts! It’s been hard! (Not that I’m complaining. . . .)

Judging the submissions every month takes hours, but it’s something I look forward to. I don’t spend much time on blogs and other Internet spots looking at project ideas, but I do treat myself once a month to all the Creative Challenge ideas.

As I looked at the long list of hearts, I wondered how I was going to make the final choices. Then I thought, “Hey, whose blog is this, anyway?” I realized I could pick as many winners as I want; there aren’t any rules out there. So bottom line is we’ve got a lot of winners this month, and I had LOTS of fun choosing!

As always, thank you ALL for sharing—I love it when we have lots of submissions, even if it does take me a little longer to choose the winners. It’s time well spent!

January 5--Michelle Joy Wecksler

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7YyTmXLbGBc/SylSwRqLqAI/AAAAAAAAAqc/-5OXxY0Gm3s/s1600-h/IMG_3398-WM.jpg

January 6--Holly Endress

http://inkadinkadoodle.com/?p=1433

January 13--Gretchen Barron

http://gretchenbarron.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/01/introducing-the-love-express-valentines-train.html

January 16--Connie Collins

http://www.constantlystamping.com/constantly_stamping/2010/01/recycled-container-becomes-hostess-gift.html

January 17--Ana Marie Palmerin

http://web.me.com/anamarie2/anamarie2/anamariepalmerin.com/Entries/2010/1/17_Toads_of_Love.html

January 20--Mary Brown

http://www.stampercamper.com/home/cardpost/tour_de_freaks_-_january/

January 23--Cheryl Wilcox

http://lovetostampandscrap.blogspot.com/2010/01/sparkles-spoiler-alert.html

January 29--Janet Wakeland

http://remarkablycreated.com/2010/01/new-droid-needed-a-felt-cell-phone-case/

January 31--Jenny Petersen

http://jennympeterson.typepad.com/my-blog/2010/01/love-page-layout.html

January 31--Jenn Picard

http://www.anewinkonlife.com/a-new-ink-on-life/2010/01/i-heart-sweet-treats.html

I am so done with winter! I can say with quite some surety that I will never live in a place that experiences a full-blown winter—physically (and emotionally) my body just doesn’t do well!  We don’t have terrible winters here, but it’s about as much as I can handle.

So this month I want to see spring—anything bright and beautiful—whether it’s in cards, gifts, tags, pages. . . whatever. You name it, I want to see it. I can’t wait for spring to actually arrive, but in the meantime, I’ll be content with seeing what you have to share!

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post the winners for last month's challenge. I hoped you all knew I was at Leadership, so you understood what was taking so long.

What fun projects. I really enjoyed looking through these submissions, and I've got an idea list a mile long! I can't wait to make a few of these myself, and I wouldn't be surprised if I use at least one of these ideas for our holiday neighbor gift next year! If you haven't taken the time to scroll through these projects, you definitely need to!

As always, thanks to everyone who shared--and congratulations to the winners!

December 2--Melissa Riker

http://saucystamper.blogspot.com/2009/11/beautiful-gift-idea.html

December 4--Carmen

http://stampingaddiction.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-giftables-class-project-1.html

December 6--Peggy Sue Stuckky

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1559030?&cat=500&ppuser=142185

December 7--Monika Davis

http://monikastamp.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/dasher-tile-coasters/

December 19--Donna Centamore

http://butternutsagedesigns.blogspot.com/2009/12/hot-chocolate-gift-pack.html

December 31--Kasia

http://stampwithkasia.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-years-resolutions.html

When I started thinking about this month’s creative challenge, the subject matter was obvious—we can’t ignore Valentine’s Day (the next holiday), can we?

I was thinking of making it really challenging by asking that you use nontraditional color palettes, but that just didn’t seem right. I mean, of all holidays, Valentine’s Day pretty much demands reds, pinks, and whites, doesn’t it? So I just couldn’t make that request. (Although you’re welcome to use nontraditional colors if you’d like!)

So, I didn’t think much more about it. It seemed right to make it fairly straightforward—any Valentine’s Day project.

I’m excited to see what you come up with, because this is one holiday-related challenge that we can actually use the project ideas long after the holiday is over. I’ve always thought that we ought to let our loved ones know we love them year-round, so the things we do on Valentine’s Day are really things we could do all year long—including giving hand-stamped expressions of our love!

So have a wonderful time this month, creating to your heart’s content!