As soon as I saw this month’s challenge I knew I wanted to participate so, for once, these cards were done early in anticipation of today’s blog hop. Here’s the challenge:

With the new year comes a clean slate along with many resolutions.  This month’s blog hop challenge involves you challenging yourself to use a Papertrey stamp set that has yet to see ink or even one that might be collecting a little dust!  Go through your stash and see what little used treasure it might hold.  If you are in need of inspiration for your chosen set, feel free to utilize the gallery posted in the side bar of each set’s sale page on our website, or go to the Previous Countdown page on Nicole’s blog where each set is organized by month of release.  2011 is the year where what’s old is new again!

My January order from Papertrey arrived the morning I sat down to create for the blog hop so I got to combine some infrequently inked stamps with some brand new never-inked stamps. This first card is my favorite of the three and has gone in the mail this morning to a friend who had a hip replacement yesterday.

For this card I combined the Tea for Two Additions set with the new Mat Stack 3 collection. All other products are from Papertrey Ink as well.

The next card also combines a stamp set I purchased in December but hadn’t inked up with the new Tag Sale 3 die. The sentiment and image both come from the Make a Wish set. The flower stickers are from my stash. I bought them at Michael’s but have no idea who the manufacturer is. The card itself was created using the Grand Nestability Labels One die, cut, embossed, and folded in half.

The last card isn’t my usual style. I love this dress form as it reminds me of my first creative endeavors as a seamstress. I started sewing when I was ten years old for the 4-H program and continued through my senior year in high school. For many, many years I made lots of clothes for myself, my husband, and the kids. Then fabric, buttons, patterns, and accessories became so expensive that it no longer made any sense. Now my sewing machine sees more papercrafting projects than anything else.

I started out with the bright and cheerful papers from Cosmo Cricket’s DeLovely collection and went from there. I found that “perfect match” ribbon in my stash. The cardstock and ink are Raspberry Fizz and the stamp and sentiment are from Signature Series: Dress Form.

Well, I’m off to hop along on Nicole’s blog. There’s always a lot of inspiration to be had on a PIT Blog Hop!

As most of us do, I have need for thank you notes after the holidays. Yesterday I got busy and made a set of cards to send. I recently acquired a lovely new set of stamps from Papertrey Ink called Love Lives Here. I used two of the images on this card, but another one–the heart in hand, which has always been a favorite of mine–was the one that really called to me. I’m sure you’ll see it soon.

I didn’t have the right color tags so I took some standard Avery tags and distressed them with Walnut Stain. I love the waly they came out. The patterned papers were all from my scrap drawer. The beautiful flourish is one of my favorite stamps–from Vintage Labels (Papertrey).

I didn’t think this card was really appropriate for my brother-in-law who drew my name in the gift exchange this year. He gave me a year’s membership to the George Eastman House and I’m thrilled! Better yet, he made it a couples’ membership so Tracy and I can go together. This card is almost a total copy of one Cristina posted on her blog. I used the scrap drawer again and you’ll see the same Martha Stewart twine as in the card above. The sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse.

Earlier this month I was responsible for sending thank you notes to two manufacturers who sponsered the Scrap-Mart Blog Hop. I wanted to be sure to use their products when making the cards. It was easy to do since the first one was Spellbinders and I never go more than a week without using one or more of their products.

I think this snowflake die was my very first Spellbinder die. I saw it on Debbie Olsen’s blog and just had to have it. The card is a shimmery blue. One of the local shop owners told me that it’s made by Bazzil. The patterned paper is from the 6X6 Eskimo Kisses pad by Basic Grey. I die cut the snowflake from the same shimmery paper and then added glitter to both it and the brad. It’s placed on another Spellbinder label die the Scrap-Mart exclusive Oval/Square which turns out to be just the right shape time and time again. The beautiful ribbon is from Paper Source.

The last card went to Silhouette America. I purchased a Silhouette SD in November but didn’t have a chance to work with it until earlier this month. This was my first project and I knew immediately that I would enjoy having this addition to my tool set. I love that it connects to my computer, doesn’t require cartridges, and will cut any True Type font that is on my computer. I’m working my way through the tutorials on the website, and you’ll be seeing a lot more from the Silhouette once I understand everything it can do.

This was so easy. I ran the paper through the machine, backed the snowflake with shimmery cardstock, cut out a Spellbinders tag and embossed the sentiment (from Impress) with gold, and it was done.

I recently got the new Papertrey Ink Banner Builder stamp set. I ‘m quite sure it will be a favorite. I needed a birthday card and a congratulations card and the same design worked quite well for both. These stamps are a lot of fun to use, and I see many possibilities for them.

After creating a card base from Hawaiian Shores cardstock, I inked up the pennant stamps with Brilliance Inks which have a bit of sheen to them to start with. Then I used the Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pen to edge the card as well as the top of each pennent. The sentiment stamps are Signature Greetings and Birthday Bash Sentiments, both by Papertrey Ink.

The next few days are busy with lots of appointments and a huge To-Do list. I’m so far behind with blog reading it’s hard to imagine trying to catch up. Tomorrow I have a long car appointment to replace a noisy windshield motor. The dealer has free Wi-Fi so I’m hoping to get an hour or so to browse again.

Here’s a card we made at the last class I took at Buffalo Stamps and Stuff. The way the class was described, I was expecting a technique class with Spellbinder dies. Since I love them so much, I was anxious to find some new ways to use them. Sadly, the class was not billed correctly at all. We made two cards (one will show up here later, but it’s on its way to someone who reads this blog). All the die cutting had been done for the participants ahead of time, which was fine as it was nothing unusual. All in all, a disappointing class, especially since part of our ride home was on rather treacherous roadways.

Although I liked the cards, they were quite time-consuming, and certainly not anything you could reproduce in mulitples. It’s hard to see in the photo, but after we distressed each leaf and put the wreath together it was misted with a lovely sparkling gold mist. The green card is what opens for the inside message. Also hard to see in the photograph is the frame behind the green card which is a Spellbinders die cut into four pieces. It’s a beautiful brown shimmery cardstock.