I give blog candy on my facebook page too!

In fact, I am going to be giving away some free products as soon as I hit 100 people on my facebook business page. My facebook business page is more interactive than my blog, we have a question of the day and art shown there that I don't post here or necessarily in my newsletters. We have a great group of 80 people there already, come join us and get a chance to win some prizes.

MY FACEBOOK PAGE - CLICK HERE!

Happiness is celebrating the little things in life

Well isn't that the truth. As a person who tries to keep a positive attitude, I can really appreciate the sentiment of this card. I'm enjoying the 4 1/2 by 4 1/2 card size too! Here's another one using the Fanfare paper once again (it's such a bright and happy paper set). The stamp set is Paper Lanterns.

You'll need to stamp the big pom poms from this set (I think they are pom poms, maybe fireworks) in cranberry and sunny yellow ink. Stamp three stars in pacifica ink. Cut these all out.

Cut white cardstock 4 1/2 by 4 1/2 and make yourself the card base while you're at it cutting it 9 by 4 1/2 and fold it in half. Cut the blue pattern paper from the kit 4 by 4 and distress the pieces. Glue the blue paper onto the white cardstock square.

Cut out white cardstock 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 and a piece of pacifica cardstock 2 3/4 by 2 3/4, distress them and glue the white on the pacifica cardstock then attach them both to the center of the card. Stamp the strings on the stamp set in pacifica ink so that they start at the top of the card and go down towards the center into the white cardstock.

Stamp the "celebrating" sentiment in pacifica ink on the lower left of the white cardstock square.

Glue the three stars on the paper as shown. Use popdots to attach the pom poms to the end of the strings. Tie knots in two pieces of white ribbon and glue down to "string" images. If you like you can add glitter to the stars. Simple card but it will mean so much to the recipient. If you would like me to teach this card at your next home party, call me and we'll set up a date. (989) 906-6420.

Simply Scallops

Here's some fun tricks and tips for our new scallop punch. You're going to want one once you see this, click on the link to get yours!

Rockin' card

How about a rockin' card today? I love this X-treme stamp set because I have two teenage boys and it really shows a lot of their favorite things (my boys are into the arts, not sports so it's been hard to find stamps that fit them). I used the Wings paper and some neat corduroy brads.

This is a different sized card. Cut your paper as follows:

4 1/2 by 9 colonial white cardstock, fold in half for card base

4 1/2 by 4 1/2 vineyard berry cardstock

4 1/4 by 4 1/4 juniper cardstock

2 by 4 1/2 pattern paper

1 1/2 by 4 1/2 black cardstock

3 by 2 colonial white cardstock

3 1/2 by 2 1/2 vineyard berry cardstock

You'll also need a second piece of vineyard berry cardstock to stamp on.

Distress all with black ink. Using your trimmer and dry embossing tool, make lines in the juniper paper and sand to reveal white core. Attach to vineyard berry card front.

Glue pattern paper about a 1/4 inch from bottom of the card.

Glue black cardstock strip across the center of the pattern paper.

Attach vineyard berry cardstock frame onto right hand side of card about 1/4 inch from right hand side of card, 1/2 inch from the bottom of the card.

On the vineyard berry scrap paper stamp the guy with the guitar using black ink. Carefully cut out the stamped image.

Glue the stamped image onto the white cardstock. Stamp the word Rockin' in black ink and then use your wiry sponge tool to add little black specks all over piece.

Attach that piece to the center of the vineyard berry frame.

Add two corduroy brads in the open space to the left of the stamped image. Attach whole card front to card base and you're done! If you'd like to make this card this weekend you can attend my card class tomorrow, March 6th in Stevensville from 2 to 4:30. Click on the paypal link to sign up right away or give me a call (989) 906-6420.

National Scrapbooking Industry Day

Did you realize it was National Scrapbooking Industry Day? Well it is and to celebrate I'm giving away a 3 x 3 mini-album to three people! To get your chance to win, just post a comment under this post telling me what you LOVE about scrapbooking. Tomorrow I will draw three names (you must leave you name in the post) and those people will win! *Non-consultants only!

Make an easy card!

This is a super easy card, a tiny bit of stamping but mostly just some cutting. The new Sophia paper has a cool pattern in it that already has some words that will work beautifully for your card. Cut your paper as follows:

White daisy cardstock - 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 for card base (fold in half)

Hollyhock cardstock - 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 for card front

White daisy cardstock - 4 by 5 1/4

Goldrush cardstock - 3 1/2 by 4 3/4

Pear cardstock - 3 1/4 by 4 1/2

Patterned paper - 3 by 3 3/4

Blush cardstock - 1/2 by 5 1/4

Distress everything with hollyhock ink

Cut the pattern paper apart but keep the words intact so that they still make sense on your card. Cut it in 1 1/4 inch strips. Glue all papers in order of size finishing up with the pattern paper spreading it a 1/4 inch apart from each other.

Glue blush cardstock strip 1 1/2 inches up from bottom of card.

Stamp any saying (I used Thinking of you from Say it in Style) on the right hand side of the blush cardstock strip in hollyhock ink. Add three brads to the left hand side of strip. Glue entire card front to card base and you're done in no time flat. This is one of the cards I'll be teaching at my class on Sunday, March 6th from 2-4:30 in Stevensville. You can make as many cards of your choice (I have a variety) as you can in 2 hours for just $10. Click on the paypal link below to sign up and I'll send you my address and more info on the class.

Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger Hunt – From 7:30 to 7:45 hunt down this information and report back to ME ONLY at caldreamin05@comcast.net with your completed numbered list of answers.

1. Go to http://studioj.com and find out what percentage you save off retail price by becoming a Studio J member.

2. Go to http://jeanettelynton.com and tell me the date of Jeanette Lynton’s birthday. Be careful to make sure of the ACTUAL date (you may need to read well to figure this out).

3. Go to http://barbraotten.com and watch my rising star video to find out what degree I earned from the Training Academy.

4. Go to http://barbraotten.myctmh.com and check out my calendar. How many days will I be at convention and where is convention (hint – it’s in a summer month).

5. Go to http://closetomyheart.com and find out what year My Acrylix stamps were introduced. (hint – you’ll want to know about the company).

6. Go to http://splitcoaststampers, click on “gallery” then do a search (search box on left hand side) for my username there, fan2daryl. Find out the title of the very first layout in my gallery.

7. Go to http://michellenist.blogspot.com and click on the “About Me” link to get Michelle’s email address. Michelle is my upline and she’s waiting to hear if I am staying a consultant with

Close to my Heart. Send her an email saying I am.

Fanfare Explosion Box

I'm teaching an explosion box class on Wednesday in Battle Creek (contact me if you'd like to attend) and here's a sneak peek at one of the boxes put together. For directions on how you can make it, click HERE.

Tom "T-bone" Wolk 1951-2010

"And remember, my sentimental friend, that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others." - The Wizard of Oz

Hurray for Oscar! Time for blog candy!

As a movie lover, this is one of my favorite days. I am excited about watching the Oscars tonight and seeing my favorites compete for the golden statue. In honor of that, I'm having my only little Oscar contest with scrapbooking and cardmaking blog candy as the prize. I'm going to put together a little prize package for the person who guesses the most winners correctly. And sorry, but no Close to my Heart consultants can win although you are free to comment and guess.

To play, comment about your guesses for best actors, supporting actors and best picture in the comments section under this post. You must put your first and last name in your comments so that I know who to contact when you win!!! Here are the choices:

Best Picture nominees

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids are All Right

The King's Speech

The Social Network

127 Hours

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter's Bone

Best Actor Nominees

Javier Bardem

Jeff Bridges

Jesse Eisenberg

Colin Firth

James Franco

Best Actress Nominees

Annette Bening

Nicole Kidman

Jennifer Lawrence

Natalie Portman

Michelle Williams

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale

John Hawkes

Jeremy Renner

Mark Ruffalo

Geoffrey Rush

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams

Helena Bonham Carter

Melissa Leo

Jackie Weaver

Hailee Steinfeld

National For Pete's Sake Day

Yes it truly is National For Pete's Sake Day today! That little fact got me thinking about what other idioms there are out there and which ones would make great scrapbook page titles! Here's a few of my favorites:

Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

Rather the devil you know.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

The more the merrier.

A picture paints a thousand words.

When the cat's away, the mice will play.

His bark is worse than his bite.

Between a rock and a hard place.

Back to square one.

Barking up the wrong tree.

Actions speak louder than words.

Close but no cigar.

Curiousity killed the cat.

Dog days of summer.

Down to the wire.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

Everything but the kitchen sink.

Go out on a limb.

From rags to riches.

Finger lickin' good.

Head over heels.

Icing on the cake.

It takes two to tango.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

Method to my madness.

Knock on wood.

New kid on the block.

On pins and needles.

Out of the blue.

Pedal to the metal.

Rise and shine.

Practice makes perfect.

Starting from scratch.

The best of both worlds.

To make a long story short.

Three times the charm.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

You are what you eat.

You can't take it with you.

Variety is the spice of life.

Rome wasn't built in a day.

Now go out and use one of these on your pages this weekend!

Still looking for a 100 people!

My new Facebook Business page is a fun place to be. When I hit 100 followers I'm giving away a gift package of Close to my Heart products to one lucky follower. Your chances you up to 1 in a 100 if you sign up to follow me there. Just hit the "like" button and join in with us.

Scrapping With Heart on Facebook

Why do you like to scrapbook?

I posed this question to my Scrapping With Heart Facebook page and here are some of the comments I received. I would love to hear your answer. Post it in the comments! If you aren't a part of the fun group of scrapbookers and stampers who gather at my Facebook page, here's the link. Scrapping With Heart

I scrapbook because I love having the memories to share and the friendships and fellowship it brings into my life. - Mickey

I scrapbook because I want my family to enjoy and know about the wonderful memories I have. Its very relaxing to me and yet a challenge of my creativity! The friends I have made makes my life even more full. - Annette

Scrapbooking is a great stress reliever for me. It is also a a great way to preserve memories for my kids. They love looking at my scrapbook pages and saying "I remember this!" - Amy

What types of classes would you like to attend? Vote for as many as you like. Feel free to comment about your choices too.

Paper Lantern 3 x 3 cards

Now this is a cute set, it's called Paper Lantern. I've started to make 3 x 3 cards a lot since I had some 3 x 3 clear envelopes. They show the cards off so well. The cool thing about 3 x 3 cards are that they are simple to make and you can make a lot really fast. The paper set on this is Fanfare and the colors are cranberry, sky, pacifica and sunny yellow. You might see these show up as a little treat at my crop on the 26th!!

What is your favorite new CTMH paper pack?

Free Hostess Products without a Party!

Do you want Close to my Heart products for free with as little work as possible?

What if you don't have time for a Close to my Heart party right now but would sure like the hostess rewards? How does it sound to get them without cleaning the house, making a snack or even sending invitations? And what if you would be guaranteed to receive either $47.95 in free products OR any 1 item in the catalog at 50% off and a $22.95 stamp set? Well, here's my plan:

I need ten people who are willing to put in a $100 order with me (not on my website but directly with me). I already have seven people signed up so I need just three more. Here's what those 10 people get if they can gather or just spend $100 in orders themselves.

Four people will get the March stamp of the month (see above, cute bunnies) AND and one item in the whole catalog for 50% off.

Six people will earn $25 in free select products that you choose from (stamps, My Reflections paper kits, cardstock, blocks, inks, stickease, reinkers or markers) AND the March stamp of the month.

The people who get the 50% item and the people who get the $25 in free product will be determined by a random drawing.

Normally you would have to have a $150 party AND spend $100 yourself to get the Stamp of the month for free and $25 in products but this time you can get both for a $100 order.

There's one more thing! I'm going to have a drawing at the end of this and ONE of the 10 people will ALSO RECEIVE another $50 in select product on top of what they already earned!!

So think about it, the easy way to party!! I need orders by February 27th so I can put the orders in on March 1st to guarantee that you'll get the March stamp of the month. Contact me by email or by phone to let me know you're in!! Remember, you can ask your friends for their orders and if you want to take TWO SPOTS and put in an order for $200 you will get TWO CHANCES at the extra $50 in products!!*

Here's the link to the catalog online.

**Fine print....This order must be separate from a party or workshop you are attending or hostessing already. Tax will be charged on the free items (sorry but the state of Michigan wants it's due).

Some new Studio J layouts

One of the services I offer is to show you how to use Studio J. A lot of people are intimidated by digital scrapbooking but I assure you that I can walk you through one layout and you'll be off and running! If you don't live close by I can talk you through your first Studio J layout over the phone. Being interested in Studio J doesn't mean you want to give up your traditional scrapbooking so don't think that you can't do both. I use Studio J for any photos I don't have time to scrapbook the traditional way or for ones that I don't particularly like to scrapbook the traditional way like Christmas photos year after year. If you just want to try it out for yourself, you can do that too. Click on this link and get started, remember it doesn't cost you anything to just play around with the layouts.

Embossing Spray Resist - Close To My Heart

My upline, the person I signed up with, Michelle Nist made a great video about using our new spray pens to create a resist technique. Check it out!

Designer Ribbon Pink Collection

How about a look at our new ribbons!!