Marilyn's Creative Inspirations

Sale-a-Bration is HERE!!

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:03:00 +0000

Yay!! Sale-a-Bration is HERE!!! My favorite sale of the Stampin' Up! Year!!

For every $50 you purchase in product from the catalog or Occasions mini catalog, you will receive an item form the Sale-a-bration catalog for FREE.

Sale-a-bration is a great time to join my Stampin' Family! The starter kit is just $125 and you will also receive a FREE package of Designer Paper or a download for My Digital Studio each month for the rest of 2012!!

Watch a short video here about becoming a demonstrator and set aside the weekend of April 20th for my annual Girls weekend retreat!!

So book your class today or place an order via my website!

www.marilynsanclemente.stampinup.net

New Card Kits - Valentines

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:27:00 +0000

Well I have been busy designing ideas for Valentine's Day... I have two kits to offer this time. One more formal and the second is more whimsical. The full instructions are available for only $2 or the kits are available with full instructions and all cardstock pre-cut. Also all the supplies needed to make the cards.

The first set is made with the Mocha Morning designer paper which is flocked and absolutely beautiful! The kit contains all the pre-cut supplies that you need to make 8 cards with envelopes (4 of each design) for $15. This kit uses the doily die from the new Occasions mini.

The second kit is made with the new Sale-a-bration set that is available starting this Tues. the 24th. It uses the Twitterpatted designer paper from the current Spring mini catalog and the new pleated ribbon which is absolutely gorgeous! This kit cotains all the supplies to make 12 cards with envelopes (4 of each design) for $18.

Please add $3 for shipping if you are not local to me.

Instructions only are available for $2 each.

getting together for Lunch

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:35:00 +0000

Friday a few members of my Stampin' Family the New England StampINKers, got together for lunch at my upline Lynn's house.

We had such a good time winding down and relaxing after a stressful holiday season! Laughing, stampin' and just catching up! Pictured below from left to right - Lynn Thieret, Karen Gagnon, Lisa Fuller, me & Michele LaCerda.

Over the past two months our group of stampin' friends has been touched by the nasty diagnosis of breast cancer. Lisa found these cute tool belts at Lowes and so we of course had to decorate them with our own Stampin' Up! style! Nothing can go un-embellished in our world.

Stampin' Up! has this beautiful fabric that matches our designer papers. I just happened to have a little laying around waiting to be used!

So Lisa and I cut out some flowers and butterfiles from the Springtime Vintage fabric (from last spring's mini catalog) and the Twitterpated fabric from this year's spring catalog. I also cut the same flowers from light weight iron on interfacing and we ironed those to the back of each layer. We then added some buttons and sewed the flower layers together.

We used a hot glue gun to attach the flowers and butterflies to the tool belts. Pictured to the left is a flower and butterflies cut from the Springtime Vintage designer fabric. Below is the Twitterpated fabric from this year's spring mini catalog.

I just love these. What a great way to embellish a tool belt!!

Happy Stampin'!

Folding Birds

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:24:00 +0000

Here are some more great ideas using some of the new designer papers and a technique called the Swing Card.

This card is made using a Big Shot and a round or oval die. My downline Nancy Flanagan, made this beautiful card with the Elements of Style set. The bird is cut using the bird element on the Movers and Shapers Big Shot die.

At my Bring Your Own Project Night, my friend Karyn Gouveia CASED (copy and steal everything) Nancy's card changing the colors and designer paper.

Want to learn this beautiful technique? I will be teaching this technique at my upcoming technique class on Thurs. the 26th.

More new things....

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:04:00 +0000

These are some more great cards that members of my Stampin' Family made for our anuual Holiday party last week.

The first card was made my Michele my downline and Stampin' Friend. Michele is the person that taught me to stamp! - Little did I know that she would later join my downline. Michele's card uses the new designer paper that will be available next week for Sale-a-bration. The layers are made with the new nestability dies that are in the Occasions mini catalog. The stamp set is Flower Fest.

Well - at my BYOP night on Friday - my friend Karyn saw Michele's card and copied the layout but used different paper and flowers. Karyn used the same layout with the Pawsitively prints designer paper. The flower are cut from the Sizzix flower die. To add some dimension to the flowers, Karyn added score lines to the layers of the flower with the new Scoring Tool.

So which card do you like best??

New Samples

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:29:00 +0000

Over the next couple of days I'll post some cards that me and my group have made using the new sets from the Occasions mini catalog and the upcoming Sale-a-bration mini catalog.

These first two cards are made with the new edgelet cutting and embossing dies for the Big Shot. I just love the really neat edges that we can now cut and emboss using these new dies!

The first card is one that I made using the new designer paper and stamp set from the Sale-a-bration catalog. The edgelet die and embossing folder are now available in the Occasions mini catalog.

The second card is one that my friend and downline Jeanne Nielsen made using the new Twitterpated Designer paper in the Occasions mini catalog. She used the scallop border die and the embossing folder.

I have been seeing so many great ideas with these edgelet dies!

Stay tuned for more postings!

Fresh Ideas from my Demo Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:27:00 +0000

Each January my Stampin' Family gets together to enjoy a post Holiday party. We have found over the years that before the Holidays is just too busy to have a Holiday party. So a few years ago, we started holding ours in January when things have slowed down a bit.

I love this party!! The best part is we each make an item with a Christmas theme to swap. And it is an old-fashioned Yankee swap. Each person picks a number and gets to pick a gift in the order of the numbers. After each person opens their gift, they can exchange their gift with a gift that was previously opened. Then at the end, the person with number 1 gets to swap out their item for something else if there is something they like better. As you can image, it can get very competitive if there is an item that everyone wants!

Here are a couple of the items that were swapped last night. I swapped my Victorian Christmas Candle that I had made a few weeks ago.

Karen Gagnon - my sideline and partner in crime made this beautiful wreath! She had given me one for my birthday - so I already had one!

Michele LaCerda made a beautiful Christmas scrapbook. I unfortunately don't have a good picture of the front of the book. Here is a side picture. Gave me a great ideas for a Mother's Day gift class!

Lisa Fuller made this great Christmas frame
with Christmas designer papers.

Nancy Flanagan found this really cool tape dispenser in the shape of a shoe! So she of course added some girly bling to it! It was just beautiful!

And Laura Perioria made this cute Winter Survival Kit. A little basket with tissues, Halls cough drops and sanitizer in it! How cute!

We had such fun!! I'll post pictures of cards from the night over the next couple of days.

Sneak Peak at Valentine's Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:01:00 +0000

I am starting to play around with my new stamp sets from the Occasions mini catalog which goes live today!! As a demonstrator, we get to pre-order items the month before.

This is a card that I designed using the new Twitterpated Designer paper in the mini catalog and the Take it to Heart stamp set shown below.

I am also working on a couple of Valentine's card kits which I will be offering over the next couple of weeks!

I made this particular card for a card swap with my other Demonstrator friends... I can't wait to see what they have designed.

I think that my favorite thing about this new mini catalog is not the stamps (although, there are several sets that I love), but the new cutting and embossing tools that are available for the Big Shot! Notice the beautiful cut of the layer on this card? There are new edgelets and nestabilities with this new catalog! A new product for Stampin' Up!

Yay!! All I can say is stay tuned for more ideas!

My Christmas Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 02:37:00 +0000

I hope that everyone has had a great Christmas holiday.

These are the cards that I made and sent to my family and friends. I get bored very easily so I usually make 20 of 4 or 5 different designs so I don't get too bored...

This card was made with Beautiful Season. I used old olive for the card base and layer. The technique is a spotlight technique. The image is stamped in black. Then stamp a second image on a scrap piece and color that image. Punch out a piece of the colored image with a circle punch and use a dimensional to layer over the black image.

This next card was a CASE of a card that Ann Schack had posted on her blog a couple of weeks ago. I used the Christmas Lodge set and Ann used Winter Post which I don't have. So if you see a card that you really like but don't have that exact set. Look through what you do have and look for a stamp that is a similar size and can be easily substituted.

Ann's original card can be seen here.

We had a great day today with my husband's family. Tomorrow we are leaving to celebrate Christmas with my family...

Time to start designing new ideas with all the goodies from the upcoming Occasions mini and Sale-a-bration sets!!

Talk to you soon!

Clearance Blitz

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:20:00 +0000

Good Morning! Well - Stampin' Up! put the whole store on sale today!!
From December 15, 2011, through January 5, 2012, nearly 200 products are being added to the Clearance Rack in the Online Store--with some discounted up to 80 percent!

You can check it out here.

There are many items on sale, including retired designer papers, retired punches, etc. But.... these are retired items, so there is a limited supply and they may go quickly! The only way to get these items is by ordering directly off my online store.

If you are in my Stamper's Club and would like to this to count towards your monthly total, send me the order by MOnday.

Happy Shopping!

Beautiful Christmas Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:17:00 +0000

All I can say is OMG.... My long time Stampin' Friend and customer Karyn Gouveia made this beautiful Christmas Tree with the new Simply Scored Tool and some Holiday designer paper.

How to make this beautiful tree? This tree is a variety of lollies made from strips of designer paper starting at 3" down to 1/4". Each layer is 1/4" smaller than the last.

1. Karyn started with designer strips of paper cut to 3" x 12" and scored on each 1/4". Attach another 3" x 6" strip to the end of the first strip to make a strip that is 3" x 18".
2. Then then accordian fold the strip and glue the ends of the strip together. You will have a ring.
3. Punch a circle with a circle punch over 1"
4. Put a small dab of glue in the center of the circle. Scrunch up the accordian pleated strip on top of the circle. Karyn mentioned that she used a glue gun for the this step and it went much faster. I have used crystal effects successfully too. Hold for a minute and then place under a heavy object until the glue sets. I used punches to hold my lollies together until the glue set.
5. The next layer is 2 3/4" x 18". Repeat the process going down 1/4" per strip until you reach 1/4". For the smaller layers - you will need to use a smaller circle punch.

Karyn used a star punch and dimensional tape to make the star on top thicker. She also used the jewels to decorate the center of the star.

Simply beautiful!

Tags Class - Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:29:00 +0000

Stop by at 7pm on Thursday to make Holiday tags for all of those gifts that you have been purchasing.

Here are a couple of samples that I have make up. If these look familiar, it is because they are from the Holiday mini catalog. I love the Holly Berry designer paper!

I hope to see you on Thursday!

Holiday Candle

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

I just love pillar candles. I found this pillar candle and thought this would be a great decoration for the Holiday season. The shade of red looked so good to me with the Holly Berry Designer paper from the current Holiday mini catalog. I used one of these for our Yankee Swap at my church's ladies group.

To make this beautiful candle:

1. Cut a piece of the designer paper to 12" x 8" and layer it onto a 1" strip of chocolate chip and wild wasabi cardstocks on both the top and bottom edge of the designer paper.
2. Cut 1 1/2" strips of real red and very vanilla cardstocks.
3. Use the eyelet border punch to layer the edges of the red and vanilla cardstocks.
4. Use sticky strip to put the layers together aligning all the cardstock on the left side.
5. Once all the layers are together, trim the uneven side of the piece to a straight side. Make sure you leave at least 1/2" for overlap to attach to the candle.
6. Wrapping the whole piece around the candle requires a strong adhesive. I used two pieces of sticky strip parallel to each other along the whole seam.
7. Lay the candle on its side and wrap the piece around the candle. Pull tightly and adhere with the sticky strip.
8. Cut a 1 1/2" strip of a complimenting pattern of the designer paper and layer this onto a 1 3/4" piece of real red. Wrap around the candle.

Back Seam:
9. Cut a piece of victorian lace long enough to cover the length of the seam.
10. Adhere with sticky strip.
11. Punch small flower from Boho Blossom punch in real red.
12. Layer two flowers together to make a pointsettia
13. Use small pearls to decorate the center of the flower.

Lolly for the Front:
14. Cut 2 strip of designer paper 3/4" wide.
15. Score at each 1/4" along the length of the strip.
16. Accordian fold the strip. Use sticky strip to attach two ends together so you have a large circle.
17. Punch a 1 1/2" circle out of a scrap of cardstock to use for the back of the lolly.
18. Cover the front of the circle with a think layer of Crystal Effects. Pinch the circle together to make the accordian fold floret. I used a heavy weight (a punch works well) to hold the Lolly in place until the crystal effects can dry.
19. Select a button for the center of the lolly. Thread a piece of thread or ribbon through the button.
20. Use glue dots to attach button to the front of the lolly.
21. Using the scallop die #2 - cut a large scallop from a piece of designer paper.
22. Attach small pearls to the edge of the scallop.
23. Attach the lolly to the front of the scallop. Use sticky strip to attach lolly to the front of the candle.

What a great hostess gift this would make!!

Do be careful if you are going to burn this candle. Remove the wrap before you burn the candle.

More Holiday Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Here are a couple of Christmas and Hanukkah ideas compliments of my friend Judy Keown. Judy has been a long time customer of mine and is very talented. She does beautiful coloring and does a great job with outline stamps and coloring the images with depth.

Judy used the Forest Festivities set from the current Holiday mini catalog and the Merry Crittermas set from last year's Holiday mini catalog. These two sets are a perfect compliment as they have the same style of cute little forest animals.

The cardstock is pacific point with Frostwood Lodge designer paper.

For the Hanukkah card - Judy used Festival of Fun stamp set which is a very old retired stamp set. The gifts are from the Forest Festitivities stamp set. This card uses pacific point and bashful blue. The designer paper is from the designer paper stacks for the color families.

I just love these cards! Have a great weekend!!

Shelli on the Today Show

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:07:00 +0000

Just in case you missed Shelli on the Today show yesterday. Here is the clip.

I love working for this company. They truly care about people and do so much for various organizations.

Stampin' Up! also recently granted a wish for a 3 year old girl, Birklee who suffers from hypoplastic left-heart syndrome (HLHS). She received a play set through the Make-A-Wish Foundation when Stampin' Up! granted her wish. Stampin' Up! works with the foundation to grant the wish of at least one child every year, on behalf of our demonstrators and in lieu of an annual Christmas card.

You can check out a short video on becoming a part of my stampin' team here.

Watch Shelli on the Today Show - December 6th

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:52:00 +0000

One of the things that I really love about being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is the coporate philosophy of Making a Difference. Stampin' Up!'s mission statement, called its Statement of the Heart, reads: "To love what we do and share what we love, as we help others enjoy creativity and worthwhile accomplishments . . . in this we make a difference."

To help fulfill this statement, Stampin' Up! launched its Making a Difference program in 2003. This program facilitates corporate giving and promotes service among demonstrators and employees.
Since 2005, Stampin' Up! has been honored to participate in the TODAY Show's Holiday Toy Drive. This year, Stampin' Up! will be donating over $500,000 worth of stamping and paper crafting products to the following organizations:

Action for Boston Community Development Inc.
Alliance for Children's Rights
Boys & Girls Clubs Harford County
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York
Community Partners of Dallas - Rainbow Room
Diocese of Saint Augustine
Friendship Project
Help USA
Interfaith Nutrition Network (INN)
Kids In Need Foundation
National Council of Jewish Women, Cleveland Section - The Dignity Project
Operation Homefront
Puerto Rican Family Institute
St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital
Stephen Siller Foundation/Katrina Fund
Welcome House
Youthbuild USA

In conjunction with the donation, Stampin' Up!'s Shelli Gardner will make an appearance on NBC's TODAY Show on Tuesday, December 6. We are honored and excited to once again participate in this annual holiday tradition of giving back and making a difference!

You can see more about Stampin' Up! and our history of giving back here. You can see more information on Shelli Gardners' Blog here. And of course there are great inspirational ideas too!

Marilyn

Stamp a Stack of Cards - Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 22:39:00 +0000

Hi - I have added a Stamp a Stack of cards for Sunday afternoon from 1 to 5pm... I have 3 card kits available with all the cardstock pre-cut. Just stamp the images and assemble! Each is $25 for 16 cards with envelopes.

Send me an email at mairlyn.sanclemente@comcast.net to reserve a spot. I hope to see you there!

Marilyn

Holiday Samples from my Girls Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:30:00 +0000

We had a great time last weekend at my Weekend Retreat for my Stampin' Friends.

Here is a link to my Facebook website with pictures from the weekend!

Enjoy!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.10150540075352571.482416.691337570&type=1

Marilyn

Two new Holiday Card Kits

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:47:00 +0000

Good Morning,

My team and I had a great weekend at our Girls weekend retreat!! We designed a boatload of cards which I will share over the next couple of weeks.

And.... I have used a couple of the card ideas to put together two more Holiday card kits. The first kit uses the Stitched Stockings stamp set and the second kit uses Serene Snowflakes.

Each kit is $25 and includes all the pre-cut cardstock, designer paper and embellishments with envelopes to make 16 cards.

I am also offering the Stitched Stocking stamp set with punch or the Serene Snowflakes stamp set at 10% off with purchase of a kit! Additional kits are $20 each.

And.... I have added a Sunday afternoon to the schedule for making these cards! Join me on Sunday November 27th at 1pm to Stamp a Stack of Cards!

Also - I still have my first Holiday kit available using the stitched felt and Forest Festivities stamp set. This kit is also $25.

Contact me today to order these card kits and reserve a spot for Sunday the 27th!

Happy Veteran's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:13:00 +0000

This picture was on Facebook - so I am borrowing it!

Happy Veteran's Day and thank you to everyone who has served our country

and fought for our Freedom!

Have a great day!!

Marilyn

Christmas Lodge Card

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:43:00 +0000

Good Morning! I posted some pictures in my Splitcoaststampers Gallery yesterday of cards that I have made over the past two months. I had not posted in my splitcoast gallery in a year - Yikes!

It dawned on me that there are a couple of cards that I made for swaps and had not posted to my blog either... Ok - so now I am catching up!! LOL

This is a card that I made for a Holiday swap this fall. It uses the new Christmas Lodge stamp set that is in the Holiday mini catalog with several of the new products that are in the Holiday mini catalog.

The paper is Frostwood lodge designer paper. The ribbon is the new Quilted satin ribbon in cherry cobbler.

The base of the card is sahara sand. I cut a layer of always artichoke and embossed it with the new Snow Burst embossing folder. And what is a card without a little bling??? So I sprayed the artichoke layer with shimmer spray.

I stamped the Christmas tree from the Christmas Lodge stamp set using white ink on sahara sand cardstock. I then embossed it with winter white embossing powder. I carefully tore the cardstock around the tree. I wanted that more casual look. I tried cutting around the tree but that gave it a harsh look.

Did you know that you can color our beautiful jewels with sharpies? I thought the tree needed a little bling so added some jewels that have been colored red and yellow for the top star.

I then wanted to change the Frostwood Lodge paper a little. For some reason I really like plaids that are on the diagonal. So I cut a 1 & 1/2" strip of the Plaid and then cut it on the diagonal with my paper cutter. I added a white scallop border to the edgeof the designer paper and layered it onto the artichoke layer.

Then I added the new Quiled Satin ribbon. I just love the cherry cobbler and wish that I had purchased more of it. To get the loopy look - attach a piece of sticky strip down the length of the area that you want to place the ribbon. I start at the bottom and fold the end of the ribbon around the bottom edge and work up the card. Press the ribbon very loosely with short loops along the sticky strip. NOTE: I don't cut the ribbon until I get to the top of the card. Otherwise I never cut the right length!! Attach the layer to the card base! And Voila!

And the card idea - those of you that know me - know that I have very few original ideas!! I use things in my everyday life for inspiration as well as Casing some of my favorite card designers! This idea came from the cover of a Cards magazine from 2009 that had a Christmas tree decorated with some bling. I loved the look of the card and just substituted our new products.

Have a great day!!

Marilyn

My Etsy Store

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:05:00 +0000

I am so excited! I have been working diligently and finally have my Etsy Store up and running!!

I am selling individual cards, party invitations, wedding invitations, favors and more!!

You can check out my shop here.

Regards,

Marilyn

FREE My Digital Studio Downloads - Digital Scrapbooking Day

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:25:00 +0000

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day!! Click here to complete a quick Stampin' Up! survey and download free digital content.

Contact me today to receive more information on My Digital Studio.

MDS Invitation

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:13:00 +0000

Good Morning,

I know that I have been MIA. We had a very bad snow storm on top of trees that still had leaves. So we without electricity, heat, hot water for 4 days. YOu really forget how much you take things for granted!!

Never fear. I have been working in the background eventhough I haven't been able to post... This is an invitation that my daughter asked me to design for her Junior Class. She is at the Academy of Notre Dame and is a Junior. They have a special ceremony each year in which the Juniors receive their class rings.

Below is the invite for their Ring Day Ceremony. My Digital Studio makes invitations and digital scrapbooks so easy!

You can check out more information here.

Have a great day!

Marilyn

noreply@blogger.com (Marilyn SanClemente) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:20:00 +0000

Good Morning. I hope that everyone is staying warm. We do not have power in Tewksbury so I am not holding my usual Open Stamp on Wednesday. We are scheduled to get power back on Thurs. at this point.

Stay warm!
Marilyn