Celebrate Life Blog Hop - Honoring Katie

Celebrate Life

Celebrate life .... that's exactly what Katie did. Katie Renz was an amazing woman who celebrated life, celebrated love, and celebrated family.

Today, we celebrate Katie's memory with a blog hop. We chose Tuesday because Katie created the Clearly iStamp Tuesday Tutorial. We felt that a Tuesday hop would be most appropriate.

In the spirit of the hop, you should have come from Kathy's beautiful blog. If not, you'll want to start back at the beginning - Lori's Clearly iStamp.

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For this hop, we are suppose to CASE (copy and stamp everything ....) one of Katie's beautiful projects.  Wow ... it was SO hard to choose!!!  


The card I chose to CASE was this one ...

Isn't it gorgeous???  I chose to get my inspiration from the colors and the layout.  Here's my take on it ....

Project Recipe:

stamps : Prayer Journal, Cross Messages, Tabs & Tags Additions

paper : white, Christian dp, misc. dp

ink : purple

accessories : Tabs & Tags dies, nesties, Cuttlebug, crystals, ribbon, sponge dauber, pop dots

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Make your way from here to Lisa's ever-inspiring blog. She will have something totally amazing to show you today. Please make sure you give some kudos to all those that participated in the hop. This has been a difficult time for all of us, and our hop is just a small step in our grief journey.





***If you'd like to make a donation to the family,  please click the donation button below.***

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Celebrate life today and have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!

~*Shell*~

Clear Dollar Stamps' November Blog Hop

Welcome to our monthly blog hop!! You should have come here from Barb's beautiful blog. If not, you will want to start back at the beginning at Clearly iStamp.

What are you thankful for?? Many times we say 'thank goodness for .... ,' but what are you *really* thankful for???

For the last few weeks, I've been posting my 'thankful thoughts' as my Facebook status. I don't just post from the top of my head, but I really think about what I'm thankful for. Some of the things I've mentioned ....

0 Crafting ... :) I'm not sure what I would do without this in my life.
0 Seasons
0 My church family ..... I can't say enough on this one.
0 Online friends
0 Homeschooling
0 My ministers
0 Prayers

And there are many others coming..... my children, my husband, my mom, my in-laws .... I have SO much for which to be thankful.


Today's blog hop is themed around "Thankful." I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do with this theme. I thought about fall colors, a Thanksgiving project, and several other ideas. I finally went with a 3D project and a 'friend' theme. :) I am, after all, so very thankful for my friends.

This is actually an altered "Pirouettes" can. I think that this will be a very special gift for a special friend.


Project Recipe :
Stamps - Christian Friendship,
Paper - Melon Spice, Peach Taffy, Mossy Woods
Ink - black, brown
Copics - none
Accessories - nesties, flowers, pearls, sponge dauber, ribbon, lace, tacky tape, pop dots



From here, you'll go to Stacy's inspiring blog. Make sure you make it around to all of the great blogs in our hop and leave a comment at each one. One lucky winner will receive a $25 Clear Dollar Stamps' gift certificate for digital images! A winner will be selected from the comments left on the blogs in the hop. Don't miss your chance to get a prize - not to mention a chance to see all of the wonderful inspiration our design team has for you today!!!




Please come back on Tuesday to join us for the special blog hop to honor Katie!!!



Have a super, special Sunday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!

~*Shell*~

Clearly Inspired #40 - Flowers, Flowers Everywhere!

One of my favorite things to use as an embellishment is flowers. I just love 'em. I love the paper kind, the color-your-own, the stickers, the 3D ... you name it, I love 'em. So, I was pretty excited when the theme for this challenge was announced, and it was FLOWERS!


Interesting colors, huh??? Turquoise, purple, and brown ... how did I ever come up with that?? Hahaha ... Actually, I only came up with the brown. I asked my daughter to name 2 colors - and told her she couldn't say PINK (her favorite color). She chose blue and purple. :) I really like how the colors work together. Whatcha think??


Card Recipe:
Stamps - Blooming Bouquet, Mark 16:15
Paper - Hot Cocoa, Raging River, Grape Jelly (all from Clear Dollar Stamps)
Ink - black
Copics - BV08
Accessories - edge punch, nesties, flowers, flower sticker, lace




This was a fun challenge. I hope you'll head over to Clearly iStamp and get all the details on how to join. I can't wait to see what you create!!


Don't forget ... our monthly blog hop is coming on Sunday! Also, our special blog hop in honor of Katie is coming on Tuesday. :)



Have a fabulous Friday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!



~*Shell*~

Clean and Simple

I love the CAS challenges at SCS each Monday. I've really learned to love this style of card, so I really enjoy the chance to play when I'm home.


I was home today!!! :)



Lots of embossing and details, but pretty clean and simple, I think ... or I hope. :) The theme for the projects today was "Party." There's nothing better to celebrate than Jesus!! :)


Card Recipe :

Stamps: Jesus is the Best Gift of All (Clear Dollar Stamps)

Paper: Sweet Pea, Tickled Pink, white

Ink: black

Accessories: Cuttlebug, folders, edge punch, flowers, pearls, pop dots

Don't forget the CIC on Friday, blog hop on Sunday, and special blog hop for Katie next Tuesday!!!


Have a wonderful Monday evening and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!


~*Shell*~

What's Coming??

It's November!! :) So, what do I have coming up for you in the next couple of weeks??

Friday, November 18 - Clearly Inspired Challenge

Sunday, November 20 - Clear Dollar Stamps' Monthly Blog Hop

Tuesday, November 22 - A very special blog hop honoring our friend, Katie Renz.


I hope you'll join us for each and every post!!!

Hope to have some challenges for you this week! :)


Have a super Sunday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow. :)


~*Shell*~

Great Sadness.....

It is with great sadness that I post that Katie Renz, our design team leader, has lost her hard-fought battle with stomach cancer. Katie was such a wonderful, sweet lady and so very encouraging. I will miss her dearly. Katie leaves behind her soul-mate husband, Kevin, sons - Hunter, Nate, and Will, and many family and friends who love her and will miss her terribly.


There have been many donation drives lately to help the Renz family. Kevin, Hunter, Nate, and Will all have birthdays within the next few weeks. I know that, with Katie's passing, these could be the most difficult birthdays they will ever endure. If you would like to help make their birthdays a little more special and with a little extra joy this year, you can donate by using the button below .... Make sure you put a note in your payment letting the organizer know who the donation should go towards - Kevin, the twins, or Hunter.

If you'd like to send cards to the family, you may do so here ....

The Renz Family
PO Box 5913
Bellingham, WA 98227-5913

Sweet Katie, rest in peace. Know that you will be very missed on this earth.

Clearly Inspired #39

Color Challenge time for the Clearly Inspired Challenge!!

Color Challenge -- Use the colors Red Velvet Cake, Spring Leaf, Gold, & Cottonball White. If you don't have those colors come as close as you can.




All I could think about with those colors were Christmas, but I forced myself to think outside the box and came up with this ....



The background embossing was done by using 1/2 of a embossing folder on one side of the paper, flipping the paper, and using the same half on the other side of the paper. I really, really liked how that worked. After it was embossed, I brushed the embossed area with gold ink to give it an antique look. The same gold was used on the sentiment layer.


Card Recipe -
stamps - Mark 16:15
paper - red velvet cake, spring leaf, white
ink - black, gold
accessories - nesties, Cuttlebug, ribbon, folder, pop dots

Head over to Clearly iStamp to get all the details on this challenge!!!


Hope you have a wonderful Friday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!


~*Shell*~