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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Celebrating Katie's Life

As most of you know, Katie Renz passed away on November 7th after her battle with gastric cancer.  She was a very integral part of the 'family' over at Clear Dollar Stamps.  She was our Design Team Coordinator, and wore many hats at CDS.  She was also the brains behind the Tuesday Tutorials that happen every Tuesday on the Clearly iStamp blog.



I 'met' Katie back in May of 2009, when I joined the Clear Dollar Stamps team.  She was always so encouraging and always took time to answer questions and comment on my posts.  We collaborated on color challenges and shared ideas.  She had a great impact on me and my crafting, and for that I am thankful.  She was my friend, and I am blessed to have known her.

Because we at CDS wanted to show our love to her, we all decided to do a blog hop to honor her life. The hop starts back at Lori's Blog, and then leads you here. Some of us decided to CASE her cards, while others decided to make birthday cards for her boys and husband.  Because I loved her style so much, I went the CASE route.

Katie's card is on the left, and mine is on the right.  I kept her sketch, but changed the colors and the stamp set.  She used the Spring Critters and I used Moose Friends.



On this one, I used the same set and the same layout.  I used the same papers I did as above, because Katie was so good at taking a group of paper and making a bunch of different cards to show off the versatility of the paper.  She was always so inspiring.  Hers is the top and mine is the bottom.  We both used Lamppost Wishes.


I'm not sure I did her cards justice, but she was always so inspiring to me.  

Sadly, Katie left behind a husband and 3 young boys.  If you are wanting a way to donate to help the family there is a forum you can join in order to find ways to help.  


You can register and login to see the different ways that you can help.

The next stop in our Celebration of Katie's Life Hop is Christi.  Thanks for coming by, and thanks for thinking of my friend.

19 comments:

  1. A wonderful tribute to Katie. Great work, Cassie, your cards definately honor Katie's talent. Awesome!

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  2. Cassie your cards turned out wonderful, it's nice to see Katie's inspiration pieces too (:

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  3. Your cards are just perfect and exactly what Katie would have created.

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  4. Awesome. Your cards are beautiful and you did good! Katie was so good at giving us her insights and help on our cards.

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  5. Love your story and your cards.
    Miss Katie dearly!
    Thanks for posting about Operation Renz.
    em

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  6. Beautiful cards! You've made Katie proud!

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  7. Beautifully done Cassie - I know Katie would be proud! xx

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  8. Your cards are beautiful. love how you colored in the background behind the moose. She is smiling!

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  9. Cassie I think you did a fantastic job with both cards, Katie would love them!

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  10. Beautiful Tribute Cassie! Katie would be so proud!!

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  11. You did two! Wow. Love them both Cass. Nice post.

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  12. I love the way you were inspired by Katie's sketch and stamp set. I love both cards. Will you share the sketch? It looks like a keeper and I would like to try it. Thanks for sharing. Edwina Brown edwinabrown@comcast.net

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  13. I think your work would have made Katie happy. We are all inspired by each other. I loved both of your cards. They are both wonderful tributes to her.

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  14. No card can ever be the same, but you did Katie proud with these cards, they are stunning, tfs!!
    lotsa luv and hugs

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  15. I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. Nothing can fill the void she left behind, but having such caring friends as yourself to lend support and caring can sure help.

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  16. What a wonderful tribute to Katie...you have created such beautiful cards, Cassie!!! I know Katie would have loved them, too!!! Your coloring is gorgeous and the papers and colors are sooo pretty!!!!

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  17. I am so very sorry to hear of Katie's passing. You have done a fabulous job of paying tribute to Katie through your cards. Love your work Cassie and I can just picture Katie smiling down from heaven and lovin' your work, too.

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  18. This was such a great idea. I love that you ladies did this. I am sad to think of Katie not being in "our" world anymore but happy to know that she is in the ultimate place. Great job.

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Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. I always appreciate your sweet words :)