May Flowers Challenge

Hey. Hey. Hey! I hope today finds you in a great mood…and if it doesn't I hope this gets you into one!

We are starting a new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability today and Bren is our host! Bren is not only a great person but she is a wonderfully talented artist so check out her blog here. The new challenge it is a element challenge with a twist of a specific color palette….or is it a color palette with a twist of a specific element? HMMM No matter how you spell it you gotta have this color palette:

 Aren't they wonderful colors?

Now for the twist..you have to add a flower! At least one but I would say more the merrier…flowers always come in a bunch!

Here is my take on it!

I did add a little bit of a darker pink on my project to offset the darker green! I used Louise is Moving for my image and I am planning on giving this card to my daughter! Yes, she is moving back home after 19 long months. Her official move in date is the 26^th of May…the day she "graduates" from 8^th grade! So a big WAHOO for me! Sorry to digress…my papers came from a Close to My Heart kit that I bought ohhhh so many years ago! I colored Louise with Prismacolor markers but for the life of me I can't find where I wrote what I used...so typical me! LOL
Make sure you check out the design teams blogs (they are on the left) and get all the pertinate information here on Guylou's blog.

HUGS

Get Well Soon Kendra!

My beautiful niece Kendra is a very special young lady. She was born with arthrogryposis. Yeah ain't that a mouth full! It is a big word that covers a lot of anomalies. She had club feet, scoliosis, decreased muscle tone, and contracted joints. It is a hell of a lot for one kid and one family to deal with. My step sister Tonya and her husband Kenny did everything you are supposed to; no drinking, stopped smoking, watched what they ate and still Kendra came into this world with this disease looming over her. This was their second child and was in no way expecting this.

We were told that Kendra would not walk without a walker if at all until she was at least 10 and I have to say that she beat that statistic. She danced at my wedding when she was 3…she had braces on her legs but she just kept going!

Kendra is now almost 10 and just had another surgery on the 17^th of this month. She has had so many surgeries I can't keep them straight. She is awake and talking and is doing pretty good. She will be going home probably the 20^th. The bad part besides the surgeries is that they have to go from Naples, Florida to the Shriners Hospital in Tampa…about 2 and half hours' drive. BUT this hospital is amazing! They do all of the surgeries at no cost and even have housing while you are waiting for your child to recuperate. I never realized what the Shriners did until Kendra came into our lives.

Tonya and Kenny have done wonders with her as well as the therapy she goes through and the weekly trips to the Naples Equestrian Challenge. She has a horse named "Dottie" that has become a special friend to her but also has helped her with balance and strength in her legs.

Kendra is one special girl, who is strong and determined! Can be sassy too! Becca, her sister has been a great help to family and is so special in her way! I love them both so much! And am so glad that Kendra's surgery went well!

Here is the card I made for her: (a few pictures too!)

She has made me realize that God gives us what He thinks we can handle and what He thinks we need to learn to handle.

Above is at my wedding in 2004
And this one was just the other day before her surgery!

Happy Birthday Brittany!

Wow do I feel old! My lovely niece Brittany turned 20. I remember when she was first born. My mom and I flew to Florida when she was about 2 months old. So to now see her hit the big 2-0 it shows how time flies! Living this far from my sister and her family is hard, I missed out on a lot of their milestones, but even with that distance we are close. Maybe more so because we don't live down the street, there is no time to fight! LOL

I was lucky enough to see Brittany graduate. AND my sister had me make Brittany an album of her life for her graduation present. I think she really liked it. Here are some pictures of my darling niece and of course her card!

 

I used the Sassy Studio Designs Denim Skirt image. I didn't want to just put happy b-day so I typed a bunch of words that I felt represented her and cut it to fit.

 

Here's a close up 
and the inside



 
The papers are from K&Co Confetti pack and I used my new prismacolor markers.
 

Happy Birthday Sister!

Hey all of you wonderful bloggers out there in cyber land! I wanted to show you a card that I made for my sister, Kris. But first I will give you a bit of background information…

My sister is my best friend. We grew up as typical siblings do; fight, fight, fight but as we both grew in to wives and mothers things started to change. We saw each other as people rather than her seeing me as the tagalong, bratty little sister or me seeing her as the bossy know-it-all. (and yes we were both those things). There were four of us Kranz children…Kevin, 2 years later Keith, 5 years later Kris then me 3 years. Our parents divorced when I was 6 and life as we knew it changed. My sister went back and forth to my dad's while I stayed with our mom. My brothers were old enough that I never saw them! Anyway Kris and I finally became more than sisters, we became best friends.

We both divorced at the same time and I think that brought us even closer. And of course both of us have kids. The hardest part is we are so far away from each other. She lives in Florida and I live way out here in Arizona! We have been lucky that we have been able to visit each other as often as we do. But I miss her every day! She is single with 2 wonderful kids…well one is 21 and the other is 20…so I guess kids is the wrong word! LOL She is a strong beautiful person and I am so proud of her and the life that she has built.

Here are some pictures of us as well as a picture of the card I made her.

Kris and I with our grandma
on Tiger Tail beach
Marco Island, Fl
This was in 1974

This is Kris and I at
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Fl
This was in 1977

This was taken at my wedding
November 26, 2004
She was may matron of honor 
(for the second time)

Happy Birthday Kris!

I love you!

I used the Beach Babies from E.Bell (not sure of the correct name)..the papers are from well can't remember the name but it is from a kit! LOL The flowers are prima roses and the rhinestones are from my stash!

Hope you like it! HUGS

New Release Blog Hop With A Challenge!

A big hello out to all of you in blog land! Hope this post finds you all healthy and happy today. Now grab something to drink and prepare to settle in for a bit because this is a long post!
I want to welcome you to Guylou's Inimitability New Release Blog Hop and the first challenge for the month of May!

First I want to tell you that Guylou is releasing some "kick butt" digital images! She has come up with images that will fit with all types of life happenings…from fishes that party to Leah and her garden! And being one of the members of her great design we got them all! I know that is soooo mean but I can't help it…I love these images. 

I chose to use "Leah Watering Flowers" for not only showcasing one of the new images but also for the next challenge. But before I get too far ahead of myself if you did not get here from Trina's blog…. Then you need to start here and work your way through the design team's blogs. Here is the order you want to follow:

• Guylou's Inimitability Blog
• Trina
• Kim (you are here)
• Sara
• Guylou
• Brenda
• Gina
• Guylou's Inimitability

You want to leave comments on each blog and make sure to add your name and email (will not be displayed) at the last stop before 9 pm on May 8th! (that's when it ends)

Now for the fun part..there are prizes! These are for the blog only...not the challenge... Check it out.....

Three random winners will be selected from the entries (the winners must leave a comment on all the participating blogs).

First Winner

will win this wonderful prize donated by Gina and the Leah in her Garden Digistamps Series.

The kit contains:

• 6 double sided papers from the My Mind's Eye Stella Rose collection 
• 16 pieces of coordinating cardstock in four different colors 
• buttons 
• flowers, most of which are from Wild Orchid Crafts 
• brown crocheted lace 
• turquoise tulle 
• turquoise sheer ribbon 
• orange gingham ribbon 
• brown grosgrain ribbon 
• turquoise gems 
• brown gems 
• flower shaped rain dots 
• sparkly dots

Second Winner

will win the Leah in her Garden Series.

Third Winner

will win the Dysfunctional Fish Family Series.

Make sure you check out everyone's blog you never know what type of inspiration you may get!

Now for the challenge….your element is a shaker box! As I had said or wrote in a post before; each of use design team members get to host a challenge and guess what…this week it's me! I know, I was so excited. But then I started to panic. I mean what if my choice is lame or not challenging enough? But I think that a shaker box theme is not only fun but well, challenging!

So here is my first card using "Leah Watering Flowers"! I used a tutorial for this card which you can find here. I colored her with copics and added dimensional glaze on the water can, water and the flowers. For my shaker box items I used some charms that I happened to have that are little watering cans, pots, and flowers. Then I added some different types of beads…no glitter and on the next card you shall see why!

On this one I used "Mark and Louise Are Expecting" just to do something a bit different…most of my friends have already had their kids…but I just thought this image was so sweet and I had the clothes pins, blocks and pacifier charms. As you can see this one also has beads but I added some glitter….I kinda wish I hadn't because it seems to stick everywhere! Again I colored Mark and Louise with copics and added the buttons and Baby tag to the bottom. The shaker box is a pre made one that I bought at an expo I went to in February. It's a little small but worked out ok I think!

 You also need to check out our guest designer Shelly here.

I really hope you like the two cards I made and I hope you check out the other team members…oh and check out all of the images at Guylou's Inimitability! Follow all the guidelines here (they are listed on the left) and maybe you can win one! The challenge will run from today until May 19^th at 10 pm est. What are you doing go get your booty shaking and make a shaker box!

So you can see the charms inside the shaker boxes better with these closeup pictures! Oh I forgot there is a bee and a butterfly in the garden one!