The Christmas Gift Can Be Shared Now :)

This is the gift I made my mom. I promised to share after she opened it. I made a video of it on Ustream for a class I gave on etching with Etchall Creme. It lights up but I couldn't get a good pic that way as the camera wouldn't focus with the glare, so here it is unlit.

If you haven't tried Etchall, you really should. You can make some fabulous gifts and decor items with it. Click the name and go check out their products.




Thanks for watching the video! If you're interested, I give classes every other Thursday night at 7:00 pm CST at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-bling-chronicles I would love to have you join us!

Love ya,
~Deb~

Great News!

In my effort to blog more and honor that commitment, I took on a new DT role. That way I will HAVE to blog LOL Seriously though, Miriam's Crafting Supplies has great merchandise for incredibly reasonable prices. If you haven't check out her shop I would encourage you to do that. You'll be amazed at all the incredible items she has and the prices will blow you away! I'm so excited and honored to be part of her group and I know you're going to love her merchandise and the inspiration from my new DT sisters as well.


Also if you Facebook be a fan and you'll get notified first of any new items! Wish me luck and stay tuned for my first project due in January :) Love ya, ~Deb~

The Pictures I forgot to share

When I went to my nieces wedding in South Dakota, I promised I would share the pictures afterward... Well one thing led to another and that didn't occur so I'm sharing them now. I put it together in a movie format to make it easy to see them all. You can't see much of my handy work in it except for the flower for the veil but thought you'd enjoy it anyway.

Thank you for all the support you give me! Big squeezy hugs!



Love ya,
~Deb~

Christmas gift

I made a gift for my mother and I know I promised to be better about blogging, but if I show it she'll see it! Can't have that! So I won't be posting until AFTER Christmas, hope you all understand!

May joy have a joy filled Holiday and a blessed Christmas! Thank you for still being here!

And if you believe in him...

I hope he brings you everything you wish for and more!

Happy Holidays* to all!

Love ya,
~Deb~


*I hope it doesn't offend anyone that I said Happy Holidays. If you look it up, it means happy holy day and there for can be applied to anyone celebrating a holy day which Christmas is. There's your grammar lesson for this week :)

I've been a bad, bad blogger!

OK I owe all of you, my faithful followers, an apology. I've been so busy with funerals, weddings, getting ready to move and holidays that I haven't kept up here very well. I invite you all to come like my fan page on FaceBook where I try to stay more active for the business end and post more pictures of my art lately. I'm going to try to blog at least once a week because I feel like I'm letting  this blog and my followers down. I love you all so much and am so glad to have found you.

Now onto some projects of late...

I've been doing Ustream shows over on The Bling Chronicles Channel. I am really loving being on that DT team! We all share the channel so if you'd like to join us we'd love to have you. Currently we have shows on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays (my show), and Sundays. With the holidays most everyone has taken the month off from doing classes there but I have carried on and even have done extra shows each week. If you'd like to check it out I always announce it when I'm doing a show on my fan page (click the link above and like to be alerted) and all of them are announced on The Bling Chronicles FB page. 

Here's some of the things I've made on the show or posted on my page lately.

A mask for a competition in a closed group...I didn't win but I had fun creating it!

An etched lantern for Jen's wedding

An etched and sprayed glass block.

Bread clay flowers.

Several ornaments for a challenge in The Bling Chronicles

A re purposed witches hat turned Poinsettia Christmas Tree

and finally the first  five of 20 vintage inspired gloves for decorations at the wedding.

I solemnly swear to be better.

Love ya a whole lot!

                    ~Deb~

Wedding Card

If you saw my video on etching the glasses you heard me say I would post the card the next day. Well I ran out of time before having to leave to come to South Dakota. So once here I took the pictures so I could share with you. She is having a rustic wedding so I went with plain brown paper and kraft cardstock to match the theme but dressed it up with lace and shabby flowers. I was happy with the result though my daughter Jen doesn't like the lace hanging off the edge of the card. She may be right but it's done so it is what it is. What's your thoughts?

Love ya,
~Deb~

South Dakota

We arrived in South Dakota last night for my niece's wedding. I'd forgotten just how cold it could be here. It was a very chilly 19 degrees F which was up from 6 that morning! Luckily it is supposed to be in the 50's the rest of the week so overall I'd say we got lucky.

Everyone is super busy preparing for the big day. I'm helping of course but I'm also observing to see what could have been done earlier that will make my life easier come April when Jen's wedding is. When I get home I will share pictures of the event with you,  so until then, keep us in your prayers!

Love ya,
~Deb~

Monogrammed Glasses

I just finished a tutorial for monogramming glasses. I made a set of 32 to give to my niece for her wedding next Saturday. They turned out awesome! I can't tell you enough how great Etchall products are. You really must try them. Mention my name if you order and tell them if you liked the video tutorial.

You can view the video here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7warZl-CWrM&feature=c4-overview&list=UUC21Vw9_1vt80JZ_aqqXHHA

Let me know what you think!

Love ya, 

~Deb~

Winner Announcement!

First let me thank you all for hopping with us on this fun AH Design blog hop. Hope you were all inspired by the fabulous G45 and Shabby Chic kits. My DT Sisters did a fabulous job! We had so much fun creating with these products.

I decided to let my son pick a number between 1 and 7 for the winner of the gift card. His number was 4 so congratulations to Darlene Pavlick! Please email me at hrspecdeb@yahoo.com so I can send you your Amazon Gift Card. It will arrive through email so contact me as soon as you can so I can get that set up for you.

Thanks again everyone! Have a wonderful weekend.

Love ya,
~Deb~

Angela Holt Designs Blog Hop Part DEAUX

Welcome to the second half of the blog hop! First let me welcome all my wonderful new followers! I'm so glad to have you aboard, I can be a bit crazy at times but I hope you'll get a chuckle when I am!

Second, please help me thank our sponsors by visiting their blogs and FB pages and liking them. Click on the pictures and it will take you right to their page.

 Blog  

 FB page

And

 Blog

 FB page

And don't forget to join 

And here we go hop, hop, hopping!

In case you forgot or got here because you follow me, be sure to start at the beginning to increase your chances of winning prizes. Leave some loving comments along the way! At the end of my post is a chance for a prize too! Here's the route:

Angela Holt 

Rhonda M Bewley-Ratliff

Deb Ochs-LaGrone (that's me!)

Nicky Wilcox

Stephanie Bargelski

Itza Gomez

So on with the hop!

Yesterday I featured a Graphics 45 project. Today I want to introduce you to Angela Holt's Shabby Chic Kits. Along with her regular store items, Angela has a subscription service where you can buy a kit jam packed with items to make shabby chic projects. It usually contains lace, multiple flowers, ribbon, bling and lots of filler goodies. It's a fantastic bargain and you can check out more about it by clicking on the picture below.

This month there were some fabulous flowers, fancy trims, beads, ribbons, bling, and lovely laces. I couldn't wait to get started with them! I made two projects so far which I will share with you next but I have SO MUCH LEFT!!! I think I can do at least 4 more projects, probably more. I'm not kidding when I say it's a great deal! So My first project was simple, an altered candle.

I used a piece of my own ivory stretch lace that was 7" wide to cover the glass pillar candle holder.  Then I encircled the top with this gorgeous black dangle trim out of Angela's kit. I adore the crystal dangles hanging down! Next I glued on a black lace flower base, also from Angela's kit. I took a small frame I found for a dollar at Micheal's, removed the back painted it in white gesso, dabbed gold paint on and then sprayed it with Lindy's Stamp Gang Glitz Spritz in Cactus Gold. I found a picture I liked and printed it to fit the frame, then I attached it so it partially covered the black base flower. The flowers you see were all the creamy color you see on the left. I sprayed one with Tattered Angels Black Magic, and one with Tattered Angels Tuscan Sun and then topped it with the Lindy's Cactus Gold. I made a little black bow, inserted some extra pearl sprigs and that was it! Project complete out of her fun Shabby Chic Kit!

The second project I made using her kit included some beautiful Petaloo flowers she added to the kit, some of her bling (the eye), and the bead trim around the tail (still have a long section of that left). I entered a challenge to create a mask for a private FB group I belong to. I thought and thought...I love peacocks so I thought I'd give it a try to transform a peacock into a mask. Here's my creation...

I love how it turned out and it's gonna look great hanging in my new bedroom in Florida!

So that concludes my second portion of the Angela Holt Design Team Blog Hop. Oh wait! I have a drawing for you! Ok here's the rules:

1. Leave a loving comment on each designers hop page (that means 12 comments 6 for today and 6 for Thursday's edition)
2. Enter your info in the linky tool at the bottom of this post.

So what will you win? How about a $20 Amazon gift card so you can buy what ever you need!

Good luck and enjoy the rest of the hop! After you enter your info hop on to Nicky's place.

Love ya,

~Deb~

Angela Holt Designs Blog Hop

Woo hoo! It's our first Design team blog hop and I'm so excited! I started designing for Angela Holt back in August. We've gone through several changes along the way but we are all in cruising mode now and things are going great as a team. I love Angela's shabby creations and she's taught me a lot in the few short months I've been with her. I adore using her products and she's awesome at finding us sponsors!

This months sponsor was Graphic 45. We had the honor of working with their 12 Days of Christmas line. Let me tell you that was not an easy feat. Cutting up the beautiful paper was nerve wracking! I want to keep their paper forever, when I get it, just to be able to stare at it in awe. Well that was not to be this time as they gave me the products to make something to share and inspire you so cut I did! You can see the details below.

If you arrived here from Rhonda's blog then your in the right place, but if you stopped by because you're a follower of mine, be sure to start at the beginning to increase your chances of winning prizes. The order is as follows (click on the names to go to the blogs):

Angela Holt 
Rhonda M Bewley-Ratliff
Deb Ochs-LaGrone (that's me!)
Nicky Wilcox
Stephanie Bargelski
Itza Gomez

Today is only the first of the hop projects. Be sure to come back Thursday for an entirely new set of projects from all the hop designers! My Thursday project will feature Angela's fabulous November edition Shabby Chic Kit. Sign ups for her December kit will begin November 1st and are only available for purchase for 1 week. Don't get left behind and miss out by not getting your order in on time!

With out further ado...My Graphic 45 Design Team Project

I created a hot air balloon ornament using a burned out light bulb. I started by putting alcohol ink in cranberry all over the glass part of the bulb. Then I cut a strip of the Graphic 45 My True Love paper and adhered it to the silver bottom of the bulb. I lined the inside with some hanging bead trim and the outside with some opalescent goldish thin ribbon as a border.

Next I created the basket area. I took apart a ring box and created the basket bottom by adhering more of the My True Love paper. Trimmed it with the same dangle trim, added some of the beautiful leaf lace pieces from Angela's Shabby Chic Kit in the corners. 

Next I added the strands of seed beads to make the beaded bunting look on the bulb and draped the pieces down to attach to the basket. When I had it as level as I could get it, I reinserted the slotted ring holder piece, fussy cut one of the dancing ladies to sit in the basket, and started embellishing.

I added loads of flowers, in colors to match the G45 paper, a few pieces of fussy cut pears, trees and other odds and ends. I wanted this ornament to be fully loaded!

Graphic 45 also included a set of their fabulous tags so I took two of those and cut out the 12 days of Christmas sign to attach at the top and a Seasons Greetings sign for the bottom.

And here's a view of the back...

This paper is just stunning and so great to work with! It's sturdy enough to hold it's shape when it's fussy cut and the double sides allow it to look great from the back view as well. I really enjoyed working with this collection! I'm sure you'll see more as we get closer to Christmas.

So if you've reached the bottom and are still reading, here's the info about the prize I'll be giving away on my blog only for this hop. It will be available only to those who:

1. Leave a loving comment on each designers hop page (that means 12 comments 6 for today and 6 for Thursday's edition)
2. Enter your info in the linky tool that will be available on Thursdays blog post.

Pretty easy huh? You won't get to see the prize package until Thursday either but I'm hoping you're excited enough to come back, enjoy our inspiration projects, and find out what you could win! Prizes will be awarded after the hop ends on Friday November 1st. Check back on Saturday to see if you won! Now...

Be sure to come back and follow the hop again Thursday. Be on your way to your next stop now, the fabulous Nicky Wilcox.

Love ya,
~Deb~

Another completed Wedding Project

Wow this wedding is time consuming! Making everything myself is bigger than I had thought...it's worth every second though since it's for my only daughter.

Jen showed me a picture on Pinterest of some bottles that she loved and wanted for the head table.

Here's the "Pinspiration" picture

I have no idea who pinned it originally as there is no link, sorry to who ever created this.

And here's what I made with the idea.

Now to figure out what flowers to put in it!

The flowers are all hand made and I'll be teaching a class on the peach flower on UStream November 7th at 7pm CST. Love it if you join me! I'll post the link for the class that day.

We leave for Florida to get my husband moved on Thursday. Guess it's no surprise to any of you that my blog is, and will continue to be, spotty. Hope you love me enough to stick around! Hugs my friends.

Love ya,
~Deb~

No Sew Tablecloth

Hi Everyone!

Last month I made an altered witches dress if you remember. I wanted to use it as my table centerpiece. I have a black table but I didn't have a table cloth for Halloween. What's a girl who's picky to do? Well make one of course...but I don't sew. So off to Hobby Lobby I go to see what I can come up with. I found this fabulous glittered spider web material and some jack'o'lantern printed burlap and thought that's the ticket! So here is my new no sew table cloth with my centerpiece all ready to go!

Yes it's a looooong table!

Love ya,
~Deb~

Garters Are a Joke?

Thought I would share this with you lovely people.

On top of my daughter getting married in April to which I am completely designing the wedding for, I am also helping my niece who is getting married in November. Among other things, she asked me to make her garters, one to wear and one to throw. When I asked what she wanted, she showed me a couple of inspiration pictures but, and I quote, "I'll love anything you make."

Oh yeah! probably not the thing to tell me LOL so I am going to have a little fun with her. I created 3 instead of 2 and the first one her mother is going to tell her is what I made for her to wear. So NOT what she had in mind and bulky icky too (bwahahahaha ---evil laugh).

Just before she breaks down her mother will give her the real garters...I'm so mean aren't I?

Oh her colors are ivory and rose-gold...she's doing a rustic vintage wedding.

Love ya,

~Yes, I really can be a prankster, Deb~