Bling, Bling, Bling...It's News Time

I made it! I made the Angela Holt 
Team! I'm soooo super excited!!!! 
(bet you can tell by all the exclamation 
points huh LOL) OK so I've been 
attending her classes for about six (6) 
months now and when she did her 
DT call I really didn't think I'd have 
a chance. She has a large following. 
When she told me I was in but I 
couldn't tell right away I wanted to 
burst! But then the funeral happened
and so I couldn't be on here anyway.

With the new team comes a new site.
The Bling Chronicles, check it out, http://theblingchronicles.ning.com 
You'll find a new community of 
crafters along with tutorials, stores, 
and fabulous projects. I think you're 
going to love it! It's still brand new 
and so it's your chance to get in and 
help us build it into what you want 
to see. We can always use suggestions! 
Come and join us and get in on the
ground floor!!!

So here's the whole team...be sure 
to check them all out, they are so 
talented!

I want to Introduce to you the 
Angela Holt Designs Fall/Winter 
2013 Design Team

We are all ready to share, create 
and inspire you with each of our 
design concepts, tutorials, and more!!

So come sit a spell and embark 
on this creative journey with us!! 

Your Professional Crafting 

Educator and Designer

Angela Holt

Rhonda Ratliff

Hello there!!… Rhonda here, from Kentucky and I thought 
I'd share a little bit about ME!… I am married to the 
greatest guy in the world and have four awesome kids... 
all of which are grown now which has allowed me the 
opportunity to do more crafting. I have been crafting since 
about the 4th grade when my teacher showed me how to 
work with oil pastels in art class... from there it has been 
a little bit of everything. Till I found a love for creating 
cards and invitations, floral design and my new passion in 
altered art. I have been blogging about a awhile now... 
and LOVE IT!I have had a wonderful time meeting new 
people, learning many awesome techniques and been 
given many great opportunities. The crafting world has 
opened many adventurous doors for over the last year 
and I am loving every minute of it.

Find my links: 

• Blog: http://www.flowersbyrhonda.blogspot.com/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/rhonda.bewleyratliff
• Facebook Fan Page:https://www.facebook.com/FlowersAndMoreByRhonda 

 Deb Ochs-LaGrone (it's me!!!)

Hi all you Bling Chronicles fans! I am so thrilled to be a 
DT member for Angela and can’t wait to share all my 
blinged out art work with you. First let me tell you a 
little about who I am as a designer and crafter.

I grew up in the military and traveled around a lot. 
We relied heavily on our family for entertainment as 
such. My dear sweet mother loved to craft and taught 
us all kinds of different mediums. She taught my sisters
how to sew, though I never caught that bug and can’t 
sew a straight stitch! She painted and tried to teach 
us a love for drawing, I’m not very good at that either 
LOL. She taught us ceramics, macramé, ornament making, 
and all sorts of other crafty goodness. I was very blessed 
to grow up with a creative mom.

My dad could fix or make anything. He passed some of 
those genes on to me and last year I created a whole 
new back yard complete with a waterfall feature, 
covered bar with an outdoor refrigerator and grilling area, 
and a slate and glass tiled patio surface. A little assistance 
was given by my family when I needed an extra set of 
hands but basically I created it on my own. I think I burned 
the satellites out with all the calls for advice to my dad.

I have two fabulous (most of the time) children ages 20 
and 17 who are both talented artists in their own right.
I’ve always tried to encourage that as I think it’s a corner 
stone in life. It saddened me to see schools pulling art out 
of the curriculum as it really enhances education and just 
your view on life in general. I feel lucky to be able to 
help my kids still have that outlet at home. I also have a 
10 month old foster grandchild who consumes a lot of my 
time but I am loving it! She’s such a sweet baby.

What I’m trying to say is that I LOVE to craft, anything, 
anywhere, anytime! I don’t have a particular specialty 
necessarily, but crafting with paper is my favorite medium.

Thanks so much for giving me the chance to share with you 
and I hope you enjoy looking at, and maybe getting some inspiration from, my pieces. You can find more of my art 
by visiting my blog, A Look Through My Eyes, found at http://alookthroughmyeye.blogspot.com 

Enjoy a crafty life,

Deb Ochs-LaGrone

Dawn Smith

I am a stay at home MOM with a ton of kids.4 from a 
previous marriage, 2 step and 3 from my current marriage. 
Yes I am a little insane, but I wouldn't trade it for anything 
in the world. I have 2 dogs (they are pitbull/bullmastiff 
mixes) Cin and Tink and we have 2 Tortoises named 
Neptune and Turk and about 20 fish all named after 
Harry Potter characters. My husband, Shad, is the love 
of my life and the heart of my existence, without him 
there would be no me. We have been together for 14 
years. We have survived the good and the bad 
and it has only brought us closer together. I have a 
serious scrap booking addiction, I guess that also mean 
I have a photo obsession too because i have to have 
something to scrap, right?! My kids all insist that they are 
being followed by the paparazzi. They joke about taking 
out a restraining order against me. 
Happy crafting!

Blog:  http://strawberryrainsdelights.blogspot.com/

 Facebook: 

http://www.facebook.com/dawn.smith.5891

http://www.facebook.com/Kre8tiveKustomsByDawnSmith

 Itza Gomez

MY FIRST LOVE IS MY HUSBAND AND MY SECOND LOVE 
I MUST SAY ... ARE MY CRAFTS... I HAVE BEEN HAPPILY 
MARRIED TO A WONDERFUL MAN FOR 13 YEAR AND HAVE 
BEEN CRAFTING AND MAKING JEWELRY FOR OVER 8 YEARS 
NOW. MY AFFAIR WITH CRAFTS FIRST STARTED WITH 
JEWELRY MAKING AND EVER SINCE THEN MY WORLD HAS 
CHANGED AND ONLY PROGRESSED TO OTHER CRAFTS. 
AT THE CURRENT TIME SCRAP BOOKING AND MIXED 
MEDIA ARTS HAVE BEEN KEEPING ME UP LATE AT NIGHT. 
MAKING MINI BOOKS AND ALTERING WOOD BOXES AND 
FRAMES ARE BECOMING MY GUILTY PLEASURES...

Blog: itzathoughts.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/itzathoughts

 Nicky Wilcox

With her creative spark, Nicky has an eye of making 
something out of nothing!!!  "I share simple home decor, 
upcycle and craft projects with people who are looking 
for friendly tutorials and affordable ideas."

Blog: http://www.ladyjasmine.co.uk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicky.c.wilcox

Stay tuned for tomorrows post! I'll 
be showing you the latest challenge 
at The Bling Chronicles along with 
Krystal's take on it. Her project is adorable!!! 
In the mean time go sign up and 
join the fun...

http://theblingchronicles.ning.com 

Love ya,

~Deb~

Must Apologize Again

Due to a death in the family, I will be out of town and not posting for about 2 weeks. Hope you understand.

~Deb~

All That Buzz!

Hi,

Krystal here, thanks for all the wonderful comments and support. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. If anyone can be an inspiration, it's definitely people on the outside looking in. So again, Thank you so much for understanding that God doesn't make bad people, but rather He makes good people who sometimes make bad decisions. 

Onward!

This is my first blog post, so please bare with me and we will see how this goes. LOL

I had no idea what a mixed media canvas was until I saw Deb making her last one. While I worked on other things, I found myself glancing over and over again at her work of art thinking how beautiful it was turning out. That was my inspiration to start making this. She asked me for a couple of ideas and I gave mine freely. As I watched it all unfold, I was just amazed at the talent she had and quickly began to think of what I could do if I made one.

My First Lesson:

The first lesson I had to learn was patience. I'm not a patient person at all. LOL. I rushed to the store, spent too much money on all these things I pictured on my canvas... Only to get home to start my project and realize I didn't know the first thing about making a mixed media canvas... After the initial disappointment set in, Deb instructed me to go onto you tube and start researching. 

The first tutorial I watched was a Halloween themed mixed media. I remember being completely awed as I watched the transformations take place. Oh, to my delight I wanted to make that exact one... Haha. After that video I was hooked! I spent my days working and taking care of my daughter and my evenings were filled with my eyes glued to youtube. I learned what many products were used for, different techniques and how a few off the wall items can make your projects truly spectacular. I found myself thinking ahead of the videos and realized that I would have done some of the exact same things as those particular artists. What I learned most however, is that you are only truly limited by your own imagination. So video after video, hour after hour, and many nights up till 3-4 am, I realized I better start putting my thoughts into actions. This was getting completely out of control. I feared I would turn into a zombie at any second! LOL

And so I started..With canvas in hand, I began to paint a background using fabric 3d paints with glitter. It looked great when I finished so I got a little more brave. I found a stamp of some heart patterns and began to stamp on the background for that "awesome" effect. However.. it looked hideous! Haha But I thought I could save it, so I went ahead and added the texture for the flowers.. 

Lesson Number Two:

All things can be fixed.. Gesso here I come! So I covered it up with a couple of layers of Gesso and started again. This time I used some of the Tattered Angels Glitter Mists. That is how the background came to be. I added the stars next. I used a bit of leaves ribbon on the bottom, thinking that would give a vine effect. Then I gesso'd and began to paint! The leaves were the hardest to do because at first they faded out. I fixed it by adding a little fabric paint to highlight the leaves and vines. Next came the flowers, and I started with orange.. that is how I ended up with the orange-sunflowers. 

Lesson Number Three:

Art never really turns out the way you imagined it! I went into this with a girlish frame of mind. I envisioned neon colors and bright glitter, sparkles and bling.. Only to discover, this would be anything but. LOL

After painting, I added the beads and stained insects. I painted the borders and made a few mistakes, so now I needed something to cover up the mistakes. That's how I ended up with the border and the lace around the canvas itself. Last but not least, the beautiful butterfly went on last.

Over all, I am so excited to have finished this project and made it out with all my hair, and a beautiful piece of work. I've never been so proud of something I have made, EXCEPT my beautiful Evangeline. :)

Well guys, that's my first mixed media canvas and my first blog post. I cannot thank you guys enough for taking time out of your day to read this, and I hope you continue to support me as I grow not only within my own imagination, but as well as spiritually and maturely to become the best person I can be for myself and for my daughter as well.

Krystal

OK so....

Well I just thought I was back last week LOL! God had other plans for me.

So I tried out for another design team. This time Angela Holt Designs. She's having a DT call and you can try out until the end of July. You have to make a video response and show off your stuff. Wouldn't it be cool if a bunch of us friends made it on together? You can go to her FB page https://www.facebook.com/AHoltDesigns or her blog http://www.angelaholtdesigns.com/2013/07/angela-holt-designs-dt-call.html to find out more information on how to try out. Go ahead and do it! It's so fun being a part of a DT.

She's going to be opening a new NING forum for crafter's and I hope you will all join. It's going to be awesome from what she's told me. There will be video tutorials, a market place for selling your crafts or products, groups, features, all kinds of cool stuff. I'm definitely in.

Here's my audition video. It's bit blurry but hey...it works.

So what do you think? I hope I make it!!!

Hoping I see you again soon...

Love ya,

~Deb~

Introducing...

*Warning*  some graphic language contained.

You all know that I have been fostering a baby for the last few months. What you don't know is the story behind it. Krystal has given me permission to share her story with you here. It's not a happy story and you may think the worst at first, but trust me when I tell you the ending is gonna be great!

Everyone has a story. Some stories are scary, happy or sad, some are romantic or lonely, others are boring. Many are about adventures and journeys, laughing till you cry or crying til your empty, but most are a mixture. This is one of those stories, a mixture of love, pain, and growing through it all.

Krystal grew up in a bit of a dysfunctional family. Her parents divorced when she was six (6) over issues involving gambling, infidelity, and other personal things on both parents parts. That's their story and I only included it for you to see that there were actual issues affecting Krystal's life. Abuse and neglect ensued for some time against herself and her brother to the extent that the courts got involved. The mother retained custody since the abuse was not happening in her home but by this time her mother was depressed and becoming ill. She spent a lot of her time in bed and Krystal took care of herself and her now two younger brothers. She spent a lot of time with a male relative near her age, they became what she thought was best friends, until he raped her, repeatedly, for over 3 years. She was nine (9) years old when it began. When she finally told a parent, they didn't react the way she felt they should and her relationship with that parent deteriorated even further. A year later the mother picked the family up and moved them to another state to live with a woman she had meet on the Internet. Krystal was 13.



Life for Krystal was a little better in this new place except for the fact that her mothers mental health was getting worse. She wasn't able to hold down a job for long periods and spent much of her time in bed, a common symptom of depression. Krystal was left to do the cleaning and much of the raising of her brothers. She became a loner resorting to time on the Internet. At the age of 15 she met her first love in a chat room. He came down in the summers, took her to prom, and attended her graduation. He gave her life meaning.

Upon graduation he moved with her back to Texas and the two were married. Her grandparents bought them a mobile home, placed it on their property and life began in earnest. During this time she experimented with marijuana. In her mind it was "just weed" so not really a "bad" drug (I completely disagree but this isn't my story). They were together for 2 years in a mostly happy relationship when she caught him cheating with someone on the Internet having virtual sex. The marriage was over. Her life was turned upside down again.

Once again she picked herself up and moved on. She met another man and moved to west Texas to be with him. The marijuana use continued and turned into harder substances and worse addictions. Still she felt happier, probably because drugs numb your senses, and the relationship grew. They spent a year living in that west Texas town before returning to Krystal's home on her grandparents property. Everything seemed to be going well between them but her grandmothers mental state was not good and she was harsh with her words. One evening the grandmother blew up over something trivial and told them to leave. The next day they packed up and went back to west Texas. Drug use picked back up again.

Eleven months later her mother moved back to Texas and moved into the house that the grandparents bought for Krystal and her ex husband. Krystal and her boyfriend came for a visit and, while there, they got caught with a bag of marijuana and her grandmother exploded. Told the boyfriend to get off the property and called Krystal some very ugly things and accused her of selling herself. This was probably the biggest hurt Krystal could imagine coming from the one person who had pretty much always been there for her. She became so angry she punched a steel grill and shattered her hand. It caused a deep and abiding scar on Krystal's soul and it took a long time for her to repair that relationship with her grandmother. So Krystal and her boyfriend left and went to her fathers home but they weren't allowed to stay there either. Because Krystal had to stay for medical care of her hand, her father gave them money for the boyfriend to return to west Texas with the plan to come pick her up when her hand was healed and she was released by the doctor. The day before he was to return he had a friend text her and tell her it was over between them and he wasn't coming to get her. Self esteem plummeted, drug use got worse, and she resorted to being a loner and gaming on the net again.

Gaming was where she met her current husband. They were both struggling to get off drugs and carried on a long distance relationship for quite some time. After a while he moved here to be with her and they stayed drug free for a while. Eventually they went back to smoking pot (after all it was "just weed" and not "bad") but as drug abuse goes, they got started with other things too though pot remained their drug of choice along with drinking. Their relationship was tumultuous at best but they did have happy times and 3 years into the relationship she got pregnant so the decision to get married was made.

The night before the wedding he took off and stated that he didn't know if he could go through with it. Her family, who already didn't like him, went out to find him and bring him back. They did and the next day the wedding went on as planned. Krystal smoked pot a couple of times while pregnant but after an incident where she had to go to the hospital and they found it in her system, she was forced to quit. It was either that or they would take the baby from her when it was born. They both quit and Krystal stayed clean throughout the rest of the pregnancy, her husband did not. Through out the pregnancy she was dealing with the stress of knowing her husband could cause them to lose the baby and at the same time her grandmother was dying. Life was not easy and she nearly fell apart when her grandmother, whom she had become close to again, died one month before Eva was born. Krystal sunk into severe depression.

Eva was born and Krystal worked hard to provide a clean and safe environment among a family that had basically decided now that Grandma was gone they could do whatever they wanted in the house. The uncle and cousin moved in and left messes everywhere. The mother and one brother didn't clean but cooked and left the kitchen a disaster. Plates, cups, cans etc. were left on the floor along with dog urine and feces from the numerous dogs the mother acquired. The house soon became too much for her to handle on her own so they (the baby, her husband and herself) resorted to staying in their own room where she could keep it clean. However, staying in a small area with a baby gets old and contributes to depression (she had been diagnosed with it prior to Grandmother's death). She started drinking and doing pot again along with other risky behaviors.

One night in March, CPS showed up at their house. Someone  and she doesn't know who, had called and told the agency about the drug use and the unkempt house. They were set to remove the child immediately from their care. They had two options, voluntarily give her to someone (called a safe house) or they would take it to court and get state ordered custody. By voluntarily giving her to someone they could choose the caretaker (provided that person passed background checks) and work out a visitation schedule. If the state took her they would be allowed one hour of visitation per week and the child would be in an official foster home. Obviously they chose to give her to someone they know.

I was in south Texas for my Dad's 80th birthday party when I got the call asking if we could come get her and keep her for 90 days. Honestly I was shocked to be asked but I didn't hesitate. This is my soon to be son in laws family and while I didn't know everything that had been happening, I knew it was not a good situation so I stepped up to do what I could. My wonderful husband drove back home so that he could receive her while I stayed in order to drive my sister to the airport the next day.

Upon my return we had a whirlwind of meetings and purchasing and baby proofing to do. I hadn't had a young child in the house in years so I wasn't prepared in any way. But we made it work and we have fallen in love with this little girl. The time frames have been moved as CPS has gotten more information and we expect to have her for six (6) months to a year from the date she arrived.

The day after she came to us chaos erupted at the couples home. A physical fight occurred in which three of their family members were injured due to the actions of the husband (I wasn't there so I don't know what truly happened but I know he participated in the events). The police were called and Krystal's husband went to jail. He was in jail for 5 weeks and during that time Krystal pulled herself up by her bootstraps. Moved out of the family home and into an apartment with my daughter and her brother and tried to make a go of it. She was contemplating divorce but was still unsure. She loved him even if mistakes were made. When he got out she went with him to north Texas to his family home for two days so they could talk and decide what to do. Still unsure, she came home to think about it and after a time decided to give him a chance as he swore he would never do drugs again, never drink or get violent again, and started a job that paid decent so he could support the family.

Krystal's family was obviously not happy with that decision and she felt she needed to move out of her brother's apartment. We happen to have a cottage on our property and my daughter lived there prior to moving in with her fiance this spring. We opened it to Krystal so she could have a safe place, spend more time with Eva, and get on her feet. The conditions were she was to work for me cleaning house and doing things I needed done around the studio in exchange for housing and utilities. A deal was struck and she moved in. Less than a week later her husband called. He had failed his drug test for work. She was devastated but that was the final straw. She knew she had to leave him for good and make it on her own.

There haven't been a lot of good solid people in her life and as such she has a hard time trusting. Over the last few weeks we've built a friendship and I am trying hard to help her understand that good people do exist that there are people who care. Paul cares, her friend Chris cares, and of course I CARE. I care what happens to Eva. I want that little girl to grow up in a safe normal environment. To have opportunities in life and to not follow the path her parents originally chose. I also care about Krystal very much. I want her to know that life can be good and that bad things happen but we can still go on. I want her to know that she doesn't have to give up and take the easy road of self destruction. I want her to learn to be the beautiful self confident person that I know she can be. I want her to learn forgiveness and empathy. I want her to be happy and believe in people again. So yes I care, I care very much about this small family and their well being. I hope that someone would care this much and help if it were my child going through this. I believe without a shadow of a doubt that there are enough good people out there to make this world a better place if we can just help each other.


So that's the story of Krystal's life. The great part is, she is drug free, plans to continue to stay that way for her daughters sake and has built a support group of an old friend from her childhood and Paul and I. She has some repairing to do in her familial relationships but that takes time. So I put her to work in the studio and discovered that she has talent. Real, honest to goodness, raw talent. So not only is she working for me but she is now my assistant. I am teaching her the ropes and we are going to try an Etsy store together. We are currently working on that and I will let you know when it's up and running. Please help me welcome this wonderful young lady who's art work you will soon see on here and eventually you will see posts from her as well. So may I introduce to you Krystal Pittman, the talented young artist who is growing by leaps and bounds.

Love ya,

~Deb~

I'm Back and it's GDT time!

Hello all my wonderful friends! I have missed you all and am glad to be caught up enough to be able to get back to blogging. I must say I miss talking to you all. I've managed to visit a few sites over the last month but not as many as I would have like to sooo, I will visiting everyone in my followers list this week to see what you have been up to. I'm ready to see all the crafty goodness.

For today I am going to tell you about the creations I made for my GDT position for the month of July. If you remember I told you that Gecko Galz asked me to take the month of July and I was very honored to be included. I spent part of the last month making 7 different creations from their fabulous images and I had so much fun! It was relaxing and therapeutic. I'd love for you to hop over to their site and see what I made. Here's a sneak peek, but to see it all you need to go to http://www.geckogalz.com/artistspotlight.html 

So now for the sneak peeks:

Hope you enjoyed it and went over to see the entire set of projects.
I'll be back tomorrow with some news and an update of my month. Thanks for sticking with me! You guys are the best.

Love ya,
~Deb~