Linda Walsh Originals Blog

CRAFTSY.com - A New Venue For Pattern Designers

2012-01-31T04:40:00.046-05:00

If you're a pattern designer, like me, you might want to visit Craftsy.com as they are adding a FREE PATTERN sales service for Indie Designers to their website that is set to launch in February 2011. It's a win-win for pattern designers as right now it's totally FREE for pattern designers to upload and sell their e-patterns on Craftsy.com.

Here's what they had to say about selling patterns on their website:

Why Indie Designers sell their patterns on Craftsy -

As an independent designer, you want to get your patterns in front of great crafters looking for inspiration. Plus, you need to get the most out of every sale and your marketing budget. That's why we've made Craftsy free for independent designers to sell patterns to our huge audience of enthusiastic crafters. When you sell your patterns on Craftsy:

It's free. Buyers buy directly from you via PayPal. Craftsy does not charge any fees. End of story.

It's hassle-free. You use a simple form to set up your lovely pattern sales pages, and Craftsy handles the rest. Buyers download your pattern directly (no email headaches). You get paid!

You get your patterns out to a vibrant, growing craft community. With over 1 Million Facebook fans and 500K monthly visitors and counting, Craftsy is a rapidly growing marketplace where great designers can connect with LOTS of potential buyers.

You create an ongoing relationship with your customers. As a small business owner, you know it's critical to stay engaged with your best customers. On Craftsy, your followers get notified every time you post a new pattern. Buyers are encouraged to post photos of their finished projects and review your pattern. Popular patterns can gain even more attention on leaderboards, increasing sales and reputation within the community.

Craftsy.com is a crafting community that offers online classes and workshops in all sorts of crafts as well as holding MeetUp Craft parties and events all over the world. They also offer free projects, crafting challenges, a blog, and great deals on craft supplies. And, soon they will be offering e-patterns.

According to the buzz they are one of the fastest growing crafting communities on the web. They went online in March 2011 so they are still a relatively new community.

I became a member, set-up a profile page, and then set-up a pattern store for selling my e-patterns. The set-up and adding of e-patterns is EXTREMELY easy to do and takes no time at all. Besides selling your e-patterns you can also offer free e-patterns and projects for the community, which I did.

You can include a description on your profile page as well as links to your blog and websites(s). Your page will have a tab for your projects and your pattern store. If you'd like to see my Linda Walsh Craftsy.com profile page please CLICK HERE.

This is a win-win for e-pattern sellers. If you're a pattern designer you might want to check out Craftsy.com as a new venue for selling your e-patterns.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

Eye Candy For The Soul

2012-01-24T16:53:00.004-05:00

It's always nice when in the middle of a somewhat blah day you get pleasantly surprised. It's equally as nice when it's something that lifts your spirits.

As I was getting ready to take an afternoon walk with hubby several days ago I walked into the kitchen and saw my darling hubby standing there beaming.

Right next to him was a HUGE bouquet of flowers. And, I do mean HUGE!

They were beautiful, glorious, stunning, exquisite and, quite literally, took my breath away. If I had been in a somewhat blah mood before seeing them I certainly wasn't after that.

Not only were the colors absolutely beautiful, but and the size of the lilies and daisies were astounding.

They were amazing. A wonderful example of the beauty of nature.

Something that cannot be replicated. Something that has the ability to change ones mood, ones frame of mind, to lift them up. To fill the air with a sweet scent of nature.

And something hubby and I have been pleasantly enjoying for several days on end.

I don't think the pictures really do them justice. You can't really tell from the pictures how beautiful and BIG they were.

Of course, to a flower lover (which I certainly am) there is nothing quite as beautiful as the sheer elegance of a flower. And, there is nothing quite as wonderful as being pleasantly surprised. Especially when that surprise has the ability to change ones mood. To make everything seem possible.

Even though the natural beauty of cut flowers can only be enjoyed for a few short days they are still beautiful to behold.

They are quite literally - eye candy for the soul.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

Our New "It's Raining Baby Showers" Baby Store Gallery

2012-01-24T05:03:00.001-05:00

We are so pleased to offer our Linda Walsh Originals "It's Raining Baby Showers" Baby Store Gallery at Zazzle.com. Please note that all transactions for purchasing any of the baby items are between you (the customer) and Zazzle.com.

We have lots of baby shower invitations, favors, and gifts to choose from and have created several product collections for our different graphic lines to make it easier to shop. Each of our collections has been created to include complementing designs within the individual product collections and within our entire "It's Raining Baby Showers" Baby Store Gallery collection. Our baby store product gallery collections are as follows:

OUR "IT'S RAINING BABY SHOWERS" BABY STORE GALLERY PRODUCT COLLECTIONS

Our "It's Raining Baby Showers" Zazzle Gallery Collections

Baby Nicky Collection	It's A Boy & It's A Girl Dolls Collection
It's A Boy! It's A Girl! Collection	It's Raining Babies! Collection

© 2011-2012 Copyright Linda Walsh Originals - Designs By Linda Walsh.

Our designs are perfect for coordinating baby shower invitations, envelopes, & stamps as well as coordinating baby shower favors, ornaments, decorations, centerpieces, with the rest of our baby shower patterns, printables, fabrics, books, etc. Between our baby shower gallery products, our patterns, our printables, and our fabric you have everything you need for planning the perfect old-fashioned baby shower.

Our "It's Raining Baby Showers" Baby Store Gallery products are as follows:

OUR "IT'S RAINING BABY SHOWERS" BABY STORE PRODUCTS

View more gifts at Zazzle.

Doing A Little Housekeeping Over On Top Blogs By Crafters

2012-01-17T04:16:00.000-05:00

It's that time of the year again and I've been doing a little annual housekeeping on Top Blogs By Crafters and Top Blogs By Crafters toplist. As a result I deleted close to 70 blogs that were no longer being actively maintained.

I don't know about all of you, but I find it sad when I have to delete a blog. I just LOVE crafts and craft blogs so, for me, it's always sad to see so many blogs go. Especially if they've been around for awhile and up to the last year or two were posted in. Many of the blogs I deleted had been members since 2006 and 2007, but were no longer being actively maintained.

I hope you know that I'm always trying to find ways to bring attention to the fantastic blogs of the members of Top Blogs By Crafters. Last year I set-up a Top Blogs By Crafters" Facebook page which gets a lot of attention.

This year I decided to set-up a "Top Blogs By Crafters" board on my LWOriginals Pinterest.com page and have been slowly adding members blogs to the board. Some of the members banners were not large enough (pixel wise) to upload to Pinterest.com so while I was out reviewing the blogs I took the opportunity to update a few of the current members blogs banners. I'm still working on this, but we're getting a lot of "likes" and "re-pins" over there which is good. Hopefully, that's translating into more exposure for all the blogs.

Also, while doing a little housekeeping I spruced up Top Blogs By Crafters with some new wallpaper and stream lined the format a little.

We still have 504 active members with fantastic blogs. I could spend all day doing nothing but reading through some of the members blogs and drooling over some of their creations. Everyone is just so talented.

If you haven't checked out some of the blogs on Top Blogs By Crafters lately, please pay us a visit. If you love arts & crafts, artists, and crafters then you will love browsing through the members blogs. Bring a pot of coffee. You'll be there a while.

Maybe bring a napkin or two. I'm sure you'll be drooling, too!

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

Broom graphic courtesy of All-Free-Download.com .

Christmas Pin 2011

2012-01-14T04:35:00.000-05:00

I was surprised when I went to write this blog post as I was sure I had written about it every Christmas since 2005. Obviously what I had remembered and what actually happened were two different things. It seems the last time I had written about this was December 2008. It's not fun when your mind starts to play tricks on you as you get older. It's either that or I just have too many fires going at the same time and can't keep track of all of them. Probably the latter!

If you're a reader of my Linda's Blog then you know that I love Christmas traditions and have been posting for a couple of years about a Christmas tradition my Dad started a very long time ago. Or, so I thought!

Many, man years ago my Dad wanted to give "his girls" meaning my Mother, myself, and my sister something special for Christmas. Back then the term "his girls" did not imply the possessive chauvinistic implications that it does today. To my Dad it was nothing more than a term of endearment. One that separated us from "his boys", my brothers.

So my Dad decided to buy each of "his girls" a special Christmas pin to wear during the holidays. He bought us pins the first year, and then the second, and so on and so on and so on. My wonderful husband decided to carry my Dad's tradition on after he passed away. So, every year he gives me a Christmas pin. Sometimes he can't decide which one he likes best so I get two special Christmas pins. That's okay with me as I cherish each and every one of them.

This year hubby gave me the Christmas Santa & reindeer pin shown above. It's an adorable and cheery little pin and totally unlike any of the others I have in my collection. I just LOVE it.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

More Christmas Gifts - Noel Ornament Cross-Stitch

2012-01-13T04:33:00.000-05:00

Hubby liked the cross-stitch bird stamp that I had created for my sister-in-law so much that he asked if I was going to do one for us. I, of course, said "SURE!" After all if you're a cross-stitch junkie who can resist an invitation to create another cross-stitch. Definitely not me!

I only had two bird stamps left and decided to go with the "Noel Ornament" as it was also very festive and cheery. Plus, since the Dimensions Gold Collection Petites were all 4 1/4" squares I knew I could make a small picture for us as well.

Like the other Dimensions Gold Collection kits I had bought the "Noel Ornament" kit included the pattern, pre-sorted cotton thread, 18 count ivory cotton Aida, felt, needle and instructions. They also said that thick craft glue and quilt batting would be needed.

The "Noel Ornament" pattern uses full counted cross-stitch, half cross-stitch and outline stitching for emphasis and depth and this detailing really makes the picture stand out. The design of this cross-stitch gives the finished picture a 3 dimensional aspect with the half cross stitch and outlining being used for artistic effect.

The pattern came with starting, stitching, finishing and even cleaning instructions as well as samples of the various stitches required, and color coded keys (with code #'s, lengths, color names, and cross-stitch symbols) and a chart with color coded symbols. The colors and symbols on the keys and chart were easy to read and follow.

While I was very pleased with the end results of this design there are some things in the kit and in the instructions that can be improved upon.

As was the case with previous Dimensions kits the thread sorter was poorly designed. The embroidery threads were glued to two foam backed 6" by 1 1/4" strips of cardboard that had a picture of the color of the thread and it's number. In order to get to the threads you had to separate the foam back from the cardboard strip. Very quickly the threads separated from their section and then you no longer knew what the thread number was to tie to your symbols & legends. I had to punch a hole in the thread sorter cardboard strip just below the color of the thread & it's number and then insert the threads through the hole and tie them in a loose knot so my threads, colors, and numbers would stay together.

I also added the symbols to the strip to make reading the chart easier. To make things even easier for the user the color symbol should have been shown on the thread sorter strip of cardboard as well. That way you would only need to use the thread sorter strip of cardboard to follow your chart.

The pattern also calls for certain areas of the picture to be left untouched so the white linen color could show through for that area: It's the white section in the picture below surrounding the stamp border:

However, I don't like the fabric showing in different sections of the background so I opted instead to finish the white sections with half cross-stitching. My results with the totally finished white sections are shown below:

The finishing calls for squaring the back and then sewing felt onto to the back to finish the ornament. Instead of doing that I decided I wanted to finish my stamp as a small picture. So, I decided to add 4 additional rows of dark green floss in half-stitch around the entire picture to create the effect of a mat border and then to glue the entire picture flat to a cardboard square. I had chosen a white frame to finish it which I think really brought out the festive colors of the stamp and really looked nice next to my green floss mat.

It took me 36 hours to complete this picture not including the framing. Despite the problems I encountered with the thread sorter I was very happy with the way my "Noel Ornament" turned out. There is a lot going on in a very small cross-stitch picture and it is amazing to see.

Well, hubby liked it so much he said, "So, when are you going to finish the next one?" I, of course, was tempted to drop everything I was doing and start it right then and there, but decided I had other crafty things I needed to do to get ready for the holidays so this would have to wait. So, I said, "Maybe after the holidays, dear." I'm sure that came as a surprise to him! Gotta keep him guessing!

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

More Christmas Gifts - Wish Ornament Cross-Stitch Kit From Mill Hill

2012-01-12T05:18:00.017-05:00

When trying to decide on which small cross-stitch kits I wanted to try this year for a Christmas present for my sister-in-law I knew I wanted to create something with a bird theme. You see, she's a bird lover and every year I try to give her something with a "bird" in it. So, this year I decided to buy some adorable counted cross-stitch kits that were historic copies of old bird stamps - with postage markings and all. So, I choose three and ended up making two of them.

All of the bird stamps were Dimensions Gold Collection Petites that were 4 1/4" squares. As I intended to frame this as a little picture the 4 1/2" size was perfect. So, of the three I chose the "Wish Ornament," shown below, as I thought it would make a wonderful miniature picture and was so bright and festive.

Like the other Dimensions Gold Collection kits I had bought the "Wish Ornament" kit included the pattern, pre-sorted cotton thread, 18 count ivory cotton Aida, felt, needle and instructions. They also said that thick craft glue and quilt batting would be needed.

The "Wish Ornament" pattern uses full counted cross-stitch, half cross-stitch and outline stitching for emphasis and depth and this detailing really makes the picture stand out. The design of this cross-stitch gives the finished picture a 3 dimensional aspect with the half cross stitch and outlining being used for artistic effect.

The pattern came with starting, stitching, finishing and even cleaning instructions as well as samples of the various stitches required, and color coded keys (with code #'s, lengths, color names, and cross-stitch symbols) and a chart with color coded symbols. The colors and symbols on the keys and chart were easy to read and follow.

While I was very pleased with the end results of this design there are some things in the kit and in the instructions that can be improved upon.

As was the case with previous Dimensions kits the thread sorter was poorly designed. The embroidery threads were glued to a foam backed 6" by 1 1/4" strip of cardboard and 4 1/4" by 1 1/4" strip of cardboard that had a picture of the color of the thread and it's number. In order to get to the threads you had to separate the foam back from the cardboard strip. Very quickly the threads separated from their section and then you no longer knew what the thread number was to tie to your symbols & legends. I had to punch a hole in the thread sorter cardboard strip just below the color of the thread & it's number and then insert the threads through the hole and tie them in a loose knot so my threads, colors, and numbers would stay together.

I also added the symbols to the strip to make reading the chart easier. To make things even easier for the user the color symbol should have been shown on the thread sorter strip of cardboard as well. That way you would only need to use the thread sorter strip of cardboard to follow your chart.

The pattern also calls for certain areas of the picture to be left untouched so the white linen color could show through for that area: It's the white section in the picture below surrounding the stamp border:

As I wanted to frame this in a small picture frame I opted to finish it by squaring the back and then gluing that to a complimentary colored background. I had chosen a white frame to finish it which I think really brought out the festive colors of the stamp.

It took me 31 hours to complete this picture not including the framing. Despite the problems I encountered with the thread sorter I was very happy with the way my "Wish Ornament" turned out. There is a lot going on in a very small cross-stitch picture and it is amazing to see.

And, best of all, my sister-in-law just LOVED it which, certainly, made me happy indeed.

If you'd like to purchase the "Wish Ornament" kit and try it for yourself just click the link below.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

More Christmas Gifts - Rocky Mountain Santa Cross-Stitch Kit #MH20-8303 Beartooth Santa From Mill Hill

2012-01-11T09:21:00.002-05:00

If you haven't already been able to guess - Christmas gifts this year were of the cross-stitch variety. Actually this year and last year and maybe even a few the year before. What are you going to do when you're a cross-stitch junkie?

As usual, I found several kits I liked earlier in the year so, I bought a few. Unlike last year, this year I bought  a few cross-stitch patterns that utilized perforated paper.

If your remember, the 1st counted cross-stitch perforated paper pattern that I had tried was a Spirit of Quilting Angel Ornament from Brooke's Books Publishing. It was an angel counted cross-stitch ornament design by Brooke Nolan. As I was going to be giving these as Christmas gifts this year I was glad I had already learned a few tricks to working with perforated paper from my previous project.

The first perforated paper counted cross-stitch kit I chose to work on was "Arctic Circles Santa Cross-Stitch Kit #MH20-9303 Nunavut Santa From Mill Hill." The 2nd cross-stitch kit I chose to work on was Rocky Mountain Santa Cross-Stitch Kit #MH20-8303 Beartooth Santa From Mill Hill.

The  Beartooth Santa pattern and kit came with DMC floss, antique brown perforated paper, glass beads, needles, and a chart with instructions. The Beartooth Santa was to be a 3.25"w x 4.75"h ornament when completed. The pattern suggested finishing the back of the ornament with craft paper or felt - both of which would be glued to the back. Instead of creating this as an ornament I wanted to create a small picture that I could insert into a 5" x 7" frame when completed.

Given my previous experience with perforated paper I knew that you couldn't put it into an embroidery hoop or square frame. The paper was stiff but, not stiff enough to be working on and holding at the same time. In other words, you couldn't just hold it in your hand and cross-stitch at the same time.

The last time I had worked with perforated paper my darling husband had come up with a wonderful solution and had built me a rectangular wood frame jig that I could tape the edges of my perforated paper to. It was a rectangular embroidery hoop of sorts, but without bending the paper. He made it out of 1/2" x 1" pine wood strips. It also has an adjustable center strip that I could use for the smaller counted cross-strip projects I would be doing using perforated paper. It was perfectly suited for this kit.

My frame had worked well for my "Nunavut Santa" which was similar in size to my Beartooth Santa  so I knew it would work well for this one as well.

My past experience with cross-stitch and perforated paper had taught me that it can tear so you have to be careful with it. Especially when threading the ends of the thread or in the size of the needle you are using. So, before I began I covered the back of the perforated paper with masking tape

Also, based upon my previous experience with perforated paper I decided that I also needed to draw diagonal lines across each corner to get the center point of the perforated paper.

The pattern came with a black and white cross-stitch chart and black and white color code chart with symbols for the floss and beads. I had no problem reading and following the different black and white symbols.

While the end results of this design were wonderful some things in the kit and in the instructions could be improved upon. I'd like to offer the following constructive suggestions:

The cross-stitch chart was in black and white as was the floss color code and symbol key. Both were easy to read and very clear. While I had no problem with the chart and keys I did have a problem with the way the DMC floss was presented. All of the floss was tied together in one big knot so you had to separate the floss pieces yourself, sort them, and try to interpret which color belonged to which floss # and symbol key on the color chart. If you only have a few colors to deal with this isn't a problem. However, if you have several different colors of say gray to choose from that are close in color then interpreting the chart can be tricky. You may assign the wrong color to the wrong symbol if the colors are too closely aligned.

The beads were all combined in a bag so you had to sort the beads and then determine which beads belonged to which symbol. This is fine if the beads are easily distinguishable from one another. When there are several colored beads similar in nature trying to decide which is which can be very annoying. They should have put the beads in separate bags and marked them with their respective color number and symbol.

As I have done with other cross-stitch kits I've completed I had to design my own thread color sorter and symbol key. I took a piece of thin cardboard and cut a 1" x 9" long rectangular piece out to use as a thread sorter. I then punched holes in my cardboard strip in which to tie each of the different colors. Just above the hole I wrote the DMC floss # and just below the hole I added the respective cross-stitch symbol. I then inserted the floss threads that went with that # and symbol through the hole and tied them in a loose knot. This kit could be much improved if a thread sorter with respective #'s and symbols was provided.

I love using beads in cross-stitch designs as I think they really enhance the designs, as was the case with this kit. However, I had a tough time trying to thread the really tiny needle that came in this kit for beading purposes. I know the head of the needle has to fit through the tiny bead openings, but these needles were really, really difficult to thread and trying to do so was not only frustrating, but time consuming. Plus, these tiny needles tend to easily pierce your skin so using them was not only a challenge, but downright painful at times.

The pattern called for certain areas of the perforated paper to be left untouched as the background like the picture shown below:

I do not like any of the perforated paper sections to remain untouched as I think it takes away from the beauty of the creation so I opted instead to cross-stitch all the untouched areas with a non-obtrusive background color. It took me 13 hours (excluding the framing) to complete the Santa. My completed Santa came out as follows:

I had decided that I wanted to enclose my Santa in a 5" x 7" frame with a double layered mat and background paper. I could not use a foam board as it was too deep for my frame despite the double thickness of the mat. I covered the back of the Santa with another layer of wide masking tape to secure all the threads and then cut it out of the perforated paper. I then glued the back of the Santa to my background paper and inserted it into my frame. For this Santa I choose a wooded tree scene for the background paper.

I was pleased with the way my Santa came out and even happier when I gave it to my sister. She absolutely loved it and the smile on her face was all I needed to see.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

My New Linda Walsh Originals Fabric Designs Blog

2012-01-10T04:47:00.002-05:00

I've been playing again! This time it's with fabric designs. Actually, I've been playing with fabric designs and new websites/blogs.

I've been thinking about designing fabric for some of my doll pattern lines using graphics of my dolls for quite sometime and last month was finally able to complete one of the lines. Of course, that required a new website and a new blog. You know me - anything new requires a new BLOG!!!!!

I've had many baby shower doll centerpiece patterns and baby shower ornament and/or favor patterns for many years now and have wanted to expand upon that to create decorations for planning an old-fashioned baby shower. I wanted to have not only centerpiece dolls that could be used as decorations, but e-printable ornaments and/or favors, easily sew-able doll ornaments/favors, bunting, and fabric that could be used to make baby banners, tablecloths, quilts, pillows, decorations, etc. As a result my "It's Raining Baby Showers" website was born.

If you're planning a baby shower and would like to host an enjoyable, old-fashioned shower where you can make all the decorations then "It's Raining Baby Showers" can provide you with print patterns, e-patterns, e-printables, fabric, handmade dolls, books about baby showers, a baby shower merchandise store, some baby shower ideas and some freebies.

My "It's Raining Baby Showers" collection has 59 different designs to choose from in 6 collections. All of the designs compliment each other so you can mix and match with our doll pattern centerpieces, e-printables, baby shower store items, etc. My "It's Raining Baby Showers" fabric designs collection has 9 "Cut and Sew" ornament doll fabrics as well as 50 traditional fabric designs to choose from.

In order to create my fabric designs I decided to utilize the resources of Spoonflower.com which offers independent designers a way to have their custom designs printed onto fabric and then sold to the public.

Here's what Spoonflower.com had to say about their website on their "About Us" page:

Spoonflower makes it possible for individuals to design, print and sell their own fabric designs. It was founded in May 2008 by two Internet geeks who had crafty wives but who knew nothing about textiles. The company came about because Stephen’s wife, Kim, persuaded him that being able to print her own fabric for curtains was a really cool idea. She wasn’t alone. The Spoonflower community now numbers around 150,000 individuals who use their own fabric to make curtains, quilts, clothes, bags, furniture, dolls, pillows, framed artwork, costumes, banners and much, much more. The Spoonflower marketplace offers the largest collection of independent fabric designers in the world. The site has appeared in the New York Times, Associated Press, Vogue, Martha Stewart Weddings, Make, CRAFT, ApartmentTherapy, Photojojo, and many other terrific publications and blogs.

Spoonflower is a start-up and a work in progress. Its growth has been made possible by the enthusiasm of a worldwide community of people who are passionate about fabric, design and making things. Along the way it has also received help, support and advice from lots of friendly people and organizations, including [TC]2, NCIdea.org, North Carolina State University College of Textiles, and Expand Systems. Suggestions and feedback are always welcome and appreciated.

Spoonflower.com seemed like a perfect fit for my fabric designs. So, I designed my fabrics and then set up a Linda Walsh Originals Fabric Designs shop at Spoonflower.com. All of the fabrics mentioned and posted about on our Linda Walsh Originals Fabric Designs website/blog are sold and serviced through Spoonflower.com.

Please note that Linda Walsh and/or Linda Walsh Originals is not liable for any problems that may occur between you (the customer) and Spoonflower.com. We only provide the graphics for our line of fabrics at Spoonflower.com.

I've only had a chance to develop my "It's Raining Baby Showers" line of fabrics so far. However, if you know me, you know that there will be many, many more coming down the pike. So, stay tuned. We're designing fabrics and LOVING IT! I do so love to play!

Please CLICK HERE or click on the button above to visit our Linda Walsh Originals Fabric Designs blog.

My New "It's Raining Baby Showers" Website

2012-01-09T05:42:00.003-05:00

One of my all time favorite doll designs is my "Baby Nicky" doll. He's a baby shower centerpiece doll that I designed based upon my grandson "Nicky" who has the most wonderful, curly head of hair you could ever imagine. I just LOVE it and would love to swap hair with him.

If you've been following my Linda's Blog you know that "Baby Nicky" is involved in a lot of what goes on in "The Dollie Sttorage Room." He's a fun loving doll and is very popular amongst the other "dollies." If you'd like to read his story and the stories "Baby Nicky" is involved in on "The Dollie Storage Room" blog please CLICK HERE.

When I was designing new patterns a couple of years ago I wanted to design some more baby shower centerpieces and favors or ornaments to compliment "Baby Nicky." So, I ended up designing 10 different favors and 2 new centerpieces.

I wanted something for the centerpieces that would capture the guests attention at a baby shower and decided that a baby boy and baby girl doll around 16" tall each would be perfect. Something that could stand alone on a center table or individual tables and be easy to make.

I also wanted the centerpiece to look soft, cuddly, warm and inviting so I decided to create my dolls out of some old flannel pillowcases that my sister had given me. You see, in our family we never throw anything away that could be used in sewing or crafts. So, as you might expect I get a LOT of stuff. In any event, the old flannel pillowcases were perfect for the two baby centerpiece dolls I had in mind.

After the centerpieces were designed I decided that I wanted to design some FUN baby shower favors. Again, the key was they would be easy to make and could end up being ornaments for the guests to bring home. Plus, I wanted a variety of different kinds of favors that could be made.

While thinking about what to make for favors I again thought about my grandson, Nicky, who was born 31 weeks premature. He had spent 9 weeks in a special care nursery and I remembered that the nurses would wrap him in a swaddling blanket which allowed them to easily carry him around. They always looked like they were carrying him around like a football.

The nurses taught all the family members how to bathe, feed, and dress Nicky so I learned how to wrap my grandson in a swaddling blanket. So, I thought maybe a baby shower favor with a primitive baby head sticking out of a swaddling blanket would be cute.

Then I decided I wanted to create baby head favors that could stand alone and decided to use wooden spools and terracotta pots as the base.

I have to admit that I just LOVED making the baby heads on pink and blue spools. I had wanted something that would make everyone smile and when you're looking down on them you can't help but laugh. I was laughing my head off while creating them and when my husband saw the finished heads lined up on the table he started laughing as well.

I thought they would definitely make for a very enjoyable baby shower and could picture a room filled with tables and a baby head favor holding the place setting for each guest. I figured the guests could take them home to function not only as a pincushion but as a nostalgic reminder of a wonderful baby shower.

I also enjoyed working with the terracotta pots and baby heads. I love crafting with terracotta and always try to think of different ways to combine flower pots with my doll creations. I had created various holiday ornaments using terracotta and thought the baby heads would be perfect. Again, they could stand alone or could be hung as ornaments by their ribbon hangers.

So, my baby shower line of patterns and e-patterns was born. Ever since then I have wanted to create a line of baby shower decoration products. Coordinated decorations that would fun and easy to make. Cozy and intimate - just like an old fashioned baby shower.

I can remember baby showers that I went to years ago that were held at a neighbors house or a girlfriends house. We would decorate the living room and invite between ten and 20 guests, We'd make all the decorations and all the finger food and would sit around while our "mother-to-be" opened the presents. We'd play a few games and some of the experienced mothers would tell stories of their various pregnancies. There was always a LOT of teasing going on and you could hear us laughing for hours on end. It was always a delightful time.

I wanted to re-create that atmosphere. To design baby shower decorations that would all compliment each other. That were fun and easy to make. I also wanted to combine my dolls with graphics of my dolls, as well as create baby shower graphics I could use for printables and fabric. And, for baby products.

So, I designed centerpiece doll patterns, easy to make e-printables using graphics of my baby shower dolls and favors, cut and sew doll and favor ornaments using the baby shower graphics, coordinating fabrics using the baby shower graphics for baby shower decorations as well as for making baby shower presents. Just about everything you could think of for a delightful baby shower except the food.

And, with all this my "It's Raining Baby Showers" website was born. I've been working on my new website since November and have added many, many items. We've got patterns and e-patterns, e-printables, cut and sew ornaments, baby shower decorating books, and lots of fabric. It's still a work in progress and I'll be adding to it over the next couple of months.

If you're planning a baby shower and would like to host an enjoyable, old-fashioned shower where you can make all the decorations then you've come to the right place. "It's Raining Baby Showers" can provide you with print patterns, e-patterns, e-printables, fabric, books about baby showers, a baby shower merchandise store, some baby shower ideas and some freebies.

We're here to help you plan, make and decorate for your baby shower including handmade decorations, baby favors, centerpieces, ornaments, and so much more.

It's raining baby showers!

Let's have some old-fashioned decorating fun!

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!

More Christmas Gifts - Arctic Circles Santa Cross-Stitch Kit Nunavut Santa From Mill Hill

2011-12-31T05:24:00.001-05:00

In pondering what kind of Christmas gifts I wanted to give this year I once again settled on some cross-stitch. Surprise! Surprise! I definitely wanted much smaller projects than the two massive counted cross-stitch pictures I had completed in the past year as time was of the essence.

The massive cross-stitch pictures I had completed took hundreds of hours to complete and I couldn't spend a lot of time on any one gift so I settled on several smaller cross-stitch projects. I really didn't want anything bigger than a 6 x 6 type picture or project. Something that might take 15 to 20 hours or so.

As usual, I found several kits I liked. So, I bought a few. Actually, given my nature I bought quite a few. You know me - I can never do anything in moderation. Plus, with Christmas gifts I never really know if I'm going to give a particular cross-stitch to someone until it's completed. I needed a few to choose from - or so I told hubby!

This time I bought a few traditional counted cross-stitch kits and a few patterns that utilized perforated paper.

If your remember, the 1st counted cross-stitch perforated paper pattern that I had tried was a Spirit of Quilting Angel Ornament from Brooke's Books Publishing. It was an angel counted cross-stitch ornament design by Brooke Nolan. As I was going to be giving these as Christmas gifts I was glad I had already learned a few tricks to working with perforated paper from my previous project.

The first perforated paper counted cross-stitch kit I chose to work on was "Arctic Circles Santa Cross-Stitch Kit #MH20-9303 Nunavut Santa From Mill Hill."

The pattern and kit came with DMC floss, antique brown perforated paper, beads, needles, and a chart with instructions. The Nunavut Santa was to be a 3.75"w x 4.75"h ornament when completed. The pattern suggested finishing the back of the ornament with craft paper or felt - both of which would be glued to the back. Instead of creating this as an ornament I wanted to create a small picture that I could insert into a 5" x 7" frame when completed.

Given my previous experience with perforated paper I knew that you couldn't put it into an embroidery hoop or square frame. The paper was stiff but, not stiff enough to be working on and holding at the same time. In other words, you couldn't just hold it in your hand and cross-stitch at the same time.

The last time I had worked with perforated paper my darling husband had come up with a wonderful solution and had built me a rectangular wood frame jig that I could tape the edges of my perforated paper to. It was a rectangular embroidery hoop of sorts, but without bending the paper. He made it out of 1/2" x 1" pine wood strips. It also has an adjustable center strip that I could use for the smaller counted cross-strip projects I would be doing using perforated paper. It was perfectly suited for this kit.

My past experience with cross-stitch and perforated paper had taught me that it can tear so you have to be careful with it. Especially when threading the ends of the thread or in the size of the needle you are using. So, before I began I covered the back of the perforated paper with masking tape

Also, based upon my previous experience with perforated paper I decided that I also needed to draw diagonal lines across each corner to get the center point of the perforated paper.

The pattern came with a black and white cross-stitch chart and black and white color code chart with symbols for the floss and beads. I had no problem reading and following the different black and white symbols.

While the end results of this design were wonderful some things in the kit and in the instructions could be improved upon. I'd like to offer the following constructive suggestions:

The cross-stitch chart was in black and white as was the floss color code and symbol key. Both were easy to read and very clear. While I had no problem with the chart and keys I did have a problem with the way the DMC floss was presented. All of the floss was tied together in one big knot so you had to separate the floss pieces yourself, sort them, and try to interpret which color belonged to which floss # and symbol key on the color chart. If you only have a few colors to deal with this isn't a problem. However, if you have several different colors of say gray to choose from that are close in color then interpreting the chart can be tricky. You may assign the wrong color to the wrong symbol if the colors are too closely aligned.

The beads were all combined in a bag so you had to sort the beads and then determine which beads belonged to which symbol. This is fine if the beads are easily distinguishable from one another. When there are several colored beads similar in nature trying to decide which is which can be very annoying. They should have put the beads in separate bags and marked them with their respective color number and symbol.

As I have done with other cross-stitch kits I've completed I had to design my own thread color sorter and symbol key. I took a piece of thin cardboard and cut a 1" x 9" long rectangular piece out to use as a thread sorter. I then punched holes in my cardboard strip in which to tie each of the different colors. Just above the hole I wrote the DMC floss # and just below the hole I added the respective cross-stitch symbol. I then inserted the floss threads that went with that # and symbol through the hole and tied them in a loose knot. This kit could be much improved if a thread sorter with respective #'s and symbols was provided.

I love using beads in cross-stitch designs as I think they really enhance the designs, as was the case with this kit. However, I had a tough time trying to thread the really tiny needle that came in this kit for beading purposes. I know the head of the needle has to fit through the tiny bead openings, but these needles were really, really difficult to thread and trying to do so was not only frustrating, but time consuming. Plus, these tiny needles tend to easily pierce your skin so using them was not only a challenge, but downright painful at times.

The pattern called for certain areas of the perforated paper to be left untouched as the background like the picture shown below:

It took me 14 1/2 hours (excluding the framing) to complete the Santa. That was a far cry from 250+ hours and 315+ hours of my previous two massive cross-stitch projects.

I had decided that I wanted to enclose my Santa in a 5" x 7" frame with a double layered mat and background paper. I could not use a foam board as it was too deep for my frame despite the double thickness of the mat. I covered the back of the Santa with another layer of wide masking tape to secure all the threads and then cut it out of the perforated paper. I then glued the back of the Santa to my background paper and inserted it into my frame.

I was pleased with the way my Santa came out and even happier when I gave it to my brother. He absolutely loved it. The smile on his face was all I needed to see.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

She's A TRAITOR! Off With Her Head!

2011-12-29T04:34:00.000-05:00

It was the Monday after Christmas and hubby and I had gone out to buy Christmas paper and ribbons at 50% off as we were running out and would need some next year. We figured - why pay full price next year when we could buy them at 50% off after the holidays? So, we decided to go out for breakfast and then hit the stores.

We were gone about two hours and were having a wonderful time. Unbeknownst to us and while we were gone it seems there was a rally which turned into a near riot going on outside our house. Something had gotten the "dollies" all riled up.

We knew there was a problem the closer and closer we got to the house. There was loud chanting going on. Almost as if someone were using a megaphone. Both hubby and I looked at each other at the same time and said, "When did the "dollies" get a megaphone?" And what were they saying?

As we turned into the driveway we heard loud voices all in unison chanting: "She's A TRAITOR!"

"She's A TRAITOR!"

"She's A TRAITOR!"

Hubby and I just looked at each other wondering what was going on.

Then we heard, "She betrayed us!"

"She's deceived us all these years!"

"She's a hypocrite!"

"She's a scamp!"

"And, look at that dog. Who does he think he is?"

With that last remark I knew what was going on. The "dollies" had discovered Molly and Coconut, the American Girl doll and dog that hubby had given me for Christmas. And, they were not happy about it. Not happy at all.

Then I heard, "How dare she bring a manufactured doll into this house. This is a house of handmades - albeit all handmade by Linda. There is no place here for an American Girl doll. No matter how popular they may be."

"We cannot allow this. SHE CANNOT LIVE HERE. Linda will just have to find another place for her to live."

The "dollies" were all out on the lawn - like some sort of rally. There were thousands of them. Chanting and sputtering under their breath. Prancing and shaking their heads. Hands were balled up in fists and they were shouting, "Off with her head!" "Off with her head!" YIKES!!!!

As we got nearer to the garage we noticed there was a podium and someone was standing at it with a megaphone. It was Doris Marie - my savior. Surely Doris Marie wasn't saying "Off With Her Head!"

I couldn't help but wonder. Whose head were they talking about. Mine or Molly's!!!!

Hopefully not mine. But, I didn't want them to lop off Molly's either. She was just too damn cute!

Then we heard Doris say, "Now, now, settle down everyone. You know Linda loves dolls - all sorts of dolls. And, to be fair, she does have other dolls that she did not create. She's not only a doll maker, but a doll collector. So, of course she's going to get other dolls. Isn't she?"

It was Doris Marie talking. Thank goodness. She continued, "She just got this doll on Sunday and hasn't had a chance to talk to us yet - let alone introduce her new doll to us. Let's give her a chance to explain. Shall we?"

"Come on now," Doris said. "She always gives us a chance to explain. We should do the same - shouldn't we?"

The "dollies" all trusted Doris Marie and usually agreed to what she was saying. This time was no different. They all settled down and started back to "The Dollie Storage Room." As they did we heard a little grumbling, as follows:

"Okay!"

"Alright! If we have to - but, I still don't like it!"

"She can explain - but it better be good!"

"Alright!"

"Gee-wiz. Okay!"

"Alright, Doris Marie, but it better be a good one."

With that last remark I knew I had some pretty BIG explaining to do as to why hubby had bought me an American Girl doll and doggie companion for Christmas.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!

My Christmas Craft Project With Noodles

2011-12-27T05:21:00.004-05:00

It doesn't get much better for a Grandma then getting to spend a delightful weekend with one's grandchild - especially when working on a craft project together.

I know that I've mentioned many times before that when I was a young girl around the holidays my Mom and Dad would encourage us to create something new. Sometimes they helped us with the holiday projects and sometimes they didn't.

So, in talking to my grandson, Noodles, about what we would do when he came over one weekend in November we decided that making something together would be fun. We decided to make a Christmas present that he could give to his grandmother, Mimi.

His original idea was a plaque with the words Grandmother on it. We decided that when he got here we would go down to Michaels or AC Moore and buy the supplies we would need to make the Christmas plaque.

Usually it's Noodles and Nana shopping together, but this time Grampy decided to join us as we had decided to go out to eat afterwards.

So, off we went to Michaels. While Grampy was looking at picture frames Noodles and I went to the unfinished wood area. We looked at the unfinished wood plaques, but he wasn't really happy with them or their size. In looking around he first spotted an unfinished miniature train and thought maybe we could add a snowman or something.

Then he spotted an unfinished log cabin and came up with an idea for some sort of a winter scene. We talked about that and decided we could use the ends of the logs for affixing decorations and maybe add a tree or a Santa. I thought the woodland scene would be nice, so off we went to the paint aisle.

Given that it was a log cabin he decided that we should probably paint it brown. So, we bought a medium shade brown paint. Then off to the Christmas decorations section we went.

The first item he found in the miniature house section was a miniature tree under glass. He thought that would make a great addition but we didn't have a base for the house that it could sit on. So, we decided that we should add an unfinished piece of wood that we could use for a base. However, I thought the tree under glass, while pretty, was a little too big for our scene. So we settled on four miniature trees.

Then he found the miniature lights and thought they would be perfect for our scene. I agreed so we added those to our cart.

We continued walking around the Christmas section finding colorful stickers we could add for decorations and small hanging type ornaments. We found a few items we thought we might use for making some sort of a garland and he found some Christmas ribbons that he liked. Eventually we were joined by Grampy who added a few sticker suggestions of his own.

While we were looking at the bright and cheery Christmas decorations Noodles decided that painting the log cabin white would really make the Christmas decorations stand out. So, we decided to exchange the brown paint for white paint.

While Grampy went to stand in the long cash register line Noodles and I went back to get the white paint and to get an unfinished base. We settled on an oval base.

It was really cold and windy when we put the supplies in the car. It actually looked like it wanted to snow which just added more charm to what was already a delightful shopping trip.

After the supplies were loaded in the car off to dinner we went. At dinner Noodles and I had decided that we would take step-by-step pictures as we went along so I made a mental note to remember to get my camera.

I had decided that it might be best to paint the unfinished base and log cabin downstairs in the basement so off to the basement we went. After spreading the plastic underneath, getting the brushes, and getting the containers for the paint I set to painting the base while Noodles painted the log cabin. We ended up putting two coats of white paint on each and a light coat of satin finish acrylic.

Just as we finished the satin finish Noodles remembered we hadn't taken a picture. Ooops..... Nana's bad! So, I made a mental note that I wouldn't forget the camera in the morning which is when we had decided we would decorate the house.

Before we went to bed we glued the bottom of the log cabin to the wood base.

The next morning I woke Noodles up at 6:30 A.M. to start our project. We had agreed ahead of time that we would get an early start so we could finish before he had to go home. He happily got out of bed at 6:30 A.M. and came downstairs ready to begin.

So we did.......

Before we began decorating the house Noodles reminded me to take pictures.

Here's what the log cabin and base looked like painted and glued together.

Next, we tested the lights. At first only three came on. Then when we straightened out the string of lights they all came on. Noodles was delighted. However, when we wrapped the lights around the top of the house they, of course, stopped working. We were back to just three lights. We tried this several times until Nana just gave up. Oh, well. It was a nice idea.

Next we glued on the miniature trees - two on each side.

We had bought a foam Santa kit and thought the Santa might be cute coming out of the chimney. So we glued him together and then glued the finished Santa to the top of the chimney.

Next we glued the foam snowman together and then glued him to the right hand side of the log cabin just behind the trees.

We had bought three miniature unfinished wood dolls that we thought we could put in the windows, but when I tried to see how they would look I quickly realized there was no way we were going to be able to glue them inside. The doorway and windows were just too small.

So, we decided to glue paper wooden soldiers that we had bought in front of the windows instead. Plus, Noodles wanted the mistletoe over the door so we glued it just above.

We had bought a bunch of miniature presents, gingerbread men, and stocking stickers that we wanted to affix to the ends of the logs so we did that next.

We wanted to make sure all four sides were decorated so we added stickers to the top of each of the sides and to the back of the log cabin. We had also bought red and gold alphabet stickers so we decided to add the words, "North Pole" to the top of the back of the roof.

As we had an extra miniature soldier sticker we had decided to glue him in the middle of the back of the log cabin.

After that Noodles had found a blue and white adhesive backed "Let It Snow" felt saying that he wanted to put on the front roof so we glued that next.

We glued ribbons around the chimney and glued a Christmas bead sticker and snowflakes to the back roof.

Then we took the ribbons and Noodles suggested that we twist them around each other like they do every year with the garland for their tree so we twisted and knotted the two skinny ribbons together to form garland which we then glued and strung around the log cabin under the roof.

Next we glued some poly-fil to the roof, on Santa's hat, and around the base of the house to create the effect of snow.

Following that we glued white, green and red glitter pompoms on top of the poly-fil snow and around the log cabin.

Here's the results of all four sides:

The left side.

The back.

The right side.

And, finally, the front.

Both Noodles and I were really pleased with our creation. It was bright, cheery, and definitely a wonderful Christmas decoration. I thought our creation looked like a white North Pole gingerbread house and Noodles quickly agreed. We both felt that his Grandmother would LOVE it.

He decided that instead of giving it to Mimi at Christmas that he would give it to her early so she could enjoy it during the holiday season. I thought that was an excellent idea.

Noodles and I had such a good time with our craft project that we decided we'd do something next year.

What and who it's for is a surprise.

For now that will be Noodles and Nana's secret.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!

I Can't Stop Pinning! I LOVE Pinterest!

2011-12-26T05:39:00.004-05:00

I know I'm always telling you that I need help.

Well, this time I definitely need help!

You see - I have become a "pinning" addict.

Now, if you're wondering what "pinning" is I have to tell you that it's not a new craft that I just learned.

It's an addictive, popular, fast growing internet activity - a "visual" pin-board. One which seems to have control over me the last few days as I just cannot stop "pinning."

If you're wondering what in the world has grabbed a hold of me it's a website called "Pinterest" (http://pinterest.com).

What exactly does this website do?

Well, according to their Facebook page: "Pinterest is an online pinboard to organize and share your inspirations! Pin your favorite images and videos from anywhere. Discover new things hand-picked by people who share your interests."

According to their About page: "Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. To get started, request an invite."

Their mission statement is: "Our goal is to connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting. We think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people. With millions of new pins added every week, Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests."

If you still don't know what this is just take a look at my LWOriginals Pinterest page, which is shown below.

So far I have created 30 boards with 520 pins and, if you know me, I'm sure you know there will be plenty more before I'm done.

I've created different boards for all sorts of things I like, such as: some of my handmade Victorian dolls (of course), my cross-stitch projects that I'm very proud of, patterns and tutorials from "The Best Free Craft Articles" that I love, some of my e-patterns, creative embroidery I'd love to try (if I had a few spare moments), my favorite art doll artists, some of the best blogs from "Top Blogs By Crafters", some of my patterns and e-patterns, quilt things I'd like to make, craft books worth reading that I've reviewed on the "Book Review Corner", felt things I love and would like to create, fun paper crafts, mixed media, items I wish I could paint, sewing ideas and notions, etc.

So, why would I spend so much time on this?

Well, with everything I've done above I've been able to not only promote myself, but to promote some of the artist and crafters who are members of or who have contributed free content to some of my blogs/websites. Things that interest me and which I love.

In essence, "pinning" is a win-win for a small business crafter. It's a fabulous way to present a visual image to a vast audience whose distribution capabilities are endless.

In just a few days I already have 60+ followers and each of my boards have 100 or more followers with individual pins having multiple re-pins or "likes."

Members of Pinterest can follow all your boards, follow some of your boards, re-pin something they liked of yours to their boards, or "like" your pin. So something you pin can have a cascading effect and end up on countless pinboards.

And, here's the best part, and why it's a win-win for a small crafter - the pins carry the URL of the website they were pinned from. So, if someone clicks on a picture of something on one of your boards the URL connected to that image is the webpage where the image was found.

This is accomplished by adding a "Pin It" button to the bookmarks bar of your browser. That way when you're browsing the web and you find things that you like or that are of interest to you can just click the "Pin It" button on your browser and then add the image to one of your pin boards.

You can further promote your products by adding a “Pin It” button to your the product pages of your website. If you have a selling blog you can add a "Pin It" button to each of your blog product posts. This will allow blog readers or customers to pin the products of yours that they like to their boards.

You can also add a "Follow Me on Pinterest" button to the home page of your website or sidebar of your blog. Mine is in the upper right hand corner of my blog and is also shown below:

If you choose to follow other members boards or some of their boards then you can browse through the latest pins of the members you follow, go to their pages and browse through all their boards, browse through "everything" on "Pinterest" by category, browse the most popular pins, videos, or gifts.

What's really great about Pinterest for me is that it's quiet. In that I mean that I can go to Pinterest and browse at my leisure. Unlike Facebook, their is no date or time stamp. There is no pressure to comment on friends posts or activities. No one knows if its been a few days, a few hours, or even a few minutes since I've visited or not. I can pin away at my leisure, make a comment on something I like if I want to, re-pin something for further reference, or just browse through beautiful eye candy. It's a simple website that is extremely easy to use and I hope it stays that way as it gains in popularity.

If you're thinking you can just set-up boards to promote yourself - well, you'd be missing the point of "Pinterest" which is to share the things you love and in doing so share a bit about yourself. According to them: Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. If there is a photo or project you’re proud of, pin away! However, try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion.

Pinterest is a great tool for small business crafters because it allows you to quickly show the things you've created that you're the proudest of and allows potential blog readers or customers to see what interests you. That way they get to know more about you, your likes, and your passions.

Plus, if you add the "Pin It" button to your product pages then anyone who likes your product can "Pin It" to one of their boards and if others like it they can re-pin it. Talk about a great way to easily promote your products.

Right now if you want to become a member of Pinterest you have to request an invite by clicking the link on their home page or ask an existing member to invite you.

If you become a member, don't be surprised if you can't stop pinning either!

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!

Christmas Decoration Eye Candy

2011-12-25T04:52:00.001-05:00

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!

In Remembrance

2011-12-23T10:46:00.000-05:00

For Mom, Bud, Kim, John, Helen, Phil, Mary, and Chip:

Eternal Light

Those we love must someday pass beyond our present sight...

Must leave us and the world we know without their radiant light.

But we know that like a candle their lovely light will surely shine

to brighten up another place more perfect... more divine.

And in the realm of Heaven where they shine so warm and bright.

Our loved ones live forevermore in God's eternal light.

Candle graphic courtesy of http://www.wpclipart.com

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T09:28:00.028-05:00

I thought I would share four of my all time favorite Christmas songs.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

Let there be peace on earth.

David Phelps - O Holy Night

Faith Hill - A Baby Changes Everything

Rascale Flats - Mary Did You Know

Sugarland - Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel

Some Of My E-Patterns Are Now At Patternspot.com

2011-12-06T04:28:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking about this for a few months now and finally decided last month to add some of my e-patterns to the Patternspot.com website. So now I am listed as a designer over there. If you'd like to check out my designer page please CLICK HERE.

I first noticed the Patternspot.com website this summer and thought it might be an interesting place to sell some of my e-patterns. However, when I first looked at it most of the e-patterns and categories were quilting related - not exactly dolls and other crafts. So, I filed it away as a website to check out some time in the future.

Well, sometime the first of October I was searching Facebook for craft groups and saw that a Facebook friend of mine (Lisa Fuller) had established a Patternspot.com group. So, I decided to check the website out once again. I was delighted to see that they were now carrying all sorts of crafts e-patterns and decided maybe I should become a designer and upload some of mine. I also decided to join the Facebook group, which I did.

Lisa has been a member of my Top Blogs By Crafters since last spring. She is an artist, crafter, designer, teacher, writer and communications manager for C&T Publishing. Lisa has a wonderful blog entitled Lisa Liza Lou at http://www.lisalizalou.blogspot.com. Check it out. She's an amazing artist.

In any event, C&T Publishing officially launched Patternspot.com in August as "an online marketplace for quilters, sewers, and crafters to instantly purchase and download their favorite project patterns from top designers. For the first time, thousands of ePatterns, representing a wide variety of styles and skill levels, from hundreds of different talented designers are all available together under one virtual roof."

Here's what their press release said:

C&T Publishing announces the launch of a new website, PatternSpot.com—an online marketplace for quilters, sewers, and crafters to instantly purchase and download their favorite project patterns from top designers.

For the first time, thousands of ePatterns, representing a wide variety of styles and skill levels, from hundreds of different talented designers are all available together under one virtual roof. This is exciting news for all fabric enthusiasts who want a shopping site with lots of diversity and inspiration, so they can get started quilting or sewing something right away, as soon as the notion strikes.

C&T’s Publisher, Amy Marson, is enthusiastic about this newest venture. “Our mission statement is ‘Innovate. Educate. Create.’ We live this goal every day by being on the forefront of industry trends and publishing platforms. PatternSpot.com allows people to get creative and learn something new at a moment’s notice. We also strive to make our operations as green as possible to reduce our carbon footprint. This new site offers our authors, shop owners, designers, and consumers the ability to buy and sell the latest and greatest sewing and quilting patterns in an environmentally friendly way.”

Susanne Woods, C&T’s Acquisitions Editor reflects on the site’s development. “It really began with customer demand. More and more designers are offering their patterns digitally and they want an online retailer to 'stock' their ePatterns. We identified a unique opportunity in the sewing and quilting community to create an open marketplace that removes the gatekeepers for both designers and shoppers. While Patternspot.com features many well-known designers with popular pattern lines, the most exciting aspect of this platform is the opportunity for lesser-known designers. The shoppers, not the retailers, get to decide what will become a best-selling pattern. We are providing a common sales floor where anyone with an original design can quickly upload their ePattern and sell to a worldwide audience.”

C&T has teams in place to provide customer service and technical support to all users, as well as robust marketing support for designers. For more details about the site and how it works, visit the Help Menu at PatternSpot.com.

So, the first of October I signed up as a designer and set-up my profile page. If you'd like to see my profile page please CLICK HERE.

The 2nd week of October I decided to upload some of my e-patterns and, well, there was a little snag. My .PDF files wouldn't upload. I kept getting an error page. So, I sent Lisa a message via Facebook and she responded right away. She had her programmers start working on the problem and with a little testing here and there they had the issue resolved in no time. So, I started uploading some of my files.

I have to tell you that it is extremely easy to upload your .PDF files to Patternspot.com and very easy to set-up your e-pattern for sale. Probably the easiest of any e-pattern website I've seen or used to date.

From a customer perspective the HOME page is very consumer friendly and easy to navigate. There is a category navigation sidebar for easy e-pattern selection.

Right now there is a heavier concentration of quilting e-patterns, but over time this should broaden with the increase in other small business crafts designers to the website. There's a whole lot of artists, crafters and designers creating e-patterns on the net now and this should be a big PLUS for Patternspot.com.

There is a fee structure for designers and you need to weight the pros and cons of the costs involved which include a % sharing of any sales proceeds.

As a commercial publishing website they have the potential to reach a HUGE audience and this should be enticing to all the small business craft designers out there.

For now I've uploaded about 32 of my e-patterns. I'll let you know what happens.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

A Time For Decorating With Our "It's Starting To Ho! Ho! Ho!" Doll Series

2011-12-06T04:21:00.000-05:00

One of the main reasons the "dollies" and I love the holiday season is we can decorate. And, DECORATE we do. Our house is filled to the brim with Christmas decorations.

Most of the decorations that I display during the holiday season are my own designs. I'd LOVE to put some of the Christmas decorations that I made based on other designers patterns out, but I only have so much room.

So, the "dollies" and I thought a Christmas doll show over on DOLLS Blog would be a GREAT way to show you all the handmade dolls and woodcraft's I have made and that are for sale on the Christmas page of my Linda Walsh Originals Dolls website. They'd make GREAT decorations in your home, too!

Here's a re-cap of our handmade Christmas dolls and woodcrafts from our "It's Starting To Ho! Ho! Ho!" doll series show:

If you'd like additional information on any of the above or you're interested in purchasing any of the above for decorating your home this holiday season just click on the picture above.

The "dollies" and I hope you have been enjoying our "It's Starting To Ho! Ho! Ho! Series" doll show.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!

20 Years Later and Still As Good As New!

2011-11-28T09:20:00.003-05:00

While everyone was out fighting the Black Friday crowds I was in crafting heaven - pleasantly sprucing up the artificial Christmas wreath decorations for the front of our house.

And, I have to say, I was actually reveling in the fact that after 20 years my artificial wreaths are still as good as new. I thought to myself, "Now that's a GOOD BUY."

I dare say most of the items purchased on Black Friday would not be as good as new 20 years from now.

The first few years that we lived in our house hubby and I would go out on Black Friday and buy fresh evergreen wreaths and fresh evergreen garland to decorate the front of our house for the holidays. The fresh greens always smelled great and looked beautiful but, they weren't cheap. I was always amazed at how expensive fresh greens were.

When we first started decorating the outside of the house we decided to not only decorate the house, but to decorate the three blue spruce trees that we have at the front of our house. Back then the blue spruce trees were small enough so we could decorate them. We used three blue flood lights and shone them up through the blue spruce creating a wonderful snowy effect.

We put small electric candles in the windows, hung fresh garland around our front door and lamp post, and hung four fresh evergreen wreaths with red bows on the front of the house.

We also added two large grapevine deer that my brother and I had found on a shopping trip to Sturbridge one year to the front yard. We quickly learned that we should stake them into the ground so the wind wouldn't blow them over.

White flood lights were used to light up the front of the house and when everything was on the house just looked so festive. We both loved it, but it was a lot of work to get it looking the way it did.

While we loved the fresh evergreen wreathes we both thought that the wreaths could be a little bigger as they really couldn't be seen from the street. However, we both knew that the cost of buying fresh evergreen wreaths the size we needed was just too expensive.

So, one year we decided to buy four very large artificial wreaths and decorate them with pine-cones, red tie berries, and small multi-colored glass bulbs. So, off to Michaels I went to buy the largest artificial evergreen wreaths I could find. Fortunately they had four 3-feet to 4-foot wreaths that I knew would be perfect. I bought four of the large wreaths and bought four smaller artificial wreaths that I had in mind to use elsewhere.

I also bought red tie berries, some multi-colored glass bulbs, wide red with gold trim wired velvet ribbon, and some other silk floral greenery I thought might be nice. I had in mind to create a pine-cone cluster on each side of the wreath but didn't need to buy any pine-cones as I had plenty of my own that I had collected myself and dried. I had already spray painted some of the pine-cones silver, some gold, and some with clear acrylic to preserve them.

When I brought the wreaths home I decided to decorate them right away. I made four large bows with multiple loops out of the red and gold trimmed wide wired ribbon and fastened one to the top center of each wreath. I added pine-cone clusters to the sides and bottom of each wreath and adorned these with the red tie berries. The small multi-colored glass bulbs were added throughout the wreath for decorative affect. The wreaths looked wonderful and I loved them and thought they would be a really good addition to our Christmas decorations.

We put these wreaths out for many, many years along with the blue flood lights, window candles, white flood lights and grapevine deer. It was always a LOT of work, but the end result was always so pretty to look at.

While the wreaths themselves looked beautiful every year and could definitely be seen from the street we both thought that, despite the flood lights, the decorations on them could only be appreciated when viewed up close. However, we weren't about to make a change so they would just have to do.

As the years went on the outdoor Christmas decorations started to change. We stopped lighting up the blue spruce trees as they just got too big. Eventually we stopped using flood lights to light up the house as it was just too much work. One year we stopped using the candles in the windows. And, several years ago my sister took the grapevine deer to her house as we weren't using them anymore and she thought they'd look great on her farm.

When we put the artificial wreaths away last year we realized that the years of being outside had finally taken their toll on the red berries and small multi-colored glass bulbs. Many of the red tie berries had corroded and many of the glass bulbs had broken. The pine-cones I had collected from the yard looked as good as new as did the artificial wreaths.

We decided that we would need to spruce them up before we could put them out next year. So, this year, we purchased several boxes of large multi-colored plastic bulbs that were 3" - 4" around, and some beaded swirly silver and red accents for the sides of each wreath. I thought they would add some wonderful color to the pine-cone clusters that were still on the wreath. We wanted large bulbs as we definitely wanted them to be seen from the street. And, we wanted them to be plastic so they would last.

It took several hours to update the decorations on the wreaths. By the time I was finished my hands and lower arms were not too happy with me and ready to go on strike. My hands were covered with tiny wire cuts from working with the artificial evergreen wreaths, wired floral, and plastic bulbs. However, when I was done both hubby and I were really pleased with the results. My hands might not have been - I was.

So, we took our newly decorated wreaths outside and put them up. We were thrilled with the results. The wreaths looked great and the 3" - 4" bulbs could definitely be seen from the street.

Twenty years ago I had bought the four artificial wreaths from Michaels for $20.00 or so each. It cost another $20 or so for the red tie berries and small multi-colored glass bulbs for a total of $100.00 or so for the 4 decorated wreaths. If you divide the cost of the wreaths ($100.00) by the length of time they lasted (twenty years) that translates into an annual cost of $5.00 a year for the wreaths to decorate the outside of our house. That's a GREAT buy. I dare say we would have spent a LOT more than that for the fresh evergreen wreaths. We probably would have had to mortgage the house by now!

Twenty years later and the pine-cones and artificial wreaths were still as good as new. I didn't need to replace them. Hopefully, we'll get twenty years out of the new decorations. My guess is in twenty years we'll have to replace the plastic decorations, but the pine-cones and artificial wreaths will still be as good as new.

Now that's a good buy.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!

100 Fabulous Ideas For Handmade Gift Giving This Holiday Season

2011-11-28T05:24:00.003-05:00

I just finished posting gift giving idea #100 on "The Best Free Craft Articles" blog. If you LOVE handmade gifts and love giving handmade gifts then you'll want to check out our "Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays" series that we're been running on "The Best Free Craft Articles" blog.

We hope you're enjoying our "Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays" series.

Here's our posts so far:

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #96, #97, #98, #99 and #100 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #91, #92, #93, #94 and #95 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #86, #87, #88, #89 and #90 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #81, #82, #83, #84 and #85 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #76, #77, #78, #79 and #80 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #71, #72, #73, #74 and #75 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #66, #67, #68, #69 and #70 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #61, #62, #63, #64 and #65 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #56, #57, #58, #59 and #60 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #51, #52, #53, #54 and #55 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #46, #47, #48, #49 and #50 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #41, #42, #43, #44 and #45 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #36, #37, #38, #39 and #40 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #31, #32, #33, #34 and #35 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #26, #27, #28, #29 and #30 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #21, #22, #23, #24, and #25 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #16, #17, #18, #19, and #20 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #11, #12, #13, #14, and #15 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #6, #7, #8, #9, and #10 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!

Maybe We Should Call It - Gobble, Gobble, Gobble Day?

2011-11-24T04:40:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving Day is upon us and today our thoughts will turn to giving thanks, family, traditions, and celebrating.

I prefer to call today - gobble, gobble, gobble day.

Why?

Because today we'll all be feasting until our stomachs are bulging (at least some of us will). I think we should call it calories, gobble, gobble day! Don't you?

Thanksgiving Day is a huge holiday in the United States.

Families and friends get together and give thanks for all our blessings.

We have football games, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

And, the day after Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season (black Friday) which is, generally, the busiest shopping day of the year.

We've been celebrating gobble, gobble, gobble day for a long time.

We've been eating and shopping, then eating, eating and eating.

And, finally, gaining weight.

Are we sure we should be giving thanks for this? LOL LOL

So, why do we do this?

Well, we seem to think Thanksgiving was a day of observance for the Pilgrims. A day for them and us to give thanks for all we have and all we enjoy.

But, the Pilgrims never held customary Thanksgiving Days in the fall.

In fact, the Pilgrims only had one feast in 1621, after their very first harvest and this was NEVER repeated.

The pilgrims were deeply religious people. A day of thanksgiving to them was a day for prayers and fasting. It was nothing like we have today.

However, when we think of Thanksgiving we think of the one Harvest Feast that the Pilgrims did have with 90 people, including their Indian friends.

So, of course there is a history to how did we got the Thanksgiving Day as we now know it? And, since I just love history, I thought I'd share it with all of you.

The Pilgrims had landed December 11, 1620 and lost many of their group during the cold, harsh winter. Their first harvest in the fall was bountiful so they celebrated the harvest with the Indians who had helped them survive and the feast lasted three days.

So, how did it turn into a national tradition?

Well, that didn't happen until 169 years later when George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789.

As is usually the case, some people wanted it, some (like Thomas Jefferson) did not. So, between 1789 and 1863 Thanksgiving was dependent upon whether the President proclaimed it as a National Day or not.

During the Civil War Sarah Hale, a magazine editor, urged President Abraham Lincoln to reinstate Thanksgiving Day.

In 1863 President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a National Day of Thanksgiving.

It was still dependent upon the President to proclaim the day as a National Day every year. Every President since Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving Day as the 4th Thursday in November.

Seventy-six years later in 1939 Franklin Roosevelt, however, proclaimed Thanksgiving to be the 3rd Thursday in November to lengthen the holiday shopping season. He did this in 1940 and 1941, too. Doing so upset many people.

So, we have President Roosevelt to thank for linking SHOPPING to Thanksgiving.

It wasn't until 1941 that congress declared Thanksgiving as a National Holiday.

However, they changed it back to the 4th Thursday in November.

Why the 4th? Who knows. Political pandering, probably. Payback for something? Who knows. We're talking about politicians here.

In any event, Thanksgiving has remained the 4th Thursday in November and is inexplicably linked with shopping, parades, football games as well as feasting (and gorging, perhaps), Pepto Brismol (definitely after the gorging), and the winter dieting frenzy.

After all when you eat, shop, eat, eat, and eat you're going to gain weight.

So, Happy Thanksgiving to all.

When you sit down for your feast today just remember these words "Gobble, gobble, gobble.

Oh, how we love to Gobble.

Eat, eat, and eat!

Oh, what a wonderful treat!

Gobble, gobble, gobble.

Oh, how we love to eat!

Diet, diet, diet!

Oh, NO I will NOT try it!"

Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

Pilgrims and turkeys are usually associated with Thanksgiving and are also a favorite of doll makers and doll patterns designers alike. I have made many pilgrims and have designed several pilgrim doll patterns for my Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns website. Just CLICK HERE for my pilgrim e-pattern page.

I have also made many, many different types of pilgrims and turkeys that I have made from other designers patterns and have several for sale on my Linda Walsh Originals Dolls website. Just CLICK HERE for my handmade Thanksgiving dolls page.

Our "Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays" Series on The Best Free Craft Articles

2011-11-23T07:30:00.003-05:00

If you support handmade and love to give gifts from the heart then you're going to love our "Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays" series of posts that is currently running on our The Best Free Craft Articles blog.

The handmade ideas are taken from all the wonderful free Christmas articles, e-patterns, tutorials, graphics, stitcheries, craft projects and more that The Best Free Craft Articles blog contributors have to offer.

Here's what we've posted so far:

We hope you're enjoying our "Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays" series.

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #56, #57, #58, #59 and #60 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #51, #52, #53, #54 and #55 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #46, #47, #48, #49 and #50 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #41, #42, #43, #44 and #45 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #36, #37, #38, #39 and #40 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #31, #32, #33, #34 and #35 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #26, #27, #28, #29 and #30 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #21, #22, #23, #24, and #25 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #16, #17, #18, #19, and #20 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #11, #12, #13, #14, and #15 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #6, #7, #8, #9, and #10 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

Handmade With Love - Gift Ideas For The Holidays - Ideas #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5 From The Best Free Craft Articles Contributors

We've got Ideas #61 through #100 yet to post so stay tuned.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!

Boy That Turkey Sure Smells Good!

2011-11-23T07:14:00.001-05:00

Hmmm.........

Boy that turkey dinner really does smell good.

And, look pumpkin pie - I just LOVE pumpkin pie.....

I wonder if they'll invite me in........

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Trying To Find A Place To Hide!

2011-11-23T07:07:00.001-05:00

Psst......

Hey, Joe - If we hide in there do you think they'll find us for Thursday?

Nah...........

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!