Twelve Months Of Sewing Club Featured E-Pattern For November 2009

It's November, 3rd 2009 and it's windy outside. It's sunny - which is wonderful, but a bit windy. I don't mind that. I love the Fall season when there's a crisp coolness in the air, a little breeze blowing, and leaves falling. There's just something about this season and all the holidays that I find inviting. Halloween has just passed which means Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before we know it.

In thinking about the upcoming holidays I decided that the "Instant Download E-Pattern" for the month of November for our Twelve Months of Sewing Club should be one of my favorite Christmas e-patterns. I decided to select LW191LWOEP "Mrs. St. Nicholas - A Little Plump, But Happy!" She's a little on the plump side, but that makes her charming.

So, how does the featured pattern deal work? Well, if you buy the "Featured Instant Download E-Pattern" you will get a FREE Linda Walsh Originals E-Pattern* (*of equal or lessor value) emailed to you. So, if you buy "Mrs. St. Nicholas - A Little Plump, But Happy!" you can choose another e-pattern* for FREE.

All you have to do is tell us which FREE-Pattern* (*of lessor or equal value) you would like in the comments field of the PayPal checkout. We will then email your FREE E-Pattern to you.


“Mrs. St. Nicholas - A Little Plump, But Happy!”, 23” Country & Folk Art Mrs. Claus Doll E-Pattern - Christmas Pleasantly Plump Series

Just CLICK this link to "Buy $5.95 "Mrs. St. Nicholas - A Little Plump, But Happy!" Instant Download E-Pattern Now."

You'll be brought to the page "Mrs. St. Nicholas - A Little Plump, But Happy!" is on in our Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns website where you can add "Mrs. St. Nicholas - A Little Plump, But Happy!" to your shopping basket and then checkout.

"Mrs. St. Nicholas - A Little Plump, But Happy!" is one of the nicest woman you'd ever want to meet. She loves her life at the North Pole, loves her husband, and loves doing whatever she can to help him get ready for Christmas Eve.

She's ready, willing, and able. Now don't let a little bit of "plumpness" fool you. Mrs. Claus may be "plump" but she is as fit as a fiddle. She has to be to get everything done that needs to be done for Christmas Eve.

She might be cooking for the elves and Santa - they do tend to get a little hungry after all that hard work.

Or she might be crafting something for the good boys and girls. There's always so many presents that have to be made. Everyone has to pitch in and help.

Or she might be decorating for the holidays. They do tend to have a lot of decorations at the North Pole! Floral crafts are her favorite.

Or she might be washing and cleaning. Elves do tend to be messy - especially the boy elves.

Or, she might be exercising the reindeer. They, too, need to be in shape for their journey.

Or, she may be playing nurse to the elves who have the flu. Elves tend to overwork themselves and get a little run down - especially the boy elves.

Or she might be running to the grocery store. Even Santa and Mrs. Claus need to get supplies. They like to shop at the North Pole Walmart.

Or she might be paying the bills. Santa does tend to rack up the bills.

Or she might be babysitting some of the little elves. Reading a story to the little elves is her favorite time because she just loves to embellish.

Or she might be mending some of Santa's suits. He does tend to put on some weight around the holidays and Mrs. Clause has to let his suits out a little.



"Mrs. St. Nicholas - A Little Plump, But Happy!" is a 23" country Mrs. Claus from our "Pleasantly Plump Series." She is a squared bottomed self-standing cloth and wood doll. Her arms and hands are wired and her cloth head and cloth body are supported by a wood dowel and wood base.

Her face is embroidered and she has brown water colored and sunken eyes, an embroidered and raised nose, and a red outline embroidered mouth. Her eyebrows are embroidered as are her eyelashes and she has rosy pencil colored and blushed cheeks. She has shading under her eyes and around her nose and pencil colored wrinkle lines.

Mrs. Claus has a mass of gray hair fastened in a bun with bangs under her cap. Her cap is lined, and gathered and is attached to the top and back of her head. Her square frame glasses sit on the bridge of her nose.

Mrs. Claus is wearing her favorite holiday ensemble with matching vest and cap. Her dress has two layers of lace trim on the bottom and is gathered at the waist and neck. Her dress sleeves have two layers of lace trim and are gathered at the shoulders and wrists.

She is wearing a long lined vest that is top stitched along all the edges and fastened in the front with DMC Embroidery bows.

Mrs. Claus is carrying a pine cone, berry and ribbon decorated basket that she made for the front foyer.



She might be cooking, sewing, crafting, cleaning, exercising, shopping, nursing, bookkeeping, babysitting, decorating, reading stories, or one of one hundred other tasks that need to be done. She loves her life - but, she is one busy lady.

She's a little plump, but certainly happy and CERTAINLY able.

We hope you enjoy making "Mrs. St. Nicholas - A Little Plump, But Happy!"

Don't forget to tell us which Linda Walsh Originals E-Pattern* (*of equal or lessor value) you want emailed to you. Since Mrs. St. Nicholas - A Little Plump, But Happy! " is priced at $5.95 this means you can select anyone of our e-patterns valued at $5.95 or less for FREE and have that emailed to you.

Just tell us in the comments field of your PayPal checkout which one of our Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns that you would like emailed to you for FREE.

Have fun!

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!"

Halloween - A Time For Kids, Bud, and Dumbo Ears!

Today is Halloween and while thinking about my own childhood Halloween adventures or misadventures I concluded that Halloween was definitely a time for kids, and maybe, well Bud, too!

My Irish twin brother and I always went trick or treating together and there was always a competition to see who could get the most candy. The competition would always end with him punching me and my crying. Sometimes they were fake tears which, unfortunately, my Mother always saw through.

One particular Halloween when we were teenagers we seemed to get a lot of gum. For some reason my brother and I thought it would be great to see how many pieces of gum I could get in my mouth. So, he kept feeding them to me and feeding them to me until I couldn't chew anymore. I couldn't move my mouth either as there was so much gum in there and, of course, I started choking. My Mother had to pull the gum out bit by bit and she was not amused. Needless to say we didn't try that again.

In the family right now my two twin grandsons (who are 4) and my grandson, Noodles, who is 10 will be out trick or treating in a few hours. Like all kids I'm sure they're excited by the thoughts of all the candy they will get and all the candy they envision they'll be able to eat.

Of course, they think they'll be able to eat it when they get home! That's not gonna happen. But, they can think they will.

It's a magical holiday when kids get to dress up. When I was a kid my brother and I would help my Mom make our costumes. Sometimes we had a lot of time to put them together - other times they were kinda last minute this will do costumes. You know - the sheets thrown over your head with two eye holes for ghosts.

Nowadays kids costumes (and adult costumes for that matter) are big business. Kids get to dress up as their favorite superhero, favorite monster, or favorite cartoon character. Sometimes the costumes are simple and sometimes they're much more elaborate. Personally, for me - the simpler the better. I like handmade costumes. Store bought costumes have just become way too commercial and way to much of a money maker for the costume and party companies. But, in today's fast paced work it's hard to find time to make handmade costumes.

While thinking about Halloween and looking through some of the old pictures I was reminded about some of the stories behind some of the pictures shown in my post. The first three pictures of the little guy in the tiger outfit are of my grandson, Noodles - one with Bud! What you can't tell from the pictures is that he was sick that day. Really sick - fever and all.

But, he wanted to go to the grocery store to pick out the candy and wanted to help fill the candy containers with all the candy. He also wanted to wear his costume - which was a little hot for a little guy with a fever! So, we filled up 4 HUGE bowls of candy.

Now you might wonder why so many bowls of candy. Well, the simple answer is that my grandson lives in a neighborhood where they get hundreds of trick or treaters. Hundreds. The door bell never stops ringing.

The two pictures of the geisha girls are of my twin granddaughters when they were very small. What you don't know about this picture is why they are laughing.

You see, about 30 minutes before my granddaughters were to arrive I decided that my husband should have a costume, too.

So, I cut two huge Dumbo ears (you know Dumbo the elephant) out of white paper and made a little Dumbo hat out of the same paper and taped them to his head. It was a crude last minute costume - but, the girls laughed and thought it was great.

They, of course, had no problem recognizing their grandfather with Dumbo ears.

While browsing through some of the picture albums I also found a picture of my twin grandsons from Halloween 2008. They were pictured with their Dad, but I decided to crop him out and just show you the twins in their Halloween costumes.

I'm sure their Dad wouldn't mind. Halloween is for kids after all. Or, at least I hope he doesn't mind! LOL LOL Then again - he's always been a BIG KID, too. Maybe I should photoshop him back in! LOL LOL

I'm still looking for a picture of my other grandson from Halloween. He was in a period for such a long time where he didn't want to have his picture taken. I have lots of pictures when he was really small, but haven't been able to locate one for Halloween.

So I decided that maybe I should photoshop a picture of him with a fake Halloween costume on and then tell him it's a real picture. Do you think he'd believe it? Nah! I don't think so either. He's too smart for that.

I decided instead to take a picture of him and distort it. To my surprise it distorted him in such a way as to create Dumbo ears.

Kind of looks like his grandfather with his Dumbo ears but cuter. At least I think so. Let's see what he says when he sees this post.

In any event, it's getting dark and the ghosts, goblins, and witches will be out. Yikes! Is that the doorbell already? Bud's barking. Better get his costume on. Come on, Bud - every dog needs a Halloween costume. Bud, now don't run away from me. Bud.

Hmmm... if he won't wear a costume maybe hubby will. Where did I put those Dumbo ears.


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!"

New Graphics and Products For The Gray Is Beautiful Gallery!

This Fall has been an exciting season for the "Gray Is Beautiful" gallery as the "grays" decided it was about time that they had some new products and graphics to showcase the original gray images and the new "grays." In fact, they pretty much demanded that I do so.

And, of course, since I always try to keep peace in "The Dollie Storage Room" I decided that they were right. It had been a really long time since I'd created anything new for the "Gray Is Beautiful" gallery and there were new grays. But, it wouldn't be fair to just create graphics for the new dolls - I had to create graphics for the old "grays" who had been waiting so patiently since Helena got hers. And - that was a long time ago. So, create I did.

The first thing I did was to create a new banner and button ad. It seemed like it was time for a new one considering all the new grays that had been added during the past year. There are 14 dolls in the "Gray Is Beautiful" collection now and all 14 now have their very own graphics and products.

But, not only do all the "grays" have their own design lines now - there are 33 categories now each with their own product lines. And, within each of the categories there may be 3 or 4 different graphic designs to choose from. In total, we have 863 products in our "Gray Is Beautiful" gallery now. There's a LOT to choose from that's for sure.

We're going to be telling you about the different graphics, categories and products over the next few weeks on our Gray Is Beautiful Blog and on our Gray Is Beautiful Gallery Facebook page so please stay tuned for a wonderful adventure. The "grays" thoroughly enjoyed themselves designing their graphics and products and hope you enjoy them as much as they enjoyed making them.

And, if you find that you LOVE our graphics and products please become a fan of the Gray Is Beautiful Gallery on Facebook.com by CLICKING HERE and then clicking on "Become A Fan!"

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 Linda Walsh Originals Punkin Ornaments Are In The How To Halloween E-Book From Favecrafts.com

It's almost time for HALLOWEEN and we've got great news to tell you.

First, our Linda Walsh Originals Punkin Ornaments e-pattern was included in the "How To Halloween: Projects from Bloggers E-Book By The Editors of Favecrafts.com ." How great is that?

Secondly, the "How To Halloween: Projects from Bloggers E-Book By The Editors of Favecrafts.com" is a free e-book that is chock full of wonderful ideas for Halloween decorating, costumes, and pumpkin crafts.

Here's what the editors of Favecrafts.com have to say about their e-book:

Scare your friends and family with a spooktacular Halloween costume. You only have a few weeks left to plan your party or make your costume, so get cracking. Homemade Halloween costumes are great as you can save money and create whatever you wish. Make your costumes and decorations this year with some great decorating ideas from bloggers like you.

The e-book is in .pdf format so all you need to do is CLICK HERE or click on the picture above to download the e-book.

I hope you enjoy all the Halloween projects. Please make sure to check out our Punkin Ornaments on page 41. Enjoy!


Halloween Ideas from Bloggers eBook

Copyright 2009 by Prime Publishing LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Trademarks are property of their respective holders. When used, trademarks are for the benefit of the trademark owner only.

Published by Prime Publishing LLC, 3400 Dundee Road, Northbrook, IL 60062 – www.primecp.com


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 Little Witch History!

With Halloween comes the most recognized of the villains - the witches.

That got me to thinking a little bit about witches. And, of course, when I get to thinking about something I inevitably wonder about their history and what started the fear of "witches?" This fear might better be defined as a "manic craze" that lasted for hundreds of years. YIKES!

Now, I might be a little more curious about "witches" than I should be. You see, I was actually born in the state that is notorious for witches, witchcraft, and witch trials. Plus, in my genealogy search I found there may be a witch or two in my family in the past! YIKES!

Maybe I'm actually a modern day witch? Nah!!!! Witches don't like Victorian dolls - or do they?

So, where did it all begin?

The most notorious of the witch lore was the Salem witch trials and the Smithsonian.com website has a wonderful history of the Salem witch trials entitled: A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials - One town's strange journey from paranoia to pardon - Smithsonian.com, October 24, 2007 - - By Jess Blumberg. It is well worth reading.

But, before the witch trials where did the fear of witches begin?

Maybe the place to start is with the definition of a witch.

So, what exactly is a witch?

Well, according to Princeton University WordNet a witch is defined as:

(1) enchantress: a female sorcerer or magician,

(2) a being (usually female) imagined to have special powers derived from the devil,

(3) Wiccan: a believer in Wicca,

(4) hex: cast a spell over someone or something; put a hex on someone or something,

(5) hag: an ugly evil-looking old woman.

Well, that's a pretty broad definition. Just being an ugly evil looking old woman (i.e. hag) can get you defined as a witch. With that definition a lot of us are in trouble! YIKES!

Maybe a sorcerer, magician, or devil worshiper is more like it. I tend to think that most everyone would classify a witch as someone who can cast a spell over you. Wouldn't you agree? If so, that person is practicing witchcraft.

According to Wikipedia.com "witchcraft" is defined as follows:

Witchcraft, in various historical, anthropological, religious and mythological contexts, is the use of certain kinds of supernatural or magical powers. Witchcraft can refer to the use of such powers in order to inflict harm or damage upon members of a community or their property.

Other uses of the term distinguish between bad witchcraft and good witchcraft, the latter involving the use of these powers to heal someone from bad witchcraft. The concept of witchcraft is normally treated as a cultural ideology, a means of explaining human misfortune by blaming it either on a supernatural entity or a known person in the community. A witch (from Old English wicce f. / wicca m., also compare hag) is a practitioner of witchcraft.

The word witchcraft means "craft of the wise" and witchcraft is thought to be the oldest of religions.

As with many things in folklore some believe the roots of witchcraft come from the Celts living between 700 BC and 100 AD. The Celts and their religious leaders, the Druids, were spiritual people, who worshiped both a god, a goddess, and believed in reincarnation. Some historians say that witches date back to the days when the goddess was worshiped. During that time there was great respect for the powers of nature and for women as the creators of life. However, there are some who believe that witchcraft was alive well before the "Druids" and around 1800 B.C.

Witches, in fact, were respected members of the community up to about 1,000 A.D. They were valued for their ability to ease pain, heal people, and heal sick animals.

The religious beliefs and practices of the Celts became known as Paganism. Some say that their many beliefs and rituals spawned many of the practices associated with witches, such as: concocting potions, mixing ointments, casting spells, dabbling in the supernatural, forecasting the future, and performing feats of magic. These practices and many of the nature-based beliefs held by the Celts and others became known as witchcraft.

So, what led people to a fear of witches or, in other words, witch hunts, which is a search for witches? The inevitable result being burnings at the stake or lynching? Yikes!

Around the 14Th century with the rise of Christianity and demise of paganism witchcraft became branded as "demon-worship." Witches became feared because with their knowledge of healing, herbs, hypnosis, etc. they could do things that the majority of the population and the religious leaders could not do. This was too threatening so the Christian Church taught that those claiming to heal outside the context of the Church (healing through faith and prayer) were thought to have obtained their skills from the Devil.

When North America started being settled witchcraft was practiced by some of the early colonial settlers in order to help the early settlers save their settlements from attacks by the Indians.

In some instances, the witches were put on trial before being burned alive or hung. I'll bet the witches wouldn't agree that they had fair trials - now would they? More like mass hysteria leading to execution would be a better description. Mass hysteria led by instigators who had an ulterior motive for persecuting the wrong-doers.

Witch hunts in Europe started around 1480 and went until 1700 during which there were anywhere from 40,000 to 100,000 executions. By most accounts people were accused of witchcraft in order to explain some human misfortune that couldn't be explained else-wise. Something supernatural. Something that bewitched someone causing them to behave in an anti-social manner.

However, not all witches were the same. Some were bad witches and some were actually good witches. Some were sorcerers, some were midwifes, some were just plain healers.

In the Christian religion sorcery came to be associated with heresy and the denouncing of one's beliefs, which of course was very threatening to religious leaders of the time.

In Europe during the medieval times the fear of witchcraft rose to the level of mass hysteria resulting in numerous witch hunts. It was believed that the witches had entered into a pact with the devil and were being directed by the devil himself to commit unthinkable acts. Hundreds of thousands of people (mainly women) were executed, tortured and imprisoned.

In Europe witches have typically been women. As with a lot of beliefs, witchcraft began with the pagan belief in witchcraft that was associated with the goddess Diana, who was the ancient Roman goddess of the moon, the hunt, and chastity.

Most witches were thought to have the ability to cast a "spell" upon someone - good or bad. Some were also thought to have the ability to conjure up the dead and/or ability to talk to the spirit of a deceased person. Some early Christian authorities believed that witches made deals with the devil to gain power over infertility, child welfare, or even revenge against a lover. Witches had the power to disrupt marriage. All of which were seen as acts against the church.

According to folklore witches inevitably had the mark of the devil - which was a brand placed on their skin to signify their deal with the devil. YIKES!

However, not all witches were "evil." There were "good" witches or "white" witches who were able to heal the sick, who meditated, and brewed potions at the request of the person inflicted. These potions could heal the person inflicted versus causing them to act against their will. Good healing power, in other words, power that was beneficial was tolerated and acceptable behavior.

Within witchcraft itself there were different levels of "magic." "Black magic" is used to harm another human being. " Green magic" is used to align oneself with nature. "White magic" is used in an attempt to better oneself and align oneself with the needs of society. It does not entail harming other human beings. "Grey magic" contains an ethical code that is particular to the practitioner. "Folk magic" is a mix of many rituals; herbalism, faith healing, curses and hexes, candle magic, etc. and has thrived in rural areas for centuries.

Evil powers usually attributed to witches were the ability to make food poisonous, the ability to fly on a broomstick, the ability to make people sick, and make crops fail.

The most famous witchcraft incident in the North America were the Salem witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts. These were a series of hearings before a local magistrate prosecuting people for witchcraft. Between February 1692 and May 1693 over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned. Twenty nine people were convicted of the felony of witchcraft with 14 women and 4 men being hanged for it. One man was crushed with stones to get him to admit he was engaging in witchcraft. He never admitted it.

However, the belief in witchcraft didn't just exist in Europe and Pagan or Christian folklore. It existed in South America, Asia, Egypt, ancient Babylonia, India, Japan, Africa and in many of the well known world wide religions. In fact, in some cultures in Africa a belief in witchcraft exists even to this day.

Whether or not there actually are "witches" with special powers as foretold throughout history and throughout many regions and religions remains to be seen. What will remain is the folklore of the "witch" and their "evil" powers which will forever be associated in western culture with "Halloween" or "All Hallows Eve."

Witches are a favorite creation amongst artists and crafters. However, Halloween has also become a favorite of doll makers and crafters because there are so many different types of dolls, doll patterns, paintings, sculptures, graphics and crafts that you can make for this one holiday.

It might be ghosts, goblins, and witches. Or, Frankensteins, Dracula, and vampires. Maybe, bats, pumpkins, and skulls. Even, skeletons, monsters, and mummies. You also have candy corn, costumes, and haunted houses. It's definitely a wondrous holiday for crafting.

So, this leads us to another question. Where did "Halloween" or "All Hallows Eve" start?

The answer lies in the true origins of Halloween and the ancient Celtic tribes who lived in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany. November 1st for the Celts marked the beginning of a new year and the coming of winter. So the night before the new year the Celts celebrated the Festival of Samhain, who was the Lord of the Dead. The Celts believed that during this festival the souls of the dead (including ghosts, goblins, and witches) returned to mingle with the living.

In the Druidic, religion of the ancient Celts, the Druids would light fires and offer sacrifices of crops, animals and sometimes humans, as they danced around the fires. The season of the sun would pass and the season of darkness would begin.

On the morning of November 1st, the Druids would give an ember from their fires to each family who would then take it home to start a new cooking fire. The fires were intended to keep the homes warm and free of evil spirits such as banshees. It was believed that at this time of the year invisible "gates" would open between the real world and the spirit world. Movement between both worlds was possible, especially for the witches.

In order to scare away the evil spirits the Celts would wear masks and the children would wear costumes. Halloween costumes have traditionally been monsters such as vampires, ghosts, witches, and devils.

Why?

Because in 19Th century Scotland and Ireland the reason the children wore such fearsome costumes was the belief that since the spirits of the dead were intent on doing harm that night, the best way to avoid this was to fool the dead spirits into thinking you were one of them. So, you would dress up as a witch, monster, vampire, and skeleton.

So, we know the reason for the costumes. Why carve pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns and put scary faces on the pumpkins to boot?

Why put candles in them and set them on the porch?

This tradition is also derived from ancient celebrations and actually began with a turnip. The Celts would hollow out the turnips and place lighted candles inside to scare off the evil spirits. When the Irish came to America, they discovered that the pumpkin was a much larger substitute for the turnip. If it's larger, it's scarier. If it's scarier it will ward off evil spirits.

But, why are they called jack-o-lanterns?

It all started with an Irishman (of course) named Jack who was forced to roam the earth with just a burning coal inside his pumpkin to light the way for him. He had to roam the earth forever because he had never performed a single selfless act his whole life!

But, why the door-to-door trick-or-treating you ask?

Once, again we go back to Ireland where there was a custom of farmers going door-to-door to collect food and materials for the Festival of Samhain and the bonfire. Those who gave were promised prosperity; those who didn't received bad luck! When the Irish immigrants came to America the door-to-door trick-or-treating came with them and thus the traditions began.

Whether your favorite Halloween monster is a witch holding a jack-o-lantern, a ghost, a goblin, a vampire, Frankenstein, skeleton or mummy, it's safe to say that Halloween will remain a favorite holiday amongst children and amongst crafters.

Of course, one of my favorites is the witch.

After all - all us "hags" have to stick together!

Don't we?


Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
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What's A Little Sawdust?

You might think that because I like dolls, especially Victorian dolls that I tend to be a "girly girl" and don't like getting dirty and all messy. Well, you'd be wrong.

Just to give you a little background for my story I've always LOVED the Victorian dolls and, at the same time, have always been somewhat of a tomboy. Not to the nth degree as some tomboys are, but enough so that I could be called that while I was growing up.


I'd have to blame that on my older brother - the "Irish Twin" I've posted about and eluded to many times. He was always getting me into trouble. Riding our bikes through mud puddles, using a magnifying glass on our shoes to see if it would burn a hole in them, jumping off stone walls into piles of snow, carving our names with pocketknives in the side of our house, and surprising our parents on the day after Christmas by stuffing the fireplace with wrapping paper and then lighting it. We were trying to clean-up and help. We just weren't old enough to know to open the damper to let the smoke out.

Since he was my only playmate for a while whenever we played something he always wanted to do "boyish" things. Play with my dolls and have a tea party - NEVER! So, I was a bit of a tomboy thanks to my older brother.

Well, when my two younger brothers were born my "tomboy" days just got worse - especially when they were teenagers. Come on, Linda, let's play tackle football. Let's have a snowball fight. Let's go swimming in a mud hole. How about climbing some trees - which we stopped when my younger brother fell out of one! Let's work on the car - YUCK! Let's build something - maybe!


Because of my older brother and younger brothers (hooligans - all of them) growing up I was both a "tomboy" and "a girly girl." Thankfully, after my younger sister was born I was finally able to do some "girly girl" things - like having a tea party with the "dollies."

As I got older and got my own home I settled in with more "girly girl" things and decorated my house with Queen Anne furniture and yes, dolls. Lots of dolls. Did I mention that my husband is a "saint" for putting up with me and my "dolls?" If I didn't - well, he is.

But, every once in a while I do something tomboyish and actually surprise myself with liking it. To get back to the beginning of my story - the reason you'd be wrong about my not liking to get messy is that I have spend several days in the last few weeks covered with sawdust - from head to toe. And, here's the real surprise I just LOVED it.

You see, one of my younger brothers has the most INCREDIBLE workshop you'd ever want to see. He has every tool imaginable for woodworking and I just love sitting in his shop and working on something. Of course, I always bring something I want him to do. Last year, he helped me with some of my presents which I posted about here and here. My brother is quite the carpenter and I've posted about him before in a post entitled "Woodcrafts and Wood Furniture My Brother Made Me."

In any event - back to the story - this year I once again enlisted his help with finishing some of the presents I hope to give this year. When I asked him if he would help he said, sure - as long as there aren't too many of them. I, of course, said, "There's not too many!" Well, when I showed up with 33 of them - he looked at me with that look only a brother can give you that says, "I may LOVE you, but - I'm going to kill you!"

Little did I know that he had already suspected I had a LOT for him to do and already had "payback" in mind. You see, I came home with a TON of woodcrafts that he had made for Christmas presents this year and which I needed to paint for him. I just know that when he was loading all of them in my car he was smirking knowing full well that they were going to take me a long time to paint. And, for sure, he was muttering under his breath, "gotcha this time!"

Little does he know that I have a long memory - and, well, Christmas 2010 is just around the corner. The 33 boxes this year will be small potato's compared to next year. Payback's a bitch, brother! Gotcha! LOL LOL

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!"



Victorian graphics courtesy of Karen Watson of The Graphics Fairy

What's A Few Monsters!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I know it can't be because I like monsters. In fact, I'm really very afraid of them. I think I'll blame my older brother and watching scary shows like "The Twilight Zone" and "Fantasmic Features" as a kid on that. "Feep" scared the socks off me!

I can remember watching one of the "Fantasmic Features" shows where aliens invaded the earth and built their fortresses underground. Then they would pull their victims underground through huge areas of quick sand. I was watching this show over my girlfriends house at the time and when it came time to go home (which was across the street) I was afraid to go outside for fear of being sucked into a hole. So, I ran leaping as fast as I could across the street hoping I wouldn't get pulled under.


So, if I'm so afraid of monsters why would I like to design and create them? Maybe it's all the wonderful colors of Halloween or maybe it's because of the variety. Maybe it's because I can combine my LOVE of Victorian with my scary monsters. Maybe by creating scary monsters I can defeat my fear of them.

If it's the latter I'd have to say I my not win that one as my creations are anything but scary. Wouldn't you agree?

Over on our Dolls Blog we have been featuring some of the various Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving dolls and crafts we have on our Linda Walsh Originals Dolls website.

Here's our posts so far:

It's Almost Fall - My Favorite Time Of The Year! Yippee - Scarecrows!

More Of The Fall Line-up - ON TO THE PUMPKINS!

Onward To The GHOSTS!

Good Witch - Bad Witch - Does It Really Matter?

What About The Goblins - Frankensteins, Dracula's, Mummies, and Others - OH, MY!

Pilgrims Are Cute, Too - Aren't They?

With Halloween comes monsters and when you think about monsters you can't help but think about Dracula's, Frankenstein's, mummies, ghosts, and even - the Headless Horseman.

The Headless Horseman is one of my favorite designs. And, it's not because he's carrying heads. YUCK!!! It's because he's - VICTORIAN. And, you all now how much I love Victorian anything.

But, we don't just have The Headless Horseman we also have a full line-up of scary monsters. Well, some are scary, but a lot of them are just downright CUTE!

If you'd like more information on the monsters shown below just click their picture.



I hope you enjoyed seeing some of our monsters. They weren't too scary - now were they?


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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 Was In Crafting Heaven - Versus Sewing Heaven!

Two weeks ago I was in crafting heaven - versus sewing heaven. You see, I had previously been in sewing heaven when I was crafting my Santa for the Cloth Doll Artistry Santa Challenge.

Two weeks ago I was in crafting heaven for the Halloween Challenge of the Cloth Doll Artistry Crafts Studio.

If you'd like to know what the Halloween Challenge involved I'd previously posted about it in a post entitled "Having Some Halloween Fun!"


Now, of course, I can't show you my entry. I will when the winners are announced sometime after Halloween. Suffice to say I had a delightful time crafting away and was able to combine several different crafts - that I love to do.

I can't tell you what those are, but I can tell you since it was for the CRAFTS Studio it wasn't a doll.

Now, that's a surprise all by itself!

What it is will have to remain a secret - for now!

Just know that I was in crafting heaven and couldn't be happier!


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!"

Graphics Courtesy of Karen Watson From The Graphics Fairy

A Pattern He'll Be!!

Well, the votes are in and my Santa doll entry for the Santa Challenge on the Cloth Doll Artistry group didn't win, but he'll become a pattern. And, that suits him just fine.



I had previously written about being "In Sewing Heaven" on a post on my Linda's Blog when I was creating him but, wasn't able to tell you the details of the challenge at that time.

Well, the rules of the challenge were that we would each have a partner that we would swap 3 different holiday fat quarters with. Each of us would use the fat quarters sent by our partner to make a Santa doll. We were each sent a simple body pattern to use that could be altered anyway we wanted. The clothing was entirely up to us as long as we used the fat quarters we were sent and, as a bonus, could add 2 solid colors. There were three categories we could enter our doll in: Silliest Cartoon Character Type Santa, Most Creative In Color In Style, and Most Traditional In Style To Father Christmas.



My partner had sent me a bright red/green fancy floral fabric, rustic pine cone printed fabric, and a light beige/cream fabric. I decided to make my Santa Victorian in nature (pray tell now why would I choose that? LOL LOL) with a long lined coat and cuffed and gathered pantaloons.

His lined jacket was adorned with gold trim on the inside and outside edges of his jacket with the front lapels folded back and tied in place with DMC floss bows. His lined jacket was fastened with a wired gold bow belt and the lined sleeves were gathered and cuffed.

You can't tell from the pictures, but he's also wearing a solid green tunic that is gathered at the neck and wrists and fastened around his waist with a gold rope. His hat had a lined band and matched both his coat and pantaloons.


I also decided to partially embroider and watercolor his face and give him silver embroidered glasses, as well as a raised nose. And, I decided to sit him atop a wrapped box with a large wired ribbon bow and have him hold a pre-bought decorated wooden sled.

It was a tough challenge as all the Santa's that were submitted were excellent. I submitted mine under the Most Creative In Color and Style category. It was hard choosing which one I liked for each category - besides my own, of course!! LOL LOL

Alas, he didn't win. Congratulations to all the entrants for submitting some amazing Santa's and congratulations to all the winners in each of the categories. I LOVED each and every entry and thought they were all winners. Of course, I'd hoped I would win. I didn't but - a pattern he'll be!


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!"

One Of Our Patterns Was Featured On Favecrafts.com

Sometimes when it rains it pours.

And, sometimes it's just a delightful sprinkle.

Well, the month of September has been a delightful sprinkle for Linda Walsh Originals. Not only were our Victorian "Ladies" written about by Elizabeth de Almedia who is the N.Y. Doll Collecting freelance writer for the Examiner.com, here and here, but one of our patterns was published on the Favecrafts.com website and blogged about in the Favecrafts blog.

To give you a little history behind our pattern being published last May Christine Doheny, who is the editor of Favecrafts.com (which is published by Prime Publishing LLC) emailed me and said she had run across one of my Uncle Sam dolls that had made her smile. She asked if I would be interested in contributing a craft project, tutorial, or tip to Favecrafts.com or contributing something as a guest blog on the Favecrafts blog.

When I had a chance to respond I sent her back an email thanking her and asking her which Uncle Sam doll she was referring to as I have a LOT of websites and blogs! LOL LOL Ya think! LOL LOL But, I might be interested and asked her for more information on what was involved and how much time it would take. As always - I had a lot on my plate! LOL LOL

In any event we corresponded back and forth a few times and I finally decided since it was my favorite time of the year - Fall - that I would send her my "Punkin Ornaments Are We! A Trio of Ornaments" pattern and did so last week.

Well, I'm excited to tell you that it was published on Favecrafts.com at the beginning of this week. If you'd like to see it please CLICK HERE. Or just go to the Favecrafts.com website and click on Holiday Craft then Halloween Crafts and then go to page 4. Scroll down to the middle until you see the following:

Colorful Pumpkin Ornament

Linda Walsh is here to teach us to make colorful pumpkin ornaments. Using felt, flannel and fabric you can create these wonderful Halloween crafts in no time. This is a great free sewing pattern and you can make a trio of them.


She also told me I could post about it on their Favecraftsblog.com blog so I, of course, agreed. A chance to blog and I not take advantage of that! You'd have to be kidding! LOL LOL If you'd like to see my post on their Favecraftsblog.com blog please CLICK HERE.

Here's what Favecrafts.com said about themselves on the About page of their Favecraftsblog.com blog:

Thanks for visiting FaveCrafts’ blog space! Favecrafts.com is an exciting resource for all things craft — from expert tips to project ideas for every style and skill level.

Meet the editors of the FaveCrafts Blog here!

Prime Publishing LLC was established in 1995 as a traditional niche book publishing company. The company created their first web site in 1996. By 1998, the company had over 500,000 opt-in e-mail subscribers to various women focused niche content newsletters and web sites.

A shift to a proprietary lead generation response technology fueled continued growth and a spin-off of the technology into a new company. Some awards and recognition include:

- Recipient of the 2004 Technology Fast 50 Rising Star program for Chicagoland by Deloitte & Touche.

- The Direct Marketing Association, Marketing & Technology Internet Council, awarded the first annual “Award of Excellence” for its lead generation technology in December 2003.

- Named a finalist in the first annual by Click Z/Message Media for “Best E-Mail Driven Community” in 2001.

Today, we are an Internet Media Company that operates web site communities, e-mail newsletters and e-commerce stores in niche areas such as crafting, home décor, wellness, diet and cooking. With a flexible and scalable platform, Prime Publishing operates a rapidly growing network of websites that offer consumers the ability to share information through extensive online communities and make informed purchasing decisions.

Check out our ever changing Google Profile.

I haven't had a chance to thoroughly review everything on their website and blog but from what I can tell there seems to be a LOT to offer on Favecrafts.com and the Favecraftsblog.com blog. They have a TON of categories and a TON of free crafting patterns, projects, tips, how-to's and more. You won't be disappointed by your visit.


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!"

The Best NEWS To Tell You! Another Win-Win For Artists and Crafters

I just have the best news to tell you. I just opened up a Linda Walsh Originals Winkelf store. If you don't know what Winkelf.com is I should tell you that it is a fabulous new online shopping marketplace for artists and crafters.


I spent the weekend filling up my Linda Walsh Originals Winkelf store and creating my Linda Walsh Originals Winkelf blog. Yes, they even give you a fully integrated blog with the blog posts appearing along the right hand side of the store. How fabulous is that?

Winkelf was started by Samantha, who is an artisan, mother, seller and buyer. She was a member of eBay, Etsy, Trunkt and Flickr and also a web designer/developer of ecommerce websites. In 2005 she decided that it was time for her to create Winkelf - an online marketplace for sellers and buyers of handmade goods.

Here's what they have to say about themselves:

WinkElf is the people's online shopping marketplace for designers, artisans and all creative folk to buy and sell handmade goodies, vintage treasures, craft supplies and even some brand name items for your home and family.

Built by hand (by me) with a love for handmade goods, you won't be subjected to the gameplay of big business here. Discover free stores, no listing fees and a low selling-only fee.

Here's what they have to say about their selling packages:

Basic package where you can list for free every day with an unbranded store and unlimited listings... with just a 2.5% selling-only fee. Not one penny for unsold items, whether you list just one item or 1,000,000 items.

All-inclusive package for only $5 a month. Don't worry, our prices don't change from month-to-month. That's our every day price... for everyone!

So, I opened up a basic store and have to tell you that I just LOVE it. It's easy to do, easy to add items to, and easy to add links to all your network places like;
Facebook, Blogger.com, Flickr, Twitter, IndiePublic, ByHandMe, and more.

Plus, they allow you to have 4 extra pages that you can customize the way you want and that are always shown on the left hand side of your store. I added the following pages:

Welcome
Linda's Handmade Dolls
Linda's Pattern Designs
Our Store Policies

And, for everyone who sells not only handmade items, but e-patterns, e-tutorials, e-books, and more they have digital download capability so you can upload you digital products in .zip files and have the link automatically emailed to the customer when you have been paid. If you are an artist or crafter who just started selling e-products this is a fabulous feature. However, you don't have to have them digitally downloaded. You can sell them as e-products that you email to the customer as attachments to your email once you have been notified of payment by the customer.

I have some of my handmade dolls & crafts listed in my store, plus some of my e-patterns and e-books.

Some of the other features of the store are you can categorize your items and drag/drop the sorting order. You can create a Profile page, send me a message, tell a friend about me, or even subscribe to my store's RSS feed. And, every time you list an item you can Twitter about it. Add to that a schedule feature that allows you to schedule items being listed, and an automatic re-list feature for when the listing ends.

Plus, they have a few different store widgets that you can add to your other websites, blogs, and networking places. Here's one of mine:

I'm just loving this new store. If you'd like to see what Winkelf.com is all about please CLICK HERE.

I hope you enjoy my new store. See you at Winkelf.com.






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

It's So Wonderful To Have Friends!

One of the things I really like about the doll making community on the web is all of the wonderful doll artists I have met and who have become dear friends. One such special friend is Katherine Ann Johnson Lees (i.e. Kat), who I have posted about before. CLICK HERE if you'd like to read that post.

Well, the other morning I awoke to an email from Kat containing a download of her Snow Queen Crystalline e-pattern. I, of course, was thrilled as Kat is an amazing doll artist and I just LOVE all her creations.

She had sent this out of the goodness of her kind and loving heart to all the doll makers who had entered her Santa Challenge, but hadn't won. She didn't need to do this. That's just the way Kat is. She has a huge heart and she just loves to give and give.

So, I thought maybe I could give something back to Kat as a means of thanking her for her generosity by posting pictures of some of her amazing e-patterns. If you are a doll maker and want to learn from one of the best then buy some of Kat's incredible e-patterns. They are filled to the brim with picture after picture after picture of step-by-step instructions for creating her fabulous dolls. In fact, you'd really have to call them e-tutorial e-patterns as they have so much information in them. If you'd like to buy any of the e-patterns shown below just click on the picture.

Here's the one Kat just sent:

Crystalline the Snow Queen

And, here's her newest e-pattern:

Flamingo Santa

And, here's some more of her incredible e-patterns that I just LOVE:

Choo Choo Charlie Elf


Dooley the Toymaker Elf


Joshua Artistic Elf


Sherrie the Poinsettia Elf


Candy Cane Elf

Kat, doesn't just have doll e-patterns. She also offers e-pattern/e-tutorial workshops on various techniques for painting faces, which are as follows:

Printing Faces on Fabric


Creating Faces with CHALK


Fiona Blue Face Painting

Articulated Fingers Tutorial/Pattern

If you'd like to see more of Kat's wonderful e-patterns please visit her Designs By Kat Zibbet shop or her Designs By Kat Etsy shop.

Thanks for sending your Crystalline the Snow Queen e-pattern, Kat. But, most of all, thanks for being a dear friend.


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!"

The Victorian "Ladies" Examiner.com Interview

Well, the Victorian " Ladies" couldn't be prouder. You see, Elizabeth de Almedia's Examiner.com interview about my Linda Walsh Originals Victorian "Ladies" was posted this week.

The interview was split in two ( Part 1 on 9/14/09 and Part 2 on 9/16/09) and the article contained some of Elizabeth de Almedia's comments and a small slide show of some of the Victorian "Ladies" pictures.

If you'd like to read the interview please click on the links below:

Part 1 - http://www.examiner.com/x-18713-NY-Doll-Collecting-Examiner~y2009m9d14-Journey-through-the-eyes-of-the-faceless-Victorian-ladies-interview-with-doll-artist-Linda-Walsh

Part 2 - http://www.examiner.com/x-18713-NY-Doll-Collecting-Examiner~y2009m9d16-Journey-through-the-eyes-of-faceless-Victorian-dollsinterview-with-Linda-WalshPart-II

Elizabeth de Almeida is the NY Doll Collecting freelance writer for the Examiner.com and is a doll artist who creates OOAK handmade dolls that have been featured in Contemporary Doll Collector and who has won numerous awards. She is also the owner of Lizjul Doll Designings and has written a book entitled: Sounds Like A Doll: We Can Find Inspiration Behind The Soul of Imagination. If you'd like to read more about Elizabeth her bio is here and her About Us page is here.



The Victorian "Ladies" and I are thrilled and honored to have been asked by Elizabeth to share our thoughts and insights on doll artistry. We thank her so much for her comments and for including us in her wonderful historic costume series: Dolls back in time: dolls of historic design and Dolls back in time: dolls of historic design - part II. Thanks, again, Elizabeth.

We hope you enjoy the interview and slideshow.


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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 Handmade Dolls and Crafts Are Now At The Hand Did Market

We decided to add some of our handmade dolls and crafts to the new "The Hand Did Market" which was created by our friend, Terri Browning who also owns The Pattern Cupboard, Long Cane Primitives, and Pine Level Printables.

According to Terri: The Hand Did Market promotes and provides exposure for talented Crafters that do things as they were done in days gone by... by our hands, individually "Hand Did" with love, time and attention to detail. Everything on our website is handmade in the U.S.A. (And we are proud of that!) Nothing on our site is mechanically perfect and is not mass produced.

I hope you get a chance to visit our new Linda Walsh Originals vendor page and visit some of the other vendor's pages while you're there.

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!"

Zibbet.com Just Keeps Getting Better and Better

Zibbet.com just keeps getting better and better for small business artists and crafters on the web. They have revised their fees and rates structure such that it is TOTALLY FREE for artists and crafters to have a shop with up to 25 items in it. There are NO monthly fees, NO annual fees, NO lifetime fees, and NO per sale fees. It's a HUGE win-win for artists and crafters who have a small amount of products to sell.

They have a premium account now that costs a small monthly fee and allows you to customize your shop with different colors and to add html widgets to the sidebar - which is a big plus. I added my Facebook widgets, Twitter widgets, my Linda's Blog widget, and button banner links to my other websites. I could have added anything I wanted as it has html code features.

Plus, for the premium account there is an incentive for referrals such that by referring a certain number of other sellers to Zibbet.com you can get a free premium account for life. How great is that? If you'd like more information please CLICK HERE.

Zibbet.com is so easy to use and so easy to add products to. I just LOVE it.



Zibbet.com just keeps getting better and better. It's a BIG win-win for small business artists and crafters.

If you'd like to visit my LindaWalshOriginals premium shop please CLICK HERE or click on the banner 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!"

New Fan Box and Live Stream Widgets From Facebook For Pages

Facebook.com has several new widgets that you can add to your websites and blogs that can be beneficial for small business crafters on the web who have set-up Facebook pages.

If you have set-up a small business page on Facebook.com (like my Linda Walsh Originals page) then one of the new widgets is a fan box widget. Basically, it can show pictures of all your page fans (like the picture shown above), show the wall stream from your page, or show both the pictures of your fans and the wall stream from your page (like the picture shown below).


I like the fan box widget and have added it to my main Linda Walsh Originals website, Linda's Blog, my Linda Walsh Originals Zibbet.com shop, my Dolls Blog, my Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns website, my Victorian Traditions, The Victorian Era and Me blog, and my Linda Walsh Originals Dolls website.

I especially like the option that shows the pictures of my Linda Walsh Originals page fans (like the picture at the top of this page). That's great and can be beneficial to small business crafters as it's a way for us all to link together and get us all noticed. Think of it as a small linking exchange module instead of page after page of traditional banner exchanges. And, if you post a lot of things to your page's wall or have a fairly active wall of fan comments then you might want to display the fan box widget that contains fan pictures and your page's wall stream.

Facebook.com also has a Live Stream widget which basically allows for a porthole for anyone with a website or blog to add the widget which then allows Facebook.com users to sign-in to their profile and post to their stream or to the live feed stream.

So, for example, if I was visiting a website or blog that had the widget installed and wanted to check my Facebook stream while I was there I'd select the friends tab and my Facebook stream would be displayed as shown below. Please note my friends comments would be shown on the widget. I have blocked them in my post for privacy purposes.


However, this widget also has the capability to display a live feed for an event and is like the widget pictured below. If you want to either make a comment to your Facebook wall or participate and make a comment for everyone watching then this widget will connect Linda Walsh Originals with Facebook and allow you to sign-on under your Facebook.com username so that you can interact with your friends on this site and to share this event on Facebook through your Wall and friends' news feeds. The bottom of the widget has a text link that you can click to visit the Linda Walsh Originals page on Facebook.

This widget has a little box that says "share with everyone watching this event" that you can check. Then when you add a comment to the update box of the widget your comment will appear on your Facebook stream and also on the stream that is shown under the "Everyone Watching" tab like in the picture shown below. Please note the comments would be shown on the widget. I have blocked them in my post for privacy purposes.


So, everyone at the event who is a Facebook user can add their comments in a continuous feed whenever they visit the website or blog that has the widget embedded on it. So, if you have embedded the widget on your website or blog and have an event going on at your website or blog then all of your visitors with Facebook accounts can comment on the event and their comments will be posted to the "everyone watching" tab.

Please note that when you sign-on your Facebook privacy options will be in effect for the friends tab. However, Facebook's privacy statement indicates that if you check the share with everyone watching this event box then this may or may not change some of your privacy settings on Facebook.com. So, you may need to re-check your privacy settings after participating in an event and posting a comment for everyone watching.

The above widgets are new and are only available for Facebook.com pages and not for profiles.


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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 Interview and Victorian "Ladies" Dolls

A few weeks ago I got an email from Elizabeth de Almeida who is the NY Doll Collecting freelance writer for the Examiner.com .

Elizabeth is a doll artist who creates OOAK handmade dolls that have been featured in Contemporary Doll Collector and who has won numerous awards. She is also the owner of Lizjul Doll Designings and has written a book entitled: Sounds Like A Doll: We Can Find Inspiration Behind The Soul of Imagination. If you'd like to buy her book just click on the link image below:



If you'd like to read more about Elizabeth her bio is here and her About Us page is here.

Well, Elizabeth wanted to know if I would be willing to do an interview for her as she was writing a few articles pertaining to dolls that depict historic times, like that of the Victorian period and thought my Victorian faceless "Ladies" would fit right in.

I, of course, was flattered and happy my Victorian "Ladies" were going to be written about. So, I told Elizabeth I would be happy to do the interview.

Elizabeth has already written two wonderful articles about historic dolls that I think you will like and they are as follows:

Dolls back in time: dolls of historic design
Dolls back in time: dolls of historic design - part II

To our delight we were mentioned in Dolls back in time: dolls of historic design - part II . Here's short except of what Elizabeth said: Doll creations costumed in the designs of historic times such as that of the 15Th and 16Th century, (the Elizabethan and Shakespearean era) and the Victorian age, have been embraced by doll artists who have a great love for a time where one’s clothing represented status, way of life, romance, royalty and ....... And doll artists of this particular genre, capture that story through their work, technique and their artistry gifts; Doll artists such as Sara Dunlup of Ladye Fayre Dolls and Puppets, Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals and Paula Wagner of Victorian Designed Dolls.

Linda Walsh creates wooden Victorian dolls, standing from 12 inches to 16 inches tall. Layers of lace, cotton, handmade bouquets and baskets of flowers, lined jackets, ribbons, laced parasols that create an essence that brings the era of the design to come to the forefront of history and time. The dolls are very unique; for the dolls bare no features on their countenances. It may offer doll collectors a chance to look beyond and through their imagination.

I hope you get a chance to read Elizabeth's two articles and will let you know when my interview is posted. I am so honored to be included in Elizabeth's "Dolls back in time: dolls of historic design" articles.


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

Twelve Months Of Sewing Club Featured E-Pattern For September 2009 and October 2009

It's that time of the year again when one's thoughts turn to the Fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. One of my FAVORITE times of the year.

In thinking about the Fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving season I decided that the "Instant Download E-Pattern" for the month of September and for the month of October for our Twelve Months of Sewing Club shouldn't be just one e-pattern but a wide selection of e-patterns from my Fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving e-pattern designs. We'd give you a LOT to choose from and a LOT of time to decide.

So, how does the featured pattern deal work?Well, if you buy any one of the "Featured Instant Download E-Patterns" below you will get a FREE Linda Walsh Originals E-Pattern* (*of equal or lessor value)emailed to you. So, if you buy any one of my Fall, Halloween, or Thanksgiving e-patterns that are shown below you can choose another e-pattern* for FREE.

All you have to do is tell us which FREE-Pattern* (*of lessor or equal value) you would like in the comments field of the PayPal checkout. We will then email your FREE E-Pattern to you.

CLICK On The Picture Below for MORE INFORMATION and To BUY The Fall or Thanksgiving Doll or Ornament Instant Download E-Pattern That You Want from Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns.

FALL AND
THANKSGIVING
DOLL AND ORNAMENTS
E-PATTERNS

Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW154LWOEP I'm A Refined Scarecrow, Jimmy 17" Victorian Scarecrow Doll Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW155LWOEP I'm A Proper Scarecrow, Nancy 12" Victorian Scarecrow Doll Buy E-Pattern Now
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW163LWOEP Crowin Mike! 9" Primitive Scarecrow Ornament Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW171LWOEP Plymouth Kathy 9" Pilgrim Woman Ornament Buy E-Pattern Now
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW172LWOEP I'm Ryan B. Pilgrim 10" Pilgrim Man Ornament Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW158LWOEP Scare Me Happy! 6" Scarecrow Ornament Buy E-Pattern Now
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW159LWOEP Scare Me Dazed! 6" Scarecrow Ornament Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW160LWOEP Scare Me Melancholy! 6" Scarecrow Ornament Buy E-Pattern Now
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW113LWOEP Primitive Andy Scarecrow 15" Primitive Scarecrow Doll Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW116LWOEP Scarecrow Rob 27" Scarecrow Doll Buy E-Pattern Now
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW119LWOEP Pleasantly Plump, Eunice 24" Pilgrim Lady Doll Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW120LWOEP Norman The Pilgrim 27" Pilgrim Man With Rifle Buy E-Pattern Now
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW141LWOEP Punky- Elmer's Little Scarecrow 11" Victorian Scarecrow Doll Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW146LWOEP William Come Or Won't They? 7" Primitive Scarecrow Shelf Sitter Buy E-Pattern Now

CLICK On The Picture Below for MORE INFORMATION and To BUY The Halloween Doll or Ornament Instant Download E-Pattern That You Want from Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns.

HALLOWEEN DOLL
AND ORNAMENTS
E-PATTERNS

Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW165LWOEP Be Very Afraid, Dennis 14" Victorian Ghost Doll Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW166LWOEP Valerie, The Proper Lady Ghost 13" Victorian Ghost Doll Buy E-Pattern Now
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW167LWOEP Lady Amanda, The Mannerly Witch 14" Victorian Witch Doll Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW168LWOEP Ichabod, I'm Not Afraid Of You Crane! 16" Victorian Gentleman Doll Buy E-Pattern Now
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW169LWOEP Call Me - Your Count Dracula! 13" Victorian Dracula Doll Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW170LWOEP I Lost My head Abraham, The Headless Horseman 14" Victorian Horseman Doll Buy E-Pattern Now
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW162LWOEP Care For Some Brew, Virginia 9" Extreme Primitive Witch Ornament Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW164LWOEP Boo! Hoo! Billy 7" Primitive Ghost Ornament Buy E-Pattern Now
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW114LWOEP Primitive Andy Frankenstein 15" Primitive Frankenstein Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW115LWOEP Primitive Annie Witch 15" Primitive Witch Doll Buy E-Pattern Now
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW117LWOEP Scarier Per Pound, David! 25" Ghost Doll Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW118LWOEP Wickedly Plump,Dot 25" Witch Doll Buy E-Pattern Now
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW121LWOEP Call Me Frank N. Stein 25" Frankenstein Doll Buy E-Pattern Now	Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW147LWOEP Hazard A Guess What I Am? 7" Primitive Ghost Shelf Sitter Buy E-Pattern Now
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns LW148LWOEP Mabel I Won't Cast A Spell! 7" Primitive Witch Shelf Sitter Buy E-Pattern Now

We just LOVE the Fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving season and hope you do, too. We've given you a LOT to choose from and a LOT of time to decide. Have fun choosing, sewing, and decorating.



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!"

Having Some Halloween Fun!

If you are a reader of my "Linda's Blog" or "Tips For Crafters On The Web" blog you know that I LOVE forums, groups, and social networking communities and have joined a few.

Okay, make that a couple!

Alright, to be honest, I've joined A LOT of communities!

I can't help it. I just have some many different interests and like to do so many things. I just never have enough time to do everything and anything I want to do and to participate in everything and anything I want to participate in.

However, this Fall I am participating in the Halloween Challenge on the Cloth Doll Artistry community that I am a member of. And, since I'm the Coordinator for the "Crafts Studio" I will be participating in my studio's Halloween challenge.

You see, there are just so many different types of crafts to consider for the Crafts Studio Halloween Challenge.

One of the things I like about a wide open challenge involving all crafts is that you can let your mind go WILD.

For the Cloth Doll Artistry Challenge in the CRAFTS STUDIO you can choose an altered art piece, mixed media piece, woodcraft, doll, bead work, paper craft, floral craft, wool felt, something crazy quilted, something embroidered, even something knitted or crocheted. It could be a drawing, a painting, something deco art, or even a gourd. You might try making a Halloween hat, mosaic, needle felted, origami, or even needlepoint. You might even do a Halloween penny rug, or a pin cushion, jewelry, pillow, Halloween type pottery, or a plush craft. You could even do punch needle, punched tin, a quilt, raffia, or even retro art. Even a sculpture, ribbon art, a teddy bear, terra-cotta craft, a tole painting, something stenciled, something Halloween vintage, watercolor painting, or even made of wire.

It's a wide open Halloween Challenge in the Crafts Studio.

So, come on everyone let your mind go WILD.

If you'd like to participate in a really fun Halloween Challenge but aren't a member of Cloth Doll Artistry you'll need to become a member first. Just go to http://clothdolls.ning.com/ and join. And, if you are a member already or just joined then go to the CRAFTS STUDIO Group and join and then pop on over to the CRAFTS STUDIO and follow the rules for the Halloween Challenge.

This is going to be a WILD and WONDERFUL challenge.

Here's the video:



And, here are the rules:



Cloth Doll Artistry's Halloween Challenge

CDA is hosting it's first Halloween Challenge for ALL STUDIOS.

Create a Halloween doll, pin or craft. If you are participating in the challenge at this studio, forward one photograph to the studio's coordinator by October 24, 2009. CDA members can vote in each studio for one winner. Voting in each studio will begin October 28 -31, 2009. The winners from each studio will receive a variety of doll patterns, an exclusive class with Kat Lees, a free 3-month advertising spot, and be a featured artist on the showcase studio.

One winner will be selected from the following studios:
Cloth Doll Studio
Crafts Studio
Pin Doll Studio
Prim Doll Studio
Santa's Studio
Soft Animals Studio

That is a total of SIX WINNERS!

Have fun creating! On Your Mark, Get Set.....GO!


Hope you decide to join us.

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!"

Linda's How-Do-I Series? Now Comes In E-Book Sets

Boy, it seems like I just keep announcing more and more with regards to my "Linda's How-Do-I Series? of e-books. I must have inhaled "the energizer bunny" or something! LOL LOL Maybe I'm subconsciously telling myself to slow down. Whatever it is - I seem to be getting a LOT off my "to do" list and I couldn't be happier.

The latest item off my "to do" list is creating e-book sets for my "Linda Walsh Originals - Linda's How-Do-I Series? of e-books. I've grouped them into sets that I think you will like. And, of course, because they're a set they are at a discounted price from buying them separately.

I was going to try and combine my e-book sets into one big .PDF file so you could "instantly download" them from my Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns website, but changed my mind because the file size for some of the sets would have been way too big for some of you to instantly download easily. So, my e-book sets will be sent as attachments to an email back to you once I've been notified by Paypal of payment. That way all of you can easily download each of the e-books individually.

Here's my new e-book sets:

Linda Walsh Originals E-Book Sets- Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Pattern Two E-Book Set

Learn all about E-Products and E-Patterns and learn how to design a print pattern and e-pattern in this two e-book set. You'll receive Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Design a Print Pattern and E-Pattern?" e-book and Linda's complete "What Are E... Series E-Book #9" e-book. If you are an artist or crafter who wants to sell e-patterns our new e-book set can help.

Linda Walsh Originals E-Book Sets- Linda's How-Do-I Series? Going Online Two E-Book Set

Learn all about what to consider when setting up an online crafts business and learn all about social networking, forums, and groups in this two e-book set. You'll receive Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? What To Consider When Setting Up A Small Business Website" e-book #5 and Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? All Social Networking, Forums, and Groups" e-book #8.

Linda Walsh Originals E-Book Sets- Linda's How-Do-I Series? All About Blogs Part 1 and Part 2 E-Book Set

Learn all about blogs and blogging in this two e-book set. You'll receive Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? All About Blogs - Part 1" e-book #6 and Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? - All About Blogs - Part 2" e-book #7. If you're an artist or crafter with an online business and have been thinking about creating a blog to support your online business our new e-book set can help.


Linda Walsh Originals E-Book Sets- Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips For Crafters With Websites and Blogs - Book #1, #2, #3, and #4" Four E-Book Set

Learn all of Linda's helpful tips for crafters with websites and blogs from her Linda's How-Do-I Series. You'll receive Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #1", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #2", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #3", and Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #4" e-books. You'll learn basic html and CSS coding for your websites and blogs from the simplest of signatures up to building simple tables. You'll also learn a ton of other tips and tricks from widening your blog to adding wallpaper, learn about plugboards, building clickable advertising links, and so much more.

Linda Walsh Originals E-Book Sets- Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips For Crafters With Websites and Blogs - Book #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, and #8" Eight E-Book Set

Learn all of Linda's helpful tips for crafters with websites and blogs from her "Linda's How-Do-I Series" revised Books #1- #4 to her new Books #5, #6, #7, and #8. You'll receive Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #1", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #2", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #3", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #4", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #5", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #6", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #7", and her complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #8" e-books. You'll learn basic html and CSS coding for your websites and blogs from the simplest of signatures up to building simple tables. You'll also learn a ton of other tips and tricks from widening your blog to adding wallpaper, learn about plugboards, building clickable advertising links, and so much more. You'll learn all about what to consider when setting up an online crafts business and learn all about social networking, forums, and groups. Plus, you'll learn learn all about blogs and blogging.

I hope you enjoy my e-books sets and the savings that come from buying a set.


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 Ten Linda Walsh Originals - Linda's How-Do-I Series? of E-Books

Well, we now have a grand total of ten e-books for Linda Walsh Originals. They cover a wide variety of subjects all intent on helping small business crafters on the net.

After we revised out original 4 Linda's How-Do-I Series? of e-books I decided to add to the collection. So, e-books # 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 were created. I hope you enjoy our series of e-books and hope they help you with your small business.

If you'd like more information on our e-books please click on the links below:

NEW E-Book #9 - Linda’s What Are E… Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs E-Book #9 All About E-Patterns and E-Products

Learn about our “What Are E…?” series, learn what e-products are, learn what e-patterns are, learn what e-articles, e-projects, and e how-to’s are, learn what e-books and e-pamphlets are, learn what e-tutorials and e-pictorials are, and learn what podcasts are. You’ll also learn a little bit about using Microsoft Publisher to create e-products learn about our e-patterns, learn why a small business designer would want to sell e-patterns, and learn about our e-pattern website and instant e-patterns. Plus, you’ll learn about how and where to sell e-patterns, learn how to create a clickable e-product ad for the sidebar of your blog or website, learn how to add an e-pattern ad and PayPal BUY NOW button to the sidebar of your blog, learn how to reduce the file size of your e-patterns, learn about creating an e-catalog, learn how to set-up a free .PDF file, and read about “Designing An E-Pattern and The Price of Gas!” Plus, you’ll learn about the “Everything E-Directory – The One Source For Everything E For Crafters Needs.”

NEW E-Book #8 - Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs - E-Book #8 All About Social Networking, Forums, and Group

Learn about forums and online communities, learn about some of the NING communities and Etsy groups we joined, find out if you are a blog hopper, learn about the various blogging communities, learn about some of the different blogging directories, find out whether blogrolls are important, learn about Google alerts, and learn about out “Top Blogs By Crafters” toplist. You’ll also find out about the writing websites that are available, find out about all the free craft articles and projects websites, find out about all the free online newsletter, magazine, e-zine & traditional paid magazine content driven websites out there, and find out about all the free crafting content that is available and how you can contribute. You’ll also discover whether a team blog is for you, learn about Facebook.com and some of the fun things to do with Facebook.com, find out if you’ll get dooced, learn about Twitter.com and Twitter widgets, and learn about YouTube.com and whether you should become a vlogger.

NEW E-Book #7 - Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs – E-Book #7 All About Blogs – Part 2

In Part 2 you'll learn all the blogging terms and definitions, learn how to take a screenshot of your website or blog, learn why your sidebar is at the bottom of your blog, learn how to widen your blog, learn how to add wallpaper to your blog, learn how to create drop down menus for your blogs sidebar, and see if you need a blogiday. You’ll also find out if you’re a multi-blogger, learn about podcasting and whether you should jump on the podcasting bandwagon, find out about all the free crafting podcasts online, and determine is you are a blog hopper. Plus, you’ll learn why a blog is not your Grandfather’s newsletter, learn about web blog blidgets, learn whether you should become a vlogger, whether you've become blistless, and why blogrolls are important. You’ll learn whether you’ll get dooced, and whether you should join a team blog. Plus, you’ll learn why videos are a great addition to a blogs sidebar, learn how the Twitter widget is the coolest thing for your blog, and learn how following on Facebook’s networked blogs helps all of us.

NEW E-Book #6 - Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs – E-Book #6 All About Blogs – Part 1

In Part 1 you'll learn why you should have a blog for your craft business, learn what to write in a blog, how many blogs there are now, learn about eliminating your newsletter in favor of your blog, learn how to provide subscribers for your blog, learn what the #1 mistake is of crafters with blogs, learn whether blogs are really helpful, and learn about blogs and their features. You’ll also learn about some of the old and new features of the “Cadillac” of blog service providers, learn how commenting on blogs can be helpful to your small business website, learn who your audience is and what you should tell them, and learn why you might want to create generic posts. Plus, you’ll learn why you would want to bleg your readers, learn how to incorporate “keywords” into your blog, learn why labels are important, learn all about pinging, and find out about all those blogging communities. Plus, you’ll learn about a million different blogging directories, learn about using Google reader, learn about Google alerts, learn about Google blog search, learn about backing up your blogs, learn whether you should add blogvert and blogvertsing to your blog, and learn if you’re blogstipated. Finally, you’ll learn if you have blogophobia, learn about Twitter widgets, learn about the Feedblitz multiple blog subscription widget, learn about having some fun with your blog, learn about blogs as heirlooms and family fun, and read about our Top Blogs By Crafters toplist and why you should join.

NEW E-Book #5 - Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs E-Book #5

Learn many of the things you should consider when setting up a small business crafts website, such as what to name a website and how to define your niche. You’ll also learn about getting started and where to begin, learn about using Microsoft Publisher, learn about creating an e-catalog, learn about the browser distortion between Internet Explorer and Firefox, learn about splash pages and why they are bad for business, learn about topsite gateway pages and why they are bad for customers, learn about graphics and graphic websites, learn what blinkies are, learn about using an online photo album as a portfolio, and learn about setting up an internet morning routine.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs - Revised E-Book #4

Learn how to add a banner rotation to your website or blog, learn how to build a simple table, learn how to add images to a simple table, learn how to center those images within a table and make those images clickable, learn how to add padding, spacing, and borders to images within a table, learn how to add clickable text links to a table, learn how to all wallpaper or images to the background of a table, and learn how to handle different size banners within a table.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs - Revised E-Book #3

Learn about coding for promotion, copyright, and bio signatures, coding for clickable links to another section of a page, how to take a screenshot of your website or blog, what a plugboard is, learn how to make your plugboard bigger, learn why plugboards red x’s are bad for business, how to add wallpaper to your blog, how to widen your blog, why you would want to create generic blog posts, how to create clickable e-product links, learn how to create drop down menus for your website or blog sidebar, learn what to do about the size of your e-patterns, learn how to set-up a free .PDF file, and learn about some of the best photo hosting websites out there for crafters.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs - Revised E-Book #2

Learn some of the common HTML and CSS tags and attributes, learn how to center banners, button, text or pictures, learn how to add scrolling banners, learn how to add vertical advertising banners, learn how to add horizontal advertising banners, learn how to add colored borders to your banners, learn how to change the background colors between the borders of your banners, learn how to space banners of different sizes, learn how to make your banners clickable back to your website or blog, learn how to build rows of clickable banners, and learn how to add color to the borders and background of rows of clickable banners.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs - Revised E-Book #1

Learn how to set up an email and forum signature, add text links and clickable link lists, change your font type, change your font size, change your font color, learn how to create an email link, learn how to use margins, learn how to use padding, learn how to create borders, draw a line, underline, skip a line, create a paragraph, add color to your border and text, change the background area within your borders, and create a simple banner out of html code. You’ll also learn what the names and #’s are for the 16 CSS colors, what the various size standard advertising banners are, what the difference is between the different picture file types, what the standard video formats are, and what the standard shortcut computer keys are.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Create A Print Pattern and E-Pattern Revised E-Book

Learn how to create a print pattern and an e-pattern.


We hope you are enjoying our Linda's How-Do=I Series? of e-books.

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!"

We've Got Another NEW E-Book #9 and It's All About E-Patterns and E-Products

Have you always wanted to sell e-patterns or e-products on the web but weren't exactly sure how to. Well, maybe our new E-Book #9 entitled "Linda’s What Are E… Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs E-Book #9 All About E-Patterns and E-Products" can help.

Learn about our “What Are E…?” series, learn what e-products are, learn what e-patterns are, learn what e-articles, e-projects, and e how-to’s are, learn what e-books and e-pamphlets are, learn what e-tutorials and e-pictorials are, and learn what podcasts are. You’ll also learn a little bit about using Microsoft Publisher to create e-products learn about our e-patterns, learn why a small business designer would want to sell e-patterns, and learn about our e-pattern website and instant e-patterns. Plus, you’ll learn about how and where to sell e-patterns, learn how to create a clickable e-product ad for the sidebar of your blog or website, learn how to add an e-pattern ad and PayPal BUY NOW button to the sidebar of your blog, learn how to reduce the file size of your e-patterns, learn about creating an e-catalog, learn how to set-up a free .PDF file, and read about “Designing An E-Pattern and The Price of Gas!” Plus, you’ll learn about the “Everything E-Directory – The One Source For Everything E For Crafters Needs.”

Linda’s What Are E… Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs E-Book #9 All About E-Patterns and E-Products

Linda Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #9
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

Here's what you'll find in e-book #9:

Table of Contents – E-Book #9

Introduction – Page 4
What Are E….?????? Series – Page 8
What Are E-Products? – Page 9
What Are E-Patterns? – Page 11
What Are E-Articles, E-Projects, and E-How-To's? – Page 14
What Are E-Books and E-Pamphlets? – Page 17
What Are E-Tutorials and E-Pictorials? – Page 21
What Are Podcasts? – Page 24
I Just Love Microsoft Publisher! – Page 27
What Makes Linda Walsh Originals Patterns So Wonderful? – Page 29
Linda's How-Do-I Series? How to Design a Print Pattern and E-Pattern E-Book Has Been Revised– Page 35
Why Would a Small Business Doll Pattern Designer Want To Sell E-Patterns? – Page 37
Wait Until The Other Doll Pattern Designers See My New Website! – Page 39
Instant E-Patterns - Isn't Life Grand? – Page 42
Linda's How-Do-I Series? How and Where Do I Sell My E-Patterns? – Page 44
Linda's How-Do-I Series? How Do I Create A Clickable E-Product Ad For The Sidebar Of Your Blog Or Website? - Page 47
Linda's How-Do-I Series? How Do I Add An E-Pattern Ad and PayPal BUY NOW Button To The Sidebar Of My Blog – Page 49
Linda's How-Do-I Series? Yikes ! My E-Pattern Files Are Huge! – Page 53
My 2009 Linda Walsh Originals Print and E-Patterns E-Catalog – Page 55
How To Set Up A Free .PDF File? - Page 57
Designing A Pattern And The Price Of Gas! – Page 60
Everything E-Directory Is A GREAT Place for Listing and Advertising Your Website, Blog, or Product – Page 64
About Us – Page 67

So, now that you know what e-patterns and e-products are are you going to create some? If you do, we hope our e-book has helped you.


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

What A Terrific Quote!

I have my own personalized Google page set-up as the home page on my computer and use some of their modules for items I want to see. One of the modules that I like is "Quotes of the Day" and check it every morning to see what the new quote is.

I've been a fan of quotes ever since I can remember. Maybe it's because my Mother used to buy me some of those little tiny books you find in the bookstores like"The Love Between Mothers and Daughters" edited by Helen Exley or "Dreams For My Daughter" illustrated by Becky Kelly.

In fact the very first tiny little book she gave me was no bigger than 1 1/2" wide by 2" tall. It was "The Little Bible" by David C. Cook. I still have it - albeit the cover has become a bit worn.

The second book she gave me was "Prayers For Girls" by Elisabeth Robinson Scovil published in 1935. Copyright, 1924 by Howard E. Altemus. I think my great, great Aunt Flossie gave it to my grandmother, who in turn gave it to my Mother, who in turn gave it to me. It's still in pretty good shape - albeit the binding is a little loose.

In any event, I have received many, many little books over the years from family members and friends and have to attribute this to my love of quotes. So, back to the quotes. Well, the other day I I read the quote of the day and it really struck me as being so true. So much so that I thought I would share it with all of you.

Here's the quote:

The first question I ask myself when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason.

John Cage
US composer of avant-garde music (1912 - 1992)

Every so often I really enjoy the quote of the day and have been meaning to share some of them with you with quite some time. I'm going to try and share more of the quotes that I like with you going forward. I hope you like the quote.


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!"

What Is Wrong With Her? You Can't Move In A Fancy Dress!

Patience was pacing back and forth, back and forth. Wringing her hands and muttering, "What is wrong with her? Doesn't she know you can't move in a fancy dress? She can't do that. It'll get all dirty. And, then what would she wear for her date? Doesn't she know you can't move in a fancy dress? What is wrong with her?"

"Calm down Patience. Just calm down and tell me what the matter is," Doris Marie said.

"Oh, Doris Marie. This time Linda has really gone too far. Too far indeed!"

"What, Patience. What are you talking about?" Doris responded.

"It's Linda, Doris Marie." She's making YoVille Linda move into her new house today. She can't do that. She's still wearing her fancy dress. She can't move all her stuff while wearing her fancy dress. It'll get ruined. Then, what will she wear for her date?" Patience replied.

"Well, Patience," Doris Marie responded. "I'm sure Linda will have her change into her jeans so she doesn't get her fancy dress ruined. Either that or Linda has hired movers to move YoVille Linda into her new house. I'm sure that's it. She's hired movers."

Doris Marie really didn't think Linda would let YoVille Linda move all her stuff in her beautiful new dress. Or, would she? Hmmmm......



"Come on Patience. Just calm down." Doris Marie said. "Let's go congratulate YoVille Linda on the purchase of her new home. After all, she worked double shifts at the factory in order to save enough money to buy her new home. Let's go congratulate her. Okay, Patience?"

"Alright, Doris Marie. Let's go congratulate her. You're probably right. Linda probably did hire movers to help YoVille Linda." Patience replied. "Let's go congratulate her. Should we bring a house warming gift?"

"Well, you're right about that, Patience. I guess we should bring her a house warming gift. What do you think YoVille Linda would like?" Doris asked.

So, off they went - hand in paw - to the gift store to buy YoVille Linda something nice for her new home.


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!"

We've Got Another NEW E-Book - It's E-Book #8 and It's All About Social Networking, Forums, and Groups

The latest buzz is all about "social networking" and why you should participate if you have an online business. Well, if you always wondered about social networking, forums, and groups our new e-book might be able to help.

Learn about forums and online communities, learn about some of the NING communities and Etsy groups we joined, find out if you are a blog hopper, learn about the various blogging communities, learn about some of the different blogging directories, find out whether blogrolls are important, learn about Google alerts, and learn about out “Top Blogs By Crafters” toplist. You’ll also find out about the writing websites that are available, find out about all the free craft articles and projects websites, find out about all the free online newsletter, magazine, e-zine & traditional paid magazine content driven websites out there, and find out about all the free crafting content that is available and how you can contribute. You’ll also discover whether a team blog is for you, learn about Facebook.com and some of the fun things to do with Facebook.com, find out if you’ll get dooced, learn about Twitter.com and Twitter widgets, and learn about YouTube.com and whether you should become a vlogger.

Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs - E-Book #8 All About Social Networking, Forums, and Groups

Linda Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #8
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

So, what group are you going to join?


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

YoVille Linda Bought A House! I Just Love It!

YoVille Linda was so happy she could hardly contain her enthusiasm. She had been working double shifts at the factory to save enough money to buy a house. And, she had finally done just that. She had bought her first house. A ranch style home just like the type Linda herself had lived in when she was growing up.



She was so excited and as proud as a peacock. She could hardly wait to show everyone her new home. She had decorated her living room, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen in her favorite "girly girl" style and "retro kitchen" style.



She had a garage that she was using for now as a craft/hobby and den. After all she didn't have a driver's license - let alone a car. And, she always wanted a craft and hobby room. Why not use the garage?


And, best of all, she had a yard. Well, a front yard anyway. She was sure there was a backyard, but, she wasn't at a high enough level in the YoVille game to see that just yet. In time - she'd get there in time. For now she could sit on her front lawn. And, she could have her flower garden. Her fingers were just itching to do some gardening.



But, for now she was happy that she had finally moved in and could show off her new abode. So, what do you think? How do you like YoVille Linda's new house?




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!"

We've Been Busy Creating New E-Books! All About Blogs and Blogging!

We've been very busy writing and creating and have terrific news to tell you. We've created two new e-books in our Linda’s How-Do-I Series? and they are all about blogs and blogging. They're entitled "Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs – E-Book #6 All About Blogs – Part 1" and "Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs – E-Book #7 All About Blogs – Part 2."

In Part 1 you'll learn why you should have a blog for your craft business, learn what to write in a blog, how many blogs there are now, learn about eliminating your newsletter in favor of your blog, learn how to provide subscribers for your blog, learn what the #1 mistake is of crafters with blogs, learn whether blogs are really helpful, and learn about blogs and their features.

You’ll also learn about some of the old and new features of the “Cadillac” of blog service providers, learn how commenting on blogs can be helpful to your small business website, learn who your audience is and what you should tell them, and learn why you might want to create generic posts. Plus, you’ll learn why you would want to bleg your readers, learn how to incorporate “keywords” into your blog, learn why labels are important, learn all about pinging, and find out about all those blogging communities.

Plus, you’ll learn about a million different blogging directories, learn about using Google reader, learn about Google alerts, learn about Google blog search, learn about backing up your blogs, learn whether you should add blogvert and blogvertsing to your blog, and learn if you’re blogstipated.

Finally, you’ll learn if you have blogophobia, learn about Twitter widgets, learn about the Feedblitz multiple blog subscription widget, learn about having some fun with your blog, learn about blogs as heirlooms and family fun, and read about our Top Blogs By Crafters toplist and why you should join.

Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs – E-Book #6 All About Blogs – Part 1

Linda Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #6
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

In Part 2 you'll learn all the blogging terms and definitions, learn how to take a screenshot of your website or blog, learn why your sidebar is at the bottom of your blog, learn how to widen your blog, learn how to add wallpaper to your blog, learn how to create drop down menus for your blogs sidebar, and see if you need a blogiday.

You’ll also find out if you’re a multi-blogger, learn about podcasting and whether you should jump on the podcasting bandwagon, find out about all the free crafting podcasts online, and determine is you are a blog hopper.

Plus, you’ll learn why a blog is not your Grandfather’s newsletter, learn about web blog blidgets, learn whether you should become a vlogger, whether you've become blistless, and why blogrolls are important. You’ll learn whether you’ll get dooced, and whether you should join a team blog.

Plus, you’ll learn why videos are a great addition to a blogs sidebar, learn how the Twitter widget is the coolest thing for your blog, and learn how following on Facebook’s networked blogs helps all of us.

Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs – E-Book #7 All About Blogs – Part 2

Linda Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #7
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

If you've thought about starting a blog there's no better time than now and our new 2-part e-book series can help.


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