E-Books For Small Business Crafters On The Web From Linda Walsh Originals

Well, Linda Walsh Originals now has 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 article 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.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? of E-Books Has Been Revised

I'm always happy when I finally manager to sneak some time aside and accomplish something that's been on my to do list for ages. This time I was able to revise my originals Linda-How-Do-I Series? E-Books #1 - #4. However, not only did I revise my Linda-How-Do-I Series? E-Books #1, #2, #3, and #4, but I was able to add a few new articles. I know you're going to like them.

Several years ago our blog readers asked if we would be converting our Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips For Crafters With Websites and Blogs to .PDF versions and we decided to not only convert them into .PDF format for you, but to make them available as "Instant Download E-Books" as well and did so in February of 2007.

Well, over the past few years some of the HTML coding has become more standardized and some of the original HTML coding wasn't appearing in some of the browsers as it should have. So, we decided it was time to revise our e-books. In doing this we also went back and corrected all of our original blogs posts that may have been having a browser distortion problem as well. Not only have we corrected for the browser distortion, but we've added to the e-books as well.

Just like before, some of the articles contained within the e-books are the exact contents of some of the articles in our blog except they do not contain the 3 ***'s that were necessary for the HTML code to be displayed on our blog. That's a wonderful advantage and incentive for buying the .PDF "Instant Download E-Book" version.

So, you can copy/paste the code from the e-books and just add your own information. There are no 3 ***'s in the HTML coding that you need to remove here. So, you can save the .PDF instant download e-books to your computer and when you need them you just open them up in Adobe Acrobat and copy/paste the code you want and change whatever information you need to change for your website or blog.

How GREAT is that?

So, what's in each of the revised e-books? Well, here's what's contained in each of the revised e-books #1, #2, #3, and #4:

Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #1 (LINDASHDISEP1) - Revised 8/16/09

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 Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #1 - Revised August 16, 2009
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #2 (LINDASHDISEP2) - Revised 8/16/09

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 Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #2 - Revised August 16, 2009
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #3 (LINDASHDISEP3) - Revised August 16, 2009

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 Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #3 - Revised August 16, 2009
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #4 (LINDASHDISEP4) - Revised August 16, 2009

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 Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #4 - Revised August 16, 2009
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

We hope you enjoy our revised Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs E-Books #1, #2, #3, and #4 and our new articles.

The Everything E-Directory Is A Great Place To List and Advertise Your E-Product, Websites, and Blogs

Whether you’re looking for E-Patterns, E-Books, E-Tutorials, E-Pictorials, E-Classes, E-Printables, Graphics, Video’s, Podcasts, Blogs, E-Zines, E-Tailers, E-Stores, E-Directories, E-Communities, Handmade Crafts Websites, Crafts Suppliers, Crafting Plugboards, Website Hosting, Picture Hosting, Crafting Topsites, Crafting Twitters and FACEBOOK Crafters, E-Products Classifieds, E-Products Specials, Free Craft E-Products and more we are your one source for EVERYTHING E for your crafting needs.

The Everything E-Directory is a wonderful directory for listing and advertising your website, blog, and/or e-products. Come and see for yourself all the advantages and freebies.

Plus, the Everything E-Directory is running a contest and grand opening special for listing and advertising in June 2009. The contest and grand opening special are just too good to pass up and are only running until the end of June. So, don't miss your opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a wonderful arts & crafts related e-directory.

Kindle Is Taking Over

About a year ago I read a Newsweek article about Jeff Bezo's new Amazon Kindle device and I was intrigued. I wondered how this would work for craft books?

You see, I LOVE to read and I LOVE books, especially hardcover books and e-books. And, I love to create and craft. Plus, as you know from my "The Book Review Corner" blog I especially LOVE craft books.

So, last year I thought I'd see how many craft related e-books there were for Kindle and even created a separate Kindle Products section for my Linda's Crafts Bookstore for it. Unfortunately, at that time they didn't have a lot of "arts & crafts" e-books as of yet, but I was hoping that would change. Well, change it did. In fact, the popularity of Kindle has just about EXPLODED.

If you're a reader of my "The Book Review Corner" blog you know that I love to read. But, as an aging baby-boomer I always look at the print size of a book before buying it. If the print is too small, no matter what the book is, I won't buy it. It's just too hard to read for my aging, tired eyes. So, I was thrilled to read that one of the nice features about Kindle was that you could change the font size no matter what the book. Now - that's a TERRIFIC feature.

Plus, another nice feature is that when you buy a Kindle book your Kindle reader downloads the book and stores it in your Kindle library. Another TERRIFIC feature.

In fact, in a year's time Amazon had improved the Kindle so much that it's almost hard to resist. And, they are going to allow Kindle Products to be read by other readers. Plus, you know that a product is doing well when a major competitor decides to enter the field and Google has announced that they are going to enter the e-book business.

If you'd like to know more about what Kindle is Wikipedia.com has a wonderful page on it HERE. Or, read about some of the Kindle: Amazon's 6" Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation) features HERE. There is a new Kindle DX: Amazon's 9.7" Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation) and you can read about some of its' features HERE.

I do not have a Kindle reader as of yet, but it's definitely on my wish list. I really wonder if reading "arts & crafts" books on the size of a hand held device will really be practical. I think it will work for novels, manuals, etc. but, I'm not sure it would work for e-patterns and patterns.

However, I do want to find out and when I finally buy one and download some of the arts & crafts books I like that are available I'll let you know what I think. If you have a Kindle reader and have downloaded some arts & crafts related books I'd love to know what you think.

As mentioned above, Kindle has exploded on the scene. As a result there are many, many more arts & crafts related e-books available for the Kindle now. In fact, we've just added 255 Kindle products to our Linda's Crafts Bookstore.

If you'd like to see what is available in the arts & crafts related area please CLICK HERE for the Kindle Products section for my Linda's Crafts Bookstore.

I've Already Started Buying Books For 2009!

It might be hard to believe but I've already started buying doll making and craft books already.

Now you might wonder why on earth would I do that since I have a TON of doll and craft books that I still haven't reviewed. The answer is simple - I just LOVE doll making and craft books.

And, there are so many wonderful, wonderful books out there that inspire me. My creative juices seem to have a way with ruling my world and determining what I'm going to do. In fact, they probably have control over me.

When I add a new book to one of my bookstores I find myself saying, "WOW! That's a great book! or I'd LOVE to try that!" My problem is that I just can't make everything I would like to. I simply do not have the time.

I might know that, but try telling that to my creative juices. They think I have plenty of time and as a result they decided I should buy the following books:



500 Handmade Dolls: Modern Explorations of the Human Form
By Lark Books



Art Faces in Clay: Dolls, Altered Art and More!
By Maureen Carlson, Suzanne McNeill



Art Doll Adventures: Exploring Projects and Processes through Cultural Traditions
By Lisa Li Hertzi



Cloth Doll Artistry: Design and Costuming Techniques for Flat and Fully Sculpted Figures
By Barbara Willis




Creative Ways with Fibre & Stitch
By Sue Bleiweiss, Terri Stegmiller



The Artful Storybook: Mixed-Media Artists Create Handmade Tales
By Terry Taylor

I added all of the above to the Books Linda Bought in 2009 category of both my Linda's Bookstore for Books About Dolls, Doll Making, Doll Collecting, Doll History, and More and Linda's Bookstore for Books Abouts Crafts and Crafting.

I bought more books! Don't blame me! Blame my creative juices!

Tell Everyone You're A FAN of Our Bookstores

You're going to think I'm crazy, but I've been playing again. This time it's on Facebook.com.

I learned of Facebook.com several years ago from my granddaughter when she was in college. It seems it was the website for all the college kids to have to introduce themselves, get to know their roommates and other students at the college, etc. At that time it was really just for college kids.

Well, that was then and now is now. Facebook.com has suddenly grown into a behemoth of a website that everyone and anyone needs to have a page one. It seems like it is THE PLACE NOW to get your name and/or business out there. So, since a few of my Internet friends were all joining and setting up their pages I decided to join in.

Well, I have to tell you that I like certain parts of Facebook and there are parts I don't like. There's a LOT there, but I found that it wasn't that easy initially to maneuver your way around especially from your personal page to your fan pages, which is where you would set-up a page for your business. For some reason they like to keep the two separate.

I did love the fact that they had networked blogs. I could add all my blogs and have all those blogs be followed by all my friends if they wanted to. Plus, I could see all the blogs my friends were following and add them to my list if I wanted to. In addition, if your blog has enough followers then every time you post something to your blog the RSS feed is automatically added to your profile wall.

So, I set-up a Linda Walsh page. If you'd like to visit my public profile page please CLICK HERE. If you want to see my detailed page you'll have to become a member of Facebook.com and then request to become a friend of mine.

If you do decide to become a member of Facebook.com and a friend of mine please visit my profile page, then click on my "INFO" tab, then scroll down to Pages and click view all. Then just click on my Linda Walsh Originals page to become a fan of my Linda Walsh Originals page on Facebook. Just CLICK HERE and then click "Become A Fan" in the top right hand corner box.

I set-up fan pages for my Linda Walsh Originals website, my Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns website, my Linda Walsh Originals Dolls website, my Gray Is Beautiful Gallery, my Linda's Bookstore on Dolls and Doll Making, my Linda's Bookstore on Crafts and Craft Making, and my Top Blogs By Crafters toplist. You'll find them all listed under the "View All" section of the Pages part of my INFO tab.

CLICK HERE for my Linda Walsh Originals page at Facebook.

CLICK HERE for my Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns page at Facebook.

CLICK HERE for my Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - Handmade Dolls & Crafts page at Facebook.

CLICK HERE for my Gray Is Beautiful Gallery page on Facebook.

CLICK HERE for my Top Blogs By Crafters page at Facebook.

CLICK HERE for my Linda Bookstore For Books on Dolls and Doll Making page at Facebook.

CLICK HERE for my Linda's Bookstore For Books on Crafts and Craft Making page on Facebook.

I hope you decide to become a member and become a FAN of my pages. See you on Facebook.com.

My List of Doll and Crafts Books That I Bought in 2008

As I was sitting here looking at my list of books that I had bought in 2008 I thought to myself, "Boy, what happened! I didn't really buy that many books in 2008!"

And, this really surprised me as I LOVE books and book shopping.

Had I planned to buy more in 2008 and just didn't have the time? For the life of me I just couldn't remember.

Where had the time flown? And, what had I been doing?

You know that you're getting older when time flies by so quickly and, then, you can't remember what you had been doing!

So, I decided that this would not be happening in 2009. I was going to enjoy myself more in 2009 and go book and bookstore shopping more often.

After all, what's the point of buying all these books if I'm not going to have time to read them or, better yet, try making some of the dolls and crafts.

NOTE TO LINDA for 2009- SPEND MORE TIME SEWING, CRAFTING, and BOOKSTORE SHOPPING!

Before I forget - here's the list of book I actually did buy in 2008.

DOLLS and DOLL MAKING BOOKS:

1)Fleecie Dolls by Fiona Goble
2) Stray Sock Sewing by Daniel - North Light Books
3) Cloth Dolls For Textile Artists by Ray Slater
4) Making Flower Children by Sybille Adolphi
5) More Magic Wool by Angelica Wolk-Gerche
6) Wool Pets by Laurie Sharp
7) Felt Wee Folk by Salley Mavor
8) The Cute Book by Aranzi Aronzo
9) Fun Dolls - Let's Make Cute Stuff by Aranzi Aronzo
10) Sock and Glove - Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-off Socks and Gloves by Miyako Kanamori
12) Twenty Little Amish Quilts With Full-Size Templates by Gwen Marston, Illustrated by Pat Holly
13) A Three Dimensional Victorian Dollhouse - Designed by Willabel L. Tong

CRAFTS AND CRAFT MAKING BOOKS:

1) Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush
2) Wild Women Stitched Art Brooches by Sarah Lawrence
3) Needle Felting by Hand or Machine by Linda Turner Griepentrog and Pauline Wilde Richards
4) Fast Fun & Easy Needlefelting by Lynne Farris
5) Warm Fuzzies by Betz White
6) A Passion For Punchneedle Edited by Linda Repasky
7) Punchneedle Embroideryby Barbara Kemp & Margaret Shaw
8) The Lost Art of Towel Origami by Alison Jenkins
9) Making Great Gingerbread Houses by Aaron Morgan and Paige Gilchrist

HISTORY BOOKS:

1) The History of The Snowman by Bob Ecksten

SEWING BOOKS:

1) Bend The Rules Sewing by Amy Karol

CHILDREN'S BOOKS I LOVE:

1) The Annotated Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

And, just in case I don't remember this come the end of the year - I added them to the Books Linda Bought in 2008 category of both my Linda's Bookstore for Books About Dolls, Doll Making, Doll Collecting, Doll History, and More and Linda's Bookstore for Books Abouts Crafts and Crafting.

But, I really hope I remember. Better yet - I hope to review them all for you over the next few months.

Happy Holidays To All!

To all the readers of my "The Book Review Corner " blog I would like to say:

Have a Wonderful Holiday Season!
Happy Holidays To All!

My Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Create A Print Pattern and E-Pattern E-Book Has Been REVISED

I've Revised My Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Create A Print Pattern and E-Pattern E-Book
It seems amazing to me that the original free version of my Linda's How-Do-I Series? How to Design a Print Pattern and E-Pattern E-Book has been downloaded 7,441 times. That's right - 7,441 times. That's A LOT of pattern designers out there.

Now you might think that this would be bad news and that as a pattern designer I would be threatened by this as I gave away trade secrets to the competition. Actually, I'm thrilled.

Thrilled because there are so many individuals out there who want to design their own patterns and thrilled because this means the interest in sewing, creating, and selling of e-products on the Internet is growing. More growth means more business for all of us. Especially if it means more growth for e-patterns, which are still in their infancy on the Internet.

So, I decided that I should REVISE and UPDATE my original e-book and I'm happy to report that it is finished and has been added to my Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns website under How-To E-Books and is now bigger and better than ever.

So, did I give away even more trade secrets? Guilty as charged.

Is more competition bad news? Absolutely not! I couldn't be happier, especially if it translates into more business for e-patterns on the Internet.

You know my crafting community motto - what helps one of us helps all of us.

If you'd like to buy the REVISED VERSION of my Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Create A Print Pattern and E-Pattern please just CLICK HERE or click on the picture above.

I hope you enjoy the REVISED VERSION of my Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Create A Print Pattern and E-Pattern E-Book and hope it motivates you to create your own e-patterns.


Copyright © 2008 All Rights Reserved—Written By Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns (www.lindawalshoriginalsepatterns.com) and Linda’s Blog (www.lindawalshoriginals.blogspot.com). Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer.

FREE E-Book Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Create Fast and Easy Cloth, Paper and E-Printable Ornaments by Linda Walsh

I am very partial to handmade gifts, especially those that have been made by my family and friends. Given that I’m in the Grandmother phase of my life right now I’m especially partial to handmade gifts from my grandchildren. Whether it is a card or an ornament I love them and cherish them all. In fact, nothing pleases me more than receiving a handmade card or gift from my family and friends at the holidays.

With these economic times when money is scarce for so many people my thoughts turn to the different times in my life when money was scarce for me and the handmade gifts that I created and gave at the holidays.

If you are a reader of my Linda's Blog (http://lindawalshoriginals.blogspot.com) you know that I come from a family of crafters and that when I was growing up at the holidays we always had a Christmas crafting project to do.

One year it was a church scene created out of Styrofoam that my Dad and I created. My Dad painstakingly cut the Styrofoam to form a cone steeple and painstakingly cut the windows so they were a half circle at the top and had window panes. We added colored plastic to the inside of the windows and used a lighted angel inside the church so the colored glass would shine through. Then we added candle carolers, candle trees, and snowflake sprinkled felt for snow for the outside of the church. We used this scene as one of our Christmas displays until the foam finally fell apart. I loved that scene and especially loved working with my Dad on it.

Another year I decided to knit large stockings for everyone in the family. I knit their names in the top and each had their own special knit decoration on it. The stockings were knit with red, green, and white yarn and were about 24” long. We used those, too, until they finally fell apart.

Another year when I was in my twenties I decided to make all the gifts for my family and friends as money was tight that year. So, I decided to make handmade Christmas ornaments for my friends with their names embroidered on them and other handmade gifts for my family. Some members of my family got dolls (of course) and some got quilts, etc. My friends each got several ornaments of different types with their names on them. Some were trees, candy canes, snowmen, stockings, etc.

When my twin granddaughters were young they made their Grandfather and I handmade paper ornaments with their mother. They cut the ornaments out of construction paper and glued glitter all over the front of them. Then they added our names and their names to the back of the ornaments. A hole was created in the top of each and a piece of yarn was used as a hanger. They are some of my favorite ornaments and we still put them on our Christmas tree every year.

In fact, our Christmas tree is only decorated with handmade ornaments. You’ll find ornaments my grandchildren made or ones I've made over the years (and there are many of those) on our tree. Some are made of paper, some are cloth, and some are floral decorations I've made.

Others might be beaded ornaments my Mother and I made one year or wooden clothespin reindeer that I made 30+ years ago. I even have foam toy soldiers that I made from a kit over 35 years ago. Plus, I have wooden ornaments that I painted from a kit I bought close to 30 years ago.

You might also find beaded ornaments a friend of mine made, terracotta floral and terracotta cloth ornaments I made, porcelain Santa heads my sister made, a knitted wreath from my Grandmother, or a felt cardinal made by a friend that sits on a branch with an old fashion silver hair clip. There might be silver icicles or wooden dolls.

You just never know what you may find. What you can count on is that each and every ornament is remembered and loved and painstaking preserved so that we have it for the next holiday season.

So, I thought I would share some easy and fast cloth, paper, and E-Printable ornament ideas with you. Maybe they will entice you to make your own handmade ornaments this year that you’ll cherish and painstakingly preserve for years and years to come.

The same basic outline was used for most of the ornaments whether you are making them out of construction paper, coloring them on heavier stock paper, printing them out on heavy card stock for E-Printables, or making them out of cloth. They can be as easy to make as you want or some of the cloth ones can be more elaborate just by adding beads or other decorations. That, of course, is up to you. We’re providing instructions for the basics. The rest is up to you and your creativity.

Adult supervision is required if you are making these ornaments with young children as some of the ornaments require the use of scissors, Elmer’s glue, hot glue, small decorations, and needle & thread.

Our E-Book is broken down into 4 sections as follows:

Section #1—Instructions and Supplies Needed.

Section #2—BASIC SHAPES and DETAILS for construction paper cut-out ornaments or for coloring ornaments on heavier stock paper.

Section #3—COLORED E-PRINTABLES for creating e-printable ornaments on heavy card stock.

Section #4—E-PATTERN PIECES for felt cloth ornaments that you can decorate as elaborately or as simply as you want.

Please follow the instructions within each of the sections as to how to make the construction paper ornaments, colored ornaments on heavier stock paper, colored e-printables, and felt cloth ornaments.

I hope you enjoy our "How To Create Fast and Easy Cloth, Paper, and E-Printable Ornaments" FREE E-Book. Happy holidays.



Copyright © 2008 All Rights Reserved—Written By Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns (www.lindawalshoriginalsepatterns.com) and Linda’s Blog (www.lindawalshoriginals.blogspot.com). Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer.

How To Host A Folksy, Friends & Family Bridal Shower FREE E-Book by Linda Walsh

Believe it or not, but Fall has become the season for weddings versus the Spring and with weddings comes bridal showers.

For anyone who has even contemplated hosting a bridal shower the idea of hosting a bridal shower may seem overwhelming and daunting at best. That's why so many nowadays are held out at restaurants with a professional handling all the arrangements.

However, with a little planning and organization hosting a bridal shower can end up being fun for the whole family, for all the participants and a wonderful event for all to remember. And, it doesn't have to be held out at a fancy, expensive restaurant.

In a previous post on my Linda's Blog I alluded to the fact that my sister and sisters-in-law and I had hosted a bridal shower for our oldest niece several years ago.

Instead of a bridal shower out at a restaurant we decided on a more traditional, small, folksy, family & friends bridal shower - like we used to remember going to when we were growing up. We decided that, "Hey, we can do this if we all work together! It'll be fun!" We decided that we would cook all the food and make all the decorations, prizes, centerpieces, and bridal shower favors. Small, folksy and intimate like bridal showers and baby showers, for that matter, used to be.

Since I was in charge of the bridal shower and had taken pictures and kept all the documentation and preparation notes on the bridal shower I decided that I should put that to good use and post about this on my Linda's Blog. It's been in my to do pile for quite awhile as I have been meaning to post about it for quite some time.

Well, this morning I decided to create the blog post and in doing so realized that my post was getting rather lengthy. Since it was so long and detailed I thought it might be better served if it was in a .PDF file.

So, I created a Linda's How-Do-I FREE e-book for everyone entitled "How To Host A Folksy, Family & Friends Bridal Shower?" I've added it to the FREE E-Products page of my Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns website. If you'd like to download my FREE Linda's How-Do-I Series? "How To Host A Folksy, Family & Friends Bridal Shower?" E-Book please CLICK HERE or click on the picture above.

I hope you enjoy my free e-book and would love to hear if it inspired you to try hosting a folksy, family & friends bridal shower yourself.

Copyright © 2008 - All Rights Reserved - Written By Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals, Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns and Linda's Blog. Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer. http://lindawalshoriginals.com

Linda's Review of "My Favorite Felt Sweets" by Joie, Inc.

I have been eying some needle felting and felt craft books for a few months now and have taken a particular interest in the little felt cupcakes that a lot of crafter's have been making as centerpieces for their children's birthday parties.

They just looked so real and yet so inviting. I decided I wanted to learn how to make some. In fact, I wanted to make a whole 3-tier level centerpiece of nothing but felt cupcakes.

Well, low and behold, last week I got an email from Tomoe Sumi of Kodansha America, LLC asking me if I'd like to review "My Favorite Felt Sweets" by Joie, Inc. translated by Yoko Ishiguro.

Well, we talking about a Japanese felt crafting book containing pictures and instructions for making 106 of the cutest felt food items around. And, we are not just talking about cupcakes. We're talking about all sorts of sweets.

My imagination was getting the better of me. Either that or I was really hungry when I decided to answer Tomoe Sumi and tell him I'd be delighted to review "My Favorite Felt Sweets" book.

The book came the other day and I have to tell you that I've been hungry ever since. You just have to see the pictures of these 106 sweet, delectable treats to understand why my mouth is watering.

Forget the real food. Give me the mouth watering non-caloric felt desserts any day.

I keep envisioning a whole table filled with nothing but 3-tier china plates containing felt petit fours, cakes, donuts, and even chocolates. Oh, my! How beautiful and colorful would that picture be!

Couldn't you just imagine giving a friend the perfect diet gift. A box of chocolates filled with nothing but tiny felt chocolates. How marvelous would that be. Not caloric and a gift to last a lifetime.

"My Favorite Sweets" is 97 pages long. The first 32 pages are filled with the most mouth watering pictures of 106 different felt edibles you'd ever want to see. The remaining 65 pages are filled with drawn pictorial instructions for making the edibles plus FULL size pattern piece sheets.

They also provide instructions for transferring the patterns, cutting the felt, preparing embroidery floss, how-to's for the various sewing & embroidery stitches, and hints for stuffing and/or cutting foam.

Both the drawn pictorial instructions and the pattern sheets are very easy to follow. My only complaint with the book would be that I think some of the drawn pictorial instructions and pattern piece sheets would have been better suited had they been spaced out a little more and away from the binding of the book. This would have made them easier to read and made photo coping of some of the pattern piece sheets a lot easier. I just hate to destroy the binding of a book just to photocopy some of the pages.

However, the beautiful photographs, the inclusion of 106 marvelous felt sweet projects, and clear instructions more than offset any negatives I may have.

I'm sitting here thinking of all the delectable sweets I'm going to make. Definitely the sponge cake, all the petit fours, the heart shaped tart, mixed beery pie, chocolate vanilla cookies, pinwheels, pancake sandwiches, chocolate gift basket cake, and Christmas cookies.

Plus, the box of chocolates! Oh, my!

I'm having visions of the most colorful holiday dessert table filled with nothing but mouth watering felt desserts and envisioning every one's face upon seeing them.

Oh, my! This is going to be FUN!

I can hardly wait!

I have added "My Favorite Felt Sweets" to my Linda's Crafts Bookstore under Needle Felting and Felt, and Linda's Books Reviewed. If you would like to purchase "My Favorite Felt Sweets" please CLICK HERE or on the picture above.