Monday, October 31, 2016

I've Been Playing Again! This Time With Labeley.com


If you're a reader of my Linda's Blog and have been following me and all my blogs (yes, I do have a few! LOL LOL) you are well aware that I love to play and experiment. Especially when it comes to interactive websites.

Well, a couple of weeks ago I received an email from Ana Brady at Labeley.com (http://www.labeley.com) asking me if I'd like to try their "free online custom label creator developed by the team behind the well-known free online tool for designing and customizing labels, Labeley."

Hmmm... Free online tool for designing..... What's not to love about that?

So, given my love of playing I thought I'd try it out. Plus, she volunteered to write a "How to Create Holiday Decorations For Free With Labeley" article for me. Another plus....

While I had planned to do other things today I decided to read her how-to article and try out Labeley.

Here's what her article said:

How to Create Holiday Decorations For Free With Labeley

You must’ve noticed over the past few weeks how the nature around us has been changing its colors. Leaves on trees turned pale yellow, coral, and even bright red. The whole nature is gradually taking on warm golden, amber and scarlet hues. These changes of colors indicate that the green summer is long gone and fall rolls around. The temperature is dropping, but the holiday excitement is rising. Halloween is just around the corner, while Thanksgiving and Christmas are on their way. It’s that time of the year when you seem to be spending most of your your spare time on decorating your home for the next holiday.

Thankfully, fall with its colors and hues is probably the most inspirational season for holiday decorations. And what better way to spread the holiday spirit than to bring the warm and vivid hues of fall into your home? Let the fall inspire you with ideas to decorate your home this holiday season! You can mix elements such as fall foliage, pumpkins, pinecones, acorns and candles to decorate your fireplace or entrance or any other part of the house. Or, for more Halloween-centric appeal you can add some scary spiders or bats on the curtains, furniture etc.

One tool that can definitely come in pretty handy in these holiday decorating endeavors is Labeley. It’s a free online label maker that allows you to create all kinds of holiday stickers for decorating your gifts, creating festive centerpieces, making fun-looking place cards, preparing fun games for the youngest, decorating the holiday meals and more.


How to use Labeley for creating holiday decorations?

Visit Labeley Holidays and start designing your labels. Labeley offers several label elements you can play with. Start by choosing a shape for your label. Once you’ve done that, you will be able customize the look of the background, add a border if you need one, add some fun and colorful text, and ultimately spruce up your design with graphics. You can choose among many different illustrations for Halloween (bats, cats, spiders, ghosts, owls and more), than Thanksgiving (turkeys, pies, gravy, acorns, leaves and more), Christmas (Santa Claus, Christmas tree, gingerbread man, Rudolph the reindeer and more). Labeley also offers an extra feature to upload any image from your computer and use it in the design as a background or center element. For example, you can upload photos of your family and make fun holiday ornaments.


You can play and create as many designs as you like, save and download them on your computer, print them out and use them for any holiday craft. Should you decide to keep your designs for next year’s holidays, you can sign up for a free Labeley account where you’ll have all your labels waiting for you to modify or reuse them again as they are.

Labeley sticker maker is really simple and easy-to-use, so chances are that you’ll have numerous holiday designs prepared in just a few minutes. Give Labeley a spin and jazz up your home with fun holiday crafts!

Seemed easy enough to use so I decided to give it a try.


I started by familiarizing myself with thew different features which was very easy to do and only took a couple of minutes. It definitely was very easy to use.

Since today is Halloween I decided to create a Halloween label using a combination of my own graphics and some of their graphics. I choose a shape, added a background, added a border, and then started adding and re-sizing the graphics until I had a Halloween label I liked. The alpaca, green and rust trees, house and brown tree with spider webs in the label shown above were my graphics. The rest were theirs. After I was pleased with the layout I added the "Happy Halloween" text and then saved the image to my computer.


I like to add stickers to the back of the holiday cards that I send out each year so I decided to create labels for that purpose using one of my own graphics.


For each I started with a shape, added a background color, added a border, uploaded and re-sized my own graphics and then added my "Happy Holidays" text. It literally took seconds to do this. It was that easy.

I also love using gift labels on all my Christmas presents and am always looking for cute designs. So, I thought I'd design a "To: and From:" gift label of my own, which is shown in the picture. Once again I started with a shape, added a background pattern, uploaded and re-sized my own graphics and then added my "To: and From:" text. I love how it turned out. Of course, my imagination got the better of me as all sorts "To: and From:" label designs started filling my head.

At this point I knew it was time to stop. I was having way too much fun with this. I decided I'd wait until tomorrow to decide how many of my stickers and gift labels I was going to order.


Sunday, October 30, 2016

Rug Making Tutorials, Video's, Patterns and How-To's Pinterest Board


When I was a teenager I used to accompany my mother up to the wool mills in Lowell where she could get wool for the braided rugs she liked to make. This was when original wool and thick, waxed thread was used to create handmade rugs.

I can remember her cutting the wool into strips and them feeding them through a red and green colored clamp that she attached to a table. With the help of 3 braid aids she was able to create a tight braid for the rug she was making.

I was surprised that her first braided rug was such a large rug. It was a 11' by 12' oval rug for our family room. Once she had her braided pieces she would spend hours on the floor stitching her rug together with the thick, wax thread. It was difficult to do and she inevitably wound up with backaches and cuts in her hands and fingers from the wax thread.

However, the end results were just beautiful and her rugs lasted the family for several decades.

I loved watching her do this and have thought from time to time that I might like to make a handmade wool rug on my own. Unfortunately it would take a lot of time which is a commodity for me these days. Perhaps when I finally do get a chance to make a rug the tutorials, video's and how-to's on my "Rug Making Tutorials, Video's, Patterns and How-To's" Pinterest board will come in handy.



If you love my Rug Making Tutorials, Video's, Patterns and How-To's board please follow my board by clicking on the "Follow On Pinterest" link above.

Have fun making your rugs.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Harriet & Donald and Lil Charlie Snowman Family



Harriet & Donald, and Lil Charlie can hardly wait for the first snowfall of the season.  They love being out in it and love getting covered by snow and snowflakes. Of course, they do their fair share of shoveling, but their favorite part of a snowstorm is just standing there enjoying the beauty of the snowfall.

Harriet & Donald, and Lil Charlie are a 9"snow family. Their bodies are made of cloth with their faces embroidered or partially embroidered. Harriet and Donald have toothpick painted noses while Lil Charlie's nose is drawn.  Donald has cinnamon stick arms while Harriet and Lil Charlie have none. Donald and Lil Charlie have adorable hats on their heads while Harriet has a kerchief wrapped around her head. All three have scarves wrapped around their necks. Donald is fashionably attired with a vest.

Harriet & Donald, and Lil Charlie are standing behind a charming wood fence covered with patches and snow. They have their shovel handy just in case they need to shovel.  Right now they're just enjoying the snow falling on them and their clothes.



Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Kathleen Snow Queen



"Kathleen Snow Queen" has no problem handling the cold. She is, after all, from a long line of Estonian Snow Queens. "Kathleen Snow Queen" is very proud of her Estonian heritage. She comes from a long line of "Snow Queens" and is proud to show her genealogy to anyone who asks. She spends hours and hours searching for her ancestry and has been working on her genealogy project for over 20 years.

If you want to view her genealogy just be sure to reserve have plenty of time - it's a lengthy genealogy spanning back hundreds of years.

She is a free-standing snowlady with a coffee stained terry cloth square bottom body with an embroidered heart. She has an embroidered face with black eyes, cinnamon sticks for arms, large fringed flannel scarf wrapped around her head and neck, and fur ear muffs. She is holding a grapevine heart in one arm and a small “I Love Snow” sign in the other.

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Designed and Written By Linda Walsh



Alexander Snow Tsar




Alexander Snow Tsar can handle the cold. After all he is from a long line of Russian Tsars.

"Alexander Snow Tsar" is also very proud of his Russian heritage. He, too, is from a long line of Russian Tsars. He hasn't spend as much time on his genealogy as "Kathleen Snow Queen." He's working on it slowly but surely - generation by generation.

He is a free-standing snowman with a coffee stained terry cloth square bottom body with pockets. He has an embroidered face with black eyes, cinnamon sticks for arms, fringed flannel scarf and fur hat. He is carrying one ski and one ski-pole in his pockets.

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Designed and Written By Linda Walsh


Monday, October 17, 2016

Jerry Snow Guy



Jerry Snow Guy just loves his birds. Whenever "Jerry Snow Guy" goes outside he makes sure that he brings food for all his friends. After all, wintertime can be a hard time for the birds.

It's hard to find food in the frozen ground so Jerry always brings bread crumbs. His friends all love him for it and voted him "Best Snow Guy" three years in a row.

He is a free-standing snowman with a warm & natural cloth body, sock covered wood feet, fabric covered dowel legs, and embroidered face with black eyes. He is wearing a sweater jumper with pockets and embroidered heart. He has a fringed wool scarf , red bangs, and wool hat. He is holding a “Don’t Forget the Birds!” painted and stenciled wood birdhouse.

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Designed and Written By Linda Walsh


Sissie Snow Gal



"Sissie Snow Gal" is a very adventurous snow gal. In fact, she is very much a snow tomboy. She's as brave and as daring as some of her snow buddies. Sometimes, even she puts them to shame as she's willing to try something they are too afraid of. They should be called "sissies" not her.

She is a free-standing snow lady with a warm & natural cloth body, sock covered wood feet, fabric covered dowel legs, and embroidered face with black eyes. She is wearing cuffed corduroy shorts and a wool shawl. She has a fringed wool scarf red bangs, and cap. She is holding a “I Love Snow” painted and stenciled wood sign.

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Designed and Written By Linda Walsh


Sunday, October 09, 2016

A Reminder Of A Childhood Heaven On Earth Or Monsters Everywhere - Nahant


If you don't know where Nahant is it is a very small island on the coast of Massachusetts, just north of Boston. It is actually two small islands, Big and Little Nahant. It's connected to Lynn via a sand dune causeway and connected to each other via another causeway.


The land and initial house was owned by my great, great Aunt Flossie.  She had bought a compound parcel of land in 1910 on Wilson Road in Little Nahant and built a house on the property first and later added a garage and smaller cottage house. We lived in the smaller cottage while my grandmother, grandfather, and great, great Aunt Flossie lived in the bigger house.

I absolutely loved the beach and have always thought it was the greatest place to live as a child. We had freedom to roam all over Little Nahant as this was a time when neighbors knew neighbors and everyone kept a watch on each others children. Everyone's door was unlocked and everyone was welcome to visit.

My first childhood memory is of laying in a crib in one of the little bedrooms in the cottage and looking up at the ceiling with my father's model airplanes hanging from the ceiling. My second memory is standing in a crib in Lynn hospital where my brother and I were to get our tonsils out and calling for someone to come and get me. It must have been the middle of the night as the nurses kept telling me to lay down and go to sleep. I don't think they were very happy with me.


Roaming around Little Nahant as a child was always an adventure. I had my favorite places and my not so favorite places. At the time there were two sets of concrete or stone stairs that anyone could use to get from the higher section of Little Nahant down to Wilson Road or vise versa. I loved going up and down one set of stairs as there were some beautiful flower gardens all along the stairway. I always picked a few flowers for my mother or grandmother. The neighbors never minded.

I was afraid of the other set of stairs. There was a garage that ran adjacent to the stairs. The garage was always dark and the door was always open and as a kid I had visions of monsters coming out to grab me. Yikes! So, I always ran as fast as I could. I don't know what it was about that garage that scared me, but it did. You're going to start to see that I had a thing for monsters.


Our little compound was right on the beach and had a small grass patch and concrete ocean wall with wood steps down to the beach and rock area that ran the length of Little Nahant. I can remember so many times when I'd stand at the top of the stairs and just look down at the beach that spanned from Little Nahant to Lynn. For me it was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. I absolutely loved it.

That was during the day. At night I had visions of huge monsters coming out of the ocean and over the concrete ocean walls to get me as I was running from my house to my grandmother's house. I thought it took me forever to run. In reality you could walk out my parents door, take two steps and be at my grandparent's door.

My grandparents house had a large enclosed screened porch that overlooked the ocean and a large open porch on the front of the house. I can remember sitting on the front porch in my grandfather's wooden chairs waiting for the rain to stop and sitting on the back porch in my grandfather's wooden chairs watching all the bathers on Nahant Beach.

My father and grandfather would spent a lot of their time sitting on the enclosed screened porch just enjoying the day. Neither one could handle the sun so they'd sit up there with binoculars looking out on the beach, the ocean, and across the breezeway from Nahant Beach to Lynn. I always thought they were looking at the ocean view. More likely they were looking at all the sunbathers.

I never saw my grandfather and grandmother in swimming suits. My grandfather liked to work in his shop in the basement of his house while my grandmother liked doing crossword puzzles in her kitchen while sipping a cup of coffee.  I spent many hours at the kitchen table with my grandmother or in her lap in her favorite rocking chair in the living room watching soap operas. Once in awhile my grandmother would let me have a cup of coffee.  It was more 90% milk and 10% coffee but I thought it was great.

My mother loved swimming and would swim out to a tall rock on Nahant Beach that was always covered at high tide when she had a chance. Every once in awhile my father would do this and let my brother or I hang onto his neck while he swam. Like any kid I wanted to do this again, and again, and again. Usually I only got one lap or two. Once in awhile my mother would let me hold on to her neck but it was harder for her to do this than my dad.

After swimming we would dry off with our towels and then lie in the sun along the top of the concrete ocean wall. I can remember one time when my mother was laying on the wall and got up screaming. A pincher bug had crawled into her ear and she was screaming for my Dad to get it out. He pulled it out with tweezers. After that I always balled up a towel and laid my head on it. I didn't want any pinchers in my ears. Yikes!


There were large and small rocks all along the beach area in front of the house and it would always amaze us that people on the beach would change into their bathing suits behind the rocks totally oblivious to the fact that everyone in the houses along the oceanfront could see them.

My brother and I loved the rocks for turning them over and catching crabs. Or, diving off them when the tide came in. We'd spend hours on end just diving off the rocks. Climbing back up on them and diving off again and again.

I can remember one time when we were doing this and there were little sand sharks swimming around one of the rocks we were standing on waiting to dive.  I started screaming.  They were only little sharks but to me looked they would eat me alive if they got up on the rock. So, I started screaming. My brother just dove over them and left me standing on the rock screaming. He kept shouting to me to dive over them, but I was just too afraid.

Within a minute or two my grandmother, grandfather, next door neighbor Irene, Mr. Rogers, Blanche and several other neighbors were out on the edge of the water with shovels and oars trying to get the sharks away from the rock I was on. Finally, my grandfather convinced me to just jump over the sand shark that was circling my rock. Of course, when I did I landed right on the shark. I don't know who was more afraid - me or the shark! Yikes! I suspect it was the shark.

My grandfather also had several wooden chairs that were outside on the grass overlooking the ocean. We'd sit there and watch everyone on the beach below. It was fabulous. Many times the neighbors would stop by and my grandfather would bring out more chairs while my grandmother brought out refreshments. It was wonderful just sitting there listening to them laughing and telling stories.

My grandmother's best friend lived right next store where she ran a variety store out of the bottom level of her home and lived in the top level of her home. I loved going over to her variety store to organize the magazine shelves and candy counter. She had so much candy.  She never seemed to mind. Once in awhile she'd let me sit on the stool next to the register and ring up the sales. Her one indulgence was mink coats. She had several and always let me try them on. I couldn't believe how beautiful and soft they were. Of course, this was before owning mink coats was a no-no.

A lot of my memories of Little Nahant have to do with some of our neighbors. One of the neighbors had beautiful rose gardens that she liked to tend and loved showing them to me. Another neighbor always invited me over for dinner for some reason or another. Maybe it's because I didn't mind helping her paint her silver chain fence, which she painted every year. I'm sure I made a mess of it, but she didn't seem to mind.

I believe another neighbor was named Mrs. Parrott. I'm not sure whether this was really her name or was because she had lots of birds, including parrots. What I remember about her house was it, too was a small cottage but was always painted with bright yellow and white colors. All the furniture, drapes, and pillows matched. It was like walking into a room of sunshine all the time. I loved it.

My brother and I would be outside playing in the yard or on the beach from the beginning of the spring until the end of the fall. Good days in the winter you'd find us out there, too. The only time we weren't allowed to play in the yard without my grandmother or grandfather there was when there was an ocean storm or hurricane. My grandfather always tied a rope from the side of his house to the side fence so we knew how far we could go. He told us if we went further than the rope the winds were so strong they're blow us over the ocean wall. Yikes! So, we didn't go anywhere near the rope.


My father loved watching the storms blow in, seeing the amazing white caps created by the winds on the waves and watching the waves crash against the concrete ocean walls. He was thrilled when motion picture cameras first came out as he could take pictures of the ocean and waves in turmoil during the storm. I can't tell you how many times over the years we'd watch the movies of the storms. Each and every time he'd delight in playing the motion pictures in reverse. He just loved doing this over and over and laughing his head off.

There were small sand dunes that ran along the causeway from Nahant Beach to Lynn. In the winter my father and grandfather would take us for walks along the beach near the sand dunes. To me the dunes were huge. Of course the reality was they were anything but. My father loved taking motion pictures of my brother and I running up and down the dunes and, of course, loved playing them in reverse as well. He'd get just a big kick out of doing this no matter how many times we watched the same movies. Go figure!

When we were old enough for school in Big Nahant my brother and I would have to walk down to the end of Wilson Road to catch the school bus. Inevitably, while waiting for the bus, we would play on the beach. One morning we found a woman lying on the beach covered in blankets. She wasn't moving or responding to our voices so one of our friends started poking her with a stick. We thought she was dead and decided maybe she'd been bitten by sharks. So, when the bus came I told the bus driver there was a dead lady on the beach and he told the police. My mother told me wasn't dead - just she was passed out drunk.

I learned to ride my first bike on Wilson Road. At the time I thought the hill that rose to the rock cliff at the far end of Little Nahant was huge. Looking at it years later I realized it was tiny. However, when you're just learning to ride a bike and decide to try riding it down the hill before you really knew what you were doing that hill can become a monster. Especially so when you're riding down the hill out of control and smash right into the back of the mailman's truck. Yikes! That definitely hurt. The mailman just picked me up and carried me into my grandmother's house. As my grandmother was calming me down and tending my cuts and bruises the mailman was enjoying a lovely cup of coffee - courtesy of my grandmother.

Wilson Road has a rock cliff ledge as it circles around to the other side of Little Nahant which faces Big Nahant.  My father taught my brother and I how to fish up there.  He had a long fishing rod.  My brother and I used green rope with a fishing hook tied to the end.  You'd unwind a long section of the rope and then throw the end in the ocean to lure the fish.  No matter how hard I tried I could never throw the rope far enough out to clear the ledge so my father did it for me.

One year for some reason a woman who lived across the street from the rock ledge backed out of her garage and instead of turning to go down the street ended up going over the rock ledge. Lucky for her she didn't go all the way down to the ocean. Instead she ended up dangling precariously on one of the larger rocks along the cliff. All of Little Nahant came out to watch the fire department remove the car from the cliff.


Little Nahant was a small community at the time and everyone knew everyone else. Even the police knew everyone. One day while I was waiting for my mother to finish feeding my sister I got the bright idea to play with a nickel and put it in my mouth. I don't know what I was thinking as within a minute or so I had swallowed the nickel. Yikes!

I can only imagine how I looked to my mother and grandmother. Huge eyes and a look of horror on my face.  I started screaming and crying. As my grandmother was calling the police I heard my mother say, "Linda, if you don't stop crying and screaming you're going to die!" Yikes! That shut me up and, according to the doctor, probably saved my life.

The next thing I knew this huge cop came busting into the house, picked me up in his arms and carried me to the police cruiser where he drove us to Lynn hospital. According to the doctor the nickel was just teetering on the ledge on the back of my throat. The doctor was afraid I was going to aspirate it into my lungs so he told my mother I would have to stay there and might need surgery, I was so afraid my mother was going to leave me at the hospital and got so upset I puked. Well, you guessed it, up came the nickel. I suppose that was one way to get rid of it. So, I didn't have to stay after all. The cop stayed with us the whole time and took us home after that. He, too got a lovely cup of coffee from my grandmother.

For me growing up in Nahant was truly heaven on earth. So, when I saw a cross-stitch picture of  wooden chairs overlooking a beach I knew I had to make it. When I look at it I'm reminded of my grandfather's wooden chairs.  It brings me back to my childhood and to beautiful times growing up in Nahant. Beautiful times with my mother, father, brothers, sister, grandfather, grandmother, and great, great aunt. Beautiful times when neighbors were truly neighbors, when no one locked their doors, when kids played outside all day, when everyone knew everyone and everyone called you by your first name, when the whole town looked forward to and was involved with the town parade, when everyone went to the fireworks on the beach, etc. and when the worst that could happen was sand sharks circling your rock. Or pinchers crawling in your ears. Yikes!

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved -Written By Linda Walsh


My Dimensions Christmas On The Beach Cross-Stitch Picture



I don't know about all of you, but I tend to finish my cross-stitch kit projects in spurts. For me it's like reading. I'll read a whole bunch of books and then not read any for awhile. For my cross-stitch kits my bursts usually come in  the Fall and Winter months. Then I won't do any for a few months.

The cross-stitch kit I just finished was a counted cross-stitch kit from Dimensions Gold Collection Petites entitled Christmas At The Beach. I had bought this kit for sentimental reasons which you'll read about in a subsequent Linda's Blog post.

Like the other Dimensions Gold Collection Petites kits I had bought the kit included the pattern, pre-sorted cotton thread, 18 count navy white cotton Aida, needle and instructions.

The Christmas At The Beach pattern uses full counted cross-stitch, half cross-stitch, french knots and outline stitching for emphasis and depth and this detailing really makes the picture stand out. It also varies the number of threads used with the various stitches to add to the depth emphasis. The design of this cross-stitch gives the finished picture a 3 dimensional aspect with the half cross stitch, french knots and outlining being used for artistic effect.

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

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

As was the case with previous Dimensions kits the thread sorter was poorly designed. The embroidery threads were glued to two foam backed 6" by 1 1/4" strips of cardboard that had a picture of the color of the thread and it's number. In order to get to the threads you had to separate the foam back from the cardboard strip. Very quickly the threads separated from their section and then you no longer knew what the thread number was to tie to your symbols & legends.

As I have done with other cross-stitch kits I've completed I had to alter the thread sorter to suit my needs. I pulled the thread sorter apart to get rid of the foam and then punched holes in the cardboard strip just above each color and color #. I inserted the floss threads that went with that color and color # through the hole and tied them in a loose knot. I then added color coded symbols with colored pens beneath each color so I would know what symbols went with what color.

Short of changing the thread sorter all together to make things even easier for the user the color symbol should at the very least have been shown on the thread sorter strip of cardboard as well. That way you would only need to use the thread sorter strip of cardboard to follow your chart.


The Christmas At The Beach kit creates a 5" by 7" holiday beach scene using the 18 count white cotton Aida cloth which was included in the kit. This time the white cotton aida was large enough for me to use a 12" by 13" wood stretcher frame.  I basted the top and bottom of the aida cloth to the top and bottom dense cloth strips attached to the tightening rods of the frame. I inserted the tightening rods into the wooden sides of the frame and then tightened all the screws. Perfectly taut.

When  you're using 18 count aida it is easy to lose your place as you're going along and be off 1 hole or 2 from where you should be. This happened to me several times with this design in the tree and presents area. Unfortunately, by the time I discovered the errors it was too late to rip all the threads out to correct for it. I compensated for this as best as I could.  The result was I ended up having one additional vertical column and 1 additional horizontal row.


The pattern called for leaving several sections of the white aida cloth showing. I don't like doing this as I think it makes the picture look unfinished. Instead I used 3 strands of white embroidered floss in a half cross-stitch pattern to fill in where the white areas of the aida cloth were to be,

I tend to favor 1/4" foam backed adhesive mounting boards for the cross-stitch pictures I'm inserting into a finished picture frame. I originally was going to use a 1/4" foam backed 8" by 10" adhesive mounting board but discovered that this would be too thick for the picture frame backing I was using and wouldn't allow the backing piece to be inserted into the slot on the back of the frame and allow for securing it to the frame. So, instead, I opted to mount my picture on a 5" by 7" foam backed adhesive 1/4" mounting board and finished it according to the instructions included with the pattern.

When this was finished I centered it within the 5" by 7" opening for the double mat I was going to use and taped it to the back of the mat to hold it in place within the frame and mat.


I had chosen a white frame with blue and cream double matting to finish it which I think really brought out the beautiful colors of the beach scene. Plus the double matting allowed for enough room for the 5" by 7" press and seal adhesive foam board to create a padded look for my finished cross-stitch picture which added to the 3-dimensional look.

It took me 79 hours to complete this picture including the framing. Despite the problems I encountered I was very happy with the way my Dimensions Christmas At The Beach picture turned out.

Friday, October 07, 2016

Trio of Angels - "Sophisticated Gwen", "Happy Molly Angel" and "Who Me? Angel Angela"



"Sophisticated Gwen", "Happy Molly Angel", and "Who Me? Angel Angela" are a very unusual group of angels. Very unusual indeed.

You see, they aren't at all alike. In fact, they are as different as, well - angels can be.

"Sophisticated Gwen" is the epitome of sophistication and style. She is very much in "vogue" and aware of the latest trends in fashion. Her special charge is to protect all the "high fashion models" out there. It's a big task as, let's just say, the "high fashion models" don't always behave themselves.

"Happy Molly Angel" could care less about fashion. In fact, style and fashion mean nothing to her. She'd much rather spend her day crafting up a storm and doesn't care if she breaks a nail or gets her hands messy. In fact, it doesn't even matter to her if her clothes get messy. Sometimes the messier the better. Her special charge is all the crafters out there. It's a tall order as there are millions and millions of them.

"Who Me? Angel Angela" isn't quite sure why she's here or what her special mission is. When asked to do something she inevitably answers "Who Me?" She's a shy as a mouse and doesn't have a lot of confidence. She's not sure that she's really good at anything in particular and isn't too sure that she'll be able to fulfill her mission. Her charge is all the shy people out there.


"Happy Molly Angel" is a 5" wood doll pin angel. She has a painted gold painted wood body and flesh painted wood face. Her face is drawn and water colored shaded.

Her satin dress has a gathered lace trim overdress. She has a mass of straight white knotty doll hair along the sides of her head with the back left bald. There is a satin ribbon bow under her chin and she's carrying a small grapevine wreath decorated with a knotty doll hair bow.

"Happy Molly Angel's" wings are made of a wired ribbon and tied in a bow in back.



"Sophisticated Gwen" is the epitome of sophistication and style. She is very much in "vogue" and aware of the latest trends in fashion. Her special charge is to protect all the "high fashion models" out there. It's a big task as, let's just say, the "high fashion models" don't always behave themselves.

"Sophisticated Gwen" is a 5" wood doll pin angel. She has a painted gold painted wood body and flesh painted wood face. Her face is drawn and water colored shaded.

Her satin dress has a wired metallic ribbon overdress. She has a mass of loopy white doll hair along the sides of her head with the back left bald. There is a slim ribbon bow under her chin and she's carrying a small grapevine wreath decorated with thin ribbon and bows.

"Sophisticated Gwen's" wings are made of a wired ribbon and tied in a bow in back.



"Who Me? Angel Angela" isn't quite sure why she's here or what her special mission is. When asked to do something she inevitably answers "Who Me?" She's a shy as a mouse and doesn't have a lot of confidence. She's not sure that she's really good at anything in particular and isn't too sure that she'll be able to fulfill her mission. Her charge is all the shy people out there.

"Who Me? Angel Angela" is a 5" wood doll pin angel. She has a painted gold painted wood body and flesh painted wood face. Her face is drawn and water colored shaded.

Her satin dress has a wired gold ribbon overdress. She has a mass of curly gold and cream string yarn doll hair along the sides of her head with the back left bald. She's carrying a gold painted bell with bow.

"Who Me? Angel Angela's" wings are made of a wired mesh ribbon and tied in a bow in back


“Who Me? Angel Angela”  Country Angel Woodcraft Doll Free E-Pattern 


Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Written By Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals and Linda's Blog. Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer.

Thursday, October 06, 2016

Jigsaw Puzzles For Home Decor & How-To



I have been in love with  jigsaw puzzles since I was a small child.  During my childhood years I've solved jigsaw puzzles and then glued them to a piece of cardboard so I could mount them on my bedroom wall for decorations.  Choose a really colorful puzzle and you have a fabulous decoration.

Not only do they make great decorations, but they make fabulous gifts for any occasion as they provide hours of puzzle entertainment fun.

Here's how you would create a jigsaw puzzle picture decoration:

How To Create A Jigsaw Puzzle Wall Decoration


Supplies Needed:

Jigsaw puzzle, 2 large pieces of cardboard for turning the puzzle, 1 piece of cardboard chipboard or 1/8"-1/4" wood for the backing, wood glue, paint, mod podge, brushes, picture hanger.

Instructions:

1)  Measure and cut a piece of cardboard, chipboard, or 1/8"-1/4" wood to be the same size as the puzzle.

2)  If you are using 1/8"-1/4" pine board you would want to paint it a complementary color to match your wall colors.  Let the paint dry thoroughly.

3)  Put the jigsaw puzzle together.

4)  Carefully slide the finished puzzle piece onto a piece of cardboard that is larger than your puzzle.

5)  Cover the front of your puzzle with another piece of cardboard that is larger than your puzzle piece to create a sandwich of cardboard and puzzle pieces with the puzzle piece in between.

6)  Turn your puzzle sandwich upside down and then place it on a table.

7)  Remove the larger piece of cardboard that was covering the back of your puzzle so the jigsaw puzzle is turned over with the back showing.

8)  Add wood glue to the top of the cardboard, chipboard, or 1/8"-1/4" wood piece until it is fully covered.

9)  Turn the cardboard, chipboard, or 1/8"-1/4" wood piece over and glue it to the back of your turned over jigsaw puzzle on the table.

10)  Let the wood glue dry thoroughly.

11)  Apply one to two coats of mod podge to the front and sides of the puzzle to seal the picture.

12)  Add a picture hanger to the back of your puzzle picture and hang it on the wall.

We have a lot of different jigsaw puzzle designs.

© 2007-2023 Copyright Linda Walsh Originals - Written By Linda Walsh.

Wednesday, October 05, 2016

Fall Decorating Fun Free Tutorials, E-Patterns, and E-Books


Fall is one of my favorite seasons of the year and it pleases me immensely to ponder which Fall decorations to display this year. Truth be told I've made a lot of them.  I simply can't help it - I love to decorate.

If you do, too, you'll be happy to know that we have several free tutorials, e-patterns, and e-books to help with your Fall decorating.  Just click the links below. Enjoy!











Please respect My Terms of Use:  All patterns, e-patterns, printables, e-printables, e-books, graphics, tutorials, how-to's, articles and other e-products © 2004-2023 Linda Walsh Originals-Designs by Linda Walsh. All rights reserved. Commercial selling or reselling by any means prohibited without the written consent of Linda Walsh.

Patterns, e-patterns, printables, e-printables, e-books, graphics, tutorials, how-to's, articles and other e-products are for personal use only. You may not modify, photocopy, download, upload, post, transmit, display, perform, publish, license, reprint, create derivative works from, mass duplicate, re-sell, digitize, and reproduce in any other form (print, digital or electric) or commercially apply, embed, share, Email, or redistribution in any other means. Use of any of the above is prohibited without the written permission of Linda Walsh.

However, you may link to my website(s)/blog(s) and the individual page(s)/blog post(s) (including 1 picture) but do not copy, reprint or duplicate my website(s)/blog(s) or individual page(s)/post(s ) without my permission.

Items made from Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns are intended for personal use for fun or small scale personal and business profit as long as you credit us with the design. Large scale commercial use (i.e. mass production) of items made from Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns are by permission only.

Please see my Terms and Conditions for additional information.

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Written By Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals and Linda's Blog. Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer.

Tuesday, October 04, 2016

A Memorable Shopping Trip and My Penny Rug Tutorials Pinterest Board


If you've been following my Linda's Blog for awhile and my The Book Review Corner Blog then you know that among a million other things I LOVE crafting with wool felt and wool felt kits.

In fact, I've written several posts about my wool felt adventures, which are as follows: "I Just Love This "Pumpkin Patch" Penny Rug", "More Handmade Presents for Christmas 2009 - Wool Felt Santa Ornaments," and "More Of My Projects From This Year - My Needle Felting Projects."

Whether it's making wool felt penny rugs, or needle felted penny rug pictures, or ornaments I just LOVE wool felt.

And, it doesn't have to be limited to penny rugs  or ornaments. Over the years I have made hundreds of cloth dolls using wool felt, brushed felt, shaggy felt, etc. I have found that it is especially useful for making animals, but the uses are practically limitless.

I was introduced to penny rugs during a shopping trip with my Mom to Sturbridge many, many years ago. There were several wonderful primitives shops out there that we liked to visit that carried primitive doll kits, wool felt kits, punchneedle kits, and penny rug kits.

One store in particular specialized in wool fabric. And, boy, did they have wool fabric. Some of the most beautiful wool fabric you'd ever want to see. And, boy, was it EXPENSIVE.

This store, in particular, would put together wool fabric bundles, maybe 10-15 wool pieces per bundle. I just loved looking at the color combination's and would imagine what I could make out of them. Then, my Mother would snap me back to reality by turning the price tag over. YIKES! Beautiful wool is expensive. Alas, all I could do was dream and save my pennies.

During the last couple of years there was a store out there that we liked to visit that put together penny rug kits. It, too, is no longer there. However, during our last visit I bought several penny rug wool kits and have been trying to find the time to make them during the last few years.

As usual I had many, many kits that I wanted to buy.  So many, in fact, I asked my Mother if she would carry a few to the counter.  Well, when she saw how many I had she said, "LINDA, one or two would do!  Look at how many you have!" I, of course, just laughed at the numbers I was carrying and decided to put a few (just a few) back.

That year I had decided that I wanted to try needle felting and wool felting as it seemed like everyone was having so much fun with it this year. I started with three wool felt kits where one was a penny rug type decoration that needed to have some sheep and tree decorations needle felted. The other two kits were more like wool felt embroidery kits to create primitive wool decorations which could be hung on a wall or placed on a table top.

It took several years before I had the opportunity to create some more of the penny rug kits I had bought. I had already created 3 of the kits back in 2009 and had posted about them in a Linda's Blog post entitled "More Of My Projects From This Year - My Needle Felting Projects." During this window of opportunity I was able to finish two more of the penny rug kits I had bought. One of those was a pumpkin patch penny rug picture that I wrote about in a Linda's Blog post entitled "I Just Love This "Pumpkin Patch" Penny Rug."

I still have a couple of penny rug wool kits left from that shopping trip with my Mother.  Maybe in 2017 I'll have another small window of opportunity that I can use to finish the rest of the kits.

And, if I do that, well - I'll just have to go on another shopping trip.  However, as the shop is no longer in Sturbridge this time I'll let my fingers do the walking all over my keyboard and all over the internet. You never know what I'll find but, I'm sure I'll find something I like.

And, I'm sure if I go overboard in the amount I'm buying a little bird will be whispering in my ear, "LINDA, don't you think you have enough of those!"

And, I'll answer, "Just one more Mom. One more!"



In the meantime I decided to create a "Penny Rug Tutorials, Video's, Patterns and How-To's" Pinterest Board.  I hope you like my selection.

If you love my Penny Rug Tutorials, Video's, Patterns and How-To's board please follow my board by clicking on the link above.

Have fun making your penny rug creations.

Monday, October 03, 2016

My Dollhouse & Miniature Creations Pinterest Board Tutorials, Video's, Patterns, How-To's Pinterest Board



Laura Diana's Victorian Dollhouse Part 1 (of 2)


Laura Diana's Victorian Dollhouse Part 2 (of 2)

I have always wanted to build a dollhouse and had high hopes that I'd be able to do that when I had my own house.  I didn't want a plastic toy type house.  I wanted a Victorian wood house with wood floors, wallpaper, working lights, miniature Victorian furniture, miniature rugs, etc.

I did have high hopes for this earlier on.  In fact, when I was in my twenties I used to but little miniature Victorian furniture kits for making furniture like a miniature Queen Anne dresser, Miniature Queen Anne sofa, etc.  I never made them and haven't seen the kits in years.  I'm not even sure if I still have them.

Unfortunately, 50 years go by rather quickly, and I haven't built my dollhouse.  I still want to.  The problem is one of time.  If you want to build a dollhouse, like the one I want, you need to reserve a whole block of time for it.

Since I won't be making my dollhouse any time soon that doesn't stop me from looking at all the beautiful dollhouse eye candy on my "Dollhouse and Miniature Creations" Pinterest board.


I just LOVE dollhouses and have always wanted to create one of my own. Someday I will and will look to these beautiful works of art for my inspiration.



If you love my Dollhouse  and Miniature Creations board please follow my board by clicking on the "Follow On Pinterest" link above.

Aren't they all beautiful?  It would be hard to choose which one is your favorite - don't you think?

When Id do finally make my dollhouse I'm hoping that all the tutorials, patterns, how-to's and videos I've been collecting on my "Dollhouse Tutorials & Miniature Dolls & Crafts Tutorials, Video's, Patterns, How-To's" board will be helpful.



I just LOVE dollhouses, miniature dolls and miniature crafts. Someday I will make a dollhouse of my own. When I do perhaps some of these tutorials, video's and how-to's will be helpful.

If you love my Dollhouse Tutorials & Miniature Dolls & Crafts Tutorials, Video's, Patterns, How-To's board please follow my board by clicking on the link above.

Have fun making your dollhouses and miniatures.


Saturday, October 01, 2016

My Review of Sleigh Ride Beaded and Buttoned Cross-Stitch


This time of the year you can usually find me cross-stitching. So far I've made 4 cross-stitch pictures which I tweaked just a bit. This time I decided to do Sleigh Ride Beaded Kit from Mill Hill and decided to change quite a few things.

The Sleigh Ride Beaded Kit pattern uses full counted cross-stitch and beaded half stitch as well as beads of various sizes for emphasis and depth. The pattern also calls for certain areas of the perforated paper to be left untouched as the background. In this case they were leaving sections of the brown perforated paper background untouched.

I decided to frame my finished cross-stitch picture using the same decorated frame as was pictured in the pattern. It's a 6" x 6" hand-painted blue wooden frame without glass. Unlike the shadowbox frames I had been using more of the perforated paper would be seen surrounding the cross-stitch picture.

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


However, I don't like seeing the different perforated sections in the background and since a lot more of it would be exposed with this kit and frame I opted instead to finish all of the background. I didn't really like the brown perforated paper background for this picture. I thought a blue background would really enhance this picture so I finished the inside square background with three strands of DMC light blue embroidery floss #162 sewn as a half cross-stitch.

After I had finished the light blue background I decided to add a second layer of white floss cross-stitch to the white stars in the sky to really make them pop and to add a a few more white stars to fill up the sky.

I had left one line of the brown perforated paper open between the dark blue border at the top and my light blue sky as I wanted to create a blended line for the transition between the top border and the blue sky. I chose to finish this in a cross-stitch pattern with a combination of three strands of the light blue DMC embroidery floss #162 and the three strands of the dark blue DMC embroidery floss #336 that was included in the kit as I thought it would be a good blend with the dark blue top and my light blue sky.

The brown perforated paper was left showing between the two blue columns on the right and left sides of the picture in the pattern. I also chose to finish this in a cross-stitch pattern with a combination of three strands of the light blue DMC embroidery floss #162 and the three strands of the dark blue DMC embroidery floss #336 that was included in the kit.

In looking at the church I decided it needed a white cross at the top of the steeple so I added a cross to the top using three strands of white DMC embroidery floss and sewed this in a cross-stitch "t" pattern. I also chose to outline the edges of the cross with two strands of a light gray DMX embroidery floss.

I knew that when I added the blue sky background the church would need a little emphasis to stand out so I added two strands of black DMC embroidery floss outline stitching around the edges of the church, the steeple, the door, and the roof.

I also decided to add outline stitching to the trees for emphasis so I added three strands of dark green DMC embroidery floss and stitched them in several areas down the tree branches.

The pattern also called for the brown perforated paper to be shown around the edges of the picture to fill the frame. I decided to square the edges of my picture and decided to create a contrast in the mat area next to the frame with three stands of DMC embroidery floss #699 sewn in a half cross-stitch pattern. I stitched five rows of the green floss around all the edges to make sure the perforated paper would not be visible once my cross stitch picture was inserted into the wooden frame.


I also decided to once again utilize the rectangular wood frame jig that my darling husband built for me that I could tape the edges of my perforated paper to. The wood frame jig is a rectangular embroidery hoop of sorts, but without bending the perforated paper. He had made it out of 1/2" x 1" pine wood strips with an adjustable center strip that I used for this 5 x 5 square design.

I had learned from previous mistakes that I needed to draw diagonal lines to locate the exact center of the perforated paper and also drew diagonal lines across each corner of the pattern to get the center point as well.

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

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

As I have done with other cross-stitch kits I've completed I had to design my own thread color sorter and symbol key. I took a piece of thin cardboard and cut a 1" x 9" long rectangular piece out to use as a thread sorter. I then punched 11 holes in my cardboard strip in which to tie each of the different colors. Just above the hole I wrote the DMC floss # and the respective cross-stitch symbol. I then inserted the floss threads that went with that # and symbol through the hole and tied them in a loose knot. This kit could be much improved if a thread sorter with respective #'s and symbols was provided.

The kit included a small star. The button was okay except it was glued to a small piece of cardboard which did not easily come off and the glue used had hardened and extended over the sides of the button. It was very difficult to cut with scissors it was so hard. I managed to make it presentable enough to use in my picture. I have found over time that the buttons used in the Mill Hill cross-stitch kits are usually of poor quality and the worst parts of the kits. Sometimes I use them sometimes I don't.

The wooden frame came with a 6" x 6" cardboard mounting board for the picture but had no back so I I decided to cut a 6" x 6" white foam board as filler for the back. I also cut a piece of heavy decorative paper and taped it to the back of the picture with double sided tape to finish the back of the frame. The frame could be hung as a picture or stand with an enclosed dowel peg used as an easel and I opted for the latter.

My results with the totally finished background, square edges, and decorative frame is shown below:


Despite the relatively small issues I had encountered with the kit I was happy with the way my Sleigh Ride turned out.

It took me 28 hours to complete this picture including the framing. As always, my comments are meant to be constructive to enable future purchasers to benefit from my experience and to enhance their ability to create a wonderful little cross-stitch design.