Linda Walsh Originals Blog Pages

Monday, December 31, 2018

For The Love Of Needle Felted Pictures Free Tutorials, E-Books and How-To's


Four years ago my love of crafts expanded even more when my sister and her husband became alpaca farmers and started Rock Garden Alpacas. At the time neither they nor I had no idea what a big impact that would have on my art doll making and craft designs.  

With the alpacas came Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber for selling all their alpaca fiber products, including roving, raw fiber, carded batts, handspun yarn, hand dyed roving, doll hair fibers, knit scarves, and handmade Nuno felted scarves. With this came my desire to create needle felted art dolls and other crafts using their products.

My sister and I were looking for ways to show her customers how to use her products when the idea for needle felted dolls and other crafts came into being. Hmmm... Lets do needle felted art dolls. Hmmm... Let's do some floral pictures... Hmmm... Now why would I think of both of those? Hmmm....


My sister gave me several large (make that HUGE) bags of roving and several carded batts (which I loved) from her alpacas Sunflower, Ivy, Cosmo, Zinnia and Masquerade which I used to make my needle felted art dolls and flower pictures, like those shown in the two picture collages above.   I loved working with the natural alpaca roving and carded batts - especially Masquerade's gray fiber batts. It was fabulous for crafting everything.

I fell in love with needle felting four years ago and decided to create free e-patterns, tutorials, e-books and how-to's for my needle felted floral pictures so you could try needle felting too.  I hope you fall in love with it as much as I did.

Just click on the links below for the needle felted craft pictures below that you'd like to try:









For more information on all my free e-patterns, e-printables and e-books please CLICK HERE.

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.

Sunday, December 30, 2018

For the Love of Free Picture Crafts Tutorials, E-Books, and How-To's



If there is any type of craft I have made more of over the years in all different media it has to be pictures.  I've made a  large yarn picture, needle felted pictures, silk floral and ribbon pictures, pressed flower pictures, wool felt pictures, needle craft pictures, punch needle embroidery pictures, stenciled shadow box pictures, and quilted pictures.

Most of the pictures I've made have been gifts for my family that I enclosed in sponge painted frames that I painted and made.  If there is a choice between regular painting and sponge painting I always opt for the sponge painted.  Some of these gifts are shown in the picture collage below.


I have also made pictures from some of my custom fabric designs, jigsaw and blanket pictures from some of my graphic designs, silk floral in shadowboxes, wood plaques, and needle felted flowers.  All of these I made with you in mind and, as a result, created free e-books, e-patterns, tutorials, or how-to's so you could create some of your own pictures.

All of my picture "freebies" are shown in the pictures below.  Just click the text link under the project you like below:






















For more information on all my free e-patterns, e-printables and e-books please CLICK HERE.

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.

For The Love of Wreath Crafts Free E-Patterns, Tutorials, and How-To's


As far as home decorations are concerned you can never have enough wreaths. They're just so much fun to work with and so versatile.

Holiday wreaths, seasonal wreaths, wreaths for special occasions, wreaths of every media - glass, real floral, silk floral, natural greens, wood, painted, paper, metal, ceramic, clay, needle felted, yarn, wool, fabric - even popsicle sticks or Lego's. The list is endless.

Wreaths can be shabby chic, romantic, Victorian, primitive, rustic, recycled, contemporary, country, folksy - the list is endless.


Now I know what you're thinking, "You've never met a wreath you haven't loved. Yeah, right Linda.... you love everything crafty. In fact, there isn't any craft you've met that you haven't loved!" Well, that may be true but wreaths certainly are one of my favorites. I love making them and love decorating with them.

Did I mention I love wreaths......   I also love looking at pictures of wreaths that other artists and crafters have created and I'm always amazed at the beautiful designs. I keep thinking that I've seen just about every kind of wreath there is when I'll see a picture of a wreath made out of something I would never have thought of or a new design.

Over the years I've created many, many wreaths of my own and written about some of them on my Linda's Blog.


Back in 2010 I wrote a post which was about making puffy fabric wreaths, like the ones shown in the pictures above, using an E-Z wreathmaker, which is a tool that allows you to clamp single or double rail clamp-style wreath rings. You know the metal rings with prongs that you see hanging up in the floral section of the craft supply stores. There's no way you can fold the metal prongs down without a large clamp. Think of the E-Z wreathmaker as a giant stapler and you'll get the idea. I ended up making 5 or 6 of these type of wreaths.

All of the fabric wreaths are 12" fabric decoration wreaths with embellishments, depending on the season or holiday.  All can be hung on the wall.



I've also dabbled with pressed flowers and ended up making several nature themed pictures using pressed flowers and, of course, one of those was the wreath picture shown above.


One of my earliest memories of a wreath being made was the pinecone wreath my mother had made when I was a child and which was a torturous wreath to make. Working with pinecones and wire is not for the faint at heart and certainly not for someone who faints at the sight of blood.  My mother's hands were bloody for days on end from the wire cuts. Her wreath ended up being absolutely beautiful and proudly resided above the fireplace mantle in my parents home for many, many years.

Right now it resides in a box in my basement waiting to be repaired. I promised my mother I would repair it.  Sadly, some of the pinecones have deteriorated over the years. However, it was also the inspiration for the pinecone wreath shown above that I made several years ago and blogged about in a post entitled "My Favorite Pinecone Wreath - I Just had To Make One."  I created a free how-to for making this wreath here so you could make one of your own.

I just LOVE handmade wreaths of every size and type. Cloth, wood, silk floral, natural greens - it doesn't matter. Country ones, folk-art, Victorian, primitive - it doesn't matter. I LOVE them all. If you do, too, and would like to learn how to make wreaths perhaps some of my free tutorials and how-to's for the wreaths shown in the picture at the beginning of this post will be helpful to you.















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.

Here's An Idea - Terracotta Painted and Stenciled Pot Decorations


As you probably know I LOVE to create and decorate with just about anything I find for the various seasons and holidays.  So it should come as no surprise that I'd be looking for different ways to decorate over the years and back in 1999 fell in love with the idea of using painted and stenciled terra-cotta pots.

Whether it's decorating with dolls, floral arrangements, or wood crafts I just love decorating - especially when it comes to decorating my sun-room for the different seasons and holidays.

The reason this is so much fun for me is because I've now limited the seasonal decorations in my home to a couple places in the house.  I used to try and decorate every room for every season and holiday, but that was getting to be a  OF WORK.  And, I just didn't have the time for it.  So, I've been limiting the decorations to a few areas - which I'm very happy with.


Well, several years ago I was looking for something different to decorate my sun-room and thought that maybe I should paint some of the terracotta pots I had bought on one of my many shopping trips. And, I had bought a few - well, make that A LOT!

I don't know why I'm always drawn to the terracotta aisle of the craft store, but I am.  I just love all the different sizes of the terracotta and love experimenting with different ways to use them.  And use them I have.


Whether its terracotta bride and groom wedding shower favors, or baby boy and baby girl terracotta baby shower favors, or a terracotta bunny head for Easter - I just LOVE creating with the terracotta pots.  And, I love creating free e-patterns so you can create some of your own.

Right now I have several free e-patterns and free combo e-patterns (shown above and below) that I've designed featuring terracotta type dolls (if you could call something with a terracotta body a doll!)


There's my "It's Me, Ginny" bunny, my "I Do! Terra Jane" bride favor, my "I Do! Terra Joe" groom favor,  my "It's a Girl! Terra Head" baby shower favor, my "It's A Boy, Terra Head" baby shower favor, my Walsh caroling family, and my trio of Santa's.

They are all fun and easy to make.  The bride and groom e-patterns are part of our "Wedding Shower Favor" group of free e-patterns and the boy and girl are part of our "Baby Shower Favor" group of free e-patterns.



In any event,  during one of the Fall seasons I was looking at the standard pot size terracotta pots I had and thought they might make cute decorations for the Fall. I was thinking that I could paint them and stencil them with seasonal decorations.

So, I decided back then that a shopping trip to the craft store (like I need any excuse to go to the craft store! LOL LOL) was in order to buy the paint and some stencils.

Well, it turned out to be a wonderful shopping trip as I found many Provo Craft First Impressions rub-on stencils that I liked and could use for the various seasons and holidays.

Of course, like everything I do, I never do anything in moderation.  As a result I had many, many pots to decorate with which meant I had lots of paint and stencils to buy.

To my delight the stencil aisle was filled with all sorts of rub-on stencils that I could use for my pots - and use them all I did.


There were scarecrows and snowmen and flowers and Santa's and .....  Well, just about everything for every season and holiday. There were borders and sayings that I could combine with my pictures. The possibilities were endless.

My mind was thinking of so many possibilities at once that I couldn't keep everything straight. I wasn't sure what I was putting with what. It didn't matter anyway - that was part of the fun.

So, of course, I bought a bunch of the rub-on stencils. I figured if I had any extra's I could always use the stencils on something else. That's what I told hubby when he saw how many I actually had! LOL LOL

In any event, first I decided which pot I was going to use and then decided which stencils I would be using.  The stencils would be driving the paint color so I needed to decided on them first.  And, of course for that shopping trip, I was drawn to the Fall stencils and Fall colors.

I had originally thought of using some of my painted pots for some of my household plants, but gave up that idea as I would have to change the pots out for each season and I just didn't want or didn't have time for that.  So, I decided to use the pots to hold potpourri or ornies appropriate for the season or holiday in question.



The pictures shown above are some of the painted terracotta pots I did for the Fall.  In the pictures they're empty, but I fill them with potpourri for the Fall season.  My rooms smell great and they're wonderfully decorated for the Fall. I loved creating them so much I decided to create a free e-book so you could make some of your own.

I ended up making a bunch of painted terracotta pots for all four seasons and even had some for the various holidays.  When I was done I had a bunch of decorations that I could use and a bunch that I could give as gifts.



Since I also have a passion for silk floral decorations I decided to paint some of the large terra-cotta pots for use with some of my silk floral seasonal decorations (like those shown in the pictures above). I painted them different colors and added stencils for decorations.  And, of course, I created free e-books so you could create some of your own.


My mother and I were always looking out for craft projects we could do together to use as decorations for the various holidays and seasons.  In the April 1999 issue of Crafts we saw a picture and instructions for a  craft project called "Clay Pot Bunny Family" designed by Mary Ayres that had the cutest group of terra-cotta painted bunnies using all different sizes of terra cotta pots.

We loved it and decided to create bunny families of our own to decorate during the upcoming spring season and Easter holiday. We ended up making 3 families (like those shown in the picture above) for ourselves and my sister.  The two shown on the bottom of the collage above were made using the tiniest little terra-cotta pots.  I love their hats.  They're bigger than they are.


My mother and I loved making the bunnies families so much we decided to create some terra-cotta painted snow people families (like those shown in the picture above) for the following winter season. We decided to paint them white, draw designs on the front with colored markers, add old socks for hats with pompom decorations, and add wired ribbons around their necks for scarves.  Their noses were made from orange pipe cleaners shaped into cones and glued to their faces.


In 1999 I saw a cute Halloween craft project in the September 1999 issue of Crafts N Things that I thought would make a really cute decoration for Halloween.  It was called "Candy Corn Pots and Lollipop Ghosts" and was designed by by Dorothy Egan that used 5" and 6" terra cotta pots.  It was so cute I decided to make them (shown in the picture above) for myself , my mother, my step-daughter and my daughter-in-law.  They loved them so painting and decorating those terra-cotta pots was a big success.  Aren't they adorable?



In the Spring of 2000 I was looking for something for my step-daughter to make for the upcoming Easter holiday and decided terra-cotta pots with painted wood decorations glued to the front and filled with all sorts of Easter craft decorations like painted eggs, bows, and silk floral would be cute. So, we made  two small ones and two large ones (like those shown in the picture above) to decorate our homes during the Easter season.


My favorite terra-cotta pots to use are the little mini pots and I've used many of them in the different craft projects I've done.  I saw an article in the Crafts September 1999 issue for making the cutest pincushions using 2 1/2" clay pots.  It was called Pin Pal Pincushions and was created by Mary Ayres, So, of course I decided to make a few as gifts, like those shown in the picture above.  Tiny little pincushions.  Adorable aren't they?


Back in 1999 while were expecting the birth of our 4th grandchild I saw a picture of a baby craft project in one of the crafts magazines I subscribed to for making baby heads sticking out of tiny terra-cotta pots.  The baby heads were made of cloth and the terra-cotta pots were painted ecru and had a blue heart for a boy and a pink heart for a girl on the front. I decided to make some.

I thought they were adorable but decided to make mine with wood egg shaped painted heads, pink terra-cotta pots for girls and blue painted terra-cotta posts for boys.  I decided to draw a  dashed triangle on the fronts of the posts and write "It's A Girl" for the girls and  "It's A Boy" for the boys. In the area below the dashed triangle I added the date, time, and weight for when my grandson was born and gave it to my step-daughter as a memento.  She loved her trio.

All in all I was pleased with all the decorations I've created over the years.  Painted and stenciled terracotta pots for decorating for all seasons and holidays - now that's a good idea.

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.