I Can Hardly Wait For Artful Gathering To Start!

I'm a lifetime student or lifetime crafter always in search of learning something new.  So, for someone like me, what could be better than taking online classes.  I love taking online arts & crafts classes and could, literally,  spend 24/7 just doing this.

In 2012 I discovered the Artful Gathering online classes and fell in love with them. They offer online art retreats that are available in the Spring and Summer each year that are are taught by some of the most unbelievable and creative artists I have ever encountered and whose creativity is beyond measure.

Artful Gathering was established in 2009 by Christina Zinnia Galliher, who is an exceptional artist in her own right.   I am taking her "Leonardo Loves Zia" class this Spring and can hardly wait. 

Here's what Zinnia had to say about Artful Gathering: Artful Gathering Online Art Retreats is a one-of-a-kind online event destination. Each summer we celebrate our annual tradition of presenting brand new mixed media art workshops, with new and returning art mentors.

We have been presenting our retreats online for at least a decade, working side by side with artisans from all over the world. We gather online in the spirit of our like-minded passion for learning, and out of a mutual reverence for the individual differences that make our artistic perspectives unique to us.

Our workshops are designed and presented by real-world working artists. Our mentors are selected not only on the basis of their knowledge and expertise within a particular genre, but for their passion for sharing with and inspiring others on the journey. 

Artistic people don't all fit into the same niche. Most of us are like a unique tapestry woven together with our personal experiences and creative vision. This is why Artful Gathering embraces a wide variety of artistic perspectives; there is always something new to see, do, and learn!

We love to seek new ways to inspire your imagination and broaden your horizons. What better way to learn than to see through the eyes of a kindred spirit. We hope to spark a passion for art in you. 

So far I've taken 11 Artful Gathering e-classes and can hardly wait to take classes this spring and summer.  I wasn't able to take any classes last year so, as you can imagine, I'm itching to go.

I've always looked forward to the excellent instructing by all the phenomenal artists that teach at Artful Gathering but, what really makes the classes outstanding is the student and teacher class participation.  That's what makes all the classes so delightful.  My guess is this year will be no different.

It's always been hard to select my classes as there are always so many unbelievable classes to choose from. The instructors are always amazing and their selection of classes to teach are always amazing.  This year was no exception.

Am I in love with the Artful Gathering choices this year.  Absolutely!  There are so many classes I wanted to take, but couldn't fit them all in time wise.  Here's what I decided to take:

Artful Gathering 2019 Session 1 "Leonardo Loves Zia" Class by Christina Zinnia Galliher

In the Spring (Session 1) this year I'm taking Christina Zinnia Galliher's "Leonardo Loves Zia" class.  Here's what Zinnia had to say about this class: In this workshop, I want to take you on a journey of possibilities, where you can see how paper can be manipulated into one of a kind sculpting projects. No patterns or graphic images are used, we’ll start from the ground up. (I will provide head templates for reference).

Artful Gathering 2019 Session 2 "Beyond the Imaginarium: A Compendium of Holiday Merriment" Class by Mary Jane Chadbourne

In The Summer (Session 2) this year I'm taking Mary Jane Chadbourne's "Beyond the Imaginarium: A Compendium of Holiday Merriment" class.   Here's what Mary Jane had to say about this class: This new workshop will take you way beyond the original and very popular, “Imaginarium – Anthology of an Art Doll” class with creating all sorts of dolls who will help you ring in the holiday season and with plenty of time to not only enjoy the creating, but be ready for the holidays ahead of time!

Here's some of the  Artful Gathering online classes I've taken followed by my finished pieces:

Tassels & Tiaras: A Winged Wonders Doll Project by Hally Levesque

Artful Gathering 2016 Session 2 - Wee Winter Whimsies  by Hally Levesque

Artful Gathering 2016 Session 1 - Romantic Rosabella By Hally Levesque

My Tinytopia & The Magic of Little Things Online Class At Artful Gathering by Mary Jane Chadbourne

My Romantic Journey On Canvas Online Class at Artful Gathering by Debby Anderson

 My Bonnets and Beaus: A Regency Doll Project Online Class at Artful Gatherning Taught by Hall Levesque

My Artful Gathering 2014 Session 2 - ART-S2-307 The Imaginarium: Anthologies of an Art Doll with Mary Jane Chadbourne 

My Artful Gathering 2014 Session 1 Finished Project Piece - Let's Go For A Ride

My Mermaid From Judy Johnson's "Lovely Sea Maiden" Class At Artful Gathering 2013 Session 2

Artful Gathering 2013 Session 1 - "Briley The Birdie" Class With Colleen Moody 

Artful Gathering 2012 Session 1 - Pat Winter's Crazy Quilting 101 Class

It's only a couple of days until Session 1 begins and I can hardly wait.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Design An E-Pattern & Where To Sell Them Online Free E-Book

Back in 2009 I decided to share my secrets of pattern designing.  Some thought it was a little foolish back then as it would be foolish as a pattern designer to give away trade secrets to the competition.

Actually, I was happy to do this. It was kind of a "pay it forward" for all the help I had received years ago when I was just starting out.

I was happy to do this and thrilled to know there were so many individuals out there  who wanted to design their own patterns which meant the interest in sewing, creating, and selling of e-products (i.e. digital goods) on the Internet was growing. More growth meant more business for all of us. Plus, if it meant more growth for e-patterns which, in my opinion were still in their infancy on the Internet at the time, then it was a really good thing..

Over the years I revised and updated my original e-book.  Well, I'm happy to report that it was time to revise it again and to revise my "I'm An Independent Pattern Designer - Where Can I Sell My E-Patterns?" Linda's Blog post as well.

I'm happy to report my free "Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Design An E-Pattern and Where To Sell Them E-Book" is finished and is now available as a free download in Google Drive.

So, am I still giving away 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.

I hope you enjoy the revised version of my "Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Design A Print Pattern and E-Pattern and Where To Sell Them E-Book" and hope it motivates you to create your own e-patterns.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Design A Print Pattern and E-Pattern and Where To Sell Them Online Free E-Book - 24 Pages

To view and download my free e-book please CLICK HERE. You'll be brought to Google Drive where you can view our free e-book. Then just download our free .pdf e-book by clicking on the down arrow in the top center.

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.

I'm An Independent Pattern Designer - Where Can I Sell My E-Patterns? - Updated 5/28/2019

I often get asked by independent crafts pattern designers where they can sell their e-patterns so I thought it might be helpful to create a blog post about this.

To give you a little background on me I'm a doll maker and doll pattern designer and have had several websites for over 15 years.

Fifteen years ago for a small business owner to have a website online that you had control over you basically had to either create your own using HTML or some comparable software that could publish to the web and then FTP (file transfer protocol) it to what-ever service provider was hosting your website and domain name.

Back in 2004, when I started, I created two of my own websites that I updated to Godaddy via FTP.  I wanted to be able to update my website whenever I wanted and change it whatever way I wished. As a result my first two websites were created in Microsoft Publisher and FTP'd to my hosting accounts at GoDaddy where my two domain names resided.

I used Paypal HTML coding back then and had to copy and paste their payment HTML coding for every item I wanted to sell. While I had complete control over my website design the coding was tedious at best.

When instant download e-patterns came along I used PayloadZ and Paypal to handle the "Buy Now" capabilities. This, too, utilized HTML coding which, again, was tedious at best.

So, before long I outgrew the capabilities of these two websites and needed websites with more sophisticated shopping carts and with the ability to handle instant download e-products. So, I decided to open two new websites utilizing a CubeCart shopping cart at In A Pickle Web Design, which was owned by Annie Kelly.

With the two new websites with Annie I now had 4 websites and a GoDaddy Website Tonight "Information" page. Two of the websites I was still maintaining with Publisher and transferring via FTP to GoDaddy, two I was maintaining using the In A Pickle Web Design CubeCart interface, and one the "Information" page I was maintaining through GoDaddy's interface.

Five websites, however, wasn't all I had. I had jumped on the blogging craze back in 2003 utilizing an AOL blog, then a Yahoo 360 blog, and then several Blogger.com blogs. For me blogging was the perfect solution for disseminating information about your small business and letting your customers get to know you.

Back then, however, there was a lot of skepticism about blogging with some small business owners even claiming they would never buy anything off a blog. Not me. I took a giant step forward and stopped issuing newsletters. I jumped on the blogging band wagon and have never looked back.

My online interests continued to expand over the years as well as my doll & craft interests. Over time my blogs multiplied as each had a different audience and, therefore, a different subject to discuss.

So, at one point in time I had 5 websites, 18 blogs, an Etsy shop, a Zibbet shop, 3 Zazzle shops, and several other secondary e-pattern and handmade goods online selling venues. I also had a topsite, several plugboards, and a lot of social media pages and/or groups to maintain.

In 2014 I decided to do a little downsizing.  Everything I had been doing had become too much to handle so I decided to start downsizing gradually. The first to go were the plugboards, followed by half of my blogs, followed by several social media communities and groups, followed by some of the selling venues.

In 2015 I decided to consolidate all of my websites into one selling website that could handle not only all my e-products, all my print patterns, and all my handmade goods but be expandable so it was able to be displayed correctly on all the desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices out there, as well as being able to be displayed on all the various browsers.

Back then I did a lot of research and decided to create my new Linda Walsh Originals Shop at GoDaddy utilizing their Quick Shopping Cart. What I liked about the GoDaddy website was that it could handle all of my different businesses (e-commerce and regular commerce) under one roof. I could sell both my handmade products and all my e-products in one website.

My consolidated website handling both digital products and handmade products worked well for  four years, but was still a lot of work with everything else I was doing, including online classes that I love to take.

So, I decided to downsize even more and closed my Linda Walsh Originals Shop which was selling my e-patterns and all my handmade doll and craft decorations and updated the products I was selling via my Linda Walsh Originals Etsy Shop.

I also decided to upgrade my Linda Walsh Originals Information website which is a GoDaddy Website Tonight website to be an "About me" portfolio with multiple pages of sorts for everything and anything concerning Linda Walsh Originals.

I'm still in the process of critiquing my business interests as well as my creative interests.  After all this time I've decided I want to spend more time in creative mode versus business mode so I wouldn't be surprised if I downsize even more.

I always like to give back and over the years have posted many free e-patterns, e-books and e-printables so everyone can enjoy crafting.  If you're interested in my "freebies" please visit my "Free E-Patterns, E-Printables, & E-Books" page.

I've been in love with .pdf instant download e-products since they first came on the scene in 2004 and have tried all sorts of different venues.

Some I like, some I don't. Some have come and gone, some are free, some are very expensive, some are for specific types of patterns, some are commercial sellers websites, etc. The internet is always changing so what was there in 2004 might not be in existence today.

Nowadays there are websites that do it all, some are websites that provide html code so you can sell your e-patterns on your website or your blog, some are handmade craft websites where you can list your e-patterns and then send them as an email attachment to your customer or, depending on the website, can send the download link to the customer via e-mail or put it in the customer's account on their website, some are websites that provide a download integration for your Etsy shoppe, some are social networking websites that allow for selling, etc.

The online crafts e-pattern, e-printable, and e-book craft industry has been slowly developing over the last decade and, as far as I'm concerned, is still in it's infancy. There's plenty of room for growth and, I'm sure, plenty of room for change. Which venue is best for you is based on what you're selling, what your experience is, what your skill level is, and how much time you can devote to this.

Selling e-patterns online as an independent pattern designer is a long, slow process that requires nerves of steel and a lot of patience. It is not for the faint of heart or those hoping to make a quick buck. That just is not going to happen.

If you’re an artist or crafter who has created e-patterns you might be wondering how you go about selling them. Where do you store your e-patterns and how do you sell instant downloads? Whether its e-patterns, e-tutorials or e-books you first need to create a .PDF (Portable Document Format) file which is your electronic product. With the various computer software available nowadays, as well as the various online websites willing to help you with that, once you have created the .PDF file then there are basically two ways to get the .pdf file to your customer.

1) You can send them yourself as attachments to an email once you have been notified of payment by the customer.

2) They can be sent automatically or available in a customer's account as an "instant download e-patterns" once payment has been made.

So, what kind of online set-up do you need to accomplish this?

1) You can have your own website that has Paypal (or other payment processor) payment button capabilities. Once you have received notification from Paypal (or other payment processor) of payment you can send the e-pattern to your customer as an attachment to an e-mail.

2) You can have a blog that has HTML capabilities in the sidebar or posts that allow you to create Paypal (or other payment processor) payment button. Once you have received notification from Paypal (or other payment processor) of payment you can send the e-pattern to your customer as an attachment to an e-mail.

3) You can have your own website or blog that allows for HTML modules in the sidebar or posts whereby you can copy/paste the Buy Now Digital Goods E-commerce Shopping Cart providers HTML code. In this instance they provide a service whereby they store your e-products on their servers and provide you with a Buy Now (or similar) button link. When your customer clicks on that Buy Now link then the payment process would begin. Once payment has been made an email will automatically be sent to the customer with the e-pattern download link. They click on the link and follow the prompts to download your e-product. Digital Goods E-commerce Shopping Cart providers charge you a fee for this service.

4) You can have your own website that has e-commerce instant download shopping cart capabilities that will send your customer the download link for their e-pattern via email once payment has been made to you.

5) You can have your own website that has e-commerce instant download shopping cart capabilities that will put the download link in the customer's account once payment has been made to you.

6) You can utilize a third-party website with an e-commerce shopping cart provider that has "instant download capabilities." Once payment has been made by the customer the software will automatically generate an email to the customer with the download link or put it in the customer's account where they can automatically download it. Depending on their set-up you can either: a) upload your .PDF files onto their servers, b) transfer your .PDF files via FTP (file transfer protocol), or c) send them as attachments to an email to them. It all depends on how the e-pattern website is set up. The e-pattern website owners collect payment and then remit to you once they have been paid and have deducted their fee, or they may have a system in place to automatically pay you once the customer has paid. They may charge a monthly fee or charge a % of the sale price and/or both.

7) You can utilize a third-party handmade goods marketplace or community website to create a shop for you to sell your handmade goods and/or e-patterns. Once you have been notified of payment you can, depending on their set-up, either send the e-pattern to the customer as an attachment to an email, or sometimes these third-party handmade goods marketplaces or communities have apps that can work in conjunction with your shop and automatically send the customer an email with the e-pattern download link once payment has been made.

If you're an independent crafts pattern designer and you want to sell your e-patterns online, but aren't quite ready for your own website you might want to check out the following websites, blogging platforms, and e-commerce services websites:

Amazon - https://kdp.amazon.com/ - Amazon's online digital distribution publishing division for selling e-books online.

Artfire - https://www.artfire.com/ - Shops created and maintained by designers. E-Patterns sold by designers are emailed to customers as attachments to an email.

Blogger (or any blogging website) - https://blogger.com - Free blogging host provider.  Create a selling blog.  Publish post with image and information about e-pattern.  Include copy and paste code for Paypal or other eCommerce downloading button within the post or email e-pattern to customer as an attachment once payment has been received.

Bonanza - https://www.bonanza.com/ - Online handmade goods marketplace and social networking community. Shops created and maintained by handmade artisans. E-Patterns sold by designers are emailed to customers as attachments to an email.

CraftHub - https://www.crafthub.me/ - An Etsy app that works with Etsy shops selling .pdf instant download e-patterns and provides an integration between ETSY and downloads to customers.

CraftIsArt - http://www.craftisart.com/ - Online artisan and handmade goods selling community. Shops created and maintained by handmade artisans. E-Patterns sold by designers are emailed to customers as attachments to an email.

Doll Street Dreamers - http://www.dollstreetdreamers.com/ - Oldest social networking doll club on the web. Offers doll classes and pattern shop for instant download doll e-patterns sold by members. Pattern shop maintained by owner of doll club. Owner handles all aspects of download and interface with customer.

DPD - https://getdpd.com/ - Digital Goods eCommerce service for selling downloadable goods online. Provides copy ad paste codes for instant download e-patterns to use in websites and blogs.

eCRATER - https://www.ecrater.com - eCRATER is both a free web store builder and an online marketplace.  E-Patterns would be emailed to customers as attachments to an email.

EJunkie -https://www.e-junkie.com/- Digital Goods eCommerce service for selling downloadable goods online. Provides copy ad paste codes for instant download e-patterns to use in websites and blogs.

Easydigitaldownloads - https://easydigitaldownloads.com/ - Digital Goods eCommerce service for selling downloadable goods online. Provides copy and paste codes for instant download e-patterns to use in websites and blogs.

Etsy - https://www.etsy.com  - Shops created and maintained by designers.  E-Patterns sold by designers are uploaded to Etsy listings and downloaded by customers once payment has been processed.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ - Free social media network.  Sell e-patterns on your business page or within groups.  Paypal bill your customers and once paid e-patterns would be emailed to customers as attachment to an email.

FetchApp - https://www.fetchapp.com/ - Digital Goods eCommerce service for selling downloadable goods online. Provides copy and paste codes for instant download e-patterns to use in websites and blogs.

FlickRocket - https://www.flickrocket.com/-  E-commerce content shop platform for selling e-products. Since 2010, FlickRocket’s cloud based solution powers shops for big and small content owners which enable secure digital content sales and marketing. E-Patterns sold by designers can be downloaded by customers once payment has been processed.

Folksy - https://folksy.com/ - British online handmade goods marketplace and community.  Shops created and maintained by handmade artisans. E-Patterns sold by designers are emailed to customers as attachments to an email.

Go To Patterns & Co. - http://gotopatterns.com -  Website selling sewing & craft patterns. Independent pattern designers can contact them for designer terms.  Submitted patterns are reviewed for quality content.

Gumroad - https://gumroad.com - Digital Goods eCommerce service for selling downloadable goods directly to customers. Integrates with your website, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, SoundCloud, and email newsletters.

Handmade Artists - https://handmadeartists.com/ - Online handmade goods marketplace and social networking community. Shops created and maintained by handmade artisans. E-Patterns sold by designers are emailed to customers as attachments to an email.

iCRAFT -   https://icraftgifts.com/ - iCraft is an online handmade goods marketplace.  E-Patterns would be emailed to customers as attachments to an email.

MagCloud - http://www.magcloud.com/ - Hewlett Packard online print on demand and digital distribution publishing. Used by e-zines, e-book sellers, and some e-patterns. Customers can choose to buy either print on demand pattern or downloadable e-pattern.

Makerist -  https://www.makerist.com -  E-Commerce selling website.  E-Patterns sold by designers are uploaded to Makerist and downloaded by customers once payment has been processed.

PayloadZ - https://www.payloadz.com/ - Digital Goods eCommerce service for selling downloadable goods online. Provides copy and paste codes for instant download e-patterns to use in websites and blogs.

Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com - Free social media network.  With a business account you can create boards for pinning your items for sale. Your pin would include an image, description and link back to your website where your item was pinned from, like a website, blog post, or 3rd party marketplace. Pinned items with prices show up in the gifts section.

Pulley - https://pulleyapp.com/ - Digital Goods eCommerce service for selling downloadable goods online. Provides copy and paste codes for instant download e-patterns to use in websites and blogs.

Ravelry - https://www.ravelry.com - Social networking website for knitters and crocheters.  E-Patterns. E-Patterns would be emailed to customers as attachments to an email.

SendOwl - https://www.sendowl.com/ - Digital Goods eCommerce service for selling downloadable goods online. Provides copy and paste codes for instant download e-patterns to use in websites and blogs.

Sellfy -  https://sellfy.com/ - Sellfy allows creators of digital files to sell their e-patterns in their shop on Sellfy.  Shops created and maintained by designers.  E-Patterns sold by designers are downloaded by customers once payment has been processed.

SellPin - https://www.sellpin.com - Buying and selling marketplace that integrates with Pinterest users selling goods and offers payment capability through credit card or Paypal. E-Patterns would be emailed to customers as attachments to an email.

Sellwire - https://sellwire.net - Digital Goods eCommerce service for selling downloadable goods online. Provides copy and paste links for instant download e-patterns to use in websites and blogs.

Selz - https://selz.com/ - Selz includes secure, unlimited eCommerce hosting on all plans. You can also use our Buy Buttons and widgets to add eCommerce to any existing website or blog.

Shopify - https://www.shopify.com - Shopify is the only eCommerce platform that lets business owners sell directly on the world’s biggest websites and apps. In just a few clicks, you can make your products buy-able on the social networks and online marketplaces people use every day.

SimpleGoods - https://simplegoods.co/ - Digital Goods eCommerce service for selling downloadable goods online. Provides widgets for instant download e-patterns to use in websites and blogs.

The Pattern Cupboard - http://www.thepatterncupboard.com/ - Large selection of designers and crafts e-patterns. Currently owned and managed by DJDoodle, LLC. Designers upload .pdf e-patterns and maintain their designer accounts. The Pattern Cupboard handles all aspects of download and interface with customer.

YouCanMakeThis - https://www.youcanmakethis.com -  Website selling sewing, crochet, jewelry, crafts & hobbies, stitchery and quilting e-patterns.  You set-up an author account and submit ideas for projects,  Your idea is reviewed and if they like your idea they promote and sell your e-patterns.

Wordpress - https://wordpress.com/ - Website or blog hosting provider.  Create a selling blog.  Publish post with image and information about e-pattern.  Include copy and paste code for Paypal or other eCommerce downloading button within the post or email e-pattern to customer as an attachment once payment has been received.

Zibbet - https://marketplace.zibbet.com/ - Online handmade goods marketplace and social networking community. Shops created and maintained by handmade artisans. E-Patterns sold by designers are emailed to customers as attachments to an email.

If you're an independent crafts pattern designer who wants to sell e-patterns, e-tutorials or e-books online I hope you find my post helpful.

© 2004-2023 Copyright Linda Walsh Originals - Written By Linda Walsh.

There's Nothing Quite Like These Cakes - Especially The Doll Cakes!

Some of my earliest memories of birthday parties had me sitting in a chair propped up on pillows so I could reach the table, like the picture shown above.

It's too bad the picture above is a black and white photo.  What you can't tell from the picture is my cheeks were bright red and I had a fever.  I was sick but there was no way I was going to miss my birthday party.  I'm sure you all have memories of such times.  There is no way you can go through childhood and not remember a time when you were sick and should have been in bed, but wanted to attend the birthday party.

I can remember family birthday parties as well as birthday parties filled with some of my childhood friends.  There would be birthday cakes with candles to blow out, ice cream, party hats, those old fashioned party horns that you would blow into, and presents.

My older brother and I were "Irish Twins" because we were born 10 months apart.  So, when I was very young for the family birthday party when one of us had a birthday the other one would get presents, too.  I guess it was just easier for my folks and grandparents to give both of us presents at each others birthday then to deal with the fallout of one of us not getting presents that day.  That way neither one of us was jealous of the other getting presents when we didn't and we ended up having two family birthday parties. Sounds like a win-win.

In the early years my mother always made the birthday cakes.  As I got older I always wanted to make the birthday cakes. A lot of the time I didn't get to as my Dad and brothers inevitably wanted a white cake with white frosting loaded with coconut.  I hated coconut and never had a piece of their cakes.

I never had a piece of this cake.  I couldn't stand the smell of it. The reason is I had made the mistake of eating a whole package of coconut snow-balls on a dare from my older brother and ended up upchucking the whole bunch. As a result and to this day, I can't stand the smell of coconut. If someone asks me what kind of dessert I want for my birthday I always say lemon meringue pie. So, when it came to birthday cakes I let my mother make them.

Like most young girls from the "baby boomer" generation I learned how to cook from my mother. We'd bake cookies, cupcakes and cakes. I loved cookies and cupcakes, but really wasn't a big fan of cakes. 

I loved baking small things like cupcakes because you can easily decorate them. So, you can imagine how thrilled I was when the Easy-Bake Ovens for girls came out. I could make all the little cakes and cupcakes I wanted. Unfortunately, my first attempt at a cake in the Easy-Bake oven didn't turn out so well. It was hard as a rock and inedible.  Subsequent attempts, however, were a hit.

Nowadays I'd have to really step up my game as cakes have become an art  form.  I suppose it was always an art form for bakeries and the very talented bakers who made them, but nowadays there are all sorts of video's and tutorials out there to teach you how to make some of the most amazing art cakes you'd ever want to see.

They even have beautiful doll cakes.  Now for the doll maker and lifelong doll lover, for that, I'd actually like cake.  Then there's the dog and animal cakes. All I can say is "Wow!"  I'd love to create a cairn terrier cake based on a picture of my "beloved" Bud. 

I've always wanted to learn how to make those fancy decorated cakes, just for learning how to make the floral decorations, but have never had the time. However, it's on my craft bucket list which I have to alter to add making a doll cake.

In the meantime I set-up a Cake Tutorials, Video's and How-To's for Decorating Cakes Pinterest board and have been adding all sorts of delicious looking cakes to it.  Enjoy!

Cake Tutorials, Video's and How-To's for Decorating Cakes

I would love to learn how to create beautiful cakes. If you would love to learn this, too, perhaps these tutorials, video's and how-to's will be helpful.

If you love my Cake Tutorials, Video's and How-To's for Decorating Cakes board please follow my board by clicking on the link above.

Have fun making your cakes - especially your doll cakes.

Reflections On Memorial Day

U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial.

NPS Photo.

For my Dad who was a corpsman who fought in World War II at the battle of Iwo Jima.  For my grandfather who fought in World War I.  For my two uncles who fought in World War II.  For my brother who served in the military.  For my brother-in-law who served in the military.   For my great, great grandfather who fought in the Civil War.  Thank you for your service to our country.

For those military men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice and who we honor this Memorial Day, thank-you from a grateful nation.  We will never forget what you did for all of us.

“Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.” –Unknown

 “May we never forget freedom isn’t free.” –Unknown

“Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.” –Franklin D. Roosevelt

Ceremonies are important. But our gratitude has to be more than visits to the troops, and once-a-year Memorial Day ceremonies. We honor the dead best by treating the living well. Jennifer Granholm

“Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay, but we can honor their sacrifice.” –Barack Obama

“This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” –Elmer Davis

My Cupcake and Cupcake Making Recipe Pinterest Board

I have loved flowers, floral design and floral crafts since I was a little girl.  My love of flowers was fostered by my next door neighbor's beautiful English Garden. I was mesmerized by the colors and textures of the various flowers.  I can remember just standing there admiring all the beautiful flowers and thinking of creating a beautiful bouquet with them.

While I loved all the flowers my favorite was always the dahlia.  It never mattered to me whether it was a spider dahlia, anemone dahlia, cactus dahlia, waterlily dahlia - it didn't matter.   I loved all of them.  Every time I planned a garden I planted dahlia bulbs.

When I was 8 I decided I wanted to have my own garden and wrote about this experience in my "Wonder What The Birthday Flowers Will Be Next Year?" post.  It was definitely a learning experience and one I never forgot.

I think being mesmerized by my neighbor's beautiful garden at and early age fostered  my love of all things floral, including floral crafts.  While I absolutely love fresh flowers and can be mesmerized for hours at their shear beauty, unfortunately, they just don't last.

That's what drew me to naturally dried floral and then silk floral in the late 1980's and early 1990's.  The silk floral last for decades and if they get a little banged up, you just re-do the floral arrangement.  It's hard to do that with fresh flowers.

I've always admired the beautiful floral creations that bakers created for their beautiful cakes and often wondered how they did that.  I even thought about trying that but just never had the time.  Plus, given I really don't like cake and, when crafting, tend to prefer smaller creations, when the cupcake craze became a mania in the early 2000's I thought floral cupcakes might actually be easier to create than a large cake.

However, with a lot of crazes I have they never come to fruition.  They're still on my bucket list and I still hope to learn how to create them.  In the meantime I set-up a Cupcake and Cupcake Making Recipe Tutorials, Video's and How-To's for Decorating and Making Cupcakes Pinterest board filled with all the amazing cupcakes I have found. 

Aside from lack of time, with the amount of free YouTube video's, blog tutorials, and how-to's out there I have no excuse for not learning how to do this.  They even have e-classes showing you how to create these amazing little works of art.

Cupcake and Cupcake Making Recipe Tutorials, Video's and How-To's for Decorating and Making Cupcakes

If you love my Cupcake and Cupcake Making Recipe Tutorials, Video's and How-To's for Decorating and Making Cupcakes Pinterest board please follow my board by clicking on the link above.

Have fun making your cupcakes - especially your floral cupcakes.

Memories To Be Cherished Of Cookie Making Marathons

 

One of the things I always looked forward to during the Christmas season was my multi-day cookie marathons with my mother. There's nothing quite like the smell of cookies baking, the scent of Christmas candles burning, and the festive atmosphere of a busy kitchen during the holiday season.

And, there's nothing like working with your mother in the kitchen when you're both totally in sync and have similar cooking habits.  Not only did she teach me how to cook when I was a young girl,  but she taught me her cooking and kitchen style.  As a result, whenever we cooked together we were always in a perfect rhythm.

For many years my Mother and I would reserve 3-4 days in the weeks before Christmas for our annual cookie marathons. We would spend two days baking cookies and then one day packaging the cookies for our friends, loved ones, and several senior centers and nursing homes.

Every year we would select the cookies we would be baking from our list. For the most part we kept making ones that we knew were really good. Once in awhile we would add a new cookie, but it had to be exceptional to bump another cookie off the list.

Sometimes we added fudge and chocolate candies that we'd made.

We knew that our cookies were good - how could they not be with many, many years of experience honing our cookie making skills? As our list continued to grow we even had people asking to be put on our list. So, of course, we added them and the list continued to grow and grow.

During this period we really took over the kitchen, the dining room, the family room and the sun-room. Let's face it during our cookie marathons we basically took over the house. There were tables everywhere for cooling the cookies or cookies on cookie sheets waiting to go into the oven or tables for the bags of finished cookies. Everywhere you looked there were cookies, but the smell was irresistible.

Of course, before we ventured to do this I had already decorated the house for the Christmas holiday season.  I decorated the dining room with my carolers scene, which is shown in the picture at the beginning of this post.  I also decorated the kitchen, family room, sun-room, living room and outside of the house.

During our cookie marathons hubby would spend a day or however many days he needed to do his Christmas shopping and my mother and I would bake.  Before we began however we always put the Christmas carols on.  The house was decorated to the hilt, the carols were playing and there was the smell of cookies baking.  What could be better than that.

During the Christmas season hubby and I would inevitably attend one of the larger and more popular craft shows in our area. One show, in particular, always had a fudge booth which I loved seeing. I couldn't resist all the different types of fudge. I wanted to try making some so I started saving fudge and candy making recipes I thought might be good.

During one of our cookie marathons I told my mother I wanted to make some fudge and candy. She thought it was a great idea. Given how we were distributing our cookie containers and the time frame involved with doing so we decided that we would only make fudge and candies that didn't require refrigeration and selected several types of fudge we wanted to try. We created the fudge and then put each into a long rectangular Tupperware container for setting and then put it into a large cooler we had in the garage so it could set overnight.

The following day my mother and I emptied the containers and went to cut them. They were too big for us to easily cut so hubby lent a hand and cut them into 1" by 1" cubes. With the fudge done we started making the cookie recipes we had decided on. Since we had the fudge we didn't need quite as many cookies that year

It was a good thing we both were really organized and had similar kitchen styles for baking, washing, and cleaning up. While one was putting the cookies in the oven the other was taking cookies off the cookie sheets for cooling on the racks. While one was adding new cookie dough to the cookie sheets the other was washing some of the dishes. While one was mixing new dough the other was adding the cooled cookies to the plastic storage bags.

Two cooks in the kitchen spoils the brew was never a true adage during our cookie marathons or anytime we would be in the kitchen together. It was more like a Mother and daughter so in-tuned with each other they would be reading each other's minds at exactly the right moment. Knowing exactly what to do without speaking a word.

Oh, what fun we had. What warm memories to last a lifetime.  Memories to cherish and, now, times to be recalled but oh so missed.

Over the years I've seen pictures of some scrumptious cookies and cookie recipes and thought it might be nice to make them. So I kept copies of them in a 3-ring binder. 

As you can imagine my folder got quite large so you can imagine how happy I was when Pinterest came along.  Not only was I able to store as many recipes as I wanted to try but could organize them as well.  A definite win-win.  So, I set-up a Cookie and Cookie Recipe Tutorials, Video's and How-To's for Decorating and Making Cookies Pinterest Board.

Cookie and Cookie Recipe Tutorials, Video's and How-To's for Decorating and Making Cookies

When my  other and I were  making cookies they looked like what you would expect cookies to look like.  Well, nowadays, cookie decorating has become an art form with all sorts of methods for creating some of the most beautiful cookies you could look at.  They are simply gorgeous.  Especially the Victorian ones.  Now why would I think that...... Hmmm.....  Cookie making has become a recognized art form.  How great is that.....

Over the years when I've seen different fudge and candy recipes I thought might be nice I'd save the recipes to a folder. As you can imagine this folder also got quite large so a fudge and candy making " I LOVE Making Fudge and Candy" Pinterest Board was a perfect solution for storing recipes I wanted to try. So, here too, I set one up.

 I LOVE Making Fudge and Candy

If you love my cookie, candy and fudge boards board please follow my boards by clicking on the links above.

Have fun making your cookies, fudge and candy.

The Blue Footed Booby Of The Galapagos Designs

I fell in love with the Blue Footed Booby of the Galapagos Islands in 2012 when I saw several pictures of the adorable bird.  He or she always inspired me to create something.  I didn't know whether it was the teal blue feet or how determined the birds looked in every picture I saw of them.

What ever it was they are, after all quite irresistible.  Wouldn't you agree?

Well, after all this time I decided this weekend to create five Blue Footed Booby graphics, one of which is shown above, and to create some custom fabrics based on the design, which are shown below:

Blue Footed Booby of Galapagos Fabric 4

Blue Footed Booby Bird Fabric

Blue Footed Booby of Galapagos Fabric 2

Blue Footed Booby of Galapagos Fabric 3

Blue Footed Booby of Galapagos Fabric 5

© 2019 - 2023 Copyright Linda Walsh Originals - Designs By Linda Walsh