DIY (Do-It-Yourself), Website and Blog Designers & Hosting Providers

I often get asked by independent small business artists and crafters where to go to build a website.   I usually tell them that depending on their requirements they probably don't need to hire a professional website designer.  Depending on their needs if they are a small business owner most of the DIY websites and blogs will work just fine.

To give you a little background on me I'm a doll maker and doll pattern designer and have had websites for over 10 years.  I created two of my own websites that I updated to Godaddy via FTP and also managed and maintained two websites that were hosted through In A Pickle Web Design: one an instant download e-products website using MyCartToGo e-commerce software and Mals-E shopping cart and one selling my handmade goods and crafts

Now I have 1 consolidated Linda Walsh Originals Shop website at Go-Daddy that I maintain that uses a Quick Cart shopping which allows me to sell all my handmade goods and e-products on the same website.

For the past 5 years I've also maintained a Linda Walsh Originals Info website utilizing Website Builder at Go-Daddy.  This is basically a 5 page DIY website that contains all the information about me, my websites, and all my blogs.  Website Builder is very easy to use and very suitable for my information purposes.

Over the years I've created many, many, many selling and non-selling blogs, most of which were created using Blogger.com.  My main Linda's Blog  was created in 2005 and is used for posting everything and anything concerning Linda Walsh Originals.  It's a personal blog, selling blog, and promoting blog all in one.

When I started you only needed to worry about how your website looked on a desktop computer and laptop.  Now you have to worry if your website is optimized for a desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile phone.  You also need to be concerned with the browser used, as well as the computer platform. The good news is most of the DIY websites and hosting providers are already equipped to handle this. Just be sure to check this out before making a final decision on where to create your website.

So, I  thought I'd create a list for you of  DIY (Do-It-Yourself), Website and Blog Designers & Hosting Providers that I'm aware of.  If you're an independent small business artist and crafter looking for a website please check out my list below.  I hope you find it helpful.

3dCart.com - 3dcart is the quickest and fastest way to sell online. Easily build, edit, and maintain your online store without any programming knowledge. Start selling, today!

ArtDealers.com- ArtDealers is a revolutionary new tool for artists and galleries to easily create and maintain a powerful web site with industry level features. With the point and click easy to use website builder, anyone who can use microsoft word can now create their own web page.

ArtFire.com - The premier online marketplace for handmade products. Our community celebrates and supports art and creativity in all forms.

ArtPal - Sell art and buy art. Featuring artists from around the world, find the perfect art and choose your framing instantly. Create your free gallery and sell your art - It's free, and easy. There are no membership fees. You receive 95%-100% when ArtPal sells your art, and you can start selling in minutes.

Artshow.com - Artshow.com specializes in websites for artists and photographers. Art Resources: ARTISTS' PORTFOLIOS - browse original fine art for sale, OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS - art contests, shows & competitions, WORKSHOPS, CLASSES & TOURS - search by location, medium, and theme, TIPS & TUTORIALS - learn techniques to improve your art, ART SUPPLIES, PRODUCTS & SERVICES - art materials & services for artists, EXHIBIT YOUR ART ON ARTSHOW.COM - affordable art marketing for artists.

Artspan Contemporary Art - Artist, Photographers, Artisans & More - ARTSPAN IS HOME TO 4,000 CONTEMPORARY ART WEBSITES - Founded in 1999, Artspan is a major contemporary art destination and the leading provider of premium artist, artisan and photographers websites. Use our search functions and directories to access the individual websites and to view or buy work directly from Artspan members. Artspan provides creative contemporary artist professionals with websites and features designed specifically for their needs. The work shown on the individual sites is only original work and prints.

Art Studios Online - Art Studios Online is a website service designed by artists for artists. We provide a variety of website options designed to fit every need and budget – from membership in our juried online gallery, to artist portfolio websites built from our pre-designed templates, to custom sites designed around your artwork. See for yourself what many other artists, artisans, and craftspeople already know: our artist websites are professional, affordable, easy to setup, and easy to update 24/7 — and our great personal customer service is second to none.

Beautiful Artist Websites - Beautiful Artist Websites is a boutique design studio based in Santa Monica, California. We create beautifully designed 21st Century online-marketing systems that showcase, market, and sell artists’ work to galleries, collectors, and art buyers. Our goal is to provide artists with the best online marketing tools, systems, and advice to pursue an enjoyable creative life and get their work seen and sold. Creative and commercial success in one artistic lifetime!

Big Cartel -Big Cartel is where artists set up shop. We provide clothing designers, bands, jewelry makers, crafters, and other artists with their own customizable store to sell their stuff online.

BigCommerce - BigCommerce is the easiest way to sell your products online and reach thousands of new customers both locally and around the world.

Blogger.com - Create a free blog, it's easy and only takes a minute. - Your blog. Share your thoughts, photos, and more with your friends and the world. - Easy to use. It’s easy to post text, photos, and videos from the web or your mobile phone. - Flexible. Unlimited flexibility to personalize your blog with themes, gadgets, and more.

Bluehost - BlueHost has been providing hosting solutions to thousands of business and personal web sites since 1996. Our internet hosting package helps businesses and individuals get high-powered service at a fraction of the cost.

BuildYourSite.com - BuildYourSite.com helps small business owners create and manage a professional website. Pick from over 4,000 industry based website designs and easily manage your website with our easy to use tools. Our all-inclusive services are backed by friendly and live customer service.

CraftIsArt - 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. Two tiers for selling - pay as you go and premium.

Create A Shoppe - Looking to build a website and sell your products or services online? Create A Shoppe's DIY website builder is packed full of features to make building and maintaining your own website easier and more affordable then ever! With our do it yourself website and online store builder you can build a quality, fast loading, feature rich website all on your own and in no time at all!

DJdoodle.com - Country & Prim Craft Website Design & Web Hosting :: DIY Services :: Your 1-Stop Web Shoppe for Craft Sites and Small Businesses

Doodlekit -Doodlekit is an Online Free Website Builder that allows people to create and maintain their own websites for personal or business use. Doodlekit provides users with everything they need to make their website a success: domains, hosting, advanced online website builder, design tools, stock photos, blog, photo albums, forums, form builders, shopping cart, email forwarding and much more.

Duda - Duda is a leading DIY website builder for web professionals and small businesses via its products; DudaMobile, a mobile-only site builder; DudaOne, a responsive website builder and eCommerce platform and DudaPro, which enables entrepreneurs, designers and agencies of all sizes to create personalized and dynamic web presence solutions without the need to invest in hours of costly development time. Duda is based in Palo Alto, California, currently hosts over five million websites and won over ten awards in the last year, including ranking #185 on the Inc. 500|5000 and Small or Medium Business Service of the Year.

eCRATER - What is eCRATER? eCRATER.com is both a free web store builder and a free online marketplace. Sellers can easily create their own free online store in minutes. Buyers can easily browse and compare between thousands of products. Sellers receive free website hosting, a free subdomain and a powerful admin tool to manage their free online stores. All products are posted to Google Product Search as well.

EHost.com -Everything you will EVER need to host and manage your website! Build Your Own FREE Professional website - Choose from Thousands of Templates - Free Domain Name - SEO Tools Included FREE - Free Business Email.

ETSY.com  - Our mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers.Our vision is to build a new economy and present a better choice: Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.  Now offering digital goods  instant download capabilities for items like e-patterns, e-printables, e-tutorials, etc.

EZShoppes.com - An online shopping directory that showcases the finest Crafts, Home Decor, and gift giving products all in one place. Numerous merchants and crafters gathered in one place for your shopping pleasure.

FASO | Fine Art Studio Online- Websites for Artists by FASO - The Easiest Art Websites, Blogs & Newsletters for Professional Artists.

FatCow- We Blow Away the Competition - FatCow Web Hosting is Now Powered by 100% Wind Energy. FatCow was born in 1998 and the rest is history. We've grown our company with a dedicated group of talented believers in the notion that simple, old fashioned service and value still ring true. FatCow has focused our entire company on delivering the best value and customer service experience in Web hosting to the small business user. We make every effort to make our services easy to own, easy to use and most importantly to provide real business value. And yes, we like to have fun doing it.

FineArtAmerica - A Professional Network for Visual Artists, Photographers, Art Collectors, and Gallery Owners - FineArtAmerica.com has revolutionized the way that artwork, home decor, and apparel are bought and sold around the world.   With a few clicks, artists and photographers can upload their images to FineArtAmerica.com, set their prices, and instantly sell prints, throw pillows, greeting cards, iPhone cases, apparel, and more to a global audience of online buyers.   Fine Art America fulfills each order on behalf of the artists - taking care of the printing, framing, matting, packaging, shipping, collecting payments from the buyers, and sending profits to the artists.   Each print is manufactured at Fine Art America's production facility and delivered "ready-to-hang" with a 30-day money-back guarantee.  In addition to providing an online marketplace and fulfillment service, Fine Art America provides artists and photographers with sales and marketing tools to help simplify and accelerate their careers.   These tools allow artists to set up branded web stores, sell prints on Facebook, create e-newsletters, and much more.

FolioLink- Website designs and services for photographers, artists and creative professionals to showcase and sell their work online.

GoDaddy.com - Go Daddy is the world's largest domain registrar, is also the top hosting provider in North America and the world's #1 provider of new SSL certificates.

Homestead - An Intuit Company - Homestead Technologies is a leader in website and online marketing solutions for small businesses. Since 1996, more than 12 million customers have used our award-winning products and services to establish their presence on the Web, maintain and promote their site, and sell or market their products and services—all without mastering programming or design. From our award-winning SiteBuilder software to our ecommerce solutions and world-class support, we help small businesses achieve success online.

Host Gator - HostGator.com LLC is a world leading provider of shared, reseller, and dedicated web hosting. Products: Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting, Dedicated Hosting, Domain Names.

Host Monster - HostMonster has been providing hosting solutions to thousands of business and personal web sites since 1996. Our internet hosting package helps businesses and individuals get high-powered service at a fraction of the cost.

Hub - Webhostinghub.com - HUB makes it easy to unleash your creativity.  Popular Tools and Builders Free Premium Website Builder Build from Scratch. Our Premium Website Builder is the easiest way to get your small business website online. Simply choose a theme, edit your website's content and then publish it for the world to see.

Iconosites - IconoSites is a free website builder tool that lets you create a professional website in minutes. It's web-based, so there's nothing to download or install. And, you don't need to be a technical expert to use it. It's 100% Free!

Imcreator - A simple & elegant website builder (and it's free). http://imcreator.com/ - Build gorgeous sites fast using our Drag & Drop editor. No programming needed. Start from a template or blank page

InMotion Hosting - InMotion Hosting is a leading web hosting company serving customers around the world. We provide reliable, high-performance hosting environments that are affordable and easy to use, but the hallmark of InMotion is excellence in customer service. Our aim is to delight every customer with friendly service that is readily available, expert and effective.

IndieMade - IndieMade DIY Websites include store + blog + portfolio + calendar + news + custom pages + social sharing on your own url. IndieMade offers the simplest, most affordable way for indie entrepreneurs to build an online presence. For a low monthly fee, IndieMade provides crafters, artists, writers, filmmakers, DIYers, and creatives of all types a well-designed, customizable website—which can include image galleries, a blog, a shopping cart, and much more—with your very own URL. Creating a site with IndieMade is perfect for portfolios, online stores, or simply showing off your talents. Did we mention hosting’s part of the package? Everyone needs a website, we make it easy. We give you simple tools to use and we host it for you.

InstantEstore - InstanteStore allows for you to quickly and very easily start up your online store and start selling to people all over the world. It doesn't matter whether you're just starting up or you're already well established, InstanteStore caters to your every need.

Intuit Small Business - Create Your Website The Easy Way! * 2,000+ designs to choose from * Easy changes - just drag & drop * Publish in a few clicks.

IPage - Let iPage help you get your business online. Our team has been hosting business, personal, social and non-profit websites for more than 10 years. We know web hosting and the typical hosting customer, which means we know there is NO typical hosting customer. That's why iPage offers a great deal of flexibility, without overcomplicating things.Moreover, we focus on the three things our customers care about: their websites, their email and their online security.

Jimdo - We make it possible for anyone to create a beautiful website. The easiest way to create a website and online store. http://jimdo.com/.

Moonfruit - Moonfruit lets you build beautiful websites, simply. Build your own professional looking site quickly and easily with our do-it-yourself website builder.

Mozello - World's fastest and easiest to use website builder. Create your own awesome website, blog or online store in just 5 minutes. Modern and mobile ready!

MyArtPlot - To change and empower the art industry and profession. To create the art world All-in-One Social, Professional, and Commercial art platform. Some features: Art Market, Personalized Ad Engine, Resume Builder, Portfolio Builder, Business Card Designer, Portal Publication, Automated Newsletter, Global Review, Blog, Broadcast Tools, Microblogging, and much much more!

Ning - Ning is the social platform for the world’s interests and passions online. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Ning offers an easy-to-use service that allows people to join and create Ning Networks. With more than 2 million Ning Networks created and 43 million registered users, millions of people every day are coming together across Ning to explore and express their interests, discover new passions, and meet new people around shared pursuits.

PrestaShop -PrestaShop continues to be the world’s most popular open source e-commerce solution powering more than 150,000 stores worldwide. Backed by leading industry partners, PrestaShop ensures easy online selling by providing more than 310 native features that can all be customized to fit the needs of every online business.

RedBubble - From hobbyists to pros, we have artists share their brilliant works with us so you can find incredible art of all styles in one place—then we take care of turning that artwork into useable, wearable, hangable pieces whenever you place an order, and deliver everything safely to you, wherever you are—in a really cool box, of course.  And what makes us most unique—we don’t keep inventory. Everything you buy is made just for you.

Shopify - Shopify is a commerce platform that allows anyone to easily sell online, at a retail location, and everywhere in between.

Simbla - The most modern, responsive, bootstrap3 based website builder. Dress your site and change it's look & feel, style, mood & more with just one click.

Simple DIY Websites - Simple DIY Websites brings you a fast, easy and customizable web based program to build and maintain your own website! NO html knowledge is necessary, everything is web based. Several layouts are available so that your site will not look like everyone elses!!

SiteBuilder - Everything You Need to Get Online Today - We give you all the tools you need to create your website today. Enjoy the freedom to drag-and-drop your content and images into your chosen template and build your dream site.

Squarespace - What is it? A fully hosted, completely managed environment for creating and maintaining a website, blog or portfolio. Who is it for? Bloggers. Businesses large and small. Authors. Teachers. Lawyers. Doctors. Squarespace's flexible platform can power sites of all sizes. Why use it? We give you full control over your content and site customization. You can build it 10X faster on our comprehensive platform. Seriously.

Strikingly - Own a gorgeous, mobile optimized website in minutes. No code or design needed. For your business, project, or personal branding, a great-looking website is necessary for your online legitimacy in the Mobile Age. With no code or design experience at all, you can set up a quality site in less than 30 minutes. Your site will look great on your smartphones, tablets, and computers. Get on it now. The new age has just begun. Don’t get left behind.

SocialGo- SocialGO creates a flexible, fun social networking website for you and your group. It is stand-alone or can simply be bolted onto an existing site if need be. As a browser based service, it is operated from dedicated servers and does not require software downloads. In this way, members of a network can access it from anywhere in the world. SocialGO lets you easily create and run a feature-filled social networking website. You choose who can join, what they can do and how it looks and the best part is it's free to get going.

Society6 -The artwork on Society6 is created by hundreds of thousands of artists from around the world. One of the most active artist communities in the world, Society6 empowers artists to make their artwork immediately available for sale as a variety of products, without giving up control of their rights.

Storeya - StoreYa is a global leader in Social Commerce. Increase your fan base and boost your sales using a Store Tab on your Facebook page.

Typepad - Blog Like a Pro - The best bloggers use TypePad Pro. Beautiful. 100's of gorgeous themes, or customize your own. Connected. One-click integration with Twitter and Facebook, plus built-in search engine optimization. Supported. Get answers fast from our expert blogging support team, TypePad One.

Victory Vision - Web Design & Hosting- Web Design & Hosting Since 1996. Web design - Complete web development services for businesses and non-profit organizations. Professional quality at affordable prices. Web Hosting - Host your website on a fast, reliable, multihomed network which is monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Vistaprint- No technical skills? No sweat. Anyone can build a website. Easy-to-use is an understatement. See for yourself. Simple Setup - It only takes 3 steps. Drag and Drop Editing - Personalize your site in no time. Live Customer Support - We'll be here to help you.

Web.com - Web.com is a U.S.-based company that creates affordable websites, online marketing campaigns, and eCommerce stores for small businesses. We love small businesses!

Weebly - The surprisingly easy way to start a high-quality site, blog or online store. http://weebly.com/ has everything you need to plan, create, publish and grow your site.

Webnode - Webnode is a remarkably simple tool that lets you create a website for free with no technical skills needed. Webnode is a free revolutionary interactive real-time drag-and-drop website builder. Webnode allows visitors to create, design, develop and run powerful websites and web application from start to finish. Engineered for ease of use and extreme speed, it can effortlessly produce high-caliber professional web pages within minutes.

Web.com - Web.com Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: WEB) provides a full range of online marketing services to help small businesses compete and succeed on the Internet!

Webs.com - At Webs, Inc., we combined our website building savvy with our affinity for small businesses to create the most popular website building and hosting solution for entrepreneurs. Webs enables small and micro-businesses to easily create a great-looking website and project a professional image. The Webs site builder provides everything you need to get your business online: a wide variety of customizable templates, and engaging features like blogs, photos, videos, forums and more.

Webstarts - WebStarts is everything you need to build and maintain your very own website. It's powerful enough for professionals and easy enough for everyone.

Wix.com - Wix.com is a cloud-based web development platform that allows users to create professional HTML5 websites and mobile sites, through the use of online "Drag & Drop" tools. Users can add functionalities such as social plug-ins, eCommerce, contact forms, email marketing, and community forums to their websites using a variety of Wix-developed and third-party applications.

WooThemes/WooCommerce - The world's favorite eCommerce solution that gives you complete control to sell anything. Get started today for free. With 11,140,336 downloads WooCommerce powers over 30% of all online stores. WooCommerce is now the most popular eCommerce platform on the web (stats from Builtwith), so you can rest assured you're in good company.

Wordpress - Takes seconds, costs nada - You can get a blog started in less time than it takes you to read this sentence. All you need is an email address. You’ll get your own WordPress.com address, free storage,  customizable designs for your blog, 3 gigabytes of file storage and more. You can blog as much as you want for free, your blog can be public to the world or private for just your friends, and our premium features are completely optional.

Yahoo Small Business - Yahoo! Small Business helps small businesses get online and grow online. We provide easy-to-use, award-winning tools that make it easy for any small business owner to create a professional presence on the Internet. Helping millions of entrepreneurs achieve their dreams online.

Yola - Build a beautiful mobile-friendly website in minutes. Grow your business online with SEO tools. Start for free, no tech experience needed.

Zhibit - Zhibit.org is the leading online community for artists who wish to harness the power of the internet to exhibit their work online. Zhibit.org provides artists with simple tools to build unique personal websites and sell their artwork online.

Zibbet- Zibbet is a global marketplace, connecting buyers and sellers of Handmade Goods, Fine Art, Vintage Items and Crafting Supplies.

Zoho.com/Sites  - CREATE a WEBSITE  - All the tools you'll ever need to make your online presence felt.  As easy as pie.  Our intuitive drag- and- drop builder makes it easy to build your online presence. Bring your ideas to life in minutes, without using any code.

How Can Small Business Artists and Crafters Not LOVE Pinterest?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have fallen in LOVE with Pinterest.com and have been in love with it for several months now.  If you haven't heard about the Pinterest.com phenomenon by now you certainly will be.  It is by far the most wonderful way to organize everything and anything about "you."

What moves you, what you like, what you're keeping tabs on, things you saw online that you want to remember, things you want to try in the future, places you've been, what you consider "beautiful", your creations, your interests, foods you like, websites you like, blogs you like, your dreams, future plans for a wedding, dream home, your decorating style, must haves, things you'd like to make, inspirations, DIY projects to try, tips for everything and anything, tutorials to try, your bucket list, beautiful pictures, beautiful colors, things for your kids, nature at its finest, beautiful animals, decorations for the holidays, and your favorites - whether they are artists, crafters, movies, pictures, collections, music, recipes, favorite hobbies, etc.  The list goes on and on.  Your boards and your page give your followers and the world a pictorial glimpse into the essence of "you."

But, it's also become a great tool for small business artists and crafters online.  In fact, in my opinion,  it's become a "must" for artists and crafters.  A "must" not just because it is one of the easiest ways to promote your creations online and drive traffic to your website or blog, but one of the best ways today for artists and crafters to promote each other.  In fact, it could easily be called the best link exchange ever.

For example, I am a doll maker and doll pattern designer who loves dolls of every kind and creation, who loves doll pattern designs, who loves art dolls, teddy bears, cloth dolls, etc.  However, I also LOVE artists and crafters blogs, tutorials, patterns, projects, sewing, quilting, handmade goods, beautiful pictures, animals, etc.  As you can see my list go on and on and on.  Yours could, too.

Well, what Pinterest.com does is it allows me to organize my likes, desires, and inspirations into boards containing whatever I want to put there. Just by looking at my boards you get a feel for who I am and what I like. And, it helps to keep me organized. For someone in the "baby boomer generation" any help in this area is always welcome.

So, how does it help one small business artist or crafter? Well, if you look at my "Art Dolls Designers" board you will find that I have many, many pins. Each and every pin contains a picture of one of my favorite art doll artists creations along with a link to the page I found it on. Plus, I'm a firm believer in crediting artists and crafters with their creations so every one of my pins contains the artist or crafters name and is linked back to their website and/or blog, their Etsy page, etc.

When someone clicks through my board to the pin and clicks through to the original source they wind up on that artist or crafters website, blog, Etsy page, etc.  If they like my pin they can "like" it or re-pin it in which case the picture and all the links follow through to their board.  If someone sees their re-pin and likes it they, too, can either "like" it or re-pin it to there boards.  All of the descriptions, likes and re-pins for this particular picture are linked together on all the boards.

Talk about a beautiful way for all of us to help promote one another. It doesn't get much better or easier than this.  My motto has always been, "What Helps One of Us Helps All of Us!"  Pinterest.com is a fabulous way to do just  that.

If you'd like to follow my boards on Pinterest just click the red "Follow Me On Pinterest" button above.  If you'd like to see my page please CLICK HERE.

I Can't Stop Pinning! I LOVE Pinterest!

I know I'm always telling you that I need help.

Well, this time I definitely need help!

You see - I have become a "pinning" addict.

Now, if you're wondering what "pinning" is I have to tell you that it's not a new craft that I just learned.

It's a very, very addictive, popular, fast growing internet activity - a "visual" pin-board. One which seems to have control over me the last few months as I just cannot stop "pinning."

If you're wondering what in the world has grabbed a hold of me it's a website called "Pinterest" (http://pinterest.com).

What exactly does this website do?

Well, according to their Facebook page: "Pinterest is an online pinboard to organize and share your inspirations! Pin your favorite images and videos from anywhere. Discover new things hand-picked by people who share your interests."

According to their About page: "Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. To get started, request an invite."

Their mission statement is: "Our goal is to connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting. We think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people. With millions of new pins added every week, Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests."

So far I have created 51 boards with 2202 pins and, if you know me, I'm sure you know there will be plenty more before I'm done.

I've created different boards for all sorts of things I like, such as: some of my handmade Victorian dolls (of course), my cross-stitch projects that I'm very proud of, patterns and tutorials from "The Best Free Craft Articles" that I love, some of my e-patterns, creative embroidery I'd love to try (if I had a few spare moments), my favorite art doll artists, my favorite mixed media artists, my favorite doll pattern designers, my favorite teddy bear artists, my favorite needle & wool felt designers, doll and craft classes I'd love to take, my favorite "softies" designers, Victorian fashions and Godey's fashion plates I love, my favorite prim and folk-art designers, doll houses and miniatures, crazy quilt designers I love, beautiful art quilts, amazing art, cross-stitch and punch needle designers I love, some of the best blogs from "Top Blogs By Crafters", some of my patterns and e-patterns, quilt things I'd like to make, craft books worth reading that I've reviewed on the "Book Review Corner", felt things I love and would like to create, fun paper crafts, mixed media, items I wish I could paint, sewing ideas and notions, etc.

I find myself drawn to my boards each and every time I sit down at my computer.  There's just something inspiring in looking at all the astonishing creations from my favorite artists and designers.  I find myself drooling at times at their amazing creativity and the talent there is among the artists and crafters on line.

Pinterest.com touts that it's all about the "visual" and I have to tell you that the "visual"  has captured me and it certainly inspires my creativity - not that I can create anything as astonishing as some of the creations on my boards.

So, why would I spend so much time on this?

Well, with everything I've done above I've been able to not only promote myself, but to promote some of the amazing artist and crafters on the web, and to help promote some of the artists and crafters who are members of or who have contributed free content to some of my blogs/websites.  Also, I get to organize all the things that interest me and which I love in nice, neat boards.

For a small business crafter "pinning" is a win-win. It's a fabulous way to present a visual image to a vast audience whose distribution capabilities are endless.

Members of Pinterest can follow all your boards, follow some of your boards, re-pin something they liked of yours to their boards, or "like" your pin. So something you pin can have a cascading effect and end up on countless pinboards.

And, here's the best part, and why it's a win-win for a small crafter - items pinned from the web carry the URL of the website they were pinned from. So, if someone clicks on a picture of something on one of your boards the URL connected to that image is the webpage where the image was found.

This is accomplished by adding a "Pin It" button to the bookmarks bar of your browser. That way when you're browsing the web and you find things that you like or that are of interest to you can just click the "Pin It" button on your browser and then add the image to one of your pin boards.

You can further promote your products by adding a “Pin It” button to your the product pages of your website. If you have a selling blog you can add a "Pin It" button to each of your blog product posts. This will allow blog readers or customers to pin the products of yours that they like to their boards.

You can also add a "Follow Me on Pinterest" button to the home page of your website or sidebar of your blog. Mine is in the upper right hand corner of my blog and is also shown below:




If you choose to follow other members boards or some of their boards then you can browse through the latest pins of the members you follow, go to their pages and browse through all their boards, browse through "everything" on "Pinterest" by category, browse the most popular pins, videos, or gifts.

Like just about everything on the web Pinterest is not without it's own fair share of controversy.  Some things have been corrected already and some still need to be changed.  Some concern copyright issues, the ability to change the URL's of the pins, and so on.  There are a lot of posts out there that have been written about Pinterest over the last few months.  If you Google Pinterest I'm sure they'll pop-up and you can read them for yourselves.

My take on all this is I believe in crediting artists and designers with their creations.  All my pins include the artists name and/or business name and the URL is always to the website where I found the pin.  Uusually this is the artist or crafters blog or website.  If I'm re-pinning from someone else's board I always click through to the website attached to the pin.  If I want to re-pin this item I will add the artists name and/or business to my re-pin and make sure the URL is to the website where the item was found.

If an artist or designer has a board of their own creations and has uploaded pictures of their creations then I always add the URL from their Pinterest board to their item on my board.  Right now if you upload images yourself the URL is blank and Pinterest shows as "Uploaded by User" on your board.  Pinterest needs to change this to provide the URL for the board it was uploaded to so everyone can click through to the actual user who uploaded that item.

What's really great about Pinterest for me is that it's quiet. In that I mean that I can go to Pinterest and browse at my leisure. Unlike Facebook, their is no date or time stamp.  There is no pressure to comment on friends posts or activities. No one knows if its been a few days, a few hours, or even a few minutes since I've visited or not. I can pin away at my leisure, make a comment on something I like if I want to, re-pin something for further reference, or just browse through beautiful eye candy. It's a simple website that is extremely easy to use and I hope it stays that way as it gains in popularity.

If you're thinking you can just set-up boards to promote yourself - well, you'd be missing the main point of "Pinterest" which is to share the things you love and in doing so share a bit about yourself. According to them: Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. If there is a photo or project you’re proud of, pin away! However, try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion.

Pinterest is a great tool for small business crafters because it allows you to quickly show the things you've created that you're the proudest of and allows potential blog readers or customers to see what interests you.  That way they get to know more about you, your likes, and your passions.

Plus, if you add the "Pin It" button to your product pages then anyone who likes your product can "Pin It" to one of their boards and if others like it they can re-pin it.  Talk about a great way to easily promote your products.

Right now if you want to become a member of Pinterest you have to request an invite by clicking the link on their home page or ask an existing member to invite you.

If you become a member, don't be surprised if you can't stop pinning either!

GoogleDocs For Creating and Displaying .PDF's

I've been playing again testing a few different avenues for small business crafters who have .PDF free e-patterns, e-tutorials, e-projects, and e-articles that they have created and want to display on their websites or blogs. I recently posted about Scribd.com which is a document hosting website in a Linda's Blog post entitled "I Decided To Try Scribd For Some Of My Free E-Books and E-Patterns." Today I experimented with GoogleDocs.com which is not only a document hosting website, but a document creations website.

Now you might be thinking that all hosting document hosting websites are the same.  Au contraire!

Not only can you upload .PDF's to GoogleDocs.com to obtain a linkable URL, but you can CREATE a document right on their website using a suite of office type programs. Their programs are free to use and do not require you to download anything to your computer and include documents creation, presentations, spreadsheets, forms, drawings, and tables. Each of these programs automatically store the items you are creating in your Google account. So, they are available to you everywhere.

If you've been a reader of my Linda's Blog for awhile you know that I LOVE Microsoft Publisher which is part of Microsoft Office. For me, Microsoft Office and Microsoft Publisher are still the best for me to use for my purposes, but GoogleDocs.com is a great way to get started if you want to create .PDF e-patterns, e-tutorials, e-projects, and e-articles and don't have Microsoft Office.

As mentioned GoogleDocs.com will not only upload already created .PDF's, but will let you create your own document. In creating them you can download your document as a .PDF to your own computer or you can PUBLISH your document online. If you create your own .PDF in another program and upload it to GoogleDoc.com you can only obtain a distinct URL that you can link to and which would  display your .PDF.

However, if you create the document using GoogleDocs.com office suite you can PUBLISH it which creates an HTML version of your document that can then be embedded within your blog or website.

Since I already had created my own free e-patterns and e-books I decided to upload those and obtain distinct URL's that I could link to.

I like how the GoogleDocs.com displays the .PDF with the separate pages showing as clickable icons in the left hand sidebar. You can search the document, zoom in or out, download it, print it, and make a copy of it. You can move from page to page via the sidebar or using the left and right arrows.

You can also view it one page at a time or two pages at a time like in the picture shown below:

As far as visibility is concerned you can share it as follows:

1) Public on the web - Anyone on the Internet can find and access. No sign-in required.
2) Anyone with the link - Anyone who has the link can access. No sign-in required.
3) Private - Only people explicitly granted permission can access. Sign-in required.

Using the office suite to create a .PDF takes a little getting used to, but you can create a document and then insert images into it. I think this works best for e-tutorials, e-projects, e-articles, and e-books as all their pages are generally letter size.

However, for e-patterns if you intend to create a two-page cover that can be turned sideways and folded to pattern size then you will have to create this in a separate picture program and then insert the image into your GoogleDocs.com document. GoogleDocs.com only accepts .jpeg, .gif, and .png image files so if you have created your pattern piece sheets as .bmp (to keep the size of your .pdf down) you'll have to convert them to .jpg before you could insert them into your document.

You can also use the suite to create a response form that users can fill out which you can email or embed into your website or blog.

I'm still partial to Publisher, but that's me. I'm old school and very loyal to programs that have worked wonderfully for me for years. However, I do like to play so the next time I'm in the mood to create another free e-book I'll give GoogleDocs.com another try.

What Have I Really Been Up To?

You may have noticed that I haven't been posting as frequently lately as you may be used to on my Linda's Blog. Well, there's a really good reason for that. Actually, there's many good reasons for that. You see, I've had my hand in a lot of different projects during the last few months - all of which have taken an enormous amount of time.

So, if you're wondering what I've been doing  - here's what I've been up to:

First, I've been creating two brand new websites/blogs for my baby sister. I alluded to this in my recent post entitled "A Delightful Surprise From My Baby Sister!"  She had sent me a bouquet of beautiful flowers as a "thank-you" for all I had been doing for her.

If you're wondering what her new websites/blogs are - well, the first has to do with alpacas and the second has to do with her new patterns. Now the latter (ie: patterns) should come as no surprise for something my baby sister might do. Given my creative juices never take a break and given how many patterns I've created I would hope some of that might rub off on my sister. When she was young she wanted to do everything I did and I didn't always let her. This time, I helped her.

This past winter her creativity went into overdrive. Make that super overdrive. She had decided that she wanted to combine her love of flowers with her love of quilting and sewing so she designed several framed flower appliquéd wall pieces.

She was not only creating like crazy, but wanted to put the fruits of her creative endeavors to good use by creating patterns. And, of course, I told her that on the net "e-patterns" were the name of the game. So, since she didn't know how to create patterns - let alone e-patterns, I helped her a bit. After all, what are big sisters for?

And, since she had created patterns - well, she needed websites/blogs to sell them. So, of course, "the blogging queen" eagerly volunteered to create those for her. 

Inspired Creations By D sells FRAME or QUILT - FABRIC WALL ART PATTERNS. According to my sister, "Inspiration comes from many areas and one of mine comes from my love of the great outdoors, nature & flowers. I love to craft, sew, quilt and design patterns."

I hope you get a chance to visit my baby sister's new website/blog. If you do please leave a comment to let her know what you think.

So, I've explained the latter.  You might be wondering "what's up?" with the alpacas. Well, it seems my baby sister and her husband have decided to try their hands at alpaca farming. I really should say that my baby sister fell in love with "alpacas" (how could you not - they're just so ADORABLE) and managed to convince her "hubby" that this would be a great thing for them to do. Raise and sell alpacas and alpaca fiber. So, they are.

Right now they're in the process of getting their "alpaca farm" ready for the two alpacas and their 2 offspring that will arrive in September. My baby sister bought two "girls" that she named Sunflower and Ivy - who are both pregnant and will deliver their babies in July.

In case you haven't guessed by now baby sister's thing is flowers and gardening which is why she named her alpacas after flowers and which is why she named her new adventure "Rock Garden Alpacas."

So, since she and her husband are now in the alpaca business they needed a website/blog.  And, of course, I had no problem volunteering to create another website/blog for them.
Rock Garden Alpacas is not only their selling website, but also their blog as it tells about their journey into alpaca farming. According to my sister, "We decided that it would be helpful to document our journey into alpaca farming as a way of "paying it forward" for all the help we received along the way. If you're thinking of alpaca farming we hope "Our Journey" helps you."

I hope you get a chance to visit my baby sister and brother-in-law's new website/blog. If you do please leave a comment to let them know what you think.

On top of all of that I've also been in the process of revising all 272 of my patterns.

The first of the year I decided I wanted to revise my patterns to create computer assisted diagrams and pattern piece pages. I tried one pattern to see how difficult it would be and how long it would take using Microsoft Publisher. I've been using it for years upon years now and would be lost without it.

So, I thought I'd see how difficult it would be to use their computer assisted drawing tools to help me create some of the images on my diagrams pages and pattern pieces sheets. After a few mangled attempts at drawing curves I finally got the knack of it. And, it worked really well once I got used to drawing lines, circles, curves, arrows, different size text, and different positioning of the text and images.

In fact, everything looked so wonderful. So nice and neat (not that my drawn diagrams weren't neat) and organized (not that my drawn diagrams weren't organized - as they were). It really made a difference in my pattern. I just LOVED how they looked - how professional - that I decided to revise all of my patterns.

Well, with 272 patterns this is a HUGE endeavor to undertake. Depending on the size of the pattern it might take me anywhere from one day to three days just to complete the changes. That's a HUGE undertaking to say the least and one that takes up a lot of my time.

So, I decided to take it one pattern at a time and over time eventually they'd all be done. I've got 76 of them done now and they're all updated in my Linda Walsh Originals shop.

Thirty five of those I've posted about on my Linda's Blog .

I've got 41 of the revised e-patterns done just waiting for new blog posts. So, that leaves 196 left to go. It will probably take me the rest of the year to revise all of them, but they're coming out really well and it's well worth the effort.

So, you're probably saying, "with all the above I can understand why she's been a little blog absent."

Well, that's only part of the story. I've been doing something else too that has taken me 315 hours to complete. I started it on December 29th, 2010 and finished it on May 14, 2011. Hubby has painstakingly recorded the days and hours it has taken for me to complete this project.

However, I can't tell you what's taken me 315 hours. It's a surprise for another Linda's Blog post. I will say that it came out absolutely beautiful and was well worth the effort. When I finally reveal it to you I hope you will all agree.

I Really Need To Stop Playing!

I think I'm losing it!

You see I can't seem to stop playing these Facebook.com games. Last time it was with my Linda avatar on YoVille, and my "Peaches" dog on Super Poke Pets. This time it's Farm Town. What is wrong with me?

Pictured above is what my Farm Town currently looks like. I've been adding trees and animals sent by my friends and then harvesting the crops so I can buy things for my farm.

CLICK HERE or click on the picture above to see what I've managed to do so far.

I really need to stop doing all this and get back to work. It's just that I LOVE shopping and buying things for my YoVille avatar, my "Peaches" Super Poke Pet, and My Farm. Maybe there just isn't any hope for me!

Come join me on Facebook.com and see what I'm talking about.

"Mozilla - Firefox Versus Internet Explorer" How Does Your Website Fare?

Three years ago when I decided to create a website I decided to use Microsoft "Publisher", which is an old "dinosaur" to create my website. I had been using "Publisher" for years and thought - "why not?" It used Internet Explorer as its browser and I would be using FTP to update my website so it was a good fit.



Back then "Publisher" had a LOT of coding issues and was not the optimum for coding finesse. However, I was familiar with the program and could easily update and maintain my website myself which was appealing to me. After I created my Linda Walsh Originals website I soon learned that it wasn't being read properly by some of the other browsers such as Mozilla - Firefox.

At the time I only used Internet Explorer and AOL, which used Internet Explorer as their browser. My website was FINE there so I asked some of my friends who had a problem with their browsers what was showing when they went to my website. The answer was as varied as the various browsers.

So, I decided to use my GoDaddy.com website hosting statistics to see how much of my website traffic was for browsers other than Internet Explorer. At that time 98% of my traffic was by Internet Explorer with close to 1% for Mozilla - Firefox. The other 1% was made up of several smaller browsers. I decided that less than 1% was not something I had to immediately address.

When I decided to update my website I was hoping that Publisher 2007 would contain more standardized coding and, hopefully, solve the browser distortion problem. To my delight it did and solved most of the Mozila - Firefox distortion problems.

So, I decided to check my browser statistics to see if more of my traffic was coming from Mozilla - Firefox these days and whether it would be worthwhile to spend the time to fix both my Linda Walsh Originals and Linda Walsh Originals Dolls websites which had been created in Publisher.

To my surprise 86% of my traffic was coming from Internet Explorer now and 12% was now coming from Mozilla - Firefox. The remaining 2% was coming from several much smaller browsers. In evaluating the statistics I thought that 12% now was way too much of a customer base to be missing so I decided to spend the time to fix both of my websites and I'm happy to report that I no longer have a browser distortion problem with Mozilla - Firefox in either website. In fact, none of my website and blogs have a browser distortion problem.

I recently switched to Mozilla - Firefox myself because I was having a horrendous time with Internet Explorer 7.0. It was SLOW as molasses, was freezing during printing from my blogs, and causing a multitude of other issues. After using Internet Explorer exclusively for over 30 years I'd had enough and made the switch. I'm happy to report that Mozilla - Firefox does have a few problems, but I haven't been happier. It works like a charm and ALL my websites and blogs are FINE and load exactly as I want them to.

So, why am I telling you this? Well, if you are a small business website owner or blogger you might want to check your website and blog to see if Mozilla - Firefox is displaying properly. If my percent of website traffic from Mozilla - Firefox is par for the course then 12% of a customer base is WAY TOO MUCH to be losing.

Plus, if you are a blogger and have deviated from some of the standard blog providers templates you might want to consider checking your blog. In checking the blogs of several of my blogging friends who have gone to 3-column templates I have noticed that they aren't displaying properly.

For now I'm happy with Mozilla - Firefox. Happy browsing.

Has Anyone Noticed!

BLOGS, BLOGS, AND MORE BLOGS!

Have any of you noticed how many blogs there are now for individuals, crafters, small business, corporations, etc.?

Everyday when I'm listening to the news I hear someone say, "Just go to so and so's blog at....." And, I love hearing that!

That tells me that blogs have become more and more commonplace as tools for individuals and families to stay in touch, as tools for small businesses and their customers, as tools for the news media, as selling tools, and as tools for mainstream businesses. Everyone and their brother has a blog and I think it's FABULOUS!

What I also love is how many crafting bloggers there are out there. And, most are around my age - which I also think is FABULOUS!

If you key the word blog into Google you'll get 1,030,000,000 results. That's a LOT OF BLOGS.

There's a reason why blogs have been increasing in popularity exponentially over the past few years and it's because they are FREE, they are easy to use, they are extremely easy to update, and they are highly personal - which most customers LOVE. If you were to apply the reality TV versus regular TV analogy to blogs and websites you'd understand why reality TV and blogs are so popular. They are both highly personal and both involve people interacting with each other.

Plus, they can and do function for some bloggers as very professional websites. You can have your own domain name and you can use a shopping cart. In fact, I'd say that there isn't much you can't do with a blog. There is a way to do just about anything you want to. That makes blogs much more versatile than a website as they are much more flexible. And, they are a LOT easier to change and update.

The Internet is ever changing and to be in business on the Internet you need to be fluid and ever changing. That means utilizing what's popular with users and customers. BLOGS are extremely popular and easily adaptable to any kind of commerce, especially e-commerce and e-products.

I, personally, love shopping with someone who has a personal or small business blog. I love the feeling of getting to know the person I'm buying from. I don't know if you feel the same way, too, but I always feel more comfortable buying from someone who has taken the time to tell me something about their product(s) and their life or business. By doing so they make me feel feel more comfortable doing business with them. And, that's what writing blogs for small businesses does. Hopefully, if the blog reader is comfortable with the blog owner they will buy their product.

If they do that's FABULOUS! Bring on the blogs. The more the merrier!

That's TOO MUCH WORK! It's Not Worth IT!

For all of us who have had Blogger.com blogs for a long time and who never worried about "labels" before and who, with the conversion of our blogs to the new beta.blogger.com, now have the ability to add "labels" to our posts you're going to think what I'm about to say is "nuts."

Have I got you wondering what I'm going to say, yet?

Well, if you converted your old blogger.com blog to the new beta.blogger.com layout format or if you kept your old blogger.com template and just had your blog transferred to the new beta.blogger.com you should not only add labels to all your new posts going forward but, you should go backwards and add labels to your old posts.

I can already hear your response. You're going to say; "WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY? ADD LABELS TO MY OLD POSTS? ARE YOU NUTS? THAT'S A LOT OF WORK!!!!"

Well, it is a lot of work, but I'm not nuts and here's why I think you should do this.

For those of you who have converted your old blogs to the new beta.blogger.com layout format you have the ability to not only label all your posts but, to have a column on the sidebar of your blog for all your labels. So, for all of you who wished for labels before but didn't understand the HTML coding to add them to the sidebars of your blogs before you can now have labels.

Since, labels make it so much easier for your blog readers to find your posts about subjects that they are interested in and since you want to keep your blog readers coming back you might want to consider spending the time to go backwards and add labels to all your old posts. That way, all your posts will show up when your blog readers click on that particular label in the sidebar or when they click on that label in your post.

Now, the latter statement is where all of the old blogger.com blogs that were transferred to the new beta.blogger.com but, who are choosing not to convert their templates to the new beta.blogger.com layout template, come in.

Even if you are still using your old template all of your posts now have the ability to have labels and, ALL OF THE LABELS ARE CLICKABLE AND WILL BRING UP THE ALL POSTS WITH THAT LABEL. If you kept your old template you don't have the ability to add the "label" box column to your sidebar, but you do have the ability to utilize labels. Every label added to a post becomes CLICKABLE and will bring up every post with that label. So, if you've wanted to utilize labels before but didn't know how you can do so now - even if you didn't convert your template.

Is it worth all the time to go backwards and re-label old posts. I think so as it makes it much easier for your blog readers to find all your posts about a particular subject and it helps with the search engines. Remember, search engines love to follow links. Labels, in essence, are links.

If you're like me and have hundreds of old posts going backwards will take time to do. Do it a little bit here and there, a few old posts at a time. You'd be surprised how quickly you can get this accomplished. And, make sure that going forward all of your posts are labelled.

Plus, in the "Edit Posts" menu of Beta.blogger.com there are a lot of new features that you can utilize for labels now.

You don't have to go into each individual post to add a label if you don't want to. You can add labels to specific posts you've checked "en masse" from the "Edit Posts" screen. Plus, you can CLICK on the labels listed in the left hand column and see what articles you have already posted and what "draft" articles contain that label. And, you can easily see what labels you've assigned to each post from the "Edit Posts" screen. Quite a few nice features for handling labels.

So, am I nuts? I don't think so.

Ask me again next summer when I'm finally finished labelling all the old posts from all my blogs.

Maybe I'll be singing a different tune.

Maybe, but, I doubt it.

I think its worth the time and effort to go backwards.

Why Would A Small Business Doll Pattern Designer Want to Sell E-Patterns?

"Why would a small business doll pattern designer want to sell E-Patterns?" you ask. Well, there are several reasons.

For the small business designer the first and foremost is cost. E-patterns cost less to produce and, therefore, can be sold for less. It's a win, win situation for the customer and the designer.

The second and third reasons are that customers love them. They can get them sooner then a print pattern mailed through the post office as they are emailed. And, now with Instant E-Pattern Download they can get them sooner then email as they can be instantly downloaded by the customer themselves after they pay. Also, cost wise for customers they are a LOT cheaper then print patterns. What does this mean for the small business designer? Well, hopefully, more sales.

Why else? Here's reasons #4,#5, and #6. They are so much easier for their customers to store as they can be saved to their customers computer hard drives. Their customers never have to worry about tearing pattern tissue and destroying the pattern as they can be printed and reprinted over and over. Also, since they're in .pdf format the pattern pieces can be reduced and enlarged. What does this mean for the small business designer? Once again, hopefully, more sales.

Any other reasons? Sure. Here's reason #7, #8 and #9. For the doll pattern designer its means no inventory. No need to have facilities to store copies of print patterns. No need to print hundreds of doll pattern copies which means no printing costs. Which all gets you back to reason #1. More profit. For the small business designer that is paramount to whether or not they can remain in business.

So, if you are a small business doll pattern designer and haven't thought about E-Patterns - you should. In my opinion, they are the way of the future!

The Story Behind "Nellie" - My Victorian Snowlady Doll

Two things today got me to thinking about "Nellie" my Victorian snowlady doll pattern. The first is that it is once again snowing outside. This is the fourth time this week. I'm beginning to think that Mother Nature is out to get us or, at the very least, inundate us with snow.

The second is a comment from my husband. When the Christmas decorations are put away the Winter decorations, also known as snow people, make their appearance. In the front foyer of our house I have a seasonal display. Right now there is a large floral basket with all the winter blue colors and three of my snow people dolls there. The focal point of the winter display is my "Nellie" Victorian snowlady doll.

"Nellie" was named after my husband's Grand Aunt who was born in May of 1889, definitely during the Victorian Era. Or, at the very least, towards the end of the Victorian Era. All I could think of while I was designing her was that "Nellie" had to have been a bit on the shy, defined, and eloquent side. So, my "Nellie" had to be also.

Yah, so? Linda, will you please get to the second reason!!! Okay, okay. You know how I love to get off track. In any event, my husband told me yesterday that he thinks that my "Nellie" Victorian snowlady doll is the best doll I've ever made. Well, I couldn't agree with him more. She really is quite stunning. I have to keep that to myself though as "Nellie" is quite full of herself as are most of the dolls I've made. She just loves to be on display and begged me to show you the new pictures that I've just taken of her so you could judge for yourselves.

"Nellie" is a free-standing 23" tall and is wearing an 1893 Victorian Ladies Street Costume. She has a fancy double-tiered lace trimmed dress, full length double-tiered laced trimmed (inside and out) lined jacket with long puffed sleeves, fancy lace and floral decorated lined hat, lace trimmed and gathered slip, lace trimmed and gathered bloomers, lace trimmed parasol, and lace gloves. Her arms are wire-shaped and covered. Her hair is white with bangs and is fastened in a bun. Her face is partly embroidered and she has a covered Styrofoam head and cloth body supported by a wood dowel and covered wood base. Her fancy hat is tied with a lace ribbon into a bow on the side of her head.

"Nellie" is one of my more advanced patterns and requires a more experienced sewer. It's not that she is "difficult" herself (she told me to tell you that) it's just that her clothing is intricately designed. Her lined coat is adorned with lace both inside and out.

So, what do you think? Is she stunning? If you think so, please don't tell her. Make sure you send me a confidential e-mail. "Nellie" is quite the snoop and if she found out there would be no living with her then. She'd want to be on display year round. And then I'd have "Dollie WWIII" going on in my house. Please, please if you think she's gorgeous let ME know. Just don't tell "Nellie."

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