Check Out Our New Raggedy Little Dolls Free 4 in 1 Combo E-Pattern

If you love making folk-art, primitive and raggedy cloth doll ornaments or little dolls then you're going to love our “Big Brother Andy and Kid Brother Randy and Big Sister Annie and Kid Sister Fannie”  2 in 1 combo free e-pattern.

"Big Brother Andy" and his "Kid Brother Randy" come from a large, loving family and as siblings often do get on each others nerves. Now don't get us wrong. "Big Brother Andy" and "Kid Brother Randy" love each other as brothers. It's just that sometimes they act like a bunch of boys do and get on each others nerves. This inevitably leads to wrestling, which leads to fighting and then punching. Playfully, of course!

When the gloves start coming out is when their "Big Sister Annie" and "Kid Sister Frannie" intervene. They calm them down and straighten out whatever the problem is so the boys can - well, "be boys."

"Kid Brother Randy" wants to be just like his "Big Brother Andy." He dresses just like him. Wears the same clothes. And, even gets the same haircut. Sometimes this bothers "Kid Brother Andy" but, most of the time, he just gives his younger brother a playful shove. He can shove and push his little brother around, but if someone else does that - well, they have "Big Brother Andy" to contend with then.

Boys will be boys and brothers will be brothers. They might fight a lot between themselves, but are thick as mud. They're steadfast and loyal to the core when it comes to their family even though that might be hard to tell at times from all the fighting. "Boys if you're going to wrestle - take it outside!"

"Big Sister Annie" and her "Kid Sister Fannie" often do get on each others nerves, too. Now don't get us wrong. "Big Sister Annie" and "Kid Sister Fannie" adore each other and truly love each other as sisters. It's just that sometimes "Big Sister Annie" wishes she were an only child.

Well, maybe not an only child as she dearly loves her brothers, "Big Brother Andy and Kid Brother Randy." Maybe just the only girl. Well, not even that as she really does love Fannie. It's just that sometimes she wishes she could be alone with her friends without "Kid Sister Fannie" tagging along.

And, sometimes she wishes she could buy an outfit without Fannie wanting to buy the same. And, sometimes she wishes she could have sleepover parties without having to include Fannie. And, sometimes she wishes she didn't have to take care of her kid sister Fannie. "And, why does she have to have the same hairstyle as me!"

Poor "Big Sister Annie!" Doesn't she know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. "Kid Sister Fannie" just worships and adores her big sister and wants to be just like her. To do everything she does. To be loved by her. "Big Sister Annie & Kid Sister Fannie" would make the cutest pair of ornaments or little dolls for any primitive and country home.

4  in 1 “Big Brother Andy and Kid Brother Randy and Big Sister Annie and Kid Sister Fannie” Primitive Raggedy Andy and Raggedy Annie Boy and Girl Doll Ornaments Combo Free E-Pattern - 22 Pages 

To view and download my free combo e-pattern please CLICK HERE.  You'll be brought to Google Drive where you can view my free e-pattern. Then just download my free .pdf combo e-pattern.

Once my e-product is downloaded to your computer you can save it and print it. I hope you enjoy my free e-products.

“Big Brother Andy and Kid Brother Randy”, 9” Primitive Raggedy Andy Boy Dolls or Ornaments E-Pattern - Raggedy Series - Pattern Category - Skill Level - Beginner 

Andy & Randy are 9" primitive or country raggedy Andy small cloth dolls or ornaments. Their bodies are made of muslin and their raggedy red boots are cross laced. Their faces are embroidered. Their noses are satin stitched red as are their lips. The outline of their mouths is embroidered as are their eyelashes and eyebrows. Both Andy & Randy have thick, straight dark brown hair sticking out of the top of their heads with the sides and back left bare. Their cheeks are blushed with an orange color. Their outfits are identical with frayed shirts gathered at the neck. Both of their blue plaid pants are frayed and gathered at the waist.

Designer - Linda Walsh Originals

“Big Sister Annie and Kid Sister Fannie”, 9” Primitive Raggedy Annie and Fannie Dolls or Ornaments E-Pattern - Raggedy Series - Pattern Category - Skill Level - Beginner 

Annie & Fannie are 9" primitive or country raggedy Annie small cloth dolls or ornaments. Their bodies are made of muslin and their raggedy red boots are cross laced. Their faces are embroidered. Their noses are satin stitched red as are their lips. The outline of their mouths is embroidered as are their eyelashes and eyebrows. Both Annie & Fannie have thick, curly dark brown hair along the side seams of their heads with the back left bare. Their cheeks are blushed with a lovely rosy color. Their outfits are identical with frayed and gathered at the waist bloomers. Both of their blue plaid dresses are frayed and gathered at the neck. Their aprons are lace trimmed and lined and wrapped around their waists and ties in the back. Blue embroidery floss bows decorate the fronts of their aprons

Designer - Linda Walsh Originals

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.

Re-Designs For My Swaddling Babies Baby Fabrics

One of my all time favorite doll designs is my "Baby Nicky" doll. He's a baby shower centerpiece doll that I designed based upon my grandson "Nicky" who has the most wonderful, curly head of hair you could ever imagine. I just LOVE it and would love to swap hair with him. Of course, he hates it.

If you've been following my Linda's Blog you know that "Baby Nicky" is involved in a lot of what goes on in "The Dollie Storage Room" and was the impetus for my "It's Raining Baby Showers" product lines.

When I was designing new patterns a couple of years ago I wanted to design some more baby shower centerpieces and favors or ornaments to compliment "Baby Nicky."

While thinking about what to make for favors I  thought about my grandson, Nicky, who was born 31 weeks premature.   He had spent 9 weeks in a special care nursery and I remembered that the nurses would wrap him in a swaddling blanket which allowed them to easily carry him around. They always looked like they were carrying him around like a football.

The nurses taught all the family members how to bathe, feed, and dress Nicky so I learned how to wrap my grandson in a swaddling blanket. So, I thought maybe a favor with baby heads sticking out of a swaddling blanket would be cute and created a couple primitive favor ornaments.  I loved the ornaments shown in the picture at the start of this post that I decided to create a new line  of custom fabric designs for my baby shower fabric lines and designed the Swaddling Baby Heads Fabric Designs Collection.  

In thinking about what kind of graphics to create for my "Swaddling Babies" designs I wanted graphics that were adorable and fun. I also wanted fabrics that you could coordinate with each other and make wonderful baby shower decorations or nursery home decor gifts from.

For The Love Of Flowers and Dahlia's

I just LOVE flowers and have since I was a little girl. Our next door neighbor also loved flowers and she had the most beautiful English Garden. I can remember just standing there admiring all the beautiful flowers and thinking of creating a beautiful bouquet with them.

So, I decided that at the age of 8 or so that I should have my OWN garden - just like my neighbors.  I hounded my parents for months on end one year to let me build a garden of my own. I wanted to plant dahlia's as they were my most favorite flower. My Dad always encouraged us to try new things so he agreed, but the catch was that if I wanted my own garden I would have to create it by myself and would have to be responsible for maintaining it. He'd be there to help me, but the work would all be on me. I, being a cocky little thing, said "okay" I can do that.

So, the spent the better part of the weekend one spring digging up the soil, putting rocks around it for a garden edging, and planting my dahlia bulbs. Well, the 1st year that my garden was in full bloom I had the MOST BEAUTIFUL display of color you'd ever want to see. I had red, yellow, pink, white, and maroon dahlia's - all different sizes from colossal to the little patio dahlia's. I was so pleased with myself. That wasn't too hard.

Well, as the summer went along like any 8 year old I soon lost interest in the weeding and maintenance of my little garden. My Dad knew that I would which is why my garden was in the side yard and not on display in the front yard - like my Mom's garden. Like a good gardener she weeded her garden every night.

So, my garden fell to the weeds. That didn't bother me as I was at the end of the season and next spring I could start anew. My Dad mentioned to me that dahlia's were tender bulbs and would not survive the harsh New England winters. I would need to dig the bulbs up and store them in peat moss for the long cold winter and then plant them again. I, of course, thought that was too much work so I opted to leave them in the ground and put lots of pine needles over them for a blanket. My Dad just smiled - knowing full well that this wasn't going to work, but he let me have my way.

Well, of course when the spring came my dahlia bulbs were nothing but mush. More like dahlia soup.  And, of course, they did not sprout. So, that spring I had no garden and no dahlia's. I did however, learn my lesson and the following year after my dahlia's had bloomed I dug them up in the fall and stored them in peat moss to replant them the following spring.

To make a long story short - I never outgrew my love of beautiful natural flowers. That love was my impetus for designing my floral custom fabric designs.  Of course I created dahlia designs.

A Beautiful Swan For The Feathers Design Challenge

I don't know of any better way to start the day or for that matter start the new year than looking at something exquisitely beautiful. Do you?

When hubby and I were walking near a reservoir last winter near our home we were greeted on our walk by an amazingly beautiful and majestic swan. She seemed to have found a winter home just near and under a bridge on a local reservoir. Most of the reservoir was covered with ice except for the area close to the bridge.

Whenever we saw her we had to stop and just admire her beauty. She was unbelievably white and so graceful to watch. She inevitably sensed  us and would go under the bridge. Sometimes she'd just stay where she was and seemed to be looking at us.

A couple of times she has decided to walk on the ice and snow covering the rest of the reservoir. When she did that it was amazing to see how big her footprint in the snow was. Quite extraordinary.

During the summer we often spotted her with a mate. Where the mate is now is unknown. Why she was here in the winter also was unknown. I often wondered if she stayed there all day and slept under the bridge at night.

So, I decided to take some pictures of her. What I didn't realize until I viewed the pictures was she had a tag on her back left leg. You can see it in the picture at the top of this post. Who tagged her and why I don't know.

She was just so incredibly beautiful and such a beautiful image to start the day with. Wouldn't you agree?

After taking those pictures of her I had thoughts of creating a swan doll.  That hasn't happened yet but when I saw the Feathers Challenge on Spoonflower it became the impetus for creating my new swan custom fabric designs, which us shown below:

The Feathers Design Challenge Fabric

I created her fabric showing a mother swan and her babies because hubby and I believe she flew to another reservoir in a nearby town to give birth to her babies.  Driving by that reservoir one day we saw a beautiful white swan and several babies.  It had to be  her.  We were so delighted to see this and so happy to know she survived the winter and has a family of her own now.

P.S. I didn't win the contest but I loved creating her and hope you like her, too.  

When It Comes To Books Grandma Knows Best

When the 7th and final book in the wildly popular Harry Potter series entitled "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" was released in July 21, 2007 I thought it would be a good idea to introduce one of my grandsons to the series.  In thinking about books and my new "We Love Books" collection of products I thought I'd relate a story about the series and my grandson that you might enjoy.

Back in 2007 I was looking for a birthday present for my grandson. I wanted the present that his Grandfather and I gave him to be one that was "THE HOTTEST ITEM" among adolescent and teenage boys at the time.

I had read that one of the hottest and coolest items among adolescents and teenage boys was "The Harry Potter" Series of books, which then had only 3 books in the series. So, I decided we'd give him the 3 hardcover books that were in the series.

Even though this was the "hottest" ticket item it was a gamble for his Grandfather and I. You see, my grandson wasn't a reader. But, I figured peer pressure would create enthusiasm for him and maybe he'd discover a love for reading.

Well, he opened his present, smiled and said thank-you, but wasn't really thrilled. We'd bombed out. At least we thought so until the following year when "Harry Potter" really took off. Then the teenage boys and adolescents couldn't get enough of Harry Potter. Harry Potter mania had set in and all of a sudden we (that is his Grandfather and I) were just the "coolest" grandparents as our Grandson already had the first three books in the series and was "the man" among all his friends.

Even our son-in-law was enthusiastic about the books and decided to start reading them to our youngest grandson for his bedtime stories. It took awhile but they got through the first 3 books and decided to buy the 4th book in the series.

Well, not to be outdone by their younger brothers our older teenage granddaughters decide to read the series, too. So they, too read all three of the books in the set we had given their brother and then read Book 4.

After that they moved on to Book 5, then Book 6, then Book 7.  They all read all of those, too.

Our grandson ended up loving the books. I'd love to say that he became a reader because of it. He did and he didn't.

He has become a reader - just a reader of a different kind of book. You see - he loves the Japanese cartoon books that you read from back to front like "Inu Yasha", "Fruit Basket", "Juvenille Orion", and the "Trigun Maximum" series.

For me, the Grandmother who gives books every Christmas that's terrific. At least he's reading. Doesn't matter whether it's comics or not. He's reading. So, I just buy him the latest comic books in those series.

In fact, all of my grandchildren know that when it comes to Christmas presents that some of those will be books.  And,  believe it or not, they look forward to them.  After all, when it comes to physical presents nothing lasts longer with children than books.  That's a win-win in my book. No pun intended....lol

Books and reading gets them every time. LOL At first my grandson's enthusiasm was lukewarm.  When the mania ended his enthusiasm was he couldn't get it fast enough.  Grandma definitely knows best when it comes to books.

So, the moral of the story is that - "Just because a present isn't initially received with the greatest of enthusiasm doesn't mean it won't be appreciated over time."  When it comes to books Grandma knows best!

For The Love Of Iris

I have been in love with flowers since I was a little girl.  Then again I've been in love with many things since I was a little girl.  My sister and I both love flowers with the dahlia being both our favorite flower.  I also love iris and, when I was gardening, loved planting iris bulbs.  They're such a beautiful flower.  Unfortunately they don't last long.

So, it's no surprise that when I was designing fabrics I would create some with iris in them.  Well, when I saw the Maximalist Design Challenge on Spoonflower I knew the different colors of iris would be perfect for a bright, splashy design.

Shown below is my challenge design.  It's definitely colorful, bright, and splashy.  I love it and hope you do too.

Maximalist Design Challenge Fabric

This, however, isn't the first time I've used iris in some of my Spoonflower Challenge entries.  Shown below is the design I entered into the Gardening Challenge.

 The Gardening Challenge

© 2004-2023 Copyright Linda Walsh Originals - Fabric Designs By Linda Walsh.

I just love iris and have designed several other iris custom fabric designs over the years.  

I Hate Snow, But Love Snowmen! Go Figure!

I hate snow, but I love snowmen.  Go figure!!!  There's just something cheery and irresistible about snowmen and their adorable faces.

The older I get the more I dread the winter season.  As far as hubby and I are concerned there is nothing adorable about snow.  So, why would two people who hate the snow stay in New England?  It's our home.  Always has been and always will be so we reluctantly approach the winter season every year.

No matter how reluctant I feel about snow I do love making snowmen.  If you love making snowmen too, you'll be happy to know that we have several free tutorials, e-patterns, and e-books for creating adorable snowmen.  Enjoy!

Just click the link below:

Gotta Love Snowmen Dolls and Ornaments Free Tutorials, E-Patterns, and E-Books

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.

How To Make My Mixed Media Xmas Village Free E-Book

Three years ago I fell in love with mixed media creations.  Now I know what you're going to say, "You love every craft, Linda."  Well, that is very true but, right now, I love mixed media and can't get enough of it.

I have so many ideas for different mixed media creations I want to make but know there just isn't enough hours in the day or days in the year for me to accomplish everything that is on my "wish" list.  So, I must choose what projects to do and which to put aside for another day.

 

Three years ago I made a snowy mixed media winter and Christmas village set of houses that I placed on two rectangle wood blocks that I had in my wood stash.   This year when I put out my Christmas decorations I decided to put my mixed media  Xmas village out on my family room fireplace mantle and placed in just under the wreath I had created for all my Christmas pins.  I wrote about this in a Linda's Blog post entitled, "What To Do With All Those Beautiful Christmas Pins?" 

Every time I looked at it I had creative pangs and wanted to stop everything and go create some more mixed media decorations.  There was no time for that during the holiday season so I had to resort to just enjoying it up on the mantle.

Every time I looked at it I remembered how much fun I had making it.  So, I decided to spend some time creating a free e-book for all of you.

I hope you fall in love with mixed media like I did and enjoy making your own village.  Perhaps it will end up on your fireplace mantle next year, too.

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

 Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Make My Mixed Media Xmas Village Free E-Book

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 from the File menu in the upper left hand corner.

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.

Linda's How-Do-I Series - How I Made My "Happy Days" Mixed Media Snowman Free E-Book

I was so happy with the way my mixed media snowmen came out that I decided you might enjoy making one of your own so I created a free Linda's How-Do-I Series E-Book for you.

My e-book shows you how to make the front and backs of the snowman shown above and is viewable and downloadable on Google Drive.  Just click the link below:

Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Make My "Happy Days" Mixed Media Snowman Free E-Book

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.

For The Love Of Terra-Cotta Easter Decorations

When I was growing up Easter was a really big holiday.  It was the time of the year when we got new "best outfits" for going to church and had leg of lamb for dinner.  My mother always made the best leg of lamb.  No one else has ever been able to make it as well.  Just thinking about it brings back memories of sitting in the kitchen with the smell of the leg of lamb filling the air.  Yum..........

In thinking about Easter I remembered my beautiful and beloved step-daughter, Kim, and I had made some Easter egg terra cotta pots decorations over 18 years ago - one large and one small pot for the each of us.  We had so much fun making them I thought you might like to make some of your own so I decided to create a free e-book on how we did it.

I hope you have as much fun as we did.  Enjoy!

 Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Make My Easter Eggs Terra Cotta Decorations Free E-Book

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 from the File menu in the upper left hand corner.

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.

Why Throw Something Out When You Can Re-Design It! - My Artificial Christmas Tree How-To

Sometimes creating something works.  Sometimes it doesn't.  Wouldn't it be nice if all creations turned out beautiful each and every time?  Even 8 out of 10 times would be great.  The reality for me is more like 5 out of 10 times.

I don't know about the rest of you but when I make something that I'm just not happy with I don't just throw it away.  I hold on to the piece, sometimes for years on end.  I figure that it's a shame to waste a craft supply and if it can be re-designed then why not.  So, I hold on to it until I get a brain storm.

Well, back in July of 2015 when I was taking a class at Artful Gathering we were making some mixed media house creations using different media.  After taking that class I decided to make some mixed media house creations of my own.

What I wanted to create was a mixed media tree surrounded by a village of 4 houses.  I got that, as shown in the picture above, but just wasn't happy with how the tree turned out so I never  used it.  This year, however, I got a brainstorm and decided to change it.

During the Christmas holiday season I like to decorate my fireplace mantles and usually place my Victorian cross-stitch village in the shadow boxes my brother and I had created back in December of 2009.  I wrote about them in a blog posts entitled, "My Victorian Houses - I Had To Keep Them!"

I wanted to put them on my dining room fireplace mantle this year and thought a small tree placed in the middle of my village would look nice.  I could have created a brand new artificial tree and placed it there but remembered I had the mixed media house village and tree I had created back in 2015 that I never used as I really didn't like it.

The Styrofoam tree was already mounted and glued on a square stained wood base with a wood center peg.  So I took it out and looked at it.  Size wise it was a good height for the mantle and for the Victorian cross-stitch shadow box village.  The problem was I hated the tree.

I had previously added 4 miniature houses I had made out of chipboard pieces to each of the four corners.  Each house was embellished with paper and natural or silk floral stems.

I hated the tree but the houses were fine.  I thought, "why create something new when a little tweaking can make a previously unused piece workable?"  So, I removed the center star and all the plastic, metallic, and felt snowflake embellishments I had glued on the tree.  I left the mixed media papers I had glued on the Styrofoam tree  and set to creating something better.

I had decided to make the center tree an artificial Christmas tree with a new center star, decorative embellishments, miniature garlands and snow.

The first thing I did was glue a new red miniature plastic star to the top of the cone with low temperature hot glue.  It looked fine.

Then I cut fifty 3" to 4" lengths of artificial evergreen Christmas garland and then folded them in half.  I glued the center of each of these pieces to the Styrofoam cone starting at the bottom and working up with low temperature hot glue.  I had left the paper I had previously glued to the Styrofoam cone on the tree so gluing them with the low temperature hot glue was no problem.

After I was satisfied with the artificial evergreen Christmas garland pieces I had glued on the cone I decided to add two miniature garlands to my tree.  The first was a miniature silk floral ivy leaf and poinsettia garland I had bought many years ago and had used from time time before.  Luckily I had just enough of the garland to wrap around the tree.

The second garland was a miniature red bead strand I had bought decades ago when they were on sale at A.C. Moore or Michaels.  Luckily, here too, I had just one strand left of the red color, length and bead size I wanted.

The garland strands looked great but the tree still needed some embellishments so I looked through my Christmas craft supplies stash and found some plastic multi-colored beads that were the right size.  I glued each of them to the end of the artificial Christmas garland branches using low temperature hot glue.

I was pleased with the way the multi-colored beads looked but the tree still needed something so I decided to add Aleenes True Snow paint to the tree.

 I added it all over the tree using thin paint brushes and in some instances toothpicks.

It took a little while to add all the snow but was well worth it in the end.  I ended up with a pretty little snow covered evergreen tree.

I was pleased with the way the tree turned out.  It was very festive, very wintry and perfect for my Victorian house scene.

I had salvaged something I had made but didn't like and turned it into something I actually liked.  See, sometimes not throwing something out ends up being a good thing. Why throw something out when you can hold on to it and re-design it.  Makes sense to me.

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

It's Never Too Early For Bunnies!

As far as I'm concerned it's never too early  for making bunnies - especially when they're all easy to do and totally adorable.  We've got 9 adorable free bunny decoration e-patterns and/or tutorial e-books that are easy to make for the Easter, Spring and Summer season that you're going to love. Enjoy!

Just click on the link below:

9 Adorable Free E-Patterns and Tutorial E-Books Bunny Decorations To Make For Easter, Spring and Summer

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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.