Gotta LOVE Mixed Media Art Dolls

For the last two weeks I have been having a blast taking my 5th class at Artful Gathering. The class is ART-S2-307 The Imaginarium: Anthologies of an Art Doll with Mary Jane Chadbourne and it is a delightful mixed media art doll class.

I'd been anxiously awaiting the start of this class as I have never created mixed media art dolls so it was going to be an adventure for me. And, adventure it was. I never realized how much fun this was, how much work was involved in creating mixed media art dolls and all the different supplies you would need.

I had decided to buy one of Mary Jane's art doll wood kits and to try and accumulate all the art supplies and printables I would need ahead of time. The wood kit contained the wood needed to make 3 different art dolls.

The doll pictured above was the 1st mixed media art doll I made. She took the longest amount of time to make as I couldn't decide on the different papers and fabrics I would use for her outfit and what other embellishments I was going to add. I knew I wanted to make a doll using blue colors (just to drive my baby sister crazy as blue is her favorite color)  and wanted to incorporate a printable of the blue rose graphic I had created for some of my Victorian Era fabric designs.

I had found a wonderful graphic to use for the faces of two of the dolls so one would be brown eyed and one would be blue eyed. I used the brown eyed face here. Her back and side are painted blue and then stamped with a black flower design. Her message is "to listen is to learn, and to understand is to inspire" so I named her "Compassion."

My 2nd doll was easier to make. She had beautiful blue eyes so I decided to make her outfit a combination of darker blue papers and fabrics. I had also decided to utilized two green butterfly printables I had found and some of the silk floral and lace embellishments I had. Her sides and back are painted dark blue. I added a layer of crackle paint which didn't crackle the way I thought it would. Instead of cracks I got a marble type of raised design.

Her message is "believe in possibilities" and "begin with yes" so I named her Melody.

My 3rd doll had a small body, but a large head. I had found a wonderful whimsical graphic to use for the face but when looking at the finished doll now I think her face could have been a little smaller. Oh, well. Live and learn.

I had decided that this doll would be a whimsical angel of sorts so I added a green and white checkered paper bow to her back to serve as wings. Her sides and backs I embossed with a flower design which gave it a three dimensional look.

I had decided to use the message "Trust Your Heart Song" and had found a whimsical green frog playing a violin that I wanted to incorporate in her design. As the frog was green I decided to make her outfit a combination of green, peach and black/white papers and fabrics. To this I added white outlining and black raised painted dots. I named her Ophelia.

Mary Jane's class doesn't just cover the making of the mixed media art dolls shown above. It also includes information on making mixed media artist trading cards and 3 tiered wood block art dolls. I'm working on those now and will post pictures of them when I'm done.

I thoroughly enjoyed my mixed media art class at Artful Gathering.  Mary Jane Chadbourne is an excellent teacher who provides a tremendous amount of information on her videos as to the different techniques you can use and different forms of mixed media art dolls you can create. I absolutely loved her class. It was a total blast. She's a great teacher and the class provided a lot of fun filled interaction with the rest of the class participants. If you're looking for a great class with a lot of student activity you don't want to miss one of Mary Jane Chadbourne's classes.

Started My 5th Artful Gathering Class - YIPPEE!

I have been looking forward to taking my 5th class at Artful Gathering for several months.  It's ART-S2-307 The Imaginarium: Anthologies of an Art Doll with Mary Jane Chadbourne and is a mixed media doll class.

My class started on Wednesday and I can already tell it's gong to be a fabulous class.  Fantastic teacher and wonderful group of students.  I just know I'm going to have a blast.

I've never created mixed media dolls before so this will be new for me.

Don't worry - I'll be sure to blog about my creations.

YIPPEE! My 5th Artful Gathering class started.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Make A Little Sachet Basket Free E-Book

Lindas's How-Do-I Series? How To Make A Little Sachet Basket Free E-Book

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

Punkin Ornaments Are We! - Free Pumpkin Ornaments E-Pattern

I decided to try and make some of my seasonal e-patterns Free

My problem is that it's so hard for me to decide. Which ones?

I don't know about other designers, but I tend to get very attached to my creations - even the patterns. I suspect other designers do get attached to their creations, too.

It doesn't have to be something that took me forever to create and make. For me it can be something as simple as a pumpkin. Sometimes the simpler - the better!

So, I thought maybe the free e-pattern I would offer would be something just in time for the Fall. And, what could be a better choice for Fall than pumpkins.

Punkin ornaments are a fun group of "crazy guys" to make for the Fall. They are 2" cloth pumpkin ornaments with embroidered faces who just like to hang out just about anywhere. Hang'em up! Stick'em in a bowl of potpourri! Line them up on a shelf or even add them to a fall wreath. I hang some of mine from the door knobs in my kitchen and line others up in a long bowl surrounded by miniature cinnamon pumpkins.

They may be similar in size, but their diversity of color and the position of their embroidered faces make them unique. It's okay to be similar and part of a trio, but they each have there own personality which is reflected in their color and their face. The punkins are happy about that.

For all my pattern creations I usually only make one or at the most two dolls. One is to support the pattern and the other is usually to sell. This was one of the rare times when I did make more than 2.

LW161 Punkin Ornaments Are We! A Trio Of Ornaments Free E-Pattern - 2" Pumpkin Ornaments - Pattern Classification - Beginner
To view and download my free e-pattern please CLICK HERE. You'll be brought to Google Drive where you can view our free e-pattern. Then just download our free .pdf e-pattern 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.

Another Baby Alpaca Cousin For The Dollies

Mom "Zinnia" and her new 1st baby "Petunia"

Petunia standing on her own.

Petunia just after being born.

The "dollies" have been on pins and needles for several days as Zinnia was due to deliver her first baby the first two weeks of July.  They were placing their bets on a 4th of July baby alpaca cousin, but Petunia had her own schedule in mind.  She decided to come a day early.  

Given that it was Zinnia's first baby my sister was a little apprehensive as to how Zinnia would be handling this.  She came through like a trooper and to my sister's delight was very attentive to her baby.

Here's what my sister had to say, "She is here! Rock Garden Alpacas Perucoyo Petunia! Dam is Rock Garden Alpacas Perucoyo Zinnia and Sire is Accoyo Cuba Libre of Ideuma Creek Alpacas. A special thanks to my good friend Denise at Ideuma Creek for talking me through staying calm as Zinnia is a first time mom and I was not sure it was moving along as it should."

Welcome to the world Petunia.  Great job Zinnia.

Crowin Mike Primitive Scarecrow E-Pattern

There are scarecrows and there are SCARECROWS! And, then there is "Crowin Mike!" You're probably wondering what's so different about "Crowin Mike!" as I'm sure he looks like any other scarecrow. In fact, he looks quite charming and harmless. Well, you'd be wrong. You see "Crowin Mike" is a primitive scarecrow ornament with a penchant for witches, ghosts, and goblins. Hang out with crows! Oh, no - not "Crowin Mike!" They're just a bunch of birds. He wants to hang out with the "villains" of the Fall season - the ghosts, goblins, and witches. Why, "Crowin Mike" even claims to be friends with Frankenstein and Dracula. In fact, his favorite movie is "The Headless Horseman!" Oh, My!

What kind of a scarecrow is "Crowin Mike?" Well, actually he's quite the actor. He had you all fooled - didn't he? He really is an adorable scarecrow. Amiable, kind, and willing to lend a hand where ever he can. He's even willing to help the ghosts, goblins and witches do their thing. Fooled you again, - didn't he?

"Crowin Mike" is not your average scarecrow. Oh, no - not "Crowin Mike!" Scarecrow? Not a scarecrow? Actor? Not and actor? Bad boy? Not a bad boy? Just what kind of scarecrow is he? Based on his name you'd think he'd be "crowin" about what he is - but, he won't. Crowin Mike's lips are sealed.

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

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

I had been anxiously awaiting the start of Session 1 for Artful Gathering and was so happy when class finally started on June 6.

This is my 3rd year taking online classes at Artful Gathering and I have to say I have loved each and every class I've taken. The instructors are fantastic and I've had a blast in each class learning something new and, best of all, making wonderful new friends.

There were so many fabulous classes to choose from this year it was hard to decide. I really only had time for two and decided to take Julie Haymaker Thompson's Let's Go For A Ride class in Session 1 and  Mary Jane Chadbourne's The Imaginarium: Anthologies of an Art Doll class in Session 2. Both classes dealt with mixed media, which I've been anxious to try.

So, for the last two weeks I have been taking my 4th online class and working on my project. The project called for making an adorable little mixed media shadow box scene with 3 pets sticking their heads out the window of a car that was driving over a hill. The class looked like it would be a lot of fun to take.

A kit was available for purchase from Julie's Etsy shop so I ordered one as it's a lot easier to do that than run around to get supplies. The kit came with everything you needed to create the project including thread and needle. It was fabulous.

For my online classes I like to view all the video's first and then go back to watching them as I follow along with the instructions. Here's where my iPad comes in really, really handy. It's great for this as I can zoom in and out of the video pictures, advance and reverse them as needed, etc.

I tend to be a bit of a rebel when it comes to my classes. For the most part I follow the instructions, but sometimes I just have to be me and do it my way. Such was the case with my "Let's Go For A Ride" project.

The project called for using two twigs for trees in the front of the shadowbox but I decided to go with silk floral instead. Now I know my using silk floral will come as no surprise to any of you as I love silk floral, but this time I had a really good reason for using it. You see I'm allergic to poison ivy so there was no way I was going to get anywhere near the woods let alone touch twigs. Improvising with silk floral was the perfect solution. Worked for me anyway.

Plus, the kit that I purchased came with a box that was deeper than the one Julie was working with in the video's so adding some silk floral to the front of my shadow box versus using the two twigs for trees was a perfect solution for filling up the depth difference.

To do this I cut a rectangle of 1/2" tall florist's green foam about 5/8" deep and wide enough to fit in front of my hill and then glued it in. Once it was dry I painted it with several shades of green acrylic paint to match my hill. Then I inserted the small sprigs of silk floral (mainly grasses) I had cut to fit the height of my scene into the foam. Voila! Filled the area and best of all, no poison ivy!

Instead of creating two dog heads and a cat head sticking out of the car window I decided to go with three doggies. I had to change my doggie heads once the clay was dry as they were too big to fit into the area for the open car window. So I sanded them down quite a bit so they would fit.

I decided to paint one of my dogs gray, one black and white, and one dark brown and black. I should have painted the dark brown and black one a lighter brown color as Julie had done as the three heads I painted are quite dark and a lighter brown would have been better.

The dogs were supposed to be more whimsical looking then mine turned out to be. I had to sand the whimsical noses down as they were just too big for my doggie heads once they were sanded down to fit in the car window.

Painting the doggie heads was a bit of a challenge as they were really small and I couldn't keep my hand, paint brush and/or pencil from shaking when trying to paint their little eyes. So, instead of painting the eyes with a paint brush and/or pencil I used a toothpick. Painting faces is not my forte but they came out good enough for this project.

I didn't realize when I decided to take this class just how involved the project would be and how many different techniques I would learn. It was fabulous and Julie was so easy to follow along with. For me the fun is in the learning and I learned a lot in this class.

I had so much fun with this project that I decided to order a few unfinished mixed media items from Julie's BisBeeBliss Etsy shop so I could experiment some more with mixed media and collage. What I'll make and how they'll come out remains to be seem. The fun part is experimenting with some of the techniques I learned in Julie's class and seeing where this takes me.

Thanks for the ride, Julie. It was a blast.

Gotta Love Fall Dolls

Fall is my favorite season of the year. There's just something about the Fall that makes me want to create something. Maybe it's all the vivid colors or all the holidays and the decorations you can make for all of them.

Whatever it is I LOVE the Fall.  So, of course, I love creating dolls with Fall themes, Fall colored clothing, etc.

Here's some of the Fall dolls I created this Spring::

Penelope Pumpkin Lady

Peter With The Big Eyes Loves His Fall Outfit 

Pamela With The Big Eyes Loves Her Fall

Luther The Folkart Doll Loves The Fall and His Pumpkins 

Lili The Folkart Doll Loves The Fall and Her Pumpkins 

Melanie Munchkin

Morty The Pumpkin Munchkin 

Punky Elmer's Little Scarecrow 

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

Gotta Love Good Housekeeping Vintage Covers

I don't know if my Great Grandmothers and Great Great Grandmothers subscribed to Good Housekeeping back in the early years of the magazine.  I know both my Mother and my Grandmother on my mother's side did for many, many years.  As a child I can remember flipping through the pages looking at all the pictures.

So when I stumbled upon the Good Housekeeping Vintage Cover Gallery I couldn't help but show you some of the cover I love.

I just love the cover above from the February 1918 issue of Good Housekeeping and the November 1921 issue. Every time I look at them I think of my sister and I. How sweet are they?

The cover below from March 1920 is also a favorite of mine. Now I wonder why that is? Could it be a little girl sewing?

Then again the cover from August 1922 could also be a sentimental favorite.  A little girl and her beloved dog at the beach.

Then with my love of reading I could easily go with the February 1920 cover as a favorite.

Then again my sister and I could select the June 1927 cover as a sentimental favorite.  We both love beautiful flowers.

Then again who could resist the Good Housekeeping cover from March 1925 featuring a little girl and her grandmother. Reminds me of the times I sat in my grandmother's lap while she rocked and read me a book. Of course, for me it was two decades later between 1957 and 1960. Still.....

Gotta love Good Housekeeping vintage covers.

The Emperor Has No Clothes!

Last Sunday was shearing day at at Rock Garden Alpacas.     

What this means for the alpacas is they get all their fiber shaved off.  

This is fabulous news for all of us waiting to see what the new season of fiber will bring and bad for the alpacas as they loose their clothes.       

 Until their fiber starts to grow back they're basically naked.  

However, this is really good for them coming into the hot summer months. 

They're a lot cooler without those heavy coats on.    

And, by shearing them at this time of the year it allows plenty of time for their coats to grow back.

After the shearing the fiber gets sorted and organized in piles as to where it's going.     

The "blankets" may be sent to the shows or processed, the 2nd and 3rd groups may be processed into roving, or may be  shipped off to the fiber banks, or cleaned and then processed and dyed or turned into batts by my sister. 

From the pictures I have to say that the fiber looks really, really good.   

Maybe some of it in one form or another will end up at the post office for "big" sister.  Hint! Hint!   

They're Skinny Mini's

As Doris Marie came around the corner of the Dollie Storage Room she saw Patience pacing back and forth looking at a picture.  She was jumping from one bunny foot to the other.  Definitely not a good situation for such a timid, shy, worry wart of a bunny.  So, she decided to ask Patience what the matter was.

"Oh, Doris Marie I'm so happy you stopped to ask me.  Look at this picture of our alpaca cousins. Somethings happened to them.  Why they're almost naked and so skinny,"  Patience exclaimed. "Make that they are naked and are definitely skinny mini's.  What should we do, Doris Marie?  How can we help them?  Are Debbie and Karl not feeding them?  You don't think they're abusing them do you?"

"Oh, for goodness sake, Patience.  Don't be silly," Doris Marie replied.  "They're just been shorn."

"Shorn?" "What's that?" Patience asked.  "Is that the same as starving?"

"Absolutely not, Patience.  Let's just say they've had a really, really good haircut," Doris said. "And, don't worry.  Debbie and Karl feed them plenty of grass and hay.  They are far from starving."

"That's so good to know, Doris Marie.  But, you can see Roxy's ribs.  And, Sunflower has no top.  I really hope they don't get cold," Patience cried.

"Not to worry, Patience," Doris Marie responded.  "They're alpacas and are used to this."

"They don't shear bunnies do they Doris Marie," Patience wondered? "I certainly wouldn't want that to happen to me."

"Not to worry, Patience.  Linda has no plans to shear you," Doris Marie replied. "And, I know you get plenty of food."

"Oh, what a relief that is," Patience said. "That makes me feel so much better."

Two More Weeks

It's only two more weeks until my Artful Gathering Session I class starts and I can hardly wait.

This is my 3rd year taking online classes at Artful Gathering  and I have to say I have loved each and every class I've taken. The instructors are fantastic and I've had a blast in each class learning something new and, best of all, making wonderful new friends.

There were so many fabulous classes to choose from this year it was hard to decide. I really only have time for two and decided to take in Session 1 - Let's Go For A Ride - Julie Haymaker Thompson and in Session 2 - The Imaginarium: Anthologies of an Art Doll with Mary Jane Chadbourne.

I've got my kits already and I've ready to go.