I’m a creative, experienced, multi-purpose artist and art director
who can take projects start to finish in a variety of styles.

Good designs sell –
my designs sell out!

Sunday, April 21, 2013

"Train"

This train was a bit of tricky engineering because all of the boxes needed to fit inside each other.  That made it much cheaper to ship the boxes from China.  I did this project for 1800Flowers.  They liked it well enough that I did a similar train for Mrs. Fields.  The two companies were working together, so I wasn’t giving away any state secrets in using the same shaped boxes for both.

I used to go to a meditation group that was near train tracks.  This could’ve been seriously distracting, but the woman leading our group gave us the suggestion to put all our troubles on the train and let the train take them away.  I think there must be a stockpile of troubles in Pennsylvania somewhere, but I took her suggestion.  Whenever I hear a train I think it lessens my load.

Sharon Wagner was kind enough to give me a Liebster Award this week.  Yay!!!  This is for bloggers with less than 200 followers, which gives me one reason to be happy not to have too many followers.  (Though I’d be happy if you wanted to follow J)  Visit Sharon’s site  for “illustrations, globe trotting, kitchen creativity, and photography”.  I like visiting because I never know what she’s going to post.

Okay, receiving awards requires me to give you random facts and answer questions…

Eleven Random Linda Facts: 

1)  Athos is my favorite Musketeer.
2)  Filing papers gives me a sense of satisfaction.
3)  I don’t like Mexican food.  It’s a messy textural thing.
4)  Dolls make me angry.
5)  I forget the names of people I know well sometimes.
6)  I remember my best friend’s phone number when we were in high school.
7)  I like to dance.
8)  I write morbid poetry but don’t show it to anybody.
9)  I propagate aloe and give it away because I think everyone should have it in case they get burned.
10) My winter and fall coats are red.
11) I sulked when my brother beat me at chess.

Eleven Questions from Sharon:


1) What did you want to be when you grew up?  An artist.
2) Who was your celebrity crush as a kid?  Rock Hudson
3) Favorite movie?  Good Will Hunting
4) Favorite book/author/illustrator?  I have too many favorites in this category, but love Mary Stewart, J.K.Rowling, Alexandre Dumas, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Hans Christian Anderson, Robert Lewis Stevenson…
5) Do you believe in ghosts?  Why or why not??  Yes.  “I see dead people.”
6) What is your stupid human trick?  Rolling my tongue.
7) If you could go back in time and tell your teenage self one thing, what would it be?  Life will get better.
8) Most embarrassing moment?  Right, like I’m going to go there!  How about a lesser embarrassment like when I wet myself when the teacher didn’t believe I had to go to the bathroom?
9) What’s the one thing you’d most like to be remembered for when you’re gone (you know, dead…sorry, kind of morbid, but it’s a deep thought kind of question).  I want to feel like something I did made someone’s life a better, but I’d also like some of my creative work to survive me.
10) Do you talk to yourself (out loud, when no one else is around)?  No, but sometimes I tell my dog things.
11) What is your favorite guilty pleasure?  Ice cream.

Now I'm supposed to nominate 5 bloggers with Liebsters of their very own even though this makes me feel like playing favorites and sorry I can’t nominate everybody I enjoy visiting, plus it reminds me that I haven’t been visiting as much as I’d like since I’ve been wasting all my time working lately...

Patti at Patti’s Page
Susan Sorrell Hill (Susan recently relaunched her Etsy site, which isn’t a blog, but still worth visiting)

16 comments:

  1. Lovely post! I really like the idea of packing worries and troubles onto a passing train.. Congratulations on your award!

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  2. That is a lovely train and a well deserved award too.
    Never stop your creative train of thoughts!

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  3. Oh gosh. Thank you for the nomination but I'm not worthy... besides I'd get lost at the second question... :)

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  4. That is an impressive train there Linda both boxes and your thoughts. Well done on your award and I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes to dance. Have a good week hope work is not railroading you too much.
    Jane x

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  5. Thanks for the shout out! Dead people. Yikes. And don't get me started on creepy dolls and the questionable motives of their owners. As in why would anyone like creepy dolls? Nice job for ms. or mrs. fields. I wouldn't mind a train full of cookies. How about chocolate pecan?

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  6. Honestly, Linda, I'm running out of ways to say just how much I enjoy your posts...your sense of humor and wit, your stories and the vast number of ways you've shared your creativity with the world. WOW! Suffice to say this time that I am sitting here on my couch in California smiling a HUGE smile of appreciation and admiration for all that you share with us readers of your blog. And thank you for passing on the Versatile Blogger Award to me...these blog questions are just way too tempting to pass up, and I will have to think hard to even be half as interesting as your clever answers, my dear. Sending a hug and a virtual triple-scoop. :-)

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  7. I'm pretty sure Mrs. Fields has chocolate pecan cookies. Thanks for the comments everybody! Spread the award around and share the happiness :)

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  8. Firstly, that train is great!! Such a creative concept along with the outer embellishments! I remember my kids had a series of boxes that fit inside each other. When stacked, they made a tree. They would have LOVED a nesting train! Even if it didn't have cookies.
    And congratulations on your well-deserved award! (I'm already following). Now I'm wondering about your poetry :)

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  9. Great train! Really great train :) You know I was convinced that you made it just for IF! And wonderous advice about piling all your troubles on the passing trains. I might try that on dogs next time I go to the beach. You know the kind of dogs that don't need a lease because of they had a lease they wouldn't be able to run upto where you are lying and spray sand and dog smelling water .... ahh where was I? Yes thanks for that hint. There are going to be a lot of loaded down dogs at the beach next summer courtesy of your yoga course :) And it's great reading about you - always good to learn a few secrets. Of course now that you didn't admit your mostest embaressingest momentous we will be forced to just imagine what it was,.... now let me see.... :) see you!

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  10. Congratulations with the award. I really hope you will get a lot of followers. This blog is fabulous and deserves as many as many followers as possible. I know I am not a follower, I just can't have my email account full of notifications from blogs I enjoy. Instead I make sure I return to those I really like. Like yours. Keep up with the good work! And the train is really cute, by the way.

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  11. I made a stackable tree too (with cookies). It's fun to think of kids actually playing with these kinds of things. You'll just have to imagine me blushing with all these compliments. Thanks!

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  12. I would love to receive a gift packaged in the nesting train! I'd like the train so much that it would never get thrown away, and I'm trying not to keep things these days. :) I hope you'll get more of these projects!

    Dolls make you angry? That's a blog post and I'll be waiting to read it!

    Thank you, Linda, for passing on the Liebster Award to me! Of course, I had to Google the word (my German is lacking...actually it's zero) to find out that it means kind, dear, nice, sweet and other synonyms. Sharon was on target when she gave it to you, and I'm flattered that you think the same of me.

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  13. Aw thanks Anita! It didn't occur to me to look up Liebster, but it's nice to know that it means such good things. You deserve award. Spread it around!

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  14. What a super train Linda! Gosh your work is so fabulous and I hope they sold lots of them. I love the idea of the sound of the train taking your worries away. Congrats on you well deserved award. It's so fun reading more about you!

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  15. Thanks Shirley! I think they sold all of my trains because they aren't on either website any more. I don't get anything for selling out, but I enjoy the success of it anyway :)

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