Bella Blue - Completed!

Bella Blue, Upcycled and ready for her new home!

Work In Progress

This evening I have started transforming "Bella Blue" from BellaBoring to BellaBelle.   

BanaBaka Creations - Dolls, Softies and Handicrafts: Is Anybody Out There?

BanaBaka Creations - Dolls, Softies and Handicrafts: Is Anybody Out There?

Is Anybody Out There?

I honestly don't mind talking to myself. I do it all the time 😄.
But today I'm specifically writing to invite feedback. Please feel free to leave comments or advice about my work. If you have work to share, I'd love to see it!
I'm just sorting through all my projects - stuff that hasn't sold or been given away as gifts - and trying to figure out what to do with them.
If you've read any of my past blogs, you'll know that I do not love my owls. Clearly, no one else does either 😂.
However, I'm not one to give up on unloved things. And I don't like to see things go to waste. (A blessing and a curse!)
So I have decided to go through my inventory rework the projects, starting with the owls. I'm going to be posting 'befores' and 'afters', and would really like to hear what you think.
Hey ho, hey ho, it's off to work I go!🎶

In Retrospect

I still haven't been able to work out how to reload my missing photos so I'm just adding a few old pics of some the dolls I wrote about in my older posts.

I really enjoyed making the cloth dolls, and I am just trying to find the time and space to whip out the old calico and get stuck into my passion again.

 This was the beginning of Bella Blue. I truly love every step of the doll making process.

Bella Blue completed!

Nov 2015...So I'm back from a hiatus....

Between moving house, divorce, trying to finish my university degree, kids growing up, and a mother growing old and frail I seriously do not know where my head's been. It hasn't been in my sewing basket, that's for sure! 
So I'm back. I miss my dollies. I miss my sewing machine. 

I came back to check out my page and I don't know where all my pictures have gone, and I don't know how to load them back up, so please bear with the blank spots from my 2011-2012 blogs. 

I haven't been completely idle in the creativity department in the last three years. The polymer clay was put to rest. It was incredibly relaxing and rewarding, but too time consuming.

I got stuck into making cloth dolls and owls. I must confess, the owls I wasn't too crazy about. But there was some owl craze that took the crafting world by storm so I thought I'd jump on board for the ride. Here's where that journey took me...

I sold some of these at my local markets and posted some on Made It (www.madeit.com.au/BanaBakaCreations) and Etsy but nothin' much has been doin' on those sites.

How Now Brown Owl

 

 

Where has 2012 nearly gone?!?

I can't believe it's December already, and that my last post was sometime in July! As any crafter knows, Christmas gets here all too soon when you intend to handmake as many gifts as possible.

But this year I just could not get myself into the spirit. I have other projects I wanted to finish this year and all the Christmas crafts I was interested in were just too fiddly.

I tried these birds but I'm not happy with them - at all! As my kids and their peers would say.... FAIL!!!!

Okay, they're not that bad, but not quite what I was hoping for.

Looks like I'll be running the gauntlet through my local shopping centre this year.

Rufus Rabbit

Vintage Bunny

Speaking of this year, here's a quick catch up on some the cuties that I have been happy with....

Vintage Houndstooth

Pinkie Pig

 One of my Beautiful Chemo Girls - 'Bald Is Beautiful'

Another of my Beautiful Chemo Girls - 'Bald Is Beautiful'

That's all for now, folks!

At Penrith Dolls Bears Craft & Collectibles Show, June 30 and July 1.

You win some, you lose some!

I'm coming down off a high after a dud weekend at the Doll, Bear and Craft Show at Penrith. As ususal, I stayed up too late making fussy litte preparations and as a result, have come home both days totally drained.
It doesn't help that I didn't sell one single doll :-(
I sold a few small owls ($8 each) but that was it. Considering that people were paying several hundreds of dollars for reborn dolls etc.  I was in the completely wrong setting, but I did meet some lovely ladies and enjoyed being around artistes. I also learned something about the Zonta Club, which I had never ever heard of before.
So anybody with ideas about what the best venue for my style of dolls is most welcome to give me advice.

Mermaid Tail Tales



I got help with this light blue tail from a beautifullly talented friend, Melody Tallon. She does beautiful quilting work (as well as stunning polymer clay jewellery making) and I asked for her help when I was struggling with the slippery and stretchy fabric I was using.



All my work is pretty much experimental. I always start with a basic pattern, but no two items are ever the same. I experimented with hand sewing, machine sewing, and using different types of thread on these tails. 

New Mermaids, New style of Tail!!!

 My love affair with mermaids continues. I don't even know how it began. Well, I kind of do... it originally arose from laziness
(a tail is so much easier and so much more magical than a pair of legs!) 
But now I just love mermaids because they're mermaids.

 Check out the new tail designs!
Hey, I don't know if you've even seen my old ones. Have to get onto that asap.

This tail pattern was hand sewn by my talented friend, Melody Tallon of Artefacts Jewellery Design

This is the pattern I originally started with but the stretchy fabric wouldn't hold its shape as I tried to the do the free flow stitching on the sewing machine. I am now going to hand sew the way Melody did for me.