Another night staring at the bright screen at a time I can only assume is somewhere in the AM - the little clock that usually resides in the bottom right of my screen has decided it isn't paid enough to tell me the time anymore. Ahha! the draft auto-save feature has just informed me that it is 12:45am - I hope my little clock comes back from its holiday soon.
I was a night owl for many years and an insomniac for most of those too. Since having Vincent I have slept much better but every now and again I still end up getting out of bed and watching one of the 'Crime' channels or the Craft Channel 'til three or four in the morning. Not overly brilliant since the alarm goes off at 7:45am. Just to add insult to insomniac injury I appear to have the lurgy, and so does Vincent - Stephen has yet to be infected.
Since I've been offline for quite some time I should let you know what Binky Roo has been up to. A master of creating a million and one things to do and never having the ability to create more than 24 hours in a day that I need to do them all. Some of you know I also write and illustrate children's books. On the cusp of approaching an agent I got side tracked into crafting, not that I have minded but recently I have decided to revisit
The Spooky Adventures of Lily Hope and will start illustrating for 'Lily and the Shadow Spider' again in a few weeks. I intend to keep going with both the crafting and the writing/illustrating as I love both.
As Binky Roo Designs I have also complete two CD-Roms for Cupcake Crafting and I'm still expanding their download section. To top that off I've also completed several keepsake gifts and started a new venture.
I've dived into the world of custom dolly making - I have a friend called Bev, weird and wonderful is how I'd describe her. She understand and appreciates the importance of felt zombies, rock concerts, and craft. Some time ago she sent me a link to a website that was having a mad give away - that months give away was a dolly pattern by Dolls and Daydreams. I had a little look before going back to my daily chores. I returned a day or two later and entered to win a
vampire sewing pattern ready for Halloween (my favourite holiday of the year). Back on the
Dolls and Daydreams website I found myself oohing and ahhing - I could have bought the whole shop of patterns. The dollies and softies are just wonderful and Sarah, the designer of the patterns, has not only designed cute dollies and softies but gothic (friendly gothic) dollies and softies too. I eyed up her
Wednesday dolly. I NEEDED HER! However, I had to restrain myself. Let's not get carried away. I am the queen of my own little fads. I become obsessive - in a non-scary way, but can quickly build up a high star rating on Ebay. So I restrain my purchase of Wednesday but revisit the website regularly, waiting for the day I treat myself.
The day came. I felt like death. A 24 hour virus had hit me. I had been fine one minute, the next I felt like I had been thumped in the stomach and at the same time my eyes felt like they had been staring at a static filled screen for 48 hours. Dizziness took over coupled with nausea - Oh no, I'm not pregnant again!? Negative, thank goodness (we have one and for now he is enough, he is our world). By the time the evening fell upon our house I was feeling so terribly sorry for myself that my finger accidentally hit the purchase button for Wednesday. Several weeks later I own a hand full of Sarah's wonderful patterns and several prototype dollies lie around the house.
[caption id="attachment_109" align="aligncenter" width="620"]
Nancy the Gothic Ballerina[/caption]
Nancy was my first real success (minus the fabric used for her skin - not thick enough). Adapted from Sarah's
ballerina doll, I made my own Gothic ballerina complete with spider and web embroidery. I had so much fun making her the thought of creating a line of Gothic dollies and softies, as well as cute ones of course, really appealed to me - watch this space! The next project post will be Betty Lou, a custom dolly made for Nikki and her daughter.
In conclusion to what I've been up to since the nasty hackers took over the Binky Roo website, I've opened another door for Binky Roo and its fans, custom orders of fabric dollies, softies, and felties.
Charity is another passion of mine. I support several, one of my favourites being
Wild Futures /
The Monkey Sanctuary in Looe. In the new year I intend to make a monkey softie and place it on auction to raise money and awareness for Wild Future so do look out for more information about that.
So there you have it. Almost all caught up and back up and running as normal.
Thank you for being so patient
Rachael Gracie
- it's now 1:30am. You may still get the post on Betty Lou yet!
