**You may be looking for the Doll Giveaway contest – it’s one post below – this is a photo contest **

As many of you know we are planning to finally move out of the basement (yeah!) and into a studio. I’ll write a bit more of my thoughts on this later but for now I am all about decorating! Fun! We’ve chosen our colors – I want the inside of the studio to essentially look like the website with blue walls and painted hills with stars. I’m trying to convince John that it wouldn’t be that hard to strip off the icky carpet glue from the concrete floors and then stain the concrete – come on, what’s a little stripping, staining and sealing? I’m on the hunt for a large, over the top, white enamel (if possible) chandelier (why not?) and then practical things like shelving, tables and chairs.

But what I REALLY want is pictures of your lovely children and their dolls blown up and scattered throughout the studio. I’ve seen what some of you can do with your camera’s and I’m asking for some help. I’m holding a little photos contest – I’m looking for 9 fan photos that just ‘capture’ Bamboletta love. I’ll choose my favorite 9 and send the winners a doll outfit! You may submit your photos to bambolettapics@gmail.com. Now, by sending me your picture you have to be okay with me possibly putting it up on Facebook and/or blowing it up to put up on our walls of our studio. Working surrounded by pictures of your children and their dolls will be incredible and inspiring – I look forward to the submissions! Contest closes on August 15th.

The picture in this post is my all time favorite ‘fan’ photo and will be the first picture that I will be blowing up and putting on our walls – LOVE this picture! It makes my heart a flutter and I get all teary Thanks Tawana! (I’ll be sending you a treat in the mail!)

xo,
C

June here needs a new home – isn’t she just such a cutie? She is wearing a cute dress designed by Julie over at  ZoZoBugBaby. To enter all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog (don’t leave a comment by clicking the picture) . One entry per person please with a maximum of 2 entries per household. Contest closes on Wednesday August 4th at 8pm PDT (11pm EDT) and the winner will be contacted by me via email. Winner is selected via random number generator. Contest includes shipping!  Good Luck!

As a side note – thank you so much ladies for the awesome – ness of you all during this last round of custom dolls! Really! It’s gone so smoothly and the way everyone is helping eachother out over on Facebook is incredible. What a sweet and amazing little Bamboletta community we have! I swear – as soon as I’m able to and can we’ll have a get together – we’ll all bring our dolls and meet in real life – you gals rock!

xo
C

This question has shown up in the inbox a few times today – where are the Serendipities?? Well, the last few weeks have been a bit slow here with mama’s on vacation and off with injury so I don’t have that many dolls. For an upload to go ’smoothly’ I find there has to be at least 15 dolls up – if not there are too many people on at once focusing on a very few dolls.. my website goes nutty! Anyhow – there were Serendipities 2 weeks ago and none last week and this week BUT on the 23rd EVERY doll I have will go as a Serendipity – so at least 12! Plus I have a very special Melamoose/Little Buddy Serendipity upload… it’s Serendipity heaven! I also should announce here that customs will be open on the 25th Sunday .. details on times, etc to follow…

Thanks!
Christina

This is Lillian – she is my first ever doll and sits on the windowsill in our workshop.

See – I don’t think this stuff is interesting but I do get asked about how I got started making dolls quite a bit so I thought I’d write down how this all started. I know I’ve written this all down somewhere but I’m not sure where it is and it would be nice to have it somewhere I can refer people to when asked. So sorry for the long, long read…

About 8 years ago a few things happened that ‘ignited’ my dollmaking obsession. The first was reading and developing an interest in Steiner’s philosophy (Steiner is the founder of Waldorf education) – specifically around toys and dolls. Steiner believed that dolls should be made with natural ‘ingredients’ (as a child’s touch is very sensitive to materials, etc) and that the doll should have a neutral facial expression (so that it can reflect what the child ‘needs’ in his/her play – be it happy, sad, or somewhere in between). I don’t know why – maybe it was divine intervention or something, but I became obsessed with this idea – it just made SO much sense to me. I read everything I could about Waldorf dolls – sourcing books from Germany and Japan – I could not get enough info about these magical dolls. Secondly,  we found out my sister in law was having a baby and I was intent on finding her a doll – the perfect gift I believed – from her aunt and uncle in Canada. Well, I searched and searched and just couldn’t find anything I really liked. The dolls were really old fashioned looking (not what I was after) or looked (to me) commercialized and homogeneous – like they had no soul or something. It’s not like it is now – with a search on Etsy bringing up a myriad of dollmakers – back then Etsy didn’t even exist! So – armed with a book called ‘Baby Dolls and Their Friends’ I made my first doll and was hooked. I still remember making my first doll – my breath was shallow as this little doll came together and I worked into the wee hours until she was done. I still have her – lol – I remember how hard it was to figure out what to use for skin and my trip to the wool shop asking for stuffing. I was so proud of her – Lillian .. she sits on my window sill in the workshop. I couldn’t believe that out of fabric and wool and yarn this doll had been ‘born’.  Something was ignited that evening – I felt as though I was on a high – in a bubble where time and space didn’t matter – in the ‘flow’. It was pure magic.

More of my first dolls – I wish now that I had saved more of them.

I then made one for my niece, and then for a friend – and another and another. Each time trying out different patterns – always tweaking and playing around with what I was doing. It has taken me years to develop my pattern. I wanted to stay true to the traditional Waldorf method of dollmaking but wanted it to have my own fingerprint on it – I love the outstretched arms .. like the dolls are going to give you a hug and their chubby little bodies! Same with the faces – my first few dolls went the ‘traditional’ Waldorf route – but then I experimented with the round eyes – you can see the progression over time on my Flickr site. It’s taken me years of trial and error to get the dolls where they are at and they will still continue to evolve and progress in the years to come .. I can’t see how they can’t! This is one of the most pleasurable things about making dolls – just how much I am continually learning.  So – dolls for friends progressed into doll sales at Farmers Markets and selling dolls at local stores in Vancouver. Then came Etsy.

Etsy started in the summer of 2005 and I joined up in the spring of 2006. When you’d enter in ‘Waldorf dolls’ in the search engine – you’d get something like 2 listings -the Waldorf dollmaking scene wasn’t what it is now! The look of Waldorf dolls then wasn’t what it is now either. I remember going to Waldorf schools selling dolls where the teachers would be aghast that I had made a doll with un natural color in it’s hair, and with funky clothing – it just wasn’t done. The fact that I combined yarns was a big deal too – it’s pretty much only ever been straight mohair. I’m sure there were other dollmakers doing things similar to what I did – especially in Europe and Japan – but it wasn’t anything they’d seen before. I remember feeling gutted when a teacher told me that my dolls looked too ‘happy’ (a true Waldorf doll is supposed to look neutral).. anyhow – it was then I decided that what I do isn’t a ‘Waldorf’ doll – it’s a Bamboletta and it made me happy. I knew that if I wanted a doll like I was making then there sure as heck would be other moms wanting the same thing. I then sold my dolls to online retailers – I had my first son Benjamin – and kept making them .. sort of as a side ‘project’. I was fortunate to get some great press – the dolls were in ‘Mothering’ magazine’s Best Toys a few years running and in various other magazine’s and blogs. I didn’t do that many Etsy sales as I mainly was focusing on store orders, custom orders and Farmers Markets.. then everything changed when I moved to Vancouver Island.

She may not be pretty but my 1970’s house has a lot of space – space that is very necessary as Bamboletta grows. I can’t see us being in here that much longer but the basement has been great for holding all our ’stuff’.

I’ve been on the Island for just over 3 years. I was very pregnant with Jasper at the time and we bought a big old 1972 house. At the time when we bought there was hardly anything on the market and I felt that crazy 3rd trimester urge to nest and settle down. I often wonder about how we ended up with our home – it’s not a type of house that I’d ever be attracted too but it’s got a huge basement that has been perfect for our business and has been able to grow with us (although I feel as though our time in the basement is coming to an end). Again and again I’ve been amazed and have felt blessed that things come together like they have. Once Jasper was born – I decided to take the plunge and hire on a helper – I ended up hiring 2 – Julie and Gillian and trained them to sew on hair, sew bodies together and machine sew various things together. By this point I had Reggie making almost all my clothing (with help from the lovely Con from SillyCon – my good pal!) – I’d send her patterns and fabrics and she sends me boxes of doll sewing loveliness! This is about the time where I got my own website – I’d always had bamboletta.com but I hired Aeolidia create my online shop. Then Michelle joined us and sadly Gillian moved away and Julie changed professions (but I was lucky enough that she piece worked for me until she moved to Vancouver). Brandi then joined me in the afternoons once her shift at the post office was over. Brandi, Michelle and my website shopping cart was a major step for Bamboletta. Then things just snowballed – more press, more sales – uploads kept getting faster and faster and the Facebook numbers just kept climbing. By October 2009 – I had 3 sewing mamas (Michelle, Gwen and Krysta) and Brandi helping me in the afternoons. Before then I’d always have custom dolls spots open (it was just something you’d put in your cart!) I had clothes on the site – and dolls took about an hour to sell out! I’m not quite sure what happened – I think I hit the ‘tipping point’ where enough of my customers had told their friends who told their friends, etc. From then until now I feel as though I’ve been trying to get a handle on what’s going on and where I’d like it to go. I’m so lucky to have the ladies that I have with me (and John!)!!  I’m growing the business slowly , which may be annoying for those wanting dolls, but I know this is how it must be done for me. I’ve got soo many ideas and plans for Bamboletta – it’s exciting to think about how and when they may come into fruition! So far people and opportunities have come at the most perfect times so I trust this process entirely. It annoys my accountant and probably doesn’t make sense from a business standpoint but I feel like what we are doing here is something very different. More on this in another post…

It’s been a long road with lots of trial and error, many cups of tea and many wonderful hands helping out  (Rachel, Brandi, Michelle, Miriam, Sherry, Deb, Shauna, Valdelia and Liz). And my customers – I can’t thank all of you enough – you are all beyond customers – you have been integral in creating Bamboletta – and for that I can’t thank you enough.

Still awake?

xoxo
C

PS – Big shout out to Petra – the lady who is Bamboletta Helper on Facebook – how awesome is she?

In case you aren’t on Facebook  you may not have heard that we are doing our MS Auction this weekend. I can’t believe how well it’s going – way beyond what I thought! The amount of goods that came is in so impressive – a big HUGE thank you to all of you who donated items – this auction would not have been what it is without each one of those items.  If you aren’t able to bid but would still like to donate you can do so directly through clicking this button .. and , just so you know – there may be a thank you gift randomly given to someone who donates … that’s all I’m going to say about that

So – my yarn-y fibre abilities have taken another step this weekend. I’ve often dreamed of being able to offer dreds that were handpainted in BOTH pink and purple (thinking of you Katie) instead of adding in pink and purple dreds seperately – you know? So – this morning while the boys were enjoying some treats (thanks ladies) I Google and I Learned how to do it – so easy. Anyhow – I’m quite proud of these dreds – I’ve always thought this was so hard to do and avoided it .. but look at these! Weekends are generally hair dying day at chez Platt – today I did up 14 skeins. It’s easier to dye when the weather is good like it was today – I can have all the windows in the house open to ventilate well and the sun is the best yarn dryer in the world.

So – this is my weekend – tomorrow I hope to spend the whole day in the yard .. my heaven.. I’ve got about 20 gals here that need faces and some very pale legs that need some sunshine.

xo,
Christina

I’m sure many of you know about last weeks ‘Get Rita Some Wheels’ auction I held (see last post). I have to send out a big huge thank you to all of you who donated – I can’t wait for Rita to get the cheque! I’ll make sure to let you all know what she says and the reaction… so exciting!

Next weekend is the BIG Auction to benefit the MS Society – I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ll be auctioning off 3 ‘packages’ that can be bid on individually. Each package will include TWO dolls – so a regular 15″ doll and then a Little Buddy Fairy – as well as the dolls (and this is the RAD part) I have a big bin of handcrafted goodness to divvy up between the 3 dolls – things like handcrafted quilts and clothes and slings and more! I wish  that we could do this as a raffle , but we can’t – (Gov’t laws and Paypal don’t like online raffles I’ve discovered!) The auction will take place on my Hyenacart shop and will go live sometime Friday night – running until Monday night. (In case you are wondering what the heck Hyenacart is – I’ve had lots of people ask – it’s kind of like Ebay or Etsy but for moms kinda … and it’s capable of doing auctions and drawings – love it!) I’ll be sending out a Newsletter and doing the blog/facebook to promote it too – I’m pretty excited about the whole thing! This Blue Fairy is a little auction ‘teaser’ for next weekend.

**Most of you may know this but SERENDIPITY DOLLS are not on the blog anymore! Instead of doing it on here a few times per week – I will post a week’s worth of dolls over on my hyenacart shop (it’s all set up to take raffles like this) – you may pick and choose whomever you’d like to try for – you don’t have to limit yourself to just one! Two entry’s per household (so both you and hubby can try for whichever doll(s) you’d like). Now, if you have already reached your 2 doll per month limit I would please ask  you to please not enter in for a Serendipity Doll as getting one of those counts towards the 2 per month limit. Cool?**

Have a great night everyone!
Christina

As many of you know I’m doing an auction this weekend to benefit one of my knitters – Grannie Rita. Grannie Rita and Nonna are the 2 ladies who do all the knitting for Bamboletta – so all those cute little sweaters are passed through their hands. I know for a fact that these two ladies hardly ever have the needles leave their hands – Rita makes at least one sweater a day and Nonna often tells me that she knits late into the night because she just can’t stop…. hmmm, I wonder where I get it from?

Rita told me a while back that all the money she earns from sweater knitting is going towards her buying an electric wheelchair. She has a very modest pension and lives in an appartment on her own so there isn’t much left over. When she told me this my heart nearly broke – Rita works so hard for us and I wanted to reall. Wanting to do something I decided to auction off one of my dolls – a coveted Little Buddy Fairy – in a  ‘Let’s Get Rita Some Wheels’ auction. I started this last night and we are already at over $400! And I’m taking donations for Rita as well and have made over $250 (donations can be made to info@bamboletta.com).  You are all AMAZING – together we are really going to make a difference in Rita’s life!

So the auction is here if you’d like to check it out! Fun times!

Thank so much everyone – you’re the bestest!

xo
Christina

Sherri and Julie have just donated some goods to sweeten the pot – and Reggie donated clothing to keep this Little Buddy very well dressed! Thanks Ladies!

Amy L – you are the winner of Harper! Congrats lady!

I thought this would be a good time to mention some stuff … again…

-Tomorrow will be the last day that check/money orders will be accepted as a form of payment.
-Starting next week uploads will be once a week – I will be marking it on my calendar soon
-Serendipity Dolls will be taking place over on my Hyenacart. So instead of having them on my blog – they’ll be on there. I’m thinking of loading them all up at the same time (ie 5 on a Friday – then keeping them there for a few days and then letting people pick and choose.. still ‘tweaking’ this idea. Sorry there hasn’t been a Serendipity doll lately – our pick up and drop off sewing mama days have changed around some so our schedule is a bit off – I’m getting into the groove now so it’ll be soon!
-There will be an auction this weekend for a little buddy Fairy – this will be done on the Hyenacart site and proceeds from that will benefit knitting grannie Rita who really, really needs an electric wheelchair! Not sure when I’ll put that up, but it’ll be soon!
-I will be having another auction… a big one… to benefit the MS Society on the first weekend of June -

**Note about auctions – I would wayyy rather be doing raffles but Paypal considers it gaming and therefore illegal I got into some trouble when I did the last raffle for Haiti and I don’t want to p.o Paypal! I’ve thought about doing the downloadable file (quite a few of you have suggested this – something like you pay $5 for a PDF of something)  but I need to think about how I’d do that a bit more – perhaps next time!**

And BTW – did you see how flippin awesome my Hyenacart looks? A HUGE thank you to David and Cheri for doing this for me!!

xo,
Christina

You have no idea how excited I got when I opened these boxes and allll this yarn just busted out – heaven, just heaven – I think John is concerned.

I feel like I’m tweaking and refining and putting systems in place all the time. Things like a special basket for sticky rollers and another for doll cheek blush and freckle pens really and truly make things easier around here in the dollmaking basement. We’ve had to do some physical tweaking here in the basement as of late – new shelving and even more bins to hold our bulk orders of yarns and wool and fabric that have been arriving daily – I feel like I’m in a real live Tetris game.

So that stuff above becomes this. Ohhh the endless possibilities This rock retaining wall in my back yard is the best yarn dryer in the world – on sunny days it heats up and drys the yarn in a jiffy. These pictures have little to do with this post – I just thought they were neat.

We’ve also had to tweak and have patterns in place on how things are done – how to upload a listing for a doll, how to edit pictures, how to ship, how to process a custom order, etc – this makes things easier for us all when it’s all done in a particular order. This is happening on so many levels – it feels as though Bamboletta is becoming it’s own thing now – it’s an interesting process because I know that all the work that we are doing now is important to the future of this  little company. Things really changed for me personally just before I took the last batch of customs – it was a light bulb moment where the cliche of ‘Am I running this business or is this business running me?’ hit me like a tonne of bricks.

So – why am I telling you all this? Lol, it feels like many of you have been with me on this for a long time now – it’s like I’m having a cup of tea with you all as I write these thoughts down. I like sharing how this is evolving – my thought processes and where I want things to go – it’s always changing and always growing.

Here are a few changing coming up (to make our process smoother)…

-Uploads will be once a week now – this is so we can dedicate one day to doing working on this instead of having it spread out through the week. It’ll be bigger uploads (around 20- 25 per upload). I’m still going to do newbie and serendipity and international ’special’ uploads  -and I think  on weeks that those happen I’ll do 2 uploads to spread things out a bit.

- I will no longer accept cheques or money orders. I only get a  few of these per year and I don’t think people realize that it can take up to 3 weeks for a US cheque to clear in Canada. I’ve also had people send US money orders that can’t be cashed outside of the US and cheques not clear (with the 3 week wait – hey – it happens!). Most people end up paying via Paypal anyhow so I’m saving my accountant some hassle and getting rid of this option. That being said – if the only way you can pay is via this method – contact me and we can work something out.

- I’m moving Serendipity Dolls and Auction Benefit Dolls (there will be one next week!) to Hyenacart next week. More info on this to come…

- Last but not least, I think I’m going to be making custom dolls a semi regular thing. The orders that have been coming in have been great and all going well, I’ll be taking orders again. Not sure on the dates (it’ll be months yet) but I’m pretty sure they’ll be happening again!

Have a great week everyone
xo
Christina

This is Harper and she needs a new home! To enter for a chance to win Harper please leave a comment at the end of this blog post (don’t click the picture and leave a comment). One entry  per person and the winner will be chosen via random number generator. Contest closes at 8pm Thursday May 20th! Contest is open to everyone, everywhere. Good luck!

Please don’t worry if you don’t see your comment right away. I have to manually approve comments from people who’ve never left comments before (prevents spam). So – it’ll show up – just may take a few hours!!