Flying Heart

Why wait until Valentine's Day? London wants to send you her love RIGHT NOW!!

This is Prima Dolly London (2009, FBL). She's holding one of the hearts I made for my sew-a-heart-a-day challenge a few years ago (the link is HERE.)

Heart Collection

Of course you know I have a Blythe collection, but did you know I have a heart collection too?

Hearts are one of my favorite things. A couple of years ago I did a sew-a-heart-a-day challenge (the blog is HERE), and many of the hearts in this picture are from that; others are from craft swaps. It's so fun to see my dollies with my hearts!

Wendy is Simply Lilac and Hope is Simply Peppermint. They were released by Takara in 2009 and have the RBL face mold.

Just a Random Picture

I "Blythe Happy" but I work messy!

I hesitated to post this picture, since all of my photos in this, my first month of posting daily, have been "posed". But I enjoy seeing them all jumbled together on my dining room table, and I thought you might too. This is what happens when I work to come up with a new picture every day...things don't get put away after the photo shoot. Once a week or so I clean up.

Cupcakes

Because one size does not fit all:

I have several of these Littlest Pet Shop Blythes, and four Middie Blythes, but I don't photograph them much because I like the Neo Blythes the most. The little ones are perfect in this picture, though! That's Claire (I Love You It's True, released by Takara in 2004, SBL) hidden behind the giant cupcake.

Keeping Busy

There are no idle hands around here! Penny is working at the sewing machine today, finishing up some new panty designs. What would I do without my dolly helpers???

Penny is a Cloud Nine Bowl. She was released by Takara in 2009 and has the SBL face mold.

Sweet Friends

I love these tiny Lalaloopsies! This is the one for Valentine's Day that is only sold at Target. I always look for the seasonal Target exclusives, but I was disappointed that the Christmas one never appeared in either of the stores near me this past Christmas; I heard that there might have been a production problem. Oh well, it's not like I don't have plenty of the little dollies already!

The Blythe in this photo is London, a Prima Dolly London (she has a slight haircut from her previous owner). She was released by Takara in 2009 and she has the FBL face mold. I love pink-haired girls!

Let's Eat!

"Hope you're hungry--I made breakfast."

This is Bonnie (Raspberry Sorbet)--my very first Blythe!  She was released by Takara in 2011, and she has the RBL face mold (my favorite!)

Winter Day

Catching snowflakes on a cold winter day.

This is Wendy, my Simply Lilac. She was released by Takara in 2009 and has the RBL face mold.

My Secret Helpers

Merry is such a hard worker...and now my secret is out: I employ my dollies to help me make the embroidered panties for my Etsy store! I couldn't manage those tiny details without their help.

Kat, Incognito

This is Kat, a custom by Kaleidoscope Kustoms. I love her hair--so pink, so floofy! The cute mustache was in my goodie bag at BlytheCon NY 2013; it's a great little prop. Thanks to whoever made that.

Whose Panties are Those?

Penelope: "Hey girls, look what I found--a bunch of pretty panties with names embroidered on them!"
Candy: "I wish they were for us, but those aren't our names."
Ellie: "I don't care! I'm taking this one and changing my name to Odette!!"

Sorry girls, that's a custom order for Mandy. If you insist, I will make you some of your own--with your REAL name on them, Ellie.

Pink Girls

Yes, pink IS my favorite color (followed closely by turquoise). Here are the pink girls currently residing at Blythe Happy. Rumor has it that Stella Savannah may be joining us soon, after all, I will need a pink Valentine's Day gift from my husband, right?

Starting at the far left and going clockwise, these dolls are:
1. Custom by Kaleidoscope Kustoms
2. Snowflake Sonata
3. Prima Dolly London
4. Charlotte des Fleurs
5. Ichigo Heaven
6. My Little Candy

Knitting: The Results

One hour later, after taking a break from her knitting, Faith returns to find that Calliope has a surprise for her.

Faith: "Whaaaat? My dress is finished!!! Thank you, Calliope, it looks amazing--how did you do it so fast?"

Calliope just smiled a secret smile, and didn't mention that she has magic knitting needles.

THE END

Knitting: First Lesson

Faith: "Oh no, I've been knitting this for HOURS and it looks terrible! All that time wasted. This is only good for the trash can."

Calliope: "Don't say that, Faith! It just needs a little help. Why don't you take a break and let me see if I can do something with it?"

Faith: "Okay, thanks Calliope, but only a magician could fix this."


Come back tomorrow for the conclusion of this drama.

Knitting: Off to a Good Start

Calliope: Thanks for helping me with my yarn.

Faith: My pleasure! It's the least I could do; after all, you DID agree to teach me to knit. When do we start?

Dolly Line-up

There's nobody here but us dollies...

These Blythes are Veronica Lace (released in 2008) and Sadie Sprinkle (released in 2013). The "old" dolls are actually modern dolls, made to look old, which I bought at a local craft store.

Hats on Twins

Here are those hats I couldn't find yesterday--Megipupu on the left, and Lalatroop on the right. They look great on my twins, Daphne and Waverly.

These dolls are Candy Carnival, which was released in 2005. They are identical in almost every way except for their bangs. Daphne, on the left, has bangs that are noticeably shorter and flatter than Waverly's.

Put a Hat on It

With their big ol' heads, Blythe dolls are perfect hat models. I've been collecting hats for them almost as long as I've been collecting the dolls (nearly 3 years). Here are three of my favorites--but what am I saying, I love ALL the hats I've collected! 

Here's my hat collection (minus the ones on Bonnie, Claire, and Heidi!):

Oh dear, I just realized that some are missing. Where's my Megipupu? My Lalatroop? I'm going to have to do some digging in my dolly boxes.  All of these hats, PLUS missing ones, will show up on the dolls here on my blog, sooner or later.

Fabulous ATC's

Heidi: "Our sisters are going to be super jealous when they see these ATC's Sara Ricer made of US!"

Calliope: "I know! I feel like we're famous!"

My friend Sara Ricer is a woman of many talents...she's a teacher, a musician, and an artist (she also has a dolly blog called Kid Life Crisis). We both enjoy making ATC's (Artist Trading Cards--click HERE to read more about them), and I recently received a wonderful and unexpected gift of FIVE of her cards!

The two cards above look so much like my dolls Heidi and Calliope that I had to take a picture of them together. You can see all five ATC's in the picture below. I had seen several of these online already, but I discovered that they are much more detailed in person--the brush strokes and subtle shading don't show up completely in the photographs. They really are tiny works of art.

Thanks a million, Sara! I love these cards so much!

Mini Books

So many books...so little time.

This is my Pow Wow Poncho (named Faith), who was released in 2003. She has the SBL face mold.

Making tiny dolly props is one of my favorite parts of playing with Blythe.  Faith's book were easy to make, here's how to do it:

1. Google "book covers" and select "images". You will have TONS of books to choose from. I simply copied and pasted the covers I wanted into my word processing program--it can handle photos as well as words. Then I just shrunk them down to the size that looked about right for a doll, printed and cut them out, and folded them.

2. Cut mini pages for the books from an old dictionary or other unwanted book, using an X-acto knife. I have a big old dictionary I bought at the library for one dollar!

3. Stack the pages together and dip the edge that will be against the spine into a shallow pool of glue. Press the pages in to the cover, and secure with a clothes pin until dry.

You could make a whole library for your dollies!

Also, if you are an avid book reader like me (and Faith), I want to recommend the website called Goodreads. I use it to keep track of the books I've read, set reading goals for the year (usually I go for 52, a book a week), and find new books to read. You can find me there under my real name, Leslie Andersen.

Decisions, Decisions

I think she's leaning towards the heart...

This beautiful girl is London, my Prima Dolly London. She came to me in great used condition, and her hair was trimmed by her previous owner (it looks really cute like this!) She was released in 2009 and has the FBL face mold.

The dress is personalized and made-to-order in my Etsy shop; the panties can be found there too.

A New Style

Brock is trying out a new bohemian style. 

I think it suits her well, and I love the colors on her.

This beautiful outfit was made by Elaine Bailer of Sugar Mountain Art on Etsy.  She makes the most interesting outfits for Blythe, and she takes fabulous photos of them! I just discovered her recently, and I can't believe I've been in the hobby for nearly 3 years and have only recently discovered her work! I am a huge fan.

Brock was customized by Chantilly Lace Blythe Customs (Out on a Limb on Etsy.) I had the privilege of attending her workshop on rerooting at the BlytheCon in New York City in 2013.  I'm a huge fan of her too!

Skating

The weather has turned so cold that the local skating rink is open for business. The triplets Tilley, Jubilee, and Alice are practicing for an upcoming competition.

These dolls are, from left to right, Simply Bubble Boom, Simply Thumpty Thump, and Simply Sparkly Spark.  They were released in 2010, and they have the FBL face mold. I love love love their hair colors!!

And just now, looking at this picture of them wearing their stock skating outfits, I suddenly understand their names: the circles on Tilley's dress look like bubbles (Bubble Boom); Jubilee's dress has hearts on it, and hearts go "thump" (Thumpty Thump), and Alice's dress has stars, and stars are sparkly (Sparkly Spark). Wow, I'm a genius!

Reunited

Although separated at birth, 

circumstances have conspired to reunite 

Peach and Melon!

Peach (as yet unnamed) just joined the family, and Elody (Melon), who has been here for about half a year, is so glad to see her sister! Both dolls came to me in excellent "used" condition. This was just a quick picture; I'm looking forward to spending some time styling them--their hair could use some attention!--and taking more interesting photos. I've seen some beautiful shots of the two of them together, on Flick'r.

Prima Dolly Peach and Prima Dolly Melon were limited edition releases in 2007 (only 500 of each doll were produced). They have the RBL face mold.

Color Story: Pink

This is Fleur. 

She likes pink. 

The end.

Okay, so it's not the end. I want to add a few words about how much I love this girl, Charlotte des Fleurs. I love her because pink is my favorite color; and I love how huge her hair is! There have been a lot of pictures of this doll on Facebook and Flick'r posted by owners frustrated with her hair, because this is not your normal doll hair. If you brush it or wash it (both normal activities for normal doll hair), it tends to tangle and/or fall out. After hearing of disasters resulting in Charlottes with shorn hair, I approached it very cautiously when I took her out of her box, and did little more than fluff and separate the curls.  I will never brush or wash this girl's hair. I think she looks perfect just like this! (Did I mention that I love her??)

Farewell, Poppy!

Poppy: "So long, girls, I'm off to live in Georgia!"

Ophelia: "Goodbye, Poppy! 
Hope:  "Enjoy your adventure!" 
Eve: "We'll miss you!"
Heather: "Send me some peaches!"

And with that, for the first time, I'm sending one of my girls to live with a new family (not counting that time I sold a doll to a friend for half price, then regretted it, then my friend decided she was done with dolls and sold her back to me). This time it's for KEEPS!

I bought Poppy waaaaaaay back when I first started collecting Blythe. She is a "factory" girl (aka fake), and I wanted to see what the fakes were like. I was pleasantly surprised by her quality: nice hair, beautiful eye colors, great eyelashes, and all-around almost identical to Blythe. A few months later, though, I decided that I would only collect the authentic Takara releases, so I stopped taking pictures of Poppy. She has been sitting on the sidelines of my collection for two years, and I've felt bad for her.

The happy ending to this story is that Poppy with be the very first Blythe for a doll collector I met in the group Blythe World on Facebook. (I love all the Blythe-related groups on Facebook, and Blythe World is one of my favorites!) Since April is already a doll-lover, I know she will adore Poppy and give her the attention this beautiful girl deserves.

Farewell, Poppy!

Rear View

Blythes are beautiful from every angle.

Mirror Image

Who's that girl?

She's Jubilee (Simply Thumpty Thump)! She joined us on Christmas, and has finally been released from her box. I love her hair color! I can't wait to take pictures of her together with her sisters Sparkly Spark and Bubble Boom.

What Time is It?

The New Year's Eve countdown had me thinking about clocks. 

What time is it?  

Time to play with Blythe!

I had some help setting up the picture...as usual.

Frosty New Year

The new year is off to a frosty start here in Virginia!  

Bonnie, Citrine, and Grace wish you a happy and healthy 2015.