Cadence

Earlier this summer, when I was taking a red, white, and blue "4th of July" picture, I realized that I have dolls with red hair and blue hair, but none with white hair. I NEEDED a white-haired girl! So recently, when I came across a used Cadence Majorette at a great price, I couldn't say no. Here she is, my new girl Cadence. Her hair is a very pale blond rather than stark white, but it works for me! The pink dress she is wearing, from Honey Dolls, is also new to us, and she gets to be the first to wear it. (The headband actually goes with a different dress, but it goes well with this one too.)

Now I'm all set for July 4, 2018! In the meantime, I plan to take plenty of pictures of my pretty new girl.

Get a Little Closer

If you want to have a happier life, get a little closer to nature. 

This is Jill, my Home Sweet Home Blythe doll. 

A Good Day

Every day is a good day with you.

Allegra Champagne and Home Sweet Home

Shoe Obsession

Dolly shoes: so cute, so costly!

When I started collecting Blythes, I planned to make most of their clothes myself...but I didn't think about the shoes, until my first girl came wearing a pair of black boots that simply did not go with everything. She needed more shoes. I actually tried to make shoes out of felt, without success...I can make bedroom slippers out of felt, but not regular shoes (although I have seen at least one talented person make shoes from felt on Etsy, I just wasn't/am not ready to invest the time and effort into figuring that out.) So, I had to start buying shoes. I found them on eBay, Blythe Kingdom, Etsy, and Facebook groups, and I have gradually amassed quite a nice collection of tiny footwear. With the average price around $20 a pair, if I see any that I like that are less than that, I snap them right up!

This is Simply Peppermint with a small sample of our doll shoe collection.

Blythe Con Brooklyn Donation

A few months ago I was contacted by a member of the BlytheCon Brooklyn organizing team, asking if I could make a donation for a raffle prize. I was happy to say "yes", and today I am even happier to say that I have finally finished my donation! This is my new girl Jill (Home Sweet Home) modeling the outfit I will be sending to the Con. 

The pink dress fabric is one of several that was designed especially for this Con's theme of "The 1980's". It features scattered cassette tapes (hey, I remember those!) in different sizes. This four-piece set includes a sleeveless dress, a hairbow made from the same fabrics as the dress, a short-sleeved wool sweater, and a wool felt shoulder bag with a cassette tape on the front, also made from felt. 

In addition to the dress set, I will also be donating one of my new Blythe Happy calendars for 2018. It's hot off the press! I had it made at Snapfish, and it looks really good.

BlytheCon Brooklyn will take place on October 22, 2017. I hope to be there!

Meet Jill

Introducing my pretty new Blythe doll, Home Sweet Home! She will go by the name Jill.

I normally prefer the fantasy-haired girls, but I just love Jill's soft coloring, translucent skin, and her pink and blue outfit. I was pleasantly surprised to find the two paper extras that came with her: the adorable Blythe-in-a-box that is her mini-me, and the sweet little shopping bag from the store Junie Moon. Both of these items had to be assembled. The doll box was simple to fold together, but the shopping bag required glue and I had to supply the handles; luckily, I have a huge selection of ribbon in my sewing room so it was easy to find some that matched. I also added my own tissue paper to the bag to make it look like Jill just came home from a shopping trip.

I've had her for a couple of weeks, but I haven't posted her picture until now because her hair required FIVE washes to get the grease out! This is the most work I've had to put into a doll to make her presentable right out of the box, and she could probably still use another shampoo. That's her only drawback--if you are thinking of getting her, be prepared to wash, wash, wash her hair!

What's Cookin'?

Nothing says lovin' like something from the oven.

This is Prima Dolly Peony. 

You Deserve a Break Today

Marina's personal motto is "A burger a day keeps the doctor away," and she's never been sick a day in her life.

Ooh! McDonalds!

Playful Raindrops

It's Soup!

Babysitting is fun when the children are well behaved and wait patiently for their dinner. Bree calls them to the table, saying, "It's almost ready, boys! This soup is going to be 'M'm M'm good!'"

 This is Middie Blythe Lena Elena. The boys are Sonny Angels.

Let's Build Something Together

After working on their model of Tower Bridge for three hours, Jubilee and Tillie had only managed to assemble the little bus. They both began thinking that it was time to find a new hobby. 

Look at how tiny this bus is! All the pieces of this model are made from perforated paper. You are supposed to punch them out, fold tiny flaps, and glue them together with the tiniest dabs of glue. The picture of the model on the box looks awesome, but I have absolutely no motivation to go any further now that I have finished the bus! 

Life is But a Dream

Faith had walked this path to her grandmother's house many times, but today it seemed different--like a scene from a fairy tale. Everything was so colorful! The mushrooms were taller than she was! The forest creatures  were without fear, and the bunnies seemed to welcome her.  "Oh, I know--I must be dreaming!" she said to herself. And she was. 

Faith is Pow Wow Poncho

Friendship

Jubilee and Heather like to pretend they are old enough to drink, but it's really just grape juice in those wine glasses. 

Simply Thumpty Thump and Prima Dolly Violet.

Buckle Up

You could learn a lot from a dolly. Buckle up!

Cousin Olivia and Ice Rune

What Happens Here Stays Here

The best thing about being with your BFF is knowing that whatever happens stays here. Even if you're just doing crafts together. 

This is for the theme "What Happens Here Stays Here" in the Blythe a Day group on Flickr. These BFF's do look alike, but they are two different releases: the girl on the left is Stella Savannah, and the girl on the right is Coco Collette.

No More Tears

Joy doesn't cry about the high cost of shampoo now that she buys it in the economy-size five gallon bottle. 

This is My Melody.

The Quicker Picker Upper

Cooking with an ostrich egg from a nearby farm seemed like a fun idea...until the egg rolled off the table. Luckily, Alice had plenty of paper towels on hand to clean up the mess. 

Alice is Simply Sparkly Spark

The Happiest Place on Earth

We each have our own happy place. Here's mine: my dolly space. When we first moved into this house, before I knew about Blythe, this was the dining room. During the past five years, since I've been collecting Blythe, it has gradually morphed into my doll photography space. You can see that Precocious Candy's Mushroom is still set up, on the far left, from yesterday's photo shoot--that spot is where I take most of my indoor doll pictures (with the help of two photographer's lights, with big white umbrellas, that I moved out of the way for this picture). My computer is on the other side of the room, so it's easy to take pictures and immediately look at them on the computer...often I see some little detail that needs to be changed (stray hairs, pull string showing, etc.), so I can retake the picture right away and then edit to produce the final product.

All my stock Neos are in this shot (54!), plus most of my Middies. Many of these girls will go back into the glass Ikea cabinet in my sewing room tomorrow to give me a little more space to work in here.

After taking the photos above, editing them and setting up this post, I heard some tiny voices chanting "We demand a recount!" I had forgotten to include two boxed girls,  Middie Bubbly Bliss, and Neo Dauphine Dream. Then I noticed poor Petit Dejeuner sitting alone on a shelf...I had overlooked her for the group photos! I hope she can forgive me. And then today, the mailman brought Home Sweet Home to my house, yippee!! Clearly, I needed to take one more photo to round up all the stragglers, including one more Middie (Puchippu Chappu Pepa) and my two Petites (Ivanka and Connie Corneille). Total Neos: 57. Total Middies: 8. Total Petites: 2. But those numbers could go up at any moment.

American by Birth, Rebel by Choice

All-American girl on the outside, rebel on the inside. 

This is Charlotte, my Precocious Candy's Mushroom Blythe doll. 

Think Small

Polly says: "Small is the new big!"

She is Petite Blythe Ivanka Corneille.

Just Do It

When there's an unpleasant household task to tackle, London takes a deep breath and tells herself, "Just do it!"

Prima Dolly London is the girl in charge of the bathroom this week. 

When it Rains, It Pours

Marina is trying out for a Morton Salt commercial to be aired on prime time TV. She has a good shot at getting the part...she looks just like the girl on the label. 

If you are not familiar with Morton Salt, here's the picture on their label:

My Playful Raindrops (how appropriate!) was the perfect girl for this picture, because of her short yellow hair. This picture is for the theme "When it rains, it pours" in the Blythe a Day group on Flickr.

 I was having a hard time thinking of what to do for this theme, until I noticed the picture on the label. I thought, I have a yellow dress...and yellow shoes...and an umbrella...and a yellow-haired doll! I also have a piece of dark blue silk that I used for the background. I actually sewed lines of thread onto the silk for the rain, and the pouring salt is a piece of tulle. 

Double the Fun

Waverly and Daphne know how lucky they are to have each other, because everything is double the fun with a twin.

They are my Candy Carnival Blythe dolls.

Don't Leave Home Without It

Penny never leaves home without her camera, because she doesn't want to miss the chance to take an amazing photograph. 

Here's the picture she took that day:

These dolls are Cinema Princess (left); Middie Blythe Lena Elena; and Cloud 9 Bowl (right).