Warning: Nudity Ahead!

Hello Blythe lovers! I had one more idea for the Blythe Museum Challenge (#blythemuseumchallenge) on Facebook, so I rounded up some Blythe dolls and made an effort to re-create Henri Matisse's work, "Dance 1". Yes, they're naked, but it's art, so it's okay. 

These five Blythe dolls are, from left to right: Sea Sailor See, Lady Camellia, Pretty Peony, Daunting Drusilla, and Milky Way Sugar. The background is fabric. They made good use of their pull rings to facilitate the hand-holding necessary for this picture. I hope you get a laugh out of this--I did!

It's All About the Music

Let's hear a big round of applause for the amazingly talented new girl group, Sarah Shades and the Shade-ettes!

I made this picture is for the theme "S is for..." in what I thought was going to be the September Blythe a day group on Flickr...but due to some confusion, there is actually a different list for this month. How fortunate for me that today's theme is "Music," since I had already made this picture!

These Blythe dolls are, from left to right: Sea Sailor See, Sarah Shades, and Lady Camellia. Sarah is wearing her stock dress and sunglasses; the other girls are wearing dresses I knitted, and sunglasses from other stock dolls. 

Knitting Machine

Emiko has learned to knit, and now she just can't stop. This Christmas, it's a sweater for everyone!

This Blythe doll is Lady Camellia, posing for the theme "Create" in the Blythe a Day group on Flickr. She must be my alter ego, because I LOVE knitting these little sweaters! I always have one in progress on my needles. In fact, that's the one I'm working on right now, on the needles she is holding. And yes, I do have enough dolls to wear all those sweaters!

Beauty

"The most beautiful face in the world? It's yours!"

                                                              --Estee Lauder

This beautiful face belongs to Lady Camellia (I call her Emiko.) I recently found this pretty dress on eBay; it's from a maker in Ireland. It suits Emiko very well, I think. Even though I can (and do) make clothes for my dolls, I like to add things made by others to my collection, for more variety in my photos, and so I can see what techniques someone else used in their sewing. Since I am mostly self-taught, it helps me learn and grow as a sewist. (You'll notice I didn't say "sewer" because that could be misread as the place where waste water goes!)

Fool's Gold

Give fools their gold and knaves their power; 
let fortune's bubbles rise and fall; 
who sows a field or trains a flower, 
or plants a tree, is more than all.

                          --from "A Song of Harvest" by John Greenleaf Whittier

Since I didn't have any great ideas on how to develop the theme of "Fool's Gold" (in the Blythe a Day group on Flickr), I did what I could with it, with this quote by John Greenleaf Whittier and a couple of props. Then I focused on this as a chance to do a comparison picture between Blythe Adores Anna Sui and Lady Camellia. Their hair is very similar in color; Anna's is a bit more purple, while Camellia's is a little more brown. The biggest difference between them is their makeup; Anna has a lot of color, while Camellia has much less. It's funny that when they are side-by-side, I like the more natural look of Lady Camellia, but in real life, I prefer Anna Sui. In fact, Anna (whom I call Zelda) is my favorite Blythe doll. Which do you prefer?

Anna's dress is by Endangered Sissy; Camellia's is the stock dress from Spright Beauty. I've never used this stock dress since I took it off SB...I think the fairy wings on the back made me think it could only be a fairy dress, but I just realized that the wings detach, and without them it looks like a perfectly nice dress for any doll. 

The Perfect Tree

Since they were unable to reach a consensus on the perfect tree, they agreed to disagree. 

I got the idea for this picture from images that are quite common at this time of year, of a tree tied on top of a car...I thought it would be cute to have trees being carried in and on different types of transportation, so these girls brought out their bike, wagon, and sled. 

They are, from left to right: Yellow Marshmallow (middie), Raspberry Sorbet, and Lady Camellia.

The Nutcracker Suite

Emiko's favorite music is anything from Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite."

I Googled this subject to be sure I had the name of the music exactly right (is it "The Nutcracker Suite," or  "Nutcracker Suite," or "The Nutcracker?") It turns out that the title "The Nutcracker Suite" refers to a set of eight musical numbers from the ballet "The Nutcracker," that were first performed in concert separately from the ballet in 1892. So there you go. Blything is very educational.

The nutcrackers are hollow tins that came with candy inside.

Good King Wenceslas

"'Good King Wenceslas' is a popular Christmas carol that tells a story of a Bohemian king going on a journey and braving harsh winter weather to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen (December 26, the First Day of Christmas)." (--Wikipedia)

This photo is for the theme "Good King Wenceslas" in the Blythe a Day group on Flickr. I wasn't sure how to portray a male character when all my dolls are female, so I just went forward with a female doll (Lady Camellia). I dressed her in the stock robe from Angelica Eve. With the collar turned up, it almost looks like she has a pageboy haircut, and I hope that gives the illusion that this is a king rather than a queen!

Haunted

One need not be a chamber to be haunted;

One need not be a house;

The brain has corridors surpassing

Material place.

                  --Emily Dickinson

This is Lady Camellia

Hiking Rocks!

Emiko was surprised to discover painted boulders lining the path as she hiked in the mountains for the first time. 

I was walking with my husband one evening last week, playing Pokemon Go. As we sat down on a bench (to take over a gym...you Pokemon players know what I'm talking about) I noticed a rock that had been carefully set against the back of the bench. I thought there was something special about this rock, but it was too dark to see, so I put it in my pocket. When I got home I saw that it had a picture painted on it (it's the one on the right with the sun and house); on the back was the name of a Facebook group, "Williamsburg VA Rocks!" It turns out that this is a local group of people who paint and hide rocks around town to be found by strangers. If you find one, you can keep it or re-hide it. The people in the group post pictures of rocks they have painted and are getting ready to hide, and they love it if "finders" will post pictures of their finds...so I'm going to post this picture to the group, showing my rock, plus two others that my daughter found. I'm also going to tell them about Blythe. Who knows? Maybe I'll get some of them to come over to the "Blythe side"!

This doll is Lady Camellia.

Pictures in the Clouds

When they had eaten all the picnic food they could manage, the girls relaxed on the quilt and looked for pictures in the clouds. 

These Blythes are Lady Camellia (Neo), Cool Pool Lemonade (Middie), and a Littlest Pet Shop Blythe doll. 

Waiting

When she's expecting a new doll to be delivered, the only thing Emiko wants to do is watch for the postman. 

This is Lady Camellia, with about half of our Lala Loopsy minis collection.

Explore

Never stop exploring. 

This is a "re-do" of a photo I made a couple of years ago for the same Blythe a Day theme on Flickr. You can see the first one by clicking HERE .  

She is Emiko, my Lady Camellia Blythe doll. This is the first time I've photographed her without her kimono. I was reluctant to take it off, because it is rather involved to put back on...and I fear that she may never wear it again!

Blythe Adores Anna Sui

I was fortunate to win the chance to purchase Blythe Adores Anna Sui in the lottery at Junie Moon. She arrived here a couple of weeks ago, but as she was to be my Valentine's Day gift, I had to put off opening her for a while. Wow, she was worth the wait!

It's not very obvious in this picture , but...SHE HAS PURPLE HAIR!!! A Blythe with dark purple hair has been one of my wishes for quite a while, and now my wish has come true. And she has a set of purple eyes to match!

Recently I've started taking a picture like this of each doll as I take her out of her box--this flat layout with everything that came in the box serves as a good introduction to a doll...and it also helps me to remember, in the future, which little things belong to her! (Not that it really matters, but sometimes I want to show off a doll in her stock, and I might not remember which tights were hers, for example.)

Everything about her is well done. I especially like her pull ring, which isn't a ring at all, but a sort of plastic charm that says "Ann Sui". Her hat is wonderfully big and soft and furry. Her tights fit well and weren't too hard to put on. Her boots are pretty, and they are "left" and "right" which is a nice detail (although I'm afraid there will be some people who get two left or two right boots! I haven't heard of anyone with this problem yet, but I know it happened a lot with Minty Magic.) Her outfit looks like a skirt and blouse, but it is really a one-piece dress, which is well-made and pretty. All this plus panties, earrings, bag and sunglasses, and she is ready to go!

When she's dressed from head to toe in her stock outfit, Anna Sui is downright sophisticated.

I had a request to show her side-by-side with Lady Camellia, from the back, in daylight, to compare hair colors. Here is that unedited photo, below (Lady Camellia on the left and Anna Sui on the right). It's a terrible photo in terms of composition, but it is good representation of their actual hair colors. You can see that Anna Sui has beautiful hair: it's long, wavy, and thick.

This doll gets an "A+" from me; there's nothing I dislike about her--I highly recommend her.

Lady Camellia

Approximately five minutes after receiving a big check in the mail from my mother for Christmas, I was online ordering my newest doll: Lady Camellia. I had been thinking about her for a while, but wondered if she was too similar to my other brown haired girls. It turns out that her hair is an interesting and beautiful purplish-brown, so no, she is not similar to the other brunettes at all!

She came with everything you see here, plus a pair of basic pink panties that I forgot to include in the shot (the same "economy" version that come with most of the newer releases).

It was a pleasant surprise to remove her kimono and discover that she had another robe-type garment underneath. I googled it and learned that kimonos are usually worn with this inner layer, called nagajuban. The item above the kimono in the picture is her obi; it goes around her waist and the bow goes at the back. The flowered headband pulls her look together.

I love the combination of colors and patterns in her outfit...especially the little checkered socks! So cute! The sandals are really cute too. I can't wait to put everything on her and gather a few Japanese props for a themed photo shoot.