·:[ Blythe Blog ]:·
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I know you’ve asked yourself that question.. maybe not out loud but the thought has probably crossed your mind in relation to your Blythe girls. Admit it, every time you pass a Good Will you think about going in and looking for a Kenner girl and maybe some of you actually do it !

I’ve always wondered about my Kenner deal.. Would I find her in some old no-name thrift shop? Perhaps a random yard sale? But I recently learned that we are probably overlooking the possibilities of finding other Blythe girls in our starry-eyed Kenner visions.

I was browsing eBay (as usual) just looking.. sometimes you can find a good deal on a used girl in the $100-$150 range. And I just so happened to be looking at the exact right moment, because I saw this:

*I took out the sellers name, but I saved a screen-shot so I can forever remember this.

I was in awe.. I actually felt like I sat there and read it over 4 times before my brain starting screaming “What are you doing? CLICK THE BIN BUTTON!”. I frantically starting clicking to buy her when I saw the payment page and realized I just got a NRFB Aztec Arrival for the mere price of $27.49 (shipping included).

She arrived today in all her “been sitting on the shelf since 2002 and my dusty box proves it” glory. I’ve seen several Blythe girls NIB but never a BL before and I can’t bring myself to free her completely yet.

I feel like a “crazy dolly lady” carrying her around still in her box. But I just want to savor this moment.. and this memory.

It might sound really silly and cliche to say, but when you least expect it, your dolly deal will come to you ! I had actually thought about not telling anyone about my little deal here. I didn’t want to come across like I was gloating or “nah nah, look @ me, I got a cheap dolly” !

But I wanted to share that this little plastic beauty wasn’t just a “deal”, she is forever a memory and a moment in my life where I can say “Hey, remember that deal I got on that doll that one time?”  and smile. It’s these little joyful moments in life that get us through the hard ones.

So, the next time you pass a thrift store, yard sale or browse eBay with obscure key words with Kenner visions dancing in your head, remember there are many other Blythe girls on the list waiting to be discovered ! Don’t give up because you never know what little plastic deal could be waiting for you.

Tags: Aztec Arrival, blythe, deal of a lifetime, doll, eBay, find, garage, sale, store, thrift

July 2010 poll results for “Which type of  Blythe do you prefer?”

Stock girls ! Love them just the way they are. 20.3% (12 votes)

Slightly modified – I like a spray-matte and eye-chip change and other small mods. 15.3% (9 votes)

Custom – I prefer completely changed girls. 15.3% (9 votes)

Random – I love all of them ! 49.2% (29 votes)

Total Votes: 59

Tags: 2010, blythe, July, mold, poll, prefer, results

When the prince came to rescue me, he kissed me on the cheek, and I blushed like a red apple. From that moment on we have been living together happily. I won’t forget my seven dearest little friends that spent time with me in the forest. Pleased to meet you, my name is Red Apple.

Her shiny long blonde hair set in long ringlets, is complimented with a long pink dress, perfect for a princess. The over dress is a sweet pink satin finish. The bodice and sleeves are decorate with tiny, delicate lace and it is topped off with a blue satin ribbon and pink pearlescent beads. The over dress has a lovely split opening in the front to reveal a rosy pink under skirt with large frills and white lace.

Get wrapped up in her gorgeous princess style with the details on this Petite Blythe. Pleats, frills, lace and more!

Her boots are also in baby pink with lovely baby blue printed laces.
Her hair color is blonde.
Her hair is parted in the center and her long ringlets fall at her hip line, and is groomed with a big rose colored ribbon headband.
The skin type is one tone lighter then a standard skin type.
Her has special lavender eye color. Her eye shadow is citrus yellow and her lips and cheeks are pink.

[ Skin Type ] Fair skin
[ Eye Color ] Lavendar blue *Special new color.
[ Eye Shadow ] citrus yellow, Lip: pink, Cheek: pink
[ Hair Color ] blonde
[ Set Details ] doll, one piece, hair band, boots, stand

Price: 5,250yen (tax included)
Release date: 2010 September
Limited to 3000 dolls

Tags: 2010, blythe, new, petite, Red Apple, release, September

Aloha, I’m Paradise Girl!
Welcome to my world of warm sunny weather, cool ocean breezes and fabulous Hawaiian style.
As a graduate student at the University of Hawai’i in Ocean Engineering, I hope to develop wave power as an alternate energy and someday help island communities.
I want to make my family and friends proud.
I love dancing hula, especially ‘auana, and my newest hobby is stand up paddle boarding at Kailua beach, where I can really get up close to all the treasures of the sea.
After my activities, I absolutely adore shopping at Manuheali’i.
I can get chic styles in bold graphics, and the colors are so yummy.
I can’t wait to show the new outfit I got to my hula sisters!
The Coral Reef design is so contemporary, and we all know how I love the ocean.
The Ki nehe design on my ‘anuhea top is so cute and special.
Sometimes I shop online at manuhealii.com!
Hope to meet you someday in paradise, a hui hou!

Manuheali’i Paradise Girl is the most stylish girl in Hawaii!
Coordinating her accessories and clothing, she is off to the city and to the beach for another aloha day.
She has a long one piece dress with a halter style top.
The stylish cut of this dress gives Blythe a sophisticated look.
Manuheali’i ‘s original Coral Reef print combines a light green and brown pattern to give a tropical and earthy feel.
The brand logo is also printed at the front to make the dress even more special!
Put on her gold hoop earrings and she’s ready to go!
The earrings have a white shell-like bead on each side as an accent.

Her second outfit is a different feel with a patterned one shouldered top and denim shorts.
Her one shouldered top has a clear, rubber strap through the neck to keep the top in place.
This shirt has Manuheali’i ‘s original print for Ki nehe with the brand logo at the front.
Orange, red, and vibrant colors radiates from this Paradise Girl
Her shorts are cool, white denim and she wears white beach sandals to go with it.
Don’t forget her sunglasses and she’s ready for a fun day in Hawaii!

She has long dark brown, wavy hair parted to the side.
Her skin type is like “Heather Sky” and her face type is Radiance.
She has brown eye shadow, red cheeks, and tan lips.
Her eye chips and eyelashes are all special as well!
Her stand and pull ring are matching green, and the stool of the stand is gold.

“Manuheali’i Paradise Girl” will bring you the tropical summer breeze to you!

*These are not “Sleepy Eyes.”[ Face Type ] Radiance
[ Skin Type ] Dark skin like Heather Sky
[ Make-up ] Eye shadow- brown, Lips- orangy beige, Blush- coral
[ Eye Color ] Turquoise blue (right) / ivy green (front) / dark grey (left) / light brown (front) *All special colors
[ Hair Color ] Brown (dark and light brown mix)
[ Eyelashes ] Special
[ Enamel ] orangey beige
[ Earrings ] 1 set
[ The set includes ] Doll, long dress, blouse, shorts, underwear, sunglasses, earrings, sandals, and stand.

Scheduled Release Date: Mid-September 2010
Suggested Retail Price: 16,590yen
Limited edition of 3000 dolls

Tags: 2010, blythe, doll, Manuheali'i Paradise Girl, new, paradise, release, September

The 3rd Simply series come from the clouds above with their cute skate shoes! Their names are: Simply Bubble Boom, Simply Thumpty Thump and Simply Sparkly Spark! They always help Marabelle Melody when the odds are stacked against her and Tora Unpappa toots her magical horn for help!

Simply Thumpty Thump wears a purple dress with a heart pattern inspired by a skate costume. The flared mini skirt is double-layered and the dark purple under skirt is cutely shown from the bottom. For shoes, she wears black tights and purple skate shoes. Her hair style is a bob that reaches her shoulder with bangs, and her hair color is slightly pinkish purple like berries. She decorates her hair with a black headband. Her makeup is a light purple eye shadow with coral pink lips and blush. Her face type is Fairest (shiny surface), and skin type is Fair.

Scheduled Release Date: August 2010
Suggested Retail Price: 10,290 yen
Limited edition of 1500 dolls

Tags: blythe, FBL, heart, new, purple, release, simply, thump, thumpty

So, 2 of my favorite dolly personalities had birthday’s this past month and on the same day nonetheless !

Squirrel celebrated her 2nd birthday with her best friend Bea and most of the Flickr community. As usual, Rebecca’s photos are both inspiring and heart-warming.

Picture by: Squirrel Junkie

There was lots of celebration @ Tia’s as it was Oz’s first birthday !

*Picture by Tia

Not only did Rebecca and Tia celebrate but both girls were sent gifts from other dolly friends across the community. And of course lots of birthday wishes and cheer was spread throughout.

When I first started collecting Blythe, I thought the remembrance of their “birthdays” and “arrival days” and this is the day I got her her first ButtonArcade dresses were kinda.. silly ! Like it was a little bit of overdoing it.

But since I’ve been in this hobby, and anyone else who actually gets involved. You soon realize that collecting Blythe is not only about having a collectible doll. There’s these whole other aspects to it that surprise you. Among Flickr and forum communities, you totally just build this little bond with your doll. And then it’s amplified when you share in little things with others who also collect these “magical” dolls.

I’m not saying you will remember the day every doll arrived with you. Nor would your life probably allow you the time to involve yourself with each of them and every dolly friends dollies birthdays. But when you actually do find a doll that captures your heart like this and you can share as we’ve seen Rebecca and Tia share, it totally just puts a smile on your face.

I have to admit that I don’t think I would have stayed in the hobby this long (as nothing holds my attention!) if it wasn’t for the actual friendships I’ve build beyond my dolls. In fact, seeing things like this inspired me so much I made my first 2 official tees for “Little Sheep Eep” for Squirrel and Oz as birthday presents for them.

So, find a special reason to celebrate with your favorite dolly ! Have a little party ! Celebrate your hobby. Give your neighbors a reason to stare ! You might find the creative outlet was just what you needed for yourself too !

Tags: "Ask Oz", birthday, blythe, celebration, Squirrel, squirrel junkie, tia

Today I am announcing that I am going back into selling Blythe tees !

In early 2009 I started a line of tees in my shop then known as “Commonly Cute”. I had several designs, some were really popular. But I honestly messed up more tees than I sold. haha !

*Some of the original designs.

I also sold other Blythe related products like eye-chips, pull-rings and other Blythe related things. Due to the economy and my family coming on some hard times, I had to close the shop.

Since that time I have always wished that there was some way I could get back into it and with a new and improved method of creating the tees and the designs on them. For over a year, I’ve scribbled in a journal my mom bought me to keep “creative ideas” in and finally, it is all coming together.

With the help of my sister one night, the name of the shop came about ~ Little Sheep Eep. “Eep” is my childhood nickname from my sissy and she still calls me it to this day. The sheep has many different symbols for me – from religion background to just loving on lambs and sheep. My favorite designer, Katie over @ smile-recipe is helping us with the graphics for the shop.

Finding “Eep” ~ our dolly spokesperson to promote the shop came a little easier than I expected.. although she was an unlikely candidate. For months I’ve been hating on the FBL Blythe mold saying that I found it totally ugly and being a total meanie saying that I wasn’t going to buy anymore Blythe girls that went beyond the RBL mold.

I had gotten an EBL Skate Date to be “Eep” and when I opened her up, she just wasn’t “Eep”. I just wasn’t feeling it ~ Which is surprising because SD is a beauty !

Anyhow, after that I realized I should research some dolls more on Flickr and try to find a girl that I think will look good in any tee while rocking a sheep hat. I stumbled across Luna & Happibug Paris girls and I fell in love.

As total luck would have it, A dolly friend (Carmen) offered a trade for her Paris for my SD and the rest is history. Little “Eep” has been with me a few weeks, already attending a Blythe meet in Alabama.

*That’s my little Eep on the top left

She is a magical dolly and the perfect dolly spokesperson for the shop. She is currently visiting with the talented Squirrel Junkie to be customized to be a true ~ Little Sheep Eep !

Anyhow, to get back to the topic at hand.. I am so excited to announce that I will once again be creating Blythe tees. And in unique and new ways.

~ a little sneak peek ~

I will not only be doing silk-screen and iron-on designs, but now I’ll be doing rhinestone tees and tees with a combination of the 2 for some really unique looks. I also plan on offering custom tees with your girls name across it with a small icon. There’s lots of things in store ! I truly hope this is the beginning of something fun and new !

I plan to have a cool Blytheblog contest to win a special tee ! So stay tuned for that

Tags: announce, blythe, Little Sheep Eep, LSE, new, shop, tees

A boyish girl Nicky Lad is visiting the new Science Museum in the park with her friend.
The museum has a rain forest exhibit that has occasional showers here and there!
She is going prepared with her rain coat with hood to take a good look at everything!

She has a fresh boyish fashion and short hair.
She wears a light blue polo shirt with white denim short pants.
Her polo shirt has a cute yellow dots and hot pink piping for a vivid, pop look.
Her pants have light blue accent stitches.
Over the shirt and denim, she wears a vivid yellow rain coat.
The silhouette is an A-line poncho, and the hot pink piping perfectly trims the coat.
Her glasses and work boots are hot pink, too, to match the coat!
Her socks are light gray, and the cuffs are made with ribbed fabric.

Her hair style is a side parted, short hair.
Her hair color is a yellowish light brown.
For this cheerful girl’s makeup, yellow for eyeshadow, coral pink for lips and blush had been selected.
She has one special eye chips “sky blue” gazing toward the center.
Her face type is Radiance, and skin type is Natural.

[ Face Type ] Radiance
[ Skin Type ] Natural
[ Make-up ] Eye shadow- yellow brown, Lips- coral pink, Blush- coral pink
[ Eye Color ] Blue (right) / sky blue (center-special color) / green (left) / pink (center)
[ Hair Color ] Yellowish brown
[ The set includes ] Doll, polo shirt, pants, rain coat, glasses, socks, boots, underwear, and stand.

Tags: 2010, blythe, July, new, Nikki Lad, release

I’m sure most of you are Flickr members – And if you aren’t, join up ! Part of the fun for the Blythe hobby (for me anyhow) is taking photographs of them. It’s an easy yet effective form of creativity and expression. And it really helps you to get to know your dolly and your fellow collectors !

There’s a lot of groups catered around Blythe – one of my favorites is the “365 challenge” – This is where you take a photograph of your favorite girl every day for 1 entire year.

This challenge has defeated me on 3 occasions. I made it all the way up to the 200s before giving up on Oz. But that doesn’t change the fun of the entire process ! After looking back on my 200 days with Oz, I was really wanting to give it a shot again. But I already know I won’t make 365 with any one girl. So, it got me to thinking and I came up with a solution for girls like me with short attention spans – ADAM aka “A Doll A Month” !

Just pick 1 dolly and take a photograph of them once a month OR if you want to commit a little further, you can pick 1 dolly and photograph her EVERY day for a month – For an added challenge I’ll have themes. For May I chose “music” – So you would take a photo of your dolly set to some kind of creative music theme. And every month will have a new theme.

So anyhow, if you are a commitment-phobe like me, it’s perfect for you to still participate and set small goals before maybe trying your hand at the big one !

Tags: blythe, challenge, doll, flickr, group, month, photo

Have you been called that before? Or you could read it on the face of someone who saw you clutching your Blythe while taking a photo? Or at a family gathering? You know that they know your plastic friend is more than an accessory, she’s part of you.

I never realized it until today. When I finally allowed myself to look over the past year of my time with my Sunday’s Best – Oz. I had started her 365 and made it up to the 200-teens before adopting her out to a good friend. (♥ Tia!)

I’m sure some of you are thinking, why did I even adopt her out if I loved her so much? To be honest… It was just time to do it. I don’t regret it. And I don’t want to make Tia feel bad because she’s the bestest dolly mommy I could have ever asked for.

But the reason I sit here and ponder this was that I never realized how much that doll was with me until I looked over the pictures of our 365 adventure on my Flickr while listening to a weepy song.

She was with me when my Gramma passed, during my dads heart attack, when we moved, for Christmas, holidays, birthdays, being sick, being happy, she met Bea!, went to BlytheCon with me – She was just a special doll that spent a lot of special times with me. And I never would’ve known that if I didn’t document it. (On a side note: My advice is, take lots of pictures of your girl, even if it’s not for a 365 challenge.)

And while my heart aches a little looking at her sometimes, I just realized that it wasn’t ME that made the doll. Oz made herself special. Isn’t that weird to say?

As my cursor blinks and I re-read that sentence “Oz made herself special.” – I think I’ve lost my mind. But it’s true. And all it really takes is someone to spend some time with her and help her develop her “personality”.

While all Blythe girls are special, there are a few that just beam and gleam good times to be had. A special little spark in them. I know it’s true because Oz still sparks with her new “mom”.

Maybe that’s why we get the stares.. or we keep our dollies inside because we don’t want the stares. People find Blythe creepy because she is special. She has personality. She is magical.

Now, I wonder who will spend the next year with me? Whose plastic face will light up for me? Only time will tell… I hope she comes soon.

♥ Farewell Oz, Until we meet again. ♥

♪ Music: Jimmy Eat World – My Sundown ♪

I see it around me, I see it in everything
I could be so much more than this…

I said my goodbye’s
This is my sundown
I’m gonna be so much more than this
With one hand high
You’ll show them your progress
You’ll take your time
But no one cares
No one cares.

I need you to show me
The way from crazy
I wanna be so much
More than this…

With one hand high
You’ll show them your progress
You’ll take your time
But no one cares.

*repeat chorus*

I could be so much more than this.
Good goodbye lovely time
Good goodbye to sunshine
Good goodbye
I’ll be fine
Good goodbye
Good goodnight

Tags: "Ask Oz", blythe, farewell, magic