Did you know that at the time of writing that since July 1, 2010 there has been:

• 1 layout,
• 7 giveaways,
• 9 interviews,
• 66 posts,
• 542 comments,
• 40,000+ hits per month,
• An incredible amount of fun!

I just wanted to share and to thank everyone for having visited, commented, linked back, did an interview or a giveaway with me and everything. I’m looking forward to what I have planned for December, aren’t you? *hinthint*

What kind of things do you do when you’re unboxing a new (or new-to-you) Blythe? For me, I like to take photos of everything from the exterior box (i.e. shipping box!), the doll in the box, all the goodies that come taped up with an entire roll of tape to the insides of the box, when I pull the doll out, taking that plastic headband off and the first non-stock outfit on the new doll.

I’ve done this for every single Blythe that has ever entered into my house – even my Velvet Minuet who was new-to-me and came in a different stock box than the original. There’s just something that’s incredibly fun about opening up that box and seeing the doll for the first time. I could do without copious amounts of tape that hold everything hostage on the inside of the boxes (I’m sure you can relate!), but it’s still fun to pull everything out and see everything up close and personal rather than on the computer monitor!

What kind of unboxing rituals do you have? Do you take photos of every step or just the box and then the doll out of the box? What’s your favourite part of unboxing a new doll? Do you care if you’re the very first person to take the doll out of the box since she left the factory or do you like purchasing second-hand/previously loved Blythes?

Since photography’s such a huge part of the Blythe hobby, it’s always a good idea to know what your options are for uploading photos.

Flickr’s a very popular option – it’s free to use for up to 200 photos and after that, the older ones ‘disappear’ (if you ever go onto a paid account – which is $24.95/year – and all your old and disappeared photos will come back!) as there a lot of Blythe hobbyists on Flickr and there are a lot of Flickr groups that you can join and it makes it easy to search for photos of your favourite dolls (and all those Blythes that you don’t own yet).

But Flickr is not the be all and end all to image hosting websites. There are a lot of free image hosting options available and what you can consider are:

• ImageShack
• Photobucket
• TinyPic

Hope you have fun sharing photos! If you have any other suggestions for image hosting solutions, please let me know in the comments below and I’ll add them to the list!

Do you like reading fun and creative articles on BlytheLife.com? I’m looking for guest authors who want to write for BlytheLife.com!

What I’m looking for is…

• Tutorials (customizing, crafting, photography, etc.)
• Stories of how you got into the Blythe hobby
• Spotlight your favourite customizer or dolly crafter
• Reviews on products used for customizing or crafting
• Anything at all!

Do you want to share how you first discovered Blythe? Perhaps you had a customization mishap that’s really funny that you want to share? I’m looking for any and all stories to be shared on BlytheLife.com. If you’re a customizer, maybe you’d like to do a small tutorial on how to do something to make dolls even prettier than they already are or you have warnings (or praises!) for a type of paint or glue that you happened to discover locally (or online).

All you need to do is be able to write! Got an idea? Great! Just run it past me and see if I want to use it on the blog and all you need to do is write and I’ll take care of the rest after you send it to me.

BlytheLife.com always gives full credit to all guest authors for their written work and photography! Give back to BlytheLife.com and get a link back to your Etsy shop, Artfire shop, blog or other website.

If you’re interested in writing for BlytheLife.com, check out the guidelines for articles!

For those active in the English-speaking Blythe communities, I’m sure you’re aware that Plastic Paradise was rebranded as Blythe Kingdom when it also made the new ownership switch. With all new things comes a newly revised set of rules. Of the forums available that I can safely say that I love the community-family feel that Plastic Paradise/Blythe Kingdom offers.

With the new ownership came the new look, along with the revised themed-names of the boards. I mean, can you get any cuter than the very punny title of “Going Baroque” section that is the buy-sell-trade section? Too. Freaking. Cute.

But… For all those who have not yet joined the fun forum that is Blythe Kingdom, you’ll need to be aware that there are rules for joining. There’s also limitations as to when you can get to see all the fun buy-sell-trade – you need a minimum amount of posts before getting to see those sections but it’s not an incredibly high number of posts that you need to have, so just take your time, get to know all the different sections and take your time for posting.

See you in the kingdom!