Thank you so much to everyone who entered and helped to tweet about the giveaway, I wish I could afford to give everyone a year of Flickr Pro! It was certainly fun trying to surprise you all with a little something special for the month of June.

Congratulations goes to…
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Artwork by Rabbitine /  Badge design by keyinherpocket

In just two weeks, BlytheCon 2011 will be happening out in Portland, Oregon.

I know a lot of Blythe fans are super excited about BlytheCon happening stateside this year and I, for one, am excited that it’s on the west coast! For those that don’t know, I live in British Columbia, Canada. Which is about a small hop and skip away from Portland (for the geographically challenged, BC is right above Washington state, which is right above Oregon) and that means that I will be there and I’m so looking forward to meeting people who are also dolly-minded.

A side note: If you want to look for me, I’m going to make it super easy for you to find me – I’ll be the doll crazy girl holding onto two Blythes. Oh wait, that’ll be most people there! I’ll have to think of some way to make me easily identifiable.

This week’s question of the week:

Are you attending BlytheCon on June 20th? If you are – how many dolls are going with you? If you’re not – are you going to be do a Blythe Meet around that date for a mini-BlytheCon?

The doll hobby was a lot more expensive than I had originally expected when I got my first Blythe back in 2009. Just a Blythe costs a hundred dollars (or more). Clothes, well, those add up. A few dollars here, twenty dollars there, some people have piles and piles of dresses that cost them $20 each – maybe not me, but some people do. That’s… a lot of money. Even buying as frugally as possible (only during some sundries sales, only on things that are ‘special’ enough to be bought or things that I can’t make), the hobby is expensive. And while I may have spent more money on dolls than clothes, it all still adds up when you consider the need to buy things to create with.

Even if you were to make everything yourself, there’s the cost of thread, fabric, a sewing machine, shoes (unless you can make shoes yourself, in which case I think you’re awesome), yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks and all those little accessories. There’s so much money that goes into this hobby that makes it expensive to make things, expensive to buy things, and all those shipping costs? It all adds up, at the end of the day.

But it’s just money, at the end of the day. There’s so much more than you gain from the hobby, even without expecting it. Some people learn how to sew, crochet, knit. Some people learn how to turn any Blythe into a work of art. Some people restore vintage beauties to their former glory. And, it seems like everyone does this, we all make friends.

We may not have very much in common, we may not even have the same taste in doll clothes, but we all love Blythe. We all find a little something in common with each other – a doll with a big head, an even bigger ego and four set of eye chips.

What have you gained from the Blythe hobby?

I’m spreading the Flickr Pro love this week!

One lucky BlytheLife.com visitor will receive the gift of one year of Flickr Pro.

All you need to do is comment below and tell me why you think you deserve to get it!

For one [1] bonus entry, retweet the following:

Surprise! @blythelifecom is giving away 1 year of Flickr Pro! http://bit.ly/mGzgr1

Conditions:  You must not already have a Flickr Pro account, this is for people who don’t already have a paid account.

The giveaway will end on Tuesday June 7 2011 and the winner will be announced Wednesday June 8 2011. Please include your Flickr photostream link below so if you win, I can gift the Pro subscription to you.