When I first started in the Blythe community, I noticed that a lot of other people had dolls other than Blythe. I thought some of them were pretty cute, but I also thought it’d get very expensive very quickly if I were to indulge in other dolls. But there’s just some things that you just can’t shake. And sometimes, just sometimes, you fall in absolute love with a dolly and just have a need to get her. This little dolly belongs to a member of my local Blythe group, Jen. My first mistake was asking if I could see her/hold her. The second mistake? Posing her arms and legs.

It didn’t take very long for me to find one online to buy. It also didn’t take very long for the doll arrive in my grabby little hands (yay for EMS!). And now I have my own ball-jointed doll to call my own! My sisters were impressed that it look so long for me to branch out into other types of dolls. It was difficult for me because I had to find a way to reassure myself that this wasn’t the beginning of the end of my bank account (!) and that it really was mostly a one-off purchase because I can’t afford to clothe multiple sizes of dolls and I really don’t want that many dolls! Blythe will always be the number one dolly in my heart, but there’s always room for more dolly love to go around.

For those that are curious, this doll is a Doll Leaves 16cm ball-jointed doll with the stock name ‘DingDing’. The model was discontinued before I bought her, so you won’t be able to find her on the Doll Leaves website, but you can still find her online at various resellers or on eBay.

Treasures For Dollars is a mini-series that is completely focused on things that I actually find (and buy) from dollar stores and other similar stores. It will alternate with Blythe On A Budget articles for the next little while until the finale of the mini-series (at Part 10). I hope you enjoy the series!

Despite the occasional time that my room looks incredibly messy, I do like having some order and organization in my life and that goes for my dolls as well. Whenever I go to a meet, a doll (or two) is either in a carrier or wrapped in a shirt and just put into my bag. Any other extra dolly stuff (clothes, shoes, etc.) are just tossed into my purse as well. I decided that really had to end.

One of the nice things about make-up bags is that small ones (handy for holding doll clothes and shoes) are fairly inexpensive. I can find them at my local dollar store for a buck each or you can also get them for free at make-up counters when you’re buying over a certain price limit. Luckily for me, my mom likes to buy pricey cleansers (the inexpensive ones literally make her have a rash) so whenever there’s a promotion of free make-up bag with goodies, she buys what she wants and whoever in the house wants it, can have the goodies. It’s technically not ‘free’ since it is with a purchase, but for a great organizational bag, who am I to say no? Bonus, it fits everything that I took along on my last meet: extra hair ties, clear plastic elastics for keeping shoes on, and a few extra hats in case someone wanted to smoosh down their hair.

What’s a good inexpensive dolly-find you discovered recently?

Some people go everywhere with a Blythe. To the grocery store, to the movies, to school, to work. You name the place, and a Blythe follows them around. Perhaps they’re not always out and about, but there’s a Blythe there.

Unfortunately, I’m still fairly shy when it comes to taking my dolls out for photos in public. That changed a bit when BlytheCon in Portland happened, and then with my monthly dolly meet-ups with a great group of local collectors. I’m a lot more ‘free’ with dolly photography when I’m in a group of like-minded people. After all, then I’m not the only one with a big-headed doll in her hands. It definitely changes the dynamics to have other people having dolls out too.

When I was working during the summer, I frequently had a doll with me. I usually had a Blythe sitting at my desk and looking incredibly board while I ignored the big eyes trying to tell me to buy them new dresses. If I didn’t have a doll out, she was probably in my purse wrapped up safely. Now that I’m back at school, I don’t bring dolls around with me all the time. This is mostly because it’s school and I’m usually too busy (sorry!) to pull a doll out for photos. There’s people around all the time. And despite the fact that I really don’t know most of the people in my 150+ classes, I still kind of care about not getting teased for having a doll at the age of 21. This is one of the reasons why I love having a local doll group – I can act as silly and as doll crazy as I’d like and it’s okay (because there’s others acting silly and crazy too!).

How often is there a Blythe with you?