I put out an open request on Twitter for people to tell me what about Blythe makes them happy and it’s amazing the kind of responses that I got. I’ve included below every single tweet that I got  (if I didn’t include yours, it may be because your Twitter account is private and I was unable to read it). I also received some responses via Flickr, so those are linked to the Flickr accounts instead, and some are also linked to blog links as well.

Add your own comment about what about Blythe makes you happy below. ♥

The memories I’ve associated with each doll. Either from when I got it, or had taken a doll with me for an important event. – natsukigirl

Blythe inspires us to try new things! And to make more time for crafting. – TheAnneArchy

Blythe makes me happy because she doesn’t ask for juice every 5 seconds, doesn’t sweat or need a daily bath, she doesn’t ask me to borrow the car, always makes curfew, isn’t passive aggressive, is house broken…um…keeps laundry to a minimum, never cries or whines (audibly..) keeps her promises, doesn’t hold a grudge for anymore than a reasonable amount of time, doesn’t jump n the bed or sit too close to the tv, doesn’t gamble, generally likes what I like LOL. – Dolls Crystals n Positively Stoned

There isn’t one way that Blythe doesn’t [make me happy]! They make me smile daily! 🙂 – Rosiee Gelutie

The girls connect me to my favorite people on the planet, they make the planet a lot smaller, they make me a lot braver, they heal my childhood, they make me smile, and they represent unsermountable kindness, joy and love. – SparkleFriday

Everything from the aesthetics of Blythe (their big eyes and hair and how unique each girl, even of the same model, can look) to her clothing to the photography and other myriad creative aspects of being a fan/collector of Blythe truly makes me happy! The scope for imagination and creativity is endless! – Jane

She makes me happy because I love her! Blythe’s are different, she’s my muse and inspiration and she brought me many many friends when I just moved to a new country, and I love her big heads and eyes 😉 She brings out the brave in me to go out and take dolly photos, not caring for any strange looks or remarks ^^ – puppy52

Blythe has made me fearless! I bring her everywhere and do everything with her! She is the perfect companion when I am happy, sad, lonely, hungry, bored…

She has brought me friends that I never would have met otherwise. I have become more social because of her and I now have girlfriends. She breaks down borders and stereotypes and she is never critical or judgmental. Each girl I have gives me something different and I love her unconditionally! – mydollies4

I guess I like Blythe because I’ve always liked miniatures. Seeing the cute little outfits that people dress her in makes me drool with envy. I like the way people are so creative with needle and thread, needle and yarn and enjoy doing the same.
I also enjoy the social gatherings in the name of Blythe! I look forward to the meet-ups, but wish there were more people in my age group attending!!! – Joliechic1

Blythe has been extremely therapeutic for me. Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that she came in to my life in the aftermath of a falling out with my long-time, and only, girl-friend. I haven’t been close to anyone like that since, but blythe has helped fill in that gap, in a very unique way.

Blythe shares my love of vintage fashion, crafts, mischief… I know that she is only a doll, but she is far from “inanimate”. She makes me happy when I’m sad, inspired when I’m low, giddy like a child when I’m faced with “adult decisions”. Thats all that I could ever ask from our relationship, and I’m grateful to have her in my life! – Dusty.feathers

Blythe for me is a creative muse! I can make her anything I want her to be! I love making her clothes and even the joy of creating her from scratch by customing.I too love sharing this lovely doll with other collectors and making other fun creative friends! – lace52000

Blythe makes me happy because she let’s me be creative and allows a reprieve from a sometimes-too-serious life. – liveloveyarn

I find that some stock pieces aren’t very useful. I mean, they can be super cute… but what do you use a police outfit for? (Love Mission, I’m eyeing you!) Or rather, how often can you use it? Even Cappuccino Chat’s lush coat and hat set is fantastic and well-made, but how often do your dolls need to be wearing an animal print set? I keep all of my dolls’ stock though, I feel like it really belongs to them and they’re just on loan to me. I like having the stock, sometimes it’s fun to have them dressed up in each others’ stock outfits. I do feel like the older dolls had much more ‘fun’ stock, even if the fabric feels plasticky and the quality in fabric has gone up, for some releases, it was still much more fun to get two full outfits in the box with the doll. Now it’s just one dress and shoes and maybe socks. What’s up with that??

My current favourite pieces of stock are Simply Peppermint’s black boots and black top, which I had paired up with a super cute gold sequined skirt for Sophie to wear. The sleeveless top is very versatile and black looks good with most things. Also, the boots are just darling and I love them. I wish I also had Simply Lilac’s boots as well, just so I could have the set. I love them that much.

I also love the little skates that came with Simply Sparkly Spark and Simply Bubble Boom. I really want to make my dolls skate (on actual ice), but I feel like that’s just a disaster waiting to happen. I’m clumsy when it comes to ice skating, so chances of me getting my dolls to skate well are probably non-existent.

Not surprisingly, I feel that my dolls wear much nicer clothes than I do sometimes. I mean, I don’t knit sweaters for me or crochet hats for me (maybe I should start…). And I actually go and commission clothes for my dolls. When was the last time I commissioned clothes for myself? (The answer is never, by the way.)

What is your favourite piece of stock that you own?

Every month’s last Friday (or just once a month, sometime on a Friday) is part of a feature on BlytheLife.com, Freebie Friday Five. Welcome everyone to this month’s instalment! I mention 5 things I love every month that’s free to do/read/see.

If you have any suggestions for next month’s Freebie Friday Five, please don’t hesitate to email me! Maybe you have a site you think that I should feature or a pattern that’s free and up on the web? Tell me!

For the month of February, I wanted to highlight some creative and fun sites. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

1.  Because I love Kenners (and lets just talk about Kenners some more), I’ve been reading up on how-to’s and tips on fixing up Kenners again over at This is Blythe. You do need an account to read the posts! Current favourite thread is about cleaning and repair tips. Accounts on This is Blythe are free.
2. On Flickr, there’s many groups that I love, but lately I’ve been looking at Blytheopedia because I’m a little unfamiliar about some of the newer releases (haven’t really been paying attention!) so I’ve gone back to see all the stock promotional photos and illustrations that I’ve missed.
3. For those that craft, there is a Blythe group on Ravelry (account is needed!). It’s called Knitting for Blythe, but they also discuss customization, sewing, crocheting and (of course) dolly goodness in general! Accounts on Ravelry are free.
4. It’s winter around here (and everywhere else in the northern hemisphere) and the sun goes away fairly early still. I found a tutorial on how to take better photos in low light without using flash, so I thought I’d share it for fellow amateur photographers!
5. I’ve been looking at printable miniatures again. My favourites lately have been little cereal boxes and you can find more on this page.

If you know of a site, group or activity that you think I should highlight in next month’s Freebie Friday Five, let me know! Comment below or email me.

You would think that I would have been immune to this after getting my redhead, Emmalynn, but no such luck! I’m sure a lot of you have heard about some crazy lucky Blythe fan finding seven Kenners in a local shop just over a week ago… This is a very, very true story (you can read about it on Flickr). So Kenners! My local Blythe group had a fantastic meet this past Sunday where there was a fantastic number of Kenners around (twelve!).

I mean, I love Kenners, I really do. Most of my collection are the modern Takaras, of course, but Kenners are awesome. So I went to the meet with my one Kenner (Emmalynn – she’s second from the right in the back row) and left with three Kenners. Not even joking.

I will be posting the progress of the restoration of the two as I go along, they currently have no names (but plenty of nicknames, ahem), but these are my new additions:

It was definitely not a “Blythe On A Budget” kind of week…

I don’t remember exactly how I first found Blythe, but I’m pretty sure that it was probably on Craftster.org (a great general forum!) and I was probably browsing for the umpteenth time and stumbled across the photos of Blythe. From there (and Google), I found This is Blythe. At the time, the newest release was Velvet Minuet and I thought her bunny hood-and-cape was super cute. Velvet Minuet was later my 6th Blythe (named Kindred). I thought Blythe was cute, with her over-exaggerated head size like in some comics. Velvet Minuet was released in 2004, I did not get my first Blythe until 2009 (Cappuccino Chat).

One of my friends in  my local Blythe group likes asking people what their first impressions of Blythe were. Hers was rather negative – she thought that Blythe wasn’t very cute at all! Of course, Blythe is patient and understand… and eventually charms her way into people’s hearts. My own boyfriend thought that Blythe was ‘weird’ (it’s mostly because of the changing-eyes thing). Now he finds them cute (or maybe he just says that for my benefit?). Regardless, Blythe is a charmer. She knows how to tug at heart strings and have full control over wallets. Despite being rejected by children in 1972, Blythe certainly knows how to command attention now. She’s making up for it!

Maybe you thought that Blythe was super cute, downright ugly or just meh… But you did have a first impression…

What was your first impression of  Blythe?