I like dollar stores. I like them so much that I even did a mini series a while back with a lot to do about dollar store finds. I still go to dollar stores regularly because you never know what they might get in from time to time. I like getting things for my dolls from the dollar store because they do carry a lot of small items, which is awesome.

Things to look out for:

• Toy Section: There are sometimes Barbie or Skipper-sized dolls and sometimes those dolls come with shoes and clothing. Always worth looking at to see what they have around. Some really cute shoes can be sometimes found on dollar store dolls.
• Hair Accessories: This is the aisle where I get my foam curlers, hair ties, tiny hair elastics and hair clips. All used on Blythe.
• Party Aisle: Small party favours for small children can turn into little games or accessories for Blythe.
• Baking Aisle: Mini cupcake liners are great because mini cupcakes are an awesome size for little cakes to put on your doll’s table.
• Crafting Aisle: Tubes of paints for eye chips, ribbon for trims, buttons, fabric and thread for all your sewing purposes. They even have elastic, which is awesome. You can make all the things with goodies bought from the dollar store.

Dollar stores are great! My favourite finds that I’ve found have been pompom trims, ric-rac and hair ties! What have you found at your local dollar store that has been awesome?

I wanted to share my recent experience hosting Makani, the Moofers custom Blythe that’s going around the world (along with Compass, customized by Happibug, and Aurora, customized by Sglahe). I was Makani’s second stop (yay!) and her first stop in Canada.

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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 May, I wanted to look at fun and great blogs – all doll related. It’s great for inspiration! I love looking at photos and all of them are free to read and look at.

1. Smidge House – I love Smidge House and Smidge House has been great for BlytheLife in return. Carmen makes fantastic 6th scale furniture in amazing detail. Sometimes she even has some things for sale, but I’m mostly inspired by her photos with all the little details.
2. Sirenita – I love looking at photos of customization work. I also love looking at photos of customization works in progress. Feel free to check out the beautiful eye candy, glorious, glorious eye candy.
3. ericaduh.com – I love Erica’s photos! She has some amazing Blythes, amazing ball-jointed dolls and she also sews! I’m a huge fan of her work and her dolls are always well dressed!
4. EssHaych x OnePinkHippo – A blog by two friends! Amazing photos and a beautiful friendship all in one blog. What’s neat is that a lot of their blog entries are letters to each other. Very awesome!
5. blythe fashion – A great blog that talks about the clothes for dolls. Goes from knitted items, dresses, skirts, tops and pretty much everything. Very cute resource and I like looking at photos!

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.

Bartering is a great way to get what you want. Sometimes I have something that I can definitely live without, sometimes someone else has something that I want. Before Blythe, bartering wasn’t as much of a common occurrence in my life. Now that there is Blythe, bartering has become much more common.

Things you should keep in mind when asking if someone would like to barter with you:

• Be polite! You’re more likely to be successful if you’re nice to other people.
• Offer something of similar or equal value. I wanted a pair of dolly pants once and I offered a cute top for it. Similar value means the other person is more likely to accept your offer.
• Be willing to accept ‘no’. Sometimes people don’t want more stuff, and sometimes they’re just in need of funds and can’t take a trade at that time. Be willing to accept ‘no’ for an answer.

Some things to consider making sure that both parties know before shipping things out:

• What method of shipping should you both choose? Tracking? Insurance?
• Knowing when to ship out, come up with a date (or dates) that work well for both of you.
• Let the other person know when you’ve shipped, send them the tracking information (if applicable) and let them know when you’ve received the package.

I’ve bartered for a bunch of things before. Tops, bottoms, shoes. No dolls (as of yet), but bartering (trading, swapping) is a fantastic way to directly get something for another thing without needing money to change hands.

How often do you engage in bartering/trading?

Image by sxc.hu user lusi.

I love this game. I play it with my sisters all the time when we were growing up and it’s really simple. Just answer the following question:

If someone gave you $10,000 right now and said that you had to spend it on dolls or doll-related things, what would you spend the money on and why?