As Blythe’s sisters go, they’re not as exciting as Blythe is. Neither Middies or Petites have a pull string, they don’t have four sets of eye chips, but they do have some features that stock Blythe does not have. Middie is able to look side to side (or front-facing) with the same set of chips, plus she can tilt her head from side to side. Petite is able to tilt her head from side to side, and if you have a Takara-produced, she has stock ‘sleep’ eyes that is more reminiscent of the baby dolls that some of us may have grown up with. Petites have been changed with Hasbro’s Littlest Pet Shop relaunch, so the new ‘Blythe’ dolls in Hasbro’s LPS line are more similar to the Mattel’s Polly Pocket (with the rubber clothing).

Petites and Middies continue to catch the eye of many Blythe collectors. New Middie releases come out in tandem with a ‘related’ Neo Blythe, or they come out with a similar theme as a Neo that did well. Themes that worked well for Neos also tend to do pretty okay with the Middies. And while Petites aren’t as plentiful in their releases as Middies are today, they are still quite beloved and very pocket friendly. A Petite fits into pretty much any pants pocket that I have – and if you’re familiar with fashion these days, you know that most pants pockets don’t fit much at all.

At this time in my doll collecting days, I would probably favour Middies over Petites. I enjoy the larger size, and the dial on the back of their heads means that I can eek out just a smidgen more personality out of the chubby little faces.

Do you prefer Middies or Petites?

There are twenty-four hours in every single day. We all get the same twenty-four hours, but we all do different things with them. At this point, I’m in my last practicum for school so I do 12 hour shifts at the hospital that is bookended with a long commute (40-50 minutes one way). So all in all, by the time I get home, that’s 14 of my 24 hours gone in a day. That doesn’t leave room for much else when you have to consider that I need to sleep in order to function at my next 12 hour shift, which is often the very next day. On the other hand, working 12 hour shifts means that I usually have several days between sets of shifts where I can do whatever I want, which is really nice. However, these days off tend to happen on weekdays and not weekends, and I end up working on homework anyways because that is the life of a student.

So on my days off, I pull a doll off of a shelf, maybe fix her hair, maybe change her outfit (although really, that doesn’t happen often at all…), and then I set her back on a stand or a chair because that’s where they hang out. It’s hard to find time for them sometimes because on my days off there’s laundry to do, groceries to buy, food to cook, sleep to catch up on (mmm, sleep!). The dolls don’t always get a lot of attention, but I’m making a conscious effort to spend a little bit of time with them on my days off because it’s the little moments, the little things, that remind me to breathe and just take a moment for myself (and the Blythes).

Most days, I wish I had a cat or a dog. And then I think about the need for lint rollers, or having wet noses in my face, or tripping over furry mammals in my living room and I do really reconsider it. The thoughts of having my tiny precious doll shoes being chewed up or having dolls knock off of shelves really makes me cringe – although I suppose they do make doors for shelves these days. I do have pets, but they’re of the non-mammalian variety and live in a tank so the amount of interaction with my dolls incredibly minimal unless I force it.

I love photos of Blythe with dogs, cats, and other animals. Mostly because they’re super adorable. But I don’t have a dog, or a cat, or some kind of mammalian pet so…

Do you allow your pets to interact with Blythe?

You have a doll-related website/shop/blog and BlytheLife has your target audience!

BlytheLife.com is an active doll website with a high readership that primarily consists of women who are Blythe and other doll collectors/hobbyists. By advertising your doll-related site or business with BlytheLife, you can ensure that your ad is being seen by the people that are your potential customers. Every time someone visits BlytheLife, they’ll see your ad on the side!

Did you know? Sponsorship costs are purposely kept low to keep advertising accessible to people in the doll community.

There are three spots currently available for the month of April and all sponsorship funds from now until July 2015 will be donated to BlytheCon Vancouver 2015!

Large – 1 spot available for April! (325×200 pixels)

• $10 – 1 month
• $18 – 2 months
• $26 – 3 months

Small – 2 spots available for April! (160×160 pixels)

• $5 – 1 month
• $9 – 2 months
• $13 – 3 months

If you’d like more information on how you can advertise on BlytheLife, click here.

I’m all about giving back to the doll community when possible, and part of that involves celebrating you and what you do here on BlytheLife.

I love interviewing people in the Blythe community – ranging for seamstresses for our favourite fashionistas, knitters and crocheters, customizers, and all-around amazing people. I’ve interviewed a grand variety of people in the community, and would like to feature you as well! If you’re interested (or want to gently prod someone my way), check out the page about Getting Featured. If you do something else for Blythe that hasn’t been mentioned, I still want to interview you! I love getting to do interviews.

If you run a shop online where you sell things for Blythe, and you happen to have a sale, be sure to submit it to Shopping Saturday! If you submit it, I will post it and share your sale with all of my readers.