I have many favourite names that I’ve given my dolls. Of course, I’d better like them if I was willing to name one of my Blythes with that specific name. While I love all of the names that I have given my dolls, I think my personal favourites are: Primrose, Mollie (short for Molybdenum), and Bennett.

Primrose makes me smile because the nick name Prim is mildly ironic, given the ever constant state of Prim’s hair. She’s prim and proper, see.

Mollie’s name  is one my favourites because I love science and it’s such a geeky name. Molybdenum. Bonus, Molybdenum is atomic number 42, and 42 is the answer to life in the universe and everything.

Bennett makes me smile because it’s just such an unassuming name and then bam, it’s a name assigned to a beautiful stock doll. I love Margaret Meets Ladybug for being one of the prettiest made stock dolls ever (not biased at all, nope!). Bennett, Bennett, Bennett. I may never tire from it.

What’s your most favourite Blythe name that you’ve given one of your dolls?

Prim’s wearing: top/Puppy52Dolls, capris/Fancy Pansy stock.
Mollie’s wearing: dress/Plastic Fashion, tights/Simply Sparkly Spark stock.
Bennett’s wearing: dress/Vinyl Belly, tights/Cool Cat.

Sometimes it is hard to find time for Blythe because of real life situations. Case in point, during midterms ‘week’ or finals ‘week’ (and, let’s face it, midterms and finals were never contained to a single week!) I spent a lot less time with my dolls. During the holidays and I’m going from one party to another another and then out for dinner with relatives that I primarily regularly see in December? Not going to spend a lot of time with the dolls either. It can be difficult to carve out some time for hobbies, like Blythe, because other things just seem a bit more pressing. And, if we are going to be perfectly honest, some of those things are a lot more pressing. Going to your job, or spending time with your significant other/children/other family/pets, or going to the grocery store so you actually have breakfast for the morning. These are all important things. So where does Blythe fall in the general pecking order of things? Do I just not spend the time on Blythe because other things are more important? Don’t be silly!

It’s important to me that I spend a little bit of time each week (not necessarily each day, I don’t think that I could manage that) doing something with my dolls. Why? Because it’s a hobby, it’s an outlet for me, and I like spending time with my dolls. If I didn’t, I should probably considering selling them then!

The time that I carve out for Blythe time isn’t the same every week. Sometimes it’s an afternoon where I am tired of studying, so I decide to try out different outfit combinations on a doll. Sometimes I have a moment of inspiration for a blog post for BlytheLife so I scribble the idea down on a notepad so I can get to it later when I don’t actually have something more pressing to do. For instance, I am writing this current post about making time for Blythe during a lovely Monday afternoon while having a cup of tea.

It’s important to make time for the things that matter – like cooking, or spending time with loved ones. But it’s also important to make the time for your creative and fun outlets because nothing wears a person out more than doing nothing but ‘what you have to do’ without anything fun in the mix.

It can be hard to find time for Blythe, but it doesn’t have to be a lot of time every week. 30 minutes spent changing outfits can be fun and rewarding! If a few minutes rearranging who sits where on a little couch is enough to make you smile, then that makes it worth it – because a happy hobby should be indulged in whenever you can.

Cameo’s wearing: dress/Puppy52Dolls in BlytheCon Vancouver fabric, tights/Endangered Sissy.

I have taken a Blythe along on trips before. These trips have varied from taking a long bus ride, to being in a car and going on a ferry, to flights going across the Pacific Ocean. If you’re planning on taking your doll along for a trip, here are some of my tips for you:

• Carry your doll(s) on you, if possible. Given that luggage can be misplaced or miss getting put onto planes, I’d feel more comfortable carrying a doll in my purse or carry-on bag (this goes for all valuables and fragile items).
• Consider getting a travel case. There are many sellers out there that sell Blythe carry cases. I personally use Sew Pixie carry bags. Alternatively, you could purchase a plastic case or another type of pouch.
• For all types of Blythe – protect their face! Regardless if your doll is stock or custom, nothing makes your heart sink more than an obvious scratch in the blush or eyeshadow. I use white t-shirt material (from old shirts) to cover their face. Any soft fabric would do. I’ve heard of some people using plain white paper towels as well (none of that patterned stuff!).
• Carry spare clothes and shoes in a zipped bag. I use a separate pouch to carry their clothes and shoes, and that goes into my purse or carry-on bag as well. Keeping things tidy and having a place for their shoes and clothes to go into when they’re not in use makes keeping organized so much easier.
• Bring a hat. While you may not want to photograph your doll in a hat, hats can help tame bangs and keep hair more tidy while your Blythes are being schlepped around. I’ve made a few helmets that are great for this purpose! Alternatively, if you’ve kept any of the plastic bands that come on stock dolls, this is a great time to pull them out to keep that hair tidy.
• Bring shoes that won’t fall off. The last thing you want to do is attempt to retrace your steps while on vacation, or to go home while missing a favourite shoe. I tend to favour boots when I’m on trips because of the likelihood that they won’t fall off. A great tip is to get those clear tiny hair elastics to keep shoes on if they are likely to fall off. I use these when I’ve got Skipper flats on a doll, or any other shoe that I think is liable to fall off.

If you have any travel tips that you’d like to add, be sure to comment below!

Sophie’s wearing: dress/Puppy52Dolls, tights/Cool Cat, shoes/Monique Magnifique stock.

To give my Middies a bit more love, I’ve decided that the first Monday of every month from now on will be Middie Monday!  Middie Monday will be posts about Middies – either new releases, things I’ve done with or created for my Middies recently, and I may even feature some favourite Middie crafters/sellers! The sky’s the limit, as long as it’s Middie related.

For the first Middie Monday, I wanted to share some photos of Miss Lydia Melbourne. I love that Blythes have been made with two-toned hair, especially with hugely contrasting colours like white and hot pink. It’s brighter than the pink of Cameo’s hair (she has stock Ichigo Heaven hair), which is a nice treat.

“I just thought you should know that today is going to be a bad day.”
“Why?”

I think new colour combinations of hair would be fun and exciting! I’m all for natural coloured hairs as well, but I do love it when they come out with something new as well. While Lydia is not the first Blythe that I’ve had with fantasy coloured hairs, she is the latest and the most interesting because of the two colours. Aside from her hair, I’m still learning about Lydia’s personality. I think it doesn’t really help that my self-induced challenge is to hand craft my Middies’ wardrobe, poor things. But overall she’s very sweet, I think – I just haven’t spent enough time with either of my Middies to figure out who they are yet (Blythe people will understand this, I hope). My hope that as Middie Monday progresses, I’ll figure out their personalities a little bit more.

“They got my drink wrong. Again.”
“…”
“2% milk instead of skim. Pretty sure one less espresso shot.”
“You’re too young for coffee.”
“That’s what you think.”

If you have any suggestions for a future Middie Monday post, please send me an email or use my Suggestions form!