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Tiny Shoe Love #10

Written on August 21, 2015 at 12:00 pm by Michelle
Filed under: Article with tags:

This time on Tiny Shoe Love, I wanted to show case some shoes that aren’t quite big enough for the feet of Neo or Kenner Blythe. I do have two Middies in my home that love shoes too (much to my wallet’s disapproval). When I got my first Middie, I was suddenly face with the fact that I had this doll that came with a pair of boots that fit better on Neos than her own feet – what was I going to do? She can’t go without shoes forever… or could she?

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Luckily, eBay came to my rescue in the form of Kelly shoes lots! I read online that Kelly shoes can usually fit Middies well enough so I gave it a go. Thankfully, the shoes worked out okay! I got a few more pairs of Kelly shoes recently from a friend as a gift, so there’s even more Middie-sized shoes to go around! I always feel lucky to have made such wonderful friends in the doll community!

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My favourites right now are these super cute flats that have a bow detail on them. I think they’re great! I have them in blue and red only for now. I really like them though because they’re simple enough that they don’t distract from the outfits, but they also have a cute detail that I really like. I own flats for my own feet with bows, so I may be a little biased! At this time I only have a tiny amount of shoes just for the Middie girls, just six pairs for two sets feet! Hopefully that changes in the future – I’d love to get them shoes in white, black, and brown (my usual go-to shoe colours for their bigger counterparts).

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Tiny Shoe Love is a feature on BlytheLife.com to showcase and share doll shoes that grace Michelle’s picky dolls’ feet. We love tiny shoes in this house, and we hope you do too!

Lydia Melbourne’s wearing: dress/chelleshocks, shoes/Kelly.
Kitty Brighton’s wearing: top/chelleshocks, capris/unknown, shoes/Kelly.

Love, Sophie: Thanks Santa!

Written on August 19, 2015 at 3:00 pm by Michelle
Filed under: Article with tags:

Dear Santa,

I am very pleased to be writing to you because Christmas has come early this year! Not only did I not have to get up at 5am to help set-up for BlytheCon (because I really think that beauty sleep is more important than a party), I also got some dresses! Michelle says that she bought them with me in mind – and I fully intend to keep it that way. (Michelle: Please, nobody tell her that one of the dresses came from my goodie bag!)

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Not only that, I didn’t get a new sister! I’m so excited that you really listened to me. (Michelle: Please, nobody tell her that I actually did bring a new dolly home – the custom Petite Blythe by I.G. Sirenita from the raffle! Apologies for the photo taken in poor light!)

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However, I would still very much appreciate it if you, Rudolph, and the rest of your reindeer gang could be very kind in sending me some sort of ice floe. I’d still like to send Eden and Prim out into open waters on one.

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Sophie is a mostly stock Cappuccino Chat that came to live with me in June 2009. She loves shoes, new clothes, playing with her hair, fashion, magazines full of fluff and shopping. She aspires to be a model and would like to model for some of the ‘great’ dolly fashion houses one day.

Sophie’s wearing: dress/Dollies Love Dresses, tights/Cool Cat.

QOTW: Do you share personalities with your dolls?

Written on August 17, 2015 at 12:00 pm by Michelle
Filed under: Question of the Week

Like many in the dolly community who are a little more enthuiastic than some, I really enjoy the creative side of story telling when it comes to Blythe and photographing Blythe. Part of this falls into the idea of bestowing some sort of persona onto the dolls when it comes to telling stories with photos.

Some examples for you…

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Sophie will always be my little fashionista. It’s in part because of the personality she developed when we were doing her 365 challenge, in part because of her glamorous hair. Like a dolly with silver hair that goes below the knee could ever be boring?

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Eden Mouse will always be… well, little. With a hair cut that is really similar to the bowl cut I had as a child, and my tendency to dress her in pink. She’s the more childish part of my personality – that part that won’t be growing up any time soon, thank you very much. A long time ago, I had next to no pink clothing items or shoes – now I have to force myself to stop buying things for Eden because conflict arise when other people wear pink (or happen to have pink hair…). Oddly enough, pink was not my favourite colour when I started to dress Eden in pink – I just thought that she looked really cute (and she does!). It has since grown on me, although I’m more attracted to thinks that are a hot pink or a darker pink than the baby pink that she tends to wear.

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And then there’s Cameo. She’s relatively new to the doll family (I got her a little under a year ago – August 30th, 2014), but she’s the part of me that just really loves cats. I don’t own a cat (or have a cat overlord), but I really do love cats! Cameo is my resident cat lady dolly. Her cat-themed wardrobe is terribly limited though, as I don’t actually own that many items that have cats on them. I am working on it though – I recently bought this cute long-sleeve shirt with a cat print just for Cameo.

Do you share aspects of your personalities with your dolls when telling stories?

Sophie’s wearing: dress/Dollies Love Dresses, tights/Cool Cat.
Eden’s wearing: helmet/chelleshocks, dress/Shershe, tights/unknown.
Cameo’s wearing: top/Dutch Blythe Fashion, leggings/Endangered Sissy.

Interview with Dolly Cupcake & Giveaway!

Written on August 14, 2015 at 12:00 pm by Michelle
Filed under: Featured, Giveaway with tags:

I love getting to know people who design and sell things for Blythe. Kirin of Dolly Cupcake contacted me about doing an interview and a giveaway and I couldn’t have been more thrilled! If you are interested in getting featured, let me know!

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Hello Kirin! Tell us a little bit about yourself!
Hi Michelle and BlytheLife! I am Jill of all trades. I’m equally happy working in the garage building things with my long-time boyfriend, Victor, as I am sewing dainty things for Blythe. I am a tattoo artist by trade.

I have been sewing, in one form or another, since I was just a little thing. One of my fondest early memories are of embroidering with my maternal grandmother. My paternal grandmother was an incredible seamstress. She made a lot of my most-special dresses and I think that was one of the biggest sparks in my creativity. She let me use her sewing machine for the first time when I was about seven to make a Barbie dress out of leftover scraps from a dress she had made for me. Even then I knew that sewing would be a big part of my life.

My mom got me my first real sewing machine when I was fourteen at a yard sale. That machine was almost life changing. From that point on, I was unstoppable. I could create anything with fabric that I could dream up. I’d been sewing my own clothes for several years before I got my first Blythe. Once she came into my life I started creating for her too.

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How did you discover Blythe?
I first learned about Blythe from a brief magazine article about Gina Garan’s book “This Is Blythe”. I was transfixed by the accompanying images from her book of this wonderful big-headed, big-eyed doll. I loved that she had used this strange and beautiful doll as her muse.

In the following years, I would occasionally check eBay for dolls and thought that they were crazy expensive. The stock ones were at least a hundred dollars and seemed like too much for a plastic dolly for me. Once I started seeing more of the custom girls, I knew that I had to have one to make my own.

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Who’s in your Blythe family?
I have a very modest collection of Blythes.

I didn’t get my first Blythe until 2011. I actually got two at the same time. A set of Simply Vanilla and Simple Chocolate. I immediately opened both of them from their shippers and decided that Vanilla was the first that I would customize. I still have that Simply Chocolate in her box, stored away for a future project.

I customized the Simply Vanilla as a moody, pouty blonde. She is a bit of a puzzle to me. It took some time but I’ve decided her name is Gracie.

Camilla was my first purposeful custom. I created her with a vision of her being a kind forest girl, a friend to animals, and connected to nature. Her original name was Simply Ashlette.

Lucianne, is my the custom girl born from a Nicky Lad. She is a plucky little thing who does what she wants.

My last girl is a Simply Guava named Keiko. She might remain stock, we’ll see…

What made you decide to start sewing for Blythe?
The first, and most obvious one for me, was a lack of clothing. My Simply Vanilla, my first Blythe, had stock clothing that was contrary to her customized persona. I simply had to make her some new clothes.

I love creating tiny, cute things. So sewing for Blythe is right up my alley!

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What was the first thing that you created for Blythe?
I first thing I created was an all black ensemble for Gracie that stained her Azone Pure Neemo body so badly I wanted to give up. But I got another body and started sewing for her again and finally learned my lesson about pre-washing fabric! The next ensemble was a satin and lace affair that suited her much better. Once I figured out a basic pattern for Blythe dresses, I was off and running!

My favorite thing about creating for Blythe is the limitless possibilities. Blythe can get away with wearing some outfits that would be outlandish in the real world and she looks so cute doing it!

Stained bodies are no fun! What has been the hardest thing about sewing for dolls as opposed to sewing for yourself?
The hardest thing about sewing for dolls is the size! 🙂 Full-sized garments have a seam allowance that’s typically around 1/2”. The seam allowance for dolly clothing is a tiny fraction of that. Thank goodness I have good eyesight! Sourcing tiny buttons and snaps as well as appropriately scaled fabrics has been a little bit of a challenge as well, but that just means that I get to spend more time at the fabric store!

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What would you say is your best sewing tip for anyone who’s interested in sewing for Blythe?
I think my best tip for sewing for Blythe would be to take your time. Precision counts when working on such a small scale. But also to not be too hard on yourself. Sewing on a tiny scale will be challenging and your first pieces might not be perfect, but they get better and better with practice, so don’t give up!

What are your must-have tools for creating fashions for dolls?
My must have tools are cute fabrics, great light, and sharp scissors. I also like to set aside a lot of time to just play around with the fabrics and trims to see what I can come up with.

Where did the name “Dolly Cupcake” come from?
I was trying to come up with the most over-the-top, fun and silly name that I could come up with for my Etsy shop. I think it really sums up my design aesthetic for Blythe. It’s just cute and girly!

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How much of what you make ends up in your own dolls’ wardrobe?
Honestly, not much of what I make for Dolly Cupcake ends up staying with me. My girls get to wear the dresses for the photoshoot and maybe for a day or so after, then the clothes get packaged up. Each girl has a small wardrobe of her own that reflects her “personality”. I hope to expand their clothing options soon but in reality what they really need is shoes. Poor things!

Thank you so much for doing this interview with me, Kirin! What advice do you wish someone had given to you when you were new to Blythe?
Always pre-wash dolly clothes. Stained bodies are the worst! 😛

You can find Dolly Cupcake and those beautiful dresses over on Etsy! If you want to save 10% on your purchase at Dolly Cupcake, use the coupon code BLYTHELIFELOVE from now until September 14, 2015.

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BlytheCon Vancouver: The Recap Part 2

Written on August 13, 2015 at 12:00 pm by Michelle
Filed under: Musings with tags: ,

The day started out very early for us – we got to the venue at around 7am to begin set up. BlytheCon Vancouver was hosted at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel, located in downtown Vancouver, BC. It’s a fairly central location in an area with a lot of hotels, a beautiful pubic park right in front, and easily accessible via public transit – all major selling points to us when we were deciding on a venue!

Vendors started coming in at 8am to start getting set up at their tables, and we had a small line-up forming of attendees who were eager to start having fun! Such early birds hoping to get the proverbial worm (or HANON dress, as the case may be):

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We had some photo displays set up for people to take photos, and some included props and stands or chairs so your own dollies could join in the fun! My favourite had to be the set up for the Vancouver 7 Kenner Blythe dolls. In the back is Lillian, Primrose, Heidi, and Chunk. In the front row and sitting is Dusty, Hayley, and Audrey. The fun thing about these dolls is that they were all originally owned by the same woman, and now they’re all owned by members of the Vancouver Blythe Bunch (what we call our local doll group).

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