Programs that people like to use to make their lives easier can be expensive. Off the top of my head, I know that I use some programs that most others would consider to be expensive (eg. Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office) but there’s a lot of programs that are available for free that are not pirated.

This post is not a jab towards those who used paid-for programs. I myself absolutely love Adobe Photoshop and I love my Microsoft programs but it’s always good to be aware of free alternatives out there. Computer programs can be expensive and why would you want to spend money on programs when you could be buying new dolls…?

Please note that BlytheLife.com does not take responsibility for anything that may occur to your computer after downloading the programs – please ensure that the program(s) are compatible with your computer and you should always run regular virus-checks on your computer.

GIMP – alternative to Photoshop
For photo editing needs, I prefer to use Adobe Photoshop and I try to keep up with the updates between versions. I know that this is a very expensive program. A completely free option is GIMP, which is a decent stand-in for Photoshop. GIMP stands for The GNU Image Manipulation Program and while it is a huge program with a lot of capabilities, many people write tutorials geared towards Adobe Photoshop, so it shouldn’t come to a shock to you if you cannot use the tutorials directly (some wording changes between programs and the menus are set up differently).

GIMP can run on some UNIX computers, Microsoft Windows (up to Vista) and Mac OS X. There are other system requirements that you will need to read about on the GIMP website prior to downloading.

Calc – alternative to Excel
Instead of using Microsoft Excel for keeping track of all that dolly spending (because we really should be keeping track of expenses – plus it’s a great way to know how much you paid for something if you’re considering selling the item), you can use the Open Office equivalent, Calc. There are some differences between the two programs, including how the formulas are entered but you can find help online to figure out how to get used to these changes. It’s a good alternative for those not wanting to spend money on Microsoft Office.

Open Office (all of their Microsoft Office equivalent programs) can work on Microsoft Office (from Windows 2000 to Windows 7), Solaris, Linux, Mac OS X. There are some other system requirements that you will need to read on the Open Office website before you download.

Free anti-virus programs
There are many anti-virus programs out there and many of them are popular (and required paid subscriptions for active coverage). With so many choices, it can be difficult to figure out what’s the right fit for your computer. And with that in mind, it’s always a good idea to read testimonials online and see what others think about it. Some paid-for anti-virus programs can be fairly inexpensive (~$20 for a few years worth of subscription), so it really falls down to what you need in a program. Some programs are a fantastic deal for their price, especially if you can find them when they’re on sale. A paid-for program that often comes up for sale is Kaspersky.

It’s always a great idea to keep your anti-virus program active, people are always coming up with new ways to attack others and steal their information. As Blythe hobbyists, I know a fair number of us do transactions online (for buying new dolls or doll clothes or even supplies for customizing or crafting new things). So with that in mind, and I know that many people want to spend their money on things they love (like Blythe!) instead of expensive computer programs. Many companies that produce free anti-virus programs do so for personal use only.

• AVG
• avast!
• Avira AntiVir
• Microsoft Security Essentials
• Panda Cloud

The Melbourne Doll Market is the brainchild of Natalie, who took it upon herself last year to make the idea of a local doll market come true. The premise is a lot like a crafts fair, vendors purchase the use of tables, the public comes in and buys things. But the important thing is that it’s all dolls, all the time. There’s even areas for you to hang out with your friends, take photos, grab some refreshments (tea and coffee) and just have a fun time.

The first Melbourne Doll Market was held on September 25th, 2010 and they strive to have one about every 5 months (the next one is occurring this upcoming Saturday February 26th!). What’s great about it, if you’re local, is that not only can you buy dolls  (like Blythe, Momoko, ball-jointed dolls (BJDs) and more!) is that you can also find accessories for the dolls there. For those interested in vintage Skipper clothing, there will be some there as well!

It does cost money to get in the door if you’re looking to buy. For the market that is being held on February 26th 2011, proceeds from ticket sales will be going to benefit the Australian Red Cross Victorian Flood Appeals. Which is so incredibly great as they not only will they have a lot of fun, they’ll also get to help others in their country!

The great thing about the Melbourne Doll Market is that it’s a great excuse to go out and hang out with your friends and take photos with each other doing silly doll hobbyist things. It’s also a great way for sellers, new and old, to get themselves out there and meet some potential new customers.

The door prize for February 26th, 2011 (this upcoming Saturday!) will be a custom Prima Dolly London (pictured above), who was customized by Natalie/pixelkitty. The doll comes in clothing from ChuThings and shows from Jemgirl. If you’re interested in attending the Melbourne Doll Market, please check out their website! Their website has a lot more information (including a list of vendors!) and has directions on how to get to their venue. The market on Saturday will be held from 11am to 4pm on Saturday.

Have you attended the Melbourne Doll Market yet? If not, why? And if you have attended the doll market, how was it? My inquiring mind wants to know!

What’s in a name?

For most of the visitors to your website, it will probably be the first thing that they notice as it’ll be part of the blog’s URL. It will also be what they associate with you and they need to be remember it. Let’s take for example the two following names:

• b1yt43gir1_9
• blythegirl

Which one are you more likely to recall and remember how to properly spell again? Probably the second one.

In this day and age, most one-word domain names have been registered (some are even worth a lot of money!). A lot of two-word domain names are also taken, but not all of them (blythelife.com is a two-word domain and was registered in June 2010). If you need to go up to three words, that’s okay – as long as all the words are relevant. The shorter the words, the better – it’ll be easier for people to remember your blog address.

Getting a domain name is like you putting a label on yourself. You don’t need to have paid hosting for a domain name and it’s always a wise investment to buy one if you foresee yourself potentially moving onto paid hosting or if you just want to prevent people from snatching it (and posing as you or just having others thinking that the .com website is also yours!) and a lot of free webhosts will allow you to use a domain name with your free blogging space.

It’s highly suggested to get a .com name as that’s the one that most people think of when typing it into the address bar of their web browsers. A .com domain name goes for under $10 for one calendar year and there are a lot of different domain registars online where you can purchase a domain. BlytheLife.com is registered with NameCheap.com, which is a simple to use domain registrar (it includes 1 year of WhoIs protection with every new registration or transfer). There are a lot of other registrars out there, but I find NameCheap to be the simplest to use.

If you don’t think that you’ll be moving onto a paid host or that you’ll be using your blog for business (perhaps you start blogging about crafting and then move onto selling those crafts, a .com name looks more professional than being hosted by Blogger or WordPress), you can completely disregard what I said about buying a domain. But the name of your blog should still be relatively short and easy to remember!

So to recap what you should consider when choosing a name:

• It should be easy to spell and to remember
• It should be two to three words, maximum
• It’s suggested to register for a .com domain name if you can afford it

But that’s great, you’ve come up with a kickass name that isn’t too long and you can spell it (and perhaps you’ve gotten the corresponding domain name as well…). Now what to do?

Pick a host!

While I do love having paid hosting, I know that not everyone can afford it. There are some inexpensive paid hosts available – BlytheLife.com is hosted at Surpass Hosting (at $6/month). So if you can afford it, it is a nice option to have as you have complete control over your hosting as well as more space and can keep track of how many visitors you get and easily find out what days and times are the most popular for people to visit you and also how many countries that you reach!

But I know not everyone is interested in handling that (and if you’re just beginning, it’s probably not a great idea if you’re not sure how long you’ll stick with blogging – I still believe that buying your blog’s .com domain is a good idea though!). So I’m going to talk about 2 free (!!!) blog hosts that I’d like to suggest to you:

WordPress
One of the most popular blogging platforms is WordPress, it’s very easy to install and to use (the user interface is pleasant – I’m not just saying that because I’m using a WordPress-powered blog right now, I really feel that way!) and there’s a lot of plugins that you can use (if you have a self-hosted WordPress blog).

WordPress is free to download off of their website and you can install it to your hosting (provided you already have hosting or you’ve found someone to host you on their hosting space for free, what a generous person you’ve found!). Or, alternatively, you can have your WordPress blog hosted for free on the WordPress.com website. The pros to this is that it’s all free. The cons is that you are limited to what kind of things you can have on your blog (I’m mostly talking about the plugins and other fun pieces of coding that makes blogging easier, not the content itself – you’ll need to read the Terms and Conditions to find out more about what they will and will not allow on their website).

Blogger
Owned by Google, Blogger is a great website. It boasts a straightforward user interface, which includes easy to follow tabs to get you where you want to go. It’s also linked to other Google applications, like Picasa for easy photo-sharing. Google has also made it possible for you to work on blog posts in Microsoft Word and then you can save that word document directly to Blogger – which is pretty nifty.

Blogger is free to use, of course, and you can customize your URL with a domain name if you happen to have one. All Blogger accounts are set, by default, as subdomains of the blogspot.com domain name. One thing to keep in mind, because I’ve come across this on several Blogger blogs, is that some people set their comments preferences to not include people manually inputting names and URLs and instead require them to be logged into something – I would suggest allowing people to manually input their own data as it makes it easier on visitors (and will more than likely increase the amount of comments that you get).

Which blogging website you use is really up to you. Both of them have good pros and cons and you can find help for both websites available online (just use your search engine of choice!).

Nifty Note: For both Blogger and WordPress, you can export your blog posts if you choose to move from Blogger to WordPress (or the other way as well) or if you choose to move to a free host. When exporting your blog posts, it will save as a .xml file.

If you haven’t already, be sure to read part one (The Introduction). In two weeks, on March 7, 2011, Part 3 (HTML) will be posted.

• Part 1: The Introduction
• Part 2: Names & Hosts
• Part 3: HTML (March 7, 2011)
• Part 4: Themes, Templates & Design (March 21, 2011)
• Part 5: Promoting Your Site (April 4, 2011)

Image from sxc.hu user jsnflo.

There’s been a lot of hostility in the Blythe community, and I’m sure it’s a pretty natural thing to occur once in a while due to a group of adult women and things that cost a lot of money. Which is why I wanted to give a nod to those who participate in performing Random Acts of Kindness in the dolly community. A lot of it has to do with randomly gifting something to a fellow member of the Blythe community.

If you’re a member of Blythe Kingdom, you might not know that there are groups on the forums. There’s a group on the forums called Random Act of Blythe Kindness (RAOBK) which is dedicated to performing random acts of kindness towards other members of the RAOBK group. Membership is subject to approval by the moderator, but they seem to have a large group of members. A quick search over on Flickr shows me a lot of cute things that have been sent between members and it looks like a lot of fun if you’re looking for a group to be a part of.

Another option is to consider all the contacts that you’ve made. Does someone have a birthday coming up soon? Is there someone that you think needs a little cheering up? Mail that’s not a bill is always something to be happy about! And you don’t need to send anything big. A handmade card is something that will brighten up someone’s day just as much as a new dress for their doll or a pair of shoes.

Performing a random act of kindness isn’t meant to put a huge dent into your wallet (because that would not be performing an act of kindness to yourself. But it’s meant for you to put a smile onto someone else’s face. It doesn’t matter if you send a card, a pair of shoes or a handful of dresses with coordinating accessories because it’s meant for you to do something nice for someone else, not to show-off what you can or cannot afford to gift to other people.

After all, it doesn’t cost anything to be nice to someone else.

What are your thoughts on performing a random act of kindness to someone else in the doll community? Is it something that you have done before or would consider doing? Why or why not?

I’m interrupting this week’s installment of Blythe On A Budget for something a little bit more serious and something a little bit more important: protecting yourself online. This article will go over some general safety tips, how to prevent identity theft, thoughts on posting photos, how to make payments safely online and how to set a very good password.

General Safety Tips
Here are a few things that you should be cautious about posting on a public forum or any other public website:

• Your full name
• Birthdate
• Address of your home or place of work
• Phone number (home or cell)
• Full name(s) of your spouse/significant other, children or other relatives
• Photo(s) of yourself

You should always read the privacy policy on whatever website that you’re registering at, as well as any Terms of Service or Terms and Conditions pages that they might have. This ensures that you learn what kind of information that they are collecting about you and what kind of information that they will be keeping on their servers.

Most websites suggest for a readership of 13 years of age or older, or even 18 years of age. It is important to note age restrictions when visiting a website that you are new to. Some websites only want to cater to an adult audience, even if the content is not necessarily inappropriate for minors. This is because some websites include a buy/sell/trade section and it is not legal to enter into a contract (eg. agreeing to sell something to a minor would be a contract) with a minor that does not have adult permission.

Identity Theft
Identity theft is a big issue these days so there’s a lot of things that you should be wary of.

You should not give out your credit card information on a non-secure website, websites like Paypal.com are secure and their web address has “https“, which tells you that they are HTTP secure (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure). You should be cautious of giving out your bank or credit card information on a website that is not HTTP secure. And you should be cautious of using payment sites that you’ve never heard about before – be sure to do a search online about them to see if they are reputable and if people have been scammed with them before (eg. they could have absurd fees attached or the money just never makes it to where you want it to go).

If you are worry about people finding out who you really are online and you have a Facebook account online that has your real first and last name, you should consider creating a secondary email address.

Say your name is really Jane Doe and your main email address is janedoe@gmail.com and it’s the same email that you use on Facebook. All someone needs to do is search your email on Google and they’ll probably come up with your Facebook profile and any other sites where you’ve linked your email address. By having a secondary email address (for instance: jane2011@gmail.com) that you use for signing up on forums or onto other sites, it can make it more difficult for people to find you on sites like Facebook (but it doesn’t necessarily make it impossible).

You should never tell people things like your mother’s maiden name or the name of the first teacher you ever had. These are common security questions found on websites when you’re trying to reset your password. If someone knows the answers to the security questions and they know your email address or username that you use for that particular website, someone malicious could very easily reset the password to your account and change the password to prevent you from accessing it.

Posting Photos
If you are a minor, you should seek permission from your parents or guardians prior to posting photos of yourself online. Sites like Flickr allow you to filter out who gets to see your photos – which is a good thing if you only want your family members to see them or select friends. Facebook has privacy settings where you can control who can view what information (include your profile information and your photos). It is always important to ensure that your photos are private, unless you feel comfortable with people seeing them. This is especially important if your profile(s) might be looked at by future employers.

A good rule of thumb is to not post anything online that you wouldn’t be comfortable with your parents or grandparents (or someone else that you really respect) seeing them.

Making Payments
When it comes to transferring money, Paypal is one of the most secure methods of doing so (beyond handing money over in person). You should always make sure that the website URL has “paypal.com” in it with “https://” in the front. Paypal, and other reputable banking institutions, will never ask you for your login information via an email. It is recommended to review the terms and conditions that you, as a buyer/seller, must abide by online. For instance, if you are purchasing an item, do not send the payment as a ‘gift’. This makes it nearly impossible for you to get your money back in the event that the transaction goes south as Paypal was informed that you were gifting the money, so why would you want it back?

Always double-check the information you are typing in before hitting send. You want to ensure that you’re sending the right amount of money (in the correct currency!) to the correct email address/name. It’s a good practice to include a note so the person knows exactly who the money is coming from and what it is for. Your username may not match with the username or email that you’re using to send money from.

Setting a Password
A good password will not be a simple word. A good password will include upper and lower case letters. A very good password will include upper and lower case letters as well as numbers. A great password will have all of the mentioned along with symbols.  You want to make your password difficult to guess and difficult to decipher from just looking at your fingers typing.

Example of bad passwords: password, qwerty, [your first/last name or username]

Examples of good passwords: RatrApfop, pAAvpsD

Examples of very good passwords: Ratr12Apfop3, pA29AvpsD11

Examples of very good passwords: R!@atr12Apfop3$, pA2#9Avps^D1!1

Keep in mind that not all websites allow passwords with symbols, most will allow both upper and lower case letters with numbers though. Some even have limits to the minimum or maximum number of allowed characters, so you should keep that in mind when coming up with a password.

In Summary
I hope that this article has been helpful to you in considering how to protect yourself online. Identity theft has been mentioned a lot in the news these days, with many people being targeted after they let slip some information about themselves or trusting the wrong people. When it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

If you have any comments or thoughts that you would like to add to this article, please comment below.

Images used in this article were from the users jnatiuk and emsago of stock.xchng – http://sxc.hu.