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!)

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!)

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.

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.

Dear Santa Claus,

I have been an awfully good Blythe this year, I hope you have been paying attention to keep me on the Nice list! As such, I would very much love an advance on my Christmas present this year. I know that August seems a little bit early, but you have to remember that I live in a family of fifteen now and it’s awfully difficult to get any sort of attention from Michelle these days.

If you will recall, Michelle left me at home in 2011 when she went to Portland for BlytheCon with Belarus. She also left me at home in 2014 when she went to BlytheCon in Seattle and took that freak Eden and one of the old ones with her. As her first Blythe, I’ve been feeling a little bit neglected recently. In a family of fifteen where I need to share my shoes, it’s unfortunate that the one who inspired all of this has been left to collect dust on a shelf. No love for Sophie. None. I’ve been tempted to call for Blythe Protective Services, but Michelle insists that this is not a real thing. However, since I mentioned calling them she has been keeping a closer eye on my internet time so I suspect that she is lying…

Anyways, back to what I wanted to talk to you about! I’m hoping to go to BlytheCon Vancouver, third time’s the charm, right? Failing that, if you could please make sure that Michelle buys me some nice things? There are some clothes that I’d love to get my hands on by some fancy dress makers, and I wouldn’t mind some new tights and socks. However, no way should you send me a new sister via BlytheCon Vancouver. I know there will be people selling Blythes there but that is no good to me. No good at all! Some new dresses, maybe a tiara.

Failing this, please get Rudolph to bring me an ice floe – I’d like to push Eden and Primrose off onto it and wave goodbye to them from land.

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.

Bennett (Margaret Meets Ladybug EBL) with some Doll Coordinate Recipe books,
all purchased online via Mandarake.

The market is a lot different now in 2015 than it was in 2009 when I was first getting into Blythe and purchasing my first one in person in Richmond, BC. Nowadays, you run into the trouble of deciphering what a seller is trying to say when they may be using a translation program. There is advice I see floating around on Facebook that often directs new Blythe hobbyists to “TBLs” or “factory dolls” (which are all, let’s face it, fakes).

For those who are smitten with Blythe, it is always a good idea to know were to go to purchase legitimate Blythes that are produced by Takara. Here is a selection of online shops for you to puruse, I’ve made some comments regarding types of releases (new vs. old) as well as retail

• Junie Moon – Junie Moon’s international online shop ship world wide. They are also an official Blythe retailer, as they are very closely associated and affiliated with Cross World Connections (who designs the new Blythe releases). You can often find new releases here, all at retail price. When there are special releases (e.g. limited releases, or anniversary dolls), Junie Moon holds a “lottery”. If you win, you win the chance to purchase the doll. Junie Moon does not often carry dolls that would be considered to be very old releases.
• CC Toys – CC Toys is a brick and mortar shop located in Hong Kong that also happens to sells online. They boast having ‘free’ shipping with each item, but you will note that they include cost of shipping in with the purchase price. The nice thing about this is that there are no surprises! The price you see is what you pay. They will often do presales for new releases. Some older releases can also be found at CC Toys. The prices may be inflated from original retail costs, as the prices are fluid with the popularity. The more popular dolls are often priced accordingly.
• HobbyLink Japan – HLJ is an online shop that carries Blythe and other hobby goods from Japan. Like CC Toys, they often do presales for new releases. What I personally like about HLJ is that they will combine shipping. If you purchase some things now and can wait for it, you can wait until you’ve accumulated a fair number of items before having it shipped (up to a certain length of time). This may be helpful for some people. I have purchased a fair number of Japanese hobby books from HLJ and they have always been packaged well.
• Mandarake – Mandarake is a series of brick and mortar shops in Japan that will buy and sell items. They also carry Blythe. Mandarake is a great resource for older releases as well as used dolls. I have found that often the descriptions do not make sense (likely due to use of a translation program), but you can often find good deals through Mandarake if you are willing to search a bit and wait.
• Amazon – Surprise, surprise – the online retailer that carries just about everything also carries Blythe! The US site for Amazon does have some releases – albeit at fairly high prices. Amazon.co.jp also carries Blythe as well, but you may run into the trouble of needing to use a shipping service that will purchase as your proxy and then ship you your items after they receive it. This means that you will be paying for shipping twice (first domestically, second internationally).

I do hope that these links help you in finding your (first?) Blythe! If you’ve had good (or poor) shopping experiences at any of the above retailers – let me know in the comments below! If you have any shops to suggest, please link below.

A Beginner’s Guide is a feature on BlytheLife.com that is all about going back to the basics of collecting Blythe, and being a reference tool for new and experienced collectors alike. If you have any suggestions for what you would like to see in A Beginner’s Guide, send me your suggestions!

One of the nice things about having a collection of small toys is that they make great photo props with Blythe dolls. I’m very fond of photos of Blythe dolls with the mini Lalaloopsy dolls because it looks very sweet when dolls have dolls that are sized appropriately. And then there’s the not quite to scale plush that also make for fantastic photos, and the furniture that I can put the dolls on.

“This is my dragon and my dolly. Do you want to play with me?”

There’s something fun about setting up a photo with toys that aren’t Blythe – just for something different. And if you have a dragon figurine? All the better to include it in. Who doesn’t love a good Blythe and dragon photo? But my favourite doll to put with Blythe would have to be the mini Lalaloopsy, she slightly edges out the My Little Pony figurines that I have.

What are your favourite dolls for dolls? Do you have mini Lalaloopsy dolls for your Blythes?

Cameo’s wearing: dress/Puppy52Dolls, leggings/Endangered Sissy.

Today’s shoes are some of my favourite, even if I don’t use them in photos a lot. (And in case this is not your first time reading a installment of Tiny Shoe Love, yes –  I do have a lot of favourites.) These beauties:

Yes, they are skates. These are Simply Sparkly Spark and Simply Bubble Boom’s stock skates. SSS came with the pearl skates and SBB came with the appropriate orange skates. And how cute are they?! Very cute. I’m featuring them now because it’s been very hot where I live (mid to high 20s °C) and I’m dreaming about snow and ice and skating and all things wintery. Summer is not my favourite, I’m afraid. I’m a huge fan of cooler weather – hand knit socks, sweaters, and cute hand knit accessories weather. That is my favorite. Alas, it is nearly officially summer… So while I’m trying to stay hydrated I can admire the adorable skates and think of cooler times.

The skates that came with the trio (I do not have Simply Thumpty Thump, STT came with matching skates, but in violet) are super adorable, I really appreciate the details that are added on. The silver colouring for the blades, the details for the laces. Little added touches like these are what makes doll shoes so very irresistible for me.

I’m still holding out hope that one day Takara will put out another series of shoes sets since I totally missed the boat on the Shoe Cruise Day and Night sets. I kick myself every time I see those cute pink boots on a doll’s feet in photos because I want them a lot.

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!

Cameo’s wearing: dress/Puppy52Dolls in BlytheCon fabric, tights/Endangered Sissy, skates/SBB.
Eden’s wearing: dress/Monique Magnifique stock, tights/unknown, skates/SSS.