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.

Hello, my wonderful and lovely readers! Today I am going to talk about one of my most favourite things in the world. And no, I won’t be talking about clothes even though I really love clothes! I’m going to be talking about shoes! Specifically, I will be talking about heels.

Now I know what you’re thinking. “Sophie,” you say, “aren’t you forgetting that Blythe’s feet don’t have that super high arch like Barbie does?” And you would be right – Blythe’s feet don’t have that super high arch that Barbie does. But it doesn’t mean that Blythe can’t wear heels, it just means that we can’t wear the same heels. And who would want to, anyways? All of Barbie’s shoes are pink, ugh. Plus that high arch is just telling you that you will have sore feet from standing all day long.

Look at the variety that we can choose from! For your consideration, from left to right, I have: vintage Francie heels, super low Skipper flats with the tiniest heel in the world, my stock heels, heels I stole from Belarus (Love Mission), and some platform heels (Fancy Pansy & Nostalgic Pop).

All super cute, all in a variety of colours – to go with a variety of outfits!

What are your favourite heels? Share below!

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.

Who Lives Here is a little feature on BlytheLife to shine the spotlight on the dolls that live with me! Here’s to you, and me, getting to know my dolls a little bit better.

This is Tertiary Jane. She is a mostly stock Simply Peppermint that arrived on November 28th, 2009. She was a belated birthday and early Christmas present from my parents.

At the time, I was taking an organic chemistry course as part of my undergrad and while I didn’t do very well in organic chemistry, I found the topic fascinating. This is why ‘tertiary’ is part of her name, she is in part named for (or after) tertiary carbons because why not? I thought it was cute, and the name just sort of stuck after it was spoken out loud. She is also my third Blythe, so maybe that had something to do with it to – although secondary and quarternary never popped up in my naming schemes.

I’m not very big on doing customizations. T. Jane has had a few eye chip changes (stock blues for Brainworm’s Turquoise, and stock greens for Brainworm’s Apple). She also has sleepy eyes and has some charms. She’s still on her stock body, which she’ll remain on because of reasons. I loved her so much more the moment I put her turquoise chips in, just look at how great they go with her hair!

Her overall general ‘feel’, to me, is a general sense of geekiness. She had to be, what with her name and all! T. Jane is primarily into biology and fibre crafts (knitting and crocheting), much like me. I like bestowing different aspects of my personality onto my dolls when doing photo stories. T. Jane is, in essence, the geek girl that is so much more outward about it to the rest of the world than I am on a regular basis.

I hope you’ve enjoyed meeting Tertiary Jane!

Tertiary Jane wears ericaduh.

The fascinating part of collecting Blythe and the Blythe community as a whole is that people are able to customize their dolls to suit their liking. For the longest time, I primarily had stock dolls or dolls that were nearly completely stock save for a few eye chip changes. And that’s the way I liked it. It wasn’t until Halo came into my life that I had a doll that had a body that was not factory issued.

Halo came to me on a Licca body and that’s how I kept her, Cameo (who was customized by the same customizer) also came on a Licca body. All of my Kenners are on original or original-hybrid bodies (either completely vintage or Kenner torso with Takara pelvis and legs). All of my stock/mostly stock Blythes are on their original bodies. And then there are my customized Blythes. They came to me on Licca bodies, and on Licca bodies they will stay. While I generally do not like the look of Licca bodies (the noodle arms and legs, when bent, leaves a lot to be desired at times), I quite like the look of my customized dolls on Licca bodies.

Are you a Licca body fan or a stock body fan? Or do you prefer something else?

Beyond the Takara and Licca bodies, there are also many other types of bodies out there. Some that I have encountered, others that I have not. Off the top of my head, I am aware that people have put their Blythe’s heads onto Pure Neemo bodies (of all the varieties), Obitsu bodies, and Mimi Bobeck. There are many other types of bodies out there that people have opted to pop their dolls onto for a great variety of reasons.

One of the many reasons that I prefer to keep my dolls on Takara (and Licca) bodies is the fact that I don’t want to have to start a new wardrobe for a different body type (or height). If I had a doll on a Mimi Bobeck body, I would need to have a whole new wardrobe for the doll because nothing I already have would fit. That’s also the issue that I ran into when I got my first Middie, Kitty Brighton, because I honestly had nothing that would fit her and it was frustrating at the time because I was on a self-induced budget cut on dolly spending (and I still am), so I ended up giving myself the challenge of creating the majority (or all) of her wardrobe.

This frustration is also realized in shoes. Different bodies also mean the possibility that my shoe collection might not fit. That’s one of the issues that I ran into when I first got a Blythe on a Licca body. Some of my favourite shoes and boots just would not fit because the Licca fit is just a smidgen wider and longer, so some of my absolute favourite shoes that are dainty and small? The toes can’t even squeeze in because the shoes just weren’t wide enough. For Middies, this meant that I needed to scope out some Kelly-sized shoes, because their feet ended up swimming in a ridiculous manner in the shoes that I already had. Not that I particularly minded ‘needing’ to buy more doll shoes, we all know how much I love those tiny things!

I guess in a way, I’m a bit fickle when it comes to bodies. While I might like the look of some of the alternatives to stock or Licca, I’m penny pinching in a way that makes it unlikely for me to put one of my dolls on a different body because I don’t want to be limited in clothing selection for a doll, or not be able to use some of my favourite shoes on for a doll just because of her body.

Originally when I started the challenge of hand crafting a Middie-sized wardrobe, I only had one Middie – a stock Jackie Ramone by the name of Kitty Brighton. (For those curious, Kitty is for the Pride and Prejudice sister, Brighton for the town that I’ve never been to). And then a darling Yellow Marshmallow came into my life with a flair – she also came into my life naked – and I named her Lydia Melbourne (Lydia for yet another Bennet sister, and Melbourne for yet another place that I have never been to).

But I have been making things lately! I recently made two cute little empire-waisted knit dresses (still a bit short, I really need to learn to carry a doll around to measure to make sure it isn’t too short before I finish it off!) and a knit top (that was meant to be a dress but was definitely too short!).

I’m still crafting away when I can. I’m thinking of making some little Middie-sized knitted rompers next, just in time for the summer weather. Hopefully the next time I will have many more new additions to share!