I try to avoid talking about sad or negative things here on BlytheLife, if only because Blythe is a happy thing for me. In light of the recent attacks that have happened in Canada against two upstanding men who had given their lives for their country, it does make it hard to be quiet because despite the attacks being on the other side of the country – there are ripples that come out and touch every single Canadian when it comes to thinking about how safe we feel within our own borders, and thus I did want to highlight Remembrance Day – referred to as Veteran’s Day in the United States.

In Flanders fields the poppies grow,
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

– Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, 1915.

It’s October 31st and that means that when the sun sets, it’s time for the ghosts and witches to come out to play!

Eden Mouse as a squid. Minnow as… Eden Mouse?
Squid outfit by me. Mouse hat by me. Dress by Plastic Fashion.

It also means that copious amount of candy goes on sale tomorrow, an annual treat for me ever since I’ve become socially deemed as “too old” to go trick-or-treating. Luckily, there will always be a pair that is not too old in the family for going door-to-door asking for candy.

This is not going to end well.

If you are going out, stay safe! I will be making Eden and Minnow go out together, and only cross at marked crosswalks while wearing reflective clothing. Although, truth be told, Minnow’s hair is probably reflective enough.

The age old question is frequently asked in the doll community: Do you prefer stock dolls or customized dolls?

For a very long time, I only ever had stock dolls. Most people barely consider a gaze lift or eye chip changes to be a ‘customization’ anymore, that is how common it has become – and yet it’s still the bulk of the customization that I can bring myself to do. While the idea of holding a melted glue stick to a very expensive doll originally made me incredibly nervous, the fact that I can do it without issue now is a nothing short of amazing in my book. Some people were meant to be customizers, I am not one of those people.

Halo (wearing Kult of Kulta) and Cameo (wearing Plastic Fashion), both customs by Friends With Blythe.

That isn’t to say that I cannot enjoy customized dolls. I have two customized lovelies, both by the same customizer (Friends With Blythe). They definitely do have something different than my (more) stock dolls. From the carving to the face-up and, let’s be honest, it’s nice to have a not-so-shiny doll face looking at me all the time. My custom dolls are the only ones that I have a non-stock Kenner or Takara body, they came to me on Licca bodies and on Licca bodies they shall stay.

Primrose (Kenner) wearing Luxie Lou.

While there are many people who have high preferences for custom dolls (and I even know a few people who are physically incapable of leaving a doll in their presence stock!), I love stock dolls. There’s just something about them that I adore. Maybe it is the shiny forehead, or the fact that the way the arms stick out make me smile. Then again, maybe it’s because I fell in love with Blythe initially because of photos of stock dolls and I wasn’t that into custom dolls to begin with. Stock dolls truly represent Blythe to me – be in vintage or modern releases. There are many beautiful new releases lately that some people have likened to already being customized (hello, stock matte faces…) and yet, as beautiful as they are (and I would love to add one or two to my collection some day), there is just something so charming about having a shiny face staring back at you, quietly judging you for your own outfit choices when you’re dressing them in an dress that costs more than your entire outfit. Or maybe that’s just how I feel. Maybe I should start spending more money on me instead? Just a thought.

Nah, all the monies go towards dolls. Dolls, dolls, dolls. And more doll things.

Tiny things make me happy. This is probably obvious from my love of dolls, doll shoes, and other miniature items. Have I mentioned that I love small things?! I love my dolls and toys, and this extends to the toys for my dolls. This, of course, works best for dolls who are ‘young’ in personality.

This is realized with mini Lalaloopsy dolls, plastic toys that come from chocolate eggs, and other miniature loves that come into my life.

My favourite are the mini Lalaloopsy dolls. There is just something incredibly charming about the idea of a doll that has her own dolly. I don’t have very many mini Lalaloopsy dolls, I have exactly two, but they are very charming and I’m always on the look out for them on sale (I recently saw them in a shop that has a small toy aisle and they were marked at $20 for 1 doll with a few accessories – way too pricey for me!).

What are your favourite doll-sized toys? Do your dolls have toys?

The majority of my Blythes used to live on my desk (prior to that, they were on a set of drawers). I got into Operation: Clean Room this summer, which still struggling to be realized on the grand scale, but I did manage to do some things to get my life a bit more organized. I haven’t gotten everything quite to where I want it just yet, but it’s getting there.

I started off by going to Michaels when they had a craft storage sale (50% off!) and then there was an additional coupon that could be applied to sale items (even better!) so I bought myself a small shelf unit. It now lives on its side, on top of my desk. I essentially have six cubes on my desk where the majority of my Blythes live on top of. Each cube has been slowly filled with goodies. The shelf unit I picked is a Recollections shelf unit (it’s called Recollections 6 Cube Organizer) because I had the time to wait for it to go on sale. The total price, after tax, ended up being less than $20CAD for the unit, which was a lot cheaper than similar looking shelves from other stores. At full retail price, it would have been more on par with other stores, so it was a better deal overall after applying the sale discount and additional coupon.

I won’t be showing you the other cubes, mostly because they’re a tad disorganized still (whoops), but one of my cubes has Cedar (Monique Magnifique) and Bennett (Margaret Meets Ladybug). They have some trouble standing up straight on the clover Blythe stands because their hair makes them quite top heavy, so they get to sit on the pink KLIPPAN from the Ikea HUSET furniture set. There’s some other minis in the cube with them, just because.

Directly below that is a cube that consists of my CDs, as well as pencils, pens, gel pens, highlighters and my lovely Smidge House sofa where Joy (Doll Leaves BJD) and Kitty Brighton (Jackie Ramone Middie) hang out.

And you’re probably wondering about the rest of my dolls were, here they are are on top:

From left to right is: Kindred (Velvet Minuet, SBL), Sophie (Cappuccino Chat, RBL), Belarus (Love Mission, EBL), Eden Mouse (Punkaholic People, RBL), Moxie (Simply Bubble Boom, FBL), Minnow (Hi-Ho! Marine, RBL+), Tertiary Jane (Simply Peppermint, RBL), and Mollie (Simply Sparkly Spark, FBL).

For those wondering, my Kenners (Emmalynn, Primrose, and Lillian Rose), as well as my custom Blythes (Halo and Cameo) are often not on display. This is due to lack of space and stands. They are often wrapped up and tucked away unless they are attending a meet, or taking part in a photoshoot.