With a new year come new resolutions made in the hopes of making oneself become more… active. Be it in mind, body or soul, I bet more than one of you had decided that this was the year you would do a 365 challenge. It is a long, long challenge. I should know, I completed one with Sophie a while ago, and failed one with Eden. 365 challenges seem simple enough – take a photo of something or someone every day for the duration of a year. 365 photos, the commitment to both take a photo and to upload a photo. That’s where I fell behind a bit. And then more. And more. And more. Because it is a commitment and I think that anyone who makes it to 365 is awesome, amazing and kinda an inspiration. Even if all you do is take photos of your Blythe with your textbooks while you’re busy studying, you still took a photo and shared it with the world. I used that as an example because I took many photos of my Blythes with textbooks. And homework. And possibly even a few with my stethoscope when it was new and shiny to me.

365 photo challenges are hard. But there are a lot of options out there! There are some challenges where you take photos of the same thing every day (like 365 Days Blythe) and others where it’s okay to change things up (such as Kenner 365). If daily photos aren’t your thing, there are weekly challenges available too, like 52 Weeks of Kenner Blythe. Much like a marathon, the difficulty doesn’t lie in the beginning, but in middle and end. When I started my 365 project with Eden, I was very energetic about it, very eager to do it right and actually upload photos on time. Then I fell behind on uploading, then taking photos, then finally admitting that I was out. The beginning is easy. It’s when you have the notion of taking on such a task to begin with and you don’t realize the effort that it takes to perform such a long-term project until you’re further in.

No matter what photography challenge you decide to undertake, remember that it is an impressive feat no matter how far you end up. And also remember that it’s okay when other priorities in life take over – nobody’s going to be any less impressed with how far you’ve come when it comes down to it. Life comes first, a photo a day can wait.

This is a question that I get asked often by people who a) aren’t into Blythe and are unable to tell the difference between Kenners, Takaras and ADGs and b) those who are into Blythe, but think that crusty old dolls don’t hold a candle to their shiny, new Neos. And, let’s be honest now, I didn’t think much of Kenners either. But I also thought that I wouldn’t have one because Kenners are a) expensive and b) all special and vintagey.

For those new to the world of Blythe, Kenners were the first Blythes to be manufactured (aside from the prototypes for the design). They have copyright information on the back of their torso that talks of General Mills, 1972 and the now-defunct toy company Kenner. They were also made in Hong Kong, when it was under British rule (history factoid for you all). Kenner made a lot of other toys as well, so if you’re looking up “vintage Kenner doll” on eBay, you’ll find other dolls besides the big-headed Blythe.

Blythe in 1972 came with 4 standard eye colours. If you’ve ever seen the original television advert, you’ll know that they referred to the orange as brown and the pink as purple. And, if you’re (un)lucky with your vintage Kenner dolls, you’ll know that sometimes with time (and perhaps poor storage over the years), the vintage eye chips will fuse with the white eyeballs that the dolls have. Short of chipping away at it to remove it, you’d be hard pressed to swap out the eyechips even if you wanted to. And yes, there are those who will customize the vintage dolls while others simply restore them to their previous glory.

Those who are turned off by Kenners for their imperfections don’t need to look far for photos of them with cracks and other faults. Pelvic cracks, missing legs, torso cracks, missing arms, broken necks, yellowed eyes, cloudy chips, missing pullstrings, scalp tears, missing plugs, frizzy hair that looks like dish scrubber. There are a lot of issues that a Kenner can end up with. And some dolls do need a lot of restoration work, if you want them to be more Blythe-like and less grunge-like.

I personally love Kenners. I have three of my own and they’re the gems in my collection (please don’t tell the others). I find that the older dolls tend to have more character about them, and the little quirks that they have from age make them more interesting to me. So while I may not have a family of just Kenners, I quite like them (a lot).

Like custom dolls though, they’re not for everyone. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes about all different types of Blythes. But there is no denying that there is a sense of allure when it comes to these older Blythes, and without them we never would have had the Blythe dolls that we know and love today.

Tis the season to dress in holiday colours?

Most of my dolls wear dresses, only occasionally pants, and even when they wear dresses the outfits end at or above the knee. Hardly appropriate for the type of temperatures that we’ve been having here, and yet if someone issued me the challenge to dress all of my dolls in holiday and weather-appropriate garments I would fail that challenge (miserably so). I focused a lot this year on expanding the shoe collection – mostly because doll shoes are darling and I like all things teeny tiny. But then that means that one part of the wardrobe expanded, and I did add a couple dolls, but there wasn’t any addition of winter wear. This is most unfortunate as, even though it hasn’t snowed yet here, it is very cold and I feel colder just looking at my dolls in their weather-inappropriate-clothing. Or maybe I just need to turn up the heat a wee bit – either way, it’s cold and that must mean that the dolls are cold too!

Just because we have limited amounts of winter garb here, doesn’t mean that I wasn’t able to pull together a winter outfit ! It’s a good mix of handmade and commercially-available items. Sophie declined to model, something about it not being “designer”… What are some of your favourite wintery clothes?

Of course, now my dolls have a new request – skinny jeans that can fit into boots!

My local doll group is having a December meet in the next month that will be holiday themed with a gift exchange! I love adding a little handmade touch to gifts in the holiday season and I wanted to share with all of you some of the DIYs that I’ve shared previously on BlytheLife – just in time for the holidays and perhaps you could make something for your own dolls or a friend’s doll family!

For any crafter, there are a variety of crafty hobbies represented in the tutorials – mainly because I do a variety of crafty hobbies. Sewing, knitting, crocheting! There’s a little something for everyone – and this also means that there’s no excuses not to have something newly handmade for your dolls for the holidays – regardless of which one you celebrate.

• Knitted empire dress
• Knitted headband
• Sock-sweater dress
• Fun skirt with a trim
• Blythe-sized smartphone
• Felt Blythe slippers
• Crocheted Petite Toque and Scarf