I edit photos on my phone a lot – either with adjusting the colours so that they’re closer to being ‘true’ or adding a filter to make them look better. Sometimes the lighting just isn’t the best when I’m snapping a quick photo for posting later, or I don’t get around to looking at it closely until later and I just don’t get the opportunity to take another photo. Photo editing apps can also be a lot of fun to just add a little extra something to a photo.

I greatly enjoy the photo editing features on the Instagram and Flickr apps. They are fairly user-friendly apps that are easy to use, but I’m sure many of you already know about them! One that I’ve been playing around with a lot lately is XnRetro. There’s a dice button that’s essentially an option to randomise what filters and editing options get applied, and it’s really fun:

I am always on the look out for fun new photo apps to try and use! Make some recommendations below if you have any!

What are your favourite photo apps? (Don’t forget to include what platform they are for!)

The last time that I was successful with a 365 photo project, sort of maybe, was with Sophie (365/365). My second attempt with 365 was with Eden Mouse it was woefully unsuccessful (at 114/365). I think it was partially to do with when I decided to try it (it was my second term of nursing school) and the fact that I fizzled out while studying for finals that term. Not a good idea to take part in a daily photo challenge when finals are breathing down your neck, let me tell you!

I have been thinking lately that I wouldn’t mind attempting another 365 photo challenge, I just don’t know which doll yet. Or maybe I’ll given Eden another try so we can get to 365 a second time around? All I know right now is that my Kenners won’t be partaking in a 365, nor will Halo (my Friends With Blythe custom that has a mohair reroot).

Are you participating in a365 photo challenge? How far in are you? (And if you’re not, do you have any plans to start?)

The great thing about attending a BlytheCon is the ability to admire other peoples’ dolls, their amazing work with doll clothing, and just get to meet new people in general! I met so many people, it was really fun! Of course, this also led me to considering my ‘goals’ for my life involving dolls.

I would (still) really love to add a BL to my doll family in the future. I’m partial the ones who are naturally more boggled and wouldn’t mind Parco, Mondrian, Goldie, or Kozy… I saw a lot of Goldies in Vancouver, that was a lot of fun!

I would very much love to start creating 1/6th scale furniture. There was some amazing work in that beautiful room box at one of the vendor tables! While I cannot afford the beautiful pieces (right now…), it would be fun to dabble in creating my own play scale furniture! It’d be a lesson in futility, I’m sure, as well as a potential lesson of “leaving such ventures to the professionals”…

Just once, I’d love to attend a BlytheCon with maybe more than a hundred dollars for spending. Oh yes, Blythe On A Budget is real when it comes to me and attending BlytheCon (this was true for Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver). I am very much looking forward to a day when I can afford to buy some more pricey doll items, not because they’re expensive and because I could – but because I really admire the craftsmanship behind details like tiny pin tucks and hand-embroidered designs. That and I really do think that Prim would look darling in most anything. I’d also love to attend a Blythe event outside of North America at least once, I think it’d be a really good experience and, plus, I love to travel and it’d be a great excuse to experience another country, soak in some culture and try some local cuisine. I love having new experiences, and travelling is an excellent way to do that.

What are your Blythe goals?

Like many in the dolly community who are a little more enthuiastic than some, I really enjoy the creative side of story telling when it comes to Blythe and photographing Blythe. Part of this falls into the idea of bestowing some sort of persona onto the dolls when it comes to telling stories with photos.

Some examples for you…

Sophie will always be my little fashionista. It’s in part because of the personality she developed when we were doing her 365 challenge, in part because of her glamorous hair. Like a dolly with silver hair that goes below the knee could ever be boring?

Eden Mouse will always be… well, little. With a hair cut that is really similar to the bowl cut I had as a child, and my tendency to dress her in pink. She’s the more childish part of my personality – that part that won’t be growing up any time soon, thank you very much. A long time ago, I had next to no pink clothing items or shoes – now I have to force myself to stop buying things for Eden because conflict arise when other people wear pink (or happen to have pink hair…). Oddly enough, pink was not my favourite colour when I started to dress Eden in pink – I just thought that she looked really cute (and she does!). It has since grown on me, although I’m more attracted to thinks that are a hot pink or a darker pink than the baby pink that she tends to wear.

And then there’s Cameo. She’s relatively new to the doll family (I got her a little under a year ago – August 30th, 2014), but she’s the part of me that just really loves cats. I don’t own a cat (or have a cat overlord), but I really do love cats! Cameo is my resident cat lady dolly. Her cat-themed wardrobe is terribly limited though, as I don’t actually own that many items that have cats on them. I am working on it though – I recently bought this cute long-sleeve shirt with a cat print just for Cameo.

Do you share aspects of your personalities with your dolls when telling stories?

Sophie’s wearing: dress/Dollies Love Dresses, tights/Cool Cat.
Eden’s wearing: helmet/chelleshocks, dress/Shershe, tights/unknown.
Cameo’s wearing: top/Dutch Blythe Fashion, leggings/Endangered Sissy.

So this past Saturday was the pre-meet for BlytheCon Vancouver (there was also a pre-BlytheCon Vancouver dinner that was kindly organized by Kimberly C. – and we took over the majority of a Cactus Club Cafe in downtown Vancouver), and Sunday was the main event in which I got very little sleep before hand, got some sugar to keep me going, and the food was amazing. I heard so many people rave about the food! I will share photos from the weekend and recap the events on Wednesday because I’ve been busy, umm, catching up on sleep. I slept in until about 9:40am this morning when I remembered that I was supposed to meet up with some fantastic people who were still here for a while longer.

The Pavilion Ballroom at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel
the day before when hotel staff were setting up!

Thanks to everyone who came to BlytheCon Vancouver, and safe travel for those heading home!

Are you tired?