My dolls have a decent amount of handknits, because that’s the majority of my contribution to their wardrobe. But weather appropriate clothing? It’s hard to do when it’s sunny one day, rainy the next, and then a mix of both the third day of the week. The beginnings of summer is always rough. The weather isn’t quite so predictable yet, so weather appropriate dolly clothing still consists of a few cardigans.

As I’ve been on a self-declared clothing diet lately, I’ve been having to make up outfits based on what I already own. So here are some selections for the warmer days and for cooler days. Some shorts, a few light-coloured dresses. The duck cover-up? For the days that my dolls deign to go near water, or a beach, which is very rare.

I know that to non-dolly people, it seems weird to consider dolls needing to dress for the weather, but there’s just something about dolls wearing swimsuits out in the snow, or big jackets at the beach, that just seems wrong to me. People dress appropriately for the weather, and so should dolls!

When it comes to new releases in the world of Blythe, it takes something with a bit of ‘wow’ factor to draw me in these days. Maybe it’s because my doll family has grown to the point where I’m very happy with the mix, or because there’s just so many dolls and limited space that I’m forced to be more and more selective. Regardless of why it is, I have exactly zero anniversary dolls.

For those who are new to Blythe, the following are anniversary dolls:

• 2002 – Miss Anniversary
• 2003 – Courtney Tez by Nike
• 2004 – Art Attack
• 2005 – Cinema Princess
• 2006 – Darling Diva
• 2007 – Princess a la Mode
• 2008 – Christina the Bride and Eleanor the Forest Dancer
• 2009 – Fashion Obsession Jenna
• 2010 – Marabelle Melody
• 2011 – Ten Happy Memories
• 2012 – Red Delicious
• 2013 – Allie Gabrielle
• 2014 – Regina Erwen

I’ve been in the hobby since 2009, when Fashion Obsession Jenna came out. There were murmurs of displeasure that the anniversary doll was yet another blonde – at the time it seemed like every other doll being produced was a blonde. Marabelle Melody only intrigued me because she was released with a trio of skater superheros (I have both Simply Sparkly Spark and Simply Bubble Boom).  Ten Happy Memories,while I appreciated the sentiment of having a trio of anniversary dolls (Neo, Middie and Petite), was lost on me. I just wasn’t interested.

I think one of the anniversary dolls that I do actually regret not attempting to get was Red Delicious. I had the luxury of seeing one in person in late 2013 and she was gorgeous. But there is a lot of hair, and I already have a lot of dolls with a lot of hair. Allie Gabrielle was a yawn to me, until I saw photos out of the box. I’m not entirely sure who the CWC has taking their photos anymore, but more care could be taken to make the dolls look more attractive to potential buyers! And that leads us to Regina Erwen.

Regina Erwen has some foiled chips, coloured eyelids, special lashes and, looking at the photos, it looks like she comes with some higher quality underpants than what some recent releases have come with! Unfortunately, I am just not drawn to her. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve become more fickle with my dolly buying, or because I’m jaded from the quality of the dolls that I had unboxed last year. I’m not sure what it is, but I do not that I’m not particularly enamored enough with the doll to buy her. Or maybe it’s when I look back at older releases, I’m suddenly smacked in the face with the fact that newer anniversary (and regular) releases of Blythe just don’t come with as much stuff anymore. Not that it’s all about the clothes (although, really it is), but many of the older anniversary releases came with not just one outfit, but multiple. Often two, sometimes more. While the newer released anniversary dolls don’t tempt me as much, I would love to get my hands on Art Attack one of these days – with every single one of her individually boxed outfits.

Who’s your favourite anniversary doll? Do you own any?

I’d like to preface this entry with a minor disclaimer: I don’t own any doll that were released with cardboard accessories. I just have opinions about them, like many others in the Blythe hobby.

Stock cardboard accessories first made their existence known with the release of Nekugutsu, the Middie with mushroom-printed cardboard purse, back in early 2013. Since then, cardboard accessories have been regularly included as stock items with the dolls. From the Sherlock Holmes-inspired Lorshek Molseh’s pocket watch and magnifying glass to Lydia Green’s suitcase, cardboard items are not restricted to only Middies as Neos are also being released with cardboard accessories as well.

This leads to guessing by community members about which cute item in promotional illustrations are made of plastic or cardboard. This also leads to sighs of relief when real promotional photos of Charlotte de Fleurs were released with what is not a cardboard flower in her hair. Have we all become accustomed to seeing cardboard accessories on the dolls that we’re suddenly happy and ecstatic when a doll doesn’t come with a cardboard accessory? To say nothing about the longevity of the pieces themselves – having accessories made out of plastic would increase the playability of the items, make the more durable and less easily damaged by stress (e.g. folding) or a spilled cup of coffee.

Is an increase of items with the doll an added value to the Blythe itself when the pieces are made of cardboard? I look back to the earlier releases of EBLs and SBLs when some dolls came with two pairs of shoes and two outfits, yet were not astronomically priced upon release. Having extra clothing items is an added value, for sure. Having two pairs of shoes? Awesome! Having a cardboard crown that you can bend out of shape and crease by looking at it funny? It may look great for a few photos, but it can be easily damaged and then it is no longer a great stock piece because you wouldn’t be using it anymore. Is that value added to the stock Blythe, or should there be more substance to the stock accessories?

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.

I adore doll shoes (this you probably already knew…). There’s just something about the dainty little doll shoes that exist in the world and how they’re so very small! I wish I had a shoe collection like my dolls did, I really do. If I did though, I think I’d struggle to figure out where to stash all the shoes and boots (I may have more than a few pairs of dolly shoes). There’s just something really great about the small plastic shoes that I love. Maybe it’s how adorable they look on small dolly feet, or the level of detail that can go into a tiny shoes. Exploring the idea further, maybe it’s just the fact that that I can have dozens of doll shoes and not take up a lot of space and it adds to my need to collect All. The. Things. I can’t afford to have all the Blythes ever released (and wouldn’t that just be the dream?!) but I can have many pairs of tiny doll shoes and no one would be the wiser because they all just mix in together so well.

There’s just something about them that is so wonderful. And they can be so incredibly detailed – both new boots and vintage ones.

And I just love choosing them to go with outfits or organizing them. They even look great against mundane things (like my study notes for my pathophysiology final exam last term!).

And the thrill of buying yet another organizer box because I’ve finally exceeded the two that I had? Because life is too short to restrict your shoe collection to two organizer boxes – trust me, I tried.

It’s a wonderfully fun to get to play with boxes full of doll shoes and to pick out what doll is wearing what. And even more fun to get new shoes in the mail and to decide who will be wearing what first!