Besides making things or bargain shopping for your dolls, there’s a lot of things that you can do without really doing a lot at all – taking photos. There are so many photography challenges available online and some of them require a significant amount of commitment (like doing 365 Days Blythe or 2010 A Doll Every Day) or just once a week or even once a month. Whatever the level of commitment that you want to put towards taking photos of your doll, you can probably find it online.

I take part in a 365 project with my first Blythe, Sophie (Cappuccino Chat). It’s been both rewarding and kind of annoying, all at the same time. On one hand, I’ve taking some fantastic photos (for me, not by everyone else’s standards) and on the other hand, I’ve fallen behind a few time and had to play catch-up in order to remain ‘on time’ with where I was. In hindsight, I wish I’d gone with a challenge that required less of a commitment from me. I’ve gone days where Sophie’s wearing the same outfit for over a week and I just don’t have the kind of wardrobe that really seems to be needed for this kind of thing (which, in a way, is ironic given that I can rotate the same few outfits over and over again and not have an issue with it).

There’s a lot to learn about photography for everyone, you don’t need a fancy schmancy camera to take part in any of the photography challenges. No one requires you to have a DSLR that costs more than a car. I take part in 365 with a Sony Cybershot (small, compact point-and-shoot camera that really hates accurately picking up the colour purple) and there are others take photos with their cell phone cameras! The photo challenges available are really about what you want to make out of it.

If you want to take photos of your doll every single day, there’s a group for that. If you only want to do it once a week, there’s a group for that as well. If you’re finicky and only want to take a picture once a month, there are others like that as well. Whatever your camera equipment and the time that you have to dedicated towards taking photos of your Blythe, there’s a group for that, and there’s a lot of fun to be had as well!

Some Flickr photo challenge groups for Blythe (and other dolls) are:

• 365 Days Blythe – daily commitment
• 2010 A Doll Every Day! – daily commitment
• 52 Weeks of Blythe 2010 – weekly commitment
• A Doll A Month – monthly commitment
• Blythe Photo Challenge – monthly commitment

I did a lot of craft hobbies prior to entering the Blythe community. Before Blythe, I mostly designed jewellery and crocheted. Since Blythe, I’ve sewn a lot more (out of motivation to have new clothes for my dolls without breaking the bank) and knitted more as well (small sweaters, scarves and even dresses).

There’s a lot of things I like about crochet. All I need is a hook and some yarn (or just various types of string) and it’s easy to get started. There are a lot of online and offline resources for those wanting to learn how to crochet. I recommend going to your local public library for some books. This may sound silly, but I always recommend that people get the books written for children. Why? They generally have great illustrations and simply written out directions for those learning how to crochet. Projects designed for beginners will be roughly the same for both books written for children and adults, but it’s really the value in the foundations of learning how to crochet that differ quite a bit.

How do you get started with crochet without burning a hole in your wallet?

• Borrow books from the public library
• Find a free pattern (online or in a library book)
• Choose a project with yarn that’s not too ‘fancy’ (simple yarn is best! no black or very dark colours!)
• Buy a crochet hook that corresponds with the pattern and the yarn that you have chosen to buy (you can always buy more crochet hooks later or find some at a thrift store)

I suggest starting to crochet by finding a project geared towards beginners. The pattern will tell you the hook size and the yarn weight and all other things you need to get started. Good patterns will also tell you what the abbreviations stand for and also if they are using US or UK crochet terms (this also makes a huge difference what stitches you use).

Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew – once you understand the basic stitches (chain, single, half-double, double, triple) and some shaping techniques (increases, decreases), there’s a lot that you can do with crochet.

Here’s a free pattern available from Chelle-Chelle.com (one of my other websites) written for Blythe, the Blythe Monster Hat. You need to know how to do slip stitches, single crochet, triple crochet, how to increase and how to do the magic ring.

Most people online will resell their old or unwanted doll clothes and shoes, which can lead to some great deals for you! But you do have to know what to look for, and have something in mind already besides  seeking out the cheapest clothes that you can find – it’s far more work involved to buy something and then turn around and resell it again due to buyer’s remorse.

I’m a member at both Plastic Paradise and This is Blythe forums, both of them include a sundries section where people sell unwanted doll clothes, shoes, furniture and other accessories. Right now is a pretty good time to buy – a lot of people are selling at lower than normal prices, and this includes dolls as well (for the most part).

Always be sure to read the ‘fine print’ associated with each listing. People will generally mention if the clothes are from a pet-friendly or smoke-friendly home. This is something to keep in mind if you happen to have any allergies or sensitivities to some scents.

I’m a fan of buy ‘lots’ of clothing – people tend to put their clothing into lots when they’re wanting to sell things off quickly (or to allow them less work in comparison to selling items one at a time). Occasionally you’ll have people selling grab bags where you can’t see everything, but you can see some of the items and you should always ask to make sure that all the pieces will fit Blythe (or whichever doll you happen to be buying for) and ask about any stains or what needs to be repaired.

So some things that you should keep in mind, and to ask the seller, include (but is not limited to):

• If the seller will combine shipping (or give you a discount on shipping) if you buy more items
• If the seller has pets or smokes (if not already mentioned)
• If there is any stains or damage (if items are in a grab bag and you can’t otherwise see)
• If the seller has any feedback (either from other members on the forums, or via eBay or Etsy or Artfire)
• How the seller will be shipping the item (plain envelope? bubble mailer? box?) and what kind of shipping method (regular post? signature confirmation? tracking number?)

You can find some excellent sundries deals on from time to time, and most forums will allow you to post ‘Want To Buy’ threads too, so if you do that, be ready for a lot of people asking if you’d be willing to buy what they have available.

Happy shopping!

Buying miniatures can be pretty expensive or even difficult, if you’re looking for something like the elusive frog rainboots or a certain cat that’s always in the litter box. While it may be easier to purchase boxes of miniatures in hopes of getting what you want, there is an alternative.

At general craft stores, they generally sell polymer clay (some brands include Sculpey, Premo and Fimo). While there are a lot of different colours available, I’d suggest getting white as you can paint the items after they’ve been baked. You can bake them in a toaster oven, a regular oven or you can even boil them (provided that they stay covered in water, they shouldn’t burn, but you do have to watch them no matter which method of curing you chose).

Not only will you be having fun in creating your own miniatures, you’ll also be saving some money as well as a single package of polymer clay is generally less than a blindbox of miniatures. You can find polymer clay on sale from time to time, occasionally those big-box craft stores (i.e. Michaels, Joanns) will have them as low as $1/block. If you’re wanting to paint them, I’ve found that acrylics generally work well. But if you can wait for a sale, you can stock up on all the colours that you desire. Plus, you can mix the colours together to make something truly unique.

There are some amazing things that some people have made with polymer clay and you may find that you like working with it and making your very own miniatures.

Miniature Food – Fruit Salad 1:12. Photo By: PetitPlat by sk_.

There are a lot of resources online for making polymer clay miniatures, you can make donuts or pizzas or dishes for your dolls. Here are some that I like:

• Glass Attic, a polymer clay “encyclopedia” by Diane Black
• Layered Polymer Miniature Cakes
• Polymer Clay Express (‘harvest’ themed food)

For those who already know or are learning how to sew (Mama Lisa is doing a guest authored series called Sew With Me, check out part 1 and part 2!), one of the things I find that ends up being the more expensive part of the whole sewing hobby isn’t the sewing machine itself – it’s the fabric and all those little notions you end up buying (ribbon, trims, snaps, hooks, lace, elastic, buttons, thread, etc.).

One way to save on all that money spent is to go do a closet clean out! And I don’t mean a closet clean out for your dolls, but for you. I go through my wardrobe maybe 2-3 times a year and pull out the things that I no longer wear, that no longer fit properly (i.e. I’ve grown or it’s shrunk due to the dryer or it’s been stretched out) or is somehow otherwise damaged (i.e. bleach stains due to someone else’s laundry ineptness, rips in the knees of jeans). There’s always something that can be removed from my wardrobe.

Anything that’s still good to wear gets donated – I donate generally to the Canadian Diabetes Association, it’s also an organization that my mom volunteers with twice a year for a week seeking donations. They collect used clothing and other items, usually for resale to earn money towards research and educating the public about diabetes.

But the things with the holes or the stains are either used as rags around the house or are tossed. Or, at least, they used to be.

Provided that there is a decent amount of fabric that’s not stained left, I’ll use it for making doll clothes. Remember that clothes for Blythe don’t require a large amount of fabric. If you were using patterns you find online or the Simplicity Blythe patterns, you will notice that it all calls for fabric scraps. This is because they use so little that you won’t need anywhere near a fat quarter.

There’s always something that you can make with the fabric out of old clothes. For instance, I had this ratty old dress shirt that I was given by my parents to use as a painting smock when I was younger (size large for men covers a lot of a small young child when they’re painting!). I used that shirt for making my first-ever Blythe dress and for the linings for bodices for (so far) 12 different Blythe dresses. That’s fabric that I probably would have cut out of the ‘good’ fabric if I didn’t already have it available.

Used clothes that you don’t mind cutting up are also a great way to test a pattern that you’ve never used before so you don’t use your more expensive on a pattern that you may end up making a lot of adjustments on. It’s also a great way to recycle and to keep it out of the landfills – so you’re both helping the environment and clothing your Blythes at the same time. I call that a win-win situation.