Move over pink, there’s a new colour in town. I know there are some people who adore the colour pink, but it’s just so over by now (sorry, Eden!). With the Olympics right around the corner, I want to remind you all of some really great colours: gold, silver and bronze. More importantly, you should all be decked out in these colours. Now, maybe not necessarily bronze (that is third place, after all!) but definitely gold and silver. More gold and silver, I say!

Gold and silver look great – regardless if it’s super shiny or kinda dulled down to not look too flashy. You can’t be too covered in sequins in the office (or so Michelle tells me), which is kind of boring in a way, but if you want to stay employed in order to buy more friends like me it may be good idea. Now, there is such a thing as “over doing” something. You don’t want to be like my little sister Eden and only ever wear one colour. That’s just awful and, frankly a bit boring. No, if you’re going to go with gold or silver, you should pair it off with another colour. Maybe one that won’t over power the metallic sheen because that would defeat the purpose.

Here’s a look at some of the clothes that I’ve pulled together. Now wearing all of this would be a little overkill (because, hello, wearing two dresses at the same time?), but a little gold or silver here and there works out well! And with that, I’m all ready for the Olympics as I cheer on Team Canada, how about you?

Sophie is a mostly stock Cappuccino Chat that came to live with me in June 2009. She loves shoes, new clothes, playing with her hair, fashion, magazines full of fluff and shopping. She aspires to be a model and would like to model for some of the ‘great’ dolly fashion houses one day.

I have quite a few Blythes, being nearly five years into the hobby. It’s a great hobby and I’ve met some wonderful people during this time. But during that time, my interest in the dolls themselves wanes in and out, mostly due to time constraints. I’ve found my interest in particular dolls ebbs with my interests and some dolls capture my interest more than others.

Looking back at my older dolls, particularly not the ones that entered in my plastic family in the last year, I find that I probably neglect Kindred quite a bit. She’s my only SBL, so I won’t ever be customizing her because of the challenges that exist there plus I can’t bring myself to customize her. Then there were the issues with the ‘yellowed’ eyes (different type of white), and the extreme downward gaze. Yet some of Kindred’s most attractive qualities is that her eyes are a dream to roll by hand and she’s got some great makeup (vivid blue eyeshadow, anyone?) and plus she came with some gorgeous (and plentiful!) stock items. Velvet Minuet is still the first Blythe doll that I saw at the beginning, and she was the one that drew me into the hobby to begin with. But now it’s time to acknowledge the fact that I do neglect her from time to time – in particular with outfit changes and bringing her to meets. Maybe that will change now that I’m more aware of this and I’ll bring her to some meets in the future.

Which doll of yours is the most neglected?

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I first became aware of Moo cards back in 2011, when everyone seemed to have them and I was all “what is this madness?!”. For those not in the know, Moo cards are half the height of a standard business card while retaining the length. You can print an absurd variety of photos onto your cards without a minimum or maximum. Want to print 100 cards? You can put 100 different images on them. Yes, crazy. Something that I cannot do at a local print shop because, at that scale, it’s not worth it to them. I also got some ‘faux-Moo’ cards at BlytheCon in Portland, OR. Some innovative individuals had gotten their cards printed at local print shops and then cut them in half, length-wise, because it is cheaper to do something like that – especially if you’re not invested in the idea of having 100 cards with 100 different pictures.

Business cards as a whole, in this community, are delightful. I find them charming and I tend to keep the ones that I am given or get slipped in the mail when I’ve bought something online for the umpteenth time. Because they’re so collectible, it makes it ideal to include your details on them – website, Etsy or Artfire shop, Flickr name, email address. People keep things that they like, bonus if it’s small and doesn’t take up too much room. I like them, and I plan to have them on hand when I head to Seattle, WA in August this year.

And what does one do with all the cards that they amass over time?

I’ve used some as bookmarks, and I want to get a frame one day and put them all together in a collage. A lot of the ones I keep are from people that I’ve met, designers that I admire (and am perpetually jealous of their sewing capabilities!) and friends that I keep in touch with on a regular basis.

I find that one of the best ways to avoid shopping on forums (and Etsy shops, and eBay) for new dolly clothes is to start shopping – in what I already have! Sometimes dresses can get tucked away under other dresses and be ‘lost’. When you unearth them it’s a little like finding something new again. That and making new outfit combinations with a handful of items means more mixing-and-matching (gotta love separates!) and less spending money.

Tights are fantastic and can add a great *pop* of colour to an outfit. Using existing items – like stock from dolls that you don’t use often, can be mixed and matched with newer items to make them ‘fresh’ again. Like that fur coat that came with Cappuccino Chat? Bam, new again. And why not? It’s a well made piece of stock that goes quite under-appreciated. Like most doll collectors, I own a fair bit of doll clothes. And like quite a few Blythe collectors, I keep the stock items that my dolls come with. Sometimes I even seek out items that come with other dolls. Knowing that I’m bad about letting dolls go, it would be a very expensive option to go ahead and buy all the doll that are released with great stock just to get a hold of their outfits on the idea that I would be able to resell the dolls afterwards (most likely, they would become permanent members of the household).

What I’d like challenge you all to do is to consider what’s the least worn item, and try to build an outfit around that. For me, it would probably be the Love Mission police outfit. I rarely use any of the pieces, so I decided to utilize the pants and the shirt-and-tie. Pairing them up with a different pair of shoes (remember, LM came with both heels and loafers!) and a different jacket, it’s possible to put together new combinations all the time and it makes for a fun exercise for making something ‘new’ from the old.