I recently received an email that said this from someone who asked that her name not be included, when I asked if I could blog the answer:

I really like your website. Do you have a button that I can use to link to it? I’d like to help support this site!

And the answer is: yes, yes I have a button. I have many buttons, actually. My favourite is still one of the ones I made ages ago as it features Prim, my messy-haired girl:

I made quite a few new buttons lately. They can all be used to link back to BlytheLife from your blog or website:

In addition, I also accept guest posts (articles, tutorials), freebies to share on this website and I welcome suggestions. And if you’re interested in being interviewed/featured here on BlytheLife, I also love to interview people!

The Blythe community has gone into a bit of an uproar after Flickr unceremoniously revealed a new layout and style. Many people – including non-Blythe individuals – have been referring to Flickr’s facelift as being similar to Facebook. In addition to the new changes on the web-based website, their mobile app has also been changed.

As a Pro account holder for Flickr, I’m a bit iffy about the changes. As of May 20 2013, there are three different account types being offered by Flickr and here are some of the specifications:

• Free – 1 Tb of space, max. 200mb/photo, 1GB/video, ads
• Ad-Free – $49.99/year – same as above, but without ads
• Doublr – $499.99/year – 2Tb of space, all other features the same as above

But if you had a Pro account? Just a taste of what was available:

• Max. 50mb/photo, 500mb/video
• Unlimited storage
• Ad-free
• $24.95/year

Flickr, so soon after announcing the intention to purchase Tumblr, decided to scrape the previous model (Free and Pro accounts) to go with the new model (Free, Ad-Free and Doublr). I personally think that spending $500/year is steep. I’d rather take the $500 and invest it into something else, if I was that into photography (which, I am not). At $50/year just to take away ads? That’s already double what it used to cost for a Pro account, for one year ($24.95/year). Of course, nothing in life is free. By opening Flickr up to advertisers, the many account holders become the product that’s being sold rather than making revenue off of Pro account holders. Granted, if you think about it, $50 for 365 days of ad-free web-browsing, that ends up being $0.137 per day for ad-free browsing. Doesn’t seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, does it? But if you want to avoid spending $50 per year, continue reading on!

What if I already have a Pro account?

If your Pro account was extended by the 3 months of ‘gifted’ Pro by Flickr, I found that users have been saying that they do not have the option of renewing their Pro account. Additionally, if you were given the “Gift of Pro” by a friend, you are also unable to renew the Pro account status because you weren’t the one who paid for it. Sneaky little loophole, isn’t it?

If you paid for your Pro account yourself, you have the option of keeping the Pro status and all it’s features (including the ad-free browsing capabilities and the option to renew once your subscription is up). The price is currently staying the same ($24.95/year). My Flickr Pro is set to expire on April 1 2015 – so I don’t know if the price will still be the same then!

For those that would like to switch from Pro to Free status, it would appear that you do have the option of doing so. And if you had paid for the account (rather than being gifted Pro status), people have been reporting that they can get a prorated refund. You have until August 20 2013 to decide if you want to stay with your Pro account or if you wish to make the switch to Free. For those that are worried about ads, there have also been reports that ad blockers (there are many plugins available for many popular browsers) are able to block the ads on accounts on Flickr that are Free.

As for the app…

I can’t give anyone an opinion about the Apple-friendly version of the Flickr app, but I updated my (Android) Flickr app to the new version and it mimics the updated website quite nicely – only I like the layout on the app a lot better than on my computer. I spent some time playing around with the app and I find it easier to navigate and to move from one section to another. I can actually get to my groups on the mobile app now – which is a huge plus. The way the website is designed is more mobile friendly than web browser friendly, but I’m still getting used to both of them. Nobody has mentioned seeing ads on the app yet, so I’m unsure if ads will soon be part of the Flickr apps or not.

Do I stay or do I go?

Some people in the Blythe community have decided to leave Flickr out of anger of the changes. Many people have moved to Ipernity. Another alternative for Flickr is 500px.

I will have a post up about these two alternative photo-sharing websites after I get a chance to explore both options a bit more thoroughly (before the August 20th deadline).

There is a different size of doll family for every person. Some people have one Blythe, some have two, others have twenty. I told myself at the beginning that I would only have one Blythe – this lasted for all of a month, by the way. I’ll admit that I wish I had the funds and the space for over a hundred Blythes, or more, but I don’t. As it is, I find it difficult to make time for all of my Blythes, but it’d be nice to have quite a few more dolls. I would enjoy having a rainbow family with all the hair colours, and a gaggle of Kenners. I like the size of the family that I have right now (a dozen), but I don’t know if it consider it to be small or large. Small and large are both such relative terms. In comparison to someone with over a hundred dolls, I have a puny doll family. But compared to someone who has two Blythes, I have a lot of dolls. But a dozen is a nice round number and I think that I can handle it for now.

Do you prefer having a small doll family or a large doll family?

I had a lot of fun with my interview with Kimberly, the creative mind behind Rosiee Gelutie. With her and her Donutzies, she’s sure she go far with her endeavors and I’m so glad to have been able to share a little bit about her with all of you. It’s not every dolly designer who creates toys for their dolls, as well as playsuits/rompers, dresses and more! That’s pretty creative, if you ask me!

Regarding the Rafflecoptor: I found several people who were using the Tweet/Twitter and Blog Post (not comments) entry methods who were not including links to their Tweets or blog posts. These entries were deleted prior to selecting a winner. As with all my giveaways, I verify to see that Tweets and blog posts were completed with the relevant information. I do not appreciate people trying to gain extra entries without earning them and those people have been noted down.

And the winner of the cute Donutzie and Donutzie-fabric playsuit is…
Click to read more of this entry.

When I first joined the doll hobby, I told myself that I was going to go into the doll hobby with a strict maximum that I would spend on things. I can’t remember how I came up with the numbers, they may be completely arbitrary. But I told myself that I wouldn’t overspend, that there was no doll worth that much. By the numbers, I told myself that I wouldn’t spend more than…

• $5 for a pair of doll shoes
• $10 for a doll dress, pair of pants, shorts, hat or coat
• $200 for a Blythe

And I bet quite a few of you are laughing at the fact that I thought that I could adhere to those limits. Arbitrary limits that I give myself in order to keep myself in check. As I got more involved in the community, and more interested in learning how to sew, I learned why people charge what they charge. When it took me nearly 3 hours to sew one doll dress, $10 seems like a bargain. Heck, even $15 for a doll dress is a bargain – and no, I’m not dropping big bucks on doll clothes on a regular basis. I wish that I could, but I don’t.

I’m a lot more selective with my purchases now. Mostly because I’ve just become more picky in what I dress my dolls in, that and after I’ve built up a bit of a wardrobe (and shoe closet), I can afford to be more thoughtful of each piece that comes into my dolls’ closet. It helps that I spend more time with research now, and thinking about how each piece goes with what I already have. Like “Oh, cute pants… but it would go with NOTHING that my dolls’ already own…”, much like I do when I go clothes shopping for myself these days. The combination of having a limited spending capacity results in me being able to afford to be picky. Nowadays, the “upper limit” is a bit more like:

• No more than $50 for a pair of doll shoes
• No more than $60 for a doll dress, pair of paints, shorts, hat or coat
• Erm, no more than $1000 for a Blythe (Kenner…)

Yeah, lets just say that the limit was raised – significantly. Raising the limit isn’t something that everyone is capable of, but nor is it something that needs to be reached – either consistently or even once. Do I need to spend $50 on a pair of doll shoes? Not every day, and nor is it healthy to do so (in my opinion) for the bank account. But it sure can be fun to splurge from time to time on something really special, even if everyone in your life (that doesn’t collect dolls) thinks that you may be completely insane.