It’s less than a week to Halloween and this is usually the time of year that I’m thinking about the fact that a Halloween-themed Blythe meet is coming up and I don’t have any new costumes to dress my dolls in. It’s nice to be able to come up with new things to dress the dolls in, because it’s fun to be creative in coming up with unique and silly costumes!

One year I dressed up Belarus, my Love Mission, as a squid:

Another year, my Kenners all went to a Halloween meet as Dorothy (Emmalynn), Cinderella (Lillian), and Medusa (Primrose):

I still haven’t decided what I want to dress my dolls up as this year though – just in terms of what costume ideas and how I will make it happen, but I will figure it out!

What Halloween costumes are you dressing your dolls up in this year?

What an amazing year it’s been for Blythe enthusiasts! There’s been events all over the world: Brazil, USA, UK, France, Spain, Australia, and Canada – just to name a few. Next year is shaping up to be an amazing whirlwind of Blythe related excitement as well with events already scheduled for 2016 in the lovely countries of USA, UK, Germany, Australia, and Japan.

For those who are new to Blythe or haven’t attended a Blythe convention, the general types of activities that may occur include outfit and/or photo contests, workshops related to sewing or customization are typically held, there’s almost always some sort of vendor marketplace, and some drawings or raffles might take place as well. It’s a great way to get to meet the people that you have been talking to online, and to meet new-to-you people that you might not have interacted with previously. For me, my first Blythe meet ever was the pre-meet for BlytheCon Seattle in 2011 where I met someone who lived in the same general area and from there met many more local Blythe hobbyists!

In a way, attending BlytheCon and then the subsequent Blythe meets really brought Blythe to life for me. Sure, I had dolls and clothes and shoes before BlytheCon, but I didn’t have anyone in person that I could gush about dolls with. I didn’t have anyone to talk to in person about what doll I was thinking about saving up for or had my eye on, the in-person sounding board was missing, and it’s kind of lonely to take photos of dolls on my own! Plus, my ability to be shy in public about pulling a doll out knows no boundaries.

As I’ve begun my Real Adult Job™ recently, I’m getting my budgeting in order (for real, not just budgeting some money for dolls and such), and thinking about saving for going to events outside of North America. I think going to Japan would be amazing, same with Australia.

Are you thinking about attending any Blythe conventions/events in 2016? Which ones are you considering attending? (And which ones do you wish you could afford to attend?)

Sometimes I put together an outfit for one of my Blythes that I just love. And this isn’t me bragging or being boastful, I just really like some of the outfits that I put together sometimes because they just fit the doll. This isn’t to say that there’s anything wrong about saying that you think your dolls look good in an outfit that you’ve put together. You should think it looks good because it’s your doll, your doll clothes, and you put the whole shebang together! That and nobody is going to walk around saying “Gosh, I put my Blythe in the most horrific outfit today. Want to see the photo I posted of it on Instagram?” – because that just makes it sound like you’re fishing for compliments.

Well, my current favourite outfit that I put on one of my Blythes is this:

The dress is by ericaduh, the boots are Jackie Ramone (Middie) stock, and I cannot remember where I got the glasses from. But it’s a pretty awesome outfit – if I do say so myself.

What is your current favourite outfit? Share a link to a photo of your favourite doll outfit below!

I remember when I was new to Blythe and I found all the information very overwhelming. I couldn’t tell the difference between an SBL and an RBL, I had no clue what “boggling” or “gaze lifting/gaze correction” was. Here’s a round up of some of my beginner friendly articles on Blythe:

A Beginner’s Guide to Blythe is an irregularly published series geared towards people who are new to Blythe or people who just want to get some information about their favourite dolls. The series began with an overview of the different types of dolls (all the full-sized dolls [Kenners, Neos, ADGs], the Middies, and the Petites).

If you’re new to Blythe, you might be confused about the various words that the members of the Blythe community use. What is a FBL? How is that different from an SBL? What part of the doll is a T-bar and do all dolls need a gaze lift? If any of those terms confused you, head on over to Blythe 102: Commonly Used Abbreviations and Words (recently updated to include RBL+).

Dolls can melt. It’s a crazy thing that can happen and you might not realize that it was even possible! Check out my article entitled The Cause of Doll “Melt” – I include the common reasons for why the plastic of dolls can melt and deform.

I have a very tongue-in-cheek flow chart that goes through the thought process of answering the question of “Should you get a new Blythe?” – just something for a giggle and to put a smile on your face.

For many people, Blythe is a personal and very internet-based hobby. Check out some of my suggestions for Protecting Yourself Online. Doll people may be amazing, but it doesn’t hurt to take measures to protect yourself online by not putting too much of yourself out there!

One of my favourite things about the Blythe community is when people share their photos of the dioramas, room boxes, and general ‘scenes’ with the cute miniature furniture, the tiny dishes and food stuffs, and the animals. A favourite, that I do not own, is a certain Re-Ment cat in a litter box – hilarious! This love of seeing photos of amazing doll room set-ups led me down a rabbit hole of looking at miniature blogs and into the fascinating world of traditional doll houses. The 1:12 world is a beautiful and detailed place, but it is also much too small for Blythe as she is defiant at 1:6 scale – playscale, just like her fellow doll Barbie.

That doesn’t, however, stop me from being terribly fascinated with the world of traditional doll houses and all there is to learn about doll houses and making miniatures. I personally own a fair bit of books on creating doll houses and the furnishings that go into them. Much like my love for sewing patterns/books for Blythe, these books often serve more as eye candy than as how-to guides as I don’t get to the point where I want to pull out a saw and a sheet of plywood to cobble together something that resembles a room box. These books are amazing, and I am always in awe of how detailed a miniature world can be.

So while I currently don’t have the time (or funds, or space) to put together miniatures and a house for my Blythes, I do have inspirational materials on my shelf that are really beautiful. The majority of books and other resources out there are primarily for 1:12 scale world, but I figured that things can be extrapolated and still used to make things from the playscale world as the instructions for how to put something together still applies. I feel that the dollhouse books pull together many of my interests together: dolls, miniatures, crafting/DIY-ing, and a love for good photography in good books.

This accidental collection does make me very happy though, mostly because it makes me thing that such things re potentially possible one of these days!

Do you have a doll house or a room box? How much of it (and it’s furnishings) did you create yourself?