Every once in a blue moon, I end up going through my dolls’ things and finding what I no longer want or can’t remember even owning (let alone buying) and it ends up in my ‘to sell/swap’ pile. I don’t do this often, but whenever I come across things that I don’t want anymore, off it goes into a bag. And eventually I remember to go through and price things before bringing it all to a Blythe meet and letting people go through it. I’m not particularly picky, I often taken trades or offer up something for a trade. Once, when I really wanted a dress that someone else had for sale, I offered up a custom handknit cardigan and a trade agreement was formed!

Not for sale!

While I will frequent Blythe Kingdom’s sundries sales – I don’t often sell on the forums. It’s mostly due to me being lazy (the need to take somewhat decent photos plus uploading and/or resizing the photos, then writing up a big long post and then having to deal with all the messages?) and because Canada Post is expensive so I always assume nobody wants to pay for shipping (besides, really, who does?). But I’ve done it once or twice with some success(!) in selling things and getting some money back. But I find selling to be hard at times, especially when a lot of other people are selling things as well.

My best tip for people who do sell on forums is to keep it organized! Make it easy for potential buyers to see which price corresponds with which item. And then also make it easy for them to tell you which item that they want! If you don’t include a description, you’ll have a bunch of people describe things as ‘that black dress’ and if you’re selling multiple (but different styled) black dresses, you’re kind of setting yourself up for failure there. Making it easy for buyers makes it easy for yourself as well.

How often do you purge your Blythes’ closet?

When I was little, I had one of those Fisher Price doll houses. It was a hand-me-down, like a lot of my childhood toys were, so it was missing some pieces (not that I knew – I found this out later via the internet). I loved it. I also made my own ‘houses’ with Lego blocks and a shoebox-lid bed for a Barbie. But now that I’m older and collect Blythe, I unfortunately don’t have room for a doll house, or room boxes. But I’d like to, one day, have them.

I love seeing photos of how other people set things up. I think my favourites are the bookshelves that have been set up to be room boxes – this is something that I’d like to do when I someday have the space for it. I’d also love to rig up lighting so that each ‘room’ has lighting along the ceiling. In the mean time, I greatly enjoy seeing what other people do. But right now, I just slowly collect the miniatures (I have primarily Barbie furniture, but I also have some Re-ment that I’ve slowly acquired) and sock it away for the day when I can have a doll house of my very own.

What would (or does) your ideal doll house look like?

It’s that time of year again – Spring Break! Or at least it is for some people (like myself). So while I’m not exactly “relaxing” – I have studying to do, a paper to write, a presentation to somehow put together and work-work (the kind that pays) – I’m still trying to make the best of the fact that I’m not hanging around a campus every day for a week!

I have a lot of classmates who decided to hop onto planes and go traveling for a week. A few popular destinations included: Hawaii, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and (the one I’m the most jealous about) Barbados. So while I’m bumming around and not relaxing all that much, I’m being peppered with photos via Facebook of gorgeous sandy beaches, clear blue skies and the fact that they’re all somewhere else besides here. So what’s a girl to do? Have my own Spring Break fun, of course!

On Sunday, I went out with dolly friends (and made some new ones!) and we went and had a tea party at this lovely place. And, well, I’ll let the photos speak for themselves:

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The great thing about this hobby is that, as expensive as it can be (and is, let’s not be irrational now), there are always bargains to be found. But a bargain is only a bargain to the person who’s doing the buying. It doesn’t actually matter if other people think that it’s also a great deal or if everyone else thinks that it’s way overpriced. All that matters is what you think about whatever it is that you happened to have bought.

For instance, a $500 doll may seem like a really good bargain for some, but it may have hit the ceiling and gone through the price-limit roof for others. But it is all matter of relativity. Some things are bargains, other things are not – but it all depends on your perception of whatever it is that you’re looking at and hoping to buy.

My best dolly ‘bargain’ is, and always will be, this lovely lady. She cost me many pretty pennies, that is true – but at the same time I wouldn’t trade Prim away for anything and that, to me, makes her one of the best purchases that I had ever made. It also helped that I got a ‘minor’ discount for buying both her and her blonde TLC sister (Lillian). (Plus the fact that I could pick her up in person, gush over her cute little face and play with her absurdly frizzy hair was just a major bonus – and, thus, sealed the deal. As soon as I held her I knew I wasn’t going to let her go.)

What was your best dolly bargain?

(And free or gifted doesn’t count as a bargain, folks. It has to be something that you actually paid some money for.)

A lot of people tend to define their dolls as having a certain ‘age’. Some girls are young, todder-like with speech impediments. Others have girls who are teenagers, fashion-forward. And some are just older, slightly more mature, yet still childish when the occasion calls for it.

When I took at my own group of dolls, some of them have difficult to define ages, while for others it’s very easy for me to ‘tell’ how old they are. For the majority of my dolls, their age and maturity (or lack thereof) are a reflection of me. For some, they are purposely older, and others are purposely younger. This is shown by the way they dress, talk and interactions that they have.

For instance, Eden Mouse (my 365 girl this year) is always going to be young. I can’t see her as being ‘older’ because her haircut reminds me of my childhood and therefore she just cannot be older, ever. She’s constantly doing childish things, she loves and only wears pink, and she has a haircut that I can only describe as a bowl cut. So childish and young she will remain.

And while the majority of my dolls are my age or a little young, there are three in particular that will always remain older and wise than I am. But it’s only fair, seeing as how they are (actually) 17 years older than I am, and here I am trying to tell them what to do. But I mean well… and they know this.

What are your Blythes’ ages?