In 2010, Hasbro released Blythe as part of “Blythe Loves Littlest Pet Shop” with Blythe as a pet sitter to tie in with the animals. The size and overall style is very similar to that of the Takara Petite Blythe dolls. The biggest difference is that the Hasbro version of the Petite Blythe has stationary eyes, while the Takara Petites have eyes that close when laying flat (much like the ‘sleepy eye’ dolls that have been sold for decades).

The LPS Petites stand at approximately 4.5″, making her significantly smaller than her Neo Blythe or Middie counterparts. She wears the same size clothing as her Takara sisters, but their small size means that it’s more difficult to sew clothing for them and, as a result, there are less people who actually create Petite Blythe-sized clothes.

The eyes on these dolls are fixed. While Takara, Ashton-Drake Galleries, and Kenner Blythe dolls have their pull ring, Middie Blythes have a dial, and Takara Petite Blythes have ‘sleep’ eyes – the eyes on a Blythe Loves Littlest Pet Shop doll do not move. The direction that they look in is the way they’ll look in, short of customizing them.

The heads of these dolls do pop off quite easily, they have a simple ball joint that allows for some range of option in their head and tilting. The arms and legs turn, but there are no points of movement for the elbows or knees – this is also true for the Takara Petite dolls.

The Blythe doll sold by Hasbro now is a better representation of Blythe Baxter, the main character from the Littlest Pet Shop television show. Due to her cartoonish looks, she looks less like a copy of the Takara Petite Blythes and more like her cartoonish self and reminds me a lot of the new Polly Pocket dolls with their rubbery clothing. It is still possible to find the original LPS Blythe dolls, if you do a little searching in shops or online.

Shrimp’s wearing: jacket/stock, scarf/stock.
Eden’s wearing: helmet/chelleshocks, romper/unknown.

Way back in 2011, I did a compilation of some tips for newbies that five of the people I had interviewed shared. I invite you all to take a look and some of the interviews I’ve done since 2011, as there have been many!

Here are some of the tips that have been shared with you, the BlytheLife reader.

From G. Baby Custom Dolls (interviewed August 8, 2011):

What kind of advice do you have for someone who’s just getting their feet wet into the world of customizing Blythe?
My advice for new customizers is, don’t be afraid!!!! Don’t think, just DO.

Click to read more of this entry.

Middie Monday is a feature that is published on the first Monday of each month! A guaranteed monthly post on Blythe’s little sister – Middie! If you have any suggestions for a future Middie Monday post, please send me an email or use my Suggestions form!

I have two Middies, a Jackie Ramone (Kitty Brighton) and a Yellow Marshmallow (Lydia Melbourne), and I may play favourites with them.

Jackie Ramone was one of the first dolls that I ever truly did grabby-hands towards my computer screen when I first saw her stock photo. Plus she was set up to be Punkaholic People’s little sister and I have a Punkaholic People Blythe doll – so it just meant to be (and a necessary doll purchase). At the time that I got her, I was watching the Lizzie Bennet Diaries on YouTube so I named her after a Bennet sister from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and a city that I have never been to before in my life.

When I got Yellow Marshmallow, it was the first time that I carried on with a naming theme as I named her after another Bennet sister from Pride and Prejudice and another city that I have never been before in my life. Lydia also happens to be one of my favourite sisters from the Lizzie Bennet Diaries (even though I’m not particularly fond of her in the original novel).

Having Middies is a bit of a challenge. As someone who had previously only had Blythe dolls and had amassed a fair bit of clothing and shoes for them, clothing Middies is a challenge. And finding shoes! I’m sure by now everyone knows how much I adore tiny shoes – this goes for Middie-sized foot wear as well and it can be hard to find things that fit well and look cute. I’ve taken to making my dolls be more well-dressed for doll meets now, complete with (potentially) tights or socks and shoes. In the past, I’ve just swapped out dresses and popped dolls into carry bags. I’ve also just taken dolls off the shelf in whatever outfit they’d been wearing for six plus months and hoped that nobody notices (and if anyone does, they are very kind not to comment on it).

While Middies may not get as much love as Kenners or Neos do, I feel that sometimes it’s just because there’s not as many options for clothing and shoes as their bigger sisters. The pint-sized darlings are just the same level as cute, but more concentrated. I may not be the biggest Middie fan in the world (because, lets face it, being able to change eye colours is just that much more awesome), but I do appreciate them and their pocket-sized cuteness!

Eden’s wearing: helmet/chelleshocks, romper/unknown
Kitty Brighton’s wearing: romper/chelleshocks, dress/chelleshocks
Lydia Melbourne’s wearing: dress/chelleshocks

Who Lives Here is a little feature on BlytheLife to shine the spotlight on the dolls that live with me! Here’s to you, and me, getting to know my dolls a little bit better.

This is Cameo. She is Blythe #15 of 15 in the doll family (if we are not counting Middies… and we are not counting Middies).

Cameo’s name with her previous owner was Lola, which I opted to change because that’s what I do. I opted for Cameo because I thought it’d be nice if she and Halo (my first Friends With Blythe custom) shared names from the same origin (Greek). She arrived just over a year ago, on August 30th, 2014. She happens to be my second custom doll, and my second Friends With Blythe custom. Her base doll was Ichigo Heaven (RBL) and she is my only full-size Blythe with pink hair. Cameo is, however, not my only dolly with pink hair as Lydia Melbourne (Yellow Marshmallow – Middie) has pink and white hair.

I happened to snag a kitty covered Plastic Fashion dress in 2014 and the first Blythe to wear it was Cameo. It was after I put it on her in September that I decided that she was a cat lady. She will wear other clothing, she isn’t set on wearing clothing covered in cats (not like Eden Mouse with pink!), but she’s just so cute in kitty clothes!

While she has been in the family for a year, I haven’t quite sussed out much of her personality aside from the fact that she really likes cats. She may also like Neko Atsume (because I really like it!), she’s not terribly fond of the colour pink (much to Eden’s pleasure), and I feel like she is just fairly easy going overall. It probably helps that she was verbally assaulted by Eden upon first arrival due to the pink.

I briefly considered using Cameo for my third attempt at 365, but I also realized that if I did choose her that I’d be tempted to buy all the cat themed doll clothes and that wouldn’t be feasible right now (even though it’d be really cute).

What really drew me to Cameo when I first saw photos of her was her hair and the beautiful custom work – her pink freckles! I love her itty bitty pink freckles! There’s just something wonderful about her and I love being about to look up from my laptop and see her hanging out on my shelf. She’s just a very bright and positive Blythe to have around and that makes her awesome.

Cameo’s wearing: top/Dutch Blythe Fashion, leggings/Endangered Sissy.
Halo’s wearing: dress/unknown.
Lydia Melbourne’s wearing: dress/chelleshocks.

I’ve missed the aspect of taking a dolly photo a day, so here I am attempting to do 365 with Eden again. Here’s hoping that I do better than last time (114). If you want to keep up with the adventures of taking 365 photos of a pink-loving Blythe, the photo album is here on my Flickr account.

Here was day 1:

Eden wants to wear a completely different outfit every single day – I had to tell her that we didn’t have enough pink clothes or funds to make that happen. She may be sulking.

I have a feeling that most of my 365 photos will be taken on my phone and likely uploaded to Flickr via Instagram!