Photo by Becca/Blythetastic!

Dolly lotteries are interesting in that participants put their names in to win the opportunity to purchase a doll, not to win the doll itself. I remember way back when I was new to Blythe and I heard about these lotteries and I thought it meant that you won the doll. After all, that was what my experience with ‘lotteries’ was. Get a ticket, win a prize! Not put your name in, win the chance to fork up money!

Alas, that is often what gets done via Junie Moon for new releases from time to time. After they had experienced server crashes over people attempting to purchase a doll on a release day, I can’t blame them for trying something new. With the lottery, you have people entering in their names over a period of time, which helps lessen the strain on the website by having the same number of people access it over a longer period of time. And then you can just email out to people when they’ve ‘won’ and winners get a period of time before they have to pay for it (usually a couple of days).

There are some dolls, looking back now, I wish I had at least tried out the lottery for. A couple anniversary dolls (Red Delicious!) and, if I had the funds, Cherry Beach Sunset. At least if I had the opportunity, the doll(s) would be an option.

Have you ever participated in a lottery to purchase a doll? Who have you “won”?

You have a doll-related website/shop/blog and BlytheLife has your target audience!

BlytheLife.com is an active doll website with a high readership that primarily consists of women who are Blythe and other doll collectors/hobbyists. By advertising your doll-related site or business with BlytheLife, you can ensure that your ad is being seen by the people that are your potential customers. Every time someone visits BlytheLife, they’ll see your ad on the side!

Did you know? Sponsorship costs are purposely kept low to keep advertising accessible to people in the doll community.

There are three spots currently available for the month of August and all sponsorship funds go towards the costs of keeping BlytheLife.com live on the internet!

Large – 1 spot available for August! (325×200 pixels)

• $10 – 1 month
• $18 – 2 months
• $26 – 3 months

Small – 2 spots available for August! (160×160 pixels)

• $5 – 1 month
• $9 – 2 months
• $13 – 3 months

If you’d like more information on how you can advertise on BlytheLife, click here.

A couple days ago, I was doing some Important Things™ for BlytheCon Vancouver when Chun of Puppy52Dolls surprised me with a print out of some artwork she had made recently. On our first visit to the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (O.W.L.), I had brought Prim with me and we had met this adorable Saw-whet owl named Snoopy. She was inspired by the cuteness of the owl and Prim’s always messy hair and come up with this:

How cute is that?! Super adorable! I just love it, and honestly, Prim’s head is just getting bigger and bigger every day. Or maybe that’s just her hair? Either way, I absolutely love that Prim’s been turned into fan art! It just tickles me and puts a smile on my face.

You’ll be able to meet Princess Prim at the registration table (and me…), along with some real live owls (!) at BlytheCon Vancouver on August 9th! And don’t forget to swing by Puppy52Dolls’ vendor table, a little birdie told me that she’ll have some fantastic items there!

Primrose’s wearing: dress/Puppy52Dolls in BlytheCon Vancouver fabric, capris/Fancy Pansy stock.

Bennett (Margaret Meets Ladybug EBL) with some Doll Coordinate Recipe books,
all purchased online via Mandarake.

The market is a lot different now in 2015 than it was in 2009 when I was first getting into Blythe and purchasing my first one in person in Richmond, BC. Nowadays, you run into the trouble of deciphering what a seller is trying to say when they may be using a translation program. There is advice I see floating around on Facebook that often directs new Blythe hobbyists to “TBLs” or “factory dolls” (which are all, let’s face it, fakes).

For those who are smitten with Blythe, it is always a good idea to know were to go to purchase legitimate Blythes that are produced by Takara. Here is a selection of online shops for you to puruse, I’ve made some comments regarding types of releases (new vs. old) as well as retail

• Junie Moon – Junie Moon’s international online shop ship world wide. They are also an official Blythe retailer, as they are very closely associated and affiliated with Cross World Connections (who designs the new Blythe releases). You can often find new releases here, all at retail price. When there are special releases (e.g. limited releases, or anniversary dolls), Junie Moon holds a “lottery”. If you win, you win the chance to purchase the doll. Junie Moon does not often carry dolls that would be considered to be very old releases.
• CC Toys – CC Toys is a brick and mortar shop located in Hong Kong that also happens to sells online. They boast having ‘free’ shipping with each item, but you will note that they include cost of shipping in with the purchase price. The nice thing about this is that there are no surprises! The price you see is what you pay. They will often do presales for new releases. Some older releases can also be found at CC Toys. The prices may be inflated from original retail costs, as the prices are fluid with the popularity. The more popular dolls are often priced accordingly.
• HobbyLink Japan – HLJ is an online shop that carries Blythe and other hobby goods from Japan. Like CC Toys, they often do presales for new releases. What I personally like about HLJ is that they will combine shipping. If you purchase some things now and can wait for it, you can wait until you’ve accumulated a fair number of items before having it shipped (up to a certain length of time). This may be helpful for some people. I have purchased a fair number of Japanese hobby books from HLJ and they have always been packaged well.
• Mandarake – Mandarake is a series of brick and mortar shops in Japan that will buy and sell items. They also carry Blythe. Mandarake is a great resource for older releases as well as used dolls. I have found that often the descriptions do not make sense (likely due to use of a translation program), but you can often find good deals through Mandarake if you are willing to search a bit and wait.
• Amazon – Surprise, surprise – the online retailer that carries just about everything also carries Blythe! The US site for Amazon does have some releases – albeit at fairly high prices. Amazon.co.jp also carries Blythe as well, but you may run into the trouble of needing to use a shipping service that will purchase as your proxy and then ship you your items after they receive it. This means that you will be paying for shipping twice (first domestically, second internationally).

I do hope that these links help you in finding your (first?) Blythe! If you’ve had good (or poor) shopping experiences at any of the above retailers – let me know in the comments below! If you have any shops to suggest, please link below.

A Beginner’s Guide is a feature on BlytheLife.com that is all about going back to the basics of collecting Blythe, and being a reference tool for new and experienced collectors alike. If you have any suggestions for what you would like to see in A Beginner’s Guide, send me your suggestions!

It’s fun to make things! Part of what the winner of the BlytheLife.com’s 5th birthday giveaway will be a doll sweater (or two, or three… It really depends on how many I wind up making). I like small knitting projects like Blythe sweaters because they’re easier to carry around. The socks (for me!) that I’m working on this month aren’t that great as a travelling knitting project because it’s stranded colourwork and at one point, I need to have 3 balls of yarn. They’re a bit better now because it’s just one colour. Blythe sweaters are a bit better in that I just need one ball of yarn (usually, unless I’m doing stripes like in the romper above) and then I just go and knit. The great thing about dolly knits is that due to the size, it doesn’t take nearly as long to complete a doll sweater as it does to complete a pair of socks that fit my feet.

What have you made recently for Blythe? (If you haven’t crafted recently, what have you bought for Blythe?)