The challenge? Shop for all things holiday at the dollar store with $10 (plus tax). I needed to get everything that was necessary to create a holiday scene for my dolls. It’s totally doable… Right? Right? If not, I’ll be eating crow for Christmas and I don’t think that’ll taste particularly good! So here goes…

Challenge: Accepted

I set out to my local (and favourite) dollar store. The staff there is super friendly and they’ve had Christmas themed everything in stock since around Halloween. Yes. Christmas in October. Stores just keep going earlier and earlier with their red and green and ho-ho-ho all over. But, I digress. I was on a mission! Even if Christmas music was playing over and over again and it was driving me insane – I had a challenge to complete.

I bought…

• 3 sheets of felt (white, red and green) – you had already seen some of it earlier this week with the Felt Stocking pattern -$1 for 3
• 1 package of silver jingle bells in two sizes – $1
• 1 package of silver-lined plastic beads – $1
• 1 spool of 30 gauge silver-tone wire – $1
• 1 package of 4 bath puffs – $1
• 1 teeny tiny Christmas tree – $1
• 2 festive mini-hats (meant to clip onto your hair) – $4

Things that I already own are exempt from the challenge – like glue and thread, but I will point them out when I successfully complete the challenge to do the ultimate holiday scene on a budget.

It will be a weekend of crafting for me as I figure out just what I will be doing with all of this stuff. What do I have planned for those bath puffs? Guess you’ll just have to wait and see! But it will be a festive scene, it will be a very festive scene indeed! If you want to find out what I’m doing with the beads and the wire, you’ll have to check in next Wednesday for Day 3 of Giving!

I will be sharing my very festive dolly holiday scene next Friday, so be sure to check back to see I do to make the holidays happen for my Blythes.

The dreaded “D” word that nobody wants to hear: diet. Specifically, I am referring to the phrase dolly diet. As a dreadfully unemployed, full-time student who spends all of her “free” time either studying or online (socialization doesn’t typically occur in my life – sad but true). Due to this unemployment state, I don’t get to buy as many dolly things as I would like. With unlimited funds, I would probably do things like… Buy a Parco or pricey custom doll on a whim, buy a minty Kenner or all the Middies just because I could. But I don’t have unlimited funds, so what’s a girl to do?

Dolly diet time!

Because I do budget some small amount of funds towards “fun” purchases, I’ve reduced the amount that I feel is appropriate to spend because the ‘fun’ money needs to also cover eating out, new clothes and other fun things. I’m sure that I’m not the only person in the doll community who needs to budget for dolly shopping. I tend to ‘binge’ shop, mostly because I have to go periods without buying doll things. So for the month of October, and until the next of the term (December), I have decided to not spend more than $10 a month on doll-related purchases.

Time to sew?

This means no doll purchases, and likely no purchases until December when I can combine all the funds into one purchase. It will be a good break from spending because I’ll be keeping myself on track by not spending copious amounts of money on dolly goods. The best way that I can ‘save’ is by shopping locally – like when others in my local doll group is purging out sundries! In addition, I could also spend time crafting for my dolls – I do have fabric, thread and elastic (not to mention all the patterns that I have!). It could be less expensive overall if I only use supplies that I have on hand!

Like with all things in life, it’s important to consider how much you can afford to spend and to factor in extra costs before making a purchase – like shipping! Things you should consider before making a purchase online:

• Cost of item
• Cost of shipping for one item (or multiple items)
• Potential custom fees

Generally speaking, when you’re buying an item online the cost of the item is just the beginning. There’s always additional costs to consider, especially when you’re making an international purchase that requires shipping and has the potential of incurring custom fees!

I adore thrift stores. Not for the general messiness of things, but for the treasures that are waiting to be uncovered. So what I decided to do was feature some of my favourite dolly-related finds since I started hunting around in thrift stores. This happens to have started about the time I started collecting Blythe. I guess we all have that Kenner Blythe thrift store dream in our heads. And it does happen – people have found Kenners for as little as $2 in thrift stores! Unfortunately, I have not been one of them (yet!).

I find that, like all things thrifty, is that it’s hard to judge the quality of something without actually seeing it outside of the bag. And if your local thrift stores are like the ones around here, a lot of the dolls and doll accessories end up getting bundled up in plastic bags so you’re left hoping that the dress that looks like it might fit Blythe actually will. Or that those shoes aren’t a smidge too small after all for the Licca feet on your doll. And it’s hard too, because sometimes all you want is that one thing and you’re having an internal debate to see if it’s worth $3.99 to see if those cute shoes and that skirt will fit any size doll that you happen to have. It can be hard to size clothing even with a spare doll body in your hands because you can’t pull the dresses out or adjust them in the bags so that they actually go against the body properly for a size test. Such is life, unfortunately!

My best dolly thrifting tips are:

• Go often. Thrift stores get ‘new’ stock in on a daily basis. There’s always going to be something new around.
• If you don’t want all the things in the bag (and the rest doesn’t fit Blythe), donate it back! A lot of thrift stores are charity-run or some of the profits goes towards a charity in your local community.
• Bring a spare doll body with you and use it to help you gauge if something is going to fit Blythe or not.
• Wash your hands/use hand sanitizer (alcohol-based) after a trip to the thrift store. Thrift store stuff isn’t the cleanest stuff around! With flu season approaching, it’s best to wash your hands!

It’s actually been a while since I have last gone to a thrift store and bought anything doll related from a thrift shop. I have bought some vintage doll clothing lots off of eBay and even done few clothing commissions via some fantastic designers lately though! But my favourite thrifted dress is still this one, mostly because it looks good on pretty much every single one of my dolls – and isn’t that what we all want? A closet that everyone can share?:

It’s that time of year again where we’re all still clinging to the hopes that we can fulfill our resolutions for the new year – or maybe you’re like me and have already given up on the idea of keeping with this year’s resolutions. It’s also the time of year where I’ve recently paid off tuition for school and therefore I’m a bit short on funds. This means, of course, that I’m not running out and buying two Kenners at once or clicking ‘Add to Cart’ on really pretty doll dresses – no matter how much I might like another two Kenners or those doll dresses. No, this time around it’s a bit different – mostly due to my severe lack of income.

I decided to think about some of my favourite and best non-doll doll buys. That is to say, things I bought related to Blythe that weren’t actually the dolls themselves. Due to the number of things that I like that I’ve bought, I decided to pick five that I greatly enjoy and thought I’d share. Not only are they all great, but also good deals as well. I included any prices that I could remember.

The Re-ment dress is the most recent purchase in the photo at $6 – I’ve wanted it ever since I saw it on a photo of a Rainy Day Parade on Flickr. The lime green dress was from a bag of thrifted doll clothes, approximate value that I paid would be less than $1. The Licca body came to me at $12 with free shipping via eBay. The tea set was purchased in China during my travels this year and was less than $2 CDN. Lastly, the pair of hot pink knee socks (which I love!) came with an outfit set that I picked up in Hong Kong came with a dress, shrug and shoes that came out to be under $2 CDN altogether, so the socks were quite inexpensive – and I love the colours for Eden!

What are some of your favourite non-doll doll-related buys?

I have been all about needing to put together things lately! Feeling very crafty and finding inspiration in the oddest of places. Last weekend I stopped into a small shop that sells a lot of ‘up-scale’ dollar store goods (most things are priced more than a dollar) and then I nearly skipped past the selection of wooden boxes that they had. They were being marketed as “trinket boxes” and I thought it was cute, until I realized how great it would be to display doll shoes! So go off to your local dollar/dollar plus store and see what kind of divided wooden boxes they have! I’ll be patient and wait for you to get back.

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