Sunday, June 27, 2010

Blythe Photo Contest Winners



Recently I hosted a celebrity look-alike photo contest in my Flickr group, Blythe in America. Some lovely prize donations came from Mama Lisa Designs, Gemini Angel's Art and Dolls, Pistachio Libby and Confettilexi. Entrants ranged from Bjork to the Doublemint Twins.
The winners are posted above. First runner-up was Amelia Earhart by daisyannesmile, and the grand prize winner was Sex and the City II by ellewoods2007. "Amelia" was also a big winner at Blythecon 2009, and her creator, Jessica, was also a winner, along with my Daisy in the recent Lucky Blythe Publishing cover girl contest. Jessica's Ice Rune Acadia was selected for the cover of Blythe Living. The Blythe mini-mags are published by Confettilexi. Here's another shot of her cover.
And then there's Lindsay...a great Blythe friend, and a photographer extraordinaire. And even though she has mad photo skills, it's probably her staging of the photos that attracts the most attention. Check out her other entries: Farrah and Monroe. And if you visit her photostream, check out her Blythe Opera series. This Flickr/Blythe installment soap opera and its star, Claudette, Lindsay's Darling Diva (double entendre-yes), are known to Blythe admirers around the globe.
Two deserving photo winners, I'd say.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Daisy, Daisy, Daisy! And RuiRui!












I've always said Blythe brings out the best in people and makes friends out of strangers, whether in-person, on-line or around the world. Little did I know when I missed a custom Blythe doll on E-bay, I would end up with a special one from the same customizer. Nor did I imagine the seller and I would become such good on-line friends.

The top two photos were taken by Rui after she finished the doll I know as Daisy. Rui used these photos to list Daisy for sale as she has done with many others. Her Flickr set of her custom jobs is so much fun to look at! I had thought I wanted a dark-haired girl, like the beloved Molli of Blythe fame (an Ebony) or like Rui's own Flickr icon, but I ended up falling for this redhead with the gorgeous lids, lashes and attitude!

Rui and I have corresponded a lot via Flickr, and when Daisy was chosen to appear on the cover of Lucky Blythe by Lexi, I knew I had to send Rui a copy of the magazine. Off it went to Japan for only 95 cents, and it turned up in less than a week! And lucky me, Rui surprised me in return with some miso soup mix, popular cosmetic blotting papers, pics of Daisy, and a mini-mag made by Rui. So nice of her! And so nice of her to create Daisy.



Thursday, June 24, 2010

These boots, umbrellas and raincoats were not made for walkin'. Just 4 lookin' cute!













Take it from the top, girlz! Polly, Molly, Bunny, Wednesday and Lilly.
And thanks to DollyMommy Sandy for my fab new blog design. (It needed it!) See her ad below right, which will take you to her shop. She also pointed me to Smitten Blog Design for cute little trims, and then I got on a roll looking around and still ended up going back to an old fave, Shabby Blogs. I can't believe how many free blog background sites there are now. No one need have a naked blog.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Just good clean fun or how to waste a lot of time on the computer
















From top: Alice, Lilly, Virginia, Bunny and Abby, all courtest of Mag My Pic.



Friday, June 18, 2010

And a few more scenes from my Blythe world
















Behold! A Bevy of Blythe Manor Beauties











There was a lot of commotion this week at Blythe Manor. Actually it started a little over a week ago, with the arrival of a blank Cool Cat scalp and three ounces of loose purple and blue mohair from Phillaine. I knew I wanted to give it a try, because I had been decidedly underwhelmed by the arrival of my lavender-haired Factory Girl, Polly.
I think Polly was a Takara Lilac Blythe anyway, but her thin hair and weirdly-colored eye chips just weren't cutting it around all the pretty girlz here. I thought sanding some of the shine off her face would help. Then I decided to add some pastel chalk and oil pastel blush. Then her lips needed to be a different color. So after many rounds of sanding and painting, touching, messing up, sanding, re-painting, using gel pens, acrylic paint, nail polish and more, I was finally able to leave a plump set of pink lips alone, long enough for them to dry.
I knew I wanted her to have a beauty mark, and I got lucky that my wildness with a marker actually worked. But she still wasn't looking that exciting. Then two things happened: I saw the leftover mohair from Phillaine's new girl for sale on Plastic Paradise, and I saw the results of a first re-root by ellabellasmommy on Flickr. She did a great job, and it looked so cool! I decided after Googling (or should I say ogling?) a few tutorials that I could do this.
After about four solid days of threading strands of mohair through a tapestry needle, and using a thimble to help me poke them through a thick plastic scalp (maybe that's what's wrong with men- they have thick plastic scalps. Oops, I digress....), voila! Polly's scalp had a full head of mohair. Well, almost. In all honesty, out of respect for my first-ever mohair job, I have to admit I started the mohair a little too thick, holes too close together, so while that looked great, I sorta ran low on mohair at the end. I came up with a working solution that satisfies me, and if I ever decide to find more of the exact mohair, her scalp will easily come off for me to add more. Meanwhile, I don't think I will spill how I solved the problem.
Then there was the matter of figuring out how to get her stock scalp off; never had done that before either. Was not in the mood to break her face after all this work! Also, I wanted to create four sets of unique eye chips, using the flat clear and colored chips I ordered from Cool Cat as well as the foil stickers, designs, nail stickers and other paraphernalia I had gathered. So I made some pink skully chips, purple and green with cross-eyed tiny pupils, dark purple size gaze chips with a white fleck and no-pupil grey, white and blue flower chips. Can't believe I did that either!
I had no patience for changing one set per day as I had done in the past, to avoid other new chips coming loose inside the head, and since her head was already off and open, I changed all the chips at once, which was so much easier! What was not so easy was painting her eyelids. I decided I wasn't about to remove the eye mechanism, since I didn't know for sure how to route the pull-string when putting it back in. So, word to the wise, painting eyelids when the eye mech is in the face is not easy. It is messy; the eye shadow gets messed up, and if you mess up the lids, you run the risk of getting them too thick when you re-paint, causing the paint to be scraped off every time you change her eyes.
After several hours of this nonsense-I must have painted, sanded and re-painted 10 times- I finally was able to leave well enough alone and again get satisfaction long enough for them to dry. I nearly messed it all up again when I tried to add white dots-which had to be re-done several times also. Add stabbing in extra eyelashes with an Exacto knife is also apparently an aquired skill that I hadn't acquired. And just to add to my "never-done" work ethic, I started messing around by painting the tips of her eyelashes white for sparkle. Sheesh!
During all this action with Polly, you'd never know that Miss Bridgette Hansen, the beautiful pink mohair, had arrived Saturday from PP and all points north. I gasped when I saw her and her beautifully-detailed outfit by Devout Dolls--the same outfit featured in the December 2009 issue of Haute Doll magazine. But, I wouldn't let myself touch, photograph, change or enjoy Miss Brigette until I had cleaned up my days-old Polly mess, and I was determined to have her done before I went to bed on Sunday night. Success. And then I found myself trying to photograph Brigette at midnight! Note to self: there is NO photo lighting that is good at midnight.
I have no plans to mess with anything about Brigette, from her name to her chips, even though she has two sets of pink and two sets of gray, they are gorgeous! And her name....she was named Brigette by her previous owner, Blythe friend, Deb Hansen, and since I used to have a nice next-door neighbor Bridget Hanson, well, it all works. I think Bridgette and Polly will be fighting for the spotlight as my glorious, candy-colored mohair sisters. And perhaps Joey (remember this Joey?) will be Brigette's little sister.
Meanwhile, on Thursday of this same exciting mail week (that's yesterday as I write this), Wednesday the Mondrian arrived from Down Under. I had had a Mondrian once before, that I had gotten from Ebay from a person who as it turns out lived one county over from me. I quickly sold her, I think not only because I was shocked about what I had spent then (cheap compared to now), and because I didn't know her floppy body could be fixed with rubber bands or that her stringy hair could get help at the Blythe spas or that her gaudy eyeshadow could be tamed. Live and learn. But, as it turns out, that Mondrian, Tuesday, went to a great home with Blythe friend Carmen in Spain, who named her Elaia Tuesday and who has since swapped her with a different Mondrian with a bob haircut, from Vainilladolly. That Mondrian remains E. Tuesday.
My "new(er)" Mondrian would be named Wednesday; I decided right away, after spotting her marked FA on Flickr by a user name I did not know. However, I quickly found out that gal was the same Justine, under a former user name, who had customized my Abby. So it was all good, and not only did I buy the Mondrian from her, but we exchanged friendship gifts across continents, too. Did you know the USPS no longer sends ships to Australia? Postage has gotten quite salty when the only way you can go is by plane!
I am grateful to have received Wednesday this week, as well as the lovely and cool Frankie magazine, and some great Blythe clothes and shoes. I sent fabric, sewing notions and Dr. Pepper, by request! Gotta love Blythe friendships. And speaking of those, can't wait to see everyone at the Annapolis Blythe Meet June 20, 2010. That's tomorrow as I write this. Have been making a pile of goodies to take for gifts, swap and sell, girlz to show off, and of course my camera. So you know a post is forthcoming.





Friday, June 11, 2010

Sweater girls and mohair








A work-in-progress purple mohair re-root is my first attempt at covering a Blythe scalp from Cool Cat. Nothing like jumping in head first! Meanwhile, some of the girlz show off their sweaters, in the 90-degree June heat. Oh, to be a Blythe!
At top Virginia shows off her sweater by DeeBear, knitted just for us, and complemented by a crocheted bubble hat by her daughter MandyLynn. I had the pleasure of meeting these two talented Canadian ladies a couple years ago in Michigan. Check out the crocs I found on Ebay! They had Minnie Mouse heads on them, which popped right off, just like real Croc decorations. The knitted wool socks are by Dolly Dress Up. All can be found on Etsy and the crocs by Leo Toy on Ebay.
Also on Etsy are the darling sweaters with felt appliques and felt mascots, like Hello Kitty (seen on Charlotte) and Paul Frank's Julius (seen on Abby). The are made in Brazil by nanistore. And lastly, Cookie wears a crocheted halter top, granny square wrap skirt and headscarf by an unknown maker.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Full House: Blythe Manor





Now what do I do? That's my lament. Planning and decorating the twelve openings at Blythe Manor has been some fun that I'm a little sad that it is full. I could possibly squeeze in one more tower, but I don't want to get too eccentric or have my bedroom look too ridiculous. So maybe it's time to just enjoy The Manor by photographing some of the girlz actually IN it! And like a true minor OCD player, I just keep thinking: but I don't want to move anything and mess it up! We shall see.
Meanwhile, the Re-ment cleaning products and the orange 'pop' cubes from one of the older room sets make a perfect (and OCD?) finish to the laundry room. I couldn't be happier! I'm never far from my own Windex, Brillo, Comet, Bounty, Glade solid and heaven help us all if the pantry gets lows on toilet paper!
Welcome to Blythe Manor! Y'all sit a spell.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Saturday at Blythe Manor, From Groovy to Classic and Somewhere In Between












At top Virginia is feeling groovy in her reproduction vintage Becky emsemble with a yellow Barbie/Kayla bag that is too perfect 'fur' words. I might possibly have looked like this in the 70s. There was a period in sixth grade where I tried to dress like a cool hippie, but since I was 11, I probably just looked like your typical sixth grade nerd.
Below Virginia is Lilly, also a mini-me from the 70s. I did have long straight blond hair down-to-there, and I know I had a few fringed vests, and especially crocheted vests. Lilly is posing with her new 'Coach' bag from the talented Diana of La Boutique. Diana and her sister Janet have been doing haute doll fashions and Purse of the Month club for nearly five years to quench the designer hunger of fashion dolls everywhere. The detail and quality are just outstanding! On this Coach bag is a tiny authentic silver hangtag I saved from a recent Coach keyring of mine.
In the middle photo, Alice poses with La Boutique's Chanel shopper. Diana made it as a special order for me, and it even has a tiny Chanel wallet inside! Below Alice, Charlotte looks smashingly classic in her Plonsjeroze pink tweed set with a Juicy Couture bag from La Boutique. I was going to save that purse for my lavender-haired factory girl who should be here any day, but I just couldn't wait to show off this purse!
And lastly but not leastly, Buffy (yup, that's the name I decided upon) wears a darling garden party dress loaned to us by Auntie Iveta along with 'holy-grail-status' maryjanes and a Kate Spade or Coach style wicker purse. Do these girls have expensive taste or what? To answer that, look again at the top photo and Virginia's so-what?-had-to-have-it expression.