Blythe-O-Mania Untamed: July 2010

Saturday, July 31, 2010

The Leesburg Blythe Hotel, our home away from home

After I brought Phoebe, above, home from the Michigan Blythe Meet, I set about making a dollhouse in the location of my former Blythe Manor I. (Blythe Manor II is the one you usually see). I brought a shopping bag full of extra furniture, accessories, and about 10 different cans of spray paint. Krylon Fusion is made especially for plastic.

Since I had some great pieces left that just wouldn't fit into Blythe Manor II, I knew I wanted to make a second dollhouse anyway. So, I sorted what I had into room grouping and then figured out what needed painted in order to fit in. I especially wanted to use the IKEA-like shelf by Smidgehouse on Etsy and the leopard settee by Barbie Furniture and Fashions on Ebay. I also received a great Takara vintage desk in a trade and snagged a Bratz egg chair and lips bed on EbayUK.

Along with all that, I improvised to make a mirror from a silver tray, a "wicker" wall unit from a coffee table, a window blind from a placemat, a frame from a lid, a hanging light from a photo ball, a lamp from an air freshener, another lamp from a dangly pendant bead, records from stickers and key tags and an art desk from some clothespin photo holders and two acrylic frames.

Some other repurposed items included placemats for flooring, a baby's headband for a photo hanger, a piece of sink mat for a bathroom rug, a Hello Kitty plush keyring for a pillow, and a piece of placemat for a window shade.

All the rooms are pictured above, with and without their plastic occupants. The house was a one-day project, thanks to fast-drying paint.

Road Trip! A Blythe-cation

On July 23, FROG (still nameless) and I packed our goods and goodies and headed for all points west for a Blythe meet, Barbie exhibit, to create 'The Leesburg Blythe Hotel,' and a little R & R (ha!). No rest for the wickedly clever, right? We traversed, in order: Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia (again), Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Indiana, and in another week, we'll reverse most of that! Ugh.

Our first major destination was the 'Michigan Blythe Meet' at Gemini Angel's Art and Dolls in East Leroy, MI. There was outstanding attendance with 15-17 "real" people and 70+ dolls. Famous Flickr and Etsy names were there, some I was meeting for the first time and some for the second or third, like DeeBear, Mandylynn, Kookanoid, Sealion, Chrissy Snow/Unicornmine, Morganannie, Dolly Pops, Annearchy, Hello Jenny and more!

I think I was the last one to arrive, even though we had folks there from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Canada. The swapping, selling and buying was already underway, but I jumped right in and received some awesome swap gifts and made some great purchases. It wasn't until the end of the meet that I realized Chrissy Snow (Chris) had a Blythe for sale, a darling Sookie custom Disco Boogie with the cutest outfit and freckles. And at a reasonable price, she decided to come home with me. I believe she will be my tomboy, Phoebe. I'd like to spell it "Feeby" to match my 'Y'-ending names, but that's just too weird.

Angela, our hostess, had outdone herself in preparing her doll ROOM. No, not a dollhouse but a room full of dollhouses for the likes of Blythe, Petite Blythe, Strawberry Shortcake, Nikki and Odeco, Wonder Frog, Sun Spots, and I don't even remember what else! It was breathtaking! She even created a very detailed Outer Space photo backdrop and scene for our photo-snapping pleasure!

After a great carry-in lunch and lots of chat and photos, we set up the Blythe girls photo shoot outside, with 70 dolls on the steps of Angela's deck. There remained at least 25 dolls still inside, mostly Angela's. It was a beautiful weather day, and so fun with Angela's good sport husband, Art, her boys and Oscar the Pug.

My next stop was Lake Wawasee to pick up my niece, Abby, and have dinner with Abby's dad (my nephew), my daughter and her boyfriend, Kyle. We took a 20-minute pontoon ride to The Channel Marker. Then Abby came home with me for a few days of art, Blythe and fun. I gave her the Blythe, Abby, which I had named after her, along with some clothes and a travel bag, by Sew Pixie. Abby has since renamed her Blythe Rosalie.

On the last day of her visit, we went to The Indianapolis Children's Museum with our Blythes (and FROG) to meet Pistachio Libby and her daughter, Phoebe, and their Blythes for the Barbie retrospective exhibit. The pic above is in one window of the museum's gift shop, where we also spent some quality time.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Updated Links!

I spent some time today updating all of the blog links on the lists in the lower far right, so you can easily find my favorite Blythe blogs, shops, Web sites and more. There are some outstanding Blythe blogs, like Lollitams and Mademoiselle Blythe, just to name two. Check out all the links in my lists!

I've gone frog wild!

Oh! How I adore these Wonder Frogs, let me count the ways! I've been stalking Wanda (the green one) on a lot of Flickr sites, and in my Blythe friends' photostreams. Her name (his?) really is Wanda; that's what the manufacturer, Studio Uoo, says, but it calls Wanda a 'he.' Some of the Asian sites also call him or her a Wonder Flog, so who knows what the gender is! And who cares?

My frog, as yet unnamed, will be a he, she or it, depending on whatever I put on it for a given photoshoot. And although I did go Frog Wild and order a pink one (Flora Heimel) and a blue one (Brandt Windy), I sensibly kept only the green one and promptly sold the other two. They are hot commodities in the world of Blythe and Friends.

I have discovered that while some Blythe clothes and shoes will fit Wonder Frogs, the most adorable clothes are from Strawberry Shortcake or Tutti and friends of vintage Barbie fame. The clothes for the modern incarnation of Tutti, now Kelli, also fit. Can't get enough of Amphibian Fashions. For more, see my Froggy Flickr set here.