On the road again...

I merely mentioned to the Blythes that one of them might get to go to Indiana with me for the holidays, and there was a flurry of activity in the wardrobe box. All four of them were changing clothes so fast their heads were spinning. Lilly, a Star Dancer, (top and bottom), a girl after my own heart, changed clothes at least three times, from vintage Skipper Town Togs to a Chanel T by rlkataja on Etsy, with Barbie denim skirt and knee-high go-go boots and a white down ski jacket with fur-trimmed collar from the TIB shop.

Maggy, ADG Princess Parfait, chose green cords with fur-trimmed bell bottoms and borrowed Lilly's stock poncho and hat along with a Coach purse. Bunny Velvet (ADG Roaring Red) went for comfort in a TIB shop A-line corduroy dress and a Twinklies Hello Kitty helmet to keep her unruly hair in check. Where are those wigs I ordered?

Zena, my bue mohair custom, was looking demure in the other part of the Twinkies Hello Kitty set with the HK dress, and a red blouse of unknown origin- off the rack, I guess. Not sure who's going. There's only one Sew Pixie carrier to go around, and Lilly always packs too much and loses her earrings. Why did I even mention it? *sigh*

But I Just Got Here!

Little Miss No-Name (ADG RR) departs for Aunt Maggie's in Baltimore tomorrow for a little attitude adjustment. I can't seem to name her because I can't figure out 'who' she is. So, we'll see who she really is when Maggie gets done with her. I gave few instructions, so I am excited to be surprised when she returns from her hair, face and eye work. I'll keep you posted. You can see pictures of Maggie's work here.

A New Arrival To Shake Things Up

This lovely brunette arrived Saturday, and I actually left her to sit for a day until I could figure out something to do with her. I think that must be some kind of rare malady: The Blythe Blahs. When I got my first, a Takara Star Dancer from Tokyo (Lilly), I must have tracked her every day for a week via UPS and I am certain I ripped open the box within second. In fact, I remember being frustrated because it took so long to get her unhooked from the security ties inside the box.

But now, ho hum. So why even buy another, you ask? The lame reason would be that ADG Blythes are so cheap via Collectibles Today from Illinois, the authorized Ashton Drake seller ($30 x 3), versus the more expensive Takaras. The other answer would be that either this one or my other ADG, Maggy, are going to take a little trip to Baltimore to Aunt Maggie (momoko_girl1 on Flickr) for a little renovation. I just love what Maggie has done with her Georgia Peach, and I love her other pictures on Flickr, so I asked her if she would play around with one of mine. I told her all I want are some freckles and boggled, new eye chips and anything else she wants to do is fine with me and will be a surprise!

So, I've got to decide who goes and who stays. I was going to keep this Roaring Red until I made the mistake of taking her up-do down. What a mess! She needs hair help for sure. But my Maggy with the custom bob still seems like the logical choice. Besides, RR doesn't have a name yet, and she can't possibly fly USPS without a proper name. What do you think?

Happy Fourth of July!

So glad we are free to blog, free to collect strange dolls, free to buy vintage Skipper on ebay, free to do absolutely nothing. Celebrate!

Vintage Skipper Wars

Maggy, in vintage Skipper Cookie Time looks rather aghast that Jolene would dare put on vintage also. But, she couldn't resist. This vintage Francie Side Kick dress just arrive today and it was perfect with her navy re-ment dress shoes. Both girls are gearing up for the 4th of July I guess. Check out my bang-up sale on This is Blythe forum. There's still bargains, even on vintage here http://blythe.swedenunlimited.com/newforum/viewtopic.php?t=84750 and here http://blythe.swedenunlimited.com/newforum/viewtopic.php?t=84629. No fighting, girls.

Finally! We Had Time to Change!

In an effort to convince me who should go to Art & Soul next week, all the girls decided to change clothes. The fashion fur was flying, and there were a few fashion crises along the way, but finally everything fell into place.

Since Lilly and Maggy went back to their rocker chick roots, I decided to leave them home because they would be noisy. Violet has to stay home because she got to go to Myrtle Beach. She's having tea here with Gwynyth, who is too new to go anywhere.

Olivia Elaia Rose is too shy to go anywhere yet, and Jolene's got too much hair to travel well.

So Zena did a good job, in Olivia's dress, of convincing me she should go. She has artsy-fartsy hair for one thing. For another, she gathered up her painter's palette, water bin, brushes, acrylics, colored pencils, charcoal pencils, and paper-crafting stuff, so I think she may be into this.

Fear not, my non-Blythe friends, I won't be the only weirdo with the Blythe. Ms. Joyce http://www.joycevance.typepad.com/ is an instructor, and she is taking a Blythe. We're going to do a little swap thingy.

A princess, a faerie and a sundae

Lots of happenings at Blythe Manor this week: Both Olivia Elaia Rose and Gwynyth Blythe arrived. They couldn't be more different. Gwynyth is a new ADG PWP, and if that's Greek to you, it means Ashton Drake Galleries Pow Wow Poncho. She is the ADG version of the previous redhead PWP from Kenner. ADG, the US Hasbro licensee, rushed to market this month with the remaining dolls from the original series of 12. There had been only three for a couple of years, and collectors had been clamoring for the rest. Some people feel the ADGs are somehow not as "Blythe" (or Blyce as my friend Tammy likes to say for some reason, as in "you're so Blyce") as the Hasbro Japanese-licensed Takara Tomy dolls. I have two ADGs and like them very much.

Anyway, GB/PWP immediately took off her poncho and slipped into something more comfortable-like head-to-toe vintage Skipper fashions from the 1960s. Her ensemble included the famous red velvet coat and purse as well as a red velvet and satin Skipper dress and black flats. I gave her a quick up-do since she looked so elegant. In case you are wondering, Lilly, my first Blythe and original blond, was seething. She is quite sure Gwynyth is a bottle blond.

Earlier in the week, Miss Olivia Elaia Rose London arrived from Hong Kong where she was known as Gentle River. Now she is thrilled to be named after her step-sister Elaia Tuesday. Olivia came with the most exquisitely detailed dress, smock and coat. The GR is a doll designed by a group of three friends, known as Team Sibley. They won the 2006 Blythe Fashion Show contest with their GR creation and were heavily-involved with Cross World Connection (CWC) in the creation of this doll. She was worth every penny.

Olivia has a forest/ecological mindset and quickly chose the olive-colored gnome hat by Miss Modular/Neuart of Spain on Etsy. She also put on the Dollsville maxi dress by Jooli, an underslip from Auntie Angela of Gemini Angel Art and she stuck her pocket kitty from Evon of VonVonz on Etsy, in her pocket for a walk in the woods.

Meanwhile, the cards and letters keep coming, including a fabulous "Sundae" hat by Rima of WillyNillyWaterLily http://willynillywaterlily.blogspot.com/. Maggy put that on since it matched her pink Hello Kitty dress by Twinklies. These girls have a passion for fashion!

Blythe in America's Valentine Swap: Goodies from my partner, LucysPostcardQuilts

Maggy poses with some of our swap goodies from Lucy: crocheted tops from etsy, earrings with tiny felted wool balls for me and the girls, candy, a bracelet and more!

Girls Just Wanna Have Funds!

As Blythe Manor continues to sprawl and closets continue to burgeon, it is no wonder all three girls have jobs! And somehow, Maggy still has some cash left sticking out of her Dooney & Bourke purse in the bottom photo after a trip to Tiffany's and Juicy, as evidenced by her bags. Apparently, they also made stops at the framing store, carpet gallery, toy store, grocery and BLIKEA too!

At least I was able to save some money for them by choosing the Sugarmag grab bag at the This is Blythe shop http://www.thisisblythe.com. Five wonderful surprise dress sets arrived for a grand total of $20. Lots of great mix and match possibilities, and now there is a $40 grab bag with 10 outfits as well as a new early spring set of four. Tres fun! We'll be needing all those clothes as Mondie arrives Friday. Haven't decided if I will name her Mondie, as in The Mondrian, or if we will go with a more traditional name. I am hoping to soon squelch my quest (habit?) with a redhead and maybe Welcome Winter. Never say maybe.

Girls! Sheesh, So Unpredictable!

Just when I was about to write again about how sweet Violet is, I caught her digging through Lilly's closet. And she came up with the sassiest outfit! I mean, a skull on her trucker hat and on her jumper (that's overall-like dress to you people across the pond who call sweaters jumpers)! C'mon, Violet, don't go all Goth on me!

But, I really can't blame her for giving as good as she gets because Lilly's been mostly like a spoiled brat since the new addition, and just yesterday ran to the mailbox ahead of everyone and swiped Violet's package from Singapore. You see when Violet arrived by way of Seattle, it seems her original stock outfits turned up in Singapore. So, her school uniform and trench coat (she is a French Trench afterall) just arrived from another Blythe mommy, and who should have to put them on immediately? Lilly, of course.

Meanwhile, they both left sweet Maggy to clean the house. Oh well, I am sure her Cinderella days are coming. And the demure outfit must have gotten Lilly to clean her room and make her bed, too. Meanwhile, Violet is talkin' trash on the cell phone. Oh dear!

All three girls may take to their beds in about two weeks when the Mondie comes. Oh dear, I forget, are girls worse in groups of three or four? Or does it just depend on how many boys are in the mix?

Crochet for Me; Bath Time for Violet

The lovely Zoe Aarden, grrrlie4 on Flickr and crocheter extraordinaire, inspired me to get out my hook and yarns the day after Christmas. She and I are doing a yarn/Blythe/misc. swap, and I can hardly wait to see what arrives! I got busy making hats about 10:30 a.m. and finally quit about 2 a.m. The end result was nine different hats with time out for eating and napping and other stuff. My last one, when my eyes were bleary, actually is one of my favorites. It is the nubby burgundy one here, modeled by Maggy (ADG#3). There will be plenty of hats to go around, and others to mail to nice people (hint:hmmm?) I also made an American Eagle-like hat as my DH called it and seen on my other blog http://lillysoflondonish.blogspot.com which was promptly mailed to the new Isaac Zygmunt Kil of Freeport, MI. I hope Ike doesn't mind that Lester posed in the hat for photo purposes. Do you suppose a baby's head is much bigger than a Blythe's?

Meanwhile, the lovely Violet (French Trench) of the violet eyes arrived from Seattle on Christmas eve and was smuggled in without the kids and DH noticing. They just get all freaky about Blythe stuff. I have to ease them into it. As I said earlier, I thought I would be a two-Blythe family, but she was a late night deal with pleading eyes. Generous seller SeattleBlythe on TIB sent three outfits, a wig, hightops and more.

Violet took a nice long bubble bath to unwind from her trip and get settled in. She was the first to try out the new Blythe bathroom, with Fashion Fever fixtures arriving 12/26 from DirtyBootsSamantha on TIB and Flickr. I had fun organizing all of the tiny Re-ment cosmetics. I have to use Glue Dots to dissuade my cats from eating them. So far we are missing one rubber duck.

I've Been Playing with Flickr Again

Just another harmless addiction. No worries. Move along.

A New Bedroom, A New Cat, A New Hat

Really. You just can't have an apartment without a bedroom. Although during those first few Spaghetti-o nights, you might sleep on the floor a bit. But, Lilly and Maggy have been saved from that rude awakening, by adding a third story to their apartment for their canopy bed. It's a tight fit for two, but they're so busy they rarely sleep.

And now with the precious Mrs. Plumperbottom the cat, the girls are up practically all night getting it off the couch and out of assorted jams. Lilly had a brief moment to try on her newly-crocheted hat by moi, thanks to a pattern from girrrlie4 Zoe, a genius of arts and letters and crochet!

We're all looking forward to our swap with Lindajed http://adventuresofmolli.blogspot.com and her girls, Molli and Zelda, and we mailed off our treasures today. And thanks to Chel of ZNE fame for featuring us on her dolly blog http://chelise.typepad.com/little_girls_big_world. You know you've made it when you're saluted by the Queen of ZNE. And Flickr and This is Blythe friends are the best!

Lilly & Maggy get their own London Flat

Hooray, the girls finally found a decent apartment (in my office closet). It is an open concept and as the closet has never had doors anyway and has been open for office storage, this allows me to enjoy looking at them.

Target had an incredible Barbie dollhouse furniture fashion set for $20. I thought the large cardboard house would be their new home, but after all the furniture was cut loose, which took about an hour, it looked horrible. Thankfully, the closet presented itself.

The first floor is the kitchen, complete with fridge, stove, sink, microwave, mini flat screen tv, butcher block top cart and table and chairs. The crazy miniature artists at Re-Ment and Puchi have created such tiny items I would never want little kids to get ahold of them! There are coffee stirrers and makeup brushes barely bigger than a hair! Thanks to Miss Vicky of Cut-It-Up http://www.cut-it-up.com for swapping. She's having a fabulous Re-Ment event in store tomorrow in Cali.

Upstairs there is a combination living room and office. They have both a desktop computer and a laptop, because of course they both need computers. They also have a larger flat screen TV with remote as well as a cordless phone, in addition to their cell, a guitar and more. They also have two cats and a Yorkie. The Barbie house came with two more dogs and a cat, but that's just too many for a small apartment. Besides, they just their own little annoying Tickle Me Elmo.

We'll be working on figuring out a bedroom. They have sleeping bags, but I'm waiting on some furniture from Hong Kong as well as a closet, and then the interior decorating can start again.

Told You They Are Hams