Welcome Opree June!

A gorgeous confection recently came to Blythe Manor via California. Opree June is a Friendly Freckles Blythe on a Disney fairy body and was painted by customizer Melly Kay with Valspar Java Brown Satin. That alone cracks me up - I think it is the same paint used on my deck!
But Opree (fka Abrianna) turned out much sweeter than a deck, and her she is with her matching pony in a Squeaky Monkey dress recently acquired from Lovebucket on BK.
Don't know if Opree will make it to Blythecon in Dallas; her hair is a little big for a cowgirl hat. I also have 18 (eep! I just counted. Didn't know that. That's a bit unmanageable for me.) girls and only nine cowgirls outfits with hats and boots. Some anyone with problematic hair will be ruled out asap.
I used to never take my Star Dancer Lilly anywhere, even though she was my first Blythe, because I was so worried about losing her hoop earrings. Finally, I decided I never planned to remove them, so a little Super Glue to the rescue. Lilly's a perfect cowgirl, so she'll definitely make the cut.
Can't wait to photograph Opree June more though; she's a fun one.

Meet Sofia Sylvia Sylvana Gina Maria Melacaccio!

A couple things happened at Blythecon. That's another way of saying a funny thing happened on the way to the forum....
I saw several beautiful, customized Prima Dolly Paris Blythes. And, as some of you know, I won two dark-haired girls with this same haircut, and came home to a third. At least two of them were a base of Punkaholic People, which is very similar to Paris, except different face mold and dark hair.
While still at Blythecon, I started imagining a Paris for myself. And I had a chance to meet the lovely, lovely Sylvia of S. Coladolls, formerly known as Sylviecoladolls. She was rooming with my dear friends, Maggie and Angela. I was rooming with glam Lindsay, and we all hung out.
I had seen her work on many of Maggie's dolls. Sylvia is humble, quiet, unassuming, and verrrry talented! So, I decided I would buy a base Paris doll and send her to Sylvia for a faceup. This happened quite literally. As Sylvia is moving very soon, we ended up just swapping faceplates and eye mechanisms, so she could finish more quickly and get on with packing up her studio.
Meanwhile, at Blythecon, I met another Gina of G*Baby on Flickr. I bought a beautiful set of pink eye chips for Yumeko from her and wished I would have bought more. So I contacted her and ordered four pairs: blue, green, lavender and brown.
Then, in another coincidence, the talented eye chip artist Amy, known as Zaloa27, El Duende or Melacaccia contacted me to buy one of my three brown bob girls, the Punkholic People, and we worked out a partial trade to include two sets of her chips, the pink and the grey now seen on Paris.
Patience not being a virtue of mine at all, I was thrilled when everything came within a day or two of each other in mail from all points west, and base doll from Singapore! I quickly put her together with a little help from Maggie, and voila! Exactly as I had envisioned.
Next up: A BIG Petite suprise in the mail!

Meet Cady! Charlotte's Still Horse-y. And an homage to the new Princess

Name decided upon. Cady. Check.

Urban Cowgirl Charlotte still horse-y, now in Western Skipper. Check.

Barbie's #972 Wedding Day from 1960 still in style. Check.

A beautiful princess made for a beautiful royal wedding. Extra Check.

New girlies at Blythe Manor! Meet Poppy & Pixie

A very impromptu swap occured today when in-person Blythe friend Jen and I decided to swap a couple girls. We both had Blythes for sale and bills to pay (bah, humbug), but with no action on those fronts we made a little action of our own.

These beauties were called Ever, a blue-haired custom by My Poppies, and Sixx, done by Jen herself. I traded my new black mohair, called Piper by Amelie and created by Morgan Orton, as well as my Phoebe, a Sookie custom. I sure hope Jen is happy, because I am thrilled!

Ever will be known as Poppy and Sixx will be known as Pixie, or more fully, Pixie Sixx.

New girl still settling in; needs name

She looks like a "Clarissa Explains it All" right now, but other names under consideration: Suki, Paige, Olive, Bette, Medusa, Iris, Frances, Pugsley. Okay, maybe not Pugsley, but I can't do Wednesday, because I already had a Wednesday...and a Tuesday. Maybe Sunday? What do you think?

It's a New Girl with a Love Gun

Don't know what to call her yet. Don't even know if she's staying. We have to bond. She just arrived this a.m. from France. First thing I did was give her a Pure Neemo flection body by Azone, on loan from Aunt Maggie for vacay photo fun.

Next up was doing something with her blank milky chips. I was going to remove them, but decided with her hair she is kind of zombie-like. So I painted red irises with black pupils on them. Not sure about that either, but with the plain chips there was definitely no one home.

This is also the first picture I've ever taken with my Love Gun from Atelier Matin. It was such a surprise gift, thanks to a little birdie named RuiRui, that I think I was too "got" to even use it. I know that sounds silly, but whatever. Anyway, it was perfect to wait for this girl. Thank you, Matin and Rui!

She is still nameless, although "Amelia" keeps popping up, or "Ame`lie," but I don't know how to pronounce that for sure. She could be "Sookie," as she is a Sookie-custom, which I got from Amloro (Amelie), who got her from Morgan Orton. So it is in the Blythe world.

She's going to Myrtle Beach with me, so we'll see what develops.

Fashion Forward: Blythecon 2011

The girls try on some new things we got second-hand in the Sundries sales on Blythe Kingdom. I must say re-sale for Blythe provides a lot more treasures than the ones I can find in any re-sale shops here. On the other hand, my favorite re-sale shop at home, Boutique Exchange, has tons of goodies and bargains, including a pair of Manolos (formerly mine) on sale now!

At top, Bunny tries to look nautical for the theme of Blythecon 2011, June 20 in Portland, OR., for which I've now registered. I think she might just look patriotic. We'll have to work on our seaside garb. The dress is by Crisapop, and the hat and purse are by TeenyWeeny Designs on Etsy. Bunny is an ADG Roaring Red with a bob wig on. Her face is by Blythe Stole My Heart, a.k.a. Auntie Maggie.

Purple Polly, custom by me, wears a deLupi Bad Bunny outfit, perfect with her crossed-eye chips! I am so proud of Polly. She was A LOT of work, especially for someone who didn't know what she was doing. I started a second custom but never finished. Sold her hair to Piparrot and her body to Phillaine.

Charlotte, my Urban Cowgirl, always looks appropriate. Here she has on a simple brown dress and riding boots. This girl has gorgeous, thick hair.

Lilly tried putting her hair up with chopsticks, which works well with her Asian-inspired outfit by Dolly Molly, always one of our favorite designers. Lilly's hair had been in a ponytail forever, and she informed me she wanted to start looking more glam, like "that Claudette," she said.

Finally, pink mohair Brigette wears a crocheted pocket dress by The Future, which we happened to buy from Brigette's prior mom. That's right, even the dolls come second-hand in the world of Blythe. Daisy wears a crocheted dress and hat by unknown makers.

Another fun fashion day at Blythe Manor. But, we're all wondering, will spring ever come?

Fashion fun and a Kittybomb outtake

The girls got changed, with some help from Aunt Maggie, and so of course had to be photographed! Tinkerbelle the Cat is always trying to help with everything. She investigates Phoebe's pose at top. Molly is sweet and pure all in white. Charlotte goes Boho in a handmade gift from Auntie Angela of a few years ago. (I think even before AA had ANY of her 75+ dolls).

Then there's Bunny the Cheerleader, Polly dressed by Maggie and looking cute, and then Lilly, Daisy, Cookie and Brigette in vintage, mostly Skipper. This is my Blythe family in total, after a little "reorganization."

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.

Caveat emptor: before and (almost) after

Before and (almost) After
Originally uploaded by pheisty is way behind!!

So I got the crazy idea I wanted a Blythe with pink hair. Pink mohair, specifically. Not only should you be careful what you wish for, but one should read the fine print of everything and thoroughly check out a seller. I should know this, although I have never had a BDD, or bad dolly deal.


However, this "Blythe" arrived looking bad, and she got scarier by the minute. She looked nothing like her cute Flickr pic and did not arrive with the milky chips that caught my eye. What she did arrive with, for starters, was stock orange chips painted over with a marker, which started to wipe off, and a horrific mismatched pink pair, as well as a long neck and wobbly head, no screws...I could go on. I knew she was a CCE doll (Color Changing Eyes doll, Blythe knock-off like Blybe or Basaak), and I knew I wasn't getting the Pure Neemo flexion body, but still! However, as you can see, Joey/Pheisty came to the rescue (this is her picture), and she's done amazing things already.


I am eager to see the end result. Thank goodness for (new) Blythe friends! So, the freaky doll I waited a month for originally, who was going to be named Pookie, and who we've been calling Pinky, will now be known quite honorably as Joey. A big improvement all the way around.

More Friday Fashion Fun

Charlotte (top) must be dreaming of Myrtle Beach in her finely crocheted hat and top from Plastic Paradise. Or, maybe it's that she is just dreaming of Plastic Paradise, come to think of it. It's a pretty great Blythe forum afterall, and the source of most of the girlz' apparel.

In fact, Bunny snatched up this black and yellow Lolita set from there. It's perfect with her black hair and yellow eyes. Came with the high tops, too.

And Molly shows off in a dress, also from PP and our friends Linda, Molli, Zelda and Ramona who are on quasi-hiatus, still recovering from Blythecon 2009 and the arrival of a not-so-plastic sister! Molly herself, a custom by Joey/Pheisty and Tammara/DollyMolly also came from PP. It really is a Blythe lover's paradise!

School girls, mohair and idle hands

Molly is looking all proper in vintage Skipper while Alice also looks proper, since she is in an 'Alice' dress: an Alice in Wonderland goody from Aunt Maggie. (Still haven't seen the darn movie!)

Meanwhile, from left, Virginia, Bunny, Charlotte and Daisy have a little attitude as school girls. Wonder if they would get kicked out? Dresses from TIB, Ebay and Charlotte's blue and green plaid is by LaCrafi, such detailed, fine work she does!

Lastly, Maggy, who has always been rather dull (sorry, Maggy) as an ADG PP, got a little facelift by me. I did one set of eyechips, and since they seem so difficult to get out of an ADG, I gave up and started messing with her face. I was working on another pitiful soul anyway, so I decided Maggy needed some eyeliner and one thing led to another. Then she got freckles and repainted lips. I had no idea what I was doing. Still don't, but I kind of like her.

Molly Brown and Violet Jane are here; Lilly showing off as usual

Jane, my new French Trench, arrived this week, along with Molly Brown, an adorable mohair by DollyMolly and Pheisty. I'm just getting used to her Licca body, having learned how to tighten up the floppy legs, and I've been changing Jane's eyechips, one pair a day, after I learned the hard way about that, too.

Jane is wearing a navy dress set I got on Plastic Paradise along with the sweet red mohair sweater by DollyDressUp on Etsy. I also used a gold 'J' charm from a Juicy Couture perfume bottle for her pull ring. So far I've given her dark brown chips, but I have light brown, olive and red/green combo all coming, all by Cool Cat.

I wish there were more hours in the day; there's so much I want to do. I flew to Indiana this weekend and only packed one girl, trying to be practical. Besides, I also brought my knitting, crocheting, books to review, magazines, blogging, some other projects and some real work. Plus I came here to go to the doctor, dentist, get a hi-lite from Alica, my all-time favorite hair girl for 11 years now, get a nail fill, go tanning, and otherwise get an overhaul. Too bad I can't get liposuction on the weekend also.

Meanwhile, Lilly, my Star Dancer, wanted to show off her lovely purple set from Megipupu that looks great with the crocheted skirt we got on PP and her Marc Jacobs-like designer bag. She's such a fashion plate! Drives the other girls crazy. Stayed tuned for new pictures of Jane and Molly and the crew when I get back; Libby of Pistachio Libby on Etsy has been making us a fantastic wardrobe with some fabrics I picked.

Welcome, Molly Brown!

I just want to eat her up, and she isn't even here yet! If Miss Molly Brown looks familiar, it's probably because I got her from Tammara, a.k.a. DollyMolly on Etsy, who has a very similar "regular" girl, model, mascot, whatever you want to call her, named Sandrine.

This gal above was done by Pheisty with the wefted mohair Cool Cat scalp added by Tammara. I've GOT to stop looking at Plastic Paradise; the freckles just sucked me in! I have a weakness for mohair anyway, and DollyMolly fashions, and this little sweetie will be traveling with a mini-new DollyMolly wardrobe. Can't wait!

Meet Virginia. Finally.

I've found my Red Queen, and she comes in the form of this lovely mohair customized by Tamilla in Perth, Western Australia. I found her on Plastic Paradise in late January, and thanks to a couple blizzards and other things that are not supposed to deter mail carriers, she sat at the post office for nine whole days! Eek. I didn't even know she was here.

But she is, and for her photo shoot I kept trying all sorts of things but nothing looked right. Her hair is an interesting shade of red, between orange and strawberry blond. Her eye chips are light brown, dark brown, yellow and orange. I think she's perfect!

I've been saving a Barbie Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland for almost a year, planning to de-box her at some point for an All-Alice All-the-Time photoshoot, which I've yet to do. But knowing I was finally picking up Virginia today, I decided to "de-box the queen" (off with her head!) last night. That became even more true than I'd planned as the dress was sewn right on to Barbie! No snaps, buttons, velcro, nothing. And this Barbie had a permantly bent arm, so getting the dress off was a real challenge.

But it was well worth it, I think. She looks pretty perfect in the dress. We'll try it again when I do the Alice shoot, but for now Virginia is relaxing in jeans and a sweater. Perfect when there's still four feet of unwelcome and unexpected snow on the ground.

When I was searching on line late one night, the song "Meet Virginia" was playing. And my late mother's name is Virginia. So I didn't really have a choice. This one named herself. And my mom was always collecting something, up for a run to a flea market or gararge sale and always interested in various collectibles, so it's all good.