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.

A new home for the Blythe girls; a new project for me

A work in progress......

The ultimate in purse pets!

The ultimate in purse pets!
Originally uploaded by Gina2424

Take that, all you pint-size chihuahuas out there. And you, too, Yorkies, even though I wuv you. Make way for the purse pet of the next decade: mini Wonder Frog! No pooper scooper bags required, no crumbly dog biscuits, no expensive grooming (hey, no fur, and you can't paint toenails that don't exist)! Can't find a prince? Just get a frog. Jessica Simpson, we're talking to you. Basic Barbie wears, in addition to her fab frog, a very vintage Barbie Dreamy Blues dress, vintage boots and lesser vintage Fashion Avenue sunglasses, furry coat, and purse. She's all that, and together, they're all that and more.

A Blythe Meet of Gigantic Proportions

Proportion would be the key word to the Blythe meet on Friday, May 21 in Baltimore, hosted by Maggie. You see, there were 72 (count 'em) Blythes present and only four humans. You do the math! And, if I tell you, the lovely and smart (PhD candidate) Samara only brought four, that makes the math even more incredible.

And these were just the Blythes that were assembled! Yes, my baker's dozen are there, but as for the rest, well, ask Aunties Maggie and Iveta! Maggie's living room is an awesome display of an awesome doll collection, including Momoko, Fashion Royalty, collectible and vintage Barbie and Friends, Wonderfrogs, Dal, Petena, Generation Girls, Top Model, Madame Alexander and too many more to name (or remember).

Maggie was a great hostess, of course, and we noshed on pizza and Pepperidge Farm cookies while Maggie's fur family, namely Ruby Elizabeth and the cats kept us entertained. There was much swapping and gifting and conspiring about future dolly fantasies. Blythe meets are my favorite R&R!

Weekend Mini Blythe Meet!

First off, you can click on this awesome mosaic for a larger view. These are some shots from a Dolly gathering this past weekend with Maggie Stimson, Theo Malloy and myself in Columbia, MD. Everyone had incredible dolls and fashions. We had some swapping, selling and gifting, and Maggie showed me how to change eye chips with the hot glue stick and hot cotton ball method.

Theo showed us all her Momokos, Azones and Fashion Royalty and their massive wardrobe. We talked about Blythecon, Fashion Royalty Convention and the International Fashion Doll Convention. And our theme was Alice in Wonderland. A great time was had by all (three).

On the 4th of July...Equality for all Doll....Heads

My little collection grows....

A Deluxe Apartment in the Sky!

Saturday I worked on level four of Blythe Manor. I am happy to report it is now as tall as I am. After many power tools were brought out to add an extra shelf in this closet abode, with drywall dust flying everywhere and a little DH cursing as usual, the penthouse floor is done. There is one remaining shelf above this, and I cannot decide if that will be the rooftop garage or ??

I still have a few bits of furniture and goodies to bring out. I got a cute VW bug for $10 after Christmas, and it is still in the box, just waiting for the Re-ment Hawaiian girl to be placed on the dash. I also am awaiting a pink standup shower and have to figure out how to fit that in their tiny bathroom. Hey, shouldn't a five-storey townhouse have two bathrooms? Ooh, there's an idea! Time to get out the tools again.

This Blythe Manor is definitely a victim of its own little urban sprawl, now filling up an entire double-wide closet. Yes, closet. Not trailer.

I don't know if I ever explained how the Blythes came to live in the closet. When we bought this house three years ago, this particular room was a candy-pink bedroom for a four year old. The walls were pink; even the ceiling fan blades were pink. And not even a pretty, shabby chic pink. Just a disaster! The carpet was plush grey, but very stained from lots of playing and Hi-C.

So a complete makeover was in order to make this my office/guest bedroom (we never have guests).

The closet had no doors but simple open white wire shelving. This seemed a perfect place to store my office supplies, paper products and books. It looked pretty decent, especially after the room got painted off white with bright white trim and some off-white carpet. The guest bed, now home to my stuffies, has a Martha beige matelasse coverlet and accessories. I have a white wicker desk, wicker file boxes, a neutral armoire (once full of paperwork, clothes before that and a tv before that) now full of my yarn stash and Blythe projects in process.

Anyway, the closet is now home to the Blythes, with two higher shelves for books and an area where I can hang my jewelry and purses without interfering with the lovely Blythe Manor. It was meant to be! I have to say, I think I like the fourth floor the best, because I don't have to lie on my stomach like I did when I was five and played with my original dollhouse. Not that it doesn't bring back fond memories, but my kids, 17 and 24, seem traumatized when they see mom lying on the floor playing dolls.

The first floor includes the bedroom (how do 5 girls share one single bed? Note to self for shopping list), bathroom, pool house/patio, and a large bedroom sitting area with workout space. Yes, the girls have an exercise bike. More photos to come. By the way, the two photos above may look alike, but they are actually like a People magazine find-the-differences game. Late last night I added a few finishing touches-can you find the extras?

The B.I.Y.ing Continues, and Lilly was No Help AT ALL

As you can see, Lilly begging to help in the pool house didn't turn out so well, for me anyway. She promised to grout the tile, and before I knew it she was prone and on her cell. So, since everything was so messy, I figured I'd just let her stay there and watch the stubborn chicken on the grill. She looked so cozy in her Effiedalshop Hello Kitty pj's and Stella stuffy from nanajones, both on etsy. Sleeping bag is Only Hearts Club.

By 3 a.m. I was getting tired and cranky, after painting the paneling (who has dark paneling anymore anyway? But, Lilly kept saying, "Go retro, mom!"), the grill, the stove, the washer, the window trim and the counter top. We were going to go with multi-colored, inlaid Italian tile, but that didn't happen. I started it out pink and turquoise, however. Let's just say, eeeewww!

Gotta work on the bedroom floor, and get out their VW, but afraid the DH may have a heart attack, so have to ease him into it. He asked today if he could set up Hot Wheels all over the house. I don't think he is getting it. Besides, the Blythes are in a (quite nice) open closet. I think "open closet" may be an oxymoron, but hey. The previous owners had open shelving and no closet doors for their toddler girl. So, I guess now I'm the toddler girl. Must. Go. Do. Real. Work. Now.

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.

Christmas presents, a new haircut and a closet!

The girls were so excited to receive these swap goodies from Lindajed and Molli and Zelda at http://adventuresofmolli.blogspot.com, our friends from Flickr. The Georgia girls and their mom were so kind to send coordinating fashions and little goodies, like coffee and scones from 'Panera'. Thanks so much to Linda and congrats on finishing your exams. Happy holiday time off to all of us!

Lilly immediately had to call all her friends on the new phone she received. She's also wearing her new leggings. Meanwhile, Maggy got all dressed up in the adorable sweater and skirt set, adding tights and shoes from Blythe dressing room. After zapping her latte and chocolate chip scone in the microwave, she promptly went out and got a haircut! She asked for the Posh Spice/Katie Holmes combo. I hope she likes it, because it's not going to grow back very fast. But, her long hair was unmanageable hanging below her knees, and it was either get it cut or get a Lounging Lovely! You know it's a bad hair day, when only a $150 sister can make it right. However, Maggy looks quite pleased and put her feet up when she got home from shopping and the salon.

The girls now have some storage in the form of a Re-ment closet and cabinet to better organize their stuff and to keep their shoes away from the cats! Wonder what's left for Santa to bring them?

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.