Finally Got the Holy Grail; Who Cares if they're Re-Sale?

It's hard to believe some one-inch plastic or rubber or kryptonite little red shoes could make my day, but that's just what these red and white scalloped mary janes did on Friday. And I think I was still grinning on Saturday and Sunday

As they once came on a Kayla Barbie that is very scarce, even on Ebay, and as no one seems to want to part with them, I thought I'd never own a pair. In their heyday, they went for as high as $75 on Ebay. They're practically impossible to copy; I've not seen a decent painted imitation. But luckily for me, I saw a pair listed on Plastic Paradise at a very reasonable price. And I didn't even see them until day two of their listing. Still can't believe I got them!

Like the shoes, nearly everything else above is secondhand, or re-sale, including all the dolls except my blonde Star Dancer, Lilly. Virginia, the redhead with the shoes, came from Australia, and her felted jacket and darling dress came from two different PP sales. Daisy, Lilly and Charlotte are wearing, for the most part, all second-hand fashions, also from PP. From left, an Aminomopop coat, knitted hat, Mochi Mochi pants, top and purse and then granny-square crocheted skirt are all "used." The rest of the trio's items are from Ebay or Etsy

And, what can I say about Alice's incredible Marie Antoinette-like gown? This was made in Ohio by "My Own Little World," traveled to who knows where and ended up in the Netherlands, where I bought it on PP. Back to the states it came. It is much more divine in person than the picture shows. Hooray for Blythe owners who re-use, re-purpose, re-style and re-sell.

Another fashionable weekend

The girls model some goodies we got in swaps and sales on TIB and PP as well as Ebay and Etsy. You try dressing six dolls with full accessories and then taking pictures, uploading, editing, etc., and let me know how long it takes! I was shocked when I looked at the clock in the wee hours between Friday and Saturday. But it's a fun diversion....so much so that thousands of collectors all over the world get into it. There are conventions, photo shoots, costume contests (with huge international acclaim), active international forums, and there are sellers on Etsy and Ebay whose fashions and customized dolls sell in the blink of an eye for hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Blythe is definitely an international force to be reckoned with, and her US appeal hasn't even really taken hold yet. Amazing.

From the top down, (it's always good to give credit to the hard-working customizers and seamstresses), Alice Snow wears a heavily-embellished felt dress by myownlittleworld on Etsy. Check out her amazing fairy hats and other costumes. Also, a felt bag and stockings by Louos, a fluffy pink coat by unknown maker and Blythe-size "Uggs" (slightly bigger than mine as you can see), from the shop at This is Blythe by Gina Garan.

Maggy wears the cute navy pleated top or mini dress that arrived with Alice, white capris borrowed from a High School Musical doll, a red sweatshirt jacket from a TIB forum sale, and green "Converse" from the TIB shop.

Red-headed Daisy by Neroli/ruirui wears a vintage orange velvet Skipper dress from Ebay, along with Barbie boots, cream tights and a cream popcorn-like stitch crochet hat by MandyLynn from Flickr. Good vintage Skipper outfits (the oldest circa 1964-65*ish) are getting harder and harder to find. Actually, they can be found on Ebay, but the prices are astronomical in many cases. And complete in package? You're talking several hundred dollars or more.

Bunny Velvet in her black bob wig by Shopholican on Etsy and customized by momoko_girl_1 wears a cute baby cord floral dress by pistachiolibby on Etsy. The black mary jane shoes, orginally for Barbie, were once seen selling for as much as $50 on ebay (yes, just the shoes), until several people got smart and made molds and started mass producing the colorful jelly-like shoes. They are now much easier to come by, and so much cheaper, like $5-$10 from the TIB shop, Ebay, Etsy, etc.

Long blond Lilly, my first and foremost, wears a somewhat vintage Teen Skipper outfit from about 1979. The disco-y like dress is accompanied by platform shoes borrowed from a Disco Barbie.

Finally, blue-haired, but-not-old-lady Zena wears a knit skully hat and sweater from a Plastic Paradise sale, and originally from the TIB shop, Barbie cargo pants and Barbie Gap backpack, and Re-ment "Heidi" boots.

Love their various "personalities" and "playing" with fashion to bring it out. I'd feel so silly, except I know I am far from alone!

A Blythe Hodge Podge

I don't like just slapping a bunch of un-related pictures on my blog, so I will pretend these are loosely related under the heading "Blythe," which I guess they are. But, I have been rushing around this weekend, getting ready for vacation in FOUR MORE DAYS! Excited doesn't even come close. I soooo need a vacation. A lot of stress and some health issues this long winter have made me crazy. Some pharmaceutical tinkering by my physician has resulted in either lethargy or insomnia, depending on the day, and long, detailed nightmares nightly (is that redundant?) when I actually can sleep. Enough about that.

So, here is some assorted Blythe eye candy...the ATCs are for an upcoming swap I am coordinating for Arte du Blythe http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Arte_du_Blythe/ in May, along with a fat book, I am also coordinating AND binding-eek!

The room scene is the sitting room off the main bedroom, and the aquarium I just snagged from Barb of ArdentCurse. It was ginormous. So I took the legs off, and then I figured out how to light it from behind. It looks almost as real as my 24-year-old daughter's aquarium in her room-and hers only has one real fish, Pinky. Pinky terrorized two Puffers, and we had to have pet funerals-awful- even at my age! Pinky is neglected, because Adrienne is never around. She is 24.

I was inspired by others to organize my Blythe shoes and photograph them for posterity, or for insurance purposes! I also enjoyed corresponding this weekend with Carmen/Mitsubish1984 in Madrid in my second language/my major about shoes for Licca-bodied Blythe. I might as well mention it here, but Carmen will be Licca Mondie Tuesday's new mom. It was somewhat traumatic, but we just weren't bonding (seriously, and Eddo will kill me if he or Tippi find out). Anyway, I felt so bad, I sent a new dress with Tuesday, and then I rounded up a bunch of shoes for Carmen as well.

Zena wears black mary janes with her Alice in Wonderland dress by Girlish, and I am hoping she will take up cleaning.

Meanwhile, Jolene got outside for a bit of fresh air, but it was cold! We're all sick of winter right now! Maggy was so tired of it that she recreated spring inside, and Larry had to get in the middle of things to check it out.

Finally, here's a picture of the blue bedroom with a second bed added. I am really happy with the pillow shams I made and wrote about for ZNE Dollz http://www.znedolls.com/, a group whose blog I co-edit and whose group I now co-mod. I have since changed the flooring here, added another rug, and have some new "blinds" to work on. Check out my Blythe It Yourself series on ZD for dollhouse decorating ideas, and check out my art blog http://lillysoflondonish.blogspot.com/ of March 30 for decorating on an even smaller scale.