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.

Look who is swimming my way!

Calypso by Cindy Sowers and Amy Taylor.

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival Report

Last Saturday I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival right here in Columbia, at the Howard County Fairgrounds. It is the largest festival of its kind on the east coast. I had good advice to get up and go early, because by 9:15 a.m., there was about a one-mile back-up to turn into the parking area.

As you can see, the festival is about much more than just sheep, including goats, llamas, alpacas and rabbits. I'm pretty sure I offended a human owner when I asked if I could take a picture of the "cute sheep." But I apologized- to the owner and the goat.

Cady had to be coerced into posing with a llama? alpaca? and a bunny rabbit. She was whiny about walking the entire festival. I told her not to wear boots.

The sheep/goat booth is also where I got the great hot pink mohair that will make a nice re-rooted scalp for Blythe. I'm big on pink hair. The little clay robots will make some great pullrings.
There was also pottery, jewelry, rugs, beeswax and clothing, as well as plenty of food vendors. I thought about a lamb sandwich, but couldn't do it. I settled for a corndog and a stomach ache.

By the time I trekked to my car three hours later, the parking area looked like that of a giant shopping center. But I guess it was, actually, and handmade is always fun. When I got home, I couldn't resist the urge to doodle some sheep.

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.

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."

We Interrupt This Re-root

My mohair re-rooting for my Save the Animals Blythe, which I started a couple days ago and blogged about here came to a sudden stop at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. I sort of missed the rubber scalp and stuck myself with the very sharp and somewhat big embroidery needle. When I pulled the needle out, because it was stuck, there was a little, okay big, gusher of blood and a big, weird goose-egg thing of blood formed immediately. Then I was left with this lovely bruise. So, today I moved on to lip-painting.

A W.I.P.: Work in Progress

My new Save the Animals is getting a major overhaul on my vacation. So far I've sanded away her shiny face, painted her eyelids, changed all her chips (from blue, green, gray and brown to green, red, purple sparkle and Hello Kitty glitter sparkle, the latter two from Milky Way Blythe on Etsy), pulled out her stock eyelashes and replaced them with sideswept lashes with glitter rims, added sleep eyes and changed her pull rings.

I've gotten her put back together successfully--always a scary moment--and now I'm finishing her green mohair reroot, after painting her Cool Cat scalp. The mohair is from a sheep on the farm of Elizabeth's Fiber & Yarns in Washington state. Re-rooting was temporarily halted about 1:30 a.m. today when I stabbed my hand instead of the scalp with the very sharp embroidery needle.

The lips you see above--a combination of a lip sticker and nail polish--have already been sanded off again as I saw how crooked and lumpy they were. Time to try again soon. Hope to have her done this week. Then she will need a name!

These boots, umbrellas and raincoats were not made for walkin'. Just 4 lookin' cute!

Take it from the top, girlz! Polly, Molly, Bunny, Wednesday and Lilly.

And thanks to DollyMommy Sandy for my fab new blog design. (It needed it!) See her ad below right, which will take you to her shop. She also pointed me to Smitten Blog Design for cute little trims, and then I got on a roll looking around and still ended up going back to an old fave, Shabby Blogs. I can't believe how many free blog background sites there are now. No one need have a naked blog.

Sweater girls and mohair

A work-in-progress purple mohair re-root is my first attempt at covering a Blythe scalp from Cool Cat. Nothing like jumping in head first! Meanwhile, some of the girlz show off their sweaters, in the 90-degree June heat. Oh, to be a Blythe!

At top Virginia shows off her sweater by DeeBear, knitted just for us, and complemented by a crocheted bubble hat by her daughter MandyLynn. I had the pleasure of meeting these two talented Canadian ladies a couple years ago in Michigan. Check out the crocs I found on Ebay! They had Minnie Mouse heads on them, which popped right off, just like real Croc decorations. The knitted wool socks are by Dolly Dress Up. All can be found on Etsy and the crocs by Leo Toy on Ebay.

Also on Etsy are the darling sweaters with felt appliques and felt mascots, like Hello Kitty (seen on Charlotte) and Paul Frank's Julius (seen on Abby). The are made in Brazil by nanistore. And lastly, Cookie wears a crocheted halter top, granny square wrap skirt and headscarf by an unknown maker.

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.

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.