my Squishy

Thursday, December 15, 2011

I got the best Christmas present tonight! My BFF E made me this amazing, huge, squooshy knitted owl! It's the most huggable thing in the world! He's really big and soft and beautiful!


"I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be mine, and he shall be my Squishy."

One of the most beautiful handmade things I've ever seen. He's so cute, I love him; also I can't help but think of the amount of work that goes into making (and stuffing) small things, let alone something like this... so humbling, really, I wouldn't and couldn't have asked for a nicer gift or a sweeter friend and that makes me love him even more. He fits right in, here in my room, and cutes up the joint like nobody's business. He even has some fellow owls nearby, if you can peep a couple of them on my shelf.

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Merry early Christmas to me!

Monday, December 5, 2011

My sweet Middie got here today!!! I decided to de-box her on camera so here's a 13-ish minute reactionary video.




I really, really like her already! Middies are just utterly their own creatures, but they are extremely cute! It keeps striking me just how different she is even though she's technically a Blythe.

I'm waiting to see what her name is...
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facepalm

Thursday, November 24, 2011


Okay, I relent to you, strange Middie desires! I had this girl open in an eBay tab for a week before biting the bullet. She was on cheapy-cheap sale, comparatively speaking, and I had a spike of Etsy sales these past couple of weeks -- is it holiday shopping time, or what??

Eee, I'm weirdly nervous! I haven't bought a Blythe in nearly a year (I last adopted Drew at the beginning of January) and have been really quite happy and satisfied with all of my family regardless of crushes on Saffy, Cousin Olivia -- see, I love the blondes! -- Bubble Boom and Thumpty Thump, et cetera. I still crave a pink-haired girl... but there's no rush.

Happy Thanksgiving, Americans!  Things I'm grateful for this year:

  • my little sisters, who are awesome
  • my guitar, Little Ghosty Boo, for I love it so
  • my anti-anxiety medication, without which I would probably go crazy!
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darn you Ann Perkins

Thursday, November 17, 2011

When I watch TV, there's two things I always notice. One: stained glass windows, because I have done stained glass and gained a new appreciation for the laboriousness of it, and two: granny squares. The number of times I've been watching TV with someone and randomly say, "Granny squares!" is preeetty high up there. Parks and Recreation's Ann Perkins' and The Big Bang Theory's Amy Farrah Fowler's granny square throws over the backs of their respective couches come to mind.



I always wonder, are these vintage? Thrift store finds? Surely nobody crocheted a whole granny square throw just for the set of a TV show. Amy's is very typical-looking of one from the 70s with the classic black off-setting these Crayola colors, but Ann's is bright and unusual and adds big mod lovely pops of color to her otherwise amusingly bland decor.

Oh, every time I see one, it always make me long to make my own granny square throw! Granny squares are so fun to make, and I'm color crazy. Arranging things by color is so soothing for me. Yet, almost nothing is as annoying to me as as actually joining granny squares!

Either way I'm crocheting my butt off right now making hats, so I think this whole stalking-granny-squares thing is one of those annoying "If I wasn't so busy, I'd surely be doing this other thing" feelings that will go away once I actually have time to make other stuff...
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losing leaves

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Autumn on my street :) Right now you can literally stand outside and watch leaves dropping in insane amounts, gusting around and yard-hopping.


While picking up endless supplies at the craft store last week, I found some pretty, very natural-looking brown felt that's kind of oatmeal-y and flecked and that was lovely and thick to the touch, so I immediately cut out several sets of antlers from it. (Well, you know. I bought it first, and then cut it up.) To me, I make these hats so often that even little variations on them can really shake things up for me. Here's a variation of a frost hat with furry brown ears and brown antlers.


I got some olive green felt, too, so now I kind of want to make GREEN ANTLERS!
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little hoods

Friday, November 11, 2011


Today I had fun dressing Klara and Aury up in a fashion inspired by Little Red Riding Hood, with lots of layers and a dark gray pixie hat with wolfy ears. 

I love to put lots of layers on a Blythe... you might have noticed! Because the holidays are coming up I asked my mom if she might make me some petticoats because I just absolutely love 'em and I always seem to have two girls wearing bloomers and another two wearing petticoats. I want capes and capelets, aprons and pinafores, and lots more socks and stockings!



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Middie love... from afar!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

1. Set for Middie Blythe, 2. Introducing...., 3. Getting Acquainted!, 4. Middie Macaron, 5. Cherry wishes.., 6. Coat 2.0, 7. little girl~, 8. yellow green pink, 9. New style!

So, I am the first to admit that the introduction of the Middie Blythe last year kind of annoyed me. I've never been attracted to the Petites and my general feeling was, "But, Takara... why not pour your creative energies into making more unique 11-inch RBLs and FBLs?" I actually love blonde Blythes and tend to be attracted to more natural hair colors over fantasy hair colors, but there's been a large amount of repetitive blondes this past year, and even two almost-identical redheads released back-to-back. No matter your preferred Blythe aesthetic, you have to wonder what's up with that. Even I would like to see more variety and better stock.

Also, I thought I was kind of over Blythe sticker shock at this point, but the price for these little beauties is more than many full-sized Blythes, and I must admit, find that very confusing. I keep thinking, "Why would I pay more money for less doll?" I think a lot of people felt similarly when Middie was first introduced.

But oh, Flickr! Just looking at it has changed my feelings on a lot of Blythe dolls. I originally never paid attention to Prima Dolly Paris (her 60s stock and purple lips just ain't my aesthetic) but once I saw her re-imagined by all those beautiful Blythers on Flickr, I really fell in love with her! I was also so excited for Vinter Arden from her promo art, but was disappointed in Takara's promo pictures once they came out. Then once I saw her on Flickr, I realized that Takara's pictures had just really sucked and that VA -- while not the pink-haired doll I had been craving -- was still right up my alley.

Middie Blythes have been no exception to this phenomenon. Seeing them customized and more aptly posed and photographed by talented people who really love their hobby and have a huge scope for imagination has made me feel much more excited about them.

Too bad their price seems to still be very high! I have other Blythely things on my wish list but I just wanted to admit my secret: Man, I would love a Middie!
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Halloween flickr faves

1. Happy Halloween!, 2. Glamour Kitty, 3. 303.365, 4. little witch
E did such an amazing job with her girls, dead-ringers for Daphne and Velma! Also, Nettle... you crack me up!
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pumpkins and rainbows

Tuesday, October 25, 2011


Yes, it's pumpkin-carving time! My gentleman friend and I created, respectively, a Kanye West-esque post-apocalyptic scarred badass pumpkin of some type (him) and a gummy grandpa (me). Last year the pumpkin I carved looked really evil, so I tried to do a rounder, kinder version this year. I kept making it talk to my bf in a wheezy voice, so it is really about the same level of terrifying as last year's.


I posed Beatrix with them and she is looking very autumny in this Woolyrockers dud for a girl with mint green hair!


Something else that made my weekend: my sister did a rainbow manicure on me! Literal multi-colored rainbows on my every nail. I have quite small nails (and hands in general) and nail art doesn't tend to suit me, nor am I typically attracted to it.  But I saw an animated gif set of this video tutorial on Tumblr and thought, "Cutest ever, I want!" and we winged it from there, combining our polish collections to pick out rainbow combinations. I stuck with something similar to the tutorial and I think my sister did a really sweet job!


Colors used: Alpine Snow (O.P.I.) for the white; Salsa (O.P.I.) for the red; Need Sunglasses? (O.P.I.) for the yellow -- I don't recommend this yellow, by the way, surely there is a better yellow polish out there; For Audrey (China Glaze) for the blue-green; and Seche Vite for a top coat. My sister's doing hers in shades of purple and green, so it's really customizable. I think it would look really cute in pastels...

I do a lot with my hands, like playing my ghosty boo guitar and crafting, so this only lasted a couple of days before clouds chipped away, but it was great fun while they lasted and very cheery!
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foxy

Saturday, October 15, 2011


My girls are all getting dressed for autumn and colder weather this past week... I'm really ready for cooler weather! I've been watching Sleepy Hollow (I'm in the thick of my annual Katrina van Tassel obsession) wearing this adorable knitted fox hat around since I got it (from awberry)! It's still a bit warm here during the day, but who cares?? You know how I love an animal-eared hat!


Other stuff I love this month:
  • Adventure Time
  • Gossip Girl (it's so bad, but I'm invested in Dan and Blair's relationship, okay! They are soulmates!)
  • "Hungry Heart" by Bruce Springsteen
  • the mint green manicure my sister gave me
  • writing... I've been trying to write a lot!
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these are the golden days

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Hello, October! I love you and I'm glad you're here!


Tiny delight of the day: my nails match the gold lettering on my Fender guitar pick. This polish is outrageous. It's Milani Gold Glitz. I love gold nail polish of all types, but this is the only glitter polish I've tried that doesn't take about a billion coats to get a good glitter-encrusted disco ball build-up.

I'm still playing the guitar daily. It's been four months since I took it up, and I really love it. It's very relaxing for me because it takes intense focus for me to play and sing at the same time and it really helps me forget everything outside of what I'm doing... music is the best therapy!

(Blythe and crafting are pretty good too, of course!!)

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Drew in Photoshopland

Wednesday, September 28, 2011



It's pretty irresistible to dress up a Blythe girl a la Alice! Drew's wearing Very Vicky's stock blouse and skirt and Mary Janes, Simply Peppermint's stock headband, some black and white striped tights from the BK sundries section, and a super-hilarious pinafore I once "sewed."

I guess it's the impending month of October but I feel like dressing my girls up in costumes! Drew is Alice right now and Aury's an owl!

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"Achievement!"

Friday, September 23, 2011

So, I've had this really cute DIY ladybird owl costume by Seablanket bookmarked since it was posted last year, thinking, "That's so cute -- I bet it would look even cuter on a Blythe." The colors chosen by Chelsea are probably what drew me to it the most. They're really pretty! I've been wanting to do some kind of approximation of this for months! I've had tiny snaps hanging around for a year and a half.

However, I really can't sew; it doesn't come naturally to me. Partially I believe it's because I have dyscalculia, aka math dyslexia. That isn't just about numbers -- although I do have a hard time with basic, single-digit adding and subtracting (ain't no shame in using your fingers to count) and I don't even want to talk about the number of math classes I failed from the seventh grade up -- it's about spatial awareness and conceptualizing and keeping tasks in order. It's the reason I have no sense of direction, find it extremely difficult to play games that require strategy or score-keeping, have trouble gauging distances and measurements. There's something that doesn't quite connect about the way my brain perceives (or not) the construction of things. It makes it really hard for me to follow patterns for sewing, embroidering, knitting, crocheting... even, or perhaps especially, cooking. Those little questions on math tests that have an unfolded three-dimensional shape and ask, "What shape is this?" I'm like, "I DON'T KNOW, IT COULD BE A SQUARE, OR IT COULD BE AN ELEPHANT, OR THE WHITE HOUSE." I can't fold it up in my brain to see what it is. Know what I mean?

So following sewing patterns... which are often written for people who already have basic sewing skills (which I do not)... oh my gosh. Disastuh, as Beyonce would say to Lady Gaga.

I've tried several times before to make the easiest-seeming A-line dress and never done anything half-successful. I just don't have enough sewing knowledge. I don't have a sewing machine, either, and so anything I'm attempting to sew by hand promises to be time-consuming and stress headache-inducing. But I finally decided to look at some of the A-line dresses in my girls' wardrobe and essentially construct the dress just by looking at how others have done it. I also decided to make it out of felt, so as not to bother with lining and finishing off hems and sleeves; I remember back when I very first had Aury there was a felt A-line dress activity that everyone was doing, and it seemed easier, and I am much more comfortable with felt because I use it all the time for applique. And hey, it worked!

Silly, but for me, a huge triumph. Like, I don't even have the confidence that having put together a felt dress once, I could do it again. What if it was an accident??

Anyway, I immediately got started cutting "feathers" loosely following the tutorial on Seablanket. I had so much fun choosing the colors! I chose a cranberry red, a mustard yellow, baby pink, sky blue, chocolate brown, and beige.



I glued them down with craft glue like roofing tiles and reinforced most of the ones on the edge with stitches here and there, like where Aury's arms would surely press against them a lot. Tacky glue is awesome and I use it on the ears of every deer hat I make, but actually sewing stuff down is a lot better, I know.


Still, in the end, even though it's kind of ramshackle, I'm kind of proud of myself for making something that Aury is actually wearing right now! With lovely striped socks from the wonderful Freya and the blue Mary Janes from the Takara Shoe Cruise Day set, she looks like such a character!
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if love was red

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Spent my night cutting felt and attempting something new for me! So... much... felt...! It's so rainy today, it's very dark outside, so I can't take any actual pictures... not in my deep dark cave. CRAFTING IN THE DARK IS COOL, YOU GUYS!!


While I was crafting, shuffle kept throwing Savage Garden into my ears. I'm... okay with this!

Stuff I've been doing lately:
  • practicing the guitar
  • watching Adventure Time -- it's absolutely brilliant
  • writing, writing, writing
  • rereading the Harry Potter series (I'm about to polish off Goblet of Fire... sooo good!)
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another adorable lookbook

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Seriously, Blythe lovers, check out this spring lookbook for The Stitched Bluebird created by mother-daughter team Janelle and Emily Wind.


It's so freakin' adorable, I could die! The details are so cute and sweet. What a creative pair!
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ever since we met you've had a hold on me

Thursday, September 15, 2011


Check out this video for Red Velvet's autumn lookbook -- it's adorable, but best of all, Stacy DuPree-King lends her amazing vocals to a totally Dusty Springfield-reminiscent tune. It's completely adorable!
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can you imagine this outfit for real?

Sunday, August 28, 2011


Klara is almost always dressed like a mori girl or woodland fairy, so I gave her some scholarly/fussy Beatrix styling and took her out for some urbany, pining-for-autumn, back-to-school pictures!



Amazing blouse by Freya; overalls a favorite BK sundries score; Very Vicky stock tights; her own stock boots; bow from Forever 21; glasses from eBay; bag from Sugar Mag. The blouse and overalls are both some of my absolute favorite pieces I've got in my girls' wardrobe.

Vinter Arden has so much hair, it's very difficult to take pictures of her. She will fall over due to the sheer weight of her head and hair combined. SHE JUST WILL.
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doing it Disney Princess style

Thursday, August 25, 2011

I saw this around at least a year or so ago but just recently rediscovered it -- it's so cool! A few artists did a series of digital paintings where they took a blank Disney Princess coloring book page, took a piece of classic art, and used it as inspiration to color in (and paint over) the blank lines.


Katie DeSousa did this portrait of Aurora and I think it's really gorgeous. I actually watched her livestream of it because it's so fascinating to see blank black and white lineart gain life before your very eyes. How wonderful to have so much talent! It really makes me want to color!

Sleeping Beauty is probably in my top five favorite Disney movies (although it scared me as a child and to this day the words "spinning wheel" and "spindle" both send a chill down my spine), and I believe Aurora's forest dress is my top favorite of any of the dresses the princesses wear, ever. I like the blue/pink ballgown, too, particularly its pointy sleeves, but this nonsensical peasanty thing with the corset, confusing collar, and terribly '50s skirt and headband is the way to go. Also, bare feet!!


(credit: Aurora cosplay)

In case you now have "Once Upon A Dream" stuck in your head, like I do...

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just my moon face in some e-windows...

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

This time of the year is totally Back To School time! When I was little it was more definitely Autumn, probably September, when school started; I remember very vividly a yellow dress I had printed with red apples, dry crunchy leaves stuck in the circle drive in front of my school, and the excitement of shopping for school supplies. I remember the smell of fresh crayons, Laddie pencils, Elmer's glue and waxed floors and books... that's going way, WAY back, though!

If I was going Back To School, I would definitely want to wear these dresses:

(Ruche)

(Forever 21)

(Modcloth)

Love all those bold jewely autumn colors. I especially love purple in autumn. But alas, am a sucker for more muted and dreamy things, too... I want to sit around strumming my guitar in these...

(Modcloth)

(Modcloth)

And just because I love pink floral anything, anytime:

(Ruche)

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brides of Burton

Friday, August 19, 2011


Gavin and Drew are rocking the black and white stripes lately. With their pale matte faces, it's very Burtony!


Gavin's wearing a dress nicked from her cousin Clementine and glasses nicked from Beatrix, Tailor Gibson's stock blouse beneath that, purple heart tights, and Punkaholic People's stock shoes, a recent score from Blythe Kingdom. Drew is wearing a lacy white Sugar Mag dress and a pair of black and white striped tights, also BK scores, Gavin's bunny boots, and a lovely black and white hat knit by my best friend E. E, we love your hats!


The Burton-esque-ness must mean I am in the mood for autumn already... around September/October, I always get in the mood for Sleepy Hollow in particular! (Yep, I mentioned this last year too!) It's funny, I'm not into Tim Burton as a rule, but I just adore Sleepy Hollow because of the atmosphere and costuming and Katrina's dresses. Gavin has always reminded me of a platinum-haired Tim Burton character anyway...!

I've had Gavin for almost a year now! I got her last September. Time sure flies!
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cheap frills

Friday, August 5, 2011


Got this dress at Target for $5. Score!! I'll wear it with my cowgirl boots!

I noticed that they had a lot of oxfords, which I like (but am not nearly hip enough for; I would look like such an idiot in them!), and I also noticed the most adorable little ankle booties in pink and brown.


They are so adorable!! I really don't like to spend much on clothes, but admittedly, if I'm going to spend money on something, it's going to be shoes. I'm one of those girls...
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Saffy!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

It's been a while since I've eyeballed any Blythes, as I was saving up for my ghosty guitar. I've also been thinking I must have a pink-haired girl, but none of the pink-haired girls I've seen are right for some reason. The closest may be Dainty Biscuit, but I've come to think she needs to be a custom. I don't want hot pink or something too blue-toned. I like a more reddish muted pink, like a melon color.

Besides pink-haired girls, there are lots of girls I like: Cousin Olivia (I think she's actually Ice Rune's cousin), Raspberry Sorbet, Mrs. Retro Mama...  I love Simply Thumpty Thump and Simply Bubble Boom even though I'm not typically attracted to the fantasy haired girls. I always like them in pictures and customized.

However, the girl I am really checking out right anew now is Prima Dolly Saffy!!


1. Saffy has a name!, 2. 18/365: ahoy matey!, 3. got some digging to do..., 4. dear diary, 5. We needed some new year's color, 6. byebye, 7. Friends, 8. Care for a 7-Up?, 9. Think Spring {for Stacy}

She's been around for a while, and actually, she is one of the first Blythes I remember seeing. She is definitely the first Blythe I ever saved a picture of. There's a Shirley Temple-esque, retro sweetness about her and she can look very innocent or very glam and sophisticated. She looks great stock and even greater customized. She's one of those whose stock makes me skip over her official pictures but who catches my attention on Flickr.
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