not sponsored (a post about new shoes, feat. nostalgia)

Um, so, I went a little overboard shoe-shopping of late... This is a chonky post, by the way.

For several months now I've been looking around online at boots. Within the last year or so, I've had to toss four pairs of boots. One was a pair of cowboy-esque boots from Target circa 2010. I actually posted about those when I got them, here! I loved them and wore them to literal shreds. Like, the insides of the boots started shredding! Another pair, also from Target, were my super-beloved black strappy booties that were eerily resminiscent of one of my favorite Blythe shoe molds. And finally, two pairs of combat boots that I got from Payless (RIP) in 2013. These I had in both brown and black. They served me well for ~10 years. Which, I guess, for Payless shoes, is pretty decent!

The crappy thing about "vegan leather," aka plastic, is that it disintegrates eventually. Unfortunately I've had several pairs of shoes as well as purses and bags just spontaneously burst into confetti, or so it looks, by the way flakes slurry off them and they just fall apart! So, this is what happened with all these pairs of boots.

(It's worth noting that none of these shoes were at all expensive in the first place. They were from Target and Payless! But I loved them and wore them till they could be worn no more! And it's tough to find anything but fake leather, especially if you want to spend less than $50 on a pair of shoes.)

I wear boots in the autumn and winter months, mostly, but when it's boot season, that's what I wear the vast majority of the time. As the weather's now cooling, I've been keen to replace my boots in particular. And I really felt I wanted a "historical" sort of boot. I had a particular vision in mind. You can see that vision in the image at the top of the post.

Keywords: historical, ankle, reasonable heel, laces, Kirsten Larson, Violet Baudelaire (book).

I ended up getting a pair of these Winterbury lace-up booties in black from Famous Footwear. I tried them on in the store and they were a) in the "historical vibes" style I wanted without being so old-fashioned as to be nearly unwearable with modern clothes, b) very comfortable, and c) on SALE! (Marked down from $90 to $45!) These do have zippers too, to which I was initially resistant, but which I now like because it's easier to slip them on and do up the zip than it is to have to tie them every time.

"Witchy," was a word the woman at the register used. My dad said, "You look like you just walked out of the 1800s." I showed them to my sister and she said the words "American Girl doll." Nailed it!!! Exactly what I wanted!!!

I've been wearing them every day since I got them, and I love them so much, and they are so comfortable (and also still on sale, at the time of my posting this) that I ordered them in brown too. When I really like a boot and it comes in multiple colors and is affordable, I will almost always get a black and brown pair. For options! And I wear both colors equally, depending on the 'fit.

But, my friend, I didn't stop there. Couldn't, wouldn't be stopped there.

At all the stores I went to on my boots quest, they had lots of Mary Janes. Mary Janes are apparently really in style right now and that makes me so happy! They're my favorite kind of shoe! They make me so nostalgic because I wore them when I was a toddler in the 80s and again when I was a preteen/teenager in the 90s. I can remember pretty much every pair I've ever had. The gray ones I had when I was a wee thing, which I slipped and fell in one day, and got a black eye from landing face-first into our rocking chair. The soft leather pair I got in fifth grade that I wore literally every day. The chunky black Skechers that were oh so Spice Girls that I wore regularly my sophomore year of high school. The pewter-silver patent leather pair my grandmother bought me for a formal dance, and which I wore to my formal every year after that! And which I still have! I still have two pairs of Mary Janes that are over twenty years old at this point too.

Okay, that's it, I'm digging out my old Mary Janes...

See? Haha. That first pair is the pair I wore to all my high school formals/nice events. Look at the shape of the toes on them. They're so bent up and scuffed and stiff with age, but I'll never part with them. The other two pairs are from Payless circa 2002/2003. They all still fit me, although I usually wear an 8 now rather than a 7 1/2. I love how round-toed the black quilted pair is. They're still extremely cute, in my opinion! So Alice in Wonderland! And the cutouts on the red pair are retro and charming to me, so of course I never got rid of them.

I did quite lately get a pair of Mary Janes (as I posted about here). I've been wearing them every time I go anywhere, with frilly socks! And I have another pair besides those, a brown leather pair that you can see in this post from last October.

Buuuut when I was out and about, I saw a pewter pair of Mary Janes that reminded me immediately of my old pewter Mary Janes! They were too expensive ($80) so while I picked the shoe up to appreciate it and bask in my nostalgia, I didn't indulge the idea of actually getting them. But I found myself thinking about them for a couple of days after that! I thought, "I bet I can find them cheaper online..." And I did. For around $50, most places, and on sale for $40 on Famous Footwear. But because I had Famous Footwear reward points from buying two gersh dang pairs of boots, I got them for $32. And because there was a bogo deal, I also got this other pair of black Mary Janes I also liked for only $13.50.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!

I'm far, far too happy right now! I'm kind of a shoe girlie anyway. I am always into shoes over any kind of other piece of clothing or accessories, when it comes to myself. And I get very excited about doll shoes too; my girls have so many pairs of Mary Janes. But I am just particularly stoked on these purchases. Since I had to toss four pairs of shoes this last year, I'm replacing those, sure. But sometimes my personal taste doesn't at all line up with what's on the market. So I feel like, although fashion cycles are going a lot faster than they used to, I need to stock up while I like what's out there!

• Winterbury lace-up booties
• DV Dolce Vita Mellie Mary Jane flats
• LifeStride Cameo Mary Jane flats

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video rec: Babbity Kate's American Girls videos

Bringing you something a little bit different today! I wanted to post about a couple of really delightful videos made by YouTuber/TikTokker Babbity Kate, who makes content about about a lot of varied stuff, it seems! Disney Princesses? Bella Swan's Khaki Skirt? Taylor Swift? "Subscribe," said I -- but particularly because I really loved her deep dive on Kirsten Larson, the American Girl character/doll.

Words can't express how much I enjoyed this video! Babbity Kate covers the Kirsten books, as well as the doll and accessories that go along with the books. She talks about the all-important historical aspects, the appeal of the products (doll, clothes, books, and things like the paper dolls and activity books), and some Pleasant Company history. It's a deep dive indeed. She covers short stories I didn't know existed, and even talks about the Pleasant Company catalogues and the experience of reading them, of admiring the dolls in them!

I was super hype when she dropped a Samantha Parkington deep dive a few days ago! Or, at least, part one of a Samantha deep dive!!

(The thumbnail on this one is glorious.)

I find these videos really well-balanced. Although long, I think they are very digestible in smaller chunks due to how she rotates between topics. She will cover a book, then an outfit, then talk about history or another fun but related tangent, then return to covering the next book in the series.

In my opinion, Kate has a good sense of humor. The deep dive videos have some running jokes and I appreciate that, and she knows how to lightly make fun of things. But, very importantly to me, the humor factor doesn't ever outweigh the joy and appreciation of the dolls/books/products. The way she speaks about everything still respects the magic of these dolls and beloved characters. I think the word I'm searching for is "sincerity." Kate's ability to find humor in the books and her ability to point out what historical content is flawed or outdated is never at the expense of sincere enjoyment of the subject matter. The American Girl/Pleasant Company nostalgia is respected, not lambasted. What deserves criticism is touched upon, but as a review, that is never at all the crux of the videos.

Like, I can't say how often nostalgia content accidentally wanders too far into territory where it either overhypes the topic at hand, sometimes undeservedly, or criticizes it too much. Especially if it's something for kids. Reviewing kids' stuff as an adult is a tricky thing to do, I think, and some people don't know how to strike a good balance between critique and appreciation.

I myself, as a child in the 90s, had a major, major American Girl phase! I talked about this a long time ago now, in 2010, here in this post about Christmas gifts I got as a child! I would carry the catalogues everywhere with me. I pored over them just about every day. I memorized the text and looked at every single detail of the photographs. The historical girls (which were the bulk of the catalogue then) held an endless appeal to me. All my life I have loved historical fiction and this aspect of American Girl was a major part of that appeal. I was not interested in the modern "just like you" dolls, when they started doing those. To me, the most interesting and exciting things were the historically inspired clothing and accessories and furniture, and the characters of the historical girls.

Anyway, I had both Samantha and Kirsten, and several dresses and little accessories for each of them! Although I was out of my American Girls phase by age 13 or so, Pleasant Company being acquired by Mattel was still a big turn-off for me. I could see the difference in quality and aesthetics between what Pleasant Company produced and what Mattel produced. But I also didn't pay too much attention, beyond some disappointment at some of the newer Samantha clothing they came out with post-Pleasant Company.

I'm absolutely not up on American Girl! The releases, the changes in branding. Whatever the kerfuffles in the AG community are. No clue about any of that! So, getting a bit of an update from these videos was really interesting to me, as a former collector and someone who loved (and still loves) Samantha and Kirsten. The characters! The outfits! The flavor texts of the old catalogues!

That love and nostalgia was really reignited for me by these videos. If you're into American Girl, have any nostalgia or curiosity about them, or just really like deep dives, I recommend these videos!

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deliver me from evil

Talking about this has been in the back of my mind for some time now! I don't mean this in an "anti-haul" or anti-consumeristic way, although I suppose that's part of my feeling on it... But, being interested in cute stuff and knick-knacks and the like, the internet hawks me these things all the time. And I refuse. I REFUSE!!!! To even START! To even CONSIDER! Collecting anything else!

... That's a straight-up lie. I face constant temptation in the forms of these little kawaii little hunks of plastic.

But, thus far I remain strong!!!

SANRIO ANYTHING

Here's the thing. I love Sanrio!!! I collected it as a child, in the late 80s/early 90s, before Hello Kitty was as ubiquitous as she is now! I've loved it all my life. As a child my mother would reward us after a difficult experience such as the dentist by taking us to the mall, where there was a gift shop that had a Sanrio shelf. She would let us pick out an item, and my sister and I had an impressive combined Sanrio collection. I'd really love to post about some of the items we had sometime!

In high school (this was in the late 90s for me) I still collected! But I mostly loved stationery items, which I actually used a lot, so I don't have most of it now. I do actually still have a few Landry things from ~1998. Landry's not super popular. But I had a lot of Chococat and Badtz-Maru stuff! To this day I have an appreciation for Sanrio characters other than Hello Kitty. My favorites continue to be Badtz-Maru, Chococat, Landry, Keroppi, Marron Cream, and Little Twin Stars.

I wish I had endless money to dump towards cute Sanrio blind boxes and the like, and the space to display little figurines. But I simply don't, so I only allow myself to enjoy pictures of other people's Sanrio collections!

(But in the interest of honesty, amidst all these other things, Sanrio is what I have the most emotional connection to, so it's a case of "I would if I could!")

SYLVANIAN FAMILIES

Just super duper cute. So cottagecore. So kidcore. What would be the harm in attaining just one? Or one little family...? I do wonder...

POPMART FIGURES

These anger me so much because I like them so much. I'm talking about the Skullpanda Warmth Series specifically, because these muted/cool pastel colors are so BEAUTIFUL to me! But I like a few other Skullpanda figurines too. I've looked these up on eBay and Etsy in moments of extreme weakness. But I've never pulled the trigger. I ask, "Will this really make me happy?" It's like I have an itch in my brain that I feel like I can soothe with one of these. But I'm sure it'd make absolutely no difference in my overall wellbeing, so this gives me the strength to close the tab whenever I find myself tempted!

SONNY ANGELS

These also make me want to derisively curse. I love 'em. I hate 'em. I love 'em. I know these are extremely extremely trendy, which means that -- sort of like Funko Pops, in my opinion -- they're going to strike everyone as a very dated and irritating thing to have a whole mess of in the future. (Of course, I don't believe in letting something stop you from enjoying what you sincerely enjoy. Sonny Angels and Funko Pops make a lot of people really happy and I love that!) But thinking of them this way helps me not give into the temptation to start collecting these dust-catchers. Even though they're so cute in a little display case that I could scream.

Of course, I am not beyond my little collections! Here's what I do collect/what I am allowing myself to have:

TAMAGOTCHIS

I have six Tamagotchis and have built up my collection slowly over many years now! (I first/last posted about Tamagotchis in 2015, almost ten years ago now.) 90s nostalgia is of course all well and good, but I love the more modern Japanese Tamagotchis that have color screens and minigames! I have the iDL (still my favorite), the P's, the 4U, and the Meets. I would love love LOVE to expand this collection! But it's a cyclical phase type thing for me. I'll get really into running a Tamagotchi for a while and then I won't be in the mood to do the constant maintenance aspect of it again for a while.

Tamagotchis have long-running characters such as Memetchi and Kuchipatchi. The fact that there's specific characters adds an appeal factor that's not unlike Sanrio for me. They also often have Sanrio-themed Tamagotchis (or pierces, in the case of the P's).

Also, people make cute crocheted Tamagotchi cases, and this is SO up my alley!

THESE SPECIFIC STITCH FIGURINES

Stitch is, unfortunately, what the kids call my "comfort character." (I sorta got a douche chill just saying that, though.) In other words, he's a long-term favorite of mine, and I have a big emotional attachment to him. I have a stuffed Stitch that I sleep with and a couple of other little Stitch stuffies. I am always having to talk myself out of buying Stitch plushies. This is kind of a humiliating thing to admit, haha.

But, look at that little trio I have! I think this is a great way for me to indulge my bizarre autistic Stitch love without having Stitch stuff out the wazoo. There are four more little figures in this particular series and I would really like to have them all eventually, but I'm not focused on attaining them.

I also really love these because I got a couple of them from my little sister for Christmas. She knows me so well!

TAROT DECKS

I used to study tarot back in 2015/2016, before I had a huge mental health crisis and stopped being able to engage with all of my many hobbies. I have yet to pick up my studies again in anything longer than small spurts but I retain an interest, and every now and then, I am gifted a new tarot deck (most of the decks I have were gifts). I have ten decks total.

LITTENS

I got all my Littens in one fell swoop, as you know!!! Here are pictured just the figurines as they sit on my shelf. But you know I have a little gaggle of plushies. A litany of Littens. And I love them so freaking much. I would absolutely accept more Littens into my heart/my bedroom.

OTHER COLLECTIONS I HAVE BUT DID NOT MENTION HERE (BESIDES BLYTHES OBVIOUSLY):

• Animal Crossing Amiibos/Amiibo cards
• a huge hunk of the Sweet Valley Twins series, which I at one time was actively collecting (I posted about them here)
• BL Metamorphosis, the one manga series I have actively collected (it's only five books)

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'tis the damn season (almost)

It was 90 degrees here today, but I've been planning for the chilly days ahead by getting some autumnal clothes. It's been a long time since I posted about new clothes here -- clothes for me, at least! I used to do this somewhat often in the first couple years of having this blog. But I certainly haven't done it in many years now. Berets aside.

But heck! This is making me happy right now! So I'm posting about it!

Whatever you wanna say about Walmart, I have gotten a few items I like from there lately, all pictured above: a hugely long duster-length sweater in this pretty mauve-y color; a little floral knit shirt; these wine-colored Mary Janes that are soooo 90s to me; and an orange corduroy "shacket" (a revolting word, imo, which -- to get my Lemony Snicket on -- here means "shirt jacket") that I really love because it's RUST ORANGE! One of my top favorite colors!! The corduroy and color are both super 70s.

It's of course too hot to wear the sweater and jacket right now! But I am wearing the shoes!

Like I said, these Mary Janes are so 90s to me. They remind me of a pair of Skechers Mary Janes that I had in the late 90s/early 2000s, with chunky bottoms/heels! I loved and wore the heck out of those shoes. Mary Janes are a lifelong favorite and I have had so many pairs of various kinds! So of course I saw these and was nostalgia pilled.

I do think they're cute, but I'm not sure if they're cute on me, if you know what I mean. But I have yet to style them correctly, I think. They'd look a lot better if I wore them with tights and/or socks, and a dress or skirt. Tights, I have, but... I don't have the right type of socks.

Because I think the Mary Janes would look really cute with some ruffled socks, specifically! I do prefer the kind that you can fold down. To me that is a classic lewk. Hence the second set. I also like orange and purple. CLEARLY! But I think the floral set is way cutier. And wouldn't that black set look so good with the MJs?? But, the white fold-over pairs would be very useful...

Decisions, decisions!!!

Well, I'll mull over that. But I quite simply can't wait for it to be cooler out so I can plop on a beret and this sweater and stroll around in my Mary Janes.

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aunt lyfe

August was quite the month for my family! A lot going on (weddings! new houses!), but I want to post specifically about my brand new nephew, especially because I feel very aware that I am experiencing some of the best days of my life thus far. It is so nice to know those moments as they happen, instead of missing them belatedly.

Nephew was born just before midnight on August 8th, and we (my mom, my brother-in-law's moms, and me) got to see him at about 3 AM on the 9th, after hours of waiting antsily at the hospital for him to arrive, and further hours of baby and parents having crucial bonding time. Getting to see him was so incredibly special to me.

I am nine years older than my baby sister -- almost ten -- so I have extremely clear memories of seeing her after she was born. I remember the hospital room; I remember holding her; I remember that I insisted upon staying at the hospital with my mom for most of that day, rather than let my dad take me home. I was enchanted by my baby sister. I held her tons. As she grew up, I baby-sat and minded and played with her a lot. After I started driving, I picked her up from elementary school every day. When she was in high school I took her to school and picked her up from school frequently. I felt like she was my baby!

That's us! This was taken in early May of 1997, when she was 5 and I was 14.

As she's grown older, graduated from college, gotten married, and now, had a baby, my heart still pangs: my baby!

So it was, for me, such an emotional full circle moment. Seeing sis in the hospital when she was born. Seeing sis in the hospital when her own baby was born. I had deja vu. I reminisced about it... to her... while she was lying in bed having just given birth! Haha. But in all sincerity, getting to peer at her baby's beautiful face for the first time, and getting to tell my sister that I loved her and am proud of her, and getting to see my mom and my sister's mother-in-laws see their grandbaby for the first time, all in the middle of the night... Ah. It was so peaceful, even when Nephew let out a screamy squeal (just once). Everyone was shedding happy tears. It felt like a sacred space. I am so glad to have had this experience. I left the hospital immediately knowing I had just had one of the best moments of my life.

And of course, I had zilch to do with this baby or his birth! That was all my goddess of a little sister, who was so tired she was falling asleep in the bed as we all admired Nephew in his bassinet. She'd given it her all and wouldn't get much sleep in general. Regardless she was beatific and beautiful. My heart bursts thinking about her. Of course my Nephew is great fun to admire and dote on. But I just feel so proud of my baby sister. I still count it as one of my favorite moments I've ever experienced.

Getting to hold him for the first time after he came home from the hospital... I was floating on air for hours! Starkly reminded of how I refused to go home after getting to hold my baby sister. The only reason I let anyone else hold him was because my elbow got tired!

But the very best has been getting to see my grandmother meet him for the first time! Her first great grandchild! It was the very best to watch her hold him, and to sit with my sis, my brother-in-law, and my parents, hanging out and taking turns holding the baby. I got to feed him and hold him for two hours. The vibes were so excellent. The sunset, golden. Sister, beautiful, glowing. The baby, content to sleep in our arms. I am really living my best life whenever I get to hold that baby. Like at the hospital, I knew I had just had one of the best days of my life. I will literally remember it forever. In the future I will reminisce with my family: Remember the day Grandma met Nephew? Remember how she held him? Remember how Mom used to hold him and stroke his tiny baby temples with her thumbs? Remember how gently Sister touched his head? Remember how Brother-in-law poked his belly and then said, for Nephew, "Daddy's buggin' me! Mean old Dad!" Remember his cute stripey pants? Remember how conked out he was?

Last night I got to feed Nephew and sit with him for hours again. Sis and Bro-in-law left him with me while they ran an errand. My first nephew-sitting gig! I was in bliss, patting his little back while he snoozed. Crazy to think that in just a week, he'll be a month old.

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baby sister's baby blanket

Big news: my baby sister's expecting!!!

Well, it's old news around here. Big news! But my family's known since Christmas Eve, very very early on in her pregnancy, and we're only about a month out from the due date now. I haven't said anything because it ain't really my news, and I live in fear of stepping on toes or stealing thunder or something. But it's tremendously exciting because it's the first grandchild for my parents. And of course, my first little niece or nephew! (In this case, it happens to be a nephew!)

You know I went into baby blanket mode this spring, with the fave ol' ripple pattern!

The colors were inspired by my sister's pregnancy announcement -- there was a cute jungle animal print with blue, green, and orange.

This was my first time putting a border on a ripple blanket, and I really like how it turned out! I decided to only do the sides instead of a full border. I imagine next time I do a ripple I'll try out a full border, which means compensating for the ripple on either end. I'm sure I can do it, but... baby steps! Right, my quickly arriving nephew?

Anyway, the border's just treble crochet! I like the way they worked out because they look chonky but are decidedly not frilly or fussy.

Last summer I joined a knitting club (I don't think I've mentioned... it's just me, my mom, and some little old ladies at my mom's church) and I worked on this blanket during many a knitting club meeting. Another woman in the club also crocheted a blanket for my sister, or I might have made another one, myself. But I thought there might be such a thing as too many crochet blankets for an infant. I guess. Her blanket was pastel yellow, so at least they have super different vibes.

My sister's baby shower was today, so now I'm in the clear to post these pics without her seeing! (She follows this blog!)

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doll stuff haul video

Hello! Been working on a doll stuff haul video these past few days! Amongst some stuff I've blogged about here already (like these benches and my beret obsession) are some new items like this yellow knit beret and these green daisy applique bellbottoms!

I really do try to keep it posi here, but CURRENTLY, I am so sick of my face/voice/personality/everything that I wanna barf. I almost trashed the footage for this video because I felt so awful about myself. Eventually I got over it and decided to just soldier on, because I had been waiting and wanting to film it for weeks. By the time I was done editing it and doing the subtitles for it and got it all thumbnailed and posted, I could not make myself post about it to Instagram. I almost didn't, but forced myself to do that, too. And now I am forcing myself to blog about it. What am I gonna do, spend days making this and then not post about it?

In therapy a few years ago I hit upon the idea of neutrality, especially with regards to myself. I can't do self-love or self-positivity. To me it's nothing short of delusional. But, what I can do is say, "While I'm not the best, I'm also not the worst." So right now I'm telling myself, I'm surely not the most irritating person on YouTube.

OR AM I?? Bonus Litten pic:

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well,,,

Look, I sorta don't know what to say because it is wild, but... I can't... not... post about this...???

I got a birthday box in the mail today that was literally stuffed to the brim with Littens. Canny and dedicated readers might be able to guess this, but the culprit was L. As I posted about the other day, we've been playing Pokemon Sun together, and Litten's my Thing right now. I routinely watch an arc of three episodes of the Sun and Moon anime about Ash's Litten and become Emotionally Compromised.

Seeing so many Littens at once, I thought of my birthday list -- "Litten anything" -- and was like, "Whoa. Ask and ye shall receive." But a) I didn't actually ask anyone for Litten anything, and B) I put so many Litten things on the graphic for visual symmetry, mainly. Emphasis on "anything," not "everything." Yet!! The coterie of plush Littens manifested!!!

And there were things besides plushies! Little figurines, from both boxes and, I think, gachapons? Because they came in those little plastic egg-type containers. And a necklace!!! And an origami book! Neither of those things pictured, but oh my god. I asked L:

Hahaha! Here's a better picture of the figures. They're all soooo cute, cry emoji.

I'm boggled yet tickled beyond belief. I believe this is technically a collection?? Like, all at once I now have a Litten Collection??? I think I really will need to collect more little figures, at least. They're so small I might conceivably be able to fit them in my doll-crowded bedroom. The plushies, well... I'll make room!

ALTERNATE POST TITLES:

• LISTEN
• an Abundance of Littens
• Litten to your heart
• Emotionally Compromised By Litten
• Aly & AJ - Litten!!!.mp3

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self-portrait of a trainer on her birthday

Well, I don't really post art here (I think I have posted a couple of Blythe sketches) but I have been playing Pokemon Sun and Moon -- both! -- and decided to draw my trainer. Then I decided she'd be holding Litten, because of course! It's my starter and my main source of serotonin right now!! Then I put her in my own clothes instead of the outfit she's wearing in the game, so it became something of a self-portrait in the style of Pokemon. Or at least, this is my attempt at the Pokemon style!

I never post art here because all I draw is niche hyperfixation stuff or portraits of my D&D characters. Not that this isn't niche hyperfixation art -- but I wasn't sure what else to do with this one, and my birthday's as good an excuse as any to post a self-portrait!

(I want to credit correctly: The embroidery in the background is from And Other Adventures Embroidery Co. I did not feel up to painting flowers but wanted some texture in the background!)

(It's my birthday, you can't stop me!)

Lately my bestie L has been playing Pokemon Sun on an emulator and streaming it for me via Discord so I can watch!! This has been incredibly fun because I don't have to do any battling or decision-making, but she lets me name all the Pokemon she catches, so I feel involved. Because she is incredibly enabling, she chose Litten as our starter and we named him "Li'l Boi." LI'L BOI YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING!

The Pokemon Refresh feature of Sun and Moon is wonderful... I love watching L clean and pet and feed Li'l Boi the Litten. So much so that I took a bunch of screencaps! Sooo cute! His little myaaas!

L's playing Sun, but I have Moon, and because L can't play 24/7 for me, I picked up Moon again. All the better to pet Litten with, my dears. This gave me further feelings on Pokemon Refresh, especially as compared to other features like Pokemon Camp in Sword and Shield. I also do like that feature, because yes, of course I want to play with Vulpix. Don't be silly. But Refresh really feels a lot like you are actively caring for your Pokemon, and when Pokemon are well cared for, affectionate and full of Poke Beans, they respond accordingly during battles. I've lost count of the amount of times I've said, "Diaper Baby, I love you!!" because my Vullaby (... named Diaper Baby) dodged an attack out of a developed relationship with me, or landed a critical hit, hoping to be praised!

I have been dipping into Shield again as well, in my hyperfixation, and I miss carefully brushing dust off my Pokemon! I miss the cute status messages about how in sync my Pokemon and I are, and how they are looking at me with intense eyes, or are curious about my fashion. Refresh is soooo cute.

Okay, this post was a Refresh to my soul! Thanks for putting up with it.

Birthday plans include:

• not sleeping enough (I already feel it)
• a pink birthday table courtesy my mom
• lunch with my mom and grandma
• watching stuff with bestie K!

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the ol' b-day list

Another birthday creeps ever closer. (I can't believe it was almost a year ago that Vesper and Citron arrived!) Although there isn't really much on my birthday wish list I thought I would cobble together a wish list post, just because. It's fun, and I need all the fun I can get. I'm sorta not in a great place these days, and I get birthday depression pretty badly, so I want to try and combat that.

This image would have you believe I'm asking for all this stuff, the only thing I've actually asked for is a ring. I asked this of my little sister, when she asked me what I wanted for my birthday; I trust her taste so I just told her to pick whatever she wants. These are just a few from Etsy, not any particular rings I actually asked for.

I haven't asked anyone for anything else -- let alone a Litten plush! Litten is a Pokemon, for those who might not know, and it is my hyperfixation right now, and one of my only sources of serotonin, haha. But it's from an older generation of Pokemon at this point, and so it's hard to find Litten stuff now! Still, I might buy myself a plush as my birthday extravagance.

Otherwise, hand-sewing drawstring dresses has been my most reliable pastime lately, and I've already bought myself too much fabric and ribbon. So I have gifted myself this already! Still, I wouldn't say no to even more fabric. I need so little of it, yardage-wise, that if I play my cards right and there's a sale or whatever, it can be very cheap to buy just a foot or so of fabric. A dollar and change! And then I can make wee drawstring dresses.

This list is nearly non-existent, but honestly, I don't need anything. My best friend has offered to watch the Jane-est of stuff with me on my birthday -- she told me to "swing for the fences" and offered to watch both Power Rangers and Pokemon, like a maniac -- so I'm looking forward to that. I'm also looking forward to sending some of the dresses I've made to said bestie.

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I told you so.

Hey! So, here are some of the drawstring dresses I've made (I told you I would). Olwenn's modeling one that I really like. The pink hearts on this red fabric are so tiny, it gives strawberry vibes! So I paired it with this strawberry cardigan from CuteDollDressUA. Golly-gosh, Olwenn looks great in red. The bow on her shoulder is where the dress fastens, and for this dress I used more of a wine-ish red ribbon. It's just what I had on hand at the time!

Anyway, Fidelia, Olwenn, and Aury are all wearing drawstring dresses right now, plus I have made two I'm sending to my bestie for her Daunting Drusilla, and then there are these that nobody's wearing right now.

You can really see how these dresses are just tubes with little areas for the arms to poke out!

I'm not quiiite done making these little sacks yet; I got a couple of new fabric scraps and some more ribbon today...

Other stuff I've been doing since you last heard from me:

• waiting for dolly mail so I can make a spring haul vid
• reading Dark Rise and Dark Heir by C.S. Pacat
• hyperfixating on the Pokemon anime series, Sun & Moon specifically
• working on a smol ripple :3
• trying to figure out what I think about The Tortured Poets Department

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drawstring dress

Waah! I sewed a dress!!

Okay, so it kinda barely counts as a dress. It's like a tube. But still!

The other day I dressed Mallow in one of the two drawstring dresses I've had in my Blythe wardrobe since back in the day. I think I got them second-hand on Blythe Kingdom; I don't know who originally made them. Basically, they're like little drawstring bags, but open at the far end. They cinch with ribbon strung through a channel that goes around the doll's neck, and then you can tie it at one side.

It's been a while since I've thought about these two dresses. But once I fished the green one out to put on Mallow, I realized, "This is just two pieces of fabric... I wonder if I can sew something like this."

I turned the other drawstring dress I have, which is white with squirrels on it, inside-out and gave it a look. First I traced around it onto some graph paper and tentatively extrapolated the places where the fabric was folded around the top. Then I studied the order of operations in how it had been sewn, folding it at the proper places. (And I have to say, for me, this was genuinely akin to messing with high-level black magicks, so I'm surprised my dark guess-trapolations were remotely workable. Honestly. My brain is not good at this kind of stuff.)

So, long story short, I tested it out and hand-sewed a frickin' DRESS! Out of this cute mushroom fabric, because of course, cute mushroom fabric, what do you take me for! I had some gingham ribbon on hand and thought it matched the vibe well enough to act for the closure. It came together pretty perfectly--in a technical sense, as in, everything works as it should! Of course my hand-stitching looks sort of homespun, especially because I used a highly contrasting thread. (Look... if I am sewing by hand, I have to be able to see my stitches on the fabric!!) And it took a couple of hours of sewing since I wasn't using a machine. But Fidielia is literally wearing it right now, so I do not care one whit if it looks cheesy!

Even having taken a couple of hours, this came together a lot faster than the skirts I've recently sewed, so you can bet I'm going to go through a phase of making drawstring dresses! Look forward to more...

I think they would look cute with some embellishments, like little pockets or embroidery or appliques. But there's something to be said for simplicity too. Simple shape, simple execution.

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"Froggy, you weren't such a bad guy, either."

The other day I was possessed by the urge to crochet a froggy headband for my girls. This is not an original design or concept, really! Just my take on it! There are lots of cute frog-inspired helmets and stuff for Blythe out there.

I'm kinda tickled with the way it turned out! I used a yellow-green yarn (it looks greener IRL than in these particular pics, but it's definitely not lime green), plus some white and chunky black, all of which I already had on-hand, and had myself a nice little time figuring out how I wanted to do the eyes.

I considered using elastic along the back to make it particularly accommodating, but I've done this on other headbands and it's some extra labor, and if you don't get the dimensions of the elastic exactly right, then the headband can be too large or too small, and either slouch or be so tight it slides up and off the doll's head. I did a couple of ties made up of single crochet, and quite simply tying them around the doll's chin before moving them behind her hair works so great!

I also added these heart beads on to the end of the ties, just for a cute touch! (I should probably trim these long draggly bits, huh.)

Honestly, making this gave me so much serotonin. I've been pretty bummed the last couple of months, and this did me soooo much good. I love spending time with my girls, and dressing Mallow in this green drawstring dress I've had in my dolly wardrobe since 2010 inspired me even further, so I made something else too! Stay tuned!

PS: I don't know why this blog post isn't hidden under a "read more" tag like all the others! Froggy didn't want to hide, I guess!

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springtime sittin'

STOP. This picture of Vesper!!! I'm in love. Vesper is very regal in style and this is the first dressup I've done with her where I thought it remotely began to approach suiting her elevated style. She's wearing Vinter Arden's dress and Dear Lele Girl's flower hair pin, and her own stock shoes. The hat looks like Very Vicky's, but in fact, it's one from the craft store that I doctored up with a lace bow!

But let's talk about this bench! Right now in their spring decor section, Michael's has these two miniature benches that are perfectly sized for Blythe!! They're supposed to be tabletop decor, I think. (They have a lot of miniature bathtubs right now too? For putting flowers or crystals in, or something.)

They are extremely cute, needless to say! It's actually rare I see stuff like this out in the wild. By "stuff like this" I mean miniature furniture that is the correct scale for Blythe. These aren't being sold in the miniatures section and aren't meant for dolls, I guess, but I think they're just about 1/6 scale by coincidence.

I not only took Vesper outside for a pic, but Wisp (I couldn't resist the green+brown color combination they've both got happening). It was quite chilly out despite the green spring grass, and windy to boot. Lots of stray hairs flying this way and that, and I quickly gave up before getting too many pics. But I'm pretty dang pleased with the cuteness this bench provided.

In personal news, I'm a month in on a dosage increase on one of my meds. I was on this dosage for a while and went back down a dosage again, but now I'm back up here, MG-wise. It's been messing with my sleep and my creativity. But your girl's out here tryin' her best.

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family portrait 2024

Yooo! Class picture!

I've actually gotten a few requests for an updated family portrait in the last couple of years, but even with five less dolls than I have now, I have been like, "I have no idea how to accomplish such a thing..."

I used to take my dolls out into the backyard and pose them on a bench we had, but we don't have the bench anymore, and ~20 dolls makes a quick hike to the backyard not terribly feasible anyway. It took long enough with seven dolls, and now I have just one shy of twenty. You might not think it's a lot of work to wrangle them, but just moving them across my bedroom to line them up here took sooo long.

(I know that people have far larger Blythe collections and manage to photograph all their dolls at once, but I don't know how these people do it!! Lots of time?)

For this, I turned some plastic storage boxes upside down in order to create a riser, like this is choir class, and draped the boxes in fabric so they wouldn't be too distracting. The dolls aren't in any particular order per se, except that the back row is RBLs, the middle row is FBLs, and the front row is RBLs again. Also, Aury is in front because of course she is!! The newer dolls are in front just by virtue of having been farther away from the desk, and so the last to be placed on it.

There was nothing on god's green earth I could do to keep the dolls' hair from sticking to each other and falling in their faces. I tried to fix Gavin's hair so many times, but it just wouldn't cooperate! So, what you see is what you get, in terms of all that doll hair.

Speaking, you might notice that Drew has her original scalp back on, even though the fading on it is so atrocious.

As a bonus, I have a couple of other group pics to share:

The redheads! The gingers, really, as Fidelia is certainly a redhead too. I have been seriously wanting a little pic of all my gingers together since I got Citron!

Also:

The blondes! Are you seeing these ringlets on Holland??

I thought of breaking down the family into groups by hair color and doing a whole series of portraits, but the rubric breaks down by the time it reaches dolls like Gavin and Miette. I didn't want to have a group I was mentally thinking of as "the leftovers." I know they are just inanimate objects and cannot care, but I still would have felt bad! So I stopped here.

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beret life in miniature

Ahhh, Junie Moon just dropped BERETS!

I have been really into berets this winter, and have been joking about living the "beret life." I'm only making any kind of deal about it because I tend to get comments when I wear berets?? I don't know if it's because I can't pull them off or I look too twee or just what, really. I have been spoken to in French! I have been asked about my "raspberry beret." (To be fair, I was wearing one in a color that could be considered berry-ish. Berry-adjacent.) Thus I have wholly embraced BERET LIFE, which includes all the commentary that for some reason comes with it!

I think people mean well and the berets are, for them, something they feel they can make conversation about. But at the same time, I can't term a lot of what people have said to me as complimentary?? I don't know; they make me feel playful and happy. It's just dopamine dressing, you know?

Anyway: When I saw Junie Moon post about these new items, I was like, "I HAVE TO GET AT LEAST ONE!" To me it's so delightful they'd come out with these great-looking berets right when I'm notably into berets and have been looking on Etsy for Blythe berets and waffling about which to buy.

But Junie Moon posted them on Instagram before actually making them available in the shop, so I had to wait. I slapped Japan onto my world clock and scooped a couple of these the minute they went live! It was noon in Japan but nine o'clock at night for me. (This was nostalgic for me because I used to do PoupeeGirl on JST.) I actually had a dream the previous night about buying them, so you might say I made my dream come true.

I got the ones pictured at the top of the post, in camel and ivory. I have a camel colored one too, so you just know I'm eager to twin it up!

PS: I'm still in the market for more types of berets for Blythe, like knitted/crocheted ones!

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strawberry skirt + strawberry pixie hat

Here's my second attempt at making a gathered skirt! I used this cute strawberry fabric (which happened to match Phoebe Maybe's stock blouse pretty well) and Winny is deigning to model it for me, even though it's not really her strawberry jam.

This time, on a tip given to me by the wonderful Anne, I lightly ironed the gathers and found it a lot easier to deal with them afterwards! I feel like it turned out minorly better than the toadstool skirt. It looks a lot like a skirt a petticoat should go beneath, but I tried that out and don't love the look.

As you know, I've got strawberry appliques hanging around, so I decided to whip up a pixie hat and slap a strawberry on it.

I usually do pixie hats in single crochet, but I automatically started doing this one in HDC ribbing because I've been doing soooo much HDC ribbing lately -- many of the mitts I've made are ribbed HDC worked in the back loop -- and I kind of like the texture with this gnarled yarn.

Again, this look isn't Winny to a tee, but I think she looks really sweet in it nevertheless. And she was very kind to offer herself as a model.

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small projects: vine charging cable cover

First thing's first... Be honest... Am I posting... TOO MUCH? I just feel more in-tune with my hobby self than I have in quite some time and it's making me want to post whenever I make something.

Now! Yesterday I up and decided to do this project: crocheting around a lightning cable to make it look like a vine. I've seen this everywhere for at least a few years, and found many really gorgeous flowery examples on Etsy. I made a relatively plain one, as just crocheting the leaves was a new thing for me!

These leaves are not perfect, and I would not recommend the tutorial I used to make them. It didn't have the clearest instructions, so I feel like I ended up not following the directions -- but not on purpose! But crochet is pretty forgiving in that way, so I feel like whatever I did still worked to make leaf shapes. I will say that it was a really fun escalation of stitches to make the curved shape! Going all the way from a slip stitch to a treble and down again!

I also think the leaves would benefit from some blocking, as they are very curly, but I never freaking block crochet. I'll have to think about that.

Another thing to consider: Should I maybe add some flowers to this thing? I don't know how people add flowers to theirs but I'd assume they're crocheted separately and then sewn on... I'd have to find a flower pattern I like to do.

Anyway, this lightning cable was in the process of turning a charming yellow-green, and the plastic casing on the lightning side is cracked. If this was fraying in any way I wouldn't have crocheted around it, but the wire itself is intact.

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Zasha dressup vid!

It's been about three years since my last dolly dressup video, but here is one for my girl Zasha! Filmed almost a year to the day after her unboxing video! That feels special to me! :"]

I have been really Blythe-y this last twelve months. Perhaps I shall never be as Blythey as I was my first year or two of collecting, when I was utterly swept away in the magic of everything. But in 2023 I did a lot of sewing for my dolls and, of course, expanded my family significantly. So it is about time I did another dressup video.

I intend that every doll I own have a dressup video, whether solo or paired with another doll, so I will eventually be doing videos for Winny, Vesper, Citron, and Miette as well. The caveat there is that I feel each of them have this very particular style, and so I want to try and attain some items that really feel like them. I have already dressed Citron a couple of times in outfits that don't suit her at all, and thus, I am particularly determined to expand my wardrobe with things that will suit her -- and the other New Girls. I still don't have enough stuff for Winny.

A couple of blog housekeeping notes:

Lately I've been fixing things up around Cure Touch. Most notably, I re-did the entirety of my Blythe Family page. Somehow it got flagged as having inappropriate content. I have zero clue what content was inappropriate?? But I just scrapped the whole thing and rewrote it. Some girls have new pictures and some don't! But they all have little nameplates I wrote out in Paint Tool SAI for them!

I also changed my About Me page very slightly, mostly by changing out old photos. I haven't had pink hair in way too long to keep pink-haired portraits there! I'd like to change it even more sometime, but who knows.

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mushroom skirt!

I made another skirt! It's this dark green one with a mushroom print. I saw the fabric, which I really love, and thought it'd make a cute circle skirt for Blythes. For this skirt I relied on this video tutorial/pattern, rather than just kind of winging it, like I did with the last skirt I sewed.

This one has a lot of gathering; I've never successfully gathered anything before, and to be honest, I didn't find it very easy to arrange and settle everything how I wanted it. My skirt did not resemble 1:1 the skirt in the video while it was in progress. But the process was an educational experience, haha.

I would very much enjoy attaining more skirts that are about this length, or a little longer. I recently got one of these from CraftyCoraShop and I really like it; it's long and gives historical dress vibes! (I scooped three more in other colors just now!) Shorter skirts and miniskirts don't always feel right on some of my girls.

I miiigght take another swing at this pattern sometime, with some other fabric?

Between the hat, the top, and the skirt, I made almost this entire outfit!!! :)

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small projects: french knit bows

I have been obsessed with making bows with this french knitter I bought in December. You might be familiar with this little doodad (this whosit, this whatsit). I've also seen them called knitting nancys (nancies?) and tricot knitters. The impression I've gotten is that it's kind of a child's activity?? Which makes sense, since it's a fairly simple activity once all the steps are learned. But you use the pegs on top to knit an icord. It's a super stretchy cord! I believe I have crocheted an icord before, but I hated doing it, so I thought buying one of these little things might help.

I have made so many bows now... more than pictured here!

I made a modest number of bows to attach to a couple of pairs of mitts I sold at the craft market I did last month, but I only had time to do a few bows. I was slower at the knitting process than I am now. I intend to use the majority of these bows on crocheted items: mitts, and maybe I'll do a scarf dotted in bows! Not sure yet, but it seems delightful. I might make barrettes or something too.

Right now I've been making a couple of bows every night before I retire, as if journaling or darning socks by firelight. It's been quite nice, and I've had to fight off a temptation to start collecting french knitters due to my affection for this one. There are so many shaped like MUSHROOMS, and oh my word, it's hard to resist those especially... I might have bought one already. The literal only thing stopping me from getting more is that I've already scratched and scraped this one so much, by knitting with a tapestry needle. I don't want to buy a bunch of knitters and then not use them, but I don't have the heart to scrape them all up.

(BTW, I love this blush colored yarn!)

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