Reflections on 365 Days of Cassie Part 2

I had to break this into two posts, because I wanted to write a lot, and also show a lot of my 365 photos. I'm very proud of many of the pictures that I took of Cassie. I feel that for as many as were last minute, and not at all creative, so many others were well done and creative. To pick up where I left off, it was just after Christmas...


My best friend Jeannette got a Blythe doll for Christmas! She named her Simply Mango, Melinda. I was so happy that one of my 'real life' friends had the Blythe bug too!


The creativity that sometimes flows through me inspired this photo; Cassie's own dollie-photo adventure. I feel like Cassie probably wouldn't play with dolls! Haha.


365 certainly makes you want to continually have new things. Photographing your doll in the same clothes and with the same props gets pretty boring, pretty fast. I was happy to finally pick up some Lucky Blythe mags from ConfettiLexi. I felt like about this point Cassie came into her own 'style' as well.


Meet Oceanna! The second 'real life' friend to get a Blythe doll...Kristi! I was really surprised that she wanted a doll at all, and more so when she decided she had to have a blue-haired Can Can Cat! It has been really fun sharing my doll hobby with friends that I thought would only admire from afar!


One thing I finally did was to make Cassie an IKEA uniform out of one of my old shirts. I did this for a Physical Challenge, and I had a ton of fun using this shirt as a prop for other photos:



I got more and more into Re-ment and collecting it, using it for props (like the iron above!) I also participated in several personal swaps and the Blythe Swap group on BK. These awesome hairbows are from DollyBird.


Some of my photos got very boring. Others took a lot of time and a lot of shots to capture.



This one for "May the fourth be with you" Haha.


I actually spent a lot of time creating things to 'celebrate' Cassie's birthday, which is May 15.



In June we organized and went to our first Blythe Meet!!! It was at Longwood Gardens and several girls (flesh and Blythe) came out! It was so exciting to meet a Kenner. I of course couldn't decide between my girls and just brought them all! By this point there were six!

As I neared the end of my time with 365, I tried to take Cassie out more and do more exciting photos of her. I took her to work with me for the early morning kitchen planning session one weekend:


Cass had a spa day:


And finally, it was down to our last photo. I poised Cassie, my 365 Queen, with her celebratory spirits, a crown of congratulations, and her camera 'hung up' for the year (NOT!)



The 365 challenge was difficult. There were days where I had a great photo op, days where the LAST thing I wanted to do was take a pic, weeks where I fell behind, weeks where I had too many photos to choose from, and times when I was flat out disappointed with how my photos looked (snapped in haste in the crappy dining room light...ugh) I think that for the good photos that came of this project, it was worth it. I like that I can say, I made it, difficult or no, for 365 days of photo taking. I didn't think that I would (make it). I'm a little sad that it is over, and while I contemplated doing a new 365 set, I don't know if it will be the same. Cassie is especially special because she is my first girl, and the one who came everywhere with me. It's weird to look at the girls and actually choose one to accompany me, because now it doesn't *have* to be Cassie. I think she is a bit sad too, to see it go. Maybe she and I will do another photo project sometime. For now, I am trying to balance the love between my six girls, and figure out if my little family could stand an addition or two ;)

If you get the chance, try out the 365 challenge on flickr. It is a worthwhile project.

Of Markets and Dollies

Two birds; one stone.

A coworker of mine invited me to come to this giant flea market that is (sort of) in our area. It's called Rice's and it only runs Tuesdays and Saturdays. Saturdays are usually a zoo...Laura and I are both off on Tuesdays. So, we decided to go, and my other co-worker/friend Rachel came too.

I figured, despite the fact that neither of them are into Blythe, that they at least had shown interest in my hobby...enough so that they would be willing to take pictures for me for...Blythe Photo Challenge #3! This one was a "Where's Blythe? (a la Where's Waldo) Challenge." I hope Cassie isn't too easily spotted! Click to enlarge it.



Cassie and I had a great time at Rice's. It was really the first place that I was completely comfortable toting her around and showing her off. When we went to Valley Forge I hid her from the people I ran into (ridiculous, since I didn't know any of them and would never even see them again!)

One of our failed "Where's Cassie" pics was at a stand that had cute hair accessories. As I posed Cass and prepared for the pic, I told the stand owner, "Don't worry, I'm going to get those clips for Cassie." She replied, "They look like they're the perfect size for your doll!" I laughed and said "Yup, SHE is Cassie." Teehee. These little clips were only $1. I will probably buy her the black set when I go back to Rice's.



I also got a great summer/pregnancy dress, a shirt for my mom (belated mother's day present) a cell phone charm, and some produce. After looking at all the knockoff Coach stuff all day, I caved at Nordstrom Rack and bought a pair of inexpensive Coach sandals that fit me really well and I really liked. That style sandal usually looks terrible on me, but the soles to the Coach ones were wide enough that my toes didn't spread over the edges of the shoe. Haha. Charming I know.



My Dollie Doll Coordinate Recipe book came the other day, and I finally decided to make a pair of jeans from the book. The free flare pattern from Puchi Collective does well for a first pair, but the ones in this book have all the pockets and detail work. I read the pattern and saw that Blythe is 22cm...however, when I googled it to double check, it said that she was 27cm. I went "oh, I must have read it wrong" (my Japanese isn't stellar) I should have had more faith in myself, because one pair of 27cm jeans later, I realized that Cassie is indeed 22cm. The 27cm fits Momoko, who is taller than Blythe. Cassie's jeans would make a great body suit, if I could get them up that high on her. I could barely squeeze her into the pair I made.



Will hopefully have a successful pair in the near future!

Cassie at Valley Forge/Second Blythe Challenge!

In my quest to do many things Blythe, I joined a Flickr group called "Blythe Physical Challenge." At first I thought it was about customizing Blythe, and I had no interest at all (I don't want to mess with my only doll!) but, when I read more about it I realized that the challenges were to take photos of Blythe in all different places. The first challenge, which I missed, was to take pics at the grocery store. The second one, which appeared to be current, was to find a local historic landmark. It seemed like a good idea on a Friday night with nothing to do, so I packed up Cassie and my dying camera and raced over to Valley Forge.



The thing about Valley Forge is that, I've never been there, despite the fact that I have always lived within thirty minutes to an hour of it. I have driven through on 23once or twice, but I have never visited the park or seen George Washington's Headquarters or anything like that. I began to realize as we drove around in search of worthy landmarks, that my Blythe doll hobby had reached a new level. It was getting me to do things and experience things that I wouldn't have otherwise.



Cassie at the National Memorial Arch, which was dedicated to the officers and soldiers of the Continental Army. The Arch was constructed between 1910-1917. We met some folk from Indiana. Seemed nice enough, until they gave me some anti-government pamphlet and told me every good American should read and familiarize themselves with the content...

We wound up exiting the park three separate times (on three different roads, I might add) before finally finding George Washington's Headquarters.



Headquarters was a newly constructed home that belonged to a man named Potts. Washington and the army paid Potts for the rental use of his home, as they did not believe in forcing civilians to quarter troops. The building was renovated last year. I like this shot of Cassie on one of the windows.



Last, but certainly not least, I wanted to find a cannon. I wasn't even sure if they had cannon, or if I would be able to fit Cassie inside of one if I did find it, but that was my goal. On my exit route, I realized that the Washington Memorial Chapel had multiple cannon adorning the front. Why a church would have cannon is beyond me, but I was delighted. With what little battery power and sunlight I had left, I got my shots! (pun intended?)



Unfortunately I missed the deadline (by like an hour) to get a pic in the pool on Flickr, but I hope you all enjoyed the Valley Forge Cassie pictures!