Toy Army Tuesday - Restored.

Hi all! Another Toy Army Tuesday post here. This is the second part of my Kenner Blythe post from last week. I found Juniper (my 1972 Kenner Bltyhe) last weekend for $3 dollars at a flea market!! Basically, my dreams came true that night. Anywho, Juniper was a hot mess. Her hair was frizzy and tangled, her feet and face were dirty, and her dress was covered in dust. Juniper was in some serious need of some TLC. That night I went home and immediately researched how to fix her hair. These are some shots of her mid and post-makeover.



Before



Having her hair done.



Looking good...



Did I mention that her pull string works along with her eyes? Score!



She is the perfect addition to my collection. I am still in shock about finding her. Minor flaws and all - she is perfect to me.

I am completely aware that I am wayyyy too nerdy about my Blythe dolls, but when you search for a doll for that long it is bound to happen. Haha. Have any of you found anything exciting lately? I would love to hear about it and your collections :]

Dreams Really Do Come True!

Hi all! I have a very special Toy Army Tuesday to share with you all. It is the mother of all my Toy Army Tuesday posts honestly. Many of you who have followed my blog for awhile know that I LOVE Blythe dolls. I had two dolls (I even picked one of them up in Japan!). Ever since I fell in love with those big eyes I have been on the search for a 1972 Kenner Blythe doll at thrift stores and flea markets, mainly since they are far too expensive on ebay ($600-$2,500). For those of you who don't know - Blythe dolls were created and sold (originally) for only one year - 1972. Needless to say the originals are VERY DIFFICULT to find. I made it my quest however. I have been dreaming of finding Juniper for over a year now...and now she is mine!!!



Yep, that is right! I found my dream Blythe. A blonde 1972 Kenner!! Saturday night I attended the all night halloween fleamarket. It was freezing and half the size of the fleamarket in August, I was pretty bummed. I picked up some Pyrex and wandered inside to check out some stalls. I was drawn to a pile of old musty dolls. Running through my head was small hope that Juniper would be there. This time I saw some teeny feet and started to get excited. Next I saw a paisley patterned dress - WHAT?? And then I flipped her over and saw her eyes. It was her. I started shaking. OH MY GOODNESS!!! This is happening. I told myself I had to try to act as calm as I could and ask the man how much she was - I didn't want him to become suspicious. "Sir, how much is this doll?" I asked, "$3 dollars" he promptly responded unfazed by the situation, "Oh, ok." - AHHHHHHH. I unbuttoned her original dress and there it was written - 1972 Kenner. I kept checking her in my bag every 5 minutes just to make sure.

Phew. I could go on and on about that night. I won't though. Here she is as I found her. Next week I will show you her cleaned and restored look :]



Not a scratch, mark, or crack (aside from on her face where it looks like someone attempted to open it). She even still had her original polka dot panties on aaaaand proof that she is a 1972 Kenner stamped across her back. Oh - and guess what!!! Her eyes change effortlessly to all four colors!! Her pull string works better than on my other two Blythes, which is insane considering she is 40 years old.



This crack and her missing 5 tracts of hair are her only quirks.



This is proof that if you dream about and search for something long enough it is bound to find you.

Have a beautiful day everyone! Next week I will show you what she looks like after her makeover.

Toy Army Tuesday - Blythe

As many of you know I am a Blythe fanatic and collector. However, I have never shared their back story or my trip to the Junie Moon store on here... so I thought it was about time.

Blythe dolls were sold for only a year in 1972 by their manufacturer Kenner. Their large eyes and big heads made them unpopular and scary to children. Kenner quickly pulled them off the shelves. It wasn't until Gina Garan rediscovered and photographed them that they became popular. A friend of Gina's described one of the scary eyed dolls selling on Ebay - Gina fell in love and started collecting them - at one point she had over 200 original Blythes. She later introduced Blythe's to her agent in Japan. The toy company Takara soon began remanufacturing new versions of Blythe dolls and their popularity has grown ever since. Today an original 1972 Blythe doll can easily sell for over $1000. For more of their back story please check out This is Blythe.



Junie Moon (photographed while on my trip in Japan - above ^) is the official Blythe store of Japan. While many stores may carry them, Junie Moon sells only Blythe products. They sell the dolls, their clothing and accessories, stationery, apparel, and more. Needless to say I was in heaven. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to photograph inside. The only thing I could justify spending money on was some stickers - everything else was priced way too high. For example - a pair of Blythe sunglasses (for your doll) cost $23 dollars - yikes! It sure was fun though giddly oogling over all their products.

I wish I could have taken them all home with me. I did manage to buy a Blythe on my trip to Japan at a Manadrake shop in Nakano which I wrote about in my last Toy Army Tuesday post. I thought it was about time to show her and her sister off...



Introducing: Ume (meaning Japanses plum). I finally settled on her name today, so I thought it was fitting to show her and Penelope off. I wanted a name that referenced where she came from. Yep. I am a crazy Blythe lady. I need hit up some thrift stores this weekend and find them some new clothes to wear.

Do you have a Blythe collection of your own? I would love to check it out! Have a beautiful day everyone :]

Toy Army Tuesday - Japan Blythe

Ok, so for anyone who has followed my blog longer than a minute - I am pretty sure you know I am obsessed with Blythe dolls. As soon as I learned that I was going to Japan, Blythe was on my brain. Needless to say as soon as I landed I was on - Mission: Blythe.

Instead of giving you a huge back story on Blythe (let's save that for a rainy day), I thought I would show you some of the places Blythe dolls popped up on my trip. For anyone considering traveling to Japan - this may or may not help you out. Either way - they look lovely as ever.

First night - Akihabara
Alright, so I may not have been specifically looking for Blythe dolls on this day - but they found me any way. I wish I could remember the name of the shop. The Blythe's were hidden in the corner of the Doll floor - yes this was a 7 story toy store! They all looked lovely but cost a fortune (no I don't have $500+ to drop on a doll) *sighhh.


Hakuhinkan Toy Park, Club 67 - Ginza
While walking around Ginza we stumbled inside a toy store. Again - not looking for Blythe. However, once inside I noticed that there was a doll store in the basement...so I headed down.


The store also had beautiful Pullips and Barbies.


Everything was still out of my price range, but we were getting warmer. I had found some decently priced dolls at a Mandrake store online - so the next day we headed to Nakano.

Mandrake - Nakano
If you want a great deal on Blythe dolls - Mandrake is the place for you. This location is inside of a mall with multiple stories of toys. After searching around...there they were :] Sort of crammed in dimly lit cases. They even had 1972 Kenners!!


I picked up a White Magic Night Blythe for a fraction of the cost. Although I had found the doll I wanted I still couldn't help but search for more.

Odaiba - Toys R Us
This post has gotten far too long. I will save Junie Moon - the actual Blythe store for another day as well. Until next time - have a beautiful day!!

Toy Army Tuesday - Introduction

Hi lovelies! Today I thought I would announce a new feature to my blog - Toy Tuesday. I thought it would be fun to share my love of toys and toy collection! Each Tuesday I hope to share with you information about various toys and ones from my collection. You may be thinking - toys? really? But there is a lot more to them than you might think. I am really hoping some of you may be as interested in them as I am. *Crosses fingers.

I thought I would start small today, simply photographing some of my collection. In the upcoming weeks I will give you more information about the type of toy, it's artist, etc. I also thought it might be awesome to have guests on here share about their collection. But for now here is a sneak peak of what is to come!



I didn't start collecting until last spring but my collection has come a long way since then :]

Photographed above: Dunnies, Labbit, Scavengers, Domo, Ugly Dolls, Blythe - more about them coming next week! Have a great Tuesday everyone.

Welcome home Penelope

Hi all. I wanted to introduce to you the newest member of the ShyScout crew. I am sure this isn't nearly as exciting for you all, but I am going to share it anyways because I am over-joyed at the moment :]



Again, Sweetpea creeping into my photos.



OH BOY! Are you ready??



TA DA! *excitement overload. This is Penelope, my first Blythe.



She is a gem. For more pictures you can click on any of the above images. I apologize for geeking out hardcore but I have been looking to buy a Blythe for some time now. Do any of you have collections that you geek out about?

Have a great Friday & weekend everyone! My uncle is visiting this weekend so I will be back on Monday. See you all then.