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 :]

Mini weekend update

Hey guys! I am skipping Most Wanted Mondays today due to a wicked head cold I picked up on Saturday. Since Saturday I have been slowly fighting off the cold and unfortunately do not have much energy or desire to do too much. This weekend was still fun. Many of my friends and boyfriend graduated - congrats guys! Also many of us moved out of our places for good. It is strange leaving a place I had lived for four and a half years, however, I am excited for a new adventures.

Friday I packed up the rest of my apartment and helped my boyfriend move out of his. Later that night a bunch of our friends enjoyed a bonfire. Saturday morning I moved out and later that afternoon was Brian's graduation. Afterward we had dinner with his family and I said goodbye to the town for good. Yesterday was Mother's Day and I took my mom out for lunch and to see Dark Shadows with our man Johnny - he was looking good even as a vampire.

Image source: Warner Bro's.
I really liked the movie. I mean - c'mon - Johnny is fantastic, dreamy, and it was set in the 70's so the film had awesome tunes. A win - win for me. Later this afternoon I am going to help my mom set up her garden. I hope some fresh air and sunshine will kick this cold's bum. Anywho, hope you all are having a wonderful Monday!

Recent loot

In yesterday's Wardrobe Wednesday I showed off a new pair of Betsey Johnson earrings and Mac lipstick I had won in a fabulous giveaway from Jess Buckley's blog. I received the package early Monday morning and I was beyond ecstatic to open it. Inside was the sweetest note and a never ending supply of goodies. To top it all off she said I could pick a piece of her artwork :] Wowza. I am so thankful to have won and that is why I felt the need to show it off. Thank you so much Jess!! I haven't tried any of these products before and I am so excited to have the opportunity to test them out. *Does a happy dance.



I know Thursdays on my blog are typically devoted to my thrifted finds, but with all my things packed up in boxes I was unable to shoot any of my recent thrifted treasures. I did however go on a wee bit of a shopping spree this week. I had saved my birthday money hoping for a wicked sale to buy some new dresses and I finally found one on Dorothy Perkins' website. I had been cruising blogs and one of my blogger friends had a cute dress on from Dorothy Perkins. I checked the site out and fell in love. Cute clothes that I could afford. Wahoo! I won't be buying anything else for AWHILE - but hey, it was my birthday money so I don't feel as guilty. I can't wait to style them all.

1. Cream and Coral Mesh Dress | 2. Black bow neck detail dress
3. Navy horse print tunic | 4. Cream heart belted dess

I am off to finish up packing. Hope you have a wonderful day!

Have you won a giveaway recently or bought anything wonderful?

Wardrobe Wednesdays - Beige & brown

The majority of my things have been packed up and carted off for the move, meaning my closet at the apartment is pretty slim pickings. I am alright with that though because it forces me to try new things with pieces I may have only worn once or twice. This cream dress is one that I have only worn on one other occasion - basically because I never know what to wear with it. Thankfully I still had my moms brown boots and took it from from there. My boyfriend was also kind enough to take these photos for me :]



Like my new Betsey Johnson earrings? I won them in an incredible giveaway from Jess Buckley's blog. I am also wearing the MAC lipstick from the giveaway. I will have to show off the rest of the goods tomorrow.



I also tried adding some braids in my hair. I like the look but I only had 4 bobby pins to work with - oh the joys of moving. I wore this look out to dinner with Brian last night to celebrate his last class! He graduates on Saturday.

Outfit Details: Dress - Kimichi Blue, Urban Outfitters | Tights - Target | Boots - Thrifted/moms | Bag - thrifted | Earrings - Betsey Johnson via Jess Buckley | Bracelet - gift from my gramma.

Hope you all are having a great day!

Blog Design 101 - Resizing Images

Hi all! This is the second installation of Blog Design 101 where I give mini design tutorials to help you spiffy up your blog. Last week we covered links - what they are and how to write them in different formats. This week I plan to give you a powerful and easy trick when it comes to resizing images.

TODAY I AM GOING TO COVER:
How to adjust the size of your images proportionally so that they can neatly align on your page.

When I asked for some design questions a few of you wanted to learn how to make images all the same width so that they align cleanly on your sidebar, posts, etc. Additionally, some asked to learn how to proportionally resize images - especially when it comes to buttons. Easy enough. Both go hand in hand!

To start out with
A basic image html tag is as follows:
<img src="YourPhoto.jpg">

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TO RESIZE YOUR IMAGE
First you need to figure out what size the original photo is in pixels. You can do this by viewing the image in a photo editing program and looking at the photo's information (for example - mac users open in preview > tools> adjust size > pixels).



Once you know the original size of the image you uploaded (^ the above image is 550x365), determine the size you want the image to be either in width or in height. For this example - I want the image to be resized to 300 pixels in width. I then use the program I opened the original photo in to adjust the proportions. Typing in 300 pixels wide should automatically resize the image to it's proportional height. If you are great at math - by all means do the calculations yourself - I just find doing this way easier for me.



In this case it was a 54.5% image reduction making the height 199 pixels. Take the new size adjustments and simply paste them in to the following code.


PROPORTIONAL IMAGE RESIZE:
<img src="YourPhoto.jpg" alt="PhotoName" width="NewPixelWidth" height="NewPixelHeight">

EXAMPLE:
<img src="MyImage.jpg" alt="ShyScout" width="300" height="199">

With this code you can now resize images so that they all are the same widths and align properly in your posts. This code is also extremely useful when you need to resize a button to fit the width of a friends sidebar and don't have the time to redesign a new one.

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If you need further help or clarification please let me know and I will be happy to answer them in the comments section. Also - if you have any other design questions you would like answered in future posts please let me know. Have a great Tuesday everyone!!

Most Wanted (Mother's)day

Hi all! Hope you had a beautiful weekend. Mine was spent with friends as it was my last official weekend before moving back home - eeep! Real world - here I come!! Anywho, when coming up with a Most Wanted Mondays list I realized that Mother's Day is in exactly one week - double eep! So in order to get myself in to gear for the big day I thought I would create a list of possibilities for all of you. Some of the items I have chosen are DIY projects and others are items which can still be purchased. Enjoy. Your mama deserves only the best :]

Start her day off right with breakfast in bed

1. Mother's Day Breakfast & Free Printables via Oh Happy Day.

2. Heart Shaped Egg Toast via Get Cooking.

3. Fun & Free Printables via Too Stinkin Cute.

Flowers next?

4. Succulents in Watering Can via AdelynSTONE.

5. Stenciled Mason Jar Vase via Oopsey Daisy.

6. Mum You Rock Succulent Terrarium via Still Lily.

7. Cupcake Bouquet via Culinary Couture.

Prezzie time!

8. Home is Where Mom is via Ant Design.

9. Mason Jar Photos via Ruffled Blog.

10. Custom Silhouette Necklace Medium Size via Lucky Me Beads.

11. I Love You Mother's Day Card via Quill and Fox.

12. Personalized Family Tree Pillow via Blue Leaf Botique.

All of the items posted above I feel could be easily recreated by hand and personalized...if not bought. I need to get to work on my mom's Mother's Day goodies pronto. This upcoming weekend is going to be hectic with moving, Brian's graduation, and Mother's Day. Have a great day everyone! Any special plans for your momma next Sunday?