
I'm so excited to share some news with you! If you've been following my blog for a while, you know that I have designed headbands for Blythe dolls in the past. I even sold some at the very first BlytheCon right here in Atlanta a couple years ago (so fun!). Unfortunately I haven't had the spare time to devote to them. :( It has always made me sad because I do enjoy making them.. but they are A LOT of work. Making these headbands always reminded me how much I admire artists that make things for a living. There's just something about making tangible items, shipping them, etc, etc. It is a lot of work. It is not for the faint of heart. I admire handmade artists tremendously.
There really were various reasons why I couldn't make time for them, so many other projects that I needed to make my priority, not to mention family obligations. It was just one of those things that kept slipping down the priority list. It always made me sad because I did SO enjoy making them and even more, I loved how they made so many Blythe owners happy! : ) Every time I made them they'd fly off the virtual shelves. I was always so thankful for that, that people loved them so much.
I've felt conflicted about it for while, knowing the design and construction secrets were just kind of sitting here with me. It always made me sad that they weren't being made.
THEN, enter April Puchala! She was one of the vendors at the original BlytheCon, so I met her there originally, but knew her on Flickr. She contacted me several weeks ago about taking over the reigns on these headbands so to speak! She sent me this long thoughtful email about it and to make a long story short, I agreed, and I'm just so, SO thrilled. : )
You can see her new designs above. Many of the supplies she used were personally chosen by me (she bought some of my supplies that I had purchased a while back), so these are a true collaboration between the two of us. April's wonderful craftmanship, hard work and fantastic design sense really shine through in these and I couldn't be happier. (I got to design her logo which was seriously fun. Loved the concept of the balloons and pull cords!)
I have more to say about it, but I wanted to let you know that she will be doing a GIVEAWAY of one headband and one of her *adorable* embellished Blythe T's on her blog tomorrow (Friday, June 3rd). Don't miss it! Then on Monday, she hopes to launch her shop with lots of new headband designs and more. So you can get your hands on one there! : )
More details to come, but don't miss that giveaway! :D