Collection 7: Dream Pets

This is a collection I started by accident! And I'm not sure how all the Dream Pets (and Dream Pet like things) I have turned out to be red. I have a red elephant also that I couldn't find when I was taking these pictures. Here is what is says about dream pets on Wikipedia: 

"Dream Pets are collectable miniature stuffed animals, made of velveteen and filled with Willow sawdust, manufactured in Japan beginning in 1957 by Japanese toy designers Tochigi Mongi and Tomy for R. Dakin & Co. The manufacturer surprised Dakin by using these little toys as packing material for a shipment of battery operated toy trains. Which Dakin had ordered. That same day The president of Dakin, Roger Dakin placed an order by cable to Japan for 25 dozen of the little velveteen toys, by the end of the day he changed his order to 300 dozen.By 1961 Dream Pets were being designed by Dakin's Senior toy designer Virginia Kemp in the United States. The toys became popular, and by the end of 1979 there were over 2000 different characters. In 1995 Dakin merged with The Applause Toy Co. Applause Toys re-issued copies of 24 of the vintage Dream Pets in 2004."

These four deer are the first ones I bought. I got them at one of my favorite antique malls last Christmas. I'm not sure if they are actually Dream Pets or just made in that style. They are only labeled with "Japan". But they are super cute. I love the little bells on their chests.

These two are actual Dream Pets. The lion was a gift from my good friend Dana! She sent it to me this Christmas. He is so perfect! I love his eye lashes and sleepy face. The deer is another antique store find.

Here is the real Dream Pets label. And look at that sweet fuzzy tail!

These two don't have any kind of tag, it looks like it was cut off of them. I got them at The Antique Castle in Sevierville. One is missing an antler, but I still think they are sweet.

As you can see, Murray was very helpful while I was taking pictures of this collection. I love them so much! I'm not putting them away with the Christmas decorations this year, I'm looking for a good spot to display them year round. Looks like I'm officially collecting dream pets. I'll try to stick to just red. 

Vintage for Kids

I'm almost done with the vintage that I got from Travis' grandmother Betty. Here are some more great pictures of her that I got from Travis' brother. I really love that first one. I'm not sure which of her sons that is. Look at her great dresses!

She saved two vintage puzzles for me. It kills me that this United States isn't quite complete! It is so cute. Look at the shape of Florida! Haha. The colors are great. I'm going to frame it.

I love the little cotton symbols.

She also gave me this Lone Ranger one. I really wish it was closer to being complete! It would look so great in my western room (still in the planning stages).

Travis found a big box of read and hear records. Including 101 Dalmations, my childhood obessession.
I think the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea cover the best.

I also got this diaper stacker. I LOVE the fabric on it. I can't decide if the bear with the fancy hat or the pink bunny is my favorite.

Allright, I've got two more treasures to share with you from Grandma Betty. They are two of my best finds ever!

Beauty Is Embarrassing

I am SO EXCITED to see this movie. It is a documentary about Wayne White! Not only did he graduate from my alma mater, he was the set designer for Pee Wee's Playhouse! Among other things. Seriously, watch the trailer, you are going to love it!
Pee Wee's Playhouse was a HUGE influence on me as a child. Wayne White did a bunch of the puppets and was the voice of Randy. He also was a designer on Riders in the Sky and Beakman's World, which I also loved.  Now he is mostly known for these incredible word paintings that he does over vintage landscape reproductions. 

I love the part in the trailer where he says "My mission is to bring humor to fine art."

"Heinies n Shooters w/Hotties at Hooters"

All these images are from his website. I looked through ALL the galleries, cackling and annoying Travis the whole time.

He came and spoke at a student design event when I was in school. I remember it being hilarious and completely inspiring. Which I needed to be reminded of. 

This year one of my goals is to be creative again. You probably don't know, but I have a B.F.A. in graphic design. I graduated in 2008 and after a brutal job search that ended with lots of rejection I pretty much gave up and lost all confidence in my creative abilities. I started college as a painting major and it has been years since I've even thought about painting. And it is a shame because I always loved it. So I'm going to take some inspiration from Wayne White and try to make art again. Even if I never show it to anyone. Art doesn't need to be serious, and it doesn't always have to be perfect.  I'm going to try and remember that. We'll see how it goes. 

Poor Pitiful Scampi

As usual, when we are trying to be really frugal and save some money, someone ends up at the vet. This time it was Scampi. She suddenly developed some really gross scabs all down her back! They suspect a flea allergy (I don't give them flea prevention in the winter since the cats are indoor only). So she got a steroid shot and some antibiotics and we've got to buy 5 doses of flea stuff. Pets sure can be expensive! But it is worth it of course. Look at that pretty face!

We've been looking but haven't seen any fleas yet. Let's hope we don't!

I love curious kitties. Whenever I pull out the chairs around the dining room table they all have to come in and climb all over them. 

More vintage from Betty!

Here is another post about the vintage I got from Travis' Grandma Betty. Here is another great picture of Betty, her husband Bruce, and their first son Keith at the Memphis zoo in 1955! I love her dress. And Keith's cowboy hat is pretty cute.

A cute vintage stocking, some ornaments made from pipe cleaners and plastic canvas, some kids books. My vintage kid book collection is getting pretty huge. I need to find a place to store them! I have plans for that vase, I want to do something like this vintage bird collection. I've been saving all the vintage millenary birds I can find. 

This was part of her mother's sewing box. It is so pretty. I put ornaments in it at Christmas. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. It is up on our mantle. I love it.

Cute little gnome planters!

And it was my lucky day because I have been looking for some back of fun magazines! Grandma Betty had a whole stack! I also got a few books about crochet and sewing projects that use scraps.

The R2D2 and C3PO might be my favorite.
And this cover is pretty much perfect. I feel like I need to learn to knit so I can make this. And get a taxidermy squirrel. 

Collection 7: Vintage Planters

I really love vintage plants. I always have a big plan for what I'm going to plant in them, but I have a black thumb. I haven't been able to keep anything alive yet. Four of these planters were given to me by Travis when we were dating. He always knew the way to my heart.

This Napcoware fox from Japan is my favorite. I bought him at an antique mall in Murfreesboro around 2006. He would look so pretty with a little maiden hair fern.
I've featured this kitty before. I need to get a little cactus for his tail!

I found a bull and a horse that matched this donkeyat a thrift recently, but they had been broken and glued back together badly. This guy is going in my western room after I put a cactus in his saddle.

The duck and pink elephant live on my vintage radio in the dining room, and the boot with the squirrel on the toe lives in my craft room. The unicorn lives on a bookshelf. Since I took this picture I have accumulated a few more, including some pretty lady head vases. I will try to resist getting anymore until I actually start using them. Anyone have any good resources to teach you about how to keep succulent alive? I had some before, but I think I was overzealous with my watering. 

Blog Redesign!

You may have noticed that I redesigned my blog! I decided to make a post about it so that I can look back later and see what I did. I want to make a cute banner for the links at the top but I haven't taken the time to figure that out yet. I have been talking about doing this redesign since October. But I would rather spend time reading the hundreds of blogs I follow (it's a sickness, I swear) than messing around with  my own. I kept it simple, and used my favorite colors. I want to find a way to make my blog banners look cuter over there, and get a better picture of my face but other than that I'm happy! Now I'm going through all my tags and cleaning them up. It is taking forever because I just start reading all the entries. That is what I love most about blogging, looking back and seeing so clearly what I was doing and thinking years ago. 

1000 Pugs!

I have signed Phyllis and Priscilla up for 1000 pugs and I am so SO excited about it! My pug friends probably already know all about it, but if not, let me tell you how awesome it is!Amanda is a pet photographer (DREAM JOB) and she runs the blog The Daily Puglet, which is one of my favorite pug blogs! Her photos are so great. She decided that she was going to raise $10,000 for pug rescues this year by traveling around the country, taking photos of 1000 pugs and then turning the photos into a book. She is going to be in Atlanta in April and i was determined to get a spot so my ladies can be in the book! And so I can get a sweet portrait of them. Look at this one! Kills me!!

I really can't wait! And I can't wait for her to blog about the process. So many sweet pugs. She has a Kickstarter page too, so even if you aren't close enough to book your pug for a shoot, you can participate.

Family Vintage

We went to Missouri again in December for my husband's family Christmas. While we were there we got to go back to Grandma Betty's house and pick up some more great vintage stuff! I also got to see this picture:

Which is pretty incredible. That is Travis' dad on the right, OBVIOUSLY. The little dude is Brian, and apparently those circles on his hat are sunglasses when you flip the bill down. And check out Betty's purse!  I really love this photo.

Here is a little bit of the stuff I got, I'll have a do a few posts! There is a McCoy planter back there, and awesome art deco frame in the front, and some more vintage napkins! I put those in my lunch box every day. It is better than throwing out paper towels all the time, and they are just so pretty!

I have been wanting one of these cute rainbow polaroids for a while, but couldn't find one at a good price. Meant to be!
Awesome cup. I'm going to use this to decorate with at Halloween.

Amazing old photo album that says "Bruce Cole, Age 13". That is Travis' grandpa! Sadly most of the pictures had been taken out. I wonder what they were! The patch is from the high school in Hayti.

Some great little things. Such a cute bunny pin. And the cotton pendant! And I picked up that gold tube and wasn't sure what it was....then I opened it and....

Fancy toothbrush for your purse! It twirls up like a lipstick. I wish there was an easy way to replace the brush. That would be so handy to have in your bag!

I also got a big bowl of Christmas lights and little Christmas balls in a bunch of different sizes. I used a LOT of them to make my Kitschmas wreath. I got them at the perfect time! I can't wait to show you the rest of the stuff we got to pick up! There is one extra special item that deserves its own purse.