Christmas Collections: Bring on the deer!

I am crazy for reindeer. Any size, any style! I prefer them to be flocked, or covered in glitter, but any will do. Here are a bunch of them rounded up. The glitter! The glamor!

This gold guy is a new addition this year. I love his skinny little legs and giant ears. The jaunty guy to the left is maybe my all time favorite.

I have quite a few vintage stockings. These are the ones I hang up on our mantle. Along with our two stockings, and two for the dogs. I love them all in a line! That one that says "dear" says "dad" on the other side. I have more too, but they are in storage. I need to find a cool way to display them.

Here are my Dream pet ish deer! Oh my gosh I love them! I add a few every year and it's always fun to see how this collection grows. I got a set of TWELVE last year on ebay for about a dollar a piece. I still can't believe it.

Here is my special helper again. She was mad that I kept shooing her off the table, so when I came back in the room this is how I found her. So passive aggressive! Sitting there right where I want to be, facing the wall with her ears back! Haha, that dang cat.

Christmas Collections: Putz Houses and Chritmas Corsages

I was looking through old posts from 2013 and saw one where I wished that this year I would find some putz houses at a yard sale for cheap. Well my wish came true! I finally have my very own putz village!

Aren't they sweet? I haven't found the best way to display them yet. I'm hoping by next year we'll have our wall of  build-ins done and i can put out some fake snow and really do it up!

I have so many pink ones! I might buy some vintage repro windows to fix the ones that are broken. Or maybe I'll just leave them. It doesn't bother me that much.

That big white one of my favorite I think.

I love Christmas corsages, I could have sworn I did a post about them before, but I guess not. I can never pass them up! I need to find a cool way to display them. I used to put them on a macrame tree thing but I don't have a good place to hang it.

Here they are! SO beautiful. The pine cones! The plastic flowers! The little mercury balls! I love them all. The one with the spun head Santa and the weird neon orange burst is my favorite. Or the pink one with the tiny reindeer.

I have one Christmas bow tie, but I'm on the look out for more! I usually wear it in my hair to work the few days before Christmas. It is so cute!

Christmas Collections: Elvish Things

I love vintage Christmas stuff. It might be my favorite category to collect. As I up put my decorations this year I tried to snap a few photos of some of my stuff grouped up. Here are my elves! I found most of these guys this year, aren't they precious?

I love that guy's blue hair. And those beautiful eyelashes!

And look at that guy singing!

I also love these little pine cone gnomes. I got all these guys last year, I didn't find any this year (at a good price at least). I love their funny/creepy faces. The guy with the lantern is my favorite. 

I put these guys in the same group, even though they aren't quite the same. Do you like Santa with his symbols? And that tiny Santa! He is one of my favorite decorations.

Last but not least, for now, are these snow people/gnomes. Aren't they adorable? I think I have a few more that I just couldn't find when I was taking photos. I can't resist these when I come across them, even if I already have them (like that sweet lady on the log). These apparently were sold at JC Penney. They are made of some kind of Styrofoam and are super light. They are perfection.

And I have to give a shout out to my photo helper Scampi. She got in my way and licked my elbow and swatted at all my stuff. So helpful, so sweet. She is getting coal this year!

Collection 24: Vintage Barrettes!

As much as I love vintage I don't have many pieces of vintage clothes that I can wear. It is hard to find stuff in my size and it's not practical for me to wear to work. For the past few years I've contented myself with vintage brooches (see an old post on my collection here) on my sweaters, but recently I've gotten into vintage barrettes! They are so cute and add a little touch of fun. Here is my little collection. 

These two sets are the first ones I ever found. They were at an antique mall in Pigeon Forge, TN and were still in the wrapper. I wear the whales a lot! The donkeys are super cute but they are pretty much the same color as my hair so I don't ever wear them. Look at those stubby little legs!

The cowgirl on the horse and the pair of birds were flea market finds. I've been keeping my eyes peeled but almost never see them! I wish I had a pair of the cowgirls! Or maybe a little cowboy to match! The two dog barrettes are from etsy. This shop, Rosebud Cottage has hundreds of vintage barrettes! It was really hard to narrow my selection down to two, but I had to go with a dog theme.

 I admired these barrettes from With Care Jewelry for so long before I finally decided to pull the trigger and treat myself. They are made with antique glass cabochons and are TINY and adorable. I've been wearing the snakes pretty much everyday since they came in the mail.

I hope I'll be able to find some more cute barrettes at the flea market this year. I can't get enough!

Collection 23: 1940's Novelty Pinbacks

This is a newish collection, but one I'm really into! When I buy jewelry I usually stick to brooches, and so I always look through old pinback buttons when I see them. The first one of these I picked up was the "So's Your Old Man" one. When I've tried researching them all I can really find is that they are from the 40's. The big buttons aren't as old, but I like that they are in the same style, and are weird.

I don't come across them that much, but when I do I will pick them up if they aren't too much money. I love that they are all kinda rude or weird.

I did some searching on Ebay to see what else was out there. Here are some I would pick up for myself! I would link you, but they are old auctions. And I'm lazy, haha! Also, some people on ebay price them up to 25 dollars! Which seems crazy! I won't pay more than five, and that's only if I REALLY like it. I really want the vampire kid one!

There you go, a weird little collection that I hope to add to a lot this year!

Collection 22: Smashed Pennies

This collection isn't really vintage like most of my others, but it is kind of old fashioned. Since I was a little kid I've loved making smashed pennies. I'm sure you've seen the machines. You see them a lot in museums and at zoos. They have TONS of them at Disney World. I don't have lots of them still from when I was a kid, but I have a few! Smashed pennies are a great souvenir because they are inexpensive (they usually cost 50 cents, plus the penny) and don't take up much room.

Here is my current collection:

 I have a LOT of zoo ones. We used to go to any zoo we could get too. 

If you aren't from Tennessee you might not have heard of Opryland but it was a huge fixture in my childhood! It was a country music themed park in Nashville that closed and became an outlet mall in 1997. People my age who grew up here still mourn it. I can remember how scared I was waiting in line for the sky ride. Which is so dumb because it isn't even really a ride! Hah!

They are notoriously hard to photograph. Here are my four different Elvis pennies. There really is a range of resemblance here.

 This weiner mobile one is of my favorites! I think collecting these appeals to me because you usually find them at tacky roadside places, or more old fashioned attractions. When I plan a trip, I often check out the city on Penny Collector so I can get some ideas of places to visit. I'm not as serious as most of the people on that site, though I have picked up some great tips! For example, using a penny that is pre-1982 usually gets you a better press. After that they starting making pennies from zinc with just a copper coating. With the zinc you often get a lot of the silver color coming through.

 When we were dating Travis' parents took him and his brother on a trip to Disney World. When he came back he brought me this penny book filled with smashed coins. It was such a thoughtful gift, and it meant he was thinking of my throughout his trip because he got these pennies all over multiple parks! It was very romantic to 17 year old me. It's still pretty romantic to me now!

 I have one penny from overseas. A friend brought me this back from her honeymoon to London! Another friend brought me a penny from New Orleans. My dad collects them too and used to bring me some home from his business trips. I always loved that!

 I always have that little cat pouch full of pre-1982 pennies and a few quarters on me. That piles are the pennies I've made since last summer. I finally put them in the books after taking these photos. I even got a smashed quarter at Disney Land last summer! I like how those look, but they seem so expensive. You  have to pay a dollar on top of the quarter to smash!

Hope you enjoyed seeing one of my favorite little collections! Do you have any of these? What do you collect when you travel? When I was a kid I loved keychains too and had a huge box full of them. I've always been a collector. 

A New Collection: Hey, go stand by the bush.

You know I have a lot of collections. My favorite one is my vintage photo collection. I collect lots of different things, dogs, horses, kids on horses, awkward bathing suits, vacation photos, etc etc etc. Travis is a good sport about digging through huge piles of vintage photos at the flea market, and he kept finding photos that made him laugh. So his own photo collection was born! Check it out, people posing with foliage...

 Some of them are pretty normal. Like this Grandma/grandson duo. I like his face, what a goof!

But look at these ladies with that pretty unremarkable shrub! We were cracking up so much finding these!

 Hey, go sit by those stalks!

 That big palm does make for a dramatic backdrop, I must admit. 

 It is even better if they are crouching down with said shrubbery. 

 Look at that hat! And that grumpy face! Maybe because someone made her go stand in the flower bed!

And there you have it! Travis' fun new collection!

Collection Update: Dream Pets

I was looking through old blog posts recently and realized that my Dream Pet collection has grown a TON since I first posted about it way back in 2012. Here is how it was then, mostly reindeer with one little lion in the middle.  And here it is now! As you can see, the reindeer are all packed up with the Christmas decorations. For a little while I tired to stick to only red Dream Pets, but sometimes others are just too cute to pass on! The surfing dog was a gift my best friend brought me when she went on a trip to Hawaii! Isn't she sweet with her long eyelashes and lei?

 I'm a sucker for any of them with long eyelashes actually. I LOVE this octopus lady!

 Check out this gators "side eye" going on. 

 The Pooh set isn't in the best shape, but they are so cute! I bought them at the World's Longest Yard sale our first year. The tiger isn't the Tigger that goes with this set, but I like to display them together. I keep all these guys on one of the built in bookshelves in my room.

 Long limbed monkey is a favorite flea market purchase. 

 Two lions! There are hundreds of different Dream Pets and knock off Dream Pets out there! 

 This guy is a silly donkey with jointed legs. 

As always when I'm doing a collection post, I find something else that belongs after I've taken all the photos (And now I'm realizing I have a poodle and a gnome that belong in this collection too, dang!). These little mice live on top of my stove and I enjoy seeing them every day. I bought them from Magpie Ethel's shop. She had two different sets and I still regret not buying all 8!

 Dream pets are one of my favorite things to collect! They are all cute and I love how stylized they are.