collections

[cheapdiva]

Last year I found two pieces (one milk glass dish, the other a lennox container) with little bees on them. They're in my bath holding make-up brushes and other "beautifying" devices. I have become so enamored of those little (and very cheap!) pieces and am now on a kick to collect things with bees! At another blog, I saw these bee lights at Smith & Hawkins - but they're $39! Target also has bee glassware - but we know it will go on sale!!

So what new things are you collecting?

[Zuzu's Garden]

Like your bees! Sorry, no pics, but a collection of rabbits and dragonflies seem to have found their way into our home.

[annielinz]

Don't you just love when a collection accidently happens:rolleyes:
Great finds.
Those outside lights are just adorable, pricey, but adorable:p

[ChapterTwo]

Those are cute bee items, cheapdiva! I'll keep my eye out for anything in this part of the country for you...Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

[Lynzee]

Those are too cute, CD. Great finds!

[Breezy]

cheapdiva - the bees are adorable! About the only thing that could be called a collection in here would be the cups & saucers. Most belonged to my grandmother and the one in the middle on the lower shelf with the grapes belonged to Aunt Barb. I think of them every time I look in the china cabinet.

[Lisa S]

Nice collections, gals! Breezy ~ love the way your arranged your cups and saucers.

[cheapdiva]

So pretty, Breezy!

[yarborough house]

I love white distressed bunnies, be it ceramic, plaster, resin, wood, metal - whatever - love them.

[Heather]

I collect dust bunnies

[Zuzu's Garden]

He-heee! What they say about bunnies multiplying is very, very true! :p

Annielinz wrote - "Don't you just love when a collection accidently happens"

I didn't realize I was "collecting" bunnies until my parents came for a visit and my Mom commented on all the bunnies. :confused::eek: All of the dragonflies seemed to show up the same way. There's one on a jewelry box, one on a picture, two small metal ones, and two strings of lights like CD's bees, except they are dragonflies. I thought about getting rid of them when we moved since we're off-grid and electricity is something we are careful with, but I love them so much I decided to keep them and light 'em up on special occasions.

[Breezy]

I collect dust bunnies

Hey - I forgot to mention that I collect dust bunnies too!:D

[RoseMary]

CD, love the bees! Those are great finds! I hardly ever see them on anything. I did find a teapot a few years ago at the Goodwill that has bees on it.

Breezy~your cups and saucers are so pretty, as is your china cabinet! Don't you love having things around that remind you of your family? It makes them so special.

Collections~I don't have a large lot of anything (don't get me wrong--I have a lot of stuff:p), but I do have some pie birds, and various ceramic animals in my kitchen. Lately, I've been wanting things with more and more color in them. Maybe old age setting in:p???

[ChapterTwo]

but I do have some pie birds

How did your pie bird collection start, RoseMary? I've seen them in magazines but I don't think I've ever seen one, for real. ;)

[RoseMary]

ChapterTwo~I bought my first pie bird new at a little shop in the Ozarks (War Eagle Mill, I think). Later I found a couple at flea markets, as well as at Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO. Gooseberry Patch used to sell them in their catalogue, but I don't think they do anymore. They aren't really very easy to find. I haven't bought one in over a year. You can find them on ebay, but they are usually fairly expensive.

I forgot to mention that I also have a small collection of several tea pots:). I love them, but made myself stop buying them for lack of shelf space:(.

[ChapterTwo]

Gooseberry Patch used to sell them in their catalogue, but I don't think they do anymore.



Oh, RoseMary...that's exactly where I first saw them! I had totally forgotten about that. I wonder if they're not as common around here - I've never seen one, at all the flea markets and garage sales I've gone to, over the years.

I collect teapots too and I've also run out of room! Someone here wrote about how collections just "start" and that's the way it was with me, with the "tea for one" pots. I ordered something through a catalog one time, and they sent me a free tea pot for one. Then I saw another one at a flea market and another one somewhere else - so now I have three! I saw one recently at the animal shelter's flea market (how appropriate is a FLEA market there? lol) but I forced myself to look away! No more room...

Thanks for telling me about your "stuff"!

[RoseMary]

I collect teapots too and I've also run out of room! Someone here wrote about how collections just "start" and that's the way it was with me, with the "tea for one" pots. I ordered something through a catalog one time, and they sent me a free tea pot for one. Then I saw another one at a flea market and another one somewhere else - so now I have three! I saw one recently at the animal shelter's flea market (how appropriate is a FLEA market there? lol) but I forced myself to look away! No more room...

Thanks for telling me about your "stuff"!

Oh, I loved hearing about your 'stuff', too! Tea pots are so addictive. I just love them. I'd love to have a china cabinet full of them! I don't have any of the one cup pots, but they are so cute.

Animal shelter flea(:D) markets are usually pretty good places to shop. There is one in Eureka Springs, AR that I used to go to that was great. They aren't usually as pricey as some thrift shops.

I don't know if pie birds are a 'regional' type thing or not. We southerners love our pies, so there is a lot of pie baking down here. I did remember that there is an Amish supply catalogue that sells pie birds. I can't think of the name of it, though:o.

[ChapterTwo]

We southerners love our pies, so there is a lot of pie baking down here.



Mmmmmmmmm...all the more reason I need to go south! :D I like almost all pie, but I LOVE apple pie - my favorite dessert!

The store that came to mind when you mentioned Amish stores is Lehman's, and thanks for that reminder about them, RoseMary. I had forgotten all about that store, and so I looked online, but they didn't seem to have pie birds. I wrote them an email so we'll see if they have any suggestions.

Part of my problem is that things don't always have to be "perfect" for me...actually, I feel sorry for the items that aren't (silly, I know!), and I want them all the more! When I was helping my cousin go through my aunt's things prior to our estate sale, we found the most gorgeous tea pot, but the whole spout was broken off. He wanted to toss it but I said I'd take it! I will put some silk flowers in the spout and voila...good as new (except for actual USE)! lol
I'm not sure if I have it packed away - if I don't, I'll take a photo later and post it here.

[RoseMary]

I'd love to see a photo of your teapot (and your others, too). They do make great vases and they're just pretty to look at anyway:).

Maybe we should all work on making an album of our collections to put on with our other albums~then everybody can see all our 'junk':). I don't mind imperfection at all. I buy cracked, dinged, or rusted a lot:).

[shabbychick]

I love teapots and teacups as well. I started collecting both, but now I'm running out of room, so unless there's one that is so unusual or beautiful that I can't pass it by, I've stopped buying them until I can buy a real house and have room for them. I agree that they're great for vases.

I collect almost anything chicken. When I first started collecting them, there wasn't much available, but now they're everywhere, so I can be a little more selective about things like color. Yesterday I found two cute square Debbie Mumm plates with "patriotic" roosters on them that I'll use in my plate rack for the 4th of July.

I also collect Candlewick glasses and serveware, and I collect serving bowls in green and yellow (and I've just started adding pink to the collection). Also, I've been collecting things that are Celtic/medieval/Renaissance for years because that's a period of history and literature that I particularly like. I have two John Waterhouse paintings, one of Ophelia from Hamlet and one of the Lady of Shallott from Tennyson's poem. I used to have a whole basement room and a bedroom decorated with all my medieval stuff so it looked like the inside of a castle, but now it's all either stored or stuffed into my spare bedroom. I hope that when I get a house, I can devote a larger space to this collection. It doesn't go with my chicken collection at all, or my Shabby Chic look, but I don't want to give it up.

My sister says my penchant for collecting is a sickness. :) I think she's just tired of helping me pack it all up whenever I move.

[Zuzu's Garden]

Shabbychic - I am completely head-over-heals over Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood art. John Waterhouse paintings are remarkable. I have 'Midsummer Eve' by Edward Robert Hughes.

[annielinz]

Ahh yes collections.
I never wanted to be one of those old ladies whose kids when they clean out the house after they've 'passed" are shaking their heads and cursing moms "collections". However looking around there seems to be things in the "more than three makes a collection" in my house. There are the tole trays--not a lot so speak---but more than three. I love silver, shiny or tarnished and I took a liking to silver compotes, only 5 or so around but still they fall into the catagory of collections. Then there are the bunnies, mostly the garden variety, tucked here and there amoungst the flowers...and a few in the house:o including the dust bunny variety :D. Then there are the plates, here and there, some displayed, some stashed where ever I have space. Oh yes, can't forget the pitchers either....yikes:eek: I seem to stop just short of obsessive.
We really should each post pic's of some our collections!

[ChapterTwo]

I never wanted to be one of those old ladies whose kids when they clean out the house after they've 'passed" are shaking their heads and cursing moms "collections".

HaHa! And I'm quite the opposite - not worrying about what anyone else has to deal with, at that point.
Whatever I enjoy now, I ENJOY, and so be it! :D

[annielinz]

Chapter Two-LOL

When we had to go thru my moms house after, well she may of not had collections per say, but she grew up in the depression and was a coupon queen and was afraid of running out. Suffice it to say after we all took our share, we gave goodie bags out to the neighbors.:D For example: at last count we had at least 54 bottles of dish washing soap, 25 bars of body soap, massive amounts of toilet paper, paper towels and napkins. 60 boxes of kleenex which I donated to all the teachers at school, aluminum foil and other food wrapping material galore. Don't even get me started on Tums and pepcid and aspirin :eek: God bless her soul, she still had coupons in her wallet for more of the above named articles!

[ChapterTwo]

Ahhhh, but annielinz, what you wrote about are not "collections"...that's hoarding, which is actually a form of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). I had someone in the family afflicted with that. In other forms, it can be a horrible, horrible illness.

My friend's aunt did the same thing as your Mom - every envelope that came in the mail was saved, along with empty bottles and toilet paper tubes, etc., etc. She lived alone so no one knew 'til she passed, because it was all stashed away in the attic. I guess you weren't aware 'til your Mom passed? I'm sorry for all you had to go through.

[annielinz]

C2, oh we were aware and we joked about it,:( but until you compile it all you just don't realize the magnitude!
After going thru her house/my childhood home I just see things in a different light regarding collecting things and hanging on to what we consider sentimental. I haven't added to my present collections and really don't think I plan to.

[ChapterTwo]

Yup, annielinz...I've learned to joke about it too. Well, I joke about a lot of the awful things in life (dark humor!), because I find that's a good way to deal with them.

And I can well understand that not collecting works for you (after dealing with what you did...)

[RoseMary]

With the price of toilet paper (and other paper products) these days, having massive amounts doesn't sound like such a bad idea:D.

I understand, though, how going through all of that could put you off 'collecting'.

[ChapterTwo]

With the price of toilet paper (and other paper products) these days, having massive amounts doesn't sound like such a bad idea:D.



I always remember seeing tiny bugs in books that were stored, so I never want to store up paper goods. Although maybe those really were "bookworms"?? :o

[RoseMary]

Yikes~I've seen those in books, too. Are they silverfish? I've heard they get in books. I really can't stand those things. I've found the baking soda kills them off pretty quick when they get in my bathrooms.

[ChapterTwo]

Yikes~I've seen those in books, too. Are they silverfish?

Oh, I'm not sure...I thought silverfish were big. I saw the little bookbugs once in the library, and once at my parents' attic.

.....I just looked up silverfish and they're from 1/2" to an inch, RoseMary. The ones I'm thinking of are very, very tiny...they're hardly visible - they sort of blend in with the old pages of books. Yuck...I'm creeping myself out, just thinking of them! :eek:

Okay, I looked up "book bugs", and found "book lice", and the description sounds like what I've seen - beige, tiny bugs which feed on the glue of books.

[chyna]

Annie

I think you are onto something on the Depression thought. A few years ago when my dh and I were working as temps we got a job cleaning out a house of a woman that had went into a rest home and she certainly "stocked" up on things too. We all went home with loads of toilet paper, paper towels and Kleenex. Oh the stuff we threw away!!! Dorkus also canned stuff and some of it got old and nasty. We stunk up the entire neighborhood. :o

In any case both her and her hubby kept stuff forever. We tossed out x-rays from decades ago and all kinds of paperwork. She is the reason I find estate sales so sad, there was much that the bank told us to throw away that obviously meant something to her.:(

[ChapterTwo]

It's true that OCD tendencies can begin from need (stocking up and saving things due to the Depression, etc.) but evolves into an illness.

I don't care for estate sales for that reason either, chyna. I'll never forget one I went to...a pair of shoes was on the floor, to the side of the deceased's dressing table, and there were her keys and glasses, set out on top of the table...it appeared to be from the last time she used them. (Didn't the people doing the sale even go through the house before opening it to the public??) It seemed like, "Oh, well..she's gone. Let's sell her stuff." Pitiful...
:(

To this day, I shy away from estate sales.

[RoseMary]

That must have been a very sad sight to see, ChapterTwo. Almost like she was still there while everyone was walking through her house:(.

[Evelyn]

I collect ducks.

Evelyn

[chyna]

ch2
That sounds so horrible, not only would I have to question the estate company but what about the family?! Was it the family doing the estate sale or maybe a bank? Just from our experience with the bank setting up the estate sale we cleaned the house up for I can tell you they could care less about the person or persons who lived there. Unless it looked expensive the bank lady we worked for just tossed it. It was horrible.:(

[ChapterTwo]

That must have been a very sad sight to see, ChapterTwo. Almost like she was still there while everyone was walking through her house:(.


RoseMary and Chyna - It was two professional people who ran the sale, because I remember there were business cards in a rack near where you checked out your items. So I don't know whether they were hired by the family or by a bank.

And you're absolutely right, RoseMary, it was as if the homeowner was just pushed aside and greed walked through the door, courtesy of whomever was running the sale. No sensitivity to the fact that this was formerly someone's home, and these were once her precious items. Just awful...

[chyna]

I hope that company goes out of business. :mad: My dh's family had an estate company come and look over his grandparents estate and they were very compassionate. I've been to a few of their sales and can honestly say that I look for their sales just because they do handle it all quite nicely and they are very nice people. However there is another one in town that I avoid if possible. They are rude, money grubbing, jack ***es. Not holding much back there am I? :o:p

[cheapdiva]

my m-i-l "collected" tuna, nuts in a can and plastic shopping bags. Her favorite thing to do when visiting us was to go to the drug store and buy tuna and nuts. My husband and his sister got the job of cleaning out her apartment when she (finally) went into a care facility. She should have been moved at least 3 years earlier - Alzheimer's.

I think she just kept forgetting that she had tuna, nuts and about a billion plastic bags!!!

[Zuzu's Garden]

Chyna - Did she live through the Great Depression? She may have been buying tuna and nuts when they were on sale. My Mom has always shopped several stores a week, only buying what is on sale, and saving a ton. Smart lady!

[chyna]

My dh's grandmother would stock up on stuff too. His brother and I joked that in case of a nuclear attack we had more than enough soup and lots of fabric soap to wash the fallout out of our clothes. And loads of paper towels. When I cleaned out the cupboards for his grandpa (grandma was recouping at a home) there was boxes and boxes of Jell-O. Instead of checking the cupboards they'd just buy a new box or two. It was mind boggling, along with the container upon container they kept to reuse. I'm so glad dh's little brother ended up with that mess. :o

[Suz]

I went to an estate sale once. I thought it was tastefully done--as tasteful as you can get selling a deceased person's items. But the late woman's family was there as well, kind of overseeing everything.

It's where I got my antique pie safe which I use to hold my gramma's Franciscan Desert Rose China. I collect that pattern of china since I was given some pieces after my gramma died. The only other thing I collect are Bourne Denby stoneware ink jars.

Heather~ I laughed at your response! :)

[ChapterTwo]

What a gorgeous pie safe...and your dishes look lovely!

[Breezy]

Suz - very pretty!

[Lisa S]

Oooohh, I love your pie safe!

[RoseMary]

That pie safe is beautiful! What a great find and just perfect for your granmma's dishes:).

[chyna]

I love those dishes. I've seen a few pieces at antique stores and auctions but they are always waaaayyy beyond my means. Sure would love to have them though. :)

[ChapterTwo]

chyna - Take a look on eBay...you could get started with a piece or two; the prices aren't too bad. http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=franciscan+desert+rose&_sacat=See-All-Categories

However, if you want to drool, take a look at this 68 piece set, for $599! http://www.replacements.com/showroom/dinnerware/images/FN_DERO_57-3e_x.jpg Sigh...

[chyna]

You hush up about eBay!!!!!! I got on there last weekend looking for Brass Key porcelain dolls and ended up bidding on some crotched potholders too. I'm always looking for the ones that look like clothing so imagine the trouble I got into. :o Oh and got chasted last night for using up nearly half of dh's PayPal account. LOL And I still have three active bids out there. ;) Oh I'll have to check now that you mentioned it.