COLLECTION #44: Green Pots

Perhaps my favorite of all my collections, my green pots are a motley crew. Not being able to afford the fine arts & crafts pottery that I really love, I have acquired a small collection of replicas, inexpensive pots from Cost Plus, and thrift store finds.

  I do have a few that are notable: the large pot on the far left, and the one with the ginko motif, are from the Frank Lloyd Wright gift shop in Oak Park, IL.
The lovely Roycroft bottle is from Roycroft Pottery in East Aurora, New York.
The pale green pot with the flying bird is from the Haeger Pottery Company, the oldest American art pottery company.

Frank Lloyd Wright Home/ Oak Park, IL

Frank Lloyd Wright Home/ Oak Park, IL

Roycroft Bottle, Roycroft Pottery, East Aurora, NY

 I have lots more, I'll feature them in future collections!  I'll also include a layout I did several years ago about my green pots... they just make me happy!

COLLECTION #43: Toys That Play Instruments

Strike up the band! Each of these toys plays a musical instrument! They are all wind-up toys, some old, some new. We have drummers, cymbal players, a violinist, a bell player, and Daisy Mae plays the piano while Pappy drums & Li'l Abner dances. You'll have to excuse our bandleader, Mammy Yocum... she has lost her conducting arm!  Aren't they fun? And talented!

COLLECTION #42: Little Golden Books

 I love Little Golden Books! The ultimate Baby Boomers' memory-inducer, Little Golden Books were within everyone's financial reach. Inexpensive and sweet, these little books loomed large in my childhood memories, and maybe in yours too.  I have a modest collection of Little Golden Books. None are my own actual childhood books,  but several of these were ones I owned: I learned to tell time with How To Tell Time, and I followed the adventures of Nurse Nancy & Doctor Dan as they taught us the rudiments of first aid, with 'real Band-aid brand bandages' inside'! (The Doctor Dan book shown below, is a reproduction/ reprint)

My favorite Little Golden Books illustrator was Eloise Wilkins, and seeing her beautiful work never ceases to bring a little tear to my eye. I loved my copy of  My Teddy Bear, even though I have not managed to acquire it for my collection today. You can see her work in Prayers for Children (above), and Busy Timmy (below), Another favorite illustrator was Garth Williams, who also illustrated some of my other children's favorites: Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and the Little House books.
Corinne Malvern illustrated many of my other favorites, like Nurse Nancy, Heidi,
and Frosty the Snowman.

 I have a few Little Golden Books from the 40s, and although they aren't the ones that I owned as a child, I absolutely adore the colorful illustrations and fun stories. It's so fun to see a little slice of life and culture from the post-war years.

A Little Weekend Bonus

With all of these photos of my collections collecting dust on my hard drive, I thought it was time to do a layout celebrating my collecting! (No, I do not collect dust, that was just a figure of speech! And I have clean speech!)

So, just follow the bouncing ball, and sing along with us! (To the tune of "My Favorite Things"...)

Blue colored dishes
and orange crate labels,
old vintage linens
to put on our tables.

Sweet toy typewriters
that type and go ‘ding’!
These are a few of
my favorite things.

Dick and Jane readers
and Raggedy Annies,
robots and postcards
and little stuffed lambies.

Banjos and zithers
with rust on their strings,
these are a few of
my favorite things...

Don’t have fur coats,
don’t have gold rings,
when I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember
my favorite things,
and then I don’t
feel so bad.

THE WEEKEND COLLECTOR: My Steiff Life

I discovered the fabulous collector blog My Steiff Life through the wonderful website Collectors Weekly.  Blogger and Steiff collector and expert Rebekah Kaufman, also known as Steiffgal, has been collecting, researching, writing, and cheerleading Steiff animals for over four decades. She's a third generation Steiff collector, and credits her German grandmother for kindling her love of Steiff. She inherited many of her grandmother's treasured Steiff animals, and has turned that collectors passion into a vocation, and a role as Steiff expert on many websites and publications. 

I had several Steiff animals when I was a child, and although those are gone, I still have a warm spot for the beautiful and high quality Steiff animals. I do have a couple of Steiffs on my toy shelves, but they aren't even enough for a collection. I'll just have to let Steiffgal's vast collections and knowledge take center stage on the Copycat Collector.



I hope you take the time to browse through some of her links,  especially the interesting articles that she has written about many categories of Steiff critters. I was really impressed with her vast knowledge, and  nice photos. She often helps readers identify their Steiffs, and tells stories of little known facts and interesting information about their history.

Thanks to Steiffgal for helping me bring you this fun edition of the Weekend Collector!

COLLECTION #41: Vintage California Social Studies Textbooks

California fourth graders have been studying California history as a big part of their Social Studies curriculum for decades.  A big part of that history is learning about the California Missions, and their effects on the state and its culture. Lots of us have no memory of the fourth grade except for building a model of one of the missions as our big Social Studies project. I can still remember mine: the San Luis Obispo Mission, built in 1772.  Back when I was in the 4th grade, we built our models from plaster of paris, or cardboard, or salt dough, or clay... today you can go to Michael's and buy a pre-cut scale model, complete with faux tile and miniature trees. But I digress! 

I have a number of California textbooks, dating from the 30s to the 60s. I remember clearly my own book, or actually books... there were two books that we studied that year: California Yesterdays, and Our California Today.

Generally, these books have a lot of fairly boring photos of things like crops in the Central Valley and the port of San Pedro, but some of the older ones have lovely illustrations.  I hope you enjoy my little collection!

COLLECTION #40: Vintage Globes

 
I just LOVE globes... seeing the whole world on my shelf is so fun, and reminds me of my school days and my fascination with studying geography and peoples of different countries.  Do they still have globes on teacher's desks any more?

I have a few globes, and even more atlases and other map books, toys and puzzles. But I thought I'd share these with you since the new school year is upon us!

If I remember correctly, our family acquired the large globe on the right when we bought our 1964 Collier's Encyclopedias from my brother, who was selling them to make money for college. All of the others are of the 40s and 50s vintage, except for the smallest one in the center, which is a Christmas ornament from Restoration Hardware. Aren't they fun?

I did a layout awhile back about my maps and globes, I thought you might like to see it here:

COLLECTION #39: Blue & White Pitchers & Teapots

 
I've been collecting blue & white pottery since the mid-70s. I bought my 'very own' faux blue willow four-piece place setting at the Akron Store in 1976. I have lots of pretty pieces, including these lovely pitchers & teapots.

 A few are old, and one is from our wedding. (It's the white with blue edged Dansk on the left side of the top photo). But mostly they are just pretty and fun and they look fabulous in my china cabinet.

 

 There will be several other blue & white collections in the months to come!

COLLECTION #38: Raggedy Ann & Andy

Who doesn't love Raggedy Ann & Andy? Their sweet faces and charming clothing & personalities have amused and entertained children and adults for nearly 100 years.  Created by author and artist Johnny Gruelle for his young daughter Marcella (who tragically died at the age of 13 as a result of a smallpox vaccination), Mr. Gruelle originally painted the face on a handmade rag doll, and a legend was born.  He applied for a patent for the doll in 1915, and in 1918 wrote the first book, Raggedy Ann Stories.

I don't have any really old Raggedy Ann or Andy dolls. Mine date from the Knickerbocker years 1963-82, with a few later Applause dolls thrown in. I do love the cute little Raggedy Ann marionette which is on the right side of my doll grouping.

I have six books, including two editions of Raggedy Andy stories,  one with the dust jacket. These were originally copyright 1920, but I have no idea if either of them is valuable. They aren't in mint condition, but are precious to me!  The illustrations are so charming!

The Marcella: A Raggedy Ann Story was dedicated to the memory of his beloved daughter Marcella.

 

This cute little Raggedy Ann & Andy toy is a reproduction Fisher-Price toy released for Toy Fest in 1997.  The original F-P toy was produced in 1941. It's my very favorite part of my Raggedy Ann collection!

COLLECTION #37: Vintage Table Linens

Today's collection is some (but not all) of my vintage table linens. I just love the fun patterns and cheerful images on these tablecloths and tea towels. As you can see, I gravitate toward reds, yellows and greens, and I especially love fruit and Mexican themed patterns. For those of you who wonder where I keep all these things... actually, only a couple of them are on display. Mostly I keep them in the storage space under the seat of our breakfast nook. But a couple of them are used in my displays, and I regularly use them on my table for festive meals. Every cinco de Mayo, I layer 3 or 4 Mexican themed cloths & tea towels on my table, along with my other Mexican "stuff". (You'll see those things in the months to come).

I intended to shoot all of my linens in one shot, but I have another category that needed it's own featured day and photographs, so I'll put that one up next week.  So, today, enjoy my little retro linen extravaganza!