Status Update on the Copycat Collector!

It's been 2 1/2 years since I gave you an update on the State of the Collections, and since I want to keep this blog available for future possible contributions, I thought today might be a good time to share some thoughts, and my (our) current status.

My last update was in July, 2016, shortly after my husband Bruce and I relocated to Utah after I was downsized from my job in New York. We left our little one-bedroom apartment in New Jersey, moved temporarily into my brother's spacious home in Utah, and got all of our belongings out of storage, where they had been since we closed our California home in the winter of 2012-2013- not long after I completed my year of collection blogging here on the Copycat Collector.

Although we kept a lot of things, the majority of our furniture, collections, and junk were sold or liquidated.

Priorities change. Now, we are living in a small town home in a small town in Utah County, Utah, and this is probably where we will stay. The joy I used to get adding to my collections just isn't there anymore. The biggest reason, is that I don't have anywhere to put them. In California, we had a 3800 sf home, with tons of cupboards, closets, and shelves for display. Our house was full, but not junky. But if I had even a tenth of my old stuff out here, we would look like we needed to be evicted by the health department; and frankly, my darling husband wouldn't stand for it. As it is, when I do come home occasionally with something "new", he rolls his eyes. I get it.

Another reason, is that the things that used to light up my eyes, just don't any more. There isn't much that I want to buy. I spend far less time and money at antique malls and thrift stores as I used to. So, in a lot of ways, that's a win-win: more money for me to keep, and more treasures for others to find.

A few "new" additions to my collections: a few dolls online friends have sent me in the past few months since I started sharing my toy designs on Instagram- mixed in with some oldies!

Although the plan was always to sell my collection leftovers, in reality, I have hardly sold anything since that initial downsizing in 2012-13. Most of my unwanted stuff is stored in boxes waiting until I "get around to it".

But the good news, for collecting fans, is that I still have some things around me that bring me happiness that I can share. Most are still on display, while others are readily available in boxes in closets. Luckily for hubby, most of that junk is in my studio, which is packed pretty full.

My ephemera collection is still with me. It's small, lightweight, stores flat, and I keep it in a nice decorative box in my studio closet. I still have a lot of my vintage photo collection: same reason as the ephemera. You can see those here and here and here. (There are more, but you get the idea). I still have the majority of my children's vintage school books and readers. You can see some of them tucked into this shelf in my current studio below: (If you search for the term "school" in the search bar of this blog, you will find dozens of my various school book collections.

My studio is where much of what's left of my collections lie, including my vintage readers

I still have my green pottery, my Franciscanware, my Depression glass.  I kept most of my autoharps.  In boxes still lie my vast collection of children's and other old magazines.

As far as my toy collection, that's been mostly sold. I have some precious treasures remaining, but most of them had to go. It was just time.

A few of my vintage toys including dolls, typewriters, vintage hankies and some other treasures

The one collection that has in fact grown, is my cache of vintage Valentines. They are inexpensive, store flat, and look so adorable on display. Here are some of them out on my shelves at the moment:

This fun display includes a few of the new ones I got this year

So now, as I have been perusing my former life as a collector, I'd like to conclude with a couple of links that featured photos and details about my 2011-2012 collections. It actually makes me hyperventilate a little... wow, I sure did have a lot of stuff!
Here's the first part.
Here's the second part.
Feel free to browse through my year's worth of collections. I warn you: it will take awhile. If you're looking at this site on your desktop rather than the mobile view, you can see some of my highlight collections on the right side of this blog.

Now I've got that out of my system! Happy collecting!

Collection #266: Vintage Easter Postcards

Although my collector's blog is on permanent hiatus, I do plan to stop by from time to time to share the random collection I manage to accumulate while we're living in our small apartment in New Jersey.

For those of you unfamiliar with my blog, I featured my vast collections each week day from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. On the weekends, I shared someone else's collections.  The plan was always to keep it going for a year, with the idea that I might return from time to time to add more things.  However, a few months after the blog ended, my husband Bruce and I moved to the East Coast of the US, leaving behind our big house, and moved into a small, one bedroom apartment. Of course, all of my 'treasures' couldn't join us. (Bruce was happy about that!) We had a large estate sale, and put the rest into storage.

One thing that there's always space for is ephemera... postcards, greeting cards, programs, brochures, letters, etc.

Today I'm going to share my collection of vintage Easter postcards with you!  Aren't they adorable? Most date from 1910-1920. You might notice that there aren't many Easter bunnies. I'm not sure why that is... but aren't the chicks, chickens and birds adorable? Lots of eggs too!

COLLECTION #229: Ephemera Extravaganza!

It's ephemera week on the Copycat Collector. I will be featuring miscellaneous vintage items of ephemera each day! I have quite a bit of interesting and mundane items, I hope you will stop by often to see what I might have in store for you.

Today's collection is just a great mishmash of paper items, which is really all ephemera is. Things that have very little monetary worth, and maybe only a modest amount of sentimental value. I have a little cardboard trunk full of all of this kind of 'stuff', and I add to it regularly. Sometimes vintage stores will have a bunch of this type of ephemera in a box, and you can just fish for items and pay a low bulk price. Mixed media artists often use these types of items on their collages, altered art, or even graphic arts projects. That's why I have collected much of it... thinking perhaps I could use it on an art project. I have used a few things, and still plan on using more through the years.

So, without further introduction, I present: paper stuff!

These two little cards are actually Bridge tallies. They each have a little cord on the corner.

Cute little wedding card- possibly a place card

This little book was used by my Mother-in-Law, to help her name her two children. 

A page from the baby naming book... my husband was named 'Bruce'. I'm so glad he wasn't called 'Cadwallader', or 'Cornelius'

These items make me a little sad. If you ever come across someone named Lois Pauline Yard, tell her I have her high school diploma, graduation program, and photo. I'll be happy to return them!

THE WEEKEND COLLECTOR: The Cedar Chest Blog

It seems that many of the collector blogs and websites I discover are about ephemera: that is, paper collectibles, such as postcards, letters, brochures, Valentines, old photos, and printed material of every kind. Since we're in February, I'm always on the hunt for more vintage Valentines.

I discovered the Cedar Chest Blog, where I found lots of fun ephemera you will certainly enjoy. I was immediately attracted to the Valentines, but discovered lots of other fun stuff. I hope you take some time to stop by and check out what's in the Cedar Chest!  (You can also find a link to her Etsy shop, where you can purchase some of her fabulous finds!)

COLLECTION #125: Vintage Santas

It's the nature of collections that there be some cross-over- things that fit into more than one category. Thus it is with Christmas collectibles. Some of these vintage Santa Clauses (is it permissible to pluralize 'Santa Claus'?) were in other collections. I hope you don't mind! But I do have some fun Santas here that I wanted to put together into one big group. There's ephemera: cards, wall decorations, hangers, Christmas carol booklet; toys, a salt shaker, Christmas cards, and a candy box. Just some fun Santas from mostly the 1940s and 1950s.

Cute li'l Santa Salt Shaker. I wonder what happened to the pepper?

A favorite... this Santa stands about 12" tall, it's a give-away from Richfield Gas Stations.

1950s articulated Santa wall decoration

Christmas dolls

Candy box

Vintage Christmas carol booket... belonged to my husband's grandmother. And don't you forget it!

Super-cute Christmas cards for a child.

THE WEEKEND COLLECTOR: PaperSponge.com

Oh, my! I have died and gone to heaven! I recently discovered Brian Carlisle and his amazing ephemera website PaperSponge. Brian is a freelance graphic designer, who has been collecting paper items for quite awhile- and finally decided that it would be a great idea to share his collections with a daily dose of interesting paper items. Everything from postcards to photographs to books to magazines to postage stamps. You can find his wonderful website here!

His website and daily blog is not only full of interesting stuff, but it's beautifully designed and arranged.  Every little detail is fun to look at!

Brian also creates or 'upcycles' birdhouses from old junk. He has another website called GadgetSponge, where he shares his creations.

I hope you take some time to peruse PaperSponge... I'm really taking a risk here, because his stuff is so fascinating, you may never return to my blog!