You guys collect the coolest stuff!
I guess I collect vases, because they are all over the house -
I also have quite a few oil paintings by Roybal. They are kind of whimsical -

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My mom has gorgeous rabbits all over her house. I'm going to take my camera over there someday and post some pictures. Lots of interesting "stuff".

teenagers and dustbunnies....

Pounds, if I'm not careful. :/

I love seeing other's gatherings of things that have meaning to them. Some things I have that were given to me as collections and others I gathered. My paternal grandmother's china , her decorative bowls and tea cups and saucers, my mother's china and her silver and her vintage kitchen things...regrigerator dishes..which I added to. My turned wooden bowls which I have stopped as they have to speak to me and I haven't seen any that did in a couple years. All of my Native American silk screen prints, some numbered, that I have stopped also since I have to have a special feeling about them. My rugs which I have stopped too. My Dutch cookie molds and tiles. My N.O. photographs , that was my home . My Mom's , Aunt's , Grandmother's vintage cookbooks, aprons and linens for the table. Old family photos...I even bought this huge furniture piece to display all of them.

And then there are my T-shirts. Almost every race I have run in since 1978...30 years worth. I still wear them. When I stop running, hopefully not for a long time yet, they will be made into a quilt and that is what I will be wrpped in for my burial...or cremated in. Guess that is all I can think of for now. I am looking forward to reading other's contributions. Caroline

I also collect really big clothes pins and I love to give them to friends and family as gifts.

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I collect watering cans. It started when we were cleaning out my husband's grandmother's basement. I just love the simplicity of them, I guess.

I collect blown glass. Used to have lots, now less due to when kiddos were small... playing ball in the house! Got smarter since then and now have them in a corner curio, safe from 2 yr old granddaughter!

I collect Matroyshka (Ukrainian nesting dolls) and vintage Aurora Borealis Rhinestone jewelery. I love the sparkle of those old Aurora Borealis pieces, and often wear them when I go out. The old earrings tend to be clips (I'm baffled as to how women actually wore them - they're like torture devices!) but I've had one pair converted to posts for wearing. None of them are of any particular value; they just make me happy to look at them!

Carrie

Books, paintings (a serious addiction), and apparently, recipes. My files are so full of them!

One of the things I collect is art glass. My DH and I enjoy going to art shows and there is a lot of beautiful glass there. I have vases, bowls, and other pieces of glass. They reside in a big curio cabinet in my great room and also in my dining room. My DH and I also collect art-primarily from those same art shows. We have also started picking up a piece of art from each trip we take. It's fun to look at a photograph or painting of some place we have actually visited.

I used to collect elephants, then beanie babies for my daughter, only I became obsessed ha.

Now I collect state quarters. (I know, lame) But they come in handy when the craving for a gum ball hits.

I also collect Ben 10 aliens (toys) for my son.

And small oil lamps, and china plates, birdcages, birdhouses and ceramic birds.

The list goes on...

Love all your collections!

I collect perfumes. My husband built display cabinets for me to keep them all in. Hope you like them...

This is the right side

And this is the left side

I collect clocks.
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Oy - Lynn - you had to ask!!!

White pitchers - based on shape alone, nothing more, some old some new.
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Crackle glass pitchers - stems from a collection my grandmother started when she traveled - I have pitchers from all over the world, antique, rustic, what have you but most are packed away at the momoent - I hate dusting little stuff.
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And then there's clocks. A family addiction started by my father.
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Wonderful collections -- and the clocks really caught DH's eye here! We have several clocks -- a granfather clock from 1740 with a ship that rocks back and forth on the top. PLUS a clock VERY similar to the first one that DLM2000 posted -- our "cathedral" shaped clock has Trinity, Wittington and Westminister chimes. But not as nice a face as hers! Plus a few more old and newer ones around the house.

Plus a few old portraits; a couple of older rugs -- and some Cottageware too! Vintage jewlery too -- just some fun bits-and-pieces (including clip earrings that I do wear very very rarely!) And a few older Ouija boards too.

And my complete collection of the original Victoria magazines ..... LOL!

Jan

Dlm, love your clocks!!

I love all these collections.

Shaun, I got excited when I saw your perfumes !
I have been collecting bottles for 30 years probably.
I have over 300 and I collect the vanity items too.
I have a huge Howard Miller curio cabinet and its crammed.

I finally had to just stop.

I will post a picture after I get the chip put on disc.

I collect salt and pepper shakers. My grandmother used to collect them and I was fascinated by them as a kid. Problem now however, as I have 2 little ones, is that they're all in storage. Maybe in a few years I'll be able to display them. SOme of them are glass and the toddlers are too young not to touch them and probably break them. I must have well over 50 sets....

Wow some absolutely wonderful collections. I forgot the watering cans in my sunroom..wish I had the great wall decorations in mine ! Snickysnacker please come paint . :)

I also have wonderful vintage jewelry , lots and lots from my Mom and Grandmothers. I wear the clips all the time as I don't have pierced ears ! All my friends want to know where I got such great jewelry.

Tons and tons of recipes too, all mine and then Mom's and Aunts and Grandmother's recipe boxes.

Beautiful clocks and those perfume bottles. Lovely. I have quite a few watches on chains that were my Aunts and Grandmother's too. One was bought at the St Louis World's Fair. Hope more pics are posted. Caroline

I collect salt and pepper shakers, old stereoviews, finger lamps, old toys, and fans among other things. I do not have a big home so I try to rotate some things every now and then.
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DLM - I also collect crackle glass! I love glass of all kinds - especially crystal. I also have a collection of tea cups courtesy of my wonderful great aunts who have passed them on to me.

When I was younger, my uncle travelled the world and brought back dolls from different countries - some are over 50 years old. I have them in a glass cabinet to protect them. One is made out of bread dough so it is very fragile.

Clocks are my next passion!

I collect WWI posters and large group photos before 1930, and William Manker pottery. I used to go for luster ware (the pink English stuff, not the Japanese) but after Martha Stewart Living did a story, I never found it again at a reasonable price. Sigh.

This thread is so much fun and it absolutely enthralls me! We never know, until we ask, what interests each of us. I would love to see more pictures of the fun things you all like to collect and surround yourselves with in your homes!
Annie

I know, Annie, I was thinking the same thing! Ladies, please show us some pics of your collections if you can. They sound awesome and so diverse. I think we'd all be interested in seeing how you display them.
Lynn

It's all currently packed away for lack of anywhere to put it and I've put further acquisitions on hold until I figure that part out, but I collect Arts & Crafts period copperware, especially miniature cauldrons. A photo from my previous house is below. I finally have a shade for that darn lamp but it needs rewiring. I'm also very slowly collecting late Victorian/early Arts & Crafts furniture, my most recent acquisitions being a massive Sligh dresser and a pawfooted Morris chair, both mahogany. Just inexpensive stuff, not high-end antiques. I have a fascination with the period from 1890-1915 - I even bought a house built in 1900! LOL

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Lots of bunny people here. My mom's a bunny collector too, although I don't think she can fit many more into her tiny little house! Since they're so small and can be had inexpensively I'm thinking about starting her on some rabbit netsuke for Mother's Day, since a whole bunch would fit into a little wall-mounted display cabinet like for shot-glasses.

Hmm, you had to ask!

Dh and I also collect art (not to say that we're Art Collectors!). Some of our favorite artists:

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Margaret Gerding
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I also love pottery. {{!gwi}}
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And I have a thing for pears.
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And globes, and shells.
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And finally, bulldogs.
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Shaun -- Can my DH and I borrow your husband!? What a beautiful job he did on your display cabinets.

Hi I used to collect fans, you know the ones you hold and delicately wave back and forth across your brow on a hot summers day. I have them in all shapes and sizes even one to fit a wall! But I am a bit over that now but still can't part with them, but they don't fit my decor now!

I have wanted to start collecting something else and so far I have 3 little green ( my fav colour - a specific green) bags, like handbags or drawstring bags etc. I found two at a old wares shop way out in the bush (it was a garage converted to a trash and treasure of sorts), complete with cobwebs and all manner of vintage stuff (I was in heaven!) So I suppose I am collecting now little green beaded, vintage, drawstring maybe bags. I haven't posted a pic here yet as I am new but I am going to try, to give you an idea of what I mean. I love this thread too!!

I love seeing the pics of all your collections! SueB, your art is gorgeous and your pooches are adorable!

Pottery Pots.. All of them my grown son made in high school. But they are all displayed & there are Lots of them LOL. I also have a small blue & white dishes collection which I am adding to.

I mentioned something above, and then you all shared photos - so here's one of my collectors' objects in process. My DD#2 is an artist, and did two of my bottles. Linked below is a photo layout of the process of painting the bottles. I wish the color were better - it's really a good purple in color.

Unfortunately, our photo computer is in the shop, so I can't upload other photos of my collection.

DonnaR/CA

Here is a link that might be useful: The Bottle Project

I collect alot of things I guess. I have alot of salt&pepper shakers, black americana, birdhouses, teddy bears, childrens' kitchen toys from the 1920-1950s, primitives, Nancy Noel art work, Norman Rockwell, Gone with the Wind Scarlett bells. I like things that are unusual as well.
Many collections were family items and I just add to them. But I like looking for different things for my home.

Nothing.

I am so boring.

Lynnie, is that a skull and crossbones down toward the bottom of your favorite crucifiction? If yes, what do you think is the meaning of that?

Blue and white dishes
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and hostas (behind the window wall is a huge U shaped garden bed of over 100)
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I am always in the market for cork boards. I paint pictures on them or make other wall type scupltures . Below is an example of one the things i have done with cork boards. The picture doesn't show it well but in the middle is a black sconce in which I glued it to the center.

A skull and crossbone on a crucifix respresents victory over death.

rucnmom, why yes, so it does! Jesus' triumph over death/ Golgotha, the Hill of Skulls where he was crucified. That's one of the factors they use to help date these old crucfixes. I believe they stopped using the skull and crossbones around 1820, at least in France, because it had become so associated with pirates. This crucifix in my collection is a repousse from France. Because the velvet on it is a deep burgandy color, which was very rare, it's believed to have been made for royalty or someone high up in the Catholic church. I had to have a frame specially built to house it, as it's very dusty out here.
Speaking of imagery in art, take a look at this piece of mine. It's a serograph of the oldest known brass engraving in Britain, which dates back to 1277AD. It is Sir John d'Aubernoun. That he's standing on a lion (yes, I know it doesn't look much like a lion, but that's what it's supposed to be) tells us that he died in battle. His legs are not crossed, though, (like he has to p** very badly) and this tells us that he didn't die in the Crusades. The imagery in these things is fascinating to me!
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I treasure my collection of vintage cameos, passed down to me by my grandmother:

sueb, I find that your collections really resonate with me. I find myself collecting pottery too, albeit from Goodwill (you'd be surprised, though, what can turn up there). Now that I have a photo account, I could take pics of them and share them, now, couldn't I?

What we collect: ROCKS! We love ROCKS here, big landscape-sized rocks for the outside and smaller ones for the inside.

I also have a weird thing for original art from Goodwill (I have found some beautiful things donated--some worth hundreds of dollars, evidently) and, yes, also for paint-by-number. I have the usual landscapes in autumnal colors, but also some more unusual things, including two really beautiful ones we're actually putting in our master bedroom because they remind us of the landscape around Mt. Rainier, and one that I just don't know *what* to do with--it's a still life with paraphernalia that could have belonged to John Wilkes Booth. Completely bizarre and macabre. But it's a real p-b-n.

lynn... you're last post made me dig out something SIL brought home from her last trip to the UK. I still don't know who is depicted, but from your post it appears to be a crusader.

Flyleft, I have a collection of paint by numbers too! Some are old ones (ebay) and some are ones I have done. I don't have pics because they are at our summer cottage. That's also where we have an extensive rock and shell collection...

Flyleft,

Kindered Spirits! -- well, as far as Rock Collecting goes. *g*

Rocks, Gems, Pebbles, natural (aqua-colored) glass --for inside and out.
I use them for anything from tablescapes to unusual wall art to creations (using mortar) in my gardens.
How could I have forgotten about my Rocks?
Thank you for the reminder, Flyleft.

TnGardenGirl,
That bunny in the cabbage --- absolutely precious and something I hadn't seen before!!

I am so loving seeing everyones' pics (including websites/links) of their wonderful collections/creations - Thank you all for sharing!

A very small portion of our rock collection, turned raised rock garden.
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Bunny collectors, can you please post more pictures?

starwitness: Are all of those lovely cameo's from your grandmother? My word, what a lovely collection she passed onto you!

I keep things (wheat pennies, concert ticket stubs, star christmas ornaments) but the only thing I really collect, that I treasure -- are memories!

They come back to me unexpectedly...last night I put some lotion on my hands and realized it was Vaseline Intensive Care and the scent took me back to when my last baby was born, and the nurse rubbed some on my arm after helping me bathe (c-sec.) and then she brought my baby girl to me, and I was right there again! Full of joy and hope for her (and her 2 big brothers, 5 & 7 at the time) and thrilled to have a daughter, along with my husband who was a goner the first time he saw her.

I just love remembering, it's amazing to realize how much I've been blessed!
Susan

I just wanted to share what I collect. It's a recent indulgence, although I've loved dolls all my life.

I collect dolls. I LOVE the Victorian porcelain dolls.

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Court of Dolls, Vanessa

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Rapunzel, she's my favorite.

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Here's Vanessa in her hat. She's my favorite.

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sue, your cottage sounds like our house :)

Glass Slippers! My Great Aunt gave me one years ago and since then I am always on the lookout. Right now we are redoing the living room/dining room, so they don't have a home. I plan on putting them on display in the half circle window over our slidder in the dining room.

This is like what I have.

Love seeing everyone else's.

Laura

Here is a link that might be useful:

The variety of all your collections is wonderful! I'm dying to see more of the bunny (and art) collections as well as all the rest of your collections.
Can I see anyone's Cottageware collections? I only showed you a few of my pieces, but I have quite a few. I'm always interested in seeing new pieces. Lynn