Let's Lighten things up a bit

Well It has been awhile since I blogged in my collectors corner blog..I blog every day in my everyday life blog and I have been slipping on days there too.

Anyways Yesterday we had a earthquake here in lovely California which I just so happen to be lounging around on my couch when I felt a small rumble and looked over at my Swag Lamp that started swinging ..which brings me to one of my favorite items I collect...LAMPS.

I have a HUGE fascination with lamps. I find that Lamps can really set the tone to ones home decor..I guess since I have so many from all eras.. this is why a few have commented my home looking like a consignment shop which some may feel insulted by that remark but I LOVE consignment shops so I think it is kinda cool.

I really wish I could just cover my home with all the lamps but the irony there is I am more of a Dim lighted atmosphere type of person. I have several table lamps,paper lanterns, velvet swag lamps, TV lamps, even Neon beer lights (those stay in the garage).

My ultimate favorite lamp though is my extremely ginormous gaudy White goddess rain lamp!

I remember my grandmother having a rain lamp as a child and I would spend the night there and I would be soothed to sleep by the sounds of the oil pump of the lamp. I always ALWAYS wanted to touch the little oil beads that would cascade down the clear sturdy threads.
(I always find that the things I cherish most are from memories of my grandmothers house)

Here are some pretty cool lamp photos I found from Lamp dealers around the US.

A room with a View

So my son has show and tell at school and I always try and think of something cool and unusual to give him to take (which I am sure what is cool to me is probably lame to him).
I had him take the pez collection last month.
Anyway I was going through my closet and found a huge box of Viewmaster slides from the 50's and a couple of viewmasters. I was thinking what a cool item for him to take. I than got to thinking after looking at the selection of slides..would any of these kids even have any interest in the slides..for example let's see what do we have to show..
I am really wanting though to get all the old Disneyland ones (not in this selection)
Buck rogers
The lone ranger
Tarzan
King Kong----maybe cool------
The story of Easter
Arizona
The Washington monument
Batman----------------this they may find cool
Rudolph the red-nose reindeer
The grand Canyon
Red Rock
Joshua Tree

I was thinking back to when I had a viewmaster the slides I had
ET
She-ra
The Hobbit
Dark Crystal
Land of the Lost
Just to name a few...

After going though through my dusty old shoebox of brown rust stained slides and old plastic smelling viewmaster with the much needed oil treatment on the clicker I thought these first graders would destroy these slides...maybe I better just let him pick something out....As long as it is not the nintendo DS!

Where's my Mai Tai??

Yeah I ask myself that question every Friday when it is time to kick start the weekend and there is no better way to have a tropical libation than served in a Frightfully decorated Tiki mug!

I never got the desire to collect tiki mugs but I have to admit I do have a few. I can thank my mother for that one. See she works at a thrift store and she knows how I love old vintage pop culture knic knacks and she knows as well as everyone else under the sun.. loves tiki. What is there not to like about it. Just drinking out of one of those mugs is a tiny piece of tropical paradise.

Anyway she brings me home every once in awhile some vintage Polynesian items that get donated to her store. (She of course pays for them at a low low price). As a matter of fact one wall in my kitchen is dedicated to tiki culture. (thanks to my husband)

There are so many people out there collecting mugs now that more enthusiasts are even creating their own special tiki mugs and selling and trading them online. There is even a book about it.

I just love the creativity of each tiki mug you see out there. Some of them have so much detail and I love the old ones with the rhinestones embellishments on their eyes. ( I have a thing for Rhinestone eyes)

You know though what I like better than drinking out of a tiki mug??? How about one of those Big Coconut Shells that are carved like a monkey!! Now that's what I'm talking about!

This is a must have if you collect Polynesian stuff

I have this mug in my collection..But who doesn't?? Seriously this mug is in ever collection I see.

Where has the time gone??

Some happy clock photos

So my father (the true renaissance man) has discovered a New hobby to take up.

Let me take you back for a moment.

My dad is one of those people who always went from one extreme fanatical hobbyist to another.

The tiniest thing could set him off and all of a sudden he must spend every dime on books,supplies on that hobby for it to only last a few months until the next great thing comes along.

Let me elaborate..here is a list of hobbies that my dad has taken up throughout the years..

Playing musical instruments from Hammer Dulcimer to bongos from Electric Synthesizer to Mandolin to Several wind instruments to several guitars

Panning for gold and dredging

restoring his Willy's jeep

Restoring is VW Bus

Fishing

boogie boarding

Chemistry

Model Rockets

Metal molding

sewing renaissance clothes

Leather tooling

Making oriental rugs

wood carving for sail boats

Upholstery

Really the list goes on and on but now they newest craze..vintage clock and watch repair and restoration ( cuckoo clocks primarily).

It all started when I bought my first cuckoo clock at a estate sale. I remember them as a small child because back in my German heritage on my dads side of the family they always had cuckoo clocks. My dad came to my house and took it off the wall and was looking at the mechanics of it all and he also started to reminisce about being a child and always being drawn to his grandmothers ornate cuckoo clocks hanging through out the house.

Than it began ..the buying of the books,the constant hours researching the clocks online, the hunting of old clocks at swap meets,thrift stores and eBay. Than the purchasing of vintage clock repair tools and clock restoration websites.

Now him being very into nautical themes he wants to start hand carving his own clocks. They would be like cuckoo clocks but with a nautical theme where a sailboat would sail on some waves with a old nautical song that would play.

My tiny clock collection is coming along. I have 3 cat clocks with moving eyes and tails in my bedroom. I can't wait to have my wall of clocks on display...something I am considering as I redecorate..

What Big Eyes you have

So I was watching Americas Next Top Model the other day and one of the contestants remind me of those fabulous Keane Big Eye Paintings from the 60's.

I have a few scattered about my garage and home. My favorite are the kitty ones.

I used to see these all the time at Thrift stores and yard sales and swap meets as a child because they prints were pretty widely distributed back in the 60's and 70's. They have become very collectible for hipsters and Indie kids. They make a really nice addition to that Kitschy home. They are so retro and now days you will find a lot of great artist replicating the oh so sweet yet a little freaky paintings.

They is something that is just so morbidly beautiful about those tall lanky children with the big sad eyes!

One day when I have a home with a long dark hallway ..I am going to line the whole hallway with my big eye paintings ..just purely to spook my friends out!

Photos I copied online from retailers and privatly owned collections

Why you little!!!!!!

That's what I say in my head everytime I step on one of those little green plastic army men which I just did about twenty minutes ago. Which brings me to todays blog...Marx Playsets.

I really wish my husband was here right now cause this is big thing he collects. My closets and garages are FILLED with dusty old tattered boxes of army playsets, cowboys and Indians and lord knows what else he has got hiding in there...as a matter of fact one day I am gonna take pictures of the garages and just blog about the kooky stuff in there.

My husband mainly collects the WWll playsets. He said what triggered his desire for these
playsets is when he was a child he wanted one so bad ...I believe it was the Normandy one...and his neighbor had one and he would go there all the time to play with it.
He found the playset on ebay and than just got into the addiction of collecting more and more. So many of these old playsets would be incomplete so than the new addiction was trying to make a complete set by hunting online and soon it became going to the toy soldier conventions and trading and selling with other aficionados and subscribing to playset magazines and going to message boards. I would wake up at like 3am for a drink of water and notice my husband in the computer room on ebay searching for Marx playset stuff.

Louis Marx was an American toy maker and was the largest toy maker in the 1950's. He sold his company to Quaker Oats in 1972....Every once in a while though my husband will find some cheapy unknown toy company who had made some reproductions from actual Marx toy molds.

It is UN BE LIEVABLE how much his playsets fetch with toy collectors. Almost one day a week I will find a playset assembled in my living room. My son plays with them so often that my house almost every corner you look in or surface we have has a army man or tank on it.

I did however HAD to get one playset for myself.....The Disneyland Playset. I think there are a couple minor missing pieces such as a Disney character and a car...but I am sure my husband will find it for me at 4am in the morning one of these nights.



Here are some pictures of some playsets...
We have these..

The Disneyland Playset

I think we have this one

Even in Paradise it snows..

***snow globes***From a collectors image

A few years back at a flea market I came across the coolest old school Vegas snow globe ever. I was so tempted to buy it but I thought do I really need to start collecting any more items..and let alone it be snow globes where my walls would be covered..hmm I think not but I have to admit after looking at some collections they are pretty cool.

Snow globes or other known as water globes were first seen in Paris in the 1800's. They were basically a glorified Paperweight and became quite popular. They were made of glass and in the 50's they started being made in plastic as well. Every gift shop in every state began selling them and in the 50's back when taking family road trips were the norm it started becoming a must do thing to have a globe from every state you drove through..or spoons or bells for that matter.

There is something pretty magical about snow globes...gazing through them and whisking yourself off back to your much missed vacation. The kiddos love to shake them up too.

After awhile though the water will begin to evaporate and if kept in the window sill or where any active sunlight shines through the image will begin to fade. This is more common to happen with the novelty plastic globes.

I wish I had a globe now of my house where I can gaze into it and whisk myself away from work....