collections: vintage doggy stamps

I'm a collector. Well, that's what I call it - 'collector' sounds nicer than 'crazy hoarder lady' right? I collect anything and everything old - from mugs, to postcards, to books, to brooches and badges, to magazines, and everything in between. In order to justify collecting so much stuff I have been trying to use some of it in my crafting and packaging - it makes me feel like I have more of a reason to collect things, plus as much as I love buying things to keep, I think I love sharing them with other likeminded people more :) I've been making lots of vintage stamp brooches for my Etsy shop (there are currently only three left, so if you want one act fast!) so spent an hour or so today sorting through my stamp collection picking out the best ones to be turned into brooches. Miss Phoebe loved looking through them, and we soon realised that I had inadvertently started a collection of vintage dog stamps!

 Here is the little lady sorting through the doggy stamps - we were matching up the dogs on the stamps to dogs we knew!

I picked out a few of my absolute favourites to share with you - it was hard though, they were all so lovely, with wonderful colours and fonts and illustrations.

 

What things do you collect? Does anyone else collect particular stamps? I also have lots of stamps with cats on, which is weird as I'm not really a cat person! I can't wait to turn some of these into brooches - I think they will look so cute!

collection number two

 It's taken a while for me to post the second installment of my collections series - in all honesty I sort of forgot. (I think there's a saying about spreading yourself too thin!) But here it is folks, my collection of vintage postcards. I've been collecting these for only about a year, and usually pick up a few at each car boot sale I visit, and occasionally at junk shops too. Most of the time they are out of my price range (£1 for one postcard, I don't think so!) but every so often they will 10p or 20p and I will stop for a rummage. Altogether now I think I probably have about 60 or 7o postcards. I'm not sure what draws me to particular postcards and not to others, but I have divided these up roughly into what I look for when I'm sifting through a pile...

Ones of places I have visited in the past, particularly as a child. It's lovely seeing how different the seaside towns look now compared to way back when (I especially love that black and white Weston Super Mare one)

Ones with nice postage stamps or airmail stickers on them - I love looking for unusual little details, and the backs of the postcards are often more interesting and more eyecatching than the front!

Ones with pointless animals on them - not sure why you need an Alsatian (or is it a German Shepherd?) on the front  of a postcard for Great Yarmouth.... these never fail to make me smile though, so I grab them whenever I find them.

 Ones with nice writing on the back - older writing is so much more elegant, probably because they had more practice, whereas we spend more time writing on computers than with a pen and paper! I love nice penmanship, so always make sure to check the back of postcards in case. I also look out for ones with nice sentiments expressed in them - I have a whole batch that are sent from one young man to his mother, and it's so nice reading the postcards he sent her over the course of a decade from all around the world.

 Ones with funny/cute/aesthetically pleasing images on - sometimes I see a postcard that I just like. The puffins I thought were sweet, the dachshund I couldn't resist (it's a puppy ion a basket, what's not to  like?!), and I like the fact that the one with the children in the water is hand coloured.

I also pick up postcards I think other people would like; ones with the place they live in on, ones with animals I know they like, or places I know they have been and loved, or just ones I think will make them smile.Do any of you collect old postcards too? I also collect other old ephemera, but am saving that for another post, or two, so I can share lots of pictures.

Oh, and if you missed it before you can see my post about collection number one right here.

collection number one

For as long as I  can remember I have loved collecting things. Not all of those collections were intentional - I often don't realise how many of one thing I have until I try to gather them together and then notice I have quite a collection! Most of my collections are things I've found at car boot sales and just accumulated slowly over time, but this collection is one I bought all in one go.

At a car boot sale a few weeks back I purchased a huge box of vintage drink mats. I never thought I would have a collection of drink mats, but the graphics, and the colours, and the typography just won me over. Admittedly not all of them were great, but I picked out all the ones I like and there were probably about 40 of them. These are just a few of my favourites....

I have a few Carlsberg ones, not because I particularly like them, but because my Dad worked for them for many years when I was younger and I like having something in my collection that reminds me of that time. I can't wait to share some more of my collections with you - I have quite a few, so will share one every week or two. xoxo