I especially love amusement park plates, like the one shown above. Enchanted forest holds a special place in my art. I have a bunch of memories (and photos around here somewhere) of that place both from my childhood, and then as a stupid teenager who would sneak into it after it was abandoned and all run down. I think we paid the most for this piece, a whole $10, because my husband is also from the area and remembers it.

I am up to almost 80 plates total. I pick up most of antique malls, or thrift shops, but I also receive some as gifts because my friends and family know I love them. I have this grand plan to hang them all going up my stairs to the top level. It’s a huge wall that is about 6 feet wide and 14-18 feet tall depending on where on the steps you are. I figured I could finish it all in about a week or so.

Yeah, I was SO wrong! First I forgot that about half of the plates need plate hangers or new hooks. 40 or so plate hangers starts to add up in cost, so I’ve had to slowly pick them up when I see them on sale. Then the second thing I didn’t think about is the fact that I am 5’2″ and I don’t have a ladder that can go on stairs. It’s funny that the second problem didn’t occur to me until I hit my limit height wise! I was just so excited about hanging them all.

For now I have a good chunk of them up, give or take I believe it’s about 30. I am on the lookout for a good ladder to buy, because I know I’ll have more plans that require one. For now I get to come downstairs every morning and see just part of my collection displayed, and I’m cool with that.

Oh and as always, I’ll share more photo’s when I actually finish this project.

I’ve talked about my Disney collection here before. It’s kinda big and is growing very fast. I just love Disney! So of course, I bought more pieces while we were at Disney World last month. I didn’t go too crazy. I made sure most of the pieces were small (with the exception of a large knit mickey that I didn’t take photos of).

I had a difficult time picking which Vinylmation figures I wanted. A lot of them cost more than I wanted to spend, and others just weren’t my taste. I was very happy when I found a solid white one during our last day there, and then I found the red polka dotted one at our resort the day we left. I prefer simple figures, and these fit the bill.

I also bought a castle magnet to match my Disneyland one, and a castle antenna topper just because it was cute and simple. I don’t have a car of my own, so of course it’s just going on the shelf. The little plastic mickey ears are actually a Mr Potato Head piece that they sell. I loved how it kinda looked like a vinyl toy piece. The last piece is the Mickey in the middle who’s head is kinda tilted up a little too far. I thought he looked a bit like my vintage Mickey’s, and he didn’t cost much, so I brought him home too.

After we got home, I went on ebay looking for something I forgot to get in the parks. While searching I found this pin for the 30th anniversary of Epcot. The date on the pin is just a few days before we were there, so I bid on it and won it for $1! It’ll go very nicely with our Anniversary button and CT’s First Visit and Celebration buttons. As a side note, apparently Epcot and I are almost the same age, I’m just a month older!

So, this was actually the least amount of souvenirs I’ve bought at Disney yet. I was proud of myself! Now I just need to find a spot for them all on my hutch.

Oh and on a side note, I’ve found I really love taking pictures of my toys. I’m even getting that picture above of the red polka dotted Vinylmation toy printed large for my sewing room, like 18″x24″ large.

I was able to sneak two quick thrift stops over the past month and did find a few neat things…

I found an awesome, single drawer, metal card catalog case at a new shop two weeks ago. Other than some paint chipping here and there, it’s in awesome condition. No rust! I have a few double drawer models that I use to store random stuff, mostly tape. I plan on using this one in the kitchen to hold random little things. I figured it would add a little industrial feel to my kitchen (which really doesn’t have much personality of its own). I love card catalogs, wooden, plastic or metal. Something about the little drawers all lined up in a row is so neat to me. One day I hope to own a huge, multi drawer unit. One day, maybe when the craze dies down.

I also found a few milk glass McDonalds mugs (we had four, but JC gave away one, and I lost the other). I would have found more, plus a Stuckey’s mug but the lady standing next to me at the shop snagged them all. She was super nice though and told me about her collection at home and how she goes to all the local shops looking for glasbake and pyrex pieces. Basically, I have competition. Ha.

On another trip I found the six pyrex bowls. I already have six similar shaped bowls in a different pattern that we use all the time. So i was super excited to find these! Now I’m on the hunt for matching plates and tea cups.

CT really loves the thrift shops just as much as we do now. She knows the layout of each one and knows where to look for the cool things. On one of our trips she picked out the globe pictured above. She loves mine, and apparently wanted one of her own. She told me she was going to keep it in her bedroom, right on her dresser. So thats exactly where I put it, and it’s exactly where it has stayed! She’s very gentle with it.

Our local goodwill apparently got a lot of Borders stock when they closed, because we have been finding piles of brand new, never been used books for $1 a piece! CT’s Dr. Seuss collection has grown very fast, and so has my craft book collection. I would show a picture, but there is just too many.

I’m really hoping things will calm down soon, because I really do miss “treasure hunting” at the thrift and antique stores.

You get this card with each piece that explains a little bit about their machine. Apparently their exact machine use to live at the LA Zoo and made kangaroos. I thought that was really neat!

I hope they make more molds, because I’d love to have some other pieces.

Also, if you’re interested in buying one of these in person, Rotofugi is located in Chicago, IL. Their shop is awesome and super fun to walk around. Plus everyone there is really nice!

Well Norah didn’t just send me one, she sent me FOUR! Wasn’t that nice of her? All are from the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, IL. They are so neat! Even after being in the box, and wrapped separately, they still have the melted plastic smell as if they just came out of the machine!!

As I said a little before, my Mold-A-Rama “thing” started a bunch of years back after watching the show Wonderfalls (created by the same guy who did Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me. There’s only 13 episodes, so if your interested in watching it, know that the story will NOT be resolved and you may feel left hanging). Anyway, back to how Mold-A-Rama’s and Wonderfalls are connected…

The main character in the show, Jaye, works at a souvenir shop next to Niagara Falls. In the shop they have a Mold-A-Rama that makes, what they call, wax lions. In the first episode someone tries to buy one of the lions, but the mold malfunctions and the lion is missing part of its head. The person returns the lion and for some reason Jaye keeps it. Pretty soon the lion starts talking to her, and telling her to do things she doesn’t want to do. That’s pretty much what the show is about, inanimate objects talk to her and tell her to do things, usually good things. The lion, with its missing head, is pretty much throughout the entire show. I loved that thing.

Before the show I had no idea machines like that existed! I grew up in between DC and Baltimore. Both cities are filled with tourist sites and souvenir shops, but I had never seen anything like a Mold-A-Rama machine. I looked them up and saw there’s hardly any close by. I gave up on the idea for awhile since I didn’t think I’d be travelling to any of those locations anytime soon.

Well, about four years ago I had the pleasure of finally visiting Chicago. I was sharing a booth at Renegade Craft Fair and staying with my friend Leigh for the week. I had a lot of time to wander the city during the day while she worked. One of the days I visited the Field Museum, which by the way is awesome! As I was wandering the basement I found a Mold-A-Rama machine!! A real one, in person! I can only imagine how excited I looked. I may have even looked crazy.

It was so neat to watch the machine make the green Apatosaurus (pictured above). It’s a metal mold that they pour hot plastic into and then inject air to form it perfectly. I make molds and pour plastic all the time, of course this was the coolest thing ever for me!

I bought a bunch of souvenirs that trip, but this green dinosaur was seriously my favorite piece. I packed it super careful in my luggage, was super careful unpacking it and put it right on the shelf when I got home. All for something that cost about $2!

So here is my collection so far. Five Pieces, all from the state of Illinois. I’m so happy to have them! Thank you again Norah!! You RULE!

I am itching to get more though, and am cross checking my list of awesome friends and the cities they live in with the list of Mold-A-Rama locations. Haha, not really. I am going to print out that list though, and keep it in my suitcase. Who knows, maybe I’ll see a machine in person again someday.

Oh and something else neat real quick. Rotofugi in Chicago, IL now has a refurbished machine that makes Helper Dragons by Tim Biskup. I missed out on the orange one, but I was able to snag a wine colored piece. I’ll share photos when it comes in.

P.S.: the offer to trade jewelry (or accessories) for Mold-A-Rama pieces still stands. Please don’t go out of your way, but if you happen to see one and want to watch it being made, I’d love to trade for a finished piece!!

For years I only ever bought from designer toy boutiques and ebay. I only bought the well known and easy to find pieces, which is how I ended up with boxes of toys when we moved. Lately however I have started getting into the more diy type of designer toys. The short runs, hand cast resin and hand painted pieces. They are really interesting and very inspiring! These designers are what made me feel like I could try my hand at this whole toy thing (I’m still in the way beginners stages of this).

My budget is very tight right now due to upcoming trips, trying to buy a car and business supplies. So I can’t buy too many toys. I wish I could snatch up every single awesome one I see! They are all so neat. Luckily I WAS able to get my hands of two awesome pieces this past month that were in my budget!!

The first one is a mini Ice Scream Man by Brutherford Industries (their currently sold out, but he has larger ones available too) I knew they were going to be released at a certain time, so I set a timer on my phone and snagged one the second they went live! Shipping was super fast and I received my awesome little man two days later!! It was blind boxed in really nice little packaging. The best part about this little dude? HE GLOWS IN THE DARK! really well actually. I didn’t know it until the artist let me in on the secret. I really love the design and seriously want one of the big ones now, a “vanilla” one to be exact!

My other awesome handmade purchase was a Blank Ick by Milky Robot. I love blank toys. I prefer them actually. This was Jess’s first try at casting toys, and I think they came out so well!! I really wanted one of the painted ones, but payday and release day never coincided. I was able to request a blank piece before she cast her third batch, that way I knew I’d get my hands on one. Jess has been really great to talk to about all things toys and casting. Talking to her was the last push I needed to try my hand at toys. Oh and she’s been showing all the progress over one her blog! You should check it out.

These two toys are awesome, so they were lucky enough to make it onto the shelf with all my other favorites. I FINALLY got a good enough photo to show! This is the landing between stairwells going down to our basement. It’s lit by recessed lights and is kinda small, so it’s really hard to photograph, but I really wanted to share it! You can see more shots here.

Do you know of any handmade designer toys I might like? Any artist I should check out? I love looking, even if I can’t buy!!

I remember the first time I really became interested in the inner workings of Disney, not just the products, was after reading one of the many biographies of Walt Disney. I was 13, so I don’t remember exactly which one it was, but I do remember loving it! I read it after the Kurt Cobain biography, and my “punk” self thought Disney was WAY more interesting. HA!

I had to know more, so I went to the library and checked out two more of his biographies. I even did a report on him in middle school, I talked in front of the class and all! I’m really shy, so that’s a big deal for me. This was also around the time that I started to REALLY want to go to Disney World! I wanted to see everything this guy had built. It wasn’t great timing, my youngest sister was a baby, my family was going through some pretty crazy times and it just wasn’t looking like it would ever happen. I understood. I figured I’d just go when I got older.

Flash forward a decade or so… my Disney obsession had died down a bit. I was in LA with Heidi and Katie vending at one of the holiday Felt Club shows. One of the traditions with the local crafters was to visit one of the many amusement parks in their area. This time around they decided on Disneyland!! I was excited! I FINALLY got to visit a Disney park. I was very lucky too, because one of the girls boyfriend was a tour guide, and she had picked up on a lot. I got to hear a bunch about each and every ride. I think I may have wandered off a few (a bunch of) times. I feel bad now about making the group worry. I was like a kid in a candy store, I couldn’t help it!!

That trip started my obsession back up. It probably didn’t help that cable tv made it really easy to access NON STOP documentaries on Disney and their parks. If its about Disney, I’ll watch it! It was a few more years before I finally made it to Disney World. My sister in law had her wedding there! It was awesome. The trip made me so happy that my husband took us back later in the year for our one year wedding anniversary! Oh and to top off that year I was a vendor at another Felt Club, so we figured were already in the area why not go to Disneyland?

Three Disney trips in one year? My 13 year old self would have been SO jealous!!!

I became pregnant with CT pretty soon after, and we haven’t had a proper vacation since. Like I said last week, were headed back to Disney World in the Fall. I bet after reading this you can imagine just how excited I am!

As you can see from my collection, I prefer the Mickey Mouse figurines or anything that has to do with the parks! I collect both new and old Disney memorabilia. I like the bold, and colorful styled pieces. A bunch of the new pieces are from my four trips, I go crazy in the gift shops! I’m already saving up for the Fall trip. I have my eye on the new Vinylmation series. Especially this one. I’ve heard that there are even park exclusive pieces?!?! Ooooooooh!!! Haha!

We also have many pieces scattered throughout the house that are Disney, half belonging to CT. I just didn’t want to post a few dozen photos!! I chose my most favorite pieces to share today.

I did not expect this post to be sooo long and informative, but I just couldn’t help it!! Ha. Do any of you get this way about anything? Your favorite show? Your favorite band?