Monday, September 26, 2011

Collections Out Of Hand...

"Hobbies of any kind are boring except to people
who have the same hobby."
-Dave Barry

 Funny...what starts out as a cute little collection or hobby can blossom into an overwhelming, out of control mass. A nice odd number of units, maybe 5-7, becomes a triple digit inventory that almost makes you and your stuff an episode topic on "Hoarders."  A simple item on a "hunt" list while out foraging estate sales, flea markets and yard sales begins to negate the purpose collecting completely. 

I first found this awesome old blue, pottery container....great for umbrellas.  It has held umbrellas in my foyer for years....until...
a weirdo affection for canes, croquet mallots and badmitten racquets began to ease out the umbrellas.  Take note of photo...no umbrellas in blue pot.  I can't wedgy another wood handled anything in my blue pot.  The collection has absorbed my umbrella storage space and I now lean them in the corner.  The mail and me get wet on occasions.
A simple bowl of dice that made me smile could now support all the craps tables in eight Las Vegas casinos.  I love the color and sound dice make when klinked together.  A bowl of dice just makes me happy!  But now, just breezing by my coffee table while flipping on the TV, and a couple of dice will bounce across the great room and my dog yells "seven". 

Once again, out of control collection or hobby.  
What do you do?
Stop?
Humph.

5 comments:

Craft Addicts - Tracy Evans said...

Think I am out of control. I collect plants for the garden, rubber stamps I cannot stop buying, I collect all sorts of crafts, buttons, ribbons, vintage finds, the list goes on. I am totally out of control LOL. Oh and I collect clothes too 6 wardrobes of them LOL. Tracy x x

aprilmariecole.blogspot.com said...

What a delightful collection! :]
The bowl of dice, pretty cool.
I'd have to say... I love collecting charms.

Anonymous said...

Your dog yelling seven made me laugh; in fact I think I snorted! Love your incredible collections that you turn into fabulous pieces of art!

Julie B.
tabbytribe@earthlink.net

Chris said...

Oh my gosh! When I jumped off the bridge into blogging because all my friends did one of my posts was about collections. It's so funny (or pathetic?) I know exactly how you feel! I did a little research online to see what other people collected besides the usual spoon, coffee mugs and stamps and coins and found some really crazy stuff. Collections ranged from barbed wire to belly button lint. I'm not kidding! One person collected the left behind grocery lists from the carts and always seemed to find a list from the same person and couldn't understand how they could go through so much mustard! I don't blog anymore, but I still collect. I've found that you can have a large collection of stuff as long as it doesn't take up a huge amount of space, and only keep the best of the best. I also tend to collect stuff that means something to me. For instance, I collect all the souvenir books from places I've visited, and also hat pins if they have them. I put them on a corkboard like they're framed. I collect little bits of sand from different beaches. You'd be surprised how varied sand is. I display them in little spice size jars. Collections are cool, but I think don't be so attached to individual pieces that you can't get rid of them if a better piece comes along. Thanks for showing us your collections! I've come over from Sassytrash.

Anonymous said...

I like your collections. The smaller the item the better.
Hmmm. I collect buttons, fat quarters for my quilting, broaches and bracelets to wear, piggy banks, change to put in my banks, funny greeting cards, angels, rabbits, stepping stones,recipes, miniature Christmas trees, and snowmen! Need I go on. I think I covered most of my collections!! Hmmm. I have more than I thought. That can't be good:)

Kay in Kansas