Monday, May 24, 2010

My name is Deb, and I'm a collector.

And I'm proud of my collections:
turtles all over the place;
rubber stamps in my craft room;
crystals and pretty rocks in our family room;
roosters in my kitchen; and
antlers in our front room.

In the corner of my craft room, to the left of my rubber stamp collection (showcased in the cool shelf that my hubby made) is a fabric strip that holds my button and pin collection. It's just two strips of unbleached muslin that I sewed together and it's hung with a piece of wooden dowel with a ribbon attached. It's about 4" wide, and 30" long, and I have been pinning little treasures to it for about 30 years now.

Whenever I travel or go to a concert or performance of some sort, I usually pick up a button or pin as a souvenir. When I first made this fabric strip and pinned the first few buttons on it, I remember thinking that I shouldn't have made it so big - that I'd probably never fill it completely... I'm still adding buttons to it, although they are pretty squeezed in at this point.
In the photo above:
My "band mom" pin from Carrie's high school marching band days; a pin from San Antonio, Texas from my trip there 9 years ago with my mom and sister; a gold mask stick pin from Venice, Italy; buttons from Hard Rock Cafe...

In the photo above:
Arizona professional sports teams; Wicked pin from New York Broadway production; button from Gwen Stefani concert; and one from Eric Clapton.

In the photo above:
Concert pins from Moody Blues, Alannis Morrisette, and Jimmy Buffet; helicopter pin from the one Carrie made me go up in while we were in New York...


In the photo above:
Yes. I saw the Backstreet Boys (Carrie's idea!!!); Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young; and Tom Petty


In the photo above:
Concert pins from Billy Joel, more Tom Petty, Maroon Five, and Justin Timberlake.


More concert buttons... John Mellencamp (my favorite!!!), County Crows, and Gwen Stefani (again).

You'll see that there are lots of Hard Rock Cafe pins as well as other little trinkets from various places that I've traveled. I would have never guessed when I sewed this strip together 30 years ago that it would someday contain such a variety of momentos. It's just a little glimpse into how I've kept myself entertained over the years, and I love it.
.
Do you have a collection of buttons and pins like these? How do you store your various collections?

19 comments:

MarleneMAZ said...

Great collection Deb ! Our boys always get a pin whenever we are away travelling and have got quite a collection by now. My oldest son has 3 corkboards full of them so we are thinking it may be time to stop.

Clair said...

Deb! I've just read your comment on my blog - there is no way that you're nearly 50. It just can't be true - are you using a twenty year old photograph, or what? x

Dave said...

antlers?!?!?

what???

PLEASE do a post on the antlers!

Stephanie @ La Dolce Vita said...

Definitely a great collection - that's a whole lotta memories my friend! (I love John Mellencamp too!) You've been to some great concerts and places. Loved these!

Maria Ontiveros said...

Wow!!! What an awesome collection. I'm afraid I don't have anything like that - the closest thing would be a charm bracelet I have with charms I've picked up along the way. I'm interested in the roosters . . .
Rinda

Unknown said...

I love all of your collections and I love that you turned me into a collector too. :) Someday I'll have to show my pin strip - it's probably almost as packed as yours and I've still got many many many years of concerts to come! :) (not like you don't, but you know what I mean...you've had longer to collect. :))

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Haha. You are sweet, Clair. Yes, it is true...and my profile photo was taken last fall. :o)

And Rinda, it's a small collection of roosters...give me time on that one...

Robyn ~ Yeah. Hubby is an outdoorsman and finds antlers while he's out and about. Good idea for a future post...

Everyone else: Your comments make me happy. :o)

Mom said...

And thanks to you, I'm a strawberry collector! The first little needle point picture you made for me really snowballed into a great collection! I love all your treasures--it's fun being at your house to see "what's new".

I agree with Clair--my DD is lookin' good! xo

Kristi Jean said...

I love your button strip! It makes your keepsakes all organized and in one place :)

traci said...

that's a fun collection. you've been to a lot of concerts. fun!! i am amazed at all your stamps too. i could have fun with those.

Amy said...

This is so great Deb - whenever family or friends go away overseas I make sure to ask them to send a postcard to the kids .... they have quite a collection already!

scrappyjacky said...

A wonderful collection,Deb....so many memories all in one place.

helena said...

great collection, and each with a story. Lovely to see them all together like that. And love the stamps shelf

Sian said...

So a scrapbook doesn't have to be a scrapbook at all! This is a fabulous collection and I'm really glad you shared it today.

debs14 said...

What a lovely interesting post. Your collection of badges is so lovely, what lovely memories each one brings. From the little insights you have given us, I'm thinking you have a beautiful home. Looking forward to seeing those roosters!

humel said...

Love it, Deb :-) The Children collect badges; in particular, they collect little pin badges of flags of countries they've visited. They each have a t-shirt on a hanger in their room, and we pin each new badge to the t-shirt. Me? I basically collect 'stuff', and I display it in every nook and cranny all round the house....

Lizzie said...

I love your little collection of badges and pins. I was especially interested in the Turtles that are dotted about on your hanging. There are some lovely ones there.

I collect books, and paper... and books... and more paper... and pens, pencils, paint, yarn, threads, needles, pins, piles of fabric, new socks (for sock toys), boxes (to keep stuff in, though half are still empty and the stuff is still in piles everywhere!)... I think I also collect desks, since I personally own 3 and there are 2 more in the office!
Apart from that I just collect Stuff - just like Mel!
Maybe I should stick to badges, as they take up so little space. We could buy a smaller house then!

Scrappi Sandi said...

You definitely qualify as a 'Collector'!! What a great record all of your pins & badges make...a wonderful piece of social history in the making!!...& yes..Antlers? I'd like to know more!!!

Ruth said...

I mostly like your taste in music! My sister and I used to play a sort of game where if one of us went to the HRC, then we had to send the other one a HRC keyring. It all got rather silly in the end, but we enjoyed it!
Oh, and I'm with Robyn, more about antlers, please!

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