I've been collecting Our Lady of Guadalupe since the 80s!
Since writing and collecting these stories and memories, as a recovering hoarder, one of the first patterns that emerged before me is how my collections morphed into other collections until they were far removed into something distinctly different!
For instance, my Mexican Folk Art collection, soon spread to collecting Religious Mexican Folk Art and from there it went on to it's a Small World scale until I had an International Religious Folk Art collection and when that got too big, I went on to collect religious medals from Mexico, Philippines, Russia, France and Italy, until it's final morph was moveable sterling and gold charms that began with Bibles that opened
It finally ended into a culmination when I made some of my own Milagro crosses (see Lover's cross here and Garden Milagro here) and International Religious Folk Art ( see here, here and here) and moved on to a completely different art form, applique quilting! However, that might have been a morph too and I just haven't made the connections!
A kind soul emailed me a story which of course, reminded me of my own! Thank you!
Here is her email:
Thanks for my stuff! I'm not so much into day of the dead, but my daughter is turning 5 this month and we're having a mermaid party. I just like saint things. I've also been collecting weird crocheted things, very useful things, like bike seat covers, plastic bag holders, and a christmas dress for my dish soap. Have you heard of Miranda July? You remind me of her. She wrote a book about all the people she met when answering ads from the penny saver. She's weird, but I'm a big fan. She makes movies too. Sorry I couldn't figure out how to give feedback. Is there an app for that? Lol. Have a nice holiday!
I hadn't read her email since the first time in early December and surprisingly didn't even remember how she collects weird crochet items too!
Here's what I wrote back:
Hello!
I've been trying to catch up on my blog stories and I finally found yours again! Thank you so much!
I'm not into Day of the Dead either and when I started collecting it in the 80s, my Mom asked if I had turned Catholic! lol, none of the Catholics in our family have what I collected!
I told her I just love Mexican Folk art, which turned into Religious Folk ARt until finally, I was collecting Saint stuff! So you can see why I couldn't pass up the Guadalupe vase candle holder! What other Saint stuff is in your collection?
I'd love to see your weird crochet stuff because I used to collect and save that stuff too! I had several handmade crochet dolls that held toilet paper rolls under their dresses.... gifts from students, towels with a crochet dress top that hang over a kitchen cabinet knob another gift from a student, several purses made from crochet grocery bags that my aunt knew how to take a part as one continuous piece and told me they were water proof for my bathing suits. This was all back in the 80s and 90s.
I hope your daughters 5th birthday went well and she loved her mermaid party!
I've never heard of Miranda July, but will look her up later! Thank you for the compliment!
No worries about feedback, I'd much rather have a story!
What are you collecting now? Sorry, this is so long!
Kind regards,
~Kennedy at
www.etsy.com/shop/HoarderRehab
www.etsy.com/shop/thedestinyofthings
www.etsy.com/shop/vintagetogoetsy
www.etsy.com/pt/shop/JunkDrawerLoveEtsy
Read 150+ stories from Etsy buyers who help me stay focused on my HoarderRehab!
hoarderrehab.blogspot.com
For example, these la sirena mermaid cocktail charm drink markers are for little loteria card shrines I used to make back in the day because now I want to make art that's more interchangeable, so I collected them in many colors, including neon and guess which color works best with the little shrines?
RED! and guess how many red la sirena mermaid charms I have in my collection of over 100? TWO!
So I have a a couple shoe boxes of these cocktail drink holders in many different animal figurines and mermaids!
The good news is that my hoard is getting organized enough and my projects are either stored in drawers or boxes now, so my tie dye card supplies are all in a box and all my tapes are stored in a drawer, etc. My quilting takes up several boxes, but at least they aren't strewn about and mixed in with other art projects!
Also over 560 hoarded items have found new lives and homes since I've started to dehoard on Etsy and I think I'm half way through it all, but as a recovering hoarder, space and item quantities are disproportional because what I see and what mr oz sees are two different things, until he shows me a photo of it!
So it may be time to take photos of that room, since I think we can use it soon as a music art room, instead of it storing rows and rows of boxed hoard to the ceilings around three full walls!
1. I still have enough collections and boxed art projects to last me a life time, perhaps two life times!
2. That I can not continue to hoard in the name of "art" supplies because it takes too much time to shop and all the supplies clutter my mind as they turn into the "million" art projects I want to begin and then I have difficulties deciding which ones to begin and when to begin them.....
3. Window shopping takes time, "real" shopping takes time, shopping around for the best buys even more so, finding a place and putting away the shopped items takes me a long time. Dehoarding and organizing hoard takes time and so does the whole process of dehoarding through Etsy. photos, listing, packaging, shipping, emails, cross marketing, etc takes time. And of course, I know this, but sometimes by the end of the day I wonder where the day went!
And before I know it, a week has passed and then it's a new month! Some thing has got to give and it has to be "shopping" in every form!"
How do you manage your time efficiently? Anyone out there recommend any helpful books about it? Please share your success story!
Thank you Etsy buyer from JunkDrawerLoveEtsy for your email story. I am grateful to you for all it's brought me and I am determined to give up shopping in almost every form: on line browsing, wish lists, comparables, even window shopping to see new trends. I wonder how much time I'll save?
I say give up "almost" every form of shopping because we still need to grocery shop and I am already thinking about how I need a paper cutter! Okay, so I won't shop outside of groceries for a week and see how it goes.
Thank you Etsy for getting me this far with dehoarding, it really feels like quite the accomplishment to get over 560 items new lives and homes!
Thank you US, Ukraine, UK, Hong Kong, Canada, China, Spain, Germany, Bulgaria, Brazil, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Kuwait, Netherlands and Israel for your visit since last Wednesday and taking part in my HoarderRehab and The Destiny of Things!
Click on the shop names to visit my hoard listed daily: HoarderRehab, The Destiny of Things, VintageToGoEtsy and now JunkDrawerLoveEtsy! There are about 103 items listed on JunkDrawerLoveEtsy and am adding new listings to each shop daily and will continue to relist 1-2 items at the other shops! Thanks for looking! Maybe you'll find something to take home and share your story too!
And thank you Ivy for using the invite to open your new Etsy shop, Love Lotus Vintage! Visit her newly opened shop, Love Lotus Vintage for some 80s to 90s romantic wear! She'd like to clear out her closet and have less stuff for her big move! She's having a sale right now, so check it out here!
If anyone else would like an invite to open their own Etsy shop and get 40 free listings, let me know how I can help you!
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