charmed

Rarely do I bring home souvenirs from travelling. One item I do indulge in is the "penny press" token maker that rolls pennies onto dies making a squished imprinted coin that you find at most museums, zoos and aquariums. I haven't found a country yet that doesn't have these penny press machines.
 
Many countries don't have a copper penny type coin but like these penny presses that I brought back from the COEX aquarium in Korea, this lack of penny has been solved by punching out copper blanks the size of a penny.

Once I start unpacking my household stuff and find my penny press charm bracelet, I will put up a picture. I have more charm bracelets than I will ever wear and most have become too heavy to wear.

I think my next charmed project will be this window drape.

 
image source click here 
Isn't this window drape incredible and a perfect place to hang all the vintage prisms and special glass beads I have been collecting while travelling over the years.

I love adding bits of nothing to my home of things that have little value but appeal to me all the same. A book I found this week will be added to my bookshelf. I try my hardest not to collect books as living on a coastal beach it is not prudent to collect massive amounts of paper. It doesn't fit into my hurricane evacuation plan. So I collect books and when the numbers get too massive, I sell or give away until I reach a manageable number.
 This book is a nice early paperback edition of "The Lord of the Flies" and check out the incredible cover art.
Love it.
Paperback books like these are my "comfort food" of the book world. They take me back to a time when it was simple and good, and all I needed was a battered well read paperback book tucked in the back pocket of my jeans and I was set to go.
 
As you can figure, I don't have a decorating theme or style when it comes to my home.  If it is needs a name, I guess it would be called Flotsam and Jetsam Gypsy as it is just bits that I have gathered while moving about in my travels.

What items of little value do you like to surround yourself with?

Comments

[Brooks Ann]

That charm bracelet is awesome! Charm bracelets and necklaces are dear to my heart. That drape is a wonderful idea...you've got me thinking...I am crazy for that gypsy look...

[Marit]

Oh my... that window drape is gorgeous! I could do a thing like that, if only my beloved would let me (which he probably doesn't when I show him this *teehee*... no problem, there's a LOT that he can live with and that compensates it!)

What do I collect? My (old) diaries and (newer) art journals, but that's not what you ment... well, lets see... STONES (a lot! Mostly the round ones from France - what's their name?) SHELLS (from my hometown-beach - also in the garden in different plates) BOOKS (to read ánd empty one/dummies) POSTCARDS WITH WRITER PORTRAITS.
And then there's little this-and-thats... a lot... Ha!

[kelly]

I love the window drape!!

Fyi, Barron Storey is the artist who created that cover. If you haven't yet, check out his blog. AMAZING doesn't even begin to describe it.

[Julie Prichard]

That exact version was required reading for me in 10th grade...I owned it in 1986......vivid memories just seeing the cover! :)

[Barb]

Hmmm, what do I collect? *looking around* I have always collected books but we recently moved from our hometown in Alabama to the Florida coast and completely simplified and streamlined our possessions so my art related books and a handful of books I haven't read yet are all I kept. With that move I seem to have really gotten rid of so many things that once were collections...I guess all that survives is my collection of stones and heart shaped rocks. :)
Peace & Love,
~Barb~

[Sharon Bennett]

I love Stuff! Books are my weakness! I am not a girly girl, but wouldn't I love to have THAT drape in my studio!