What are YOU collecting and what makes your heart go "pitter patter"?

We all know Lauri from 2Chippys squeals when she finds another butter pat. I think her count is near 260! I would LOVE to hear what you all collect, search high and low for or get crazy giddy over. In other words, what makes you squeal like a little girl when you find it? Currently (and this could change tomorrow as I am so easily distracted by something pretty!) I search for Victorian, monogrammed, silver-plated napkin rings, souvenir shell napkin rings, and ironstone plates and cups. My dear husband is so very thankful I am now a recovering cupboard addict. (We have 6 in our humble little abode - with one almost 8 feet wide)

Knowing people find beauty and joy in simple items of days gone by makes me smile. No matter the price tag, most of mine are in the $10 and under category, each of these finds has had a life and could tell a story. By bringing them into our homes and lives we become their guardians and another chapter of that rich history. These treasures are truly priceless.

So here are a few of the latest additions to my collections....and one particular item, recently acquired, that sends my heart racing! I'll save that picture for last.

Two hand painted napkin rings, one from "Thousand Islands" and one from "Niagara Falls"

Not a napkin ring but I just couldn't resist! A darling souvenir purse made out of a shell! Complete with clasp, hinge and chain. I "discovered" this gem at fellow shop owner Rosie Ullman's French Cottage Antiques in Delaware, Ohio.

Two mini ironstone cup and saucer sets I found in Linda's tent (Willow Nest) at the Country Living Fair last month. Darling as they are, more delicious was the conversation with this kind and creative soul! Oh to have more time with this wonderful woman!

Now this one is nothing I collect. I only have one other and it was made for me personally. During summer vacations on a lake in Canada I spent many an hour barefoot and knee deep in the swamp not far from our cabin. Yes, I said swamp, complete with leeches, but it was so full of frogs! Glorious frogs in all shapes and sizes! From small quick ones to huge ones with bulging bellies worthy of being entered in the celebrated Calaveras County Contest. Catching them and making new homes for them out of moss and mushrooms (redecorating even then) occupied several hours a day. One summer our neighbors in the next cabin admired my frog catching ability and began to ask me for buckets of them, offering to buy them. I declined the money, thinking they were frog admirers too and that they just weren't quick enough to catch them. I was totally focused on the fact that someone noticed and appreciated my lightening fast reflexes. I gladly obliged...never considering the fate of those poor frogs. When we were packing the car to head home they presented me with a tree fungus much like the one below. They had used a wood burner tool and "etched" into the face "Lisa, World's Best Frog Catcher". It still makes me feel guilty. So, for some unexplainable reason, when I stumbled on this one I wanted it. I have never seen another besides my "trophy" one. This new one is a tad older than my circa 1977 fungus. The one below is dated June 29, 1898.

And now...my current favorite and a return to my cupboard fetish. Only this time it's just the front of a cupboard (husband nervously smiles wondering if he is going to have to build something). But she is gorgeous enough and can certainly hold her own. Eventually she will make her way into the store, everything does. Right now she is leaning up in the corner ("Nobody puts Baby in the corner!"). Once we get our living room repainted she will hang proudly on a wall surrounded by my collection of mirrors from the 1920's (add those to the list of things I collect!). So here she is...a five foot tall 1889 European, folk-art decorated, built-in wall cabinet face. I am going to have to come up with something to put on the wall behind that little door!