LOVE MY BELLS!!

Newgate · ‎09-05-2014

After my grandmother passed away in the late '60's we were cleaning out her house and while going through a small round metal box that I found under her bed I came across a small little porcelain bell! It was white with many shades of blue running through it like veins!! I had never seen it before in all the years I had visited her there! I thought it was so pretty that I just had to keep it for my own!! I was a very young girl at the time!

That was my first bell and now I have l42 at last count! I usually try and pick one up when we travel and I have received many as gifts also!! I am definitely a bell collector thanks to "grandma"!

Keeping them dusted can be a chore but I do love them all!!

Collect anything??

Mz iMac · ‎07-26-2014

Your post reminded me of the tv series "American Gothic."

"Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."

3suwm5 · ‎06-15-2016

I hate to dust, so needless to say, I don't collect much of anything.

I have a collection of coffee cups, but we use them and they aren't in the cupboard long enough to gather dust.

As for other things in the house, yikes!!

hopi · ‎03-09-2010

Your grandmother would be pleased that she is remembered every day through a gift from her.

RedTop · ‎09-01-2010

I used to collect snow globes and lighthouses. Both collections got out of control quickly when my friends started buying me one or the other for birthdays and Christmas. I kept my collections very streamlined; my friends bought anything and everything snow globe or lighthouse, which took up far more space than I wanted to give up. I still have my favorites of both, but do not collect anything now.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

Some people say that three or more of anything constitutes a collection.

I have a few 'collections' but have managed to stop them at just the right point for me, so they are all used and not just cases or boxes full of things. I have a small three tier shelf in my bedroom with some small Royal Doulton pieces, and when the spaces on the shelf were filled in a nice and tasteful fashion, I stopped.

I collected an organic style of gnomes from Tom Clark, and they used to be very muted colors, and very organic with nuts leaves and other natural things incorporated. I collected just enough of them to fill the top three shelves (loosely and nicely displayed) in my family room bookcase, then stopped with those.

I collected baskets, but use them in my decor and for utilitarian purposes, and no longer buy anymore, as I have all I need.

I have collected Rowe pottery, some for just home decor purposes, others are used on a regular basis in the kitchen. I have pretty much stopped that as well, as I have everything I want to achieve the vignettes I created.

I guess I now technically have a collection of flameless candles and lanterns, but there again, they are used and displayed, and I will most likely not purchase more lanterns, as I have them just about everywhere I would use one.

I used to collect teddy bears (vintage looking only) and recently downsized that. I kept just a few to mix in with vignettes around the house, and only the most vintage, and higher end looking few.

I never got into collecting things with just the purpose of amassing hundreds of them to say I had a big collection. I never liked the look of display cabinets or sheving packed solid with a collection of any given thing. I only wanted enough of any one thing to display conservatively or put to use in my home.

shell garden · ‎04-28-2015

What a sweet story. Treasure your bells, especially the one of your grandmother.

I used to collect alot of things, especially antiques, but although I have kept them, I do not find the pieces I used to so I gave up interest. Plus prices were getting outrageous. I treasure the ones I have now...lots of antique furniture.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

I am going nuts collecting. . . stuff to send to the Salvation Army! The last boatload included the Longaberger baskets. I am just tired of maintaining this "stuff." I want to lighten up--and am letting go of things I don't love and things I won't use, and things my ancestors loved and I don't love. It gets easier along the way!

sandraskates · ‎06-26-2014

Kinda sad @Newgate that your grandma's bell did see the light of day. Perhaps she forgot about it but now it has an appreciative new home.

I collect "mermaid" things like little statuettes and earrings.

I collect pins from skating events, clubs, and rinks. I have a sports jacket that I pin them on but I'd really like get some kind of shadow box to display them. (Suggestions welcome).

I've also collected a lot of beautiful ice skating Christmas cards. I had wanted to hang them for years but didn't want to deal with many, many frames and nail holes. One day in Kohl's I noticed some interlocked square frames. I bought a couple, cut the cards to fit and hung them up - only one nail hole but 8 "photos" in each frame. That was a very satisfying craft!

Winkk · ‎03-15-2010

Nope. I used to but last year we had a family member die who collected a lot. No one wanted any of the stuff and we had a devil of a time trying to get rid of it. I've been selling the few things I collected because my kids don't want it and I don't want them burdened with getting rid of it.