There is certainly a lot to get through! Let’s go back in the waters for another swim in studio land…..
I found this shelf in the basement. There was a lot of stuff left in this house when we moved here. Most of it was more than what we needed, and a whole lot of it sure came in handy at different times. We sold things to pay for repairs and gave things to people that needed them.
The top shelf holds a recent acquisition that I am just crazy about- the Weebles Haunted House. Normally I’m not a fan of anything but Fisher-Price, but I love scary stuff and this set is too cute! I got to ride a couple of scary dark rides this summer at amusement parks and also watched “The Funhouse” so it’s no surprise I’m working on a little book about all the gags in dark ride funhouses!
Next to the house is my favorite toy set ever. I played with my cousins’ as a kid and bought one when people started listing FP Adventure People on EBay. Yes, there was a time in the late 90s/ early 00s when EBay was young and not everything was on there ha ha.
I adore Adventure People even more than Little People and my kids and I spent many hours playing flipper with this set and a blue blanket that was supposed to be the ocean.
Next up is another treasure, the Safari Adventure People set. My son loves this thing. We also have a bunch of vintage loose Star Wars figures and they often are on a safari with these guys. Maybe they are exploring the other side of Endor. I don’t know but it is flippin cute when my ranger from this set is riding a taun-taun and Leia is chillin in a sleeping bag next to the giraffe.
Next shelf continues my love of the ocean and incidentally “The Life Aquatic” with 2 more sets of Adventure People. We got the shark set before we went on vacation a few years ago to Universal Studios and swam in the Atlantic.
The bottom shelf has the Adventure People Wilderness Explorers and the Little People Sesame Street. The dog, Scout, from this set is one of my all-time favorites. And like any good Gen-Xer I’m still looking for someone to tell me how to get to the Sesame Street I grew up with, not this new thing that is produced now.
Here is the white elephant in the room. The completely useless as a computer desk but repurposed as an art cabinet armoire. Remember how popular all these huge tv cabinets and computer cabinets were? I hate most new things about tech but making things smaller and easier to work with and store is always ok in my book.
At the top is my favorite FP Little People set- the castle, which is also my daughter’s favorite set. The pieces are in the Pooh box, an Annalee dragon and an FAO Swartz giraffe keep it company.
When I’m not collecting I’m reading. In this shelf some of my favorites are:
Martha Stewart How to Decorate, The Private World of Tasha Tudor, A Field Guide to American Houses, Richard Scary’s Busy, Busy World, M. Sasek books, and a bunch of Dover books on Victorian houses.
I have a bookshelf in my bedroom, one in the hutch in the kitchen and three in the library. I might have a problem. Otherwise on the bookshelf a wind-up clock whose steady ticking is very calming and various bits and bobs of house pieces- trimmings from the banister and baseboard trim and a piece of wicker.
Inside is a treasure trove. Not the toys- look closer. See those black books back there? That’s 10 years of illustrated journals. Some are on the table, and some on the raised shelf are watercolor journals. My professor Jackie Knapp taught me about keeping an illustrated journal and I am forever grateful to her. These are all Moleskine sketchbooks in the large size. This is my legacy. It’s the most amazing thing- like a time machine. I love looking through them. The collection is so big that I have started indexing them in a kind of card catalog system.
I might do some blog posts where I do journal tours- that would be fun.
The toys are either from my childhood or my children’s younger years. Favorites are the Western Fun Barbie horse and collie, the Little people castle dragon and the Little doll.
This is my taboret. It’s from Copernicus educational and I was lucky to get it for $50 on clearance. I thought it would work in my classroom for iPad storage, but it turns out I never got that many iPads and it was in the way a lot. It’s much happier and more useful here. On top is a b&w printer and Eyore from Gabrielle designs. The clear box is filled with rubber stamps and the white box is a stamp’n up set of ink pads. Underneath is my scanner, the 3 hole punch, “The Bedford Handbook for Writers” and the tin that held my Caran d’ Arche pencils.
Lastly, I have a bun full of inspiration stuff. Honestly, I should probably just put this stuff back where it goes! In the front is one of my favorite Agatha Christie books with my favorite cover art by Tom Adams, then some Edward Gorey books (so glad I got my Rapidograph working again!) and a guide I made to all the colors of my Prismacolor pencils.
Then come my precious Martha by Mail catalogs which are actually full of decorating ideas and lovely things. I collect and bake with her copper cookie cutters by copper smith Michael Bonnie so these are invaluable for icing and display ideas. In front are the little booklets that come with the cutters and some other Martha emphemera.
Last is are my current book projects- notes and stories for my ghost story book, and artwork for my dark ride book.
Thank you dear reader for staying for such a long post!
Life on Kansas Street 