Two days of ranting about the collections of others, and…oops, I forgot the snowmen, my snowmen. To make matters worse, I have a Winnie the Pooh snowman, and a Mickey Mouse snowman, and Hallmark snowmen. In my defense the snowmen only make an appearance once a year for Christmas. I believe at this point there are more than one hundred of them. Here I can proclaim some innocence. I bought a few vintage snowmen probably twenty years ago. The next year I bought a few more, and then the next year, and so on, until I had a “collection”. Then, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this dilemma, other people got in on the act. I started receiving snowmen from everyone. Those closest to me understood that I love vintage things, and it received some beautiful old pieces, but there were others who assumed if it was a snowman I wanted it. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that it is really awkward to receive a gift that someone is sure you will love and it’s just not your taste. When it’s an addition to a collection it’s even worse. You feel guilty if you don’t display it. Trust me I’m not an ingrate, I stress and feel guilty over the smallest things, and I appreciate the gift. The problem is that the collection has gotten out of control. I will admit that I enjoy taking them out every year and arranging them on my cabinet. So there it is, my Mea Culpa, my apologies to all the collectors that may have been offended by my rant.

My friend Karen posted a question to me last night. I mentioned that I might use my illustration of the hand-held mirror for the Ladies room for our business. Karen asked what I would do for the Men’s room sign. A project was born! A vintage shaving stand. I actually do own one, but to give credit where credit is due, I found a photo on Google images and sketched that. A pen and ink illustration. Thanks for the question Karen.