Halloween Was Over Too Soon!

Hi!  My name is Patti and I've been a collector of vintage stuff for many years.  I collect lots of things from nature such as seashells and birds nests and this seems fitting since I work at the American Museum of Natural History.  But my favorite collections are vintage holiday decorations and I've been meaning to do a blog to show you some of them, some other goodies I've found at local flea markets and thrift stores, and maybe once in a while I'll show you what life in NYC has been like for me. 

Since Halloween was just a few days ago I'll start by showing some of my vintage Halloween collection:

The image above is my "creepy cool" area and consists of mostly funky freebies I've found on the streets of NYC.  The clock and metal chandelier picture were throwaways from some neighbors who never knew they made my day!  The bottles and preserved bugs in the white cabinet were also items I saved from being sent to the dump. (One man's trash is another man's treasure, right?)

Flea market photos of instant ancestors (the scarier the better).

Found this old postcard rack at the flea market so now I have a great way to display my vintage holiday postcards.  Halloween cards have been the hardest to find with even worn ones costing at least $10 each but I finally got enough to fill the rack.  Next it will be filled with Thanksgiving cards.

I never had a good way to display tiny holiday finds until I came across this cute mirrored cabinet at the local thrift store.  Now all the little candy containers and miniatures can be displayed as a group and not lost in the crowd of larger items.  Above the cabinet are my newest thrift shop finds: ceramic devil girls from the 1950's.  Love em!

Below the wall cabinet are some vintage German jack o' lanterns and one of the newest creations by vintagebycrystal that my boyfriend picked up for me at Martha Stewart's American Made show. 

When I moved to NYC in 1999 from the Pacific Northwest I sold most of my stuff to help fund the move and the one thing I really regretted was selling off my vintage holiday items.  Ever since I've been trying to replace what I had.  This year I finally found my witch candy container.  Ebay was the place to go.  I've seen a few of them on there this season but this was in the best condition. Yay!

A group of cute old American and German lanterns from the 30's, 40's, and 50's. 

Why did it take me until this year to figure out this plate rack could be used to display my old Halloween paper party plates and goodies?  Duh!  These are my new obsession!

The owl plate is my favorite so far but collectors always have new favorites so only time will tell. :)