My Travel Scrapbook

My husband and I always laugh at ourselves….it is completely impossible for us to travel ANYWHERE and not drag back home some kind of treasure.  The things we have carried onto planes is hysterical, and only once did the Flight Attendants give us a hard time, thankfully!  My Travel Scrapbook is not as traditional as you might imagine.  Rather, it’s a collection of treasures I have found along the way.  Today, I’m sharing with you some of my favorite finds in recent years.

Venetian Gondola Lanterns

A number of years ago, my husband and I discovered January Antiques Week, in NYC.  Several shows take place over the course of two weeks, some lasting 14 days, like the Crème-de-la-Crème Winter Antiques Show, which I wrote about in this post, and then several other shows take place during the same two-week period.   A show that no longer exists, sadly, is the Armory Show, where I found these fantastic 18^th Century Venetian Gondola Lanterns, that had been converted to electric lamps, at this show.  Don’t you love the colors?

My Statue of Liberty Collection

Because my Travel Scrapbook is all about unique objects, I’m always looking for an old and unique representation of the Statue of Liberty.  Three of my favorite pieces in my collection came from the Brooklyn Flea Market in DUMBO.  Like any flea market, the earlier you go, the better your chances are of scoring a real treasure, and on Saturday morning in the Spring, a vendor had these three vintage Statue of Liberty souvenir pieces, which happy followed me back to Dallas.  Aren’t they fun??!!  Believe it or not, I added two new pieces to this travel scrapbook collection after attending an antique show in Ft. Worth, Texas!

A 1950’s Texas Tablecloth

Who would have thought that I would have to travel all the way to NYC to score this treasure?  But I did!  I love 1950’s Vintage Christmas table cloths, and have several in my collection.  But did you know that state-themed linens were also a thing?  Any time I come across a vintage linen dealer, I always ask “Do you have any Texas or any NYC?”  Always.  And one day, in the most fabulous antique shop in NOHO, owned by my friend Paul Rubenstein, I found Texas!  Bright reds, and hardly a stain…and boy howdy do I love this find!  Really, anything Texas related is worth of collecting, in my opinion!

You might recall I was recently in Brimfield, Massachusetts, attending the famous Brimfield Antique and Flea Market.  I recapped the trip in this post.  While there, I found ANOTHER Texas Tablecloth.  I sold it to one of my followers on Instagram!  I’ll be doing more off-the-cuff selling in the future, so make sure you are following me on Instagram by clicking here!

Antique Prints

These lovely prints are actually pages from an old book, illustrating flowers and plants.  I purchased the loose pages from the Argosy Book Store on 59th, between Park Avenue and Lexington Ave. in NYC.  Founded in 1925, per their web site, the “Argosy Book Store is now in its third generation of family ownership. Our enormous stock of antiquarian and out-of-print items fills a six-floor building in midtown Manhattan and a large warehouse in Brooklyn. We specialize in Americana, modern first editions, autographs, art, antique maps & prints, and the history of science & medicine. We also have thousands of books in all other fields of interest. We are founding members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, and we belong to the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers and the Appraisers Association of America.”

Originally, I bought these prints for my daughter’s room, when she surrounded herself in pinks and greens.  But, when her tastes and color scheme changed, I happy moved the prints into my own room, where the colors compliment the Venetian Gondola Lanterns, don’t you think?  I had them framed in Dallas, and wrote about the exceptional frame shop, Douglass Picture Frames, owned by good friends Connie and Royd Riddell in this post.

Vintage Industrial Finds

My travel scrapbook includes such a vast array of treasures!  I’m kind of like a magpie, don’t you think?  I always play a little game with myself.  Before every trip, I say, “I’m not going to drag one more thing home.” I actually say that a lot.  Sometimes I hang garlic around my neck just for that added layer of protection.

But, I’m weak y’all.  Truly and profoundly weak.  I found these great vintage industrial pieces in Nashville, at one of the February Shows I covered in this Blog post, and I simply could not leave them behind.  Plus, we had our own car.  So…fill ‘er up!  Fortunately Will is as bad as I am.  No shade thrown from him!

Y’all….I could go on and on and tell you about my plastic turkey shaped cupcake toppers, or my kitchen-themed toile tray, or my TUBS of Christmas decorations….but I won’t bore you.  What I will say is every single thing I drag home has a wonderful memory attached to it, more meaningful that the thing itself…and that’s really the whole point of travel, isn’t it????!!!!!  My real-life travel scrapbook!

I’m curious…what’s the most fun thing you have picked up while traveling?  Share with me in the comments!  I might need to stop by your place to see it live…..

xoxo

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