i use ceramics throughout my entire home. they gather in small groupings and hold my most treasured objects, and also my keys. it’s what i’ve always pictured my pieces doing for other people too. a place to catch their rings and gems at the end of the day. or a coveted display space for their favorite items. i want to pay more attention to the keepsakes i love – not box them up in a safe storage place.

i made these plates thinking that they would make a great spot for the everyday items you keep on your dresser. or a collection of handwritten notes and a single succulent pod. or collections from a hike in the woods. i don’t know, i see so many options! i imagine these plates holding the objects that matter the most to people, and reminding them that they’re there, and they deserve to be noticed a little more often.

where do you keep your treasures?

please welcome my friend whitney curtis from the curtis casa! she so kindly agreed to share with us one of her most treasured objects. i seriously love the story behind this pillow. thanks whitney!! you are adorable.

i’m always fascinated by the objects people start collecting. luke‘s dad has so many collections, and some of the best i’ve ever seen. one collection that caught my eye last time i visited was his political button collection. it was so neat to see the way the buttons changed over the years, and on christmas morning, he received 3 new {old} buttons to add to his collection. i love thinking about what all of these buttons meant to so many different people.

this post was a little collaboration between kate wong and i. kate painted the top image, after the photo i took of the button collection. she is a talented watercolorist, a skill i wish i had! thanks kate!

i met my beautiful friend crystal when we worked together during college at a small grocery co-op. it was such a fun, homey place back then. we had such great times together! and now we have even more in common than just our love of healthy eating. she owns one of my favorite etsy shops of all time! 

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i’m not sure how old i was when my grandmother gave me my music box, but for as long as i can remember i have always had it. it isn’t an expensive, elaborate, or especially beautiful music box; still it is one of the most treasured items i own.

my music box is a simple and light wood affair from japan whose only decoration is a book page of a young girl feeding chicks from her basket. i can’t count the number of times that i used to make up stories about the girl in the red handkerchief and her chicks. sometimes she was going to the market to sell the chicks and lost her nerve, or maybe she had found them and was taking them home, or better yet, she was little red riding hood and the chicks had been in her basket on the way to grandmother’s house.

when i open the music box i am instantly a little girl, safe and warm in my grandmother’s arms. i can hear her voice in the soft music that it plays and see her smile every time i open it. i have never been without my music box and it has become a favorite hiding place for my important items. i used to store my social security card in it until my husband made me stop!

however, when i moved to south korea the music box was broken. somehow a couple of screws came loose and now it is silent. i have been too nervous to take it into a repair shop because i don’t want them to tell me that it can’t be fixed. i remember taking it out of the box and cranking it to hear nothing, my heart broke and i cried.

my music box is one of the few things i have that remind me of my grandmother. she died when i was 19, nearly 9 years ago, and recently i have begun to forget what her voice sounded like, or what she smelled like. the music box always reminded me and without it’s music i was scared i might forget her presence. my husband, being the kind man that he is, made me realize that the music box didn’t have to work for me to remember her, and that she was with me no matter what, and that the music box is just a good reminder, not the measure of my memory of her.

even though the music box is now silent, i can still see my grandmother clear as day when i look at it. i love this little piece and i think a trip to the repair shop in the near future is in order.

thank you crystal!

visit crystal’s vintage clothing shop, here. (you’ll be IN LOVE!)

and follow her lifestyle blog, seoul sold!

my cupboards are full of mismatched pieces. 65% of them are handmade, by me and a few other ceramic artists, but the rest are little gems i’ve found in secondhand stores. some people are bothered by old cups used by other people, but i find it fascinating to think about the people and the conversation gathered around old cups. i wonder about what they were drinking, the company they kept, even where they got the cup. this little translucent cup was just the thing that caught my eye, and for forty-nine cents, how could i put it back on the shelf?

every little thing from this pile means a little something to me. some coins i had in europe, two favorite pairs of earrings that are missing their match, marbles from the house luke grew up in, beads from a broken necklace. i could go on for hours about every single memory. i am always so fascinated by the emotions that old objects can stir up. i’m borderline hoarding, but i like to think of myself more as a sentimental old soul – not wanting to get rid of those little moments and memories.

as strong as my love is for objects and things, you would think i’d have more collections!

other than my postcard collection i have this one other collection/infatuation. my love for cloth napkins came when i met barbara nelson. she and her husband own an art gallery in manhattan, kansas and they employed me throughout college, and even after graduation for a while. (forever thankful for them!)

barb is one of the classiest ladies i know, and her everyday use of cloth napkins is something i will always remember about her, and always admire. even the simplest of family-style, sandwich lunches were accompanied by glamorous cloth napkins. she’s inspired me to use them everyday and be less wasteful. and so i snagged these fall-colored, $1 cloth napkins on black friday.

so here’s to barbara, and the earth and farewell to paper napkins!