sick! hahaha

My husband and I collect dirt or sand from our travels too. We display them in small jars (usually old spice jars or baby food containers) in our china cabinet. They used to be lined in the center of our dining room table until my mother almost mistook them for spices and tried to sprinkle some on her chicken. The china cabinet is a safer place.

When I was a kid I collected Star Trek stuff. Not really "odd" but as an adult & music lover I collect autographs of bands which tell the wonderful story of how I snuck...I mean wound up backstage. :)

Little Bobblehead Turtles. I buy one every time I go on vacation somewhere tropical and write the place and year on the bottom. They're lined up under my computer screen, nodding or shaking their little heads at me while I work.

I can see my swingline that was stollen off my desk 2 years ago :-)

My brother-in-law collected milk rings when he was a little boy...he has a whole trunk full of them! The funniest part (besides the fact that they never got thrown away, even with all the many moves his family made), is that his grandmother still saves them for him (he's 26)!

I know someone who used to save lint from the screen in the dryer.

I used to collect keychains as a kid, like I had like a hundred keychains. It was pretty weird now that I think about it.

Now I collect block puzzles, which are kind of fun to have lying around cause they're interactive.

I know someone who collects toasters. He has hundreds and I understand it.

My great aunt started me collecting nails when I was a boy. Yup, wood construction nails. She was walking by a house that was being torn down and she picked up a couple nails. That's how it started. I have nails from all over the country, some very old.

I pick up pretty rocks from random places, with the intention of eventually wire wrapping them for jewelry. So far, I just have a mason jar full of pretty rocks and no jewelry.

magnets. i buy magnets everywhere when i travel that say the name of the place. right now they're cluttering up my fridge. someday i'll get a huge magnetic board and frame it. display them like art in my office. someday. when i get around to it.

I collect the animal (usualy dog) figures that used to sit atop chainlink gates. I have a hell of a time trying to find them, but they haven given me a new found appreciation for chainlink fence

When I was in junior high, I collected business cards. My friends and relatives would bring them back from trips for me too...some were simple white cards, others were very colorful and opened like greeting cards or had a special shape. Hey, they were free!

I used to collect found metal from on the street - nuts and bolts to decapitated fire hydrants. On my second cross country move it just became too cumbersome so I whittled my collection down to a few favorites that fit into a small tool box.

Souls. I collect souls.

In Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer collects "things." And just has a bunch of ziploc bags full of things like hair, dirt, jewelry, etc. from people/events he wants to remember.

I collect buttons. And matryoshka dolls.

All of you people need therapy! My Batman action figures and I are looking down on you with disdain.

Best response ever!

I used to collect the little bags that Twinnings Earl Grey Teabags come in. and I would stick them to my wall to cover the ungly accent wall. It actually looked super nice, I shoulda taken a picture.

American Airlines Diecast scale 1/400 planes.

My dad travels a lot on business. He collects the salt and pepper shaker sets from airline meals.

I know a guy that collects the numbered nails they use on rail road tracks. He has a few thousand. There are conventions and swap meets for them and everything!

My favorite collection is movie ticket stubs. I have them from when I saw my first movie at 5 years old, and you can barely read half of them now. I'm also a classic pin collector. I did shot glasses for a while, but then I'd forget on trips as I got older. So I get them now and then, but it's not much of a collection. My husband swears I collect office supplies, post-its in particular.

little rosary beads from cathedrals i've gone to during my travels. i'm not a very religious person, but i always end up buying one when i'm traveling.

I love collections but hate collecting. Love the color, form and texture but not into finding individual things. That's why I shop for them. How about antique French apothecary boxes?

Antique sheep figurines. But I'm tiring of collecting and want to sell the lot. The most valuable one is a 2" tall Staffordshire and worth around $250. Anyone?

I collect red souvenirs. Every time I go somewhere new, I find something small, red, and particular to that location.

I collect shot glasses and nail polish.
& recently received the cutest small turtle as a housewarming gift.. so turtles may be next..

my guy has a nice collection of ink pens and matchbooks.

On of my co-workers collects sand from all the beaches she has been to. She puts it in little glass apothecary bottles with twist off lids then had a special little wall shelf that she hand stained where she puts them. Its very cute!

When I was in elementary school, I used to collect license plate numbers from out-of-state plates in a little notebook I carried with me... haha. If we saw one from someplace especially "rare" I would beg my parents to drive back so I could get it! What a weirdo :)

I've been trying to start a collection of miniature tree sculpture. I found a lot on Etsy, some crafters/artists make awesome little trees. I have about 12 now, some in felt, some in wire, some in glass, some in wood, I have a cool african baobab made of hay.

But one of my friend didn't understand what I meant when I said miniature tree and got me a bonsai, I kill all my plants, including that one, sadly.

I have a charming collection of tin cookie cutters, and an ever-growing Mr. Potato Head collection...there's a mash of them on top of my fridge (pun obvs intended) and another basket full of parts for friends to dress their own when they visit.

You could plant a seed in each different "dirt" then you would have flowers or plants from all over the world.

floaty pens

Plants. I seem to collect plants. It's not even intentional, I just keep aquiring more somehow. My friends have orders to stop me if I ever start wiring in grow lights for the orchids.

I also collect photographs, if that counts, of places I have been.

Vintage eggbeaters and vintage cocktail shakers. When we moved to our teeny-tiny apartment, I pared down the collection to about a half-dozen of each and haven't missed 'em.

@kimg Funny, I collect toasters as well. I have had many over the years but moving overseas I've had to pare back considerably. I'm moving back to the states right now and have shipped about 15.

Oh yeah, and I was going to start collecting sanitary napkin disposal bags after finding an amazing one in a restaurant in Cannes, but they aren't generally all that interesting.

I collect a lot of things. Some are more "normal" than others: old glass bottles of all shapes and sizes, antique keys, antique silverware, rocks and shells (since I was little).

Some of my collections are less "normal." I use my glass bottles to store different items that are usually just thrown away. My favorite is my collection of burnt match sticks. I also have bottles with the ends of soap bars, the safety caps for razors, my partner's hair, and... (gross!) fingernails.

Bits of Victorian paper salvaged form antique scrapbooks - luckily I just found an outlet for them (framed and presentable) on Etsy.
Now I have room to collect more.

Right now I'm really into vintage demitasse cups from hotels or restaurants. The first one I found was at an antique store. It was from the Master Robert Motel and had an image of a horse in front of a pyramid. I immediately fell in love with it. I now have a few more from various countries and restaurants/hotels. Plus they are useful, so I can't count them as clutter, as I live in a small space.

The weirdest collection I've ever had... was as a young kid when I first started losing my teeth, I couldn't stand to part with them- so I would put them in a little jar and leave a note for the tooth fairy requesting she leave the tooth and still give me the cash!

I have a collection of vintage matchbooks that I started collecting as a kid in the 70s. Most of them date from the 70s through to the 90s of different restaurants I've been to.

I collect anything with cephalopods (octopus, squid, cuttlefish, and nautilus) or their tentacles. I have stuffed animals, art, dishes, clothing, etc. which makes perfect sense since I make my living selling jewelry shaped like them.

I would say that I don't collect anything, but the dozens of vases glaring at me from my mantelpiece would disagree. when they were spread all over my place, I didn't realize that I had so many. I just moved and although they are unpacked, they haven't been spread throughout the house yet. I think that counts as a collection, at least a subconscious one.

I have a collection of Japanese Pachinko Machines.

I keep a collection of memorabilia from all my cruise travels:

Deckplans
Keycards
Postcards
Ticket Stubs and Ticket Wallets
Menus
Daily Schedules
Port Maps
Shore Excursion Brochures
Luggage Tags
Cruise Logs
Shipboard gifts that Holland America gives to all passengers - Delft Tiles and Delft Plates from the Inaugural Cruises.

I've expanded this collection to other cruise plates - lines like Cunard and Norwegian American would give gifts of Rosenthal china coasters w/ the dates, the name of the ship and a mapped intinerary of a particular sailing...
...then there are the larger World Cruise plates that may have a scene of the ship in an exotic port or the map of the world with the itinerary and dates on the face, and on the back a note from the Captain saying something along the lines of 'Thank You for joining me at the Captain's Table for the 19-- World Cruise'

It's funny that you collect sand in empty pill bottles... I collect empty pill bottles. Actually I collect empty bottles, jars, and cans. I limit myself to one shelf in the closet, but this post is inspiring me to lose my collection shame and put them on display!

My husband has a fairly extensive dinosaur collection. I'm not sure if that is intentional or if people just started giving them to him at some point and now it can't be stopped. I've never actually seen him express interest in obtaining a dinosaur or dinosaur-themed object; although he has excitedly accepted and identified a few.

I collect boring old coins. And shells. I loved reading everyone's answers!

@brooklynindiana - that's a very cool idea to go with a color instead of a specific item!

I started collecting plates with presidents (preferably with their wives) after I discovered an adorable little saucer with LBJ and Ladybird "painted" on it while my family was cleaning out my grandmother's house. We didn't really know why she had it so I felt I needed to keep it.
My plate collection is expanding rapidly and branching out; I just had to get the Wait Wait Don't Tell Me collectible plate and have Carl Kasell sign it!

Loved reading everyone's answers too!

I collect stones, driftwood, pods and such when on my walks or traveling. I also collect handmade and ethnic textiles, buttons, beads, and trim.

Rubber rats and mice. I insist on quality and have even trimmed the excess rubber from the seams when needed!
At the request of my husband, I finally moved them from the front hall windowsill to the curio cabinet. Oh well, at least they stay dust-free!

Fake food including the high end ones created for restaurants and conventions. LOVE the dirt and sand idea.

A few things that I collect:

1) Feathers (in good shape) that I find on the ground. I have a sky-colored pottery taper candle holder that holds the whole clump of them.

2) Small stones from my travels. My favorites are the pieces I pulled from rock walls in the Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountains, and the Superstition Mountains.

3) Handmade pottery that I find at thrift stores - blues and browns usually. I like the idea that I'm giving someone's pottery class reject a new home.

4) I have recently started buying landscape oil paintings from thrift stores that remind me of places I've been. Like the pottery, I enjoy feeling like I'm giving someone's artistic castoffs a new lease on life.

@sagekitten85 --It kinda happened that way! When I realized I had a shelf-full, I started being more conscientious. Red's not really my favorite color, but I think it stands out to me as frivolous and romantic, which is what most of my travels have been. :-)

I have a modest collection of typewriters, somewhere around fifteen I think, most are in storage and only one or three are on display. My current favorite is the Olivetti Underwood Lettera 33 from the late 60’s, nice clean design. I find it hard to pass up a typewriter, but It’s hard not to, unless it’s a rusted out hulk or something I already have I’ll probably buy it.

I also seem to collect outdated A/V equipment, slide and film projectors, overhead projectors and the like; I almost bought an old high school A/V cart but had no space to put it.

I like the idea of collecting staplers, so many ways to display them come to mind.

clothing tags
since i was in elementary school

i have all the sizes and brands i went through since 20 years ago. =)

Wow, all these collection posts lately (and especially this one) make me want to collect stuff...lol.

I plan to start picking up milk glass, hobnail glass, and that milky turquoise glass (is it milk glass too?) when my mini kitchen/dining room remodel is done, and I have somewhere to display them. I've liked globes/maps/atlases since I was a kid, and I have a couple globes now...that could definitely turn into a collection.

It's not a collection, but I've started getting vintage "things" lately...table fans, typewriters, etc. I've been looking for an old, but still electric, sewing machine, too. If I had money, I'd have refurbished vintage kitchen appliances too. I just think they made stuff better 40+ years ago.

Clocks. I have about 27 of them. They all aren't all on because the ticking would drive me and any guests crazy because I live in a 500 sq. foot apartment.

Love reading about all these collections!

I collect and collected many things (love the systematic aspect of it) Started with stamps when I was 6 (still have the collection), then perfume bottles when I was 10 (sold all of those when I was 14), tea bags, sugar packets and probably more I can't remember.

Now I collect other things like a certain Italian brand glass china from the '70s and A flatware set from the '60s (this is my way of combining 2 hobby's; collecting and design).

Weirder collections: I still have all the train, bus and plane tickets I ever purchased since I started traveling on my own (just can stop collecting them!). I still have all the H&M tags from clothes I bought there since I started buying my own clothes (age 13), just love that they're the same size and you can see how over time clothing got more expensive. I collect coins too. And, stainless steel kitchen tools; I try to get every tool there is for in the kitchen in stainless steel (got that from my dad).

Yes, I think that's it for now (:

this is amusing and stirs up old collection memories that would probably get me banned for poor "taste"; but oh these are entertaining!!

@occam: Great to meet you! I use your razor all the time. Thanks for the heurism.

OMG, I collect soil too…

I take soil samples from all the cool places I've been, put it in a mason jar with water, shake it up, and watch it settle into the different macro components. I label them all and then store them in the gardening shed on a wooden slat shelf to look at whenever I'm in there. Definitely form over function though; I'm a little short on space in there.

I collect sand and dirt too! Except I don't get to travel very often, so much of my collection is from family and friends who have been to neat places haha. I think the most interesting place in my collection is Singapore.

I collect wood boxes/cases/trunks. From a teeny tiny wood box that holds my small earrings to a large wood trunk. Some are hand carved, some are sleek and modern. Some have drawers, some have dividers. All are unique, and all are special (to me). Many of them, I picked up while traveling. Some I found in an antique store. Some were given to me. I love my collection! A plus for collecting them: lots of storage!

Collecting soil from overseas or even interstate sounds like a great way to spread disease, spores, fungus, etc!

I used to collect empty aquariums. I'd hunt for them at yard sales and ask the person selling it what kind of fish used to live in it. I'd get as much history as possible and then try to use it as leverage to get a really low price. After I got the item home, I'd write down the story of of the fish that had lived in it aquarium on a 3x5 card and place it into the aquarium. I had over 700 at one point. My wife made me move out. Good times.

I also used to collect cans of dog food from around the world. When I used to live in LA, i would carry extra cans of dog food around with me and have celebrities sign them. At one point my dog food collection was up around 1435 cans. I fire in my apartment put an end to that collection.

Currently I am working on my collection of broken spatulas -- 922 and counting!

I collect llama figurines (unno the ones made with real llama wool). So far I have 12 in varying sizes.

On a recent tv programme I saw a collector of blotting paper. He had 46,000 examples. They were given as advertising here, in France, in the early to middle part of the 20th Century when children were taught how to write beautifully.

I've collected tins for years also book marks but those days are over.

I don't think you're the only one who collects soil - I believe Dracula also has a stash

Collections I loved and unfortunately thrown away at some point:

1) short used coloured pencils
2) bus tickets

I covered a few note-books using the bus tickets and some transparent plastic to keep them in place. This saved them from being thrown away! For some of the I used a lot of the same type (e.g. the old green and orange Milan underground ticket, from when I used to study there) arranged in some nice pattern (e.g. fish bone pattern, as for wood floors). For others I mixed different types of tickets, with a colourful effect.

The best thing about collections is having people to contribute to them!

I think I'll start my ticket collection again. I can do plane tickets now, except the on-line tickets are really ugly :(

I've never thrown away a sim card (admittedly not quite a collection as I haven't had that many!)
I collect maps.

I collect anything to do with matroyshka dolls (am adopting from Russia so it does have a link!) And every year I go for a long weekend to the same seaside village and bring back a pebble from the beach - they're in my fireplace. I used to collect matchbooks from bars and restaurants but you don't really see them now because of the smoking ban. And I collect champagne corks - my fruit bowl is full of them! They remind me of the good times.

I collect Tea strainers. I have found many in thrift stores and flea markets. When I was a kid my mother had an elderly friend who would invite us over for tea and she had a beautiful collection, I always remember our tea parties fondly when I use mine.

I also collect postcards, they are cheap souvenirs that I can frame or give away. And they remind me of places I've been and people I've met.

And I collect little notebooks, like the Moleskine ones, although I buy all different ones. I use them all. I am a list maker so I fill my notebooks up with lists, of places I want to go, things to do for the weekend, groceries, books to buy, favorite names, etc...

When I was a kid I used to collect shot glasses, I don't actively collect them now but I still have my old ones and always accept new ones from friends and family whenever they go on trips and bring them for me.

I have a collection of japanese comic books and magnets from countries and states I've been to.

i collect tea. wherever i go, i pick up earl grey (usually) in a unique tin. i have samples from singapore, hong kong, paris, antwerp, st. petersburg, moscow, copenhagen, oslo, buenos aires, sydney, new delhi, hawaii, toronto, rome, cologne, berlin, budapest, prague, barcelona, london, and the list goes on...

i collect restroom signs!
("boy","girl","don't throw papers in the toilet"....etc)

I collect nuts. You know, metal ones. The nut half of "nuts and bolts." When I find them, I give them to my partner, smiling, and saying "I'm nuts about you!" A couple of them I've put on a string around her rear-view mirror. (LINK) Others just go into a bowl. I'm NUTS about her.

I try to collect something physical from the places I go. I brought back rocks and shells from Ireland, Italy, Seattle, and my first visit to the Pacific Ocean (in Oregon). I also have fliers, tickets (plane,train), and maps (city and subway) of places I've been to. I also get souvenirs I can wear (hat from Portland street market, etc). But generally nothing with the name of the place on it (except the maps,tickets,etc of course).

I collect cookbooks from the places I visit. I always try to find one that has a dish I ate or specific to the region I'm in. Food is so closely attached to culture that it's a great way of remembering where you've been!

@jm0421 - I would LOVE to collect cookbooks from everywhere I go! But my husband says I have too many and need to actually cook from all the ones I currently have first.

Wow @animo- I think aquariums, dog food, and broken spatulas takes the cake!

@Prettypidjun- I love those llama figures too! I only have 2, but I have been buying any alpaca or llama things I see.

I cannot stop buying pens. I carry a pen case with about 10 around in my purse always. My friends tease me. I have a desk drawer full of them. Mostly they are Japanese pens that have an extremely fine tip (Kinokuniya Bookstores are the best for finding such).
I also still have a ton of stationery sets, notebooks, & stickers (usually cutesy Japanese stuff from San-X or similar). Even though I love technology, it makes me sad that people don't write letters very much anymore. All of my office supply love stems from this. I used to have a ton of pen pals in high school and moved several boxes of letters for about 15 years. I finally got rid of them all last year and kind of regret it.
I recently saw some gorgeous old pencil sharpeners at an antique store and it made me want to start collecting them...

@Mrs. Puma - it's true, I have a hard time cooking from them all but at least there's potential there someday, right? ;) I justify it as a "useful" collection. I move around too much to have collections of anything fragile.

@Marne - I love pens too and have quite an assortment of them (that I'm quite possessive of!). I don't write many letters though - maybe I could use them to make notes in my cookbooks! haha

lit nerd, I collect pretty rocks too. I eventually decided to use them as rock mulch in my garden to keep the water from evaporating out. It looks lovely and it's so nice to finally see them all. We have fun poking through them in the mornings while we relax.

I started going to garage/estate sales when I was about 3. So I've collected things off an on over the years. But now I mainly focus on old Glass Milk Bottles, and Glass Ice Buckets. I love how colorful the ice buckets are, I use some for flower vases, one sits on a side table and hold my remote controls. The only other longtime collection I have that has been mentioned is movie/concert tickets, I have a box a friend made for me that hold all of them.

on the lint tip, my sister-in-law collects it and made a piece of ... art with it. Most similar to a mistletoe. It hangs in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room.

I collect floaty pens. The ones with some moving/floating object in it. Fun!

I collect Mold-a-Rama figurines, white ceramic animals (mostly vintage), souvenir snow globes, and milk glass. I am planning on starting a salt and pepper shaker collection when I have a bigger place... it seems easy to go overboard with S&P's though!

I collect Kinder Egg toys. Kinder Eggs aren't sold in the US, so if I visit Canada or if a friend goes to another country, I obtain a few that way. There's such a variety... I keep them on a shelf at work to cheer up the place. And they're so intricate! My favorite is a little robber guy with a sack over his back, and when you roll him on a desk surface, the "lumps" in the bag move like something alive is inside!

I collect menus. I even ask friends to pick some up for me when they travel. I don't have them displayed yet though.

@islek i get so excited everytime i see kinder chocolate! i usually scream "kinder surprise!" and get odd looks from whoever is with me. :) i have some from canada, guatemala, england, and switzerland.

Shot glasses and magnets - simple and easy to display.

I collect vintage game board lithographs and my husband collects intentionally boring and strange postcards from our travels.

The strangest collection I know of, however, was created by a friend in high school. He would find "baby Kermit" plush toys every time we went to a thrift store. Eventually the back seat of his car was filled with them.

@Marne --

I collect pens too!
Every time I stay in a hotel, at a resort, aboard a ship or dine in a restaurant/have a drink at a bar that has a logo-pen that comes with the bill or is on the desk in the room, I take it.

I also collect floatie pens - usually the ship cruising past an island someplace - and pens with the name of a ship or a place I've been (Alaska, Hawaii, Canada) - They're also great souveniers for the folks in the office.

Then there's the souvenier refrigerator magnets...

I used to collect candy wrappers in junior high. I cleaned them and used them to cover my textbooks.

Maps of subways on postcards:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kotarana/sets/72157606815910549/

I collect too much! Bottlecaps and rock eggs were the starting point when I was a kid. Nowadays, I love perpetual flip calendars, vintage pyrex, the list could go on and on.

I don't consider myself a collector, but I do have quite a few fountain pens (on the fountainpennetwork.com, someone's always starting a thread about whether one is a collector or a user, then a bunch of others will concede being an accumulator). Here are some of mine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ethernautrix/sets/72157603865660402/

As a child I felt an obligation to collect things--I mean, isn't that what people do? I collected rocks, stickers, shells, feathers, dolls from around the world, items that glowed in the dark, matchbooks... that's all I can think of off the top of my head. But somewhere in my teens I realized I don't enjoy collecting, nor do I want to store collections. So that was the end of that.

I kind of like breaking up collections though--like buying a big tin of matchbooks from around the world and handing them out to anyone who needs a light.

whoops, I meant to say the tin of matchbooks came from an estate sale.

memento mori, post-mortem photography.

Old "no smoking" signs And blue
Mason jars... My fiancé has an extensive "Hackers" movie collection.

my husband collects florida-themed coffee mugs. he has somewhere around 40 i think. the idea is that they are generally the tackiest mugs available. lots of alligators-as-handles and that sort of thing.

I started a collection of pencil sharpeners when i was 3. Cute ones shaped like anymals, like bears, cats, pigs, dogs. My dad used to buy a few each time he'd go to Paraguay.
I think i bought the last one when i was 14, and that was the last one like those that i've seen.
I still have them. Although I think i lost a few, i have about 80. Nowhere to put them, though :(

I know someone who collects dirt from her travels as well. She stored it in little test tubes with cork stoppers. One of her kids broke a bunch lately and she was DEVASTATED.

Now I collect babushkas and cookie cutters from new places. I haven't told anyone about the cookie cutters, because I am afraid that I will get too many given to me! Last year I got two sets of babushka measuring cups, so they're on to that one. But I like that each one is a memory. I only buy them when I am travelling or somewhere I want to remember.

In high school I collected old rusty things I found on walks out in the country. I had a ton of very cool things. My favourites were railway nails and a pony-sized horse shoe.

In college I collected antique silverware. Any garage sale with a $5 ziploc bag of mismatched silver was a huge deal for me. I even made a catalogue of drawings and descriptions of it all.

Now I collect toys ... for my 3 year old LOL.

I don't currently collect anything but I had a large collection of frog stuff in school as a result of a teacher who looked like a frog and who became a (willing) character in a book we wrote.

I also collected glass marbles in primary school - we used to play with them at breaktimes. I had a huge tub of them and I eventually gave them away by emptying the tub onto the playground and shouting 'scram'! It was such the best feeling to be able to give them away freely like that.

railway nail - i have one, I do not collect anythings but a bit of it all!

I collect vintage hair combs and hats.

My mom and I collect Depression glass.
I collect unique necklaces. I love jewelry. :D

My boyfriend and I collect Christmas ornaments. We buy one specific to the destination every time we take a trip, and we write the month and year on the bottom.

They're usually [somewhat] easy to find, small, and fairly inexpensive - our Christmas tree is filled with happy memories each year instead of generic store bought ornaments. Plus, we can pack them away for the other 11 months so they don't clutter up the place!

I don't see my collectioin here but I know other people who do collect it. Animal skulls. I have collected these since I was 10 yrs old. I am not rabid about it-don't screech to a halt at road kill, but will pick up any I find on walks, or beg for them like the bear skull I got from a collection the local ministry of resourses guy had on his fence.

I collect "found" things. I have a knack for finding the oddest things by just looking down at a particular moment. Things that most people would pass up if they even saw it at all.

My favorite is a puppy molar from Carbondale, IL and a teeny tiny little doll shoe I found at Lake Michigan. Its covered in moss and I wonder how long it was there waiting for me to love it in all of its randomness.

They aren't anything amazing, but they are a constant reminder to always slow down and look at the details in life because you never know what you'll miss.

One of my friends used to collect chupa chups' papers. She had some with the weirdest flavor, and everytime I was going abroad I manage to bring some new ones with differents language on it.
As weird as it sounds, she made all the papers flat and framed it, it looked great. Sadly her husband made her trough the all thing away !

@ Mrs. Puma

I collect movie stubs too!! How do you organize or display yours? I currently have all of mine scattered through a few cigar boxes. Any better ideas?

@delagirl924 - someone I worked with brought back 2 cases of kinder eggs. Eating all that really sweet milk chocolate with everyone in the office did away with any interest in kinder eggs I ever had. Done with that!

For a while I collected ace playing cards. I used to buy packs off ebay. Some cool designs and they didn't take up much room.

Now I pretty much collect rocks. I have a collection of black rocks with white polka dots (all from the same beach that I often go to), ones that are stunning works of art, and my "mens flannel collection" of really subtle striping that looks like fine mens suit material. Unfortunately I think I have about 100 lbs. I really love the ones that have really rough grey stone with white lines through them (I have a pile of polka dotted ones and also striped ones at work).

@ Astherushcomes

My bf has kept all his movie stubs in a binder with those plastic organizing sleeves - the small square stubs fit perfectly in the sleeves made for slide film. It's neat to look through them all since they are in chronological order and remember how many movies we watched in 2006, why he has 6 stubs for Star Wars (friends' stubs), etc.

I can't help but think of poor Milton. Any red swingline does it now.

Old glass insulators.

I have a friend who collects crosses on all her travels. Not for religious purposes at all but artistic purposes. She has an entire wall of amazing unique crosses of all different materials, colors, textures from all over the world. It is a beautiful display.