I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll collect almost anything. Except for stuff that’s made specifically to be collectible. Hummel figurines? I’ll pass. Precious Moments? God no. Those faceless Willow Tree people that everybody else loves? Not my thing.
But turn me loose in a thrift store or at a garage sale and I guarantee I will find some random castoff that has absolutely no monetary value that I will just HAVE to have.
And then I’ll find another one. And another one. And another one. Case in point: my collection of secondhand stars. Most of them cost next to nothing.
Some of them I’ve given makeovers, like these two. The star on the left was unpainted cardboard when I bought it. The one on the right was one of those plastic glow-in-the-dark models. I gave them both a coat of copper paint and now they look like they’re metal.
These were all basic pine stars that I’ve picked up one or two at a time. Most of them were unfinished wood when I bought them. One was bright blue. I painted them all white, glued a little newspaper on them and grunged them up a bit.
This one was obviously a cookie cutter that someone had drilled holes in and turned into a Christmas ornament before casting it off.
Most of these were bright shiny gold stars, which I didn’t love, so I brought them home and painted them silver.
I tend to put out a star or two here and there occasionally, but most of the time, my stars live in a box.
With Christmas coming, I decided I’d pull them all out and give them a chance to shine.
They’re still just a bunch of random, discarded, picked-up-at-a-thrift-store-for-a-quarter-each stars.
But all together, they make a lovely collection.