Napco | Crazy4Me - The Modern Bombshell Lifestyle by: Yasmina Greco

Kitschy-Cute Vintage Collectibles

August 8, 2021 By: Fan

Find out what kitschy-cute vintage collectibles are and why they’re so popular and sell for so much money these days. Also, learn about the history of the merchandise and some tips for buying them!

My heart gets so happy looking at these adorable little faces with those big eyes, long eyelashes, and sweet expressions…… welcome to the kitschy-cute world of today’s vintage collectibles.

Vintage Pixieware Kitschy-Cute Menschik Goldman Dolly Girl Collection Set

Kitsch is a term that’s been around for quite some time. It can be described as art or items that are considered to be in poor taste, corny, or overly sentimental. For many people, kitsch has become an insult with negative connotations, and they avoid it at all costs. But there are some who enjoy the warmth and nostalgia of kitschy things from their childhoods. These vintage collectors know what they’re looking for when browsing through flea markets and antique malls. Kitschy collectibles and prices for these items has even spurred a new term in the market referred to as “kitschy-cute”!!

Vintage Kitschy-Cute Enesco Lil Bear Collection Set

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Collecting Holt Howard Pixieware and Whimsical Kitchen Kitsch

July 16, 2021 By: Fan

Yasmina Greco with her Holt-Howard Jam ‘n Jelly Pixieware Jar and matching T-Shirt

There aren’t many kitchen collectibles from the 1950s and 1960s that excite me as much as Pixieware does. From the jam ‘n jelly jars with their little tongues licking the sweet jelly residue from their lips, to the instant coffee pixie jar, relish pixie jar, or the jolly girl set, manufacturers like Holt-Howard, Davar, Lefton, Lipper & Mann, Norcrest, Napco and Menschik Goldman to name a few, displayed creativity at its finest and what thinking outside the box is supposed to be when it comes to dreaming up the colorful creations of the era. Pixieware has been a hot collectible and the enthusiasm continues till this day!!

Holt-Howard Relish Jar with Spoofy Spoon 1958

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Collecting Vintage Christmas Year Round

December 31, 2020 By: Fan

Yasmina Greco Crazy4Me Vintage Christmas

Hello again my friends, I hope you all had a marvelous Christmas and that Santa was good to you all!! As I put the finishing touches on post number six, the final post of our Vintage Christmas Collecting series, it’s New Year’s Eve as I sit at my desk surrounded by my vintage treasures (vintage Santa’s, snowmen, shopper girls, bottle brush trees and my vintage candy cane holders) and want to thank you all for your lovely comments and questions along the way of the collecting series. I have truly enjoyed putting the series together and hope you’ve benefited from some of my tips and enjoyed seeing pictures of my collections. I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope that 2021 is good to us all!!

I collect vintage Christmas all year round. As you know from my previous posts, I am obsessed with vintage Christmas items and the hunt is really part of the fun. As our digital worlds keep moving forward, it actually makes searching for vintage Christmas items a little easier and simpler as we have access to wonderful resources that are available 24/7 and 365 days a year and spans the entire globe!!

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Collecting 1950s Vintage Spaghetti Poodle Figurines

December 19, 2020 By: Fan

Today I am sharing one of my passions with you all and it has to do with collecting vintage spaghetti Poodles. The poodles in these pictures are all part of my personal collection and I adore their kitschy cuteness and how they make me smile. These vintage poodles also fit my Pinup and Mid-Century Modern vibe perfectly. My favorite spaghetti poodles are the three on the tray that have glasses and bows and are made by Norcrest in Japan in the 1950s and the little Christmas poodles that spell out ‘NOEL’ made by Lipper & Mann in the 50s. My collection includes poodle lipstick holders, poodle planters and vases.

UPDATE: You can ready about my collections on a recently published piece in the Antique Trader

This post is all about going back to the 1950s of yesteryear when kitschy cute Poodles were all the rage. Poodle motifs came in a variety of items from poodle skirts and sweaters to table linens and decorative collectible figurines like the spaghetti poodle. Ceramic artists in the late 40s-50s came up with a new technique to mimic the poodle’s fur known as “spaghetti art ware” and it ignited a frenzy for spaghetti poodles.

Spaghetti art wear is made from clay, porcelain, and ceramic which is applied as “fur” to form various textures of a poodle’s hairdo. To accomplish the spaghetti look, ceramicists and designers would have different techniques like using tea strainers to push the material through to form strands that were then attached to the poodle giving it a pom-pom look or they would swirl it onto to the poodle for a curly look. The spaghetti is very fragile and tends to break or chip over the years.

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Collecting Vintage Christmas Angels

December 17, 2020 By: Fan

Christmas is just one week away!! I don’t know where the month has gone but in one week it will be Christmas. I hope you have been following my Vintage Christmas Collecting Series where I have been sharing my collections and providing tips on collecting vintage Christmas items and I would love to hear from you so please send me an email or reach out to me on social media @crazy4me or @spicyatomicprincess and let me know.

Holt-Howard Ermine Angela Salt and Pepper Shakers — Holt-Howard Ermine Angels Salt and Pepper Shakers

Today’s blog post is for week four in our Vintage Christmas Collecting Series and today it is all about collecting vintage Christmas angels as Christmas and angels really go hand-in-hand. The majority of vintage angels in my collection date to the 1950s and were made in Japan by Napco, Norcrest, Ucago, Holt-Howard and Lefton when mid-century modern and kitsch were all the rage. Some angels have no markings and some are marked Japan or have a paper label that says Japan. Vintage Christmas angels have a lot of the similar spaghetti trim detailing with sponged gold accents like the Christmas decorations made during the era. Some angels are in the form of bells, Noel sets, salt and pepper shakers, and others are figurines. So far, in all my years of collecting, I have only ever come across only a couple of brunette angels and all the others have been blondes so, the brunette haired ones are the rarer ones.

Here is a super darling trio of baby angel boys made by Lefton and they each hold a holiday element like a present, candy cane and stocking and a wreath.

This brunette beauty is made by Napco and she has her eyes lowered, holds a lovely Christmas greetings wreath and presents. This angel is quite fancy with so much spaghetti trim on her robe that has the lovely gold sponged details and her wings are one of the most ornate pair I have seen on an angel as they are highly detailed and so very intricate.

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Pretty Ladies – Collecting Vintage Christmas Head Vases and Planters

December 10, 2020 By: Fan

Welcome to blog post three in our six-part series on collecting vintage Christmas. Today I am sharing some of my favorite Christmas head vases and planters from the 1950s-1960s along with some tips towards the end of this post on collecting head vases and cleaning your precious items.

Vintage Christmas Rubens Skater Girl Planter

If you’ve been reading my blog and following me for some time then you know I am obsessed and you can say addicted to vintage kitschy mid-century goodies but, I am especially crazy4 vintage Christmas!! I started collecting vintage Christmas head vases and planters with this adorable little skater girl (above) wearing a bright red skater outfit, gold antlers on her head and a sleigh filled with presents and candy cane runners. This planter was made by Rubens in the 1950s and most likely in Japan as that is where the majority of ceramic production was taking place. I found this planter so adorable and charming and so a collection started.

Vintage Christmas Inarco Head Vase Glamour Girl

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