'Throwback' Package From Heathersmoo: August 2021

I thought that I already blogged about this particular gift package when it arrived. But apparently, I hadn’t. At least, I can’t find a post about it here. This package was originally sent in August of 2021 by my keychain collecting email pen pal, Heathersmoo of Livejournal. Inside was a sweet note from Heather, along with two keychains, one for me and one for my “IRL thrift store Bff” (as Heather referred to my best friend/willing thrift store shopping buddy in the note). I'd already delivered my best friend’s keychain gift quite a while ago, which might explain why I thought I previously posted about Heather's package here on the blog.

According to Heather’s note, my keychain was “the fancy one with the plane”. The one for my best friend didn’t have an added jewelry charm. Both keychains were handmade by Heather herself, and her wire-wrapping skills definitely surpass mine. To be fair, I don’t really practice enough to develop a talent for wirework jewelry.

The red wire coils and blue beads give this keychain sort of a patriotic vibe, while the pink and red color combination of wires gives more of a Valentine’s Day feel. In my opinion, the fact that the keychain isn’t clearly one or the other gives the piece more versatility. While I do enjoy holiday themed items, in season, I’ve noticed that, with clothing for example, there are certain pieces that I don’t wear very much because they’re specifically holiday themed and feel inappropriate at other times of year. I can get away with wearing a snowflake patterned fleece jacket all winter, at least here in the northeastern United States. But characters in Santa hats or even holly and poinsettias are specifically associated with Christmas here in the U.S., and I'd feel too uncomfortable to wear them in January.

I'm sorry for going off topic there. The point is, this keychain was a very thoughtful and much appreciated gift, even though it took me a few years to post about it. So, thank you Heather. I hope that you and all of my readers are doing well. January can be a rather humdrum time of year, but spring comes eventually.

Signed, Treesa

Another Package From Heathersmoo: San Marino and Kumihimo

 I received the keychains shown below in a package from Livejournal poster Heathersmoo in August of 2022, after our in person meet-up that July. Life being what it’s been, it’s taken me this long to get around to posting about them. I’m so sorry Heather. I know it may not seem like it, but I really do appreciate all of the keychain goodies you’ve sent me.

Heather emailed me in the beginning of August because she’d found a duplicate, souvenir keychain from San Marino in her own collection, and she wanted to know if I’d be interested in having it. I actually had to Google where San Marino was/is. I've never been good at geography. As it turns out, San Marino is a European country located near north-central Italy. I emailed Heather back and told her that while I did have some keychains from Italy, I didn’t have any from San Marino. Heather had also written that she’d found a duplicate, souvenir keychain from St. Kitts in her collection. But either she misunderstood my reply, or the St. Kitts keychain ended up not being a duplicate after all, because it wasn’t in the package. (Mystery solved: according to Heather, the St. Kitts keychain ended up not being a duplicate.)

In addition, Heather also sent me a kumihimo keychain that she handmade with wire. Kumihimo, in case anyone has either forgotten or missed a previous post on this blog, is a Japanese braiding technique. Heather has made gifts for me before using this technique, but with embroidery floss rather than wire. So this particular keychain is definitely unique.

I want to send out another thank you to Heather for her thoughtful gifts, along with another apology for my tardiness. I will try to do better in the coming year with sharing things on this blog in a timely manner. But we’ll have to see how that goes.

Signed, Treesa

Package From Heathersmoo: Mothman and Buc-ee

 I mentioned in “Part 2” of my “In Person Meet-Up With Heathersmoo” post that Heather promised to send me a souvenir keychain from the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant. I originally planned to upload a follow-up post, showing off the Mothman keychain I received, long before now. Unfortunately, time got away from me, and my Key Chains Advent Calendar opening ended up taking over my posting schedule. Sorry, Heather. I really am grateful to you for thinking of me. Anyway, here’s the Mothman keychain that Heather sent.

Not only did Heather make a point of asking me what type of Mothman keychain I would like, but she also sent me a link to the Mothman Museum website, so that I could browse their inventory. I told Heather that, if possible, I would prefer a keychain with the actual name of the museum on it. As you can see, Heather didn’t fail to deliver.

Heather also sent me a Buc-ee’s keychain in the same package. I’d never heard of the Buc-ee’s store chain before meeting Heather, which isn’t that surprising considering the chain was founded in Texas and doesn’t seem to have much of a foothold in the northern United States. However, when Heather attempted to describe the awesomeness of Buc-ee’s to me, the impression I got was of a convenience store and an old-fashioned soda counter and a tacky tourist shop all rolled into one.

The last thing in Heather’s package was this ‘lucky penny’. We made a stop at Sesame Place the day of our in person meet-up, and as we were walking around I happened to find a penny on the ground that someone must’ve dropped. Over time, I’ve developed a pretty good eye for spotting dropped change. Anyway, I gave the penny to Heather, telling her that maybe it would bring her good luck. Apparently she wanted to return the favor, and according to her note she had a friend help her scout around for a lost penny to send to me.

I want to apologize to Heather, again, for getting this post up so late. I also haven’t forgotten that I still owe you a few other posts, and I want you to know that I am working on them. Better late than never, right?

Signed, Treesa

Birthday Package From Heathersmoo: 2021

 Heathersmoo from Livejournal, a dedicated keychain collector if there ever was one, kindly sent me a package of keychain goodies for my December birthday. Thanks, Heather! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this post up. I had a lot more prep work to do for this Christmas season compared to last year, since members of my extended family reinstated their annual holiday get-togethers after putting them on hiatus for the past 2 years due to Covid-19. I'm still trying to catch up on all of the projects and other things that got pushed to the back burner during the Christmas rush. So without further ado, let's bring on the keychains.

 

I absolutely love this puffy, furry, greenish-blue teddy bear keychain. The head and limbs seem to be made from some sort of pleather or textured vinyl material that is stuffed, and the body is one of those faux fur pom-poms that were all the rage for purse accessories a while back. The color is unique and fun for a teddy bear, in a subdued shade that strikes just the right balance between a pale pastel and a vibrant jewel tone. However, my favorite part of the design has to be the facial printing. For some reason the face makes me think of Bearemy, the Build-a-Bear Workshop mascot. I doubt that that resemblance was intentional though. According to the product tag, this bear was "Distributed by Kalan LP".

 

I had a lot of trouble photographing the eyes on this dog head keychain, even though I deliberately placed a white backing sheet behind the black metal to better highlight the details. I think my issues were largely due to overcast weather reducing my lighting. While I don't know enough about dog breeds to say for certain what type of dog this keychain is modeled on, maybe someone reading this post can help to narrow it down for me.

Since this dinosaur is holding half of a heart with the word "Best" on it, I'm assuming that it was part of a 'best friends' keychain set, and that Heather has the matching half. The yellow and orange color scheme reminds me a lot of Cheesasaurus Rex, the 90s era mascot for Kraft Macaroni And Cheese. The raised markings on the back of this keychain identify it as another "Kalan" product, this one made in Bangladesh.

Even though it's the first guitar pick keychain in my collection, I've actually been intrigued by this keychain's concept for a while now. Also, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned here before how much 'brand nostalgia' I have for My Little Pony, even though I'm not all that invested in more recent iterations of the franchise. The fact that this keychain is my favorite color, purple, doesn't hurt either.

Lastly, this final keychain is shaped like a silhouette of the United States and patterned like an American flag. I tend to be drawn to country and state silhouette shaped keychains, although I have no idea why. Maybe I should try accumulating enough of these keychains to do some temporary map setups to photograph. That might make for an interesting future project.

There's also an advertisement on the back of this keychain for "Patriot On-Site Services Inc" in Ellenboro, North Carolina. However, I wasn't able to find additional information about the company. The web address listed on the keychain no longer seems to be valid, and online searches got me nowhere. Such is the transitory nature of cyberspace I guess. Internet based resources frequently disappear into the ether, unless we're talking about old social media posts that you actually want buried. Then they hang around forever.

I'd like to thank Heather once again for her gift. I appreciate her generosity in sharing some of her treasured keychains with me, since it's a known fact that once a keychain finds its way into her possession it rarely leaves. So thanks Heather, and I wish you good luck with your keychain hunting in the coming year.

Signed, Treesa

Half-Birthday Care Package From Heathersmoo

 This may sound like a bit of an exaggeration, but making contact with my keychain-collecting, email pen-pal Heathersmoo through her Livejournal site has been practically life changing for me. I know I've probably said this before, but keychain collecting can be a lonely hobby. Finding someone online who shares that hobby has made a big difference for me. It's helped me feel more...normal I guess, like maybe collecting keychains isn't such an out-of-left-field pastime after all. And it's so nice to have a keychain collecting friend that I can swap duplicates from my collection with. It's also nice knowing that if I find a decently priced, mixed lot of keychains secondhand but don't actually need and/or like all of them, I can always send the extras to Heather. Although the fact that she lives in another state is a bit of a downer, since it means we'll probably never get to meet in person. Steadily increasing postage rates to send each other stuff could also be a hassle.

Over the past few months I've sent Heather several small, keychain care packages. She has been going through a rough time in her life, and I was hoping that a few keychains and the reassurance that she was in my thoughts would help to cheer her up a little. Well, Heather decided that it was past time that she returned the favor. Using the excuse of celebrating my half-birthday, she sent me a care package filled to bursting with keychain goodies.

Heather structured this care package around a zoo theme, with keychain versions of various critters, for example bears.

The bear on the end is a 'birthstone' keychain, and the color is meant to simulate topaz, according to Heather's note. Topaz can be found naturally in more than one color, with the more familiar Golden Topaz being used in modern times as a November birthstone while Blue Topaz is associated with December, my actual birth month. However since this care package was intended for my half-birthday, which would fall in June, Heather might've been aiming for that. The modern day June birthstone is apparently Alexandrite, which according to my online research looks green in sunlight but has a red tone under incandescent light.

Heather also included a flamingo keychain, stating that, "It's not a trip to Florida without them." Heather herself resides in Florida.

Other animals featured in keychain form were a dog,

a cat,

and, as Heather described them, a "herd" of unicorns. No two members of the 'herd' look exactly alike, although one of the 'unicorns' has wings as well as a horn, so it's technically an alicorn. I know some mythical creature fans can be persnickety about that.

This "pine tree" keychain, as Heather called it, was part of the package as well. I'm not normally a huge fan of sequins, but this colorful conifer is just plain fun.

According to Heather, this purple crystal keychain is an amethyst. Heather must've remembered that my favorite color is purple.

Something else that Heather apparently remembered was an email conversation that we had months ago where the topic of anime came up in passing. I mentioned, again in passing, that "anime wasn't really my thing". But I then admitted that I had been into Cardcaptors back in the day, when shows like Pokemon were still all the rage in the U.S. This pink winged keychain is the Star Wand symbol from Cardcaptors. It sort of amazes me that Heather actually remembered my Cardcaptors comment when I think I only brought it up once. I wish my own memory was that good.

Thank you so much for the generous gift Heather! When I went to bring in the mail and found a package with my name on it, it really brightened my day, sort of that 'child seeing the wrapped packages on Christmas morning' kind of feeling. I sincerely hope that the clouds are lifting in your own life.

Signed, Treesa

Birthday Surprise Box From Heathersmoo

 My first introduction to Heathersmoo was through her Keychain Of The Day posts on Livejournal. Before the internet, having a collection or interest that wasn't prominent in the mainstream could often feel like a solitary, or at worst an isolating, pursuit. When I first started collecting keychains in my childhood, it was easy for me to believe that I was the only person on the planet who did, judging by the way people reacted when they found out about my collection. I'm pretty sure I got some odd looks when I went flea marketing with my dad and he explained to sellers we bought keychains from that I collected them. And none of the adults in my life had ever heard of someone collecting keychains before, though they were willing to indulge my odd hobby and help me build my collection. When I showed off my keychains to my grade school peers as part of a class project, I'm fairly sure that they just added 'keychain collecting' to the long list of things about me that were strange. I was never one of the 'popular' kids to begin with, but collecting keychains just reinforced the idea that there was something off about me. Anyway, I was really happy when Basic Fun Inc. created a pop culture craze with their mini board game and classic toy keychains. Not only were the keychains cool, but knowing that there were other people in the world who also collected them made me feel like less of a weirdo.

The World Wide Web has made it much easier for people to connect with others who share their particular interests. Thanks to the internet, collectors who previously felt isolated have been able to form vast, global networks with other collectors. However, keychain collecting is such an obscure hobby that even online I had trouble finding anyone who shared my enthusiasm for keychains. So it was a real thrill for me to discover Heather's posts.

Heather and I have been corresponding by email off and on for quite a while now. We've also sent each other small packages from time to time. I've mentioned Heather here on the blog before, since I try to upload a post any time she sends me something for my collection. But I was especially touched by Heather's kindness when her most recent package arrived. Despite the fact that she had recently suffered a loss in her family, Heather still took the time to put together a gift box for my December birthday because she wanted me to have, as she put it, "a big birthday surprise". But that was only the beginning of Heather's thoughtfulness.

 Here's a photo of everything that was in the box. Heather took the time to individually wrap each small gift with My Little Pony wrapping paper. Being a child of the 80s, I had quite a collection of My Little Pony toys back in the day. So I do have a sense of nostalgia for the My Little Pony brand, even though I never got into the more recent iterations of the franchise.

Heather handmade this hemp macrame keychain and this knit Santa hat ornament just for me. The fact that Heather put in the time and effort to craft something by hand makes the gifts even more meaningful, in my opinion.

But to show you the full extent of Heather's thoughtfulness, let me tell you about the two keychains pictured above. In a previous blog post about my ancestry, I mentioned that I was looking for a keychain from Hungary to round out a sub-collection of keychains that I'd assembled to represent my mixed 'cultural heritage'. Well, Heather got one for me. I had also emailed Heather earlier that year to ask her if she had any extra Cypress Gardens keychains that she could float my way, since she lives in Florida and she's mentioned before that she holds on to her duplicate keychains. Heather didn't have any spares in her collection to send me, but she went to the trouble of going online and buying me one instead.

Heather also sent this BFF keychain from Claire's. Keychains like this are typically sold in pairs, and according to the note that Heather included in the package she kept the coordinating pink cat for her own collection. She also said that she considers us "keychain best buds", which to me really means a lot.

There were several other fun inclusions in the package as well, like this railroad museum sticker and keychain set.

I really like the architectural design on this Budapest keychain. The use of light in the composition is striking and gives the building an almost ethereal glow.

This Buzz Lightyear clip originally came with a McDonald's 'Happy Meal'. I'm glad I'm not the only one who still thinks about ordering kid's meals to get a particularly tempting premium. I am feeling a little divided over whether or not I should open this, since the bag is still sealed.

Last but not least is this Uzbekistan keychain, shaped like a boxing glove. I 'googled' Uzbekistan and boxing to try and figure out the connection, and apparently boxing is a very popular sport in that country, thanks to Uzbekistan's stellar participation in several of the Olympics.

Thank you so much Heather! You really went above and beyond with this 'birthday surprise', and I am blown away by your thoughtfulness.

Signed, Treesa

Another Goodie Box From Heathersmoo

I recently received another fun goodie box from Heathersmoo of Keychain Of The Day on Livejournal. Heather's parents had gone to Hawaii before the whole Corona virus pandemic, and she'd had them pick up a couple keychains for me while they were there. Heather also included some additional items in the package. So, let's take a look.

Here are the two keychains from Hawaii. I love the sea turtle hatching out of the egg. I think I mentioned my fondness for turtles in a past post. I find it interesting that although the keychain was purchased in Hawaii and says Hawaii on it, according to the tag it was manufactured in the Philippines. The turtle and the egg are both made from wood.

The fish keychain seems to be made from some kind of leather. According to Heather, this keychain is modeled on Hawaii's state fish, which is known as the humuhumunukunukuapua'a. (From what I understand, the Hawaiian language has only 13 letters, and as a result a number of native Hawaiian words have repeating syllables.)

Heather also sent me a small notepad from Canada (notepads are always handy things to have around), as well as a handmade kumihimo keychain and an adjustable bracelet/anklet. Kumihimo is a Japanese braiding technique. In the note that Heather sent with the package, she told me that the colors she chose for the bracelet/anklet were inspired by Thin Mint cookies. As a former girl scout, I think this is a fun idea.

And I guess that about wraps up this post. Thanks again Heather! If I end up going on vacation this summer I'll try to return the favor. Although with the current state of the world a summer vacation doesn't seem likely.

Signed, Treesa

Keychain Goodie Box From Heathersmoo

I know I've said something like this before on this blog, but keychain collectors with an online presence seem to be few and far between. At least I've had trouble finding anyone on the web who shares this hobby. So I was beyond thrilled when I was able to make contact with Heathersmoo. Heather is behind Keychain Of The Day over on Livejournal. I especially enjoy seeing her posts showcasing the keychains she's brought back from her many trips abroad.

Heather and I have been exchanging emails now for awhile. I also found some keychains with the name 'Heather' on them at my local thrift store that I was able to send to her. When I found out that Heather and I both have December birthdays, I sent her a few more keychains as a combination birthday and holiday gift. So, when Heather took a trip to Africa earlier this year, she offered to bring me back a keychain or two for my own collection. She also offered to send me a few of her spare keychains. I wanted to share what she sent here, now that I've gone through the package and have finally gotten everything photographed. A big shout-out and a big thank you to Heather for her thoughtful gift.

Here's a look at the box Heather sent before I unpacked it.

And here's a photo of all the fun goodies that were inside. Along with the keychains, Heather also included a very nice letter, as well as two rooibos infusion packets. Apparently rooibos is steeped in hot water to make a beverage like tea. However according to Heather rooibos comes from the redbush plant, which isn't actually related to the tea plant. This is a good thing to know, since traditional tea is too bitter for my taste. Anyway, let's take a look at the keychains Heather sent me.

Here are the two keychains that Heather brought back from Africa for me. The letter she sent along says that the Protea flower pictured on the one keychain is the national flower of South Africa. Even though over the years I've managed to collect a lot of keychains from places I've never visited, I haven't found many Africa keychains for my collection. So these were really nice to get.

According to the letter Heather sent, she knit this letter T monogram keychain herself. She called it a "T-ring". She even used my favorite color, purple.

Here we have two Webkinz Kinz Klips, a 'Cocoa Dino' and a Dalmatian. Heather made a point of asking me if I already had any Webkinz in my keychain collection, so I sent her a list of what I owned. It's funny, but when I first opened the package I thought the dinosaur was supposed to be a dragon. The Dalmatian makes me think of one of my sister's best friends, who happens to be a big fan of Disney's 101 Dalmatians. I'll be replacing the plastic clips with split ring 'findings', because I'm very particular like that.

Last we have this Rainbow Dash My Little Pony. Heather's letter says that this line of My Little Ponies was originally sold in blind bags at Target stores. Once again, I'll be replacing the clip with a split ring.

I want to say another big thank you to Heather. It means a lot to me being able to share this hobby with someone, even if we never get to meet in the 'real world'.

Signed, Treesa