Key Chains Advent Calendar, Day 3 (2022)

 It's Day 3 of my "Key Chains Advent Calendar" opening, and today we have...

a very festive Christmas tree, with colored baubles, snow-laced boughs, and a star on top. This tree does flex quite a bit, which I imagine could put stress on the material over time. But personally, I find this keychain more visually pleasing than yesterday's

Signed, Treesa

Key Chains Advent Calendar, Day 2 (2022)

 Welcome to Day 2 of my "Key Chains Advent Calendar" opening. Behind today's door we have...

Santa Claus himself, definitely more festive than yesterday's keychain (spoiler). Construction-wise, this Santa also features more colors than what I got yesterday, and is therefore made up of a lot more separate, small sections. The joins between these sections are very visible at points. For example, there is a deep gap between Santa's nose and his beard, and his ankle connections seem particularly flimsy. If I were to actually use this keychain as a keychain, I'd be very concerned about it falling to pieces over time. So it's a good thing that this Santa will be getting packed away with my collection.

However, with its obviously festive look this keychain could also work well as a Christmas tree ornament. I like to encourage people to use their spare keychains to decorate their Christmas trees, since not everyone knows a keychain collector that they can pass on their unused keychains to.

Signed, Treesa

Key Chains Advent Calendar, Day 1 (2022)

 When I had my in person meet-up with Heathersmoo back in July, she gifted me with a "Key Chains Advent Calendar", from China (according to the box).

Her thinking was that I could show off what was inside here on the blog over the holiday season. Here's what the calendar layout looks like under the box flap.

And behind door number 1 we have...

A French fries container. I actually think this is pretty cute, even though it's not particularly festive. Admittedly, the fries are a little off-center. But the rubbery material this keychain is made from feels substantial and durable, aside from the fact that the fries and the container are two separate pieces and the connection between them seems somewhat weak. Still, overall I'd say this calendar is off to a great start.

Stay tuned for future posts, where I open the other calendar doors.

Signed, Treesa

Season Of The Witch (Harry Potter Keychains)

 In popular culture, witches often get lumped into the same 'paranormal' category as vampires, werewolves, and other, frequently sinister mythological beings. Although Wicca and various 'modern-day pagan' groups have, in more recent years, made efforts to combat the age-old stereotype of equating witchcraft with devil-worship.

The seven book Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, set primarily at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is statistically the best-selling book series in history. Add to this a blockbuster film franchise based on the books, as well as "The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter" at Universal Orlando theme park, and it could be argued that Rowling's characters rank among some of the most famous magic practitioners in fiction, right up there with Gandalf from J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth or even Shakespeare's 'Three Witches'.

With Halloween fast approaching, I thought that now would be a good time to show off some Harry Potter themed keychains. I already shared a couple of 'wizarding' keychains in my "Buy What You Like" post, under the header "Pop Culture Touchstones". Also, in another previous post, I wrote about a blind bag Ron Weasley wand keychain made by Paladone Products Ltd. that I found at Dollar Tree. In that post, I mentioned how another company had released several blind box wand keychains made from metal, rather than plastic. I also hinted that I would be sharing more information in a successive post. Unfortunately, that follow-up got buried in my list of future post ideas, where I eventually forgot about it. I will attempt to make amends to my readers here, and I apologize for keeping you waiting.

The metal wand pictured above is from the "Harry Potter Collectible Keychains: Series 1" line by Se7en20. It's meant to be Ron Weasley's broken wand from the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. If you look closely at the photo, you might be able to see the molded 'Spellotape' wrapping on the wand.

This "Wingardium Leviosa" keychain is also from the same line. I actually bought this one in its original blind box, at an actual retail store. I more often buy 'blind' items used rather than at retail, so that they're pre-opened and I know exactly what I'm getting. However, this was on clearance at the time.

The Triwizard Cup keychain pictured above is from a similar collectible keychain series by Monogram International Inc., the "Harry Potter Collectors Keyring: Series 1" line. This keychain would've been a blind bag item originally. However, I bought mine secondhand.

This Hogwarts crest, labeled as a "Harry Potter Soft Touch Keyring" on the tag, is another Monogram International Inc. product. However, this item wasn't blind-packed.

Speaking of crests, here's the official emblem of Hogwarts' Hufflepuff house. Each Hogwarts house features a different animal on its crest, with Hufflepuff represented by an animal that some refer to as 'the badger of mediocrity'. However, judging by the number of times that I've walked into a Build A Bear Workshop store and found all of the Hufflepuff merchandise sold out, while merchandise for every other Hogwarts house was still in stock, I think a lot of Harry Potter fans must have a soft spot for this particular house. And in my mind, this actually makes a lot of sense. While many of us may aspire to be Gryffindors or Ravenclaws or even Slytherins, I think that deep down, most of us identify more with Hufflepuffs. Incidentally, this Hufflepuff house keychain was put out by ATA-BOY Inc.

This Lego keychain also features the Hufflepuff house emblem.

When I told my online keychain collecting friend, Heathersmoo, that I'd acquired a secondhand time turner souvenir keychain with identifying markings from Universal Orlando theme park's "The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter", Heather seemed very interested in seeing it. There's also a story behind my managing to snag this keychain from an online auction site that I think could be useful to other shoppers who buy from secondhand sites. I first stumbled across the auction listing for this time turner keychain by accident, when I typed in a search for, I believe, "hourglass keychains". The auction details stated that this keychain was an estate sale find, and I have a strong suspicion that the seller didn't know what it was actually called because neither the auction header nor the item description included the words "time turner". This may have worked in my favor, as it might partially explain why I was the only one who put in a bid. My guess is that because those crucial keywords were missing from the listing, no rival bidders were able to find the auction, despite the fact that the name Harry Potter was included in the title by the seller.

Let's shift our attention to Paladone Products Ltd., the company responsible for that "Harry Potter Backpack Buddies" blind bag wand keychain I picked up from Dollar Tree. This "Harry Potter Light Up Key Ring" is another Paladone Products item. Coincidentally, I bought this keychain from Dollar Tree as well.

I don't really know a lot about this Harry Potter name/logo keychain, since I bought it secondhand from an outdoor flea market. An online seller who also had one listed for sale stated that it originally came from Hot Topic, a store specializing in pop culture related items. But so far, I've been unable to verify this.

I hope that you enjoyed this 'seasonal' post, and Happy Fall to you all.

Signed, Treesa

In Person Meet-Up With Heathersmoo: July 2022 (Part 2)

 (Picking up where Part 1 left off)

Anyone who follows Heather regularly on Livejournal knows that she loves My Little Pony. In her efforts to get a complete set of G5 My Little Pony blind bag clips, Heather bought up the remaining stock from a bookstore she shops at, figuring that she could give away any duplicates to her friends. She wrote on Livejournal that she did manage to get all 11 clips in the series. The duplicate pony that she gave me for my keychain collection is named Zipp Storm. I've got to say, I really like her hairstyle/mane situation for some reason.

Next, we have this surprise pet blind box, which I still need to look at in depth. I was planning to write a full review and upload it as a separate post. But I've fallen way behind on my posting, as you can obviously tell.

The last gift that Heather brought along on the lengthy drive from Florida was this keychain advent calendar. I didn't even know that such a thing existed. Heather also bought one for herself, with her idea being that the both of us could open our individual calendars over the holiday season and then show off what we got.

The location chosen for our meet-up was the thrift store near my neighborhood. Heather has heard me mention this store a lot in blog posts and emails. I gave her a few pointers for shopping at this particular store, such as which departments to check for keychains and where that day's special offers would be posted. Unfortunately, Heather visited me on a Tuesday, which is one of the worst days for shopping at this store location.

Every day, one color tag is supposed to be 50% off and a different color tag is 1/3 off. The colors are rotated twice a week on Sundays and Thursdays, with the 1/3 off color going 50% off and a new color going 1/3 off. This helps to clear out older stock and make room for 'new' items. However, due to space limitations at this location, the tag color that goes from 1/3 off to 50% off on Sunday will only be available for purchase at 50% off on that day. Any remaining items with that tag color after the store closes on Sunday night get pulled from the racks first thing Monday morning, presumably to make room for fresh stock. I've seen store employees doing this.

There is another location of this store chain that I shop less frequently, because it's further away, that does seem to leave stuff on the racks for the duration of the discount period. However, that location is much larger, inside of a former Babies 'R' Us. I've gotten the general impression that pulling discounted items off the racks early must be a management decision, rather than a corporate policy. Regardless, I shared what I knew about the situation with Heather as we were shopping. And like me, Heather found the store's 'policy' frustrating.

I did manage to snag a decent 'grab bag' of keychains at the thrift store that day, although not at 50% off, obviously. Still, the price wasn't too bad. And I just couldn't pass up on Alice Snuffleupagus, Snuffy's little sister from Sesame Street, even though the clip needs to be replaced. Also, the Disney Goofy flashlight and the Marvel Comics Spider-Man clip that came in the bag are pretty fun too.

Speaking of Sesame Street, it so happened that Heather's friend/driver for the trip, Josh, works for the corporate parent company that operates SeaWorld and a variety of other theme parks, including Sesame Place. As an employee, Josh can bring a select number of guests into any company owned park with him for free. Since it was within a reasonable driving distance, Heather and Josh suggested that we all go to Sesame Place. Heather had actually brought this up as a possibility via email before leaving Florida, so I knew ahead of time that it might be happening.

I hadn't been to Sesame Place since I was in the Girl Scouts. But I was pretty sure that, unlike the Disney parks, Sesame Place as a whole was primarily aimed at young children, rather than people of all ages. Still, if Josh and Heather could get me in for free, then why not have a look around? Besides, as long as we got to check out the gift shop for keychains and any other fun Muppet goodies, I'd probably be happy regardless.

All in all, Sesame Place was a pleasant way to kill some time. The park itself had some nice themeing, as far as the buildings and the 'set-dressing' went. Heather and I even took a spin on the merry go round. And Heather and Josh let me hit up every gift shop in the park before we left, searching for unique Muppet items. Josh even let both Heather and I use his corporate discount to each pick up a souvenir keychain for our collections.

I'd like to send a big thank you to Heather, and Josh, for making time to come and see me in their already packed trip schedule. The fact that Heather made visiting me one of her priorities, and the fact that Josh was willing to spend time hanging out with me when he didn't even know me, really means a lot. And I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to get this write-up posted. One of these days, I have got to get myself a decent camera that works well, but that isn't too complicated for me to use. Auto focus just isn't doing it for me.

But at least Heather got the thank you card with keychain that I sent to her.

Signed, Treesa

P.S. Heather also promised to pick me up a keychain from the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant on her way home. But I'll save that package for another post.

In Person Meet-Up With Heathersmoo: July 2022 (Part 1)

 This past July, I was fortunate enough to meet face-to-face with Heathersmoo of Livejournal, known for her "Keychain Of The Day" posts. Heather had already made plans to visit some family members in Pittsburgh over the summer, and she asked me ahead of time if I'd mind her stopping by on the way to see me. Now, Pennsylvania is a deceptively long state, so my hometown is technically nowhere near Pittsburgh. The fact that Heather was willing to go out of her way just to meet me in person really means a lot.

In the time leading up to Heather's visit, I got to work gathering up and packing the various keychains and other small items that I'd put aside for Heather for Halloween (her favorite holiday), her birthday, the winter holiday season, etc. I figured that, if I packed everything up neatly and gave it to Heather when I saw her, she would be set for the rest of the year and I wouldn't have to pay rising postage costs on multiple, holiday themed packages.

Heather brought a number of fun goodies with her for me as well. Some of them were things that she had promised to make for me or to set aside for me, while others were a complete surprise.

Like these knitted flag keychains. Heather, remembering a previous blog post that I'd written about my ancestry, handmade this set of small, knitted keychains, based on the national flags of every country that makes up my combined heritage. Since I'm not as familiar with my ancestors' home countries as I probably should be, I had to refer to online images when photographing these, just to make sure that I didn't have any of the flags upside down.

While we're on the subject of knitting, Heather also sent me several emails discussing the possibility of making me a knitted scarf. I got the definite impression that all of her family members, her friends, and anyone else who has been part of her life for long enough eventually receive a handmade scarf. Heather had been emailing me for suggestions of what color schemes and/or patterns I might like. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble coming up with a scarf concept that I felt would work for what I had in mind. I wanted something that was Disney inspired, but I didn't want the Disney influence to be too obvious. If I wore the scarf out, I wanted other Disney fans to recognize it as the signature colors of a particular Disney character. But I didn't want strangers 'not-in-the-know' to brand me as a Disney dork. I considered having Heather create a blue and black and yellow pattern based on Dory's coloring and markings from Pixar's Finding Nemo films. But Heather was worried that the end result would look "too collegiate". In the end, I gave my approval to the idea of using Figment colors, which was something that Heather had suggested.

For those of you who might not know, Figment is a character from the Journey Into Imagination attraction at Epcot in Walt Disney World. The little guy has quite the fan following among Disney parks enthusiasts old enough to fondly remember the original, 1983 version of the attraction. There have been a couple, controversial refurbishments to the ride since then, starting in 1999. But Figment is still prominently featured on a lot of official Epcot merchandise.

Heather not only made me a scarf in Figment's signature colors. She also made me a matching hat and coordinating fingerless gloves. The hat is loosely knitted, which is nice because it means that, if I ever make it back to Walt Disney World in Orlando, I can wear the hat at the actual theme parks without worrying about getting too warm in the Florida heat. Also, I've learned from experience that fingerless gloves are extremely useful when browsing outdoor flea markets in autumn. The weather then can be too chilly to leave my hands exposed to the elements, but it's very difficult for me to pick items up to check for maker's marks and/or small areas of damage if I'm wearing full gloves. Fingerless gloves are therefore the perfect middle ground. That's a little shopping tip for any of you who buy keychains secondhand.

In addition to the other knitted goodies, Heather also made me these two knitted keychains. One is in 'Figment' colors, and the other is predominantly purple, my favorite color.

Since Heather is an Orlando local, she picked up this set of Disney-themed, souvenir Orlando Florida keychains for me. It is my personal belief that one can never have too many Disney keychains, and Heather knows this about me.

Heather also knows that I do papercrafts, primarily handmade greeting cards, as well as some scrapbooking. In late April, I emailed Heather to request a favor regarding one of my papercrafting projects. I told her how I'd been personalizing some partially filled Disney parks autograph books that I'd bought secondhand, one of which was a combination autograph book and photo album. Since I wasn't the one who'd originally collected the character autographs, I didn't have any corresponding photos of the characters to put in the album. So I'd been filling the photo sleeves with character postcards instead. I'd asked Heather if she could keep an eye out for a couple of specific character postcards, to help me finish up the project, since she lives much closer to 'Disney territory' than I do.

Although Heather wasn't able to find what I was looking for, she did get me a Disney-themed Florida postcard, thinking I might be able to use it in my papercrafts. I actually have a growing collection of Disney postcards, organized and arranged in standard photo albums. So I'm happy to add this one to my collection. I really like the cheerful colors, and the window frame style grid layout.

To continue on the Disney train of thought, in February of this year, Heather told me about a McDonald's Happy Meal promotion featuring Disney Stitch plush toys that could easily be converted into keychains. I don't really keep up to date with fast food toys anymore, despite there sometimes being interesting keychains in the assortments, so this was the first I'd heard about the Stitch promotion. Heather promised to give me "an extra" that she'd gotten. This plush is number 4 from the assortment, "Sippin' Stitch". There appear to have been 8 in total to collect. Heather even taped a spare split ring to the back of the packaging before giving it to me.

(To be continued...)

(Signed, Treesa)

Words To Live By ('Message' Keychains)

 Keychains can have many uses. They can be used to hold your keys, of course. But as previous posts on this blog have shown, they can also serve other purposes. They can be used to remember a special vacation, or to give you a glimpse of a destination that you've never seen in person. They can be used to remember the special people in your life, either because a certain person gave you the keychain or because something about the keychain makes you think of that person. Keychains can also be used to advertise your interests, your fan loyalties, your heritage or your hometown pride. In other words, keychains can be used to send a message. And that's the topic of today's post - keychains with messages on them.

These keychains have a lot in common with bumper stickers, or the more modern equivalent of bumper stickers - car magnets. Like bumper stickers and car magnets, these keychains have something to say. They can be funny, snarky, or inspirational. They can use humor to get their message across, or they can play it straight. They can also cover a broad range of topics, such as social trends, gender, politics, religion, the list goes on and on. However, the primary purpose of these 'message' keychains seems to be to reflect the keychain owner's personality.

Judging by their identifying marks, the majority of the 'message' keychains in my personal collection have come from the following three companies: Laugh Tracks, Kalan, or RPP Inc. My online research was unable to dig up any information on Laugh Tracks, and the only somewhat relevant reference source I could find for RPP Inc. was a photo archive on a Button Museum website showcasing some 'button' style pins that RPP Inc. produced. Kalan, however, is still in business, specializing in "trendsetting" novelty and gift items.

As I started organizing my keychains by company for photos, I decided to see if I could pick out any patterns in the types of messages used by the different manufacturers. I eventually realized that any patterns I did notice wouldn't necessarily tell me anything, since the only 'message' keychains I have in my collection are ones that fit my personal tastes. This means that my seemingly random sampling of keychains probably wasn't so random after all, and therefore wouldn't necessarily reflect the manufacturers' full product range. Still, I thought it would be fun to see what reoccurring themes might crop up in the types of 'message' keychains I'd collected over the years.

The keychains shown in the photos above are all marked Laugh Tracks. I seem to have more 'message' keychains from Laugh Tracks than I have from Kalan and RPP Inc. combined. Also, I couldn't help noticing that several of these Laugh Tracks keychains have a bit of a feminist bent.

At least half of the keychains in the Kalan product assortment above seem to reflect a rather negative attitude. I'm a bit of a pessimist by nature, so I guess that this shouldn't really surprise me.

As for these RPP Inc. keychains, two of them deal with the subject of shopping, two have messages relating to keys, and the first one in the bottom row is completely random, if you take into account that I've never lived in New York. I found that particular keychain at a discount book store years ago, and I bought it simply because I thought it was funny.

Speaking of shopping, here are some other keychains with shopping related messages. The concept of 'retail therapy' is something that I'm very familiar with.

This next set of 'message' keychains uses a different construction than what I've shown so far. I bought these at a flea market years ago, and I have no idea who made them. But I like the unique way that they're constructed. They're similar to the 'button' style pins that I mentioned earlier in this post, except that instead of pin backs, these keychains have flat metal backs.

I already mentioned in my post on "Hobbies And Fandoms" that I 'dabble in' different types of crafts. The photo below shows some keychains with messages related to crafting.

I'm going to wrap up this post with some random 'message' keychains. These examples should help give you a better idea what sort of variety is available, design-wise

Considering the broad selection of 'message' keychains that have been produced over the years, it seems to me that if there's something you want to say to the world, then chances are there's a keychain to help you say it. So here's one final message for all of you.

Signed, Treesa