My Whatchamacallit

by karrie dobie

A few weeks ago I stumbled across this reel on instagram and I was instantly enchanted, inspired and wowed.

Fifteen minutes later, I had a box and was ransacking my house for all the miniature things I’ve been stashing in random drawers for the entirety of my life.

By that evening I had two boxes. One for items for me. One of stuff from my boys.

I’m using a pair of silver fabric wrapped boxes that can close and, for now, they are on my desk. Here’s my personal :) micro collection:

I had a sense of relief or closure or joy to finally have a place to gather all these random bits and bobs I’ve been holding onto. Little joyful items that bring me a tiny zing of inexplicable joy that I’ve come across through the years and stashed in my jewelry box or junk drawer or a random bowl on a shelf, now feel like they can relax and be appreciated.

Even though my boys are all grown, I had some of their tiny trinkets sprinkled in the weirdest places too. A one inch whale that our youngest used to carry around in his sweaty palm has been sitting alone in a tiny silver jewelry box for over ten years. Now it’s part of a meaningful collection. This box is great if little kids (old enough not to choke on smalls) come over, they love looking through it and organizing the items.

I had a lot of these items, but I did have a $30 return to Hobby Lobby and I gave myself permission to stock my boxes a bit–it was so fun!

The one problem? I don’t have a name for these yet that feels right for me. I have lots of Creation Collections™️ 😂 around my house – shallow bowls of shells and rocks and dried flowers. But I want my own special name for this too.

The items gathered together in these boxes have brought me an irrational amount of joy. I show them to everyone who comes over, and they’ve all been obsessed as I am.

If you want to start your own box of wonder, pocket parade, tiny finds, happy bits…you must shop your house. You might be amazed at what you’ll find over a few days.

And, if you need to jump start your collection here are some ideas:

Tiny aircraft (and a hot air balloon!)

Architecture around the world (Big Ben!)

82 piece animals (dogs too!)

Tiny Food!

Colorful tassels

Mini makeup

World’s smallest BANANAGRAMS!!!