Interview with KaylaSunshine!!

  Interview with a Collector - A ggsdolls blog Series

A monthly series on my blog where I feature some of the most amazing collectors, sellers, and content creators that have become really good friends of mine and what they collect and why? Read on to learn more...

    For the month of March, my blog interview is with an awesome squeak toy collector, talented IG seller and 1/3 owner of the FaceBook shop Three Daisies Vintage also known as Kayla M. or kaylasunshine32 on Instagram!

Born and raised in Arizona, Kayla and her family moved to Aurora, Oregon, and own a family run business there called, Three Daisies Vintage. Okay, let me have Kayla tell you all about her collecting world... 

My family and I started collecting vintage all at around the same time in about 2014. I actually started collecting old TV show memorabilia first, before I got into collecting squeak toys. My favorites were "The Monkees" and "The Partridge Family". I started with watching all the episodes of the TV shows, then I went on to collect things like comic books, trading cards, posters, toys, and more.

 

The next kitschy thing I collected during that time was 'Dream Pets' as well. I had quite a few of them, and I still do. It was actually my mom who bought the first squeak toy we found. She started a collection of them first, and then that’s when I decided to start my collection with squeak toys!

It hasn’t always been with vintage, I’ve always been a collector even since I was little. Whenever a certain toy came out that I liked, I wouldn’t sleep until I “collected them all”. So if they came in a different color, a different shape/size, some kind of different variant, I HAD to have them all.

The main thing with me, to keep me interested in something, or to keep me going with ANYTHING, there always has to be more... There always has to be something I haven’t seen yet to keep me excited about what I’m doing or what I’m collecting. So with squeaks, and with vintage in general, it’s not only the thrill of the hunt in finding these toys, it’s knowing there’s still more out there to explore, there’s still more out there to see that you haven’t seen already.

When people ask me questions about squeaks or certain toys, they assume I know it or assume I have it, and that’s not always the case... I’m seeing new squeaks weekly, that I’ve never seen. So that’s what keeps it interesting, knowing there’s always more that you could discover with squeaks, with toys, or with anything vintage. 

I’ve always liked happy things and seeing happy things, and wanting to be around happy things. Not just with people, but my surroundings as well. Being happy is what I’m all about, that’s why my name is Kayla Sunshine on Instagram and my favorite color is yellow. I like sunshine and happiness.

And the moment I saw squeaks and as silly as it sounds, I thought “these are such happy little toys”. And I think they are so different from other toys and novelties because of how happy they are and how different each and everyone are.

My collection has always looked like a collection. Even when I first started collecting, I kept finding squeaks when we would go out vintage shopping, so my collection accumulated quite quickly to be honest. I’ve posted my progression with squeaks for quite awhile on Instagram, sharing new ones I’ve found or discovered.

Back in 2019, my family and I were featured in Flea Market Style magazine, showcasing our home in Arizona right before we moved here to Oregon. It showed my collection, my moms collection, my sisters collection, and several other neat pieces in our family’s collection. Back when they interviewed us for the magazine, they asked what my squeak count was... at the time it was at over 500 squeaks. Now 3, almost 4, years later, I have not counted since, but I’m sure I’m probably getting up to the 700s now for my squeak collection.

I’m always looking for squeaks of course, different ones I don’t have and ones that I already have too. Again, lots of people assume I have them all, but truth is, I don’t! So I’m always scouring the local antique shop, flea markets, online, and even in different states when we travel, for one I don’t have.

Besides squeaks, 3 other major things I collect are; vintage rubber face animals, vintage greeting cards and vintage figurines. Not as big as the squeak collection, but I also have quite big collections of these 3, I mentioned. I haven’t counted, but if I had to guess, I think I have around 150 or so rubber face animals, LOTS of figurine, planters and salt and pepper shakers, and probably close to around a few hundred greeting cards. So while going out shopping, I don’t just keep my eye out for squeaks, but also rubber face animals, greeting cards and figurines that catch my eye as well! And of course while shopping, we’re always looking and buying merchandise for our store as well.

My family is very supportive of my collections, because they collect vintage as well. They weren’t really surprised when I started collecting vintage because I have always collected something, but this is for sure the longest collection I’ve stuck with.

 I get asked this a lot actually. Which is my favorite or which one is the most special to me, and honestly I probably couldn’t pick out just one. I really like my collection as a whole, I like how it looks altogether.

My family and I started selling at antique malls and vintage shops in Arizona starting in about 2015, I believe. We had both and eventually my sister and I worked at one of the malls. I was a cashier and my sister was the manager of the mall. The mall had over 250 dealers and is one of the largest antique malls in Arizona.

The experiences at the malls have all been very different... I’ve learned so much working at an antique mall. What sells good, how the customers are, how they act, and how to work in retail. Since opening our store in 2020, we’ve learned even more being owners of the business and not just that, but owning an antique store in a different state, which is totally different.

I could go on and on about stories of what we’ve seen and experienced working in the vintage industry in the last 9 years, but there are way too many...

I would describe the items as kitschy cute. I’ve always thought of the word 'kitsch' as meaning something is cute or something adorable or lovable. But if you actually look up the word 'kitsch', it actually defines as “art, objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garnish-ness or sentimentally”. Also referred to as “tasteless, showy, gaudy, tacky or retro”. So it’s interesting what the word actually means, compared how you hear it on Instagram when people refer to the things we collect like squeaks or rubber faces. 

I would refer the things we sell at our shop different than kitschy, even though we do sell stuff like I collect here as well, we mainly sell vintage advertising, primitive, chippy, we’ve got a real mixture of vintage things at Three Daisies Vintage. We look all over to be honest. We look at flea markets, estate sales, garage sales, thrift stores, vintage shops, I shop for me personally online as well.

We look for things to sell in the shop that are something we think others will like too. The almost 3 years we’ve been open (we opened on June of 2020), we’ve kinda have gotten to know what our customers like and what they buy. So we also keep that in mind when we shop.

Lots of different things sell right away when they hit the shop. We post pretty much everything new we get in. And we get loads of messages about things when we post them, right away. Every year we’ve been open, we have a huge vintage Christmas show, where we take out our everyday merchandise and fill the shop up with only vintage Christmas, and when I say fill, we FILL it... So vintage holiday merchandise is always very popular. What’s also been pretty popular here is vintage tins. Like old candy tins, marshmallow tins, cracker tins. Not just tins, but anything with good graphic or images on it, sells very good and very fast.

 The most unique or unusual items we’ve came across has probably been for our personal collections at home. We have things like old clown heads from amusement parks, old animatronic store displays, flying elephants, you name it, we have lots of different things at home.

For me personally, my holy grail has been a Rushton octopus for quite awhile. I’ve never been one to spend oodles of money on one toy, so I could never pull the trigger on a toy worth almost $2,000. We are truly bargain hunters when it comes to vintage. Sure it would be nice to have one, but I’d be even more excited to find one for $5 at a flea market, than to buy one for a $1,000 online. So the Rushton octopus is the item that I’d like to land in my lap.

I have definitely noticed the increase in popularity with not only vintage but specifically vintage toys like squeaks and rubber face animals. Squeaks have always been pretty affordable for the most part. There are a few worth a couple hundred dollars each, but for the most part, affordable. But, figurines and rubber face animals more so, I can’t believe how much money these are starting to cost now. Never in a million years will I understand the price or the popularity to make these toys that price. Don’t get me wrong, I love rubber faces and figurines, but I can’t believe how much they are worth now to people. 

I love vintage and buying and reselling, and I’d like to do it for as long as I can as a profession. But I also have a major love for film and television as well. My dream job was to be able to work behind the scenes on a TV or movie set. I’ve always been so fascinated with television and movie history. My favorite decade as far as movies, TV shows, music, fashion, hairstyle, and so much more, is the 1980s. I so wish I could go back in time and take a trip back to the 1980s, specifically 1985, if I had a choice. My favorite 80s films are; "Back to the Future", "The Lost Boys", "St, Elmo's Fire", "Pretty in Pink", to name a few.... 

I also like some TV shows and movies from “more current times”. My two favorites being the TV show “Chuck” starring one of my favorite people, Zachary Levi. And my second favorite is a little show called “Stranger Things”. I especially like “Stranger Things” because it’s based in the 1980s.

So besides vintage toys, I’m all about old television shows, film and music. So go ahead and test me on some 80s songs or music!

 Oh my goodness Kayla!! Love a collector that is into the 80s dear! I grew up as a teen then and I for sure miss those days!! It has been a pleasure getting to know Kayla, her amazing collection and shop with her Mom and Sister! Thank you so very much for sharing your story with us dear!

It has been one full year since I've started this awesome blog interview series! Thank you for an awesome year guys!! Until next month when we'll meet another collector in the good ole' USA!! Until then, Happy Hunting!

Thank you for stopping by! ~ ggsdolls