Collector's Corner: Jennie Elizarrez

Does the sight of bright colors grab your attention?  Remember the blog I wrote about vintage, antique, retro and kitsch?  Well Jennie is the definition of Kitschy-Cute!  Her color coordination between seasons is amazing.  She couples her Kitschy-cute décor with vintage pyrex to create phenomenal displays that will make your mouth drop!  Let’s find out a little more about Jennie and how she came to have such a large collection of her vintage-ware!

Tell us a little about yourself and how you got to be a collector.

Jennie Elizarrez (@jennie_loves) is married with three beautiful children.  She is a collector of Holt Howard, pyrex, Napco, Lefton, blow molds and anything that can be considered Kitschy-cute.  Jennie and her husband were high school sweethearts and have now been married 23 years.  While his mom was more of an antique collector, her mom decorated in Shabby Chic. 

Jennie’s husband, a toy and comic book collector, started leaning towards the items with cute faces.  She mentioned the Vintage Lefton Miss Priss Blue Cat, so I looked it up and sure enough it had the cutest face (with freckles)!  Soon, their house morphed into looking like the 1950’s, with mermaids in the bathroom and pyrex in the kitchen. 

What would you call your decoration style?

Jennie is the one who educated me on the term ‘Kitschy-Cute’.  I mentioned it in my blog about retro, vintage, antique and kitsch.  In the vintage community, anything that is overly cute is considered ‘Kitsch’, or ‘Kitschy-Cute’.  Take a look at the some of her incredible, seasonal displays as well as the mermaids in her bathroom:

Where do you hunt for your treasures?

Jennie loves to shop antique and thrift stores.  She has been visiting them for over 20 years now.  She does admit it’s harder to find all these items (and at a good price point) than it used to be.  Pre-COVID, Jennie could still be found hunting her favorite flea markets.  She’s happy things are starting to really open up again so she can get back to doing what she loves…which is thrift shopping for the perfect find.  One of the hardest things in thrift shopping is leaving things behind because you aren’t quite sure and then kicking yourself later!

What is your favorite holiday?  Tell me why it’s your favorite holiday to decorate and what you love about it.

Her favorite holiday has always been Christmas, but lately she has started drifting towards loving Halloween.  About two years ago Jennie found Johanna Parker Design.  She felt Johanna Parker Halloween fit right in with her Halloween displays, so she started incorporating some pieces.  While her kitchen has a 50’s look, she has one room with a primitive vibe. 

Can you share some of you favorite pieces and tell us a bit about them:

Jennie has so many favorites, but one definitely stands out.  She loves her Lefton Pink Poodle.  It was unmarked so she wasn’t completely sure it was a Lefton until she received a message (indirectly) from Stephen Lefton Sharp that it was indeed authentic!

If you could sit down and talk to the artists, what would you want to see more of?

One of the problems with today’s manufacturing is the attention to detail.  Jennie echoed many other’s comments about how the pieces made this day and age are night and day from how things were made 50 years ago.  The cuteness factor is not the same.  What people want is to get more of the details and it seems that is what is missing from manufacturing these days.  We have heard it before…what people want is to get as close to the vision of the artist as possible.

How do you envision your current collection growing?  Do you think you will keep expanding with the same artists or do you think you’ll want to see more artists in your collection?

After looking at Jennie’s collection, I’m sure you will agree with me that she has an extensive collection to be proud of.  What she is starting to collect now is jadeite and Catherine Holm.  If you are like me, you start to wonder…where does she put all these amazing pieces!!!  As she adds to her collection, she has to let go of something.  She has a vintage, pink trailer that she takes to the local flea market and will sell some items.  I would love to be that person at the flea market, lined up first, to have that opportunity to grab some of Jennie’s pieces! 

Holiday Pizzazz doesn't have the vintage goodies that Jennie does, but what we do have is some great retro and vintage inspired items that will compliment your holiday decorating.  Johanna Parker Halloween and Johanna Parker Christmas have the perfect vintage inspired designs that fit a lot of decorating styles.  Raz Imports has retro themed holiday items while Bethany Lowe Designs loves to give you the vintage inspired items.  If you can't find what you are looking for, reach out...we would love to help you find what you are looking for!