Etsy Favorite Friday!: Cat & Dog Salt and Pepper Shakers

It's amazing the things one finds on Etsy. Many people know that Etsy is an online marketplace for handmade items, but it also is a place where you can sell vintage items. ("vintage" is defined as anything 20 years or older). Earlier this month, a fellow RNEST team member created a vintage, dog-themed treasury that included a listing for a set of Cat & Dog Salt & Pepper shakers from the shop Lisa's RetroStyle...

Cute and Kitschy Cat and Dog Plastic Salt and Pepper Shakers

I saw the listing and gasped in surprise. I have that same set! (although in a bit more of a worn condition)

See?
It's one of those ridiculous moments where you realize that it had never crossed your mind that there could possibly be another set like the one you have! Mine is a bit of a private nostalgic family treasure. The story behind my set is that they were my great Aunt Carrie's (aka: Aunt Grandma). But she didn't use them as salt & pepper shakers...she kept them in the red, wooden toybox I used to raid when I came over to her house when I was little. And the cat & dog were some of my favorite things to play with! It was years before I even realized they were supposed to be salt and pepper shakers. You'd think the holes in the tops of their heads (in a "S" shape on the dog and in a "P" shape for the cat) would have tipped me off.

I still have the red toybox too. I used it for the background of these pictures. And I still keep toys in it for when my friends' kids come to play!

I've had these kind of selfishly hidden up in my craft room on a shelf, but I think I may start keeping them in the toybox like old times! I'll let a child enjoy them like I once did!