How did January fly by so quickly?

My goodness, it's hard to believe that the better part of three months has whizzed past since my last post here. As they are for many, the holidays were a very busy time for us, and then January turned out to be a busy, stressful, and rather expensive (big car repairs, hefty personal and business taxes, etc) month, so between all that, I haven't had too much time for blog posts outside of my main personal site (Chronically Vintage).

I can't claim for a second that this weekend has been any less stressful or hectic, but I don't like to let too long pass here without posting, so I'm taking a moment on this chilly Sunday afternoon to pop in and say hello - as well as to extend my slightly belated New Year's wishes to all of my readers here.

Not too much has been shaking on the Girl Guide patch trading front lately on my end. I still check eBay at least a couple of times a week for GGC items, but have bought very few (as there haven't many listing for things I didn't already have which were of interest to me) new patches, pins, or badges in the past year. While that might be good for my wallet (no, not really, I just end up spending the money I would have on Girl Guide items on one of my other many hobbies and passions), it isn't so grand for my collection, which hasn't seen many newcomers for quite some time.

One exception to that statement is that, thanks to a dear Guiding friend in Australia, I have continued to grow my collection of Australian Girl Guide items over the past couple of years in leaps and bounds. On the Canadian and US fronts however, things have been pretty slow.

I know that there aren't nearly as many collectors and traders out there still as there was once was, but I just want to let anyone who may be reading this know that I'm still actively trading and collecting. So, by all means, feel free to zip an email my way anytime if you're still doing the same thing as well.

I suspect that 2013 is going to be a busy year - especially if this first month is any indication of what's to come - but at some point, I would like to update this blog, as it's running on a rather old Blogger template and should probably be updated sooner or later. I'm not sure yet when I'll make this switch (if I do), but will post here to let you know if construction (so to speak) is going to be taking place for a while.

As January draws to an end, I hope that you've all had a fantastic start of 2013, and that we'll all be able to grow our patch collections as the year progresses.

Join me in welcoming a new patch trading blog to the community

This post is long overdue, and I really must apologize to the person who asked me to write about their blog here last January for that. At the time we were incredibly busy in the midst of packing and preparing for a big cross country move, and I wasn't spending much time online, let alone writing post for this blog, so I wasn't able to accommodate her request at the time (but said that I would definitely aim to later on).

I always, always try to keep my word though, and thus am happy today to let all of you know about a new Girl Guide related blog on the block. Last January Stephanie Nash, a fellow patch trading and Guiding enthusiast started a blog of her own to document some of her swapping and Guiding related going-ons called Misty's Trading Post.

There are so few of us still actively seeking new (or returning) patch swapping partners online, let alone folks with blogs of their own devoted to the topic, so I really have been very eager to announce Stephanie's here for some time.

I hope you'll join me in extending a warm (slightly belated) welcome to Stephanie and her charming blog, and that you'll all take a moment to stop by, say hello, and perhaps zip an email her way if you're interested in trading.

I appreciate that you contacted me about your blog earlier this year, Stephanie, and really hope that things have been going great on the Guiding and patch trading fronts for you throughout 2012.
It's always a joy to hear from those with Guiding related blogs, and I welcome you to contact me anytime if you'd like me to consider blogging about your site here, too.

Happy start of November, everyone - here's to the hope that it will be a month filled with plenty of wonderful patch swaps for all of us!

Fondly remembering the heyday of eBay Girl Guide listings

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You know those moments when something miffs you a bit and you really need to get your mind off of it? Well, I'm having one of those right now regarding an overseas eBay seller and their rather unscrupulous, rude approach to handing the fact that my order (of some craft supplies) did not arrive. I filed a PayPal dispute on the last possible day to do so (so a full 45 days after I paid for my order) and they're basically going postal (no pun intended) on me for doing so, even though I'm 100% within my rights to do so.

Oh well, we'll just see happens there! (This isn't the first problem I've run into with various China/Hong Kong based craft supply sellers, but it will definitely be the last time I order from one of them - the few dollars saved from buying overseas isn't worth the headache!)

On the topic of eBay however, I'm sure I'm not alone in being the only that has noticed the ongoing decline in Canada Girl Guide item listings (I don't monitor GG/GS from other countries very closely, so I can't comment too much on how things have been in this regard with listings from the US, UK, Australia, etc). Five years ago now (wow, where does the time go?!) when I started collecting GG items again (for the first time as an adult) there was often quite an abundance of eBay listings for patches, badges, pins, buttons, uniform pieces, and sundry other Girl Guides of Canada related pieces.

It was well beyond the scope of my budget at the time to bid on (or buy every listing that caught my eye, but it was through eBay (especially during 2007 and 2008) that I built up the bulk of my present day collection. Had it not been for the large number of listings (and I can only guess at how many there were before 2007 - but I suspect perhaps even more then when I began bidding), my collection would be a far cry smaller than it is for sure!

{Official eBay logo via eBay.}

Much as the interest in patch collecting as a whole has dwindled over the years (a point regular readers of this blog have certainly seen my talk about me before), so too has the number of GGC eBay listings.

This isn't surprising to me, as I see the two as going hand-in-hand rather naturally. If there's less of a demand for something, there's likely to be fewer people selling it. The fact that various parts of the country (such as Ontario) have done away with the A/D/D system (and thus are not producing A/D/D crests any more), and also shut down all of the real world Guide shops, certainly didn't help matters either.

Have there been times over the past few years when there was a sudden spike in Girl Guide listings? Absolutely, but - especially from 2010 onward - they are become exceedingly few and far between. At any given moment there is at least a small number of GGC listings (often for Brownie or Guide badges and activity/camp crests), but it's been a good long time since there was much in the way of A/D/D or pin action.

I'm sure that as time goes on, there were will be other listings for these types of items, but I suspect it will be a very rare occurrence indeed when we see a seller listing ten, twenty or more A/D/Ds, hard to find badges, or other highly sought after items during the same week or month.

Nevertheless, I have no plans to give up my nearly daily eBay keyword searches for Girl Guide items, and am sure that every now and then a new listing for an item I don't already have (and would love to add to my collection) will pop up - and I want to ensure I toss my bid into the ring, so to speak, bright and early when it does!