Magpie Ethel

Estate Sale Saturday - Four Hands

Saturday morning my friend Paula and I hit Vintage Gathering and Barn House.  We did some shopping and saw lots of friends. It was a wonderful way to spend the morning.  As we were driving home I asked if she wanted to hit an estate sale that had been advertised a couple of blocks away from my house.  Paula used to have a booth at Stars Antique Mall and she and I love the same stuff. She does not have her booth anymore.  Since she had no booth to fill, at this particular sale she ended up being an extra set of hands for me.  Hence I was FOUR HANDED and that was a good thing!

It has been awhile since I found a pair of vintage sunglasses.  I also found a great tripod patriotic hat!

Paula and I arrived at this sale THREE hours after it had opened.  It was just boxes in the driveway and the garage to dig thru. What fun to dig with another set of hands that knew me so well!

I got two of these jumbo puzzles that came already pieced together. I had never seen them in this form. My vintage sunglasses are there on the left, and a Boy Scout compass.

A Mother Goose Shoe tin clicker and some old red cookie cutters manufactured by HRM.  One of them is on the original cardboard packaging and they say they are made in the Land of Make Believe, Hope, New Jersey.

Some vintage St. Patty's Day, a clown light switch cover (the nose slides up and down to make the light go on and off), a couple of old pencil sharpeners and a unused girl scout key chain.

I love this candy lipstick on the original packing. It will live in the cabinet of curiosities.

I found a black spun cat and a old Halloween whistle.

Old Glassip drinking straws, paper birthday tablecloth in original cellophane, a couple of whisk brooms and a St. Patty's Day hat.

A charming old swallow toy in original packaging that you swing about your head to make it fly.

Old ribbon spools, great waxed dixie style cups and a kaleidoscope with nursery rhyme graphics.

A set of four plastic canisters, a plaid scarf and a patriotic honeycomb bell.

Vintage stationary in original boxes and some old Girl Scout stickers. A box of plastic coasters.

Old Dennison style stickers and gift cards.

Four old bait containers with a fish graphic engraved on them (wish I had a better shot - dang cute).

Evidently there had been many, many games earlier in the day.  I got this one.

My favorite find is this silly pencil.  The gal's pencil topper head I think is celluloid and she is cuuuuteee!

From cuuuttee we have two scary old rubber clown (?) masks.

A small amount of some adorable old wallpaper border with dancing folks. (double clip to enlarge..it is quite charming)

And a couple of weeks I found a slew of old Hi-C cans.  This week it was Carousel brand soda cans. My second pair of hands handed me those awesome mica glitter birds that she dug out of box.

Was a good sale and so happy to have a a friend there digging for me!  Thanks Paula..was on that estate sale high for rest of the day!  It really was an ideal day.

Happy Day!

 

 

 

Estate Sale Friday - I Did Find Some Stuff

I hit one estate sale yesterday and three today.  You won't see me yelling from the rooftops over my finds, but I did find a few good things.

An old cardboard skeleton and a galvanized watering (or oil?) can.

Vintage oddball Easter decoration with a couple of spun chicks tucked inside - marked Japan on the bottom.

A cute old apple tape-measure, a vintage rubber honey bear, old cloth tape measure and a flower pin.

I seem to be finding thimbles lately after crafting success with my thimble flowers the other day.The trick or treat banner is perfect for a spun head gal.

Some of the thimbles are advertising thimbles which adds to the charm. The one on the extreme left is for Columbia Pickles.  The one with the red band reads "Meet the wife".

Old Bingo markers and a pair of adorable birthday invites.

A plastic swan, old thank you cards and a lone Christmas item.

I pixed up a ziploc bag with a couple of old Gurley candles in it and some other misc stuff.  I was lucky to notice two Halloween spun heads tucked in with candles.  Yah!

Not a bad day!

Am heading to A Vintage Gathering and Barn House tomorrow for some shopping.  Looking forward to seeing some friends and day in the country.

Sunday I have 31 family members coming over to celebrate Tom's birthday....sounds like a busy weekend! 

Happy Day and have a wonderful weekend!

The Power of Paint

I purchased this little wooden stand/side table at an estate sale a few weeks ago. It was $1.

I had some leftover paint (color was goddess green) in my stash from a previous project and gave the little table a new look.

I love how easy it is to transform with paint.

This little table is definitley smile worthy now!  Happy Day!

Collection Challenge #63 - Vintage Coasters and Cozies

Today's challenge was inspired by my daughter Kate, and her teen friends who were over the other night. One of the girls commented on the cute drink coasters they were using and asked if they were vintage. Of course they were and I thought they would be a good post.

These are the coasters the girls were using.  They are in the living room for guests to use.

I think the larger one is used for a pitcher.  I love the floral motif on them all. I think I need to add to this collection...I forgot how cute these are. I need more.

Of course I have more in this coaster collection.

I don't use these.  They stay in the box and look cute. They are made of a heavy cardboard.

These coasters are pretty nifty. They are made by Rubbermaid and there are four in the box.

If you read the flip side of the box, you realize why they are so nifty...manufactured to look like car mats! They were a holiday giveaway.

I have a large collection of floral trays in my studio that hang on the wall.  I also collect the tin coasters of that same genre.

I don't use them as coasters, but use them as wall decorations.

Here is my "eye spy" photo of a few more coasters.  Can you find the 6 that hang on this wall?

These small metal trays sported both a spot for your drink and a spot to put mixed nuts or small candies. These were popular in use when woman would play their weekly bridge game.

I figured that my drink cozy collection would also work in this coaster category.  I love these hand made glass cozies.  No water rings on your table and a cute little way to identify your own glass.

Great flower trim on these.

The cozies are a bit less fancy, but still charming with their muted colors.

And yet one more set.

My two favorite cozies are not vintage, but were gifts from my kids.  These cozies are made by a local gal who will personalize them for you. They have cute vintage images on them to choose from.  My kids did a good job with their choice of personalization for me!

They do a good job of keeping my Diet Dr. Pepper cold!

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of _______." I will see what I can dig up. 

Off to grab a coaster and a cool drink....happy day!

Estate Sale Friday. Two.

Two.

A dismal day in estate sale land.  Just not very many sales to entice me this morning.  I hit a couple and bought TWO items.

ONE.

A tiny old stork (?).

That comes apart and is a sewing case, complete with needle, thread and thimble.

TWO.

A box of vintage ornaments. I only bought them because of their pastel colors and fun shape.

Made in West Germany.  Originally one dozen for 5 cents.  I did not get them for a nickle.

TWO ITEMS. But TWO is better than NONE.

Have a happy weekend.

 

 

Three and A Half Hours and A Unexpected Treasure

When I craft I often pull multiple bins of goodies out to use.  This technique explains why my studio has reached this chaotic state.

I was to the point where I only had a tiny sliver of my work table to work on.  The floor was strewn with bins and there was no available counter space.
 



It was pretty bad.  I started the clean-up at 11:49 a.m.

I spent a lot of time putting things away. Often when I get stuff from an estate sale, the items go out to the studio and then I put them away at a later date (especially if I can't walk around out there).  I was putting away some little items I found over the past couple of weeks.  I had found the little celluloid doll a couple of weeks ago at this sale. She is in the photo with all the other little dolls in that post and I did not pay any attention to her when I bought her.  It was one of those sales where I was just tossing things in a box and they gave you a price for it all.

I looked at her closer and noticed she had a metal tab on her side.  She was a tape measure!

Marked Japan on the backside.

It made my clean-up a bit more exciting to find this hidden treasure.  I now have a cleaner studio.  I can see the floor and the counter tops. My work surface is clean.
 

I still have some piles, but this is the beginning of Christmas crafting season. At least I can walk now without tripping over bins.

Finished at 3:37.

A very productive day and time well spent. 

A Simple Thimble

Renee from My Vintage Mending sent me a box of goodies last week (thank you!). Included in the box were two items that she asked if I could use for a spun head gal for her.

A ribbon spool with some cute graphics and a tiny thimble.

I put on my Magpie Ethel thinking cap and headed out to the studio.  I was tickled with what I came up with for the thimble.

The thimble Renee sent is in the center. I had some old floral pieces and used them to make these darling flowers.

One spun head gal with sewing needle rounded out the little scene.

I added an old wooden spool and the name of Renee's blog.

Fun project and love the little thimble flowers.  Enjoy, Renee!

Happy Day to all!

p.s. A few more birthday swans have made their way to Etsy.

 

Collection Challenge #62 - Vintage Advertising Spoons

Lisa has mentioned more than a couple of times that she would love me to feature this collection after seeing a glimpse of it in a kitchen post. LISA, TODAY IS THE DAY...

This is probably the collection that I have collected the longest period of time.  It all started innocently enough with a Woody Woodpecker spoon.

The Woody Woodpecker spoon was a spoon that was in our camping gear when I was growing up.  My brother and sister and I used to fight over who got to use it on our camping trips when we ate our meals.

When I was a kid my Grandfather had a Charlie McCarthy (ventriloquist's doll from the 1940s) spoon in his kitchen drawer.  I ended up with it after he passed away. It all snowballed from these two. I don't do state spoons.  I only pretty much do advertising or promotions from companies.

Two different McCarthy spoons. The one on the left came from my grandfather.

Tony the Tiger, Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound.
Davy Crocket, The Green Hornet and Superman.

Dennis the Menace, Kukla (from Kukla, Fran and Ollie) and a pair of Campbell Soup kids.
Dr. Ballard's dog food. The bowl of the spoon is shaped funny so you can scrape that last tidbit of dog food out of the can.

Pumpkinhead (I have no idea on who this is...blog readers?), Dennis the Menace, and Betty Lou (a Quaker premium).

That wonderful childhood meal... SpaghettiO's

Mary Poppins, Pinocchio and Howdy Doody.

Horn & Hardat Baking Company, A Rexall Drug dose measuring spoon, Armour Extract of Beef (with measurements in the bowl of the spoon) and the Rexall Company.
Assorted Gerber baby spoons.

Quaker Early Birds - Gene and Glen (1930s radio show), Little Red Riding Hood and The Two Professors - Van and Dan (1930s).

Knox Sparkling Gelatin, Jello and Buster Brown.  I hunted for the Jello spoon forever.

A pair of old Mickey Mouse spoons.

Walkers Grape Juice, Sunny Jim (Force Cereal premium from 1902), and Malta Vita.

Paddington Bear and Goofy.

A few more modern spoons.  Donald Duck, The Smurf Gal, Minnie Mouse, Snoopy and Tweet Bird.

Dig Em Frog from Sugar Smacks Cereal, Tony the Tiger from Frosted Flakes, Honey Nut Cheerios and Toucan Sam from Froot Loops.

I now have over 75 spoons and rarely run across a spoon that I don't have.   The only spoon I have yet to hunt down is an old Kewpie Doll spoon.

My collection lives here in a rack that Tom built for me.

A rather long spoon post and I did not even show them all!  If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, finish the sentence "show me your collection of ______." and I will see what I can do.

 

 

Summer Backyard and Studio Tour

Readers always ask where my studio is located.  It is in my backyard and today we are going on a tour back that direction. First you head down my driveway towards the garage which is behind my house (corner of house is on the left).

We resided and painted our garage last fall.  We got a new garage door that looks old-style and we just put the trellis up this year (a couple of clematis will climb up and across one of these days).

I have a screen made of a couple of old windows and a bunch of galvanized containers in the driveway that hide our giant yard debris and recycling bins (to the right).

A peek into the backyard.

This is looking from the driveway back into the yard.  My studio windows are on the right with the window box. I have a ton of wild sweet peas that will be blooming like crazy soon (I can't get rid of them if I wanted to). I also have false indigo, dahlias, daisies and a rose that live in the two flower beds behind the picket fence.  We are a little behind on our growing season this summer due to our damp spring and low summer temps so far.

Entering through the gate.  True confession: I did not sweep or weed for this post.

You can see my cluttered windowsill of the studio thru the window.

We had outdoor light fixtures installed when we redid our garage.  I love this barn-style light that I got from here.

This picnic table was my grandfathers and has been around since I was a little girl.  He had it the natural redwood color and I painted it turquoise.

We have a brick path and patio that we put in a few years ago. Here we are walking around the curve of it and now looking onto the back patio space.

I switched out all of my terracotta pots this year for a variety of galvanized containers.  I like all the shapes and sizes and the gray works with our gray house and fence. My studio doors are there on the right with the birdhouse sign overhead.

This is looking towards my studio french doors.

My favorite garden statue Bluebell.

This deer lives behind my boxwood row.

This was an old sandbox that I got at an estate sale a few years ago. Tom put legs on it and we added a galvanized top to make it a coffee table outside.

On our neighbors garage wall is the patchwork art that I did a few years ago.

The table back under the tree was my grandfather's old worktable that he had in his garage. I got it after he passed away and it has lived in the back yard ever since. I added a galvanized top and the stars to the front.

Pink flamingoes and a pair of ladders with great old paint. Part of my watering can collection live here.

I have a large row of hydrangeas that are great for cutting each year. If you head thru the gate at the end of the row you go to my side yard.

This is the side of my house and is my cutting garden.

I love this backyard and my studio space.  It really is a wonderful little spot in the world for me. We did quite a bit of work to make it the way it is, but I do so enjoy it. Makes me happy every time I head down the brick path...

Happy Day!

 

Collection Challenge #61 - Swanky Swigs and Vintage Glassware

Theresa asked if I could show my collection of Swanky Swigs.  Swanky Swigs were made primarily from the 1930s to 1950s.  They are juice or small drinking glasses that were purchased containing food products. They have cute little patterns that decorate the outside of them.  I don't actively hunt them down, but I do have a few. I decided to add my vintage patterned glassware to this post as well, so it will be mixed in with the swigs.

Here are where my Swanky Swigs live.  I primarily am attracted to the cute little animal figures.

Bears and pigs.

Roosters and dogs.  Red robins and elephants.

Squirrels and deer. Bunnies and cats.

My kids like Archie comics.  They use this pair of glasses in the bathroom. Welches Jelly distributed these glasses with jelly inside. They date to the 1950s and 1960s.

I picked up these Bireley's glasses at an estate sale because of the graphics.  I don't know much about them beyond that Bireley's manufactured soda.

I am also very much attracted to the floral patterns.

I like the floral so much that I mix it in my cabinet with modern vintage style glassware like this (all found at HomeGoods over the years).

When I mix it in with the vintage it just makes me happy to grab a glass out of the cupboard.

These are just plain happy drinking glasses! If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of _____". I will see what I can pull from my stash!