At the Plucky Maidens sale I picked up this squeaky elephant for my collection.
I love the little tassel detail molded into the rubber near her neck. Plus she is pink...I like pink.
Inspires me to head off to the circus for the summer...
Happy Day!
Nice swim cap huh? A perfect addition to my collection! This one is a vision of tulle like ruffles in a soft lavendar and white.
Renee from My Vintage Mending sent me a surprise package with goodies and the swim cap was included in it. She also included a note with this message about this wonderful swim cap.
"The swim cap belonged to an area socialite who's husband was a big whig in Washington. Her home was a time piece of 50s house-wife perfection."
So happy to add this swim cap to my collection which now numbers ELEVEN. I still have no beach house to dispaly the collection in...but still wishing. Someday.
When I sit in my kitchen nook eating my morning cereal, I face a built in hutch and gaze upon bunny land.
My chicks live together. My bunnies live together. Safety in numbers.
I am always amazed at all the different shapes, sizes and materials these little bunnies come in.
I love these little fellows all lined up.
Somebunny sure loves her Easter stuff
Happy day!
Today is a quick post as we are headed out for a week at the beach for spring break with the kids. Elizabeth from Life in Smirleyword asked me if I collected "Ethel" items. I do even tho my name is not Ethel. Ethel was my grandmother and hence the name Ethel for my blog. Her photo is on my header on my blog on the left. Here is a photo of she and my grandfather. I wish I had those glasses she is wearing.
None of the Ethel items I have are from my grandmother. They are all estate sale found or gifts.
Vintage Ethel pin.
Sometimes I add the pin to a vintage corsage and wear it to my craft shows.
A vintage felt heart patch.
An old Ethel postcard that was a gift from a friend in blogland.
My hands-down favorite Ethel item is my vintage wood sign that Kim from Camp Whimsy found for me in an alley in the small town she lives in.
Ethel. Not a name you hear much these days. If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "show me your collection of ____".
Thanks for the suggestion Elizabeth. If you have not visited Elizabeth's blog before, she is a crazy collector. Her house is chock-full of really amazing vintage items. Check out this post and make sure to look in the background at all she has displayed.
The one thing I like about blogland is that you can have a conversation with someone via email about something so simple as Easter grass and how the vintage stuff is better than the newer variety. Lisa and I had such this conversation recently - she and I both "get it". Blogland connected us. I don't think most people would understand this preference. I usually don't bring this topic up at lunch with most of my friends.
Trust me on this one. I don't let a bunch of vintage grass pass me by...It is superior for crafting.
Old Easter grass has great texture and color. It is also waxier. I could go on and on. I don't expect you all to understand, but I know Lisa will.
The old packaging and graphics is also something that sucks me into purchasing it.
I can't resist pink bunny graphics. I even find empty bags and save them.
Flopsy is the top graphic with Easter grass. The grass is of the cellophane variety. It come in other colors. Lisa shared with me that she just bought a bag in the prettiest shade of pink. Now I need to hunt some down in a color besides the traditional green.
Those vintage bags of Easter grass keep hopping toward me.
I know some of you are probably shaking your head and wondering if I have gone over the crafting/collection edge. An entire post on vintage easter grass! You get it tho, right Lisa?
happy day!
I have had this blow up deer for quite a few years. He has never found the perfect spot to live in my holiday decorations. Some years he has not been blown up and has stayed in the holiday bin.
This year he made a holiday friend.
Reindeer meet Santa.
Santa was found at a local thrift store. At first I thought about listing him in my Etsy shop, but then I decided that he should live with Mr. Reindeer.
I had to find the perfect spot for the two of them. Cardboard holiday fireplace fit the bill.
I had a heck of a time trying to put this fireplace together. It had a mind of its own. I finally just ended up wrapping it around a dresser that was in that spot and it worked perfectly.
The fireplace also holds my collection of vintage holiday boxes.
I almost did not buy this holiday fireplace a few years ago. It was in the original box and it had been used once according to the owner. I went ahead and spent the $5 and it is one of my favorite holiday decorations.
I am sure that Santa and Reindeer are happy I brought it home too!
A couple more snippets to come....
Here is the view when you stand in my living room and look into the dining room. You can see my white garland that hangs between the rooms that is hung with vintage ornaments (it is held up with fishing line).
If you look to the left you can see my china hutch. Last year the top was decorated with snowmen, but this year my forest of vintage trees has grown and is sprouting on top of the hutch.
The white plastic tree plugs in and a light inside rotates and the color changes from red to green. This tree and the pink ornament tree were new finds this year.
If you turn around you will see this little vignette living above my dining room window. I was about to ask Tom to hang a long shelf above the window, when I realized my window coverings actually made a little shelf. The line of vintage trees were up there lickity split!
In the first picture you can see a peek of my kitchen. I love to decorate my kitchen windowsill.
The little garland is from Into Vintage. I especially love these silly cans of Can'd-Ice that I found this year. The grinning snowman make me grin right back at him.
A few more snippets to come....
Carol from Old Glory Cottage challenged me to see my collections of Santas. I decided I had better narrow this category down as Santa is big in my house. For this post I decided to showcase my collection of Santa heads.
Most of these heads are plastic or styrofoam and are all a head shot. I have quite a variety of the handsome fellow. Most of them hang in my basement on a bank of cabinet doors.
This Santa is made of styrofoam and is over two foot tall.
This fellow is made of some sort of pressed straw and I love his look. He is over two feet tall.
I was the winner on Ebay a few years ago and won this plastic fellow that lights up. He lives in the stairwell to the basement and provides a friendly glow.
Made of a thin plastic.
This smiling Santa is made of plastic and is over two feet. This is one of the first Santa heads that I found.
This Santa was produced in a plastic.
His twin was produced in Styrofoam.
A set of rudolph like nosed Santas that are a thin plastic.
(Styrofroam)
I found this light up Santa this year at a church sale.
This is the smallest Santa head in my basement. He is made of plastic and is about a foot tall
Some of my hardier Santas can live outside and withstand the elements. This head is over three feet tall and hangs on the front of my house. I braked quickly when I saw him a couple of years ago in the window of a local antique store.
I don't know what happened to this nose. This fellow was gifted to me.
Two of these Santas hang on my front porch.
And last but not least, one more smiling Santa.
I really do have a love affair with Santa. Here are those last few fellows decorating the front of my house. If you look closely you can also see the Kringle gang. Kris is peeking out of the skinny window to the left of the Christmas tree. Clause is on the front porch and Nick is near my front door.
Ho, Ho, Ho!!!! 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 find in my goodies.
You know me and how much I like my collections. Kristal of Rikrak Studio writes a column for Etsy called "The Collectors" that features a person and their collection. Today they featured ME and my vintage eyeglass collection! You can read about me here on Etsy. You can also check out the same post on Kristal's darling blog - Rikrak Studio. Thanks Kristal...bringing a smile to my day!
