Magpie Ethel

Vintage Tray Project

I got four really cute wooden trays awhile ago at an antique shop. I loved the colors and the shapes. The decal on the inside of the tray was fine, but it did not thrill me.

I decided to play around with them. I cut a pattern to fit the recessed interior of the tray.

I got out my stash of vintage wallpaper and matched up wallpaper patterns and colors with the trays. I then used my paper pattern to cut out a shape from the wallpaper. I spray mounted the wallpaper and then adhered it to the tray.

It was pretty easy to do.

I then took some old magnetic bulldog style clips that I had. I liked the magnetic kind as it had a flat surface (the magnet) which I could use for glue. I glued a clip on each tray.

Now I can use them as mini clipboards or frames.

I really like the finished project. It was really easy and a fun use of vintage materials.

 

 

Pirate Auction...A Year of Lasts

This has been a years of "lasts" for me.  My daughter Kate is a senior in high school and I have been to my last "back to school night", my "last parent/teacher conference" etc.  This past weekend was my last school auction.  I have been a stay at home mom since my kids were born (and Ben is almost 20) so my life has been field trips, teaching art classes at the elementary school, chairing school carnivals, creating year end yearbooks and such. While I have enjoyed my volunteering greatly...I am glad to have some lasts....I have put in my time.

After helping with school auctions since kindergarten years, I am happy to say this is my last.  This year's auction was pirate themed and my co-chair and I had a great time with the decorations.

It was held in an old building nearby at a local amusement park. We had dinner inside the pavilion and a silent auction set up in a tented area outside.

Come on in Matey..but enter at your own risk!

We covered all the tables in paper that resembles barn plank wood...with the idea of "walking the plank".  Each table also had a pirate flag, a embellished treasure box full of trinkets, a mason jar with sand and a candle as well as netting decorating the tables. We had almost 300 attending the auction.

We hung handmade paper lanterns from the ceiling.  We decorated the ends of each table with a "curtain" made of black plastic, netting, cheesecloth, tulle and ribbon.  The curtains floated a bit and looked like an undersea scene.

We borrowed some great pirate props from our local children's theater.

Paula (my co-chair) made an awesome corner screen that lit a pirate silhouette from the rear.  It also had a fan that blew up red and orange "flame" material.

Our food table prior to our food being set out. We had two large wooden wine barrels that flanked the table and held our plates.

We had a silent auction set up in the tent outside.

Complete with bar decorated with raffia skirting and old fishing nets.

This is what happened to those that did not bid.  I painted the signage in the background to look like large tattered sails and we had the signage scattered about the room.

We also made large cardboard pirate chests that were filled with fresh popcorn and caramel corn for silent auction snacking.

The auction went really well.  We had a small budget, and we made the most of it with some creative crafting. I am ready to reclaim my life and get back to estate sales, blogging and crafting.  A year of lasts for me...my last school auction as a volunteer...this pirate ship is setting sail!

That Etsy Package

I was reading The Wall Street Journal last week and they had an article on how important the presentation is when sending packages.  They specifically talked about Anthropologie and Crate and Barrel, but they could have throw me in with those two as well.

The article talked about the things that some of these companies do when they package their items, colorful tissue, decorative envelopes and other personal touches.  The article talked about thrilling the customer when he or she opened the box.  I try to do the same thing.

I thought you may like to see how I make my Etsy packages fun to receive (and fun to send..the person at the mail counter always remarks on their cheerful look).

I don't have a designated mailing area.  Boxes and bubble wrap live in the garage.  The rest of my supplies reside in these two vintage hat boxes that sit by my easy chair on our upstairs landing.

I like to include something fun in each package along with the purchased item.  Sometimes it is seasonal and sometimes it is just silly.  Here are some of the things you may find in an Etsy package from me.

A personal note written on a vintage florist card, altho I may cut off the top greeting so I am not wishing you a Happy Mother's Day in October. I also may use some other type of vintage card.

You may get a wooden spoon stamped with a "THANK YOU" and tied with a vintage ribbon. Thank you stamp was estate sale found.

My Etsy holiday packages that just went out had a little tag made with a vintage sticker and a handmade tiny reflector flower all tied together with a mini candy cane.

I also love these little Moo stickers that I made that feature different things I make and have found.

I like to use bright colored tissue paper to wrap the item up in.

The outside of the package needs some color too, so I always use some fun patterned tape.

I think that people enjoy the thought I put into their Etsy orders...I know I enjoy packing them up and making them special.

Ready to go.  Off to the Post Office.  Hoping my little package brings a smile.

A Happy Patriotic Gal

I was at a local antique store yesterday and heard a doll calling to me. You may have recalled that this has happened to me before...here and here. I hear the voices of rather bedraggled dolls that are begging for a makeover.

This is the doll that was calling to me.

I loved her dress and cute little shoes.  She was missing her hair and her hat was rather bedraggled. She definitely had condition issues.

Poor gal....

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I think she needed a patriotic look.  She came home with me and spent the afternoon in my studio.

I even had a small felt hat that was perfect for her. I added holiday embellishments.

I think she is quite happy with her new red, white and blue look.

She is going to spread some patriotic spirit and is marching off to Etsy. I was happy to give her a little TLC and she was definitely a fun project to work my magpie magic on.

Hurray for the red, white and blue.

Welcome Ethel to the Studio

I got my awesome "Welcome Ethel" sign hung in my studio this weekend. I knew that is had to have a place of honor out in my studio so I cleared off this wall of vintage trays.

BEFORE!

I have had the trays up in the studio for a number of years and was ready for a change and to add some storage.  I cleared them all out and had a blank wall just itching for a change.

I knew that I wanted a couple of storage shelves in addition to the "Welcome Ethel" sign.  I decided to head to our local rebuilding center and see what they had in the way of cupboard doors to use as shelves.  I like using something like that as it is vintage and it is already painted (call me lazy).

This is the entrance to one of our local rebuilding centers.

Here are the cabinet doors I had to choose from.

I was not super particular on the size or color.  I found some pale yellow cabinet doors that fit the bill and would make great shelves.

Tom hung them up and the pale yellow matched my wall color really well. You can see the "Welcome Ethel" sign in the background.

Here we have the glorious sign!

Of course I spent about two hours futzing with things and reorganizing.  My new shelves are all nice and full. I even had room to hang a green birdcage full of my sparkly pink estate sale found birds.

The shelves are stuffed and organized the way I like it.

I really don't think Ethel could feel more at home in my studio.

Love how this project turned out and a big thank you to Kim for rescuing that sign for me from an alley. Love, love, love!

PS. Reminder that my Fourth of July items hit Etsy tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time). 

Loving My Stairs

We recently re-carpeted our upstairs and it inspired me to do something a bit more fun on the stairs.

Before: I never realized how beige, beige, beige they were!

I had been admiring the carpet runners from Dash and Albert for some time.  I loved the old fashioned hooked rug look that some of them had. I had to order 3 runners to do our stairs. 

We pulled up the carpet and I painted the risers a pale pink.  The color is by Benjamin Moore and called "Head Over Heals". I love that name.

We added hardwood treads that matched our hardwood floors. (We stained and did a couple of coats of Varathane).  The carpet runner was installed by the carpet fellow.

I loved the floral pattern!  I smile every time I walk up or down the stairs.

You can see how the treads tie into the original hardwoods below.  You can also see a peak of one of the vintage hooked rugs that I have scattered through my house.

I love how this project turned out.  We (Tom and I) pretty much did the entire thing from tearing out the carpet to staining and cutting treads to fit. Laying the runner was the only thing we did not do.

Feels good to cross this project off our "to do" list!

The Most Wonderful Cabinet...Revealed!

I LOVE this project. It turned out exactly like I had it in my head!

So I ended up with 6 compartments of various widths. Each is 3 inches deep except the last cabinet which is a "dummy" cabinet.  It hides the electrical wire,so is not as deep, but perfect to show off vintage items on original display cards.  I painted the doors a pale pink...the same as our bedroom walls in the adjoining room.  I got the glass door pulls a number of years ago in various colors.  I have been waiting for the perfect project for them.

I gather and collect alot of random things.  Items that I just like and make me smile.  I have never had a spot for them, but this cabinet is perfect to display this hodge-podge of finds.

Door number ONE 

Door Number TWO...one of my favorites

I love the vintage Magic Slate as a background...just add a couple of storks and a old metal kazoo to the mix!

This elephant belonged to my grandmother.


This is one of my favorite things in the cabinet.  They were all random things that I had no spot for, but too cool to part with.  The tiny silver metal holster on the right is printed with "Roy Rogers" and I have had for years tucked in a drawer.  The "Rodeo Stunt Rider - Good Luck" pin was a Raisin Bran giveaway (Raisin Bran printed on backside).  I attached the stunt rider pin to an old leather toy holster I had and added a old plastic cowboy.  I wired magnets to each of the holsters and attached them to the metal tape can, which I nailed to the cabinet.  I now have a cool spot for a couple of old nifty vintage items.  

Teeny tiny harmonica and doll found in basement of estate sale.

Door number THREE.

Honeycomb chicks all in a row.

One lone doll roller-skate.

Door Number FOUR.

Vintage spun head cowgirl with a couple of oversize mushrooms, old kool-aid packet and some old glass doll bottles.

Door number FIVE

A collection of handmade dolls.

Door number SIX (sorry about the glass glare)

This is the shallower cabinet so the items displayed here are a bit different, as they have to have a narrower profile.

My vintage pin-back collection.

My favorite candle holders on original cards...those graphics make me swoon!

Vintage doll clothespins on original card (thank you Melissa)

So that about wraps up today's tour.  I know this cabinet will be a constantly changing spot as I find more goodies and change this and that. Love this little hodge-podge cabinet...LOVE!

The Most Wonderful Cabinet...Just A Peek

You may remember when I went to San Francisco earlier this year that I went to a tea shoppe called "Crown and Crumpet".  I was completely smitten with these little cabinets they had filled with tiny, vintage items.  Here is a photo to jog your memory.

It was chock full of fun stuff. 

 

I wanted a similar cabinet at my house in a bad way...

We have a short wall on our upstairs landing and I asked my Dad and my husband if they could do this project, using this wall. 

They were going to put each little compartment between the studs in the wall..it would be shallow, but I was pretty sure it would work.  Luckily they agreed to it.

My dad is an engineer so he does everything with a plan.

Tom and my Dad have done quite a few projects together and it is really nice to have them work side by side. 

We did run into a couple of problems with the project.  First off, we didn't realize the wall was lathe and plaster.  It made it much more difficult to open up the space. Second, there was an good sized electrical wire that ran through one of the spaces. We did not know it was there.  We did not have power to the back of our house until an electrician was called in.  This actually was a good thing as the electrical wire would have been in the way, so we had the electrician move it to a better spot.

I didn't really help with demolition. I had the idea in my head and put in my two cents about how to do it.  I also did all the painting.


The boxes were finished off.

 
I painted the whole cabinet with a clean white color and we made shelves to fit.  I ordered glass fronted cabinets for each of the 6 little compartments.


Leaving this post as a teaser...wait until you see the finished project tomorrow!!!  I had SO much fun adding all my fun vintage items once the doors were on (which are painted pink with mismatched glass pulls). Can't wait to share....

No Soliciting Project

I live in a neighborhood where we get alot of solicitors. The doorbell would always ring as we were sitting down to dinner.  Rather than buy a standard "No Soliciting" sign from the store, I decided to make my own vintage style one.

This is a super easy project and the idea could also be used for "Baby Sleeping" or "In the Garden" etc.  I start with a stretched canvas frame that you can pick up at Michaels or your local craft store.

I then spray paint the canvas with black paint.  I paint both sides.

I decoupage some sort of image onto the painted canvas. My favorite place to get these images is this book that I picked up a couple of years ago at our local library outlet.

It is full of a years worth of Parents' magazines, dated 1951, all bound into one volume. It has great illustrations and wonderful ads.  Awesome images!


This is the painted canvas with my images decoupaged on.  I add an old cloth tape measure around the sides of the canvas.  This just dresses it up a bit.


I like to use some tacks or decorator nails to add some fun.  This is the stash I work from.

Random tacks and the tape measure frame.

The back of the canvas is ugly, so I gussy it up with some oilcloth cut to size.


I like that oilcloth is available in so many patterns and adds some interest to the otherwise ugly back.

This is the finished product.  I usually spray the front of it with a varathane to protect the image as well.

It really does work too. I have it hanging on my front door knob.  I can see solicitors walking up towards the door. When they see the sign, they turn around!  No more interrupted dinners...Hallelujah!

 

I Saw the Potential....

Sometimes when I do my "Estate Sale Friday" post and show something unusual I have found, I KNOW some of you are shaking your heads and thinking I have gone off the vintage/estate sale deep end.

I know some of you were probably a bit skeptical when I came home with a pink sewer snake. A snake that was used to unclog the toilet.  I was smitten with the PINK chippy metal base on it.  I know there was alot of eye rolling with this find.

I have already put it to good use. I was visiting my friend Amy from Vintage Holiday and she had a great silver tinsel tree (new, the base needed a little TLC) that was headed to Goodwill.  Instead of Goodwill, it headed home with me and has been given a whole new life.

VOILA!

My husband cut the neck off the snake and put the whole thing together. I painted the wooden base white (it was red).  I think this will be a great display tree at my shows. The branches fold up for easy transportation.

I really like the pink, white and silver combo.  An unusual thing to re-purpose...but I really think it turned out great...I think I'll be on the lookout for another snake!