Magpie Ethel

Summer Ritual

Each summer one of my favorite things to do is to hit a couple of local u-cut dahlia fields.  They charge 20 cents per stem and I can indulge in a huge bouquet for not a ton of money.

This is one of the fields I hit.  It is really early in the season for the dahlia blooms so they aren't in their full glory yet.  I still got some beauties.

  

 

This was my $5 bouquet.  I like to break it up into smaller arrangements and scatter them around the house. 

 

 

This happy little bouquet is for my kitchen windowsill.  It is in a vintage apple juice can that I got last weekend for a quarter. It was full of old nuts and bolts.  I love the graphics on the can...it is pre-barcode and boasts "made from tree-ripened Washington state apples". How could I go wrong with a cheery can like this?

Wedding Day

Like many woman out there in blogland I too have a wedding topper collection.  Recently Lisa from A Thing for Roses shared her AMAZING collection on her blog and contacted me about purchasing a wedding topper bell jar that I had created.  Here is the latest addition to her collection....

These are two pipe cleaner figures that I found and reworked.  The base that they stand on is covered with some old vintage wedding wrapping paper.  They now live in a bell jar...happily ever after.

I decided to share my collection as well.  It is small and a little quirky.

Here are a few of them....

And a few more.  The couple to the right are actually old Tavern candles (original box in background)  They have rather ghostly eyes which I think have faded over time.  The little wrapped grooms cake on the left corner (pink rose on top) is actually a favor from my parents wedding oh so many 47 moons ago.  I also display their cake topper - a set of bells made out of formed pressed sugar. 

This couple is another one of my creations.  They started the courtship as two vintage heads. I created their bodies from vintage crepe paper and pronounced them husband and wife.  i loved them so much they became part of my collection.

This beautiful pipe cleaner bride sports an original Made in Japan tag.  I found her at the local antique mall STARS.  She came solo and has no groom.  She is okay with her solo status.

This is where all the happy couples live.  In one of two built in cabinets in my dining room (they have leaded glass doors).

And in honor of this post....I'm actually off to a wedding this weekend.  Congrats Dena and Will!

Estate Sale Day

Friday,  Designated estate sale day in my life.  Shiny, glittery finds today.

Lots of Christmas ornaments in original boxes, an old jewelry box to re-purpose, vintage playing cards, an old clothespin bag (made from a child's shirt), lots of sequins and some other odds and ends.

A large bag FULL of sequins in their original packaging for 50 cents.

A couple of decks of great old cards.  I really like the horse ones.  I will color copy them and use them in decoupage projects.  I have a bunch of other horse themed decks as well.  Just couldn't pass up the rose deck tho.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shiny Bright ornaments in their original boxes.  Not only do I love these old ornaments for their great patina, but i love the graphics on the boxes.  I also got some vintage aluminum netting (middle of photo on the left).  I am so excited whenever I find it.  It makes great wings and comes in super colors - I have pink, silver, gold and blue.

And who can resist some old napkins with this cute Santa graphic!

Happy Weekend!

Christmas in July

For me the holiday season is a year round endeavor.  I collect items at estate sales ALL the time and then start to put them to use during the summer.  I usually do 4 or 5 local craft shows each year so I can't cram all that inventory making into a month.  (I do require sleep after all)  This is my latest creation. Need to think of a catchy name for them....

I found a bunch of the vintage angel heads and put them to use.  The bodies are made out of old cardboard thread spools that I have covered in vintage wrapping paper.  Lots of holiday doo-dads were added for some charm.  Years ago I got a box of handmade resin wings that I glittered.  The angels would work as a tree topper or just as part of your holiday decor.

I think they turned out sweet.

Bird Addiction, Part 2

On April 28th of this year I posted about my bird addiction that had nested in my bathroom.  Today I must confess that the addiction is not limited to bird figures, but bird stands and cages as well.

I do not have a real bird.  This is a cute old chenille bird that lives in a cage along with some vintage bird paraphernalia that I have collected.  I like the graphics on the boxes.  The cage keeps the collection neat and tidy.

This little bird (again a fake) lives in a teeny tiny cage in my kitchen.  I love this cage because it is the great vintage green chippy paint that I used in my kitchen.  People do a double take when they see him and think he is real.

If he was a real bird I may use one of  my vintage records to teach him to sing.  I have two of these records (78 r.p.m.-4 in the series) that will teach your parakeet to talk.  I have never listened to them (alas, no record player) but the description on the record explains it all....Peter Parker (a real bird) is the star of the record and according the sleeve of the album "Peter said his first words at the age of four months, after 2 1/2 months of training.  Now at five years of age, he boasts a vocabulary of 400 words!"

Peter Parker says phrases such as "I'll play bridge, If I'm dummy" or "It's absolutely Preposterous!" and "Peter is a precious little birdie - hello Boy, whadya say boy?".  According to the record you should play it several times a day when the room is quiet.  Just couldn't pass up these records at an estate sale.

Also just as an F.Y.I. I also use the bird cage stands to display wreaths at Christmas for my craft sales...they are absolutely perfect...I got them as display pieces in the first place, but enjoy putting them to use all year long.

 

Obsessive Beach Behavior

Every time we go to the beach I have to check the tide books and find the lowest tide.  This past trip we were on the beach at 7:30 a.m to hunt for shells (-1.1 low tide).  We always go down to Hug Point which is just south of Seaside and often we are the only ones on the beach.  This time at the beach we were rewarded with teeny tiny sand dollars.  They are so cute!

My obsessive behavior stems from an incident a few years ago at low tide at Hug Point.  We woke up early and it was raining but I still made the kids get in the car and take the half hour drive down to our favorite beach.  We were the only ones on the beach and it was drizzly. Our early morning jaunt rewarded us with 432 sand dollars found in just over an HOUR.  Crazy huh?

It was like an easter egg hunt with sand dollars instead of eggs.  We would walk one step and pick one up, another step, another sand dollar. (we are also careful about not taking live sand dollars...those are thrown back into the ocean.)  I was giddy with sand dollar delight!!! We have never had a repeat morning of that magnitude, but I try every visit we take to the beach.

Home

Home from a week at the beach.  Rested, relaxed and happy to be home. Time to face the pile of laundry and the reality of playing catch-up.

Beach Time

We are heading to the beach tomorrow for the week and in preparation for that the beach decorations have come out in force at my house.

I love these little flip flops.  I have never seen any this tiny...they are about 5 inches long.  I don't know how a child who would wear that size could keep them on their feet.   I discovered them when my husband and I cleaned out the basement of an old neighborhood pharmacy that was closing.  They are also ROCK HARD from being so old.

This is the mantle over my fireplace.  The shell mirror I made a few years ago just fits in the alcove.  The top of the mirror is embellished with a cute little vintage salt shaker turtle...he appears to be smiling!

I also had these two old turquoise shell planters/containers that were and estate sale find.  I always display them in the summer and I always say to myself "I need to make some shell flowers to fill them."  This year I did.

I think they turned out pretty cute.

This is my display of fun stuff in jars.  (excuse the reflection...have a hard time taking photos of items in jars as well as mirrors...too much glare."  The little ceramic blue fish is an estate sale find.  I like the Hawaiian gal (dated 1955 on the bottom) who sits in a bed of sand shaded by pipe cleaner palm trees.  Found the star fish a few years ago at low tide...the beach was littered with some that the seagulls had gotten to.

Off to pack...have a great week.  I'm going to enjoy the sand and fresh beach air.

Vintage Linen Love

I LOVE vintage linens.  A few years ago at an estate sale (where else?) I came across a pair of unused pillowcases that had a magnificent "R" (first letter of my last name) embroidered on them.  I bought the pair.  They sat around for a bit and then I decided to rework them into pillow shams.

 They are the two back pillows.  The smaller pillows in the front are made out of vintage hankies.  The chenille bedspread was from another estate sale ($15 king size) and it is a wonderful raspberry color. The white yo-yo shams are a TJ Maxx special that I got decades ago.

The pillow on the left is basically one of the pillow cases that I just altered and made a pocket type topper out of.  I just slip it over a chenille case that fits a European form.  I made the light blue chenille case (on the right) and was so lazy that I just safety pinned it at the top.  No one is wiser and it does the job. The pillow case topper camouflages it all.  I also love the saw tooth detail on the pillowcase.  It was an easy project.

The small pillow banned in blue was an old pillowcase that I liked the simplicity of.  I just added a form, folded the top over and stitched the two sides.  I made the large button with vintage fabric and a button made to be covered, like one of these....

  Do not ask me why I have a WHOLE bin full of buttons ready to be covered.  I guess I just can't pass one by.  I really like the buckle that is meant to be covered (lower right).  I'd better get on that project...didn't even realize it was in the bin!

Here is another way how I recycled some vintage hankies.  My mom made this small quilt which is folded on the bottom of my bed.  The hankies are pretty fragile so I am careful with it, but love how it turned out.  Hankies are hard to display!

Lastly, I leave you with this poem - my mom (thanks again Mom, she is good with a needle!) Stitched this for me and I embellished a pillow with it  (first photo).

Oh Bed! Oh Bed! Delicious Bed!  That heaven on earth for the weary head.

And believe me I am one tired gal after a day of crafting or estate sales!

Flip that House...Flip the Neighborhood!

My studio was littered with all the remnants of yesterdays holiday house flips.  I have found that it easier to create a bunch of similar items production line style.  Thus the title of today's post...flip the neighborhood.  Flipped an additional four houses today!  Voila....

All my houses are flipped and the glitter and doodads have been put away till the next project.

I'm taking the evening off....