Magpie Ethel

Estate Sale Friday

Friday I hit one sale.  Lucky for me I was number 6 to get in the door and it wasn't too bad.  Not too bad at all.

 

A good collection of Christmas light reflectors and small gold ornaments.

A nice cream colored vase, more Christmas ornaments on chenille stems or wires, vintage ribbon, Christmas corsages and a great plastic Santa.

The Santa was in a box of random Christmas, so I didn't know he was there until I got home and discovered him amongst a bunch of holiday decorations.

 

3 strands of old glass garland and a bunch of tin tape containers.  I now have about 12 of these tape dispenser...I always find them in with the vintage ribbon that I collect.


I could not resist this container of Reynolds Wrap Jr. foil.  It is a tiny box and the foil is blue.  One of the suggestions on the back of the box is to wrap your baked potatoes in the foil to make them more festive.  I'll use it for crafts, not potatoes.

 

Cupcake picks and birthday candle holders.


Yes, I did find a couple of boxes of vintage birthday candles. They are peeking out from behind one of the gold tinsel bursts.

This magazine holder I actually found last Saturday, but never posted about it as it was the only thing of interest that I bought.  It looks like it was intended for store use...I thought it was fairly unusual.

Was a good way to start a long weekend.  Happy Day!

What Did The Little Note Say?

I often find items at estate sales that have a little note attached.  A bit of history about the piece or its use. I always enjoy these little handwritten notes and save them with the item.

Here are a few that come to mind.

This is an old baby cup that I found a number of years ago.

Tucked inside was this little note that of course I could not throw away.

I like how she even took the time to to use a typewriter to type up the tag...." This cup was my son, William O.Miller's first baby cup..December 1936. Given to him by Grandma Quinn."

I just got these little handmade rings the other day. I had no idea what they were for until I read the attached note.

"I am just a little ring, hardly fit for anything.  But in your coat, out of sight, I'll hold your scarf just right." There are little safety pins attached to each little ring to pin on the inside of your coat to use the ring properly.

I assumed this little bag was meant for clothespins.

And then I read the little note that Maude had tucked in one of the tiny pockets.

"Helen, use this for soiled hankies."  I don't think Helen ever used it for the intended purpose as the little holder is pretty pristine and the note stayed tucked in the pocket all those years.

One last note to share..and this one is from me.

Collection Challenge #5 - Children's Playing Cards

Time for the fifth post in the Collection Challenge category.  This weeks request comes from Elizabeth at Life in Smirleyworld.  She asked to see my collection of children's playing cards.  I do have some, as well as some that I collect since I like the graphics on the back side of them...so I am broadening this post a bit to include them all.

Once again this post has inspired me to organize my bin of cards.  This was it before - semi organized, but with a lot of decks just tossed on top (left hand side of photo in box marked 3 piece child set)

Now that it is organized a bit more I can do a decent post. This is my collection of children's playing cards.  Old Maid, Hearts, Rummy, Cabbages and Kings, Hawk...the list goes on and on. I do know that I love the graphics on these cards.

I have a few boxes that contain multiple games - 4 card games to a box. 


Often I find cards loose in a toy box at an estate sale and I pick up the few cards I find.  The "Spanish Maid" box is pretty much full of incomplete decks of random card games.

 

The game of snap, while i have no idea how to play it has some awesome graphics (upper left corner) and some witty card phrases like "Snap your fingers" or "snap the picture"

 

Love the birds from the game of "Hawk". How about the fish shaped cards from "Go Fish"?

This is an incomplete deck, but I think it is fairly old with characters like "Sunny Jim", "Katzs Kids" and "Uncle Silas",  Has anyone played this game before?

Moving on to my normal deck of playing cards. I like to collect decks and organize them by theme. 

Dogs decks as well as individual cards with dog graphics.

 

Horses seemed to be a very popular theme.


Miniature decks.  The green tic-tac-toe deck is full size (for scale).

Floral

 

Birds


Advertising for coffee or pots and pans.

Cats

These are one of my favorite decks as I really like the letters in this game called Crossword.

And what collection would be complete without some matchboxes that look like decks of cards?

Quite a collection huh?  As you can see when I see a deck of cards that I like, I don't pass them by, but rather shout "Deal me in!" and toss them in my basket!

Have a collection you want to see if I have too?  Leave me a comment and finish the sentence, "Show me your collection of ________."  I'll see if I can oblige! Every Tuesday is a collection challenge post.

Fickle or Flighty?

Those Rebekah badges that I made recently have taken on a life of their own.  I made this one for Traci who sent me a photo of herself to use.

Another blog reader, Lisa, left me a comment quite awhile ago about a little ice skating badge I had found.  Evidently Lisa had always had a little dream about an ice skating career.  I made her this little gem.

Since I seem to be on a badge kick I made these two little badges using vintage found items. I especially like the plaid metal frame around the scottie dog...it is an old tape dispenser!

I was also running low on the original photo badges to use (my lodge members were pretty much disbanded).  I took the same idea and with some vintage yearbook photos made some new/old badges.  Here is flighty, fickle, busybody, chatterbox and meddlesome.

These badges will be showing up on Etsy on Monday night - 6 p.m. (pacific time). 

Estate Sale Friday....Rain, Rain Go Away

Not much out there today in the way of sales....was a very soggy day here in Oregon.  I did hit two sales and picked up a few things.

A good sized bag of unused Valentines.  3 flower frogs (valentines are perched in them), a set of mirrored place-cards with tiny flowers and an old plastic witch.

The witch is my favorite.

At least I didn't come up empty handed today..maybe that witch can cast a spell to make the rain stop.  Happy Weekend.

Craft Challenge

Recently on Thrify Goodness blog, Rebecca did a challenge to create something with one of these vintage 6 x 3 cards that she offered to send to participants.

It arrived in the mail and I put on my thinking cap. It was a pretty basic manila card...but I liked the little squares. 

This is what the card looks like now.

A little house full of vintage gals.  I cut some of the square apart to become windows and shutters and put some vintage yearbook photos in each window frame.

I just brought home that vintage striped box last week. It had some stuff in it from an estate sale and I couldn't throw it away since I liked the stripes.  This is what it held initially.

What fun!  I love how the little house turned out.  Here is a list of materials that I used.

Vintage check box (green striped), bingo card, wooden bingo marker, old yearbook photos, image from old greeting card,tiny flowers, birthday decorations, button, vintage newspaper, ticket (chimney, folded with image inside), old flocked tape, sushi grass.

Thanks Rebecca, for offering up this challenge...I had some silly fun with it!

On an entirely different note, I can tell June and the end of the school year is approaching when my son Ben, comes home with his end of the school year hair cut.

Ben is a senior in high school and has been doing this haircut since second grade  He read a library book way back when about a barber who was not paying attention when cutting a man's hair. The barber accidentally cut a smiley face in the hair on the back of the man's head.  Ben thought this hilariously funny and has did the same thing since elementary school. His own little celebration at the end of the school year.

Love that quirky kid....happy day!

Collection Challenge #4 Hair Accessories and Diaper Pins

I am combining two collection challenge suggestions as I don't have big collections of either one..but more than three of each (so it is technically a collection). Besides they both hold things in place so they do have a common thread. Tammy wanted to see my collection of hair accessories.  I have a small, but coveted collection of children's barrettes.

I think some of them may be bakelite (altho I haven't' tried the test yet).  Some have jewels and some are simple.  The birds are my favorite tho.

Sandy asked to see my collection of diaper pins.  Another small collection, but i do have some. I like the ones with the animal heads.

This is my favorite thing made out of diaper pin. It is a necklace that I got at Farm Chicks last year.

Short and sweet today.  I have more challenges to go.  But always eager for more ideas too.  Leave me a comment and finish the sentence - Show me your collection of _________________.

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!

 

Estate Sale Friday - Jackpot Day #2

It has been a very good weekend for me in estate sale land.  I hit two sales today and found lots of goodies...Day 2.

Vintage tissue paper in original packaging, a good quantity of prize ribbons, thread covered Easter eggs (been hunting these for awhile), playing cards, cardboard ribbon spools and boxes of corsage pins.

Old glitter, a vintage Baby Ruth candy bar box, Christmas, fabric (3 yards of a great pink and gray pattern), 3 bags of feathers, old greeting cards and old gift tags.

Old pipe cleaners, a box of birthday candles (surprise!), old thimbles and a great green tin with a cheery flower pattern.

A couple of old tins that I will use for storage in the studio. They were in the workshop and full of nails when I bought them.

My favorite find were two calendars from 1955 and 1957. They are from a local dairy, Alpenrose and feature this little elf called "Tiny Tawker".  He "promotes the habits of health and safety and to assist in developing good character in youngsters".  He is just about the cutest elf I have ever seen.

It is illustrated by a Andrew Loomis and has little poems like this one to accompany the illustrations.

"Tiny Tawker says:

The market's like a fairyland, of things we like so much.  But it's really very hard to learn that we really mustn't touch."

Was happy to call it a "ditto jackpot" day!

Estate Sale Friday - Jackpot Day

No complaints about the two sales I hit yesterday and today.  My friend Paula told me to go hit a sale yesterday that she had shopped that morning...found great stuff.  I returned again today when things were 1/2 price and discovered that I had COMPLETELY MISSED three rooms yesterday! I also hit another sale this a.m. where I was #2 to get in the door.  Estate sale life was good to me today.

First off the bigger items in the picture.  A set of four metal folding chairs in that great green color, a tiny wheelbarrow and a huge oilcloth round pink polka dot tablecloth with pink ball fringe. Paula picked up the tablecloth for me since it was screaming my polka dot pink name..it had never been used and was in the original bag.

A whole tub of birthday candle holders and a great floral tote.  You can see the polka dot tablecloth in the background.

More vintage sunglasses in wonderful colors and some  hand towels with phrases (have a collection of phrase hand towels).
 

Vintage Christmas

A couple of old colorful clotheslines with clothespins.

2 old jewelry boxes (one in a spectacular green color), a old cardboard balloon pump (good graphics) and PINK poker chips.

This tin was one of my favorite finds.  Look at the title of the book at his feet - "Flying Manual".

I snagged this wire basket the minute I walked in the door (as #2 to get in), three honeycomb umbrellas and a tablecloth that had "lucky" graphics like four leaf clovers, rabbits feet, wishbones etc.

An old kiddie chair, a mug with a "whistle for your milk" slogan and a pair of killer orange vintage gloves.

Assorted spun heads.  Two in original packages. I can't believe how often I find them...altho I am always on the look-out for them!

Tiny Christmas balls and old decorations for a baby shower.

Anagrams (plastic), party favor cups, a great wooden silverware container and lots of little odds and ends.


Paper napkins for my napkin collection.  This woman must have had friends over for coffee quite often. (double click on photo to enlarge)


Two boxes of groovy patchwork stationary.
 
Happy to call it a "jackpot" day!