Magpie Ethel

Collection Challenge #46 - Easter Chicks/Ducks

Lisa asked to see my collection of Easter Chicks.  I just pulled out my Easter bins and have started decorating...to the timing was perfect!

A hodge-podge of chicks. The one on the right is nestled in a cup and was probably a party favor.

I dig the daffodil covered plastic flower chick.

These are some of my favorites. 

These two embellished chicks have great personality.

Paper Honeycomb

Chicks that sport an eggshell

Styrofoam chicks.

This chick/duck was found at the Alameda flea market and was the inspiration for crafting.

These gals have satin ball bodies.

Cowboy ducks. I love their lassos.

Spun head chick

A couple of modern additions.  This one is by Crystal of Vintage by Crystal.  I love the wire legs.

This is Flo.  She is one of my spun head gals.

I am happy to have these chicks and ducks out of the bin and on display for Easter.

I think some Easter collection challenges are in store in the future.  If you have a challenge along that line, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ___".

Chirp! Quack! Happy Day!

Home And A Troop Of Estate Sale Mushrooms

Home sweet home.  We had a wonderful trip to Phoenix and the Grand Canyon.  It really was nice to have some family time in a warmer climate away from the gray, rainy skies of Oregon (although we did have a day of drizzle and encountered snow at the Grand Canyon).

We got home on Friday afternoon and Saturday found me in line for an estate sale. I was #17 to get in the door.  The sale advertised florist supplies and I was hoping for some fun stuff. 

The theme of the day for me was MUSHROOMS!

I spotted these in the garage before the sale opened and made a beeline for them.  There are spun cotton and I got 17 bunches of them.  They sport their original tags that read "Made in Germany East". I can not wait to craft with them!

A bunch of picks that sport tiny red spun cotton mushrooms and a bottle brush stem. 2 vintage floral tins also jumped into my shopping basket.

I found a bag of great glass red mushrooms on clips.  I don't believe these are vintage, but they are super cute.  My brain is already crafting with these mushrooms and some spun head holiday fun. I think they would look darling clipped onto a Christmas tree.

I definitely had some fungi love going on today!  It was the perfect welcome home for me.

Happy Day.

 

Bringing You A Happy Smile #4

I got this wonderful chick off Ebay the other day. I have quite a few Easter chicks, but I have never seen one like this.  I love her webbed feet and her nodder head.

I smiled when I opened the box that she arrived in.  She will join a very large family of vintage Easter chicks that I have.   I think they will welcome her with open wings!

Bringing You A Happy Smile #3

More honeycomb again. I recently got a huge stash of honeycomb balls.

I have them caged up so they won't escape.  They are a great orangey gold color and I got about 40 of them (althought there are only about 8 of them in this photo). I can't believe the love affair I have with these silly paper balls...color and whimsy..they just make me smile!

Bringing You A Happy Smile #2

I found a wooden rake at the "dreamy" estate sale last weekend.  It sports its original green and yellow paint.   Lately I have been admiring rakes that are re-purposed to hang items from the prongs.  I think this new rake will do that job wonderfully.

It does make me happy and I love the color.

Collection Challenge #45 - Baby Planters

Miss Rhea from Sweet and Shabby Roses challenged me to show a collection of baby planters.  This is something I don't hunt down, but I seem to pick them up from time to time when their whimsical designs speak to me.  I have enough planters to call a collection although I did add some that perhaps did not fall in the baby planter category..they are still darn cute!

These would fall in the baby category. A stork of course!

Adorable lambs.


These still have the child like whimsy, but I don't think they would fall in the baby category.  There are darn cute tho and make me smile.

Did they make you smile too?

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge post, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of _____."  You have stumped me lately with some of your suggestions..I guess I don't collect EVERYTHING!  Happy day!

 

Bringing You A Happy Smile #1

This honeycomb bee makes me happy. It arrived in the mail recently from a blog reader, Marci in Kansas. She knew I had a love affair with paper honeycomb and sent it off to me.  It is pretty big and marked "Made in Denmark" inside. I love the pipe cleaner antennae. It is AWESOME!  A perfect addition to my honeycomb collection!

p.s. A few HAPPY SMILE posts will show up while I am on spring break..hopefully I am soaking up some warm weather..that will make me happy too!

Estate Sale Friday...Pajama Run

If you live in my neighborhood you may have seen me in the darkness of morning today.  While drinking my morning coffee and eating my Kashi cereal, I noticed that the classified ads listed an estate sale a few blocks away.  I slipped on a pair of shoes and a coat over my pink pajamas and off I went to see if the list was up.  I was number 7 on the list and thankfully did not run into anyone I knew at that hour! I signed up, ran home, took a shower, got dressed and returned for the sale a couple of hours later.

Number seven turned out to be a good number for me!

A vintage Christmas boot and a cute little gal.

This woman was my kind of gal and crafty.  She had an unfinished project of what I believe are place cards with tiny fruit with velvet leaves. I got a whole box of them.

Lots and lots of tiny Christmas balls, bottle brush trees and mercury glass garland.

An assortment of crafting greenery for Christmas with silver leaves, bells and holly.  In the center of it all is one lone spun head!

1959 Casper the Ghost game-board

Vintage birthday candles, pipe cleaners and bingo cards.

Vintage dolls ready for some love.

Last but not least, my two favorite finds. 

First, a great old box shaped like a hat (I have another one like this, but a different pattern). Love the pale polka dot bow.

My second favorite find was a wonderful bunch of yummy honeycomb balls in great faded colors.

What a good day!  Spring break starts tomorrow and we are off to Phoenix.  I have a couple of blog posts set to post while I am away. Have a wonderful week.

 

Detective Magpie On The Case Again

I was sorting thru an old jewelry box full of jewelry and came across an item that I have no idea what it is.  I was hoping some blog readers could help me solve this case.

The item is about three inches long and at first I thought it was some sort of pencil. On one end it has a ring so you could hang it on a chain.

When you pull it open it slides out to reveal this.

It has Detective Magpie stumped.  Blogland ..can you offer me help?

Spring Break

Spring break is coming up and my family is headed to Phoenix, Arizona.  We are looking forward to some warm weather and family time.  Phoenix is new territory for us, so if you have any suggestions of place to eat, shops to hit or things to do, please leave me a comment.  We also plan on hitting the Grand Canyon so if you have any tidbits on it, please share.  Looking forward to getting away from the rain of Oregon.