Magpie Ethel

Estate Sale Friday..It Was A Good Day

 
I was number six to get into the sale today.  I signed up on the list yesterday to get in. I slept well knowing that I would get in the door right off the bat.

When I signed up yesterday, the woman running the sale said the family had taken quite a bit of the stuff.  I was a little worried about that comment, but they family left enough for me!

Old Christmas light bulbs, a honey can full of tree branches (cute graphics on the honey can), Christmas corsages, a spun angel and old jello molds

A bingo game, old plastic party-ware in original packaging and some old sprigs of spring flowers.

Horse playing cards, reflectors and tons of Valentine's Day Dennison stickers.Smaller ornaments in original boxes all nice and tidy. Old jingle bells and other assorted holiday. My favorite find was the flock of honeycomb birds.

It was a good day to find Christmas reflectors.

It was also a good day to find a huge stash of vintage Easter grass.

It was a good day in estate sale land.

Headed down to Oregon State University in Corvallis to spend my first official mom's weekend with Ben at college...looking forward to seeing that kid!

Happy Weekend to all!
 

Collection Challenge # FIFTY! - Vintage Curtain Tie Backs

GADZOOKS!  This is my fiftieth collection challenge...how in the heck did that happen and how could I have so much stuff????!!!

Anyhooo, today's challenge comes from Renee from My Vintage Mending who challenged me to show my collection of curtain tie backs.

I love curtain tie backs and primarily starting collecting them as a decorating accessory. A tie back was used to keep your curtains pulled back (often with a fabric band that matched the curtain) and is basically like a giant pushpin. They are usually made of either metal or plastic.

I like that they come in a variety of colors and floral styles. If you search them on Ebay, you will find that they come in assorted shapes like shoes and Dutch girls.  I pretty much stick to metal flowers.

This is where I display them.

This is my kitchen nook and I hung a bunch of old green tin plates with green trim.  The curtain tie backs are scattered around them (you just stick them in the wall so they are easy to decorate with).

This is one of my favorite tie backs that I have found.  I love the little singing bird and I have a pair of these displayed in my kitchen.

If you are wondering about those flower clips in the background - I use them as a decorative clip on my curtains, but they are actually vintage candle holders.

I also have a pair of opalescent glass curtain tie backs that are just over two inches in diameter. I have not found the perfect spot in my house for this pair.

I really like this collection..thanks Renee for the suggestion to share!

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a note and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ______."  I will see what I can dig up.

Also a reminder that TONIGHT (Tuesday) - Mother's Day and Spring gals with show up on Etsy at 5:30 (pacific time). I have only showed a snippet on my blog of what will show up tonight....

 

Spring and Mother's Day on Etsy

Hopefully you had a delightful Easter and the day found your relaxing with family and nibbling chocolate bunny ears.

I have had a bit of spring fever and have been crafting for Mother's Day and sunny warm days.

Mother's Day always means that spring is coming too. I often spend my Mother's Day with a trip to the local plant nursery.

Spring is in the air!

All these goodies and a few more will be available on Etsy on Tuesday, April 26th at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time).  Hope there is a little SPRING in your day! 

Party Day, But Had to Squeeze An Estate Sale In

We are celebrating Ben's 19th birthday later today with a family party. 34 are invited and it is a glorious sunny spring day.  I had to squeeze in one estate sale this morning before I began frosting a cake and cleaning bathrooms.

I went over yesterday and signed up on the list for the estate sale, so I was #12 to get in the door this a.m.

It was another Christmas in April for me.

I got a bunch of these handmade danglers made with mercury glass beads and tinsel fringe (hanging from the top of the photo).

Lots of tiny ornaments and some fruit shaped satin ornaments that I use for my Carmen Miranda ornaments.
These little foil reflectors were one of my favorite finds.  I have found them four times in my estate sale career and they are great for crafting.

A honeycomb and mercury glass garland.  A box of bright red chenille birds.

A large bottlebrush tree and a spun head snowman.

My second favorite find next to the reflectors was the tiny pink glittery tarnished plastic tree.

Happy to find some Christmas to add to my stash. 

Off to get the house ready for some party guests...happy day and happy Easter.

 

 

Estate Sale Friday And Easter Snippets

I hit two sales today.  It was not an amazing day, but I did find some Christmas goodies.

My favorite find was two long strands of mercury glass garland in turquoise and one in silver.  I even found a spun head angel in my travels today.

A couple of Christmas corsages and some sugar bells.

The only thing that hopped into my basket that was not Christmas related were three boxes of vintage birthday candles.

I am always happy to find vintage Christmas, so the morning put me in a good mood.

With Easter right around the corner, I figured I would share a few more shots of my Easter decorations.

My front window. I like the simplicity of the window and it shows off my collection of honeycomb eggs. The eggs are in old metal floral baskets and containers.

One Easter tree home to my collection of glittery birds. I never pass these by at estate sales if the price is right.

A collection of hat shaped boxes sits at the base of the tree (the green one is a basket and not a box...not vintage either, but a TJ Maxx find).

This is one of my favorite estate sale finds - the Sperry Cream Box.

I'm a sucker for those vintage graphics.

Vintage plastic cart filled with my collection of paper eggs.

My collection of egg cups and vintage dye packets/boxes.

Easter will be packed away on Monday, so thought I better share before I run out of time. 

Happy Day!

 

More Bird Love...Pipe Cleaner Style

If you are a faithful blog reader of mine, you know I have a thing for spun heads.  I am also quite partial to vintage pipe cleaners and things that are made with them.  These birds recently flew into my hands.  They are vintage and absolutely charming.

The top knot on these...what a great detail.

Just look at the silly hats on these long necked birds.

Or these pink winged friends (geese?).

I marvel at what can be created with pipe cleaners...here is a shot with a penny for scale.  These really are tiny.

They have a paper label that reads "Made in Japan". I would love to have toured one of these companies/manufacturers to see how many varieties of animals were made.

Oh the marvels of the common pipe cleaner!

 

Collection Challenge #49 - Vintage Easter Paper and Dye Boxes - Awesome Graphics

A bit more on my Easter collection. Angela from I'm Like a Little Bird challenged me to show my collection of egg dying kits.  At the time of her challenge I only had a couple of boxes. My collection has grown since then thanks to an Etsy purchase.  I am also including cardboard Easter cutouts and such in this post...throwing out all my favorite Easter graphics today!

The most adorable cardboard chick cutouts. The large ones are about 14 inches tall.

Honeycomb Easter card and tiny cardboard fold out duck and wagon.

I got this awesome wagon at an estate sale for $2 a couple of years ago. (no markings)

Old candy boxes.

It really does not get much cuter.

I wonder what a rum chew tasted like? (Lion Specialty Co., Chicago)

All of the above paper collection is displayed in one spot on this cabinet.

The second half of this post is all vintage Easter Egg Dye boxes...they are collected primarily for their sweet, sweet graphics.

The Rit Dye "Fun and Play" book is adorable.

This egg dye kit used tiny match sticks to apply the dye. You held the ends of them in the water and the dye came off.

This dye card is dated 1950 and produced marbleized looking eggs.

Did you notice all the cheap prices - 10 cents, 14 cents - I think the most expensive pack was 39 cents!

Some of the goodies that are meant to decorate the eggs will find their way to my spun head crafts next Easter.

All these old images just make me smile. They just don't do illustrations like this anymore.

Thanks for the suggestion Angela.  If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, please leave me a comment and finish the sentence, show me your collection of _____. "  I will see what I can come up with!

Birding....Magpie Ethel Style

I have noticed some unusual birds in my backyard this spring.

This little fellow was flitting about near my studio door. I love his shiny pink tinsel like tail and wing embellishments. His tail is about a foot in length.

This other unusual specimen was first spotted near my bird feeder.

Fortunately this fellow allowed me to get a closer look. I believe he is a handcrafted vintage fellow.  The markings on this charming bird include glitter, foil wings, sparkly pipe cleaners and pink feathers!

How often do you see a bird with a sparkly pink foil beak?

I feel quite fortunate to have such unique feathered friends calling my yard home!

Footnote: Sparkly pink bird #1 was found in the FREE box at a local sale last weekend. I am not sure if he was manufactured or hand crafted.

Handmade bird #2 was an estate sale find and presented to me by my friend Pam from One Gal's Trash.  Love the unique crafting that went into this fellow.

These are my kind of feathered friends!

Rainy, Rainy, Estate Sale Friday

I hit three sales on Friday.  Two were complete duds.  Fortunately one did yield some treasures.

As usual, I got lucky with some Christmas goodies. Tiny ornaments, a pair of bottle brush trees, jingle bells and some tiny metal bells.

I love this red and white ribbon. I got a dozen or so old spools of ribbon for my spun head gals.

A metal sand shovel and pipe cleaners (for crafting, not pipe smoking!).

A great old box of chenille birds. Love the little guy peeking out of the window.

I have come across the birds before, but have never found them in an original box like this.  Love the colors.

An unopened package of snapping mottos (party crackers).

They feature darling nursery rhyme characters.

So, so happy to find a box of Anagrams.

My favorite find was a box of old photo corners.  I have collected quite a few packages of these, but I had never seen them in red or baby blue before (some of these may end up on "E is for Ethel" on Etsy).

I love the blue color.

Not a bad haul for my morning. Definitely worth the very rainy wait to get in the door.

Happy day.

 

Enchante...A Sweet Field Trip

I am lucky enough to live near an amazing boutique type candy shop with a Parisian flair called Enchante.  It is about 10 minutes from my house in downtown Milwaukie.  

It is one of those shops that you walk into and your jaw drops. It is like walking into an old fashioned candy shop.

Row upon row of yummy treats. The attention to detail on the packaging is amazing. This is a shop that just makes you happy shopping in it.

My friend Kim has owned this shop for 16 years. It is where I go to get all my special sweet gifts.  The Easter bunny always shops here.

Not only are there wonderful handmade chocolates and candies, but there are lots of wonderful gift items as well.

Kim creates a magical world for each and every holiday. Every time I go into her shop, it is a different experience.

Penelope the giant faux chocolate bunny is one of my favorite props in the shop (it was a  birthday gift from her sister).

It is not one of those places I can make snap decisions in, as I have to look around and take it all in.

I am always happy to leave here with a bag of treats. Even my purchase is thoughtfully wrapped...again, attention to detail!

This little gem of a shop was also mentioned in the USA Today last year as one of the ten best places to savor the sweet life in the US! If you live in town, it is so worth a visit.

Enchante.  10821 SE Main St, Milwaukie, OR 97222.

Tue-Fri 11 am - 5:30 pm, Sat 11 am - 4 pm. My favorite place to buy sweet treats! Ooh La La!