Magpie Ethel

Estate Sale Friday - Sunny Day

It was an absolutely glorious spring day here today.  I was  number forty six to get into the estate sale and it felt good to stand in the sun and gab with my friends.

My finds were not as sunny as those of the past few weeks, but I still picked up a few things...all was not lost.

A galvanized mop bucket. Was actually quite happy to find this as I am switching it up in the backyard from terra cotta pots to galvanized metal pots and buckets.  This is a good one to add to the assortment I already have.

A couple of boxes of bottle caps, a floral tin and some old Christmas bells and picks.

Some old cream colored curtain rings which I will have to figure out a project for.

I was happy to find this card box to add to my Christmas collection. It is over a foot high and has a wonderful smiling Santa (empty box tho).

Still a happy day in estate sale land...off to enjoy the rest of the sunny day!

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!

Collection Challenge #52 - Buttons

Buttons are one of those items that alot of people collect.

Becky challenged me to show my collection of them. I don't hunt for buttons at estate sales, but often will take a gander at them if they look like they may be interesting.  I use buttons primarily for crafting. I am also attracted to the graphics on the old button cards.

I usually divide them up by color if they are loose.

There is a something magical about all the colors and shapes and sizes that buttons are available in.

If they are on the original button card, they usually go into one of these two boxes.

Some of my buttons have great appeal to me due to how they are displayed.  These are old button display cards from a shop.

They have the original price of each button written beside it.

I love the teeny-tiny doll clothes sized buttons. (note penny for scale)

I often use one of these tiny buttons at the waist of one of my spun head dolls for a little fun detail.

My favorite button related item is this cloth.  It is about 2 x 3 feet and has row after row of vintage buttons sewn on it...all arranged by color. It has over 800 buttons on it.  I got it for helping a friend with her mother's estate items.

I think that some buttons are like mini works of art. I often make button flowers with them as a simple way to display them.

Supplies: vintage buttons, velvet leaves, floral tape and floral wire.

Insert the floral wire thru the button and make a "U" shape....up thru one button hole and down thru the other. Sometimes I will layer a couple of buttons to make the flower more interesting.

Twist the wire ends.

I like to wrap the wire stem in floral tape.  I like a thicker base  directly under the button to support it so it does not wobble  I also attach the leaf with floral tape.

It is an easy way to display a special button or buttons!

Button, button who has the button?  I think just about everybody has a small stash of these vintage treasures!

If you have an idea for a future challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ____." I will see what I can do.

 

 

$2 Mystery Estate Item

For those of you who read ALL the way to the end of the LONG estate sale friday post you will remember I mentioned a $2 item.

My estate sale journey is not always rosy. I hit alot of dud sales...lots.  Saturday I hit FOUR SALES and ended up with one lone $2 purchase.

I wanted an outdoor patio umbrella that I could leave out all summer.  This one is heavy vinyl and will fit the bill. It was not priced and when I asked the woman she told me $2.  I started to open it up on the driveway to double check on the condition. What I saw inside sold me in a split second.  Into my car it went and it now sits in my backyard.

Love, love, love the hidden floral pattern inside the umbrella.  It is in perfect condition except for some rather dirty cream colored fringe. (I may try to use some bleach water on the fringe to clean it up.)

Best $2 I have spent in quite a while.  Made me forget about those dud sales I had hit earlier in the morning too!

Happy Day!

Estate Sale Friday. Skipping Down The Driveway.

My mom went with me yesterday to estate sales and saw me skip down the driveway from estate sale happiness.  It made her laugh at her goofy daughter.

We hit two sales yesterday.  The first one I had a decent number and the company running the sale basically read every name on four pages of the list and let everyone in.  There were probably 100 people in a fairly small house.  I paid for my goodies and we were on to sale #2....it was insane in that little house with some many people!

The second sale we hit was over the river in Washington.  We arrived about an hour after it opened.  You entered through an utility room that housed all the craft supplies and I immediately started filling my basket. I think I got light headed and probably started babbling gibberish I was so excited!

A pair of Meyercord decals that are HUGE (over 12 inches).  I don't often find them this size.

I did find Christmas of course. Lots of odds and ends...glittered bells and foil leaves.

A light up angel tree topper, floral vintage tin and a great turquoise heart shaped candy box (you can see the detail on it on the right hand side of the photo).

I got a whole bunch of these tiny metal cigar boxes.  Great red and pink graphics.

The inside lid has a goofy message. "Puff lightly. You need not inhale to enjoy them".

1960s Pack-O-Fun magazines, a large beaded basket, Halloween picks and some old shoe laces and gift ribbon.

I liked this woman's choice of shoelaces. Argyle and stripes indicate she had her own sense of style!

My mom found this box of confectionery wrappers. The are perfect for skirts on some of my smaller gals.

I was thrilled to find this vintage pinking machine.  It will end up on Etsy as I already have one.

Old barrettes in great shapes and some darling peacocks. The peacocks have the original "Made in Japan" tag attached to them.  I love their shiny wings and the pipe cleaner body.

Two wooden silverware inserts that I filled with the glass garland that I found at sale #1

A bag full of vintage fabric patches and tiny bows.

A vintage Bucilla kit to make the stuffed animal cows Bess and Bessie.

A honey can full of vintage plastic icicles.

My mom picked up this doll suitcase for me - swing time.

The inside is even cuter.

Vintage Easter.  Dennison cardboard bunnies, plastic baskets, and spun head bunnies.

My mom handed me these bunnies to put in my basket. She did good!  You can also see a tiny spun chick in a honeycomb nest (bottom corner).

Flopsy's Easter grass came home with my just because Flopsy was a great graphic!

And last but not least the red color themed pile. Old ribbon spools, a ton of spun cotton mushrooms (hurray!), and old flags.

These red, white and blue Bingo style cards are really awesome and will be great for the Fourth of July - they are dated  1943.  I also got a whole roll of old silk flag ribbon...you just cut a flag off and use it.


Crazy long post today.  For those of you who are shaking your heads and thinking I get lucky ALL of the time. Today (Saturday) I hit FOUR sales and ended up buying ONE item for $2.  That $2 item is pretty nifty tho...post coming on the mystery item on Monday...this post is long enough already.

Happy Mother's Day to all....

My New Tradition

I have a thing for vintage storks.  I did a collection challenge on them. You may remember last Mother's Day that I bought MYSELF a LARGE stork in honor of my being a mom (two great, great kids).

After the stork purchase last year for Mother's Day, I found myself another stork this year to celebrate the holiday.

I found it on Etsy.  This is the story that accompanied the listing.
"The gentleman this belonged to is in his 80s and this was presented to his mother at his birth in the 1930's. Hand decorated with a wood stork, he currently holds one of the original ribbons in his beak."

I was smitten.

Look at the charming details on the basket that holds flowers.

I was happy to add this to my stork collection.

It is the perfect Mother' Day gift for me.  I think a vintage stork purchase is a new tradition for me.

So happy to be a Mom.  I love you Ben and Kate. Love you too Mom!

Crepe paper flower was hand-made by Laurie Cinotto.

Collection Challenge #51 - Vintage Christmas Light Bulbs

Last Friday, at the estate sale I hit I found a box of vintage Christmas light bulbs. You can see them there in the left hand corner in the box.

I thought that someone had challenged me to show my collection of vintage bulbs, and when I checked my challenge list....sure enough, Peggy had challenged me in this department.

This is one of those collections that I have because I craft.  Since I am also always picking up Christmas items, I often find the stray bulb here and there in a box with other goodies.  I can't bear to throw them away, and thus my collection had evolved.

I am drawn to the colors, shapes and sizes of these light bulbs. They add a vintage touch to some of my crafting.

Can you believe variety of shapes?

Sometimes I get lucky and I find a figural bulb tucked in with the more generic bulbs.

Like this walnut or this melon (?)

This fish was a good catch.

These star shaped bulbs were in the box I bought last weekend.

These were in the box from last Friday as well.  They reminded me of the curtain tie backs from the previous collection challenge post. The outside decorative frame is metal and the center flower (in the red one) is plastic.

I would love a whole light strand of these lighted ice bulbs.

One of the attractions of these vintage bulbs is the colors that they came in.  I am thinking I may swap out some of the light-bulbs that we currently use to decorate the outside of our house with during the holidays.  These boxes of vintage bulbs are just yummy.  I love the soft green and the peachy/pink. My house would definitely have a vintage glow!

Thanks Peggy for this suggestion.

If you are inspired by this collection...you can start collecting now and have 7 months until the holiday!

If you have a suggestion for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of _____."  I would be happy to see what I can dig up.

If You Were My Neighbor...

If you were my neighbor you may find one of these little happy wishes on your door knob to celebrate May Day.

Have a wonderful day!