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I had so much fun making the swan gal that is headed to Etsy tonight and received lots on nice word about her (thank you). I decided she needed a bevy of friends to swim along with her.
Mermaids, birthday gals, swans and a trio of animal figures...
Etsy. Tonight, July 11th at 5:30, pacific time.
My saturday started out quite well, I hit a sale advertised as a "gardening sale" in my neighborhood. It was only the driveway so I was in and out quickly but drove away with these in the trunk of my car.
I cleaned up the glider and it is in great shape. I dropped off these goodies at my house and then headed out to estate sales. I chose to hit one advertised in the local paper. The ad read "estate sale" and had the time and the address. No other description. I am not sure why I chose this sale to hit out of all the ones listed, but was sure glad that I did. It was a HOARDER HOUSE.
Probably the biggest hoarder house I have been in to date. The man passed away at 93 and his wife prior to that. They saved everything! I saw stacks of cardboard centers from bolts of fabric - a huge box of the foil trays that Swanson t.v. dinners used to be come on - every newspaper and magazine I think they ever received. It was crazy. She made candles. She sewed. They raised rabbits. They made shoes. She knit. He had a workshop. They canned. It was all a big hodge podge of boxes to sift thru. It was dirty..but I can do that. It was fun.
Most of the items dated from the 70s to present. A great metal trashcan and two groovy vintage suitcases.
5 full BIG bottles of vintage glitter, old canisters and a container of old buttons.
A sweet timer and a bunch of old cloth tape measures.
Vintage tins, tiny chenille Easter chicks, hankies and plastic vintage flowers for crafting. (Lynn, can you spot the Scottie Dog?)
I look for the tiny stuff. This little charm with a boy on a stork is the size of a penny. (double click to enlarge).
Unused rolls of shelf paper and a ton of plaid ribbon.
Loved the stripes on this plastic Gemtape that was made in England.
Old cans with great graphic that will be storage in the studio. I love the old Hi-C cans all lined up.
I never pass by these old ribbons with original foil wrap around them.
The couple raised and showed rabbits. I don't often run across rabbit trophies so I had to get one.
Contact paper in groovy patterns and a slew of old cans.
This box of paper chain making material had to come home with me. I love that someone actually produced this easy craft as a kit. The colors are great too...Rainbow Chain!
An old cap gun and old boxes of caps. A container of buttons.
A container of old Dennison type stickers. I especially like the butterflies on the right.
A pink and red felt Christmas runner that I don't think has been used. I am going to tweak it and remove the white puff balls. It is kind of retro cool. You can also see a snippet of the place mats I got that feature a fish motif.
A tiny pink pot, a green aluminium pitcher and a gazillion packages of fabric button covers.
2 good size rolls of vintage wallpaper.
A couple of rolls of vintage Christmas wrapping paper, a metal basket and a great colorized photo of a boy and his dog.
To illustrate the crazy hodge podge of this sale. I got this cardboard packaging for the butterfly net in the upstairs bedroom. I stuck it in my basket as it was interesting graphically. I found the net that goes with it tucked in the rafters of the basement. It is dated 1960.
I spent about two plus hours digging. It was dirty and hot, but just entertaining to see what you could find. I did not find anything earth shattering (altho the glitter was a good find). There was very little Christmas, but enough other stuff to make me happy. Was a good dig,
Well actually it should be Pigs, Tigers and Bears..OH MY!
Remember the animal spun heads I found a few weeks ago at an estate sale?
They have been given new life. No longer are they ordinary cupcake picks.
Talking to the animals in my studio...I feel a bit like Dr. Doolittle!
Headed to Etsy tomorrow on Monday the 11th. 5:30 p.m. (pacific time). They will be joined by the some birthday gals and a trio of mermaids. A summer time hodge-podge of whimsy!
There were not alot of estate sales on Friday. I decided to hit one and then do some errands. It was advertised as 50 years of accumulation, but also as the last of three sales from the estate. You never know if it is the last of three sales if it has been picked over three times, or if they add new things. I decided to take a chance.
I arrived at exactly 9 a.m when it opened and there were boxes and boxes on tables in a large driveway. Evidently this third phase involved all the boxes from the attic of a house. The boxes were a hodge podge of items so you had to dig.
The digging was good.
There were not prices on anything. You gathered and made a pile and he gave you a price. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. I did well.
I wish I had this group of items earlier to go with my fourth of July decor. The horn is called a "Dandy Horn" and is dated 1921. Original nickle price inside.
A squeaker flip toy (what is the official name for them??) with darling bird graphics. I now have two...almost a collection.
Chickens for my collection sit on a cute doll size couch
A great tin tiny basket with sweet graphics. I got the suitcase it is resting on as well. I love the striped pattern.
A box of slide making materials...glass and frames.
Most of the Christmas was older and in beat up condition. I did rescue what I could.
These birds have lost their tails, but will look cute tucked in one of my wreaths.
Old Iclcles in original wrappers.
Stubby Christmas candles in super colors..amazing what people saved.
Pow wow time.
Celluloid dolls that are missing their lower bodies. I think they came to the right crafting gal.
This celluloid doll is a keeper. Perched on a leaf and wearing a beret. It is about 4 inches long.
Flip him around...such a cute bottom.
A good size roll of nursery rhyme wrapping paper.
Some vintage wallpaper scraps.
This tin fellow has lost his horse or tractor. I could not leave him sitting in a box.
Some vintage stickers and quite a bit of dresden trims.
This cabinet only has the front two feet, but it is tiny and I figured it would be another project. The inside area above the drawer would make a cute display spot.
Blue mason jars with zinc lids.
A Fuller Brush letter openener.
With the Fuller Brush woman on the backside. I do not have one of these that is two sided...I now have about 7 of these letter openers tho.
Cute doll bed in green chippy paint that may become a table.
And last but not least, my favorite find of the morning.
Great shabby metal chairs.
I looked at my watch as I left the sale. I had spent an hour and eighteen minutes digging thru boxes. Time well spent in my book.
Saturday morning found me digging again (for a longer period of time) in a big-time HOARDERS house. Post coming on that soon.....
Happy Day.
It all began with a simple vintage swan that I had in my stash.
I was sitting in my studio one day and I heard it begging to be made into some sort of Magpie Ethel style creation. I had to oblige. (Have you noticed a common theme in my posts of vintage items SPEAKING to me? Yikes!)
I envision its use as a birthday decoration or cake topper. I love the little ballerina guiding the way with her candle in hand.
I had so much fun with this birthday swan that I decided to make a whole series of birthday oriented vintage creations.
A bunch of birthday pixies.
And of course I had to come up with some birthday themed spun head gals.
Did you notice I also found some ribbon spools that contained birthday themed ribbon? Perfect.
I also had some old birthday candle boxes that need a little re-purposing.
The birthday parade will be headed to Etsy on Monday, July 11th at 5:30 p.m. The mermaids will be there as well. I have one more category that will be headed to Etsy that same day, so look for one more posts on that. I have been busy...
happy day!
With summer finally here, Gretchen asked to see my collection of vintage beach items. This one is timely for me as once the Fourth of July is over, I put out a few beach themed items....you know shells, sand buckets and the like. This is what I have in my vintage stash.
A huge vintage paper mache anchor. Someday it will decorate my beach house and be gussied up a bit. It is huge - about 25 inches tall.
Shell match container inscribed with "Matches - Long Beach, Washington".
Seashore inspired playing cards.
Loving the seahorses on this mini deck of them.
One crazy vintage figure of a native under a pipe cleaner palm tree.
I like this piece as the bottom has written where it was found and the date - Butte, Montana. August 1955. Not exactly a beachy location.
I found a pair of shell shaped vases a few years ago. I saw some seashell flowers in an antique store and knew that I could make something similar to go along with my seaside theme.
I love Japanese floats and these are smaller ones found on the beach. The bottle was found on the bottom of the ocean in one of my aunt's undersea dives near the island of Kwajalein.
These tiny flip flops are rock hard and were found in the basement of an old pharmacy here in town. They are old store stock. I love their tiny size and color.
I am not taking up a new hobby, but love this book for throwing on the coffee table to continue the beach theme.
Old sandbucket with great graphics. It was found in the garage at an estate sale full of nails and screws.
Sandshovel collection. Rather worn, but great shapes.
Toot Toot ship with a seagull flying overhead
Ohio art shovel in fairly good shape.
All this talk of the seashore also got me inspired in the studio to come up with my annual group of mermaid gals.
The mermaids and some other new categories of fun gals will be showing up on Etsy on Monday the 11th. I will have a couple more posts with my new creations between now and the then.
If you have a suggestion for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ____". I love seeing what you guys come up with.
May the Fourth of July find you swimming in some patriotic style.
Some of you may remember that I rocked another patriotic look last year. Or the look that I had the year before. I knew I had to come up with something this year....(Vintage swim cap is my latest addition to collection courtesy of the Farm Chicks show)
Hope you have a great and safe Fourth of July and a SWIMMING good time!
I was not holding out much hope for estate sales this weekend since it is a holiday weekend. I hit one this morning as I ran thru my list of errands.
Here we have THREE. Three dollars that is.
One plant stand/end table that needs a new paint job ($1), a vintage game with great little cardboard letters ($1), and a cool poker chip carrier.
Here we have FREE. These canisters were all used to hold nails and screws in the garage. They were all free.
Perfect studio storage and I love the manufacturer of the trio of tins.
Three and Free...no complaints from me!
Happy Day!
