Magpie Ethel

Collection Challenge #74 - Halloween Black Cats

Eileen, Krisi and Nancy have all challenged me to show my collection of cats. Today is the day.  My entire collection of cats falls under the Halloween cat category.

I got this great spun head fellow (about 6 inches tall) the other day in a random grab bag.

A couple more black cat spun figures.

This fellow is a reproduction, but he had two things going for him.  He looks vintage and he is glittery.

Vintage Halloween cat candles

Black cat coloring book.

I display most of my paper cat cutouts on a wire wreath in a little recessed shelf area in my living room. This trio is marked H.E. Luhrs.

These are Dennison style stickers, cardboard cutouts and bridge tally cards. They all feature cats.

Vintage plastic cat candy container.

Had to have a black cat blow mold.

Vintage paper cats.

A reproduction wire and tinsel cat, with that vintage appeal.

A Halloween cat clicker.

Candy containers and treat baskets embellished with black cat motif.

Since I am crafty, I always have a soft spot for vintage handmade items. I found this yarn cat at the same sale with spun head cat in the first photo.

Old handmade cat paper hat.

This was probably a Halloween project for some elementary school child.

My spooky black cat collection is all clustered in one spot for the holiday in my living room.

Thank you girls for your cat suggestion.  It took me awhile to get this cat post going, but I had to wait for the spooky season.

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge leave me a comment and finish the sentence, "Show me your collection of _____".  Always happy to dig into my stash.

 

Estate Sale Friday...Part Two

Part two of my estate sale finds today.  These are my non holiday goodies.

I did not get a super great picture of all my pink plastic kitchen stuff.  On the right is a bread box and a box to hold wax paper and paper towels. Also in pink is a plastic cake plate with lid and handle, a set of canisters and a cookie container.

Pink canisters, a couple of rolls of old ribbon and a vintage tablecloth. 

The roll of ribbon on the bottom is huge. It is red, white and blue and would be perfect to use for display for the fourth.

A plastic cookie container, a Bireleys bottle and a couple of old paint boxes.

A small red wagon, a trio of Easter chicks, pipe cleaners and a tiny coffee pot.

A plastic unused trash can (that will replace the one I have had in my bathroom for years). I love the pair of dolls with those rosy cheeks. You will probably see them with a Magpie Ethel holiday makeover at some point.

The moth tin screamed Halloween black and orange. Some old tin molds and a pair of soap containers.
Fun old thermoses.

This was my absolute favorite find of the day.  I love the Humpty Dumpty graphic. The fellow at the sale thru it in for free as it was not priced. It is an action cut out card and you are supposed to cut the tongue out and put it in Humpty's mouth...moving it from side to side.  Sounds like a fun project, but I am keeping it intact and it will live in my cabinet of curiosities.

A set of tin canisters and a small cream/milk bottle.

Some old Halloween paper plates.  I love the children in the masks.
It was a day for towel rods. I found these in vintage green with plastic ends, plus a matching soap dish. I also found some with glass rods (first photo on bench..it started raining and i missed getting a closer photo of them)

And speaking of the rain, it is always fun to find something unexpected tucked in with your treasures. I found this little pair of plastic umbrellas mixed in with some gift ribbon.

It was a happy day!

Estate Sale Friday...Part One

I hit one sale yesterday and hit a mother-load of Christmas. I hit 4 sales today and filled my car. I am going to divide this post into two parts, so it does not get to long.  Today is the holiday finds post.

Santa was smiling upon me from the North Pole this weekend.

I was rolling in holiday happiness.

A great cardboard Santa face, 4 chenille light up wreaths and a couple of plastic nativity sets.

Light up angel in original box and some Putz style cardboard houses.

3 strands of mercury glass garland and 5 great mica birds (they are candy containers and their heads come off).

Christmas reflectors, vintage foil candy canes and candle clips.

I even found some spun head angels in original packaging.

A box of cardboard houses. I have never ever found an entire original box. EVER.

A box of vintage gift tags and cards.

One white table top size tree.

A box of old ornaments, misc smaller ornaments, a bunch of spun head angels and some hand made angels.

Last but not least, this pair of little Santa elves. I can't quite figure out the sex on these.  They appear to be women as they have little skirts, but then they have Santa heads with BEARDS.  They are not homemade, but they have me stumped.

Tis the season for a very good holiday haul!  Part two of my estate sale weekend will post tomorrow.

 

 

A Pair of Cackling Witches

My bins of Halloween are out and my house is fully decorated (will share in another post).  Unfortunately once those bins were open, two oversize Gurley candle witches have been cackling and haunting up a storm.

Those two wicked witches have been chasing my little pumpkin fellows.

Next the pair have terrorized my little witch gals. Their skirts are swirling about as they hightail it to safety.

Usually ghosts are the ones that do the haunting, but these ghosts are definitely running for cover.


Even the black cats are skittering about.

Soon the witches have all my little gurley candle friends running towards my china hutch...ready to escape their witching spells.

Run, run, run my little black and orange friends!

You may have remembered something similar has happened at my house before during the Thanksgiving holiday.  You can read about that episode here.

Collection Challenge #73 - Squeaky Rubber Toys

I am sharing this collection for two reasons. Number one, the most adorable squeaky stork just came my way via Ebay. Number two, my collection has doubled in size in the past couple of weeks due to some good estate sales finds.

Here is Mr. Adorable Stork. He is marked Rempel 1957 on the back.  In my opinion Rempel makes the cutest vintage figures.

This sweet gals was one of the first of my squeaky toys and was found on my Kansas road trip last year.

Squeaky duck.
Squeaky lambs.  I have found both of these fellows in the past couple of weeks at estate sales. (Rempel)

Squeaky deer (Rempel). Found last weekend.

Strutting squeaky rooster. Rempel Roofus the Rooster.

I have discovered that sometimes squeaky toys enjoy having a friend by their side.

Condition is not always an issue for me. Santa has definitely had some hard knocks in his life.

Squeaky honey bear.

One word to the wise about squeaky toys.  They do not like hot attics.  This poor Santa has lost his squeak and is hard as a rock.  He still is dang cute and lives on a holiday wreath that I put up each year.

I love the details on this fellow.  Look at his belt buckle! SC for Santa Claus!

Squeaky cute eye candy today.  If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of _____."  I will see what I can round up.

Happy Day!

Estate Sale Friday/Saturday...And A Good $5 Gamble

I hit one sale yesterday and one today.  I signed up yesterday for the Saturday sale and was #3 on the list to get in (happy dance on front porch as I signed the list for such a low number).  The sale was advertised as a 50 year accumulation and declared the basement to be a digger.  I love to dig.

I got in the door right away. I made my first run thru the house and I always go back for a second look if it is a good sale. In the basement I had seen this basket on my first run which had some oddball Christmas in it.  On my second run I dug deeper into it and decided the five dollar price tag was fine. It is a big wire basket of stuff.

This is what I got that was worthwhile in the holiday hodge podge. A few bottle brush trees and some vintage tinsel.

A few strands of glass garland, random ornaments, foil bells and some Christmas reflectors.

A bunch of mercury glass picks.

This little fellow was a total surprise to me.  He just sprang from one of the bags.  He hangs as if he is flying thru the air.
So the $5 bin was a winner.  In addition to the bin...I got this.

A light up holiday ornament tree.  I was hoping I could repair it, but the lights don't work and are woven thru the ornaments. I think I will take it  apart.  It has a great strand of turquoise glass garland on it.

A old glass jar and a bunch of holiday plastic figures.  Some need repair. The pink rabbit is missing ears, but I think I can work some magic.

Vintage Easter candles, a honeycomb bunny, a Putz style house, a valentine candy heart box and an unused vintage jewelery box (with original directions and key inside).

Floral cloth napkins and a bunch of old bobby pins in original wrapping.

A super pretty floral tin, a Rempel lamb and deer and a vintage smiling baby toy.

A Christmas sleigh with spun head Santa, vintage Christmas corsages, gold holiday ornaments, a baby rattle and big cardboard bells.

Some floral unused sheeting. I don't know what it is about this type of fabric, but I always grab it.

A teeny bit of vintage Halloween.
 
A couple of old chenille animals. One is a dog and the other is a giraffe?
 

Number three was certainly a good number for me today! Happy Weekend.