Magpie Ethel

Collection Challenge #90 - Vintage Fruits and Vegetables Graphics

Jonathan challenged me to show my collection of vintage fruit and veggie graphics. I have enough of this category around that I can do a post..even tho I don't actively hunt down fruits and veggies.

Estate sale found Citrus poster.  This was part of the school education program, and was produced by the Florida Citrus Commission.

Vintage cans bought entirely for the graphics. Cute studio storage a bonus.

Vintage greeting cards that all have a fruit or vegetable graphic.

Just dang cute.

Penny Pineapple was a advertising figure that dates from 1942.  This is a chalkware figure of her.

She was part of a group of 6 that include Lee Lemon, Stella Strawberry,  Albert Apple, Billy Banana and Charlie Cherry. I have a couple of wooden plaques for two of the figures.

I also have a few fun fruits and vegetables that aren't really graphic oriented, but collected for crafting or decoration. They are good eye candy.

Satin ball fruit that I use for Carmen Miranda girls.

Vintage millinery fruit...again collected for crafting.

Vintage honeycomb fruit.

One of my favorite things to find at estate sales are old seed or gardening catalogs.  I love the old time illustrations of the fruits and veggies. Thia one is dated 1960.

Beautiful graphics.

And just for the fruit and vegetable record.  My favorite fruit is probably a banana or a peach.  My favorite vegetable is corn on the cob or asparagus.  I despise brussel sprouts

and cucumbers.

Blech!

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence, "Show me your collection of ______." Heading toward 100!

Estate Sale Saturday - Six Not Fifty

I went yesterday and signed up for today's sale.  I was there when the list went out and was number 6 to get in the door today.  A VERY good number, but unfortunately, only a mediocre sale.

The giant wooden 50 was in a window and hidden by a curtain.  I noticed it when I was walking to the sale. It is glittery.  I turn 50 in a couple of years, so it may serve me well then.

A cute elf stocking (unused) and some mercury glass garland.  The glass garland is a shape that I don't run across often, and I got two strands of it.  Also a few loose smaller Christmas ornaments.

A old plastic Santa that has some condition issues...primarily a hole on the top of his head. He will look great lumped together with my other vintage Santas during the holidays.

I was glad that I was number six to get in the door and did not end up with a higher number. In and out with a few treasures and on with my day. 

I am off to San Francisco later this week and am planning to hit the Alameda Flea market while I am there.  Hoping..really hoping, for some fun treasures to find.

A Determined Cupid

This little spun head cupid looks VERY determined to find that special Valentine.

I have a feeling this little fellow will have no problem finding the right target. I love his little arrow. (actually a vintage red cocktail pick with a heart added at one end) His hat and green heart and mesh wings are also original to the head.  I am always amazed how many types of spun heads were manufactured.

Cupid and a few other friends are headed to Etsy.  That arrow is ready to zing your way!

Detective Magpie Back Again

Detective Magpie is on the case again and this one has her stumped.

I found this little brush at an estate sale and bought it for the color and the floral design. What is the little brush used for?  The bristles are coarse and wiry, not soft to the touch at all. It measures about 2 inches.

Blogland, can you help Detective Magpie solve this case?

(p.s. Do not be led astray by the dusting of red glitter in the photo..Detective Magpie is often covered in it and leaves trails of it here and there.)

 

Collection Challenge #89 - Vintage Tea Towels

Renee from My Vintage Mending challenged me to show my collection of tea towels. I have a towel bar in my kitchen that is reserved for this collection.  This towel bar is off limits for use. These are my DECORATIVE towels. My family knows these towels are hands off, but unfortunately  guests don't always figure it out. 

If you come to my house, please don't use these towels. The smaller towel was bought off Etsy and had a vintage image. The larger striped towel was estate sale found and had never been used.

If I find an interesting towel, I will pick it up with this towel bar in mind. Sugar and spice and everything nice (estate sale found).

I love the florals of course.

A gardening theme.

Silly embroidered towels with dancing forks, spoons and cups.

I am always attracted to those tea towels that are handmade as I love the details.

A simple red towel..add polka dot ruffles and it takes it to a new level!

An embroidered cup of tea with darling flowers floating up.

I am always a sucker for flowers. When they are crafted with vintage fabric, I have trouble passing them by.  These are cutters.

Speaking of cutters, this butterfly is definitely a cutter. It is full of holes and beyond repair.

I was fortunate to find this butterfly with a whole stash of the same dishcloth. Each of the butterflies had been crafted with different fabrics.

I was happy that someone had saved them as they are all little works of art with a great assortment of fabrics.  I need to figure out a project with them.

Two of my favorite tea towels have been gifted from friends.

Amy from Into Vintage created this using one of my spun head gals as inspiration.

I won this sweet towel from Jill of  Little Nest Studio in a giveaway last year.

I do like my collection of tea towels, both old and new.  If you were wondering what tea towel you should use if you come to my house...

Please use those that hang from the child size irons that are attached to my wall near the fridge.

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 find as I near 100 challenges!

 

Gray. A Good Read on a Gray Day.

It is a gray day here. We had snow earlier this week and it has been raining cats and dogs since then.  Lots and lots of rain with flooding in nearby areas.

I went to one estate sale last night and hit two moving sales today that advertised years of accumulation. I did not buy a thing. Proof that I don't hit the jackpot every weekend.

I have been spending these past few grey days reading this.

Amy wrapped this up and gave it to me for my birthday.  It weighs a ton. This is the spine of the binder. It gets better when you open it...she nailed me with this gift.

Better Homes and Gardens, Christmas Ideas.  1959-1952

I have had fun reading each of these holiday issues. I marked some of my favorite pages to share. 

I would love to run across these reindeer at an estate sale. They were carved from plastic foam and floated in the swimming pool. I love their pink attire...and look at the sleigh! (double click on the photo to enlarge).

Crazy!

Still on that pink theme. Look at the exterior of this house. The front doors are in the midst of that big pink tree.

Or how about some pixies and giant mushrooms to decorate the front yard?

This is a big display. The pixies look to be about three feet tall.

While I did get some good holiday crafting ideas there were some that I would definitely pass on.

No q-tip crafting for me.

This tree is made of wicker baskets and ball fringe.  Again, I will pass.

Lots of fun pages and a good chuckle here and there on an otherwise gray day.

Thank you Amy for this perfect gift. And thank you Nellie, for saving these magazines and tucking them away in an album for me to read 60 years later.

A ray of holiday sunshine on a gray day.

Pink and Red Reminder

Tonight.  5:30 p.m. (pacific time).  The Etsy Valentine fun begins!

Please remember that an item is not OFFICIALLY yours until it is paid for. Even if it is in your shopping cart the item is still up for grabs by another buyer.  If you purchase a coveted item and then do some more shopping, I will reimburse any overpaid postage.  Sorry about this, but this is how Etsy operates.

Collection Challenge #88 - Vintage Jars and Jar Lids

I bought this jar last weekend at an estate sale.

It got me to thinking how much I like jars.  I like that they come in so many shapes and sizes.  I like how they provide such attractive storage in my studio.  I counted them up and I have over 114 of them out there.

Sometimes I am attracted to them because of their labels and the old fashioned graphics.

But one of the REAL reasons that I like them is because of their lids.  This is the lid for the jar I picked up this weekend in the top photo.

Often at estate sales, I will find a lid and no jar that goes with it. If it has great graphics and the price is right I will buy it (I can always find a jar to fit).  People liked to save jar lids.

Jar lids of today are pretty plain compared to their vintage counterparts. I like how this theatrical cream told the buyer it was sensibly priced.

Often you will see a familiar figure on one of these old lids...like Elsie the Cow that has in use since 1936 and still is around today.

Kraft had quite a variety of jar lids for all its different products and I like how they each had a different look about them.

This jar lid tells you exactly where to use the relish..bring on those hot-dogs and hamburgers.

This jar lid was probably pre-Costco.  The slogan on the side of the cream cheese box reads "Never sold in bulk".

Sometimes a jar lid was a mini advertisement.  Kraft foods was a sponsor for this radio show called "The Great Gildersleeve" and used a lid to advertise it.  This show ran from 1940-54.  I had never heard of it so had to do a little googling. 

This is my one of my favorite lids, not because I am a fan of sandwich spread, but because of the great kid graphic on it.

I might have had to buy this product just to get the cute lid..fortunately for me I found it at an estate sale(no jar attached)!

Silly collection today.  But half my collections are silly!  If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "show me your collection of _____." You just never know.

 

Valentine Pink and Red

Valentine pink and red.  I have been busy in the studio.

My goodies will be headed to Etsy on January 19th at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time).

Lots of Valentine fun!

I do love my holidays!

Estate Sale Friday. I Swore I Would Not Buy Anymore.

I hit one sale on Friday about 45 minutes late. I was not there when it opened as it was one of the only sales in town and I KNEW that everyone would be there..I wanted to wait for the crowd to clear a bit.

I have said it on my blog more than once that I would not buy more pipe-cleaners.  I broke that resolution and bought more.

As a pipe cleaner defense tho, these were all vintage and those in the right of the photo were thicker and multicolored and not your run of the mill variety.

I bought other stuff too.

4 boxes of unused tiny glassine envelopes and two more pipe cleaner dogs. I never find these pipe cleaner animals and then I find them in back to back weeks.

A Wee Wisdom magazine from 1945 that is the Valentine issue.  It will join my other Valentine issue kids magazines. A few tin molds and a container of silver glitter.

Love the cover art.

A good amount of old sequins for crafting.

A hodge podge of old wooden beads.  I spotted a lone spun head in the bag when I bought it which was an extra bonus.

Also in the hodge podge bag were some old erasers.  A tower of vintge ribbon for my spun head bases.

Directions and the plastic forms to make pom pom pets.

Vintage Thumbtacks.  I think I have them in about every color in the rainbow.

A Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs songbook from 1938.

Another Friday, another sale, another good day...and it was Friday the 13th!