Magpie Ethel

Collection Challenge #116 - Crowns and Tiaras

I realized after a recent estate sale purchase that I am attracted to crowns and tiaras.  I don't where them, but I do like things that where them.

This is the first tiara I got.  My mom wore it when she got married. My Mom and Dad celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary this past December, so I think this qualifies as a vintage item.

This is the estate sale item I recently purchased that made me realize my crown attraction. Vintage ceramic swan with tiny flower crown.

I like photos of people wearing crowns.  This framed photo came from a local sale where the woman had been in a Mrs. America pageant.  I have had this silly photo hanging in my bedroom for quite a few years.

In front of the photo sits a shelf with a favorite glittered bird with a crown on its head.

My little tribute to crowns.

You may remember I recently acquired an HUGE (3 and half feet tall) framed photo of a Queen from a local high school. It hangs in my stairwell.  Her crown is spectacular.

I have tiny vintage gold paper crowns that I use for crafting.

I also pick up tiaras and crowns when I stumble across them to have in my stash for future projects.

This is one of those collections that just is silly and brings a smile to my face.  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.

Happy day!

p.s. My love of crowns and tiaras does not automatically qualify me as a fan of the show Toddlers and Tiaras!

Estate Sale BONUS Day Sunday. Boxes.

I don't often hit estate sale on Sunday.  I have usually hit them hard the prior two days and stuff has been picked over.  If it was a really stellar sale I will head back on Sunday for half price.  There were so many sales this weekend, that I decided to head out this morning for a couple of hours.

This is what I bought that was not in a box. A huge vintage Santa bowl, celluloid deer and a kitschy sleigh.

No box on these either.  A McCoy pink flower pot, a yellow flower pot, a shamrock vase and a little Easter chick vase.

And those boxes that I mentioned earlier?....A crazy amount of Christmas in ORIGINAL boxes!

Santa and sleigh.

Small ornaments in smushed boxes.

Look at this stack of original boxes.

Top three boxes are vintage embellished bottle brush trees in original boxes.

The next four boxes on that tall stack are ornaments.

Really gorgeous Shiny Brites.

A box of oversize ornaments with great scenes and colors.

Two boxes that hold embellished bottlebrush candy canes.

A box that had seen better days. Original price tag on end.

This long skinny box was full of those old twisty metal icicles.  I had not seen them in this longer length before.

This pair of trees were actually in a brown paper bag rather than a box.  The tiny ornaments were in the bag as well.

Two boxes of 430 Pink.

430 Pink is an angel tree topper in pink.

340 1 pc. Green - 2 Boxes.

These boxes each held a shiny bell door hanger in green.

And last but not least one box that held a huge amount of old plastic ornaments.

Plastic snowflakes and stars. The snowflakes have hooks so you can hang them end to end. They are all about as big as my hand.

Let me just say that these boxes made me giddy with glee!  Sunday was definitely a good day in estate sale land.

Estate Sale Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Sales Left and Right.

I hit at least a couple sales each day on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this weekend.  There were 27 sales listed on our local estate sale website.  That does not include Craig's List or the newspaper!  It is the season for them!

Small ornaments, gift ribbon, an Easter rabbit, a plastic snowman, two naked dolls (they will resurface next Fourth of July I think), vintage birthday candles, glitter and a paint box.


I did well on boxes of Christmas ornaments with 8 total. (not as well as Barbara thought...drats).

Anagram letters and plastic flowers for crafting.

A great jar with a morning glory design (bonus that it came with a lid), tin baking cups and a kangaroo squeaky toy.

A tulip design Fire King bowl and a milk glass fruit jar.

I really like this old light shade that I got with the bird motif.

A chalk ware horse lamp, a trio of pastel colored pots and some crepe paper flowers.

Metal flower candlesticks, a roly poly plastic clown and some old slide mounts. 

This weekend had me hopping with happiness.

Hope you found a reason to hop this weekend too!

He Loves Me...

He Loves Me Not...

These paper blooms brought a smile to my face when I found them in a local antique mall.

Had to share.  Happy day!

Collection Challenge #115 - Vintage Enamelware

Joy asked if I had a collection of enamelware.  I thought about it and knew I had a couple of pieces.  The more I thought about it the more I just kept pulling it from here and there. I had a bunch!  I usually pick it up at estates sales fairly cheap and am attracted to the practical side of it and the chippy nature it takes on.

Old refrigerator containers complete with glass lids in classic black and white. Used for studio storage.

White and green enamelware. The bottom piece is a lid.

I use that lid instead of a tray in my kitchen to corral my kitchen soaps and such.

This is a workhorse of a big green tub in a great vintage green. It usually holds lunchboxes on top of our refrigerator.

And smaller ones in white. Some I found with lids, some without. I really like how chippy they get.

The top one is studio storage for smaller more unique ornaments.

I love it when I find it in pink.

Complete with original label.  Made in Czechoslovakia.  Superior enamel.

Sometimes I plant in it, if the pot is big enough.

I have two pieces of enamelware that are baby themed. These were my dad and his twin brothers. The cup came from an estate sale.

Old metal trays in various sizes.Bowls in green.

Bowls in white with red trim.

A cream colored bowl with green trim.

A great enamelware pot trimmed in turquoise.

I had quite a few random lids.

I collected the lids to make a bird feeder like this one. It hangs in my backyard and Tom and I made from a chicken feeder and lids.

Vintage cups.  I never pass these by if the price is right.

The simple enamelware plates like this have been put to use in my house.

I used a bunch to fill a wall and added metal flower curtain tiebacks to add some interest in my kitchen.

And last but not least, an old pitcher used for studio storage.

This is one of those posts that really surprised me about how many items I had. I guess this is one of those collections that sneaks up on me as I buy a piece here and there.

Thanks for the suggestion Joy.  If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a note and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ____." I even surprise myself sometimes.

Happy day!

 

Estate Sale Friday- End Of The Rainbow

My mom and I headed to an estate sale about 45 minutes from Portland today.  It was advertised as a hoarder sale with outbuildings and I had high hopes. As we were driving there it was lightly raining and ahead of us was a rainbow.  I commented to my mom that I hoped the rainbow ended at the estate sale and that a pot of gold was waiting for me.

Vintage gold that is.  Not a big pot, but I did well.

We arrived just over two hours before the sale opened and were number seven and eight on the list.

I love this blow-mold lamb and the rubber toy is Sniffles from an old cartoon.

A styrofoam snowman waiting to be gussied up, red celluloid deer, pink bottlebrush tree and a bunch of paper lanterns.

A herd of vintage reindeer, a couple of strands of mercury glass garland, mica birds and a Christmas corsage.

Vintage glitter, corsage pins and a deck of horse playing cards.

A pair of Relpo turkeys.

I bought a bunch of baby rattles and plastic toys.  They were all in a box with a bunch of other random toys, so I had to dig around to find them.

I have never seen this little nightlight before with the lamb.

This little SWEET baby heart toy will be great for some Valentine spun heads.  The red and white bells will be tucked away for the Fourth of July.

This was my favorite find tucked in with the baby items.  An old pacifier, with a stork (or swan) handle.

And last but not least a little scottie dog figure and a celluloid pig.

So glad I saw that rainbow today.  Happy Day! 

Collection Challenge #114 - Vintage BINGO

I found another Bingo game at the sale this past weekend.  When I went to put it away with rest of my Bingo games, I realized how many I had.  Like pipe cleaners I have trouble passing them by.

I have a stash of them.  Sometimes the boxes are in such poor condition that I don't keep them, just the cards.  Sometimes I find just a stack of cards.  I do like the old boxes tho.

Sometimes I just keep the box top if the graphics are great.

There are variations with the game of Bingo.  Some used spinners to figure out the numbers to call out.

Other sets had fancy little bingo selectors. The red selectors have a wheel you would crank and the bingo number to call out would pop out into a little opening.

I like sets that are still tidy in the box when you find them. This set had a shaker box instead of selector or spinner to help determine the number to call.

I am often reminded of the thriftiness of past generations when I see what they stored their markers or numbers in within the game box.

I have quite a collection of the cards.  I have 24 different designs in my stash that I craft with.

Much of my stash lives in this metal file drawer.

I also am amazed at the variety of markers that were produced for this game.

There were also a wide variety of number styles.

I do use these numbers and markers for crafting.

The game of bingo has been around forever. I googled this little tidbit while looking for information on the game.

When the game reached North America in 1929, it became known as "beano". It was first played at a carnival near Atlanta, Georgia. New York toy salesman Edwin S. Lowe renamed it "bingo" after he overheard someone accidentally yell "bingo" instead of "beano". He hired a Columbia University math professor, Carl Leffler, to help him increase the number of combinations in bingo cards. By 1930, Leffler had invented 6,000 different bingo cards. [It is said that Leffler then went insane.]

A Catholic priest from Pennsylvania approached Lowe about using bingo as a means of raising church funds. When bingo started being played in churches it became increasingly popular. By 1934, an estimated 10,000 bingo games were played weekly, and today more than $90 million dollars are spent on bingo each week in North America alone.

I do find it hard to pass these cards by. This is the overflow that won't fit in my metal file box.

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of _____."  I may just shout out BINGO, I have a collection of those!

 

A Garden Surprise

Late last summer I planted a cup and saucer vine after hearing our local gardening guy talking about it on the radio.  The plant grew but never flowered.  I was under the assumption it was an annual, but mine wintered over and has been growing like gangbusters.  It is trained up a trellis and then into a small tree in the backyard.

I was surprised to find this bloom today.  I can spot about 8 more blooms ready to open. That is another bloom almost ready to pop behind the open one.

They are called cup and saucer vines because if you look at them upside down they look like a cup in a saucer. Rather than have blogland tip their heads to see it that way, I rotated this picture to give you the gist of it.

Neat huh?  Glad that this little fellow decided to bloom this year.  Can't wait to see what happens as the summer progresses.

 

Estate Sale Friday/Saturday. A Tiny Swoon.

I hit two sales yesterday and two today.  Each day had one decent one and one not so great.

I don't know where Valley Jct. is located...but I have 9 miles to go.  I was also happy to find one of those metal game tables.  This is the third one I have found.

I am a sucker for the graphics and love that they fold up with a carrying handle.  It is dated 1956.

Kennedy was the last president featured. The table has a map of the US and facts about the states. It also has a variety of game boards that can be played.

I did okay in with vintage Christmas.  Nothing swoon worthy, but still a few goodies. I also found a glass towel rod that hopefully will be put to use on an upcoming bathroom redo.

I guess I do swoon a bit when I find these old holiday tape dispensers.

Two glass canisters.  One that features pink elephants.  The glass salt shaker is going to become a windowsill vase.

A little village of cardboard Christmas houses.

An old paper tablecloth in original package.

Great graphics with men barbecuing and jump roping girls.  Catchy phrase "Good Food and Happy Fun Out of Doors" also decorates the scene.
Not a bad haul for the weekend.  Not bad at all.
Happy day!

Whistle

May the weekend bring a skip to your step and a little whistle to your day.
I love this little fellow I found on a junking trip with my friend Amy.

He has a key in his back to make him whistle, but that feature does not work anymore.

Can't you just hear him whistling a silly tune?  Happy Day!