Magpie Ethel

Collection Challenge #142 - Vintage Plastic Pig Banks

I am drawn to vintage advertising pig banks. The plastic kind with a company advertised on the side.

I think it is the rainbow of colors that attracts me. I also like their little hats.

The pigs have no plugs in them to remove the money. The only way to open them is to crack them open. The money in this fellow is staying put.

I find them at estate sales occasionally. I like this fellow as he is two toned. He is for a local department store that closed its doors a few years ago.

The pig banks seem to come mostly in two styles.  The snouts differ on some. Yellow pig snout differs from that of his friends. (I never thought I would be mentioning pig snouts on my blog.)

A swine rainbow.

That makes me swoon.

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, please leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ____." 

Happy day...oink!

You Asked...Storage

I often have a comment left on my blog asking how I store everything.  I take no offense to that as I do have a lot of collections and vintage decorations. I do not live in a big house. I utilize every nook and cranny that I can, but there are two major areas that I store things.

This is not a glamorous post.  My basement has cement walls and floor. The duct work is open on the ceiling. In my basement I have shelves. They are full. Very full. I store most of my holiday decorations in the basement.  My washer, dryer, freezer, water heater and furnace are also in this area.

When you walk in the door this is what you see.

To the left of the center wood divider there are three shelves that are full of Christmas.  For the most part I store in plastic bins.  Every space is taken with something. The large Santa faces live in plastic bags and hang from overhead pipes.  Everything to the right of the center wood divider is for assorted holidays.

You can see it is not a wide area for Christmas.  It is from one wood support beam to the other (they frame the photo).
Everything has a bin or a spot. This shelf is to the right when you walk in the door.  It is full as well.

To the left of the door is this shelf. That one is full too.  In addition to all my holiday stuff, I also store household misc. like a pancake griddle, batteries, fabric, extra kitchen supplies etc. 

I have a bin for pretty much every holiday.  Christmas (too many too count), Valentine Day (1 bin), St. Patrick's Day (1 small bin), Easter (4 bins), Fourth of July (2 bins) Halloween (4 bins), Thanksgiving (1 bin).

I also hang things from the ceiling. I put a nail in the wooden joists. The plastic buckets hold plastic easter eggs and holiday lights.

Above my freezer is more hanging stuff. All my plastic Halloween blo molds are in one bag. Some Easter hangs in another. A decorated Christmas wreath also hangs over here.

I also have storage above my garage in an attic. It has sloped walls so it is not the best, but it helps out.  It has a pull down ladder and this is what you see when you peek up. My wooden Santa bungie cord strapped to the sloped ceiling.

One corner of the garage attic holds my blo mold Santa collection

Another corner of the attic holds my insane amount of Christmas ornaments for crafting and other assorted Christmas.

The attic also holds more stuff like luggage, suitcases, skiis, golf clubs, ice chests and other misc gear.

Not a pretty post.  My storage is certainly not beautiful, but it does the trick and I know where things are.  My Dad is super organized so I grew up with things having a spot.  A good system to have, especially in a tiny house with a bunch of stuff! I also really love plastic bins. They are easy to stack and see what is inside.

I don't think a person can ever have enough storage....happy day!

 

Collection Challenge #141 - Vintage Swans

I bought a box of vintage straws for my straw collection.  They were swan brand.

It dawned on me that I have a collection of vintage swans.  Time to share.

When I put away my Christmas decorations this year I mixed up some of my regular decorating displays.  My corner cabinet that keeps my ivory pottery got a new look. The honeycomb mushroom and the feathered swan (which actually contains trinkets..like that SARPRISE ball) have always lived here. The swan looked lonely, so I gathered up my other swans and now they are swimming together.

One with jeweled flowers.

A pair of lovey dovey swans.
I really like them all clustered together in this cabinet. My one of a kind swan rack is made from vintage pieces. I did not make it, but bought it this way.  I was told the swan figures were actually intended to hold drying lingerie.

I am always changing things up on my kitchen windowsill.  Right now a trio of pottery swans sits with a pot of tiny daffodils.
I found this plastic swan last year at an estate sale.  I gussied her up and use her for display at some of my shows. 

She was originally a planter and has a hole drilled in her back.  You can fit a strand of white holiday lights through and nestle them inside of her. At night she gives a gentle glow when turned on. A magnicent night light!

This crazy swan came in a big bag of vintage plastic flowers from an estate sale.  I did not know she was in there, but I could not bear to throw this goofy handmade swan away.  She lives high on a shelf in my studio.

She was made from netting and an old bleach bottle. Super goofy.

I use vintage swans in some of my crafting.

I really like it when I find them in the original packaging.

And last but not least a swan squeaky toy.  I think the smaller yellow fellow is a swan too (altho he does look duckish as well).

A fun collection to swim your way.  If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "show me your collection of _____".

Always something to share...happy day!

ps.  Remember Valentine Etsy is listed tonight.

Etsy Valentine Love...Coming Soon

Vintage goodies put to new life.

Lots of hearts and Valentine fun.

Etsy.  Tuesday night, 5:30 p.m. (pacific time)

Valentine Etsy

I have been busy out in the studio crafting up some Valentine fun.  I always try and mix some new things in each holiday...this year I put to use some vintage photos I found the other day.

Remember these?  Dated 1937 from Ockley Green school here in Portland, Oregon.

I love old black and white photos.  I really liked the unusual shape of these.  I hand colored them and added a tiny vintage red heart. With a little more tweaking involving a vintage button and some mercury glass beads, this class of students became one of a kind Valentine ornaments.

I added phrases under each photo. The phrases came from a yearbook from 1937 and were part of a student's listing in the book, as a saying they used.

These ornaments along with some of the usual spun heads, some decorated Valentine dolls and a few other pink and red goodies will be headed to Etsy on TUESDAY, January 22nd at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time).

I do love a holiday.

Happy Day.

 

Estate Sale Saturday. A Few Goodies.

I hit two estate sales this morning.  I hit the first one about 5 minutes after it opened.  There were quite a few sales this weekend so people were spread out and there was no line when I arrived.  I walked right in and started shopping.

An angel figure, a mothball tin for my collection and a box of vintage crayons.

I bought two bags of random gift tags and was excited to find some Valentine stickers tucked in.  I love the girl with the pigtails.  I also found a couple of containers of glitter. (don't judge...i USE IT!)
In another bag of holiday tags I found some old Dennison stickers including an un-opened pack of Halloween, featuring a pumpkin head scarecrow.

Here are the rest of the holiday tags that were in the bags.

There were also two styles of DO NOT OPEN BEFORE CHRISTMAS tags that I did not have.

A pair of plastic pig banks.

I was happy to find a bunch of jingle bells.  The display card was one I did not have in my collection.  The Santa in the corner looks particularly jolly.

I thought this old shower cap was funny.  My mom wears shower caps so I have first hand experience with them.  I only ever see them in that bouffant style. This one is unopened and date 1956. Look at the way it fits on the head!

Was a fun sale. The second sale was a complete dud, so was glad the first one had a few goodies.

Happy Weekend!

My Bid Box Prize

Last Friday I left a bid on an item at an estate sale.  At some estate sales if you don't want to pay the asking price, you are able to leave a bid.  Usually the last day of the sale they will go through the bid box and call the high bidder on an item.  I rarely leave bids.

This time I did and I was the high bidder. 

Chippy blue color.  Faded floral fabric.  Wonderful lattice cutout pattern. Nice sturdy metal.

We are redoing our bathroom this year and I was hoping to use this in the new improved space.

Voila.  A laundry hamper chair.  I had never seen one like it before and love the color and details on it.  I may end up changing out the faded floral fabric.

Definitely a good prize.

Collection Challenge #140- Swim Caps Part II

I did my first post on swim caps on challenge #42. At that point in time I had TWO swim caps.

These are my original two cap collection.

I got two for Christmas from my Mom.  A few blog readers have sent me some as well.  I now have 16 of them.

This pink beauty is from my mom.

As well as this one with the charming side flowers.

This blue beauty with a lovely blue floral pattern was from blogland friend Mary.

A child size swim cap from Elizabeth from Life in Smirleyword.  My head is waaaay to big to try on this cap!

This ruffly gem came from Renee from My Vintage Mending.

A Farm Chicks find last year.

This blue floral swimcap inspired a patriotic post last year.

Another child size swim cap, estate sale found in original package.

Estate sale found crazy floral cap. This cream colored cap has seen better days and the rubber has grown brittle over the years.  I love the floral detail with the rhinestone on it.

Great colors in this colorblock style cap.

This is definitely one of those silly collections. Someday I want to own a beach house and display this collection there.  I have two kids in college right now, and the beach house dream is a ways off. Someday...

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

If you missed my post on the vintage puppet show video that features swim caps it is worth watching.  Makes me laugh every time I see it!

Happy Day.

 

A Wedding Request

In the past I have been asked to make wedding cake toppers for that special day.

When I was a vendor at Crafty Wonderland I was approached with a new request.  I was asked to do the flowers for a wedding..out of reflector flowers!

Totally fun project and the bride was all about color and whimsy with this request.  I was tickled that she asked for party birds in her bouquet.

The bouquet for the bride.

The bride requested a different color bouquet for each bridesmaid.

I bound each bouquet with ribbon for carrying down the aisle.

I even did boutonnieres for the fellows.

What a fun wedding day it must be! Wishing the bride and groom many years of happiness! 

Estate Sale Friday. A Pink Snake and a Bid Box Winner

I went to a couple of estate sales today.  Still slim pickings in the number of sales, but did find a few treasures in the three sales I hit.

A bunch of tin molds for crafting, old upholstery tacks and a container of vintage glitter.

These old school photos from Ockley Green school were a favorite find. Dated 1937, I love their unusual shape. They are about 2 inches tall. I think they may be a Valentine project this season. I found another PINK toilet snake.  Chippy pink metal...the best.  I found another one earlier this year, so now I have a total of three. These two are waiting for a project.

And this one that became the base of a silver tinsel tree a couple of years ago.  The potential of the pink toilet snake!

The bid box I mentioned in the title?  At some estate sales there is a box you can leave a bid on for items.  I rarely do it.  Today I left a bid on an item.  I got a phone call earlier tonight that I won the item.  Picking it up on Sunday and post will be coming.  That call made my day.

Hope you have a happy weekend!