Magpie Ethel

Valentine Decorations

I love the pink and reds of Valentine's Day.  I must admit tho, I only have ONE bin full of decorations for this sweet holiday.

My china hutch displays vintage candy boxes and a tree adorned with vintage Valentines.

Holiday mantle with vintage Valentine plates and Valentine dolls decked out for the holiday.

Old heart shaped baking tins hang above my window.

My coffee table is fairly simple with old children's magazines (Feb issues) and vintage flashcards.  Conversation hearts add some fun.

My Valentine card box collection.

I love my little Valentine display shelf filled with all the smalls that I have collected for the holiday.

(cupcake sign below by Everyday is a Holiday).

(Spun cotton figure in basket by Vintage by Crystal.)

Got this post in by the skin of my teeth. Hope you have a wonderful holiday tomorrow!

 

Collection Challenge #144 - Vintage Pillowcase Fabric

Way back when Renee from My Vintage Mending asked to see my collection of vintage fabric. I do have a stash of vintage fabric (even though I don't sew much).  I decided today I would whittle my fabric stash down and share my collection of old pillowcase fabric/sheeting.

I love this old fabric and the border print that made it easy to whip up a pillowcase.  Most of the fabric pictured is 36 inches wide and was bought by the yard.

 

Some of the patterns are just so sweet with tiny flowers sprinkled about.

Darling fabric with carts of flowers, fountains and scrolly lamp posts.  Who would not have sweet dreams on fabric like this?

Love this floral fabric with the polka dots.

Teeny tiny birds flutter around on this pattern.

Same fabric pattern, different color scheme. Here it is in yellow.

And in purple.

I never pass by even a small scrap of fabric.

This is a favorite. I liked it so much I used it in a project for curtains.

I have also used the fabric for pillows.  It works really well for bolster style.

It has shown up on roller shades that I made.

I also like the fabric as a plain old pillowcase. I pick up finished cases when I find them at estate sales.

Nothing more charming than the print on these fabrics!  Thanks Renee for the suggestion and miss you in blogland.  If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ___." 

happy day

p.s. for those of you with really good memories, I did a post on my love affair with this fabric four years ago here.  It was time to include my collection officially as a collection challenge.

 

 

New To Me Spun Head

If you have read my blog for any length of time you know I have a love affair with spun cotton heads. I craft with them and collect them. I have seen a huge variety of heads in my day. Let me rattle some off...bunnies, girls, monkeys, pirates, Daniel Boone, drunks, angels, snowman, Abe Lincoln, George Washington, lions, Santa, skeletons, pumpkins, witches, cowboys, pilgrims, clowns and chicks.  There is a huge assortment of what was manufactured.  I got some the other day that I had never ever SEEN before.

They are good sized.  I have no idea what they were intended for.  The woman selling them thought perhaps they were turnips or flames.

I love their cheery faces and already have some crafting ideas for them.

I was really surprised to find some I had never seen....but so happy they made their way to me!

happy day.

Estate Sale Saturday. So Happy For Mr. No-Show.

I signed up yesterday for an estate sale today.  I was number 16 on the list, so a pretty good number.  When I got to the sale today they were only going to let 15 people in.  As they read off the names and lined people up there was one fellow that was not there when they called his name.  Thank goodness for Mr. No Show as I became lucky #15 and got in with the first wave of people!

Not an amazing sale, but enough to make it worth my while.

I got a whole bag of smaller Christmas ornaments and a couple of knee hugger elves.

In the bag of ornaments there were also an assortment of bells.  I also picked up a small vintage heart shaped baking tin for a Valentine display.

A unused container of glitter, a yellow thimble, a pair of vintage sunglasses, some old flowers for crafting and misc. Valentine doo-dads.I had my spun head magnetic powers on today.  I really like the tiny spun head gal near the penny.  She has a darling pipe cleaner skirt. I also found some old tiny holiday decorations including the little box meant to look like a box of ornaments.

Thank you Mr. No Show...you gave me a happy day!

 

Valentine Topiary and One More Box

I have my Valentine decorations out (post coming).  I always try and do something fun in my front window.  A few years ago at an estate sale I got a pair of styrofoam urns.  I painted them silver and glittered them up.  They are about two foot tall and flat on one side so they could go against a wall.

This year I decided to make a topiary of sorts out of honeycomb bells.  I have done it with honeycomb balls before, but I had bells in Valentine colors on hand.  I stuck a dowel down through the center of the urn and then threaded the honeycomb bells onto the rod.  It was really easy.

I like the variation of the colors and sizes on the honeycomb bells. 

This is the front window looking in. It is always hard to get a photo with the reflection.  The giant styrofoam heart was also an estate sale find that I painted pink. (what would I do without estate sales?)

The Valentine box I mentioned in the title?  I saw one on Ebay with a "buy now" option and snapped it up. It arrived today.

Perfect to add to my collection! 

Happy day.

Collection Challenge #143 - Vintage Valentine Card Boxes

This is one collection I really love and rarely find...Vintage Valentine card boxes.  The boxes do not have to be full of valentines, as I am attracted to the graphics on the boxes.  I included them in a Valentine collection challenge post, but my collection has grown since then, and it is time to update it.

See why I am attracted to the graphics?

Just adorable illustrations.

Sometimes I am lucky and they come with Valentines tucked inside. I love that the original price was 12 valentines for 59 cents.

Oooohhhh...a Surprise Box. And I was pleasantly surprised to find Valentines inside.  I am guessing from they style of illustrations that these date to the 1940s or 50s.

This box contains materials for making your own Valentines.

It is full of doilies and vintage stickers.  I am glad that the cards never got made and the contents were saved!

This box is a favorite.  It is empty.  I love that the Valentines were intended for boys.

Look at his expression!  All those arrows headed to the heart he holds at his chest.

Perfect timing for this post with Valentine's Day just around the corner. If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of _____."  You never know what collection will show up on a Tuesday.

Estate Sale Saturday. A Teeny Tiny Box Full

Still slim pickings in estate sale land. I hit one sale this morning.  I gathered a bunch of tiny items and kept dropping them, so I picked up an empty box and filled it with my little finds.  The baby rattle and the heart covered hankie were easy to hold onto.

Evidently I had Easter on my mind this morning. The three larger bunnies will be part of my Easter collection and the smaller ones will be used for crafting.  The pink bunny is a baby rattle and makes a heck of a lot of noise when shaken.

A teeny bit of vintage Christmas.

A vintage doll with hair that is no more.  She definitely needs a little Magpie Ethel magic...no doubt about that! She has a darling face tho.

Quick in and out at the sale, but happy to find a tiny box of goodies. After I unloaded the box, I finally flipped it over and noticed it was a gem.  I will display it with my vintage candy boxes.

Happy day!