Magpie Ethel

Etsy Reminder

A little reminder that my hodgepodge of Etsy items will be online tonight at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time). 

Collection Challenge #154 - Vintage Tin Children's Tea Cups

You may remember that part of my haul from the Round Top show was some vintage tin children's tea cups.  I had some prior to my trip, but found quite a few more while in Texas.

This is my first and most special cup. It was in the toy basket at my grandparent's house when I was a kid. When my grandfather passed away, I made sure I snagged this little gem of a cup.

I am a sucker for the graphics on these tiny cups.  I also like how battered some of them look from years of pretend tea parties.  I love their miniature size.

This one has a tiny shoe embossed on the side.  Other than the shoe, it is a pretty simple cup.

The center cup above, has a Red Riding Hood graphic hidden on the bottom.

These cups are a teeny bit bigger.

These little cups all have an different shape to them. Sweet, sweet designs...the little cat with her hat.

Silhouettes.

Charming with a capital "C" when it comes to the graphics.

The majority of my collection are made by Ohio Art. They are all marked on the bottom with the logo.
A few of these cups have lived in my Curiosity Cabinet for awhile.

After my Round Top haul I needed to find a place to display my new ones. That spot will be included in my post tomorrow.

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

Sometimes I just have the cutest things to share....

Crafting Thinking Cap

I know sometimes when I post my estate sale finds you may wonder why I buy some of the stuff that I do.  Often I have no idea what I am going to do with something..but then my crafting thinking cap goes into high gear. 

Case in point. I bought these old collars awhile ago. I thought I could come up with something to make with them.

I started picking up vintage clip on bow ties at estate sales.

I really like being able to display things in unusual ways or with a bit of whimsy. With that in mind, I crafted this little collar display stand.

It adds some silliness to an ordinary item and elevates it to new display heights!

 

New life to some ordinary objects (the vintage newspaper on the circle dates to 1936.)

This little dandy bow-tie stand will be on Etsy tomorrow (April 30th 5:30 p.m. pacific time) along with a few other dapper pedestals.

 

Etsy Hodgepodge

I have finally gotten my crafting vibe going after my Texas trip and my bathroom remodel.  It is nice to be back in the studio and making some new friends.

No specific crafing holiday (excpet a few Mother's Day goodies)...just whatever strikes my crafting fancy.

This hodgepodge group and more will be listed on Etsy on  Tuesday, April 30th at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time).

Happy day!

Estate Sale Saturday, Round Two

Sometimes when I hit a really good sale I can't get it out of my head and need to hit it again.  The sale that I hit yesterday was a two day sale so today was the last day.  Usually items under $50 go half price on the last day.  Since it was a digger sale with multiple layers of stuff and nooks and closets in the house, I decided to shop it again.  I was glad I did round two.

Yes, I bought a snow shovel on a 75 degree day.  It has good green paint on the scooper part.  I also found a Christmas stocking, a standing fold up clothes rack and an awesome metal ceiling shelf (which will hopefully end up in the studio).

A second paint pail (bought one yesterday), a bunch of seam binding and some metal garden edging.I bought this trio of old soda bottles ...Fresca, Squirt and Wink.  I was excited about the crisp green and yellow graphics and thought they would look sweet as vases with daisies.  The trio is currently on my kitchen windowsill. An old unused first aid kit in original box. This little wooden boat had to come home with me as I have the perfect little project for it.

A galvanized oil can and a yellow ceramic duck. An old box of drinking straws, some glass refrigerator containers and an aluminum cup.
Sweet flower design on aluminum cup makes it impossible to pass up. (plus it was a nickle)

I was in one of the basement pantry areas and was digging around and uncovered a whole sleeve of more of these paint containers. The smiling paint brush called my name to buy them.A bag of clothespins, some old tins (great graphics) and a sock darner. I had to pick up these Handy Long Jon tongs. They were manufactured by the Handy Things Mfg. company. Those hot dogs!

I bought up a whole box of Dixie cups that featured a series called Know Your Americans with patriotic facts on one side. I also picked up another box of dixie cups because of the great color and patterns.  You can shake your head now and know that I have gone off the Dixie cup deep end!

Remember the Old Lady and the Shoe spun head family/display that I got in Texas? I thought this would be perfect to set up the little scene on. It is.When I got home from the sale today I hunted down this little patriotic sailor fellow that I had in my stash.  He now will live with the little boat that I found today.  I think I may add a flag.
I am glad I took the time to do round two of this sale.  It was fun to do some more digging and extra nice that things were half off.

I sure do love estate sale land.

Estate Sale Friday. The Waiting Game Is Over.

I have been waiting and waiting for a good sale. The season is finally beginning to pick  up in estate sale land and today was a doozie of a sale.  I was not expecting much from the sale, so this was an unexpected thrill. I was number 22 in the door this morning and this was my haul.  Lots of quirky stuff.

A good sized bottle brush tree, a Shiny Brite box (with graphics I have not come across before), some vintage Christmas napkins and a couple of ribbon spools.
A large tower of vintage tins.  I found four of the tins with the black/roses design.

I grabbed a box of old vintage greeting cards and was happy to find a nice assortment inside. Vintage birthday plates and a metal trash bin.  I saw this trash bin in the sale pictures online and hoped to buy it. It will live in my newly remodeled bathroom.

A bunch of old (in original packaging) paper cups and quite a few boxes of plastic old style forks. I love the holiday graphics on the cups. There was not a ton of vintage Christmas. I did score about 6 strands of vintage glass garland.  I also got some small ornaments including figural ones and a bunch of old bells.

I like this homemade clothespin basket.  A person can also not pass by pipe cleaners when they come in a polka dot paper sleeve.

Vintage candy tin.

A silly pigtailed doll, empty card box, a mix-n-measure paint pot and a couple of waxed containers. An old Electric Jack Straws game.  It has a pair of tweezers and you pull a straw out without hitting the sides. If  you hit the sides a light goes off and a buzzer sounds. This reminds me of the modern day Operation game.

Birthday candle holders and a trio of great plaid scotch tape containers.
That great trash bin I mentioned earlier and 5 good sized rolls of vintage wallpaper.  Two have not been opened.   You can see one of the patterns spread out in front.A nice big black metal can with floral design and some old cardboard paint pails. Super smiling paint brush on the containers.

Great graphics and colors on this tin that once held lemon custard ice cream base.
An assortment of old wooden forks and spoons. I like the Hawaiian colors in those spoon packets in the upper left.

Floral pillow protectors in original packaging. Silliest purchase of the day were these plastic containers.  I could not pass them by with those amazing colors. The lids are in the dixie cup box.
Some assorted ephemera. The kindergarten packet in the center is from Portland Public schools in 1950.  The National Home Budget is from 1932. The expense book is partially  used. The monthly income for this person was $245.31. Their expenses were $229.19.  The categories are interesting...butcher -fish/baker-groceries/meals outside/fares and lunches.

Yellowstone packet from 1939. 3 meals and lodging at Old Faithful Inn at $7 per person per day, 2 people per room with meals would run you $13.

An old unused Keyword game.  The letters are still wrapped in plastic. Note how they spelled something out with the letters. 1953.
Little Red School house game. 1952.

It still has the playing pieces and letters as well as the directions. The questions that were asked in the game made you think!

What a fun day in estate sale land!  So nice to have a sale where I found a ton. I had my basket, a huge canvas bag and those two large containers that I had stashed under the sold table. I made my purchases while the line was short and ran my goodies out to the car.  I then grabbed another empty basket and bag from my car and went in to shop some more.  Love a sale like this!

happy day!

 

 

Medicine Cabinet Redo...All Because of A Lid

I have the cutest medicine cabinet in our upstairs bathroom.  It was put in by a previous owner and the door is a window that originally came from our house.  It is more for show than utility with those glass doors. The little containers from Collection Challenge #153 do a good job of hiding supplies and adding a cuteness factor.

This is the cabinet BEFORE I flipped it. 

It is cute, but I wanted to tidy it up and add a bit more color.  BEFORE.

AFTER.  I painted the rear wall a sunny yellow with some paint I had leftover in my paint stash.

Each of the wooden shelves are covered in fabric to add some color. I recovered one of them, but left the fabric the same on the other. A cute container for my q-tips.

The gal with the daisy holds tweezers and nail clippers.

The silliest thing that I added was an old Fuller toothbrush holder.  It was intended to hold toothbrushes in a tidy row. Modern toothbrushes are too fat for the holder.  I have had it around forever and tacked it to the wall and then added some beaded flowers that I had in my stash. 

Crazy how a tiny lid can snowball me into a cabinet redo.  I am glad that it did.
p.s. The lid?  If you read collection challenge #153 you will see how I found a lid in Round Top but no container.  It made me take a look at this cabinet and realize it needed a new look.  That lid made me do it...now I just need to hunt down a container.

Collection Challenge #153 - Vintage Containers With Floral Knob

Super specific category today in collection challenge. This challenge is triggered by this ceramic lid that I found at Round Top.

I need to find a container that it fits.  I have a collection of these little pottery pieces that live in my cute bathroom medicine cabinet. This innocent looking lid also led me to completely redo my medicine cabinet. (See the post that follows this collection challenge)

Here are my cute storage containers with the darling little floral knobs on top.

A small collection, but I don't run across them often.  The space in my medicine cabinet where they are displayed is also limited. 

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.

To see my new and improved medicine cabinet which features this collection head to my next post. 

Estate Sale Friday and Saturday

I hit three sales this weekend. Two on Friday and one today.  Number 42 on the list yesterday for a sale and number 28 today on the list for another sale.  I got in at both sales with the second wave of shoppers.  I still did well.

A bunch of smaller Christmas ornaments (not particularly vintage, but I stil use them), a bow tie with holly leaves and a Owl and the Pussycat candy tin. Vintage holiday stickers and tags. I have seen thousands of these and I still marvel when I run across a new one...Santa and NOPE! Vintage patriotic style bridge tally cards.

Old sparklers (with great graphics) and two kite string spools.  I love the red, white and blue stripes on the old spools..they will be crafted into something for the fourth.

A ceramic turkey for my collection (marked Palmer) and a huge stack of old wooden berry boxes.

Old bingo cars, a floral tin, a glass storage jar and two metal lattice wall sconces. One of the sconces is missing the inner pink pot, but I love, love the green/blue color and am sure I can figure out a use for them.A vintage jewelery box with ballerina and a big box of old assorted wrapping paper.
An old partially completed embroidery state flower map.
The map of the states has been embroidered, but the rest of it needs to be done.  I should see if my mom needs a project...she is good at this kind of stuff.

Am assortment of vintage hankies.  A duck, Valentine hearts, Santa and a circus theme. I bought the circus themed one because of the outfit on this bear.

I bought this one since the Santa had silly googly eyes.

My favorite purchase of the day was the box of vintage wrapping paper that I mentioned earlier.  I love digging through a box like this and seeing what goodies I find.  A total grab bag.  I got lucky with this one.

Besides wrapping paper the box held honeycomb bells, vintage Valentine cards, ribbon and Dennison stars.

The wrapping paper made me giddy with the great graphics. Most of the box held half sheets or scraps but the charm was still there.  I love the checkerboard Santa graphic on the upper left sheet.

Elephants carrying cakes bigger than they are and a smiling girl on stilts.

Spring flowers.

My favorite graphic were these darling, darling birds wearing party hats.

Fun to be out in estate sale land again with the sales finally picking up a bit.  It was a happy day!

Bathroom Done Minus The Magpie Ethel Touch

4 weeks have passed since we started our bathroom remodel. Demo day was on March 20th.  I am happy that my contractor kept on task and the bathroom is pretty much finished except for a couple of things. (heater vent at bottom of cupboard and glass top to protect cabinet under window).

Here is the finished space.  I will do another post after I get it decorated and add my touches..that is the FUN part!

(ceiling drum shade will be transformed)

Vintage glass towel bars installed.
I love the round mirror and the sconces.  The mirror was found at a local antique store.

The sconces are one of my favorite things in the room.  I had an old style soap dispenser.  Remember the kind with the gritty powdered soap that were in schools and gas stations and such when you were a kid? (dating myself here) I knew I wanted to use it somehow in the bathroom and decided it would make a perfect sconce. I won a second metal soap dispenser off Ebay and took them in to have them wired for a pair of wall sconces.  They are awesome.  Really awesome. The glass shades are from Schoolhouse Electric (a local company). The sconces are also on a dimmer.

You may have questioned my decision to go with a pedestal sink since they often lack counter space. I went with one with a very wide deck. I love the scalloped front.

I had vintage knobs for some of my built in cabinets.

I used glass knobs on the other cabinet. Mis-matched does not bother me. This is also the cabinet that will have a glass top.

I love how the shower turned out.   The pink paint and white tile look so crisp side by side. This is the end of the tub that had that weird half wall previously which made the arch funny.  We added a recessed area in the shower for shampoo and such as well as a corner soap shelf. Even the toilet is pretty.   I am more than thrilled with how this space turned out.

You can see what it used to look like here.  I am busy getting the bathroom decorated and adding fun touches. Post to come when I finish that project!