Magpie Ethel

Estate Sale Friday and Saturday..Sweeping in Some Good Stuff

I hit two sales yesterday and one today.  I found some good stuff. It is crazy rainy and stormy here so I am not venturing outside to take photos of my loot. 

My loaded up kitchen table. The fabric covering the table is an old duvet cover, so there is lots of yardage.

A box of old sight phrase cards. I always like the funny phrases that there are - the little chickens, the white sheep, all day etc.

A bunch of old Santa felt money holder ornaments in original Shiny Brite packaging. They would be cute to slip a gift card into as well. A pyramid of tiny Santa mugs and a lone Santa figure. Old canasta cards with a seashell design and some old labels. 3 cute little pixies and vintage containers of glitter.

Package tie ons and a oversize book of matches. I love that the oversize matchbooks always have a graphic on the matches.

A Gurley turkey candle in very good shape.

I have quite a few of these candles, but they rarely have the tag attached on the bottom (and in such good condition)

A strand of old glass garland, plastic lidded containers in pink and turquoise, a vintage nativity scene and a daisy shower cap in original packaging. Dixie cups. I can't pass Dixie cups by when they have fun graphics, especially polka dots. Dixie cups and pipe cleaners.  I found pipe cleaners as well this weekend.

Old candle clips and a slew of assorted letters.
A couple of carts to be gussied up for Easter and a monkey squeaky toy. A Singer pinking machine and a glass jar with dice.
One of the sales had a crazy amount of doilies. I picked out a few for a project I plan on doing. An old child's menu dated 1948. Great squirrel illustration with a sailor cap and a polka dot bow tie.

I am wondering if this is from a restaurant at the Grand Canyon.  It talks about the Kaibab squirrel living only on the north end of the Grand Canyon. Cheap food prices too!

Last but not least one of my favorite finds this weekend.  A unused vintage broom. My husband is a sweeping maniac. He sweeps our driveway, our patio and our front street area. He has worn out our old broom. I have been on the lookout for one at estate sales to replace the old one.  (Old one on top of photo and new one on bottom..that man can sweep and wear out those bristles)

I love that it has the original paper still wrapped around it and the original manufacturers label.  It is labeled a Janitor #30..it sounds like a broom that can stand up to Tom's sweeping!

Hope you managed to sweep up some good finds this weekend too. Happy Day!

Exercise is Good

Every week I walk with my neighbor. We walk the same route. Today there was a dumpster on our route. They were cleaning out a house where and elderly couple had lived.  I climbed up to look in the dumpster....I saw old Shiny Brite boxes.

My neighbor and I ended up each carrying home big cardboard boxes full of multiple boxes of balls.

No indents or fancy balls, just lots of simple Shiny Brites in good colors.  There were some modern ornaments that went into the Goodwill bag. There were also old Christmas light bulbs in the dumpster.

I don't think my neighbor had ever been dumpster diving before..she was a good sport to add that to our morning routine!

A walk with a reward!

p.s. I did ask the workers for permission to grab from the dumpster...the two young men doing the dumping told me to take whatever I wanted!

Collection Challenge #174- Smokey The Bear

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Smokey The Bear. For those of you who need a little background; Smokey is a mascot of the United States  Forest Service.  He began his career in the 194Os and his slogan "Only YOU can prevent forest fires" is still used today.

My grandfather was a forester for the Bureau of Land Management.  He always had this Smokey The Bear cigarette snuffer on the dashboard of his car.

I don't remember him ever snuffing a cigarette in it.  I do remember him smoking a pipe on occasion. This is the top of Smokey's hat where you would snuff the cigarette.

This past weekend in estate sale land I found a couple of Smokey The Bear items which rounded out my collection a bit. Time to share.

From the estate sale. A Smokey The Bear Activity Book, dated 1971.

Also from the estate sale is a song-sheet for the Smokey the Bear song. It was written in 1952 by a pair of songwriters.  I don't think I have ever heard this song sung.  I had to google it. It is great.

 

Here is the song-sheet that I found with the lyrics.  I love that I found a recording of this song.

The back side of the song-sheet is a conservation pledge that you can take.

This is the Smokey The Bear comic that I grew up with. My copy is dated 1969.  We camped quite a bit when I was a kid and we were always picking up a copy of this comic at the Ranger's station.

One particular comic panel always tugged at my heart when I was a kid.  This was where one of the firefighters fighting a fire had just discovered singed Smokey clinging to a tree in a burned out forest.

I also have a vintage Smokey The Bear hankie.

At an estate sale I found a bunch of old party favor cups that featured Smokey.

Each little name card has a spot to print a name. The name card says "Smokey's friend ___never plays with matches." A fun little collection today.  On a personal note I have to mention my son Ben, who I posted about before and his summer job fighting forest fires. He is back at college now and enjoyed the challenge of fighting fires.  He said it was the hardest thing he had ever done. I am very proud of him. I think Smokey would be proud too.

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a note and finish the sentence, "Show me your collection of __." It certainly varies week to week!

 

Estate Sale Friday...Daisy Do-si-do

I hit two sales and they both were winners!  One was a digger and I spent about an hour and a half digging there.  The big honeycomb daisies came from the digger sale (and there are four more!)

A nice floral tablecloth, some paper leis, a red wooden box and a box of Styrofoam balls (for crafting).

Some scalloped vintage corrugated holiday trim and a few ribbon spools. The corrugated cardboard has a great holly/poinsettia pattern. I also found a bunch of old noisemakers.

A fun green scalloped bowl and a bunch of old jar lids.
A good sized roll of old wrapping paper and a couple of Santa heads.

An assortment of Christmas

My spun head magnet was on with this angel on a Christmas corsage. I did not discover the pinecone snowman until I got home and sorted through the holiday boxes..a good surprise.

A box of tiny turquoise ornaments and a Santa mug.

An old foil cowboy birthday hat.

A sweet little framed piece constructed from felt pieces.

An Anagram game and a couple of tin child's plates with birdies. Some old poker chips, colored game pieces and a red tin child's iron. A vintage coffee tin and some old consonant picture cards. One of my favorite finds of the day was an unopened can of old dance floor wax.  I loved the dancing couple on the front. I am always amazed stuff like this is saved! Do you have a can of dance floor wax in your cupboard?

A concrete owl (that I removed from the fence at an estate sale), old pink plastic bathroom tiles (unused) and an empty box that once held black licorice.
A Replo valentine planter.

An assortment of vintage ornaments.
A pair of mesh stockings with a darling cardboard tag.

It is nice to find a bag marked foil snowflakes. I rarely look at records, but I was sucked into these empty jackets because of the graphics.

I love the graphics of this Follow the Dot State by State, dated 1949.

The dots have been connected, but the graphics and the child like writing are adorable. An old wooden wheelbarrow with plaid design. Last but not least, my other favorite find of the day. An old metal infant/doll activity table.  A toy? I think it is too small for a child? You can insert the child/doll in the seat or fold down the top to make a table.  Chippy and metal.

The elephant graphics on each corner sealed the deal

Great day in estate sale land. I won't be heading out tomorrow as I am taking Kate back to college (Ben left Tuesday).  That empty nest is headed my way again.  Glad my one day in estate sale land left me with a little skip in my step for the weekend.

Collection Challenge #173 - Holiday Milkman/Bottle Hang Tags

This is a very obscure collection today.  I only have three, but three is the magic number for a collection.  I don't find these often either and always marvel that they were saved.  Vintage Milkman/bottle tags.  These were hangers that went over a milk bottle when it was delivered to your front porch.

I bet the milk tasted extra special when it had a tag like this attached to it.

From Lucas Valley Dairy and your milkman George Geister.  I like how the milkman signed the tags.

Darigold Dairy and your milkman Cliff Gunderman.  Look how the pair of kiddos are snuggled up to Santa for a little conversation..adorable.

Borden's Dairy and your milkman  Ralph ?  I think Ralph signed too many of these and while I can make out his first name, his last is a squiggle.

All of these tags have been estate sale found. Few and far between.

I was thinking they would be cute displayed during the holiday season with s plate of cookies and milk. I love that tradition and these hang tags would be darling displayed like that.

I think Santa would be tickled.

Small collection today, but fun to share this unusual one. 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 are a milk fan, I did another collection challenge on Milk here.

Bonus, Second View of My World

I had the pleasure of another blogland friend visiting a couple weeks ago. Danielle from My Blessed Serendipity was in town and we got to meet.  By coincidence her post came up today a day after Crystal's yeterday.  Pop over to see her post HERE!  Thanks for the peek into my world Danielle.  I am thrilled to meet blogland friends and see my world thru their eyes..my view is through vintage glittery glasses!

Happy Day!

Another View of My World

My world...my house and studio.  Colorful, quirky, fun and one of a kind. I love to show it off and it is interesting to see a person's reaction to it. (OH MY GOSH!..is often shouted when entering my studio door).  I posted the other day about my blogland blind date and meeting Crystal.

She did a post about her visit. It is fun to see it through her camera and her eye.

Pop over to see her post HERE!  Thanks for the peek into my world Crystal.  I sure love living in it.

Happy Day.

HI GANG..It is Estate Sale Friday

Hi Gang!

I hit one estate sale today (there were not many listed). I also hit a couple of garage sales as I was hunting for a dresser for Ben to take back to college with him.  I usually don't hit garage sales so was glad it paid off by finding a dresser.  Most of these items came from the estate sale. Three items came from garage sales.

A few boxes of hot pink Shiny Brite ornaments, a Santa/child photo and a lone spun head angel.

A pack of old pipe cleaners, some battered tin kitchen items and a photo of some cowboy kids. Two squeaky toys and some vintage ribbon cardboard spools.
Old greeting cards and a pair of plastic flower clusters.
I am not sure what the clusters were originally used for, but the flowers will be great to craft with. Love the colors.

These two items were both garage sale finds. The woman at the garage sale gifted me with the tin when I found it on the bottom shelf in the garage.

I like the red and turquoise graphics on the tin.  I also like the fact the contents were an adventure in good eating.
This piggy bank was my other garage sale find.

I sm always attracted to items with kid graphics.  This giveaway safety game is dated 1954. It was produced by JC Penney and the National Safety Council.  The game features STOP and GO the safety twins!

This game will tickle your safety bone! The game cards are great.  You taught a smaller child to wait for a green light.  Your rode your bicycle at night without safety reflector.

I certainly find more items in estate sale land.  It was interesting to hit garage sales, but makes me love estate sale land even more.  So many oddball newer items for sale at garage sales that you have to wade through!

Hope you find some treasures this weekend..happy day!

A Reminder...Not At The Stroke of Midnight.

A haunting crowd are headed to Etsy tonight..Wed, Sept. 11th at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time)

 

The stroke of midnight (that haunting hour) would be more fitting for this crowd to show up on Etsy...but I am fast asleep at that hour.

Hope to see you there. 

Collection Challenge #172 - Vintage Fingertip Towels/Guest Towels

Last weekend I found some fingertip towels and Joyce G wondered if that was a collection that had not made a challenge yet.  Here you go Joyce...

Fingertip or guest towels are towels meant to go by your bathroom sink to discourage guests from using the hanging towels. This is the stack I found last weekend. A guest would wash their hands and then use these paper towels.

I call them fingertip towels because of this set I have had for some time that clearly state "Fingertip Towels" at the top. They have a nice forget-me -not design.

The guest towels above are the only ones that I have of the paper variety. The rest of them are cotton towels that I buy because of the funny sayings.

I was under the impression that this pair of towels was perhaps for blotting lipstick (and hence the red color).

Cute little smiling "Little Drip".
I am not sure if these last embroidered towels are fingertip towels or not. They are smaller in size (5.5 x 8) but I love the super silly sayings.  I keep them with my other towels, so grouping them in.

A fun little collection. I don't run across them often.  Those I found last week will be saved and not be put to use.  Goodliness...I like that word.

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