Magpie Ethel

Halloween Pumpkins, Part II

I got some more vintage pumpkins this holiday season and they outgrew their last display location. Time to mix it up again.

I like them displayed in this little cubby better.  I should have done them here in the first place.



I also wanted to thank Pam from House of Hawthornes for including my blog and spooky decorations in a post on Vintage Halloween Inspiration.  Some of my favorite blogland friends were included in this post and I was honored to be part of the fun!

Trick or Treaters tonight.  My doorbell will be ringing like crazy..we get lots of them.  I have about 12 bags of candy ready to be handed out.

Happy Halloween to all!

Holiday Mall Space Madness

I had a fun day today. I am sharing a space at Monticello Antique Mall with Amy, from Into Vintage. She has had a space at Monticello for guite awhile, but I am joining forces with her for the holidays. Today was the day we set up our spot.

Our goal for the day was to have a spot that screamed happy, colorful vintage holiday...I think we achieved that.

Here is a closer look and a little photo parade of vintage holiday eye candy (this may be a long parade...lots of photos).

I purged a large assortment of pink holiday ornaments.  It was time to let go of some.

One of my favorite spots in the booth was the old set of springs turned into a field of vintage ornaments for sale individually.

A wall of true sparkle. 

I only have vintage items for now in this spot.  All of my other shows stipulate handmade items so I am crafting like a madwoman for those.  I may end up putting some handmade items in Monticello eventually, but for now that handmade inventory is headed to my craft shows.

So fun to see the space come together today.

Hurray!  Cross the mall space move in off my list!

Collection Challenge #178 - Vintage Tin Paint Box (#2)

Martha from Q is for Quilter left me a comment the other day. She had recently found a vintage watercolor tin at Goodwill and wondered if I collected them.  I did a post on paint tins and books on Challenge #22 (neat paint books if you don't remember the post). However, that post was written over three years ago and my collection has grown. It is time to share again.

Simple paint tins. Collected because of the variety of graphics.

Made by the American Crayon Company in the good old USA. Original price of 49 cents.

These are all simple run of the mill paint boxes.  I probably had one like this growing up.

Guitar Water Colors. 
Never used and with the original paper insert that identified the colors.

I think this Revoli box is one of my older ones. I believe it is from the 40s. I think this is another old one by Radiant.

This paint box has a favorite graphic.  I love the center star with the words "Happiness on every page". 

Some of the prettiest tins are made in England.  Page of London tin, made in England.
Another made in England. In great condition inside.

With all the colors labeled.


Original price tag of 69 cents on the back.

Children playing with penguins. Page of London tin, made in England.

I did not know that a penguin would eat a banana!

Little Crayon Color Corp of Brooklyn, N.Y. This tin is huge at 19 x 9 inches...it really is a super paint box!

Even the interior is pretty with the graphics.

Two sizes of this tin.
A fun collection and nice to update it with my new treasures.  Thanks for the suggestion Martha.  If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ____."

Almost up to 180 Collection Challenge posts...phew!

Estate Sale Friday and Saturday..Back in the Groove

It has been almost a month since I hit a good estate sale. Aunt Tillie's crawl space was my last vintage foray.  The estate sale season is slowing down and I have been crazy busy with holiday show stuff. I did make time this weekend to hit two sales as well as a big antique show at our Expo center.

I was number one at a sale on Friday and Saturday I hit a digger sale.  I was not disappointed.

A foil Happy New Year banner, and old straw box and a vintage white tree.

2 boxes of vintage Christmas ornaments and some ornament sprays.  I always grab those sprays when they have the old ornaments wrapped in the mesh.

A forest of fifty bottle brush trees.  The trees are new, but are great to be put to crafting use. A pair of vintage elves, a couple of rubber deer, some satin hand made flowers and a plastic Santa light.

A wonder bubble jar with a great label. I need to repair the label, but it is an easy fix. Kids blowing bubbles equals happy graphics!

A great old Easter bunny cutout. The straw box will join my collection.  I like how it includes an activity to make a airplane.

Oh, I also found another chippy metal toilet snake. HURRAY! This one is in blue. A new color to me and will be a great base on a future project.

It joins the pink ones that I have in my stash.

Fun finds in estate sale land.  Expo was on Sunday.   A big antique show with around 1000 vendors. I always see a ton of people I know and find some good stuff. This trip did not disappoint. Most of my finds will be repurposed.

A stack of unused ribbon spools and three new trick or treat bags for my collection.

Ceramic and rubber deer.
A plastic nativity set and some Christmas reflectors.

Candy canes, a Putz house in need of repair and a vintage elf.

Not a bad weekend haul. Busy week once again and eager to put some of my new finds to use in the studio.

Happy Day!

 

Collection Challenge #177 - Vintage Trick or Treat Bags

  With Halloween just over a week away I figured it was timely to do a challenge on vintage trick or treat bags.  I only have one actual trick or treat bag. 

Love the smiling moon.

However, I do have a small collection of treat bags. These were intended to fill up with goodies and hand out to trick or treaters. 

The flip side of this one has such a funny message. I like that it has a spot to write who gave out the treat.

This looks like a scary house to go ring the bell at!

These are reproduction bags, but they live in the china hutch with the vintage ones.

The condition is not ideal on this pair, but the graphics are charming...a cowboy pumpkin boy!

The flip side of these bags have tongue twisters and riddles to entertain.  Again a line for indicating who the bag is from.

A small collection today.  I just don't find them often in estate sale land. There are lots listed on Ebay and Etsy, so I know there are more to hunt for!

If you have an idea for a collection challenge leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of _____".  A new challenge treat each week!

Leading the Holiday Charge

Oh my but I am deep in the holiday charge to get things ready for the holiday craft/selling season.

I got all the Christmas out of the attic this weekend. This basically means all holiday ornaments and decorations collected this year need to be sorted through.

In Kate's room (thank goodness she is at college) I have holiday items to be sorted through for a holiday mall space and Etsy.

In Ben's room (away at college as well) I have all crafted items ready for my holiday shows and Etsy. I have been very busy in the studio.

A rainbow of bottle brush trees. A neighborhood of putz style houses (and more to come).

A bunch of elves, snowmen and snowgals.

Party birds.

An assortment of pixie boxes. Lots more items crafted and tucked away in boxes. Hoping to spend the first part of this week in organizing and pricing mode. The holiday charge is on.

Wish me luck. Hoping the kids don't pop in for a  surprise visit..they would be sleeping knee deep in glitter and boxes.

Halloween Decorations. Outside Looking In

I don't do gory or bloody for Halloween  Friendly spooky is my motto.

This is my front window.  I used an old folding florist stand to display my collection of cardboard witch cutouts.  No matter how I try I get the reflection of those trees in the photo!

I flipped the display around for this photo. Here are the witches that stare out at the street.

I also hung a few honeycomb black streamers straight down on one side of the display.  There are a couple of old cardboard witch hats as well.

This is the front porch. I used my tattered black umbrella collection once again and a big old branch that I scavenged. Orange lights and my blow mold collection round it out.
Come trick or treating..ring my doorbell..yell trick or treat. I will give you candy.
Happy day!

Collection Challenge #176 - Vintage Witch

Over the last couple of years I have shared Halloween collections of owls,  black cats and scarecrows.  Today it is witch day.

A trio of plastic Rosbro candy containers.

Old witch candy containers still full of that gritty powder candy.

I love this coven of witches. Some are ebay purchases. One is modern, and three are made by me.

Friendly witches.

A bunch of cardboard cutout witches. This one is made by Beistle.

Both by H.E. Luhrs
This is my favorite.

A pair of jointed dancing witches.

This is a larger cutout witch with a cardboard stand.

I love the sticker on the back that indicates it belonged to John's Market.

A couple of Halloween witches that hang on my Halloween tree.

Vintage Halloween plates with witches. Old noisemakers with witch graphics. Big Gurley witch candles.

Little gurley witch.

Lots of witches!  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 be stirred up each week!

 

Halloween Decorations..Dining Room

Whoooo lives in the dining room? The Owl Collection! (please ignore the glare on the cabinet doors).

Owls and vintage candy boxes.

My Halloween candle collection lives in the china hutch along with assorted Halloween paper items.

It is too much work to take out all the glass and china items in the china hutch so I mostly display towards the front of the shelf. (I do take some stuff out, just not a ton)

Vintage party plates.

Honeycomb pumpkins and a couple of paper bag pumpkins that my kids made in elementary school.

Front porch and front window post next.  Happy Day!

Four Tidbits

ONE. I finally got the trees assembled from Aunt Tillie's crawlspace.  It looks like there are a total of 5 trees. One 7 foot, two 5 foot, one 3 1/2 foot and one tabletop that has been pieced together. There is a whole lot of sparkle in my living room!

Shiny, shiny!   I am thinking of mixing it up this year and using aluminum trees rather than our usual fresh tree.  I would do a whole window-full and I have LOTS of Shiny Brites to decorate them with.

TWO. I did not hit any estate sales today. There were not any that looked that amazing and I am HELPING with one tomorrow for the day, so will get my estate sale fill there.  It looks like a good sale too!

THREE. I went back to school shopping with Kate before she left.  We always shop the teen stores that I never hit by myself..H&M, Forever 21 etc.  We hit Love Culture at the local mall and I scored a cardigan that will be perfect for Halloween!

The sweater has skeleton elbow pads!  Teen shopping with a reward for me!

FOUR. I just got accepted into another holiday craft show. I will be doing three shows, plus Etsy and also sharing a booth at a local antique mall.  If you live nearby and are interested in the shows, they are now listed on my sidebar.

Happy Weekend!