Magpie Ethel

A Story in Every Room

I have been a bit of a home body lately. The kids are back at college.  The craziness of my holiday season is over.  I feel like I can take a deep breath now.  Wandering around my house I am surrounded by things that make me happy.  Unusual things found at estate sales or antique shows that when I display make sense in my house.  A memory or a story behind so many items.

Vintage jewelery on display with a honeycomb garland. It hangs on my bedroom mirror and makes me smile everyday.

A favorite lampshade with a wonderful doll (found at Alameda Flea Market) that bobs side to side when you give her a nudge.

A giant song sheet yellowed with age.  How can you not like a song titled "Tiptoe"? Wonderful floral wallpaper in Kates room that I dearly love. The wallpaper was ordered from England when we first moved into this house. Kate has had a love/hate affair with it while growing up.   Vintage honeycomb daisies and pink twinkle lights adorn a vanity mirror.
Colorful pillows, both vintage and new.  Kate's bed is made since she is away at college...that always doens't happen when she is home.
A few more swans have joined my flock. The latest being estate sale found glass birds clips. I had to add new tails.

This old watercolor hangs in my living room. It was drawn by my grandfather's college professor. Their is a matching one that hangs nearby.
It is not a particularly amazing scene, but I love the fact it is backed with an old Wheaties box.

A hodge podege scene of birds in cloches, old pincushions, advertising rolls and crepe paper flowers. Finds from so many different places and people. The cabinet was gifted from a friend.

I always have fresh flowers on my kitchen windowsill. The hyacinth needs to grow a bit more and then I will have that amazing scent. The glass vase marked FLOWERS was found at an antique store nearby a few years ago. I debated about buying it, but it is a favorite purchase now.I love these smiling flowers on a vintage apron. It hangs permanently on a knob in my kitchen.
A new docking station for my phone.  My kids got it on Etsy and it is made from a vintage book. It fits right in with my style.  I still love the tufted couch I paired with our dining room table. My vintage store display stork is decked out for Valentine's day. Again, a find at a local antique store. A friend talked me into buying it and I am sure glad she did.
Vintage fabric in the kitchen make a colorful tie back on my curtains. Fabric was found at a local retirement home sale.
Estate sale found turquoise metal frame that was perfect to showcase a tiny photo of Kate when she was little (the photo is surrounded by a tarnished glitter Christmas reflector).  The matting is original and the bottom oval holds a scrap of vintage wallpaper and a four leaf clover that Kate found years ago. The THINK sign was estate sale found and works well with the giant light bulb lamp in Ben's room.
This framed piece was made by my Aunt. It is a teeny tiny cross stitch pattern that my aunt did of her mother (that would be Ethel, my grandmother).
Fun to wander room to room.  Estate sale finds, family hand-me-downs and treasures found at shows. Funny I can remember so many tidbits about so many vintage things, but forget other things so easily!  Loving my house full of stories and one of a kind finds.  A good place.

happy day.

I did a post last year with a few more snippets of things I love in my house.  You can see it here.

 

Collection Challenge #191 - Vintage Bookends

Debbie (no blog) asked if I had a collection of vintage bookends.  Bookends aren't something I pick up super often, but I have enough for a post. A small collection. Mine are all estate sale found.

A pair of darling Dutch children.  They are marked made in Japan on the bottom. They are even cuter when they don't have books between them and are about to share a little kiss.
Adorable with a capital "A".  This pair of bookends featuring birds are in great condition and still have the original price tag of $5.49.  They also have the original Norcrest sticker on the bottom.

This cute little deer bookend is solo. He still works despite not being a pair.

Two little reading children. Marked made in Japan.
Super great details on this pair.
I like the crazing with age.

Thanks for the suggestion Debbie. A cute, but small collection.  If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a note and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ____".  Heading towards 200 challenge posts!

 

 

 

A Little Weekend Etsy Crafting.

 

I love a productive weekend. Estate sale land offered good finds.  I worked in the studio. It was sunny and I got the yard tidied up. I did some Valentine decorating.

I put my weekend Valentine crafts straight onto Etsy.

I do enjoy crafting for holidays!

Hope your week is happy.

Estate Sale Plan B

To jog your memory here is the stack of loot from Plan B.

Most of my finds were from a LARGE outbuilding.  It was digging and digging which is my favorite kind of sale. I just kept tossing stuff in the boxes. When I got to the register they just looked at my pile and tossed a price at me. 

I am kicking myself for not going the first day of the sale, but was happy the hour drive still rewarded me well. 5 strands of mercury glass garland in assorted colors.  Some in the original packaging.

Angel heads, butterflies, glitter and pink tinsel poms marked made in Western Germany.

I have crafted with spun heads for quite a few years now but have never come across any in an angel kit like this. I found five packages for the angel kits!

One of my favorite finds were these unopened packages of glitter foil. They are old foil garlands that spiral out.  Great colors and the packaging is a plus!

More foil spiral garland in a different type of packaging.
Made in Japan hot pink velvet leaves and gold butterfly picks. Vintage ribbon including a great wide satin roll.

Plastic tree topper with angel head. Lots of miscellaneous crafting stuff dug out of boxes.

Vintage plastic snowflakes, wooden colored beads, birthday candles and holders, deer and ornaments.
One particular box of candles is new to me in my collection.  How can you go wrong with "the candle that takes the cake"?

Dennison "How to Make Crepe Paper Flowers" book, an old floral catalog and a beaded baby toy.
A fun assortment of old coloring books.

A vintage cotton owl and an old dixie cup for DENTURES.  The cup is perfect for a project I am doing!
Glad I took a chance and switched to plan B. Worth it for sure.

I hope you have a ....

 

 

 

Estate Sale Friday/Saturday and Plan B

It was a good weekend in estate sale land. I hit two sales yesterday and two today.  I am breaking this post into two. Here are the finds from the first three sales I hit.

A big beveled round mirror and a plastic ornate frame. I like to spray paint the frames and use them to display vintage crepe paper.  I hit the garage at one sale and scored some old coffee tins. I dumped out the nails and screws (into another container) and then asked the fellow how much the tins were. He gave them to me for free. That always makes me happy!

A bunch of boxes of these Merry Christmas cake decorations..perfect for holiday crafting! I also found some satin covered thread balls in green.  Good timing for St. Patty's day!
Playing cards with shells for crafting summer mermaids, ribbon spools and a turquoise jewelery box.
Love the basket weave look on this old Dixie Plug tin.

A bunch of old owls that will fly towards some Halloween crafting.

One of my favorite finds was an unopened package of old stock flowers.  I also found a vintage valentine vase.
An old coffee jar with a galvanized lid.
The jar was FULL of keys.

I bought two boxes of Christmas ornaments. I am trying to only buy smaller ornaments this year, but the chartreuse green color is one I don't see often.  A valentine hankie.
An old morning glory motif jar with lid and some plastic light switch plates.

Pretty good finds for three sales.  After hitting the one sale this morning, I intended to head across town to a second one.  Then I ran into a friend who told me about a sale with tons of vintage craft stuff. It was on my radar for Friday, but it was an hour drive and I wasn't sure about the TYPE of craft stuff.  After hearing my friend tell me I must hit it, I took a chance and decided a plan B was in order.  It was the second day, but I was crossing my fingers.

This is my loot from plan B.

Plan B post coming tomorrow. The drive was worth it!

Collection Challenge #190 - Vintage Ring Boxes

This is a fairly new collection which I started last May after I found my first box at an estate sale.  I only have three so far, but that is the magic number for a collection. I wish I found them more often.

This is the first ring box I found. The heart shape got me.

I think it is intended for a child's ring as it reads "Kiddiegem" on the back.

This is the second ring that I found in July.  It was in a free box.

It baffles me why people put items like this in a free box at an estate sale.  I was happy they did that though.  The blue velvet interior is a nice touch.

My third and final ring box was found at the second day of an estate sale last fall. It was half price.

I like the shape of this one.
Small and sweet collection this week. If you have an idea for a future collection challenge leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ____." Another week, another collection!

Estate Sale Friday - NICE Holiday Finds

I hit two sales today.  I was number 50 to get into the one after signing up on the list yesterday afternoon.  Luckily I got in with the first wave of customers.

This was my loot from both sales.

There was a second sale very near to the first so I hit that one too.  I was going through boxes of stuff and there was another woman doing the same thing.  We small talked a bit and at one point she turned to me and said it was so nice to MEET SOMEONE NICE at an estate sale since usually everyone was so cutthroat and unpleasant.  Between that comment and my finds it was a good day.

A pair of nursery cutouts. I especially like the bunny which will go into my Easter display. They are about 2 feet tall.

I lucked out and found a box of vintage Halloween.

I rummaged through a box of Easter and found these goodies. I especially like the bunny munching the carrot candle.

It is a bonus when you flip the candle over and find the Gurley label. The two little satin ball chicks are marked Japan and have the origianl price of 19 cents.

Thanksgiving turkey candles to add to my giant flock that comes out for the holiday.
A Gurley Pumpkin candle that I don't have and a tiny deer.

My daughter Kate decorated her dorm room in vintage Oregon.  I got this Keep Oregon Green ashtray to collect coins or other smalls. She is not to use it for smoking! Assorted ornaments, ribbon spools, an elf and a gold foiled Easter egg. I also grabbed one grab bag of holiday that looked like it had potential inside.

I bought the bag because of this Santa head.  I didn't open the bag, but thought the head looked old.

My suspicions were correct when I got to my car and looked at it closer. It opens up and is an old candy container. It is marked made in West Germany inside. The beard is made of feathers.

The grab bag also had a box of tiny ornaments and this figural light bulb. I think it is the cat and the fiddle.  There was a bunch of random junk in the bag, but at least it had some gems too!

An old plastic sewing box with compartments inside.  The kitty design on the lid was cute. I need to clean it up some. Funtime Crossword book, dated 1955.

The puzzles with their themes and graphics are from that era.

It was good to be back in estate sale land today and find some goodies. It was really a NICE day.

Hearts Headed to Etsy

I crafted a big assortment of items to head to Etsy later today.

Vintage dolls gussied up for the holiday.

A pair of cupid fellows.

Spun heads of course.

An assortment of ornaments.

I really had lots of fun re-purposing vintage doo dads.  See what shows up on Etsy tonight (Wed) at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time).

Spreading the Valentine love.

 

Collection Challenge #189 - Vintage Cowboys

I just picked up a new cowboy the other day.  I don't know what it is about cowboys.  I think it was the bowlegged stance of this fellow.

Time to rustle up rest of my cowboy collection for this post!  The majority of my cowboys are small and they live in my cabinet of curiousities.

A little spun head cowboy complete with chaps.

IF you are a spun head cowboy it is only natural to need a pipe cleaner horse.

Love this little celluloid head cowboy with his lasso.

Even the random plastic cowboy has come to live with me.
This little metal holster and gun was a long ago find.  It has Roy Rogers engraved across the holster. Dang cute.

Random vintage cowboy doo-dads. A tiny leather holster. A tab pin for a rodeo stunt rider.  A plastic cowboy.

I took all the above random pieces and display them together in my cabinet. I wired on a tiny magnet to hold the pieces onto the metal cap in the background.

Vintage cowboy and indian birthday candle holders. They look to be in battle if they were on top of a cake.  Rifles and bows and arrows look ready to be put into action.

Child cowboy birthday hats.

This little fellow is one of my favorite cowboy graphics.
Vintage cowboy playing cards.  I included the photo cards for Erling Bjarko.  With that cowboy hat and horse I think he is a cowboy wannabee and this his his fifteen minutes of cowboy fame.
Super cowboy graphics on this Trail Drive deck of cards.

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 will mosey into my post each week.

Yehaw!  Cowboy fun.

 

 

 

Messy Valentine Crafting

When I start crafting for a holiday I pull all the relevant materials out and they are scattered about my studio.  It is a giant mess.

With Valentine's Day approaching I have piles of red and pink.

I have a big craft table in the center of my studio, but tend to work on one untidy corner of it.

A pile here a pile there.

I will spend many an afternoon plucking items from one pile and another.  Those spun heads in the above photo?

Little valentine sprites ready to toss that arrow of love.

Vintage photos become Valentine fun.

Those messy piles take new life.

Ordinary items transformed.

Vintage dolls given a Magpie holiday makeover.

Soon those piles and snippets of holiday have been tweaked.  A box of Valentine goodies is ready to head to Etsy.

Come check them out on Wednesday, January 15 at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time)

Now I need to go clean up a messy studio!