Magpie Ethel

Nameless Him

My newly acquired mannequin head has been with me almost a week now.

He is staying in my living room and I have had some fun with him.

Vintage child size ear muffs found at Farm Chicks a few years ago.

Just darling.

An old estate sale found hat that my son Ben used to wear is a bit too roomy on him.

Child size vintage sunglasses fit him well.

He looks really good in party hats.

He is ever so charming in a bow tie.

He has won his way into my heart and I am sure you will see more of him in future posts.  He needs a name tho.  A good, old fashioned quirky name. After a week together I have yet to come up with one.  Anyone have a good suggestion?

Happy day!

Irish Etsy Reminder

A little leprechaun has popped by with a reminder that St. Patty's day Etsy will be listed tonight at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time).

Lots of shamrock fun tonight.

Collection Challenge #195 - Vintage Cake Decorations

Margaret from Maggie's Lil' Fixins blog asked me to show my collection of vintage cupcake/cake decorations. I have done a trio of related posts in this category; Challenge #107 with cupcake papers, Challenge #15 with birthday candles holders and Challenge #3 with spun cotton cupcake picks. HOWEVER I have some cake decorations that fit in the decorating category and had to share.

We will start with Birthdays.  An assortment of plastic Happy Birthday decorations meant to decorate a cupcake or fancy up the top of a cake. I love the variety of script writing.

This is my favorite with the pair of birds.

Numbers to announce a certain age. Mine would have had a big old 50 this year.

More numbers for landmark birthdays or anniversaries.

Happy Birthday lampposts...note the little "Happy Birthday" on each one.

Packs of vintage silk Happy Birthday flags. These were meant to decorate a cupcake or cake.

Love, love, love these flagetts!  I have a bunch of packs. I will craft with some, but some may end up on Etsy. Absolutely darling.
Little plastic animal cake decorations...rabbits, bears, ducks, deer and elephants.
Vintage nursery rhyme picks; This little piggy, Humpty Dumpty, Jack Be Nimble and a few others. An assortment of musical notes.
Clowns.  Why are some of them always so scary?
Finally we have cake decorations for an assortment of holidays.

Valentine's Day

St. Patty's day

Easter
Mother's Day

Halloween

That is a lot of cake decorations. I know I have some for Fourth of July and Christmas but those are packed away. I am sure I will think of some others I missed (or Shara will remind me) after I do this post.  I craft with these decorations, so am always on the hunt for vintage ones.  Thanks for the suggestion Margaret!

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge leave me a note and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ____."  Closing in on 200!

 

 

Etsy Green

A little Irish luck will be headed to Etsy on Wednesday, Feb 26th at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time).

Etay Green. Wednesday.

Estate Sale Friday and Saturday...Just Duckie.

I hit a total of three sales the past couple of days.  Good finds with my favorite treasures being this little boy mannequin head.  At the same sale I found the vintage child's sunglasses with those ducks.  Meant to be.

A good weekend haul.

Vintage coffee can and a squeaky toy boy. Rooster squeaky toy. There were quite a few rubber toys, but I only picked up a couple.
A bit of Christmas.
A couple of Easter dixie style cups, a plastic chick and a old plastic bunny that is missing the glasses that originally came with her. I think I can come up with a replacement pair as she looks odd without them.
Vintage birthday candles, a pig for my collection, a couple of spun heads and a pair of old robin Happy Birthday pinbacks.
Vintage straws for my collection. This graphic with the big heart is wonderful.

A vintage needle book and some children's hair barrettes. I have a thing for old baby rattles and teethers..especially if they are shaped like keys.
One of the sales I hit STILL had a line outside two hours and fifteen minutes after the doors had opened.  I joined the line.  I was rewarded with some fake dollhouse hedges with tiny flowers. They will be taken apart and used for crafting. Vintage square dance fabric...do-si-do!A box of old child's roller skates. I like the metal wheels. I will figure out a project for them. A kewpie doll and the cutest weathered metal truck.  The Gardening/Ferry Seed graphic on the side is amazing. It is missing one wheel,but I have some vintage ones in my studio so I think I can fix it.

Vintage birthday plates and a paper tablecloth.

Paper napkins

Seahorses with cocktails.
I just can't pass some things by.  Vintage polka dot place mats in original wrapper...best mat you ever sat at!

Let's Twist vintage beach towel for my collection.

Last but not least my favorite finds.

A mannequin head.  A box with darling kid graphics.

A pair of vintage sunglasses with adorable ducks and the cutest little party hat with festive yellow feather.

A good couple of days in estate sale land.  That mannequin head and those glasses...WOW!

Happy day!

 

 

 

Pinterest Lust

I like Pinterest. It is a great place to organize photos and inspiration. I used to always pull pages from magazines and now I save much of that to my boards.  I also pin from blogs and websites.  Every once in awhile though I pin something from another person's board that I REALLY WANT.

Case in point. Some crepe paper bunnies that I pinned quite awhile ago. I love crepe paper figures and these were adorable.  I was hoping someday something like this pair would cross my path.

Enter Ebay.  I was the high bidder.

Not identical to those that I lusted over on my Pinterest board, but perfect to add to my Easter decorations.

I love it when someone has dated an item.  This pair reads 1949 on the base.

If you want to follow me on Pinterest I have a link on the sidebar of my blog. (I pin under Laurie Romanaggi).  I also just started using Instagram and am getting the hang of that.  You can follow me on Instagram under Magpie Ethel.

Happy Day.
 

Collection Challenge #194 - Vintage Shelf Liner/Edging

Longtime blog reader Lisa L. challenged me to show my collection of shelf liner or edging. She had been in search of some for her use and wondered if I had much in my stash.  At first I thought I only had a couple of items, but after a little rummaging around in my studio I discovered I had a nice little stash.

Some plain jane shelf liner in pink. I had some in turquoise as well which I used in my kitchen cabinets.

Another liner that is meant to line cabinet shelves. It is coated so you can wipe it down easily.

Another fun pattern.

I like the shelf liner with the patterns on the edge.  It is meant to line the shelf and then you fold the pattern over the edge of the shelf for a pretty border. A sweet geranium pattern.

I used some of this liner in my studio in a cabinet with glass doors.

Another liner with the fold over edge.

This sweet yellow liner with border has an edge that has a punched design. You can see where some of the pattern has been punched out.

I have a shelf that runs above the window in my studio.  The shelf is decorated with a vintage pink edge that is pleated.

Last but not least is my favorite shelf liner. It is in the original packaging and I have not opened it yet.

It is a little hard to see through the cellophane wrapper but the pattern is adorable parakeets perched on cherry branches. Original price 35 cents.

A fun little collection which is as much fun to put into use as it is to find.  Thanks for the suggestion Lisa! 

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!

Weekend Bonus

We had a nice weekend at the beach. It was REALLY stormy on Saturday with lightning and thunder and high winds.  Saturday we drove north from Seaside to Astoria.  As I mentioned in my previous post I usually don't have good luck junking at the beach.  This trip I spotted a "garage sale" sign at a local grange hall and found goodies there. I also hit an estate sale in Astoria and found a few more treasures.  Bonus finds after a good estate sale on Friday!

Lots of random and oddball..but great items for my crafting.

A pink plastic fish spoon rest (for future beach house), some cotton birds and a couple of packs of pipe cleaners. At the estate sale I found one big box of Christmas that I dug through.  From that box came a plastic Santa boot candy container, two snowman (that need a Magpie Ethel makeover), a trio of spun cotton snowmen and assorted ornaments. I really like the green plastic Christmas tree.

An old ceramic deer, Christmas ornaments and a turquoise recipe box. A ceramic lamb destined for Easter crafting and a ball of twine.

I really like the old pink polka dot hat box.  Old plastic doilies, a trio of Halloween pumpkins and some mushrooms for crafting.
An assortment of Christmas ornament sprays and old party horns.

An vintage scotch tape tin and a bunch of plastic animal straws. I really like the animal straws for some silly reason.
On the way home from Astoria we drove through the small town of Gearhart and spotted a herd of about 40 elk. They were on one side of the road grazing.  It was fun to see them up close and watch them in the stormy weather.

A good weekend at the beach. A very good weekend.

Estate Sale Friday and Weekend Bonus

I hit one sale on Friday.  I was number 16 to get in (after signing up the previous day).  I only had time for one sale as Tom and I were heading to the beach for the weekend after I got my estate sale fix in. 

Good estate sale equals good mood for the day!

A couple of old patriotic children's books and a bag of plastic easter eggs. I only bought the bag of eggs as it had the original tag with the old style graphics. Tiny plastic deer and old ribbon spools.

My favorite find was this Snowflake Jewelery kit.

I am going to have lots of fun crafting with these tiny pieces.

An assortment of ceramic elves, ceramic deer and a box of tiny pink ornaments. Some of the elves have condition issues, but will be perfect for some of my projects. Old cardboard letters for crafting projects.
Birthday party invites which will join my collection (#169 and #131)
Vintage Christmas tags and a jar of misc. jewelry parts.

A pair of nativity sets and an old Forest Friends gameboard (in the background).

I could not pass up a pine cone turkey with real feathers and a pipe cleaner head.
On my Valentine post the other day I had an image of a red heart with the word "Sweet".  It was part of an old baby teether.  I was super happy to find more of these teether hearts at this sale! I had to buy this pair of clip on earrings.  They are made out of old spun heads.

Old children's books.
Tiny pixies.


A good estate sale!  I headed home after it and Tom and I left for the beach. We always go to Seaside on the Oregon coast.  I don't do much junking there. I may hit a couple of antique malls, but there usually aren't too many sales to hit. However...that was not the case this weekend...I got an unexpected weekend bonus of finds at the coast. Post coming.

 

 

Happy Hearts

May your Valentine's Day be nothing but happy!