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I thought it may be interesting to see how Bunny Land comes to be. First I have to clear off this built in that is in my kitchen nook. It usually holds a fruit bowl and vintage mint tins.
I always display my vintage plastic doilies here at Easter. I like how they pop against the white.
Then I start adding bunnies. I also used the vintage mint tins for height and interest.
Lots and lots of bunnies! Each year these bunnies seem to multiply.
They say that about bunnies you know...
Am so wishing the estate sale season would start up. With spring break this week, I know it is getting close. I want a weekend where there are lots of sales to choose from and not just a few mediocre ones.
Mediocre is what I hit yesterday.
A cool fold up table. It is heavy metal and pretty sturdy. I may try and cover the table top and the seats.
The yellow metal table frame is a nice touch with an original label.
It came with the original tattered box and it does fold up quite nicely.
A tiny hippopotamus salt or pepper shaker. I think it may need a party hat.
I was also happy to find a wood plaque. I have been on the hunt for one for a project I have in mind.
At least the day was not a complete dud. Come on spring and summer..come on estate sale season!
I am one of those people that when I do my holiday decorations I tend to group like items alike. I like the impact of quantity rather than have items sprinkled about. Case in point. Easter display with Easter nodders and vintage dye packs.
I haven't displayed these items together before and this is a new spot for them as well.
I love the variety of graphics on the Easter egg coloring packets. I did a challenge that included them here.
So cheerful and springy to have the Easter out. More Easter posts to come!
(I had a wonderful time in San Francisco with the kids and Tom. 2 sunny days and 2 mediocre ones. Saw and did lots of touristy stuff and walked a ton..those hills! Visited Alcatraz which was really interesting. We watched Escape from Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood later that night in the hotel room and strange to see it in the movie after touring it earlier. So nice to hang out with the kids for a few days while they were home for spring break from college. Alameda next up on the trip agenda.)
I have blogged about my collection of vintage storks before on challenge #31.
Vintage stork florist baskets are my newest collection. I rarely find them and I just picked up one last week. That made three and that is the magic collection number.
Here is my first one. I added the green plant and crepe paper flowers. The bows came with the basket.
When I purchased it off Etsy I was told that the gentelmen this belonged to was in his 80s and this was given to his mother when he was born. It came from North Carolina.
The stork is darling.
It has a great floral detail on the basket.
This was basket number two. I got this one off Ebay I think.
The stork is celluloid and stapled to the base.
This is my third one. I found it last week at a local antique store. I was not fond of the pink or eyelet ribbon and it did not look original. It had to go.
The basket has a tiny baby in it. This sticker is on the bottom of the baby basket.
Stork and baby prior to redo. I did not touch the stork at all as it is well painted and original.
Here is it once I added some vintage ribbons and flowers from my stash.
I had a vintage cigar label that read It's a Girl. I wired that around the wicker vase.
Before my redo there was just a chunk of cotton batting in the bassinet. I tucked in some vintage ticking to cover the batting. I wasn't fond of the little outfit the baby had on so I removed that and just tucked it under the batting in case I ever wanted to use it again.
I can't believe I have found three of these old florist stork baskets. They live in my bedroom on my dresser.
If you have an idea for a future collection challenge leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of _____.". NUMBER 200 NEXT WEEK!!!!
I got all my Easter out.
I know it is still a month out, but my calendar for those thirty days is going to find me very busy.
My kids are home from college. They are on spring break this next week and we will all be flying to San Francisco for some family time and to explore the city.
After our little family excursion Amy and I are planning to road-trip down to the Alameda Flea Market the first weekend in April. I love, love that show.
A few days after we return from Alameda, Tom and I will be making a trip to Minnesota and the Junk Bonanza show. (Tom isn't going to the show with me...my sister-in-law will be my shopping buddy)
When I turned 50 earlier this year this is what I wanted to do to celebrate that landmark birthday. We will be staying with my brother and sister-in-law in Minneapolis. I am looking forward to shopping this show and crossing it off my bucket list.
A whirlwind of a month to look forward to.
I love having the house all decorated so when I am home I can enjoy the springy scene. Posts coming on Easter decorations too...boy do I have a ton of Easter.
Happy day!
I hit one sale today. Most of the sales are tomorrow and I don't see any that look that amazing. I don't even know if I will venture out.
I only found a couple of things today. The chippy yellow dresser will be a project. It is a tiny size and there is chippy pink and blue paint under the yellow.
It does have nice glass knobs.
I also found a teeny bit of Halloween. The owl will get a little Magpie Ethel holiday.
That yellow of the dresser matched our sunny spring day. Hope your weekend is a happy one.
I grab vintage glass refrigerator containers at estate sales when I see them if the price is right.
These containers were the storage precursor to Tupperware. I don't use them in my fridge, but use them in many other ways.
I don't care if they come with lids or not. The glass is always very heavy duty and these containers are work horses. I use them in my studio and like that I can see the contents of the containers.
They come in a huge assortment of sizes and shapes.
The one on the bottom holds old stamps and the one on top holds figural Christmas lights.
This square container holds my bingo card scraps. I like the checkerboard pattern on the glass.
These containers aren't entirely glass, but still refrigerator containers. They live in my studio to hold supplies as well.
I think this glass tray was intended to hold a stick of butter.
I use it to keep my pump soap dispenser tidy from drips in the bathroom.
I love this round refrigerator dish that is printed with the word Mayonnaise on the top.
Sometimes I don't know if my glass containers were originally intended for refrigerator use. I like these for the shape and size and they live in my cupboard. The taller one holds tiny teaspoons.
I am not 100% certain of the original use of these glass containers either. The colors are great. The one with the lid is marked Hazel Atlas on the bottom.
Again I don't know the original use of these hobnail turquoise containers. I was thinking ashtrays, but they are small. I have these in my bathroom to hold earrings and rings when I take them off at night.
My favorite place that I have used these glass containers is on a vintage vanity in my bedroom. They are all shallow and work great to organize baubles.
I really like how tidy they keep everything when gathered together.
Always on the hunt for these glass containers in the quest to keep things tidy. A cute way to use a common everyday vintage object.
If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ____." Loving me my vintage.
I hit the second day of a digger sale today. I love digger sales. You never know what unexpected item will show up in the boxes and boxes of junk to dig through. I don't know why I didn't hit this sale yesterday. I do know it would have been really crowded and this morning for a bit I had the digging to myself. Nothing was priced so you gathered up your finds and they gave you a price at the register.
I didn't find anything earth shattering, but for 73 minutes (the time I spent at the sale) I was happy as a clam digging for vintage.
A holiday advertisement, a unopened back of Santa plates and a holiday coloring book.
I love the vintage green of the metal items on the left. At first I thought they were bike fenders or oversize cabinet pulls. When I got home Tom said he thought they were the armrests from an old pair of outdoor chairs. I think he is right. I also found a 1950 gardening catalog.
There were lots of vintage greeting cards. I think the woman bought them and tucked them away for future use. Most of them are from the 1950s and have never been used.
I am such a sucker for them. Two words...the graphics!
I got a little bit of this and that in some of the boxes.
A jar in a great shape and a tiny pin up girl mirror.
One of my favorite finds was a child's shoe box. There is no lid, but it will live with my shoe box collection. The company that manufactured the shoes is the O'Kay Shoe Company. LOVE that name. I also found some darling cat stationary.
The one side of the shoe box features Jack and Jill.
I could not leave it behind.
I dug out a cute calendar from 1956 from Mahoney's Meat Market.
The calendar has listed the birthdays of US presidents. I also like the little fish graphic on each Friday to remind you to eat fish.
I ran around to the backyard to peek after digging inside. This old piece of concrete was off to one side of the yard. The frog and mushrooms will now live outside my studio door.
I was in and out in 73 minutes. 73 minutes of mindless vintage browsing. My favorite kind of morning.
Happy day.
Awhile ago I had a blog reader ask me about storage. Here is what she wrote.
After your tour of your house last week, (and my reorganization of my storage), I thought of you and how you do your storage (to rotate decorating themes).
I know we have toured your studio and and how things are grouped together there, but do you have a "system" for everything else? Colored bins, cardboard boxes, closets? And lordy, what kind of space do you have?
First, I don't live in a big house. It is around 1900 sq. ft. I am lucky to have a fairly decent storage/laundry area and then storage above our garage. It is pretty much packed with stuff. Pretty much.
Most of my holiday decorations are packed in bins and held on shelves in my laundry/storage area in the basement. I just buy regular clear plastic bins as I can see what is in them. I try and keep like holiday bins together. I do use cardboard boxes as well if they fit into the shelves. It becomes a storage jigsaw puzzle. It looks quite jumbled, but I can find stuff.
I have three shelving areas that are packed floor to ceiling with bins.
I don't just store holiday in this area. I also have household stuff like a rice cooker, blender, trays etc. You may also notice some vintage items that I have not popped into the appropriate bins...they are newer finds that I have not tucked away yet.
The ceiling in this storage area is open so there are rafters. I hang stuff from them as well.
While the majority of my holiday decorations are downstairs, some find their way onto the main floor. I have two vintage suitcases tucked under a cabinet that are full of my New Year's goodies.
I live in an 1940s tudor house that has original built ins. The built ins hold pottery and dishes. This one holds my wedding topper collection and is one of a pair in the dining room. I have a larger one in the nook in the kitchen.
I have storage over my garage/studio in the backyard. This is where we also keep sleeping bags, golf clubs, ice chests and other misc. household stuff.
One corner of the attic holds my collection of Santa blow molds.
One corner holds my (messy, as I am adding to it week to week with estate sale finds) assortment of Christmas ornaments and doo-dads for crafting. I drag them out closer to the holidays for crafting.
I also have some extra stuff up here...like a box of vintage boxes. I have trouble passing them by with the graphics.
I also have some overflow crafting supplies up there like this big bag of vintage bump chenille which had its own blog post. I am slowly crafting my way through it.
In one corner of the garage I also keep some of the props for my shows.
I wish I had some ultra organized space for all my collections, decorations and crafting supplies. I make do with what my house has and utilize every space I can. I also have a understanding husband.
I just pulled out my vintage Easter decorations. It was easy to do as they were all in one area in my basement storage area. This pile left me wondering where I store it all too?!!
Happy Weekend!
Between Easter crafting and lamb like March weather (compared to rest of the country) it seemed fitting to share my collection of lambs/sheep.
A pair of Rempel squeaky toys.
An old rubber baby teether that will be part of my Easter display. The wrapping paper background is part of the stash I found this weekend.
An old child's hankie with sheep in assorted professions.
The center of the hankie reads "When I grow up" and these are each of the four corners.
A couple of old ceramic baby planters or vases.
Some vintage plastic lambs ready for Easter crafting.
A teeny tiny vintage baby rattle.
Sweet plastic lamb.
I have been crafting up lambs for Etsy Easter (coming tonight to Etsy at 5:30, pacific time). These three used to be part of a baby rattle.
A lone salt or pepper shaker give the Magpie Ethel treatment.
The sweetest little night light ever.
An assortment of vintage wrapping paper. Frolicking lambs at Christmas.
Lambs with welcome baby wishes.
Not a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad asortment of sheep/lambs.
If you have an idea for a future collection leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ___." Can you believe this is post 197?
