Magpie Ethel

Instagram Love

I recently started posting on Instagram after my friend, Pam, from Plucky Maidens fame prodded me to do so.  I like it. I follow other bloggers and have also made some new friends.  It is fun to do a quick photo with my phone and add a caption.  Almost like a tiny blog post.  I enjoys scrolling back through my photos.

I capture things in my studio, vintage finds, estate sales, trips, crafts or whatever else catches my fancy.

I certainly live in a colorful world!  If you care to follow me on Instagram there is a link on my sidebar (the button between the Facebook and Pinterest icons).  Or you can search Magpieethel.  A fun place to share my day!

Collection Challenge #203- Vintage Garden (#2)

We are supposed to be having temperatures in the 80s this week.  Time to work in my yard!  With gardening on the brain, I decided to add to a previous challenge that was posted almost two years ago...Challenge #104 - Vintage Garden/Flower Items.  As you know the hunt is never over, I am always adding to collections and finding more related stuff.

This little gardening truck was a recent estate sale find.

I probably would have passed it by but the logo on the side was too darling...Gardening - Fill Dirt Trees and Shrubs - Ferry Seeds.

Vintage seed packets have great illustrations of flowers.

An old sweet pea trellis in original packaging.  Sweet peas are one of my favorite spring flower. A teeny tiny green metal wheelbarrow. I always pick up old gardening catalogs at estate sales. The colors and illustrations are really amazing.  Most of these date to the 1950s. An empty grass seed box.
This company called Garden Club seemed to produce a variety of gardening items. I like how the word CRUMPLE WIRE on the flower holder is written with crumpled letters. A can of Twist n Tye.

Unused gardening gloves. The pair with the roses is quite appropriate as Portland is known as the City of Roses. Are you are wondering what I do with this assortment of gardening stuff?  Between holidays I may do a fun seasonal display.  Such is the case right now on my china hutch.


Ready for spring!  If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of _____."  A collection springs up each Tuesday!

Toilet Paper, 1941 - Project

You may remember one of my crazier finds from Junk Bonanza was this roll of toilet paper, dated 1941.  For the past year I have been collecting vintage bathroom/medicine cabinet items.  I have had a project in mind.  It addition to the toilet paper it involved items like this.

A metal chippy box that I found last year at Farm Chicks.

An assortment of medicine cabinet items.

Vintage curlers in my favorite colors.

I finally got the project done this week.  I wanted to make a shadow box and was inspired by the kitchen one that I had made for me.

Collecting was the hurdle. It was fun putting it all together in the box. I think it looks like a disorganized medicine cabinet.

A few of the items I used had special meaning as well. Some of the shaving items came from my hoarder neighbor, John (RIP). I decided to tuck my kids retainers in the box as well. The retainers were from when Ben and Kate were in middle school as they each endured braces.  If I save an oddball item like that I need to do something with it! They are sprouting from the denture cup.

I was tickled to find the old Noxzema jar as I have washed my face with Noxzema since my teen years. The curlers tucked in nicely as a vintage filler.

I wasn't totally sure how I was going to add the glass over the top of the box. Tom had the bright idea to use magnets..genius..metal box! One trip to the hardware store.
I just added a magnet and the L bracket holds the glass in place.  Easy peasy!  I liked the cutout circle since it looks a little industrial. Tada!  The glass finishes the box off.

I also found the greatest hairdryer on our recent Alameda trip. It was the perfect shade of green and I love the Handy Hanna Hair Dryer wording. Tom did not even bat an eye when I asked him to hang it on the wall above the box.

This funny old cowboy/holster child's toothbrush also found a home with this project. 

Finished project.

Nice to cross it off my to do list.  No more hunting for vintage bathroom items.
Done.

 

 

 

 

Estate Sales Three Days in a Row

I got lucky this week and ended up hitting estate sales on three consecutive days.  Thursday, on my trip to the dentist I had to detour when I saw an estate sale sign.  Friday, I hit two sales.  Saturday, I hit four.  I was rewarded.

My favorite find was from my dentist detour on Thursday. I found two chippy, turquoise perforated window boxes.  They are crazy cool.  I am going to display them in this area. The brick wall is my neighbor's garage so I can't hang them on the wall. I love the pop of color and they will look awesome once they are planted.

I got lucky with Christmas. I found one box that had 7 strands of mercury glass garland as well as lots of tiny ornaments. I also found Christmas reflectors at TWO of the sales.  The trio of mica birds had to come home with me. The table cloth on the table was found at a digger sale.

My spun head radar was on when I found some tiny elves.

Old ribbon spools, satin balls and tiny candle clips.
Kitschy reindeer and more assorted Christmas. Elves perch on an old Santa boot. A blow mold angel and a pair of plastic deer
I am giddy when I find old Christmas tags.  Original packages and tons of designs.
I completely missed a bag with all these rolls of old holiday tape. My friend Mitzi, was on the lookout and snagged them and dropped them in my basket. I have a collection of them and these were some patterns I did not have. Some vintage tins, a glass jar and American flags. I think these are pincushions? Blog readers?  They are handmade and have foil on the bottom and are squishy at the top like they would take a pin?
A sweet little wooden gal for my collection.
I probably would have put this knife holder back down after picking it up. When I turned it over the graphics on the back were awesome. So much for the lifetime guarantee though as one of the knife slots is broken.
I missed these items in my first photo. I found a bunch of my favorite plastic vases that mimic depression ware. I did a post on them here.
A vintage deer.  It was the only thing I bought at a sale where I was number ONE to get in the deer. The sale was that dismal...one thing. At a different sale, I could not pass up the old Dixie cups or the County Fair tags.

Good weekend finds. I think spring has officially sprung in estate sale land.
Happy Day!

Inspiration Struck

I bought a cool old container the other day at a vintage shop.

I had absolutely no idea what I was going to use it for when I bought it (that is the case often in my world). I liked the partitions and I liked the writing on it.

I think it originally held salon scissors.  The different varieties of scissors fit in each compartment and the price is printed at the top.

A few hours after I purchased it...inspiration struck.

I had the perfect bare spot to hang it as a little shadow box. A little collection of celluloid head fortune people now live in the little cubbies.

It all came together.

A happy new home...meant to be!

Collection Challenge #202- Calendars

I have some fun vintage calendars.  I see them often at estate sales..they were something that people saved.  I found this one the other day. It is from 1956 and was probably a giveaway to customers from the Mahoney's Meat Market.

This one is neat as it lists the birthdays of presidents.

Sometimes I find calendars that are tiny.

This giveaway from Parker Club Tours is made of pressed cardboard. The original calendar is missing and you can see where it has been torn off the bottom.  I took this one off the wall in the basement of an estate sale years ago.

I have two calendars from 1955 and 1957.  These were giveaways by The Alpenrose Dairy.  They feature a little gnome called Tiny Tawker who is adorable.

Here are a few of the calendar pages.  Cute huh?

The little details are just charming. On one of the calendars each month has a great little graphic...Who's your Valentine?

The flip side of the month features holiday or monthly crafts or treats.

One of my favorite finds EVER is a form of a calendar. I found it in Kansas on a road trip with my Mom. It is a pincushion that you use to keep track of birthdays and important events etc.

There are pins with little felt flags that you use to indicate dates.

Green for holidays. Pink for birthdays. Red for dates. Blue for everything else. I love the big REMEMBER flag that flies from the top.

It is dated 1964 on the bottom.  I have never seen another one like it.

On our Alameda trip I found this nifty mirror with calendar attached.  Great graphics, that wonderful vintage green, a thermometer and a mirror!

The Family that PLAYS together STAYS together.  Love the happy little family scene picnicking by the river.

From the Vernon Company of Newton, Iowa. 1956 calendar still attached. Awesome.

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ___.".  Collections, collections, collections!

Packing Up

I am packing up Easter today and had one little tidbit that I want to share before it goes back in the bin.  I was the high bidder on Ebay on an item awhile ago and this little goodie was tucked in the box as an "extra".

A child's vintage bunny costume!

Always a sucker for google eyes.

I have my list of suggested names for my mannequin boy and still haven't decided.  He does look darling in his little bunny ears though.

Love this little Easter costume.  Back to packing up Easter decorations.  Happy Day!

 

 

Easter #5- Easter Candy Containers And Bunnies.

I hope the Easter bunny made his way to your house today.

 

  Top of my china hutch.  Vintage Easter bunnies and candy boxes.

Happy Easter to all...enjoy your day.

Favorite Minnesota Shop - Hunt & Gather

One of the highlights of my trip to Minnesota/Junk Bonanza was shopping at Hunt & Gather. I had shopped there on a previous trip and knew I had to hit it again. They had a spot at Junk Bonanza which only wet my whistle to head to their store.

My sis in law and I ventured over Friday after hitting Junk Bonanza again in the morning. 

The store is crazy over the top with color, imaginative displays and fun merchandise.  It is two floors and chock full of great stuff.  Eye candy photos to follow.

They were having a sale and had treats out as well. I wasn't in the mood for the rotating hot dogs, but they had bags of chips, cherry mash chocolates, ding dongs and Easter chocolates.  A quirky mix of party food and a fun little display.
I don't own any concrete swans but I always admire them. I would like a flock of them outside someday.

This bust was GIANT.  It had a fun necklace that spelled out Hunt & Gather made with vintage letters.

Wow.  What a shop.  On the way out I spotted this giant E.  E is for Ethel!  I knew it would not fit in the suitcase.
Such shopping fun...a must see if you are in that neck of the woods.

Happy Day!

 

 

 

Estate Sale Friday. Straight From The Airplane

There aren't many estate sales this weekend since it is a holiday weekend. The finds I am sharing today are from last week.  Last weekend was Junk Bonanza so I was out of town. I still looked at the listings for sales at home and saw that I was missing this crazy good looking digger sale.  Oh, how I wished this sale would have been a different weekend!  On Sunday our flight from Minnesota left at 6:15 a.m. That meant we got home to Portland mid morning.  My mom picked us up at the airport and dropped us off at home. I immediately left for the last day of the two day sale.

I may have missed the really great stuff, but I still came home with some goodies. Sunday was also half price day.

A St. Patty's day crepe paper tablecloth.

Angel heads for crafting, some yellow snowflakes and some vintage shoelaces still in the paper sleeves.

Good Valentine stuff for crafting, old pipe cleaners, foil holiday cones and a tiny patriotic axe.

A doll to have the Magpie Ethel makeover and some paper napkins.  I am always happy to find some little vintage oddball item like the drums or those tiny Easter baskets as they lend themselves to my crafting so well.
Holiday mailing labels in original packaging.

The Easter egg dye box has seen better days, but it was one I did not have.

A recipe box filled with recipes from The Meier and Frank or Oregonian (both local companies) weekly cooking school. They are dated 1934 and 1935 for the most part.  It will be fun to sort through this box.

I also found a good assortment of vintage bathroom stuff. They must have never cleaned out a medicine cabinet or bathroom closet.  You may remember I bought some toilet paper at Junk Bonanza (Dated 1941) and these bathroom finds will be part of that project.

A good end to the trip.  Glad I could still make the tail end of this estate sale...it was worth getting up at the crack of dawn to get home.
Happy day!