Magpie Ethel

Annual Huckleberry and Rummage Sale Weekend

Prior to Labor Day weekend is always my annual huckleberry picking overnight with my Mom and a couple of cousins. We spent Thursday picking berries for about 7 hours.  We did well and brought home lots of huckleberries.

We spend the night in a local hotel and the next morning we hit the annual rummage sale that the town of Trout Lake puts on.  It is a fundraiser for scholarships for the local high school...a good cause and I usually find a treasure or two.  My mom and I also junked on the drive home.

The vintage enamel store scale was at the rummage sale.  I thought it was pretty nifty.

It is a Dayton scale and the enamel is in great shape. I wish I had more kitchen counter space to use it for display.

I have been on a roll with Halloween lately.  Lucky once again. A sucker for the original price tag.
Christmas was good to me.
The three boxes of ornaments were full of fun patterns and designs.

A blowmold Santa and 6 vintage curtain panels.

A couple of crazy vintage grape clusters. (garage sale bound) A crusty old tool box.

Vintage shot glasses. I especially like the smaller ones that have crazy eyes that are painted on the inside so they look like they are wandering.

A Sea Lion Caves mug and a tin mug (for Kate), a recipe box and a pair of vintage sunglasses.
Rocking my new vintage sunglasses. Thumbs up to huckleberry picking and rummage sale finds! Happy Labor Day Weekend!

You can read about the past two huckleberry/rummage sale jaunt here and here.

Humdinger Humdigger Estate, Phase II

So phase one of the sale in Stevenson, Washington was a winner.  The attic was supposed to be emptied and the second phase was to happen the following weekend. I waited and waited for the ad to come up online for the sale...I was on pins and needles hoping it would happen. The minute I saw it come online I knew where I was headed.

Amy and I left Portland and the ghastly hour of 6:30 a.m.  We made it to the estate sale by about 7:45 and ended up being numbers 5 and 6 to enter. The sale started at 9.  Amy and I discussed at length what treasures the attic could hold and we both were betting on some vintage Christmas as there had only been a small amount previously. As the clock ticked away these boxes that had been unloaded from the attic taunted us from the yard.

Our wishes were granted. This is a long post.

Amy and I did not do battle. She went one way and I went another.  We handed things off to one another.  We shopped for almost three hours.  There was plenty of stuff to go around.

I was very lucky with a box of Christmas that I found.

Some really unusual ornaments.

The very first thing that went in my basket were these huge Kewpies. I have never seen any this large. I also got a bunch of smaller ones.

Behind my giant Kewpie is a table top aluminum tree that I found.

Spun heads and Santa mugs. The spun heads are tiny Halloween heads.

I am thinking this trio of dolls were intended for a New Years celebration in 1957.  They had been tucked away in that attic for years.

Vintage Easter including some of those rubber eggs that are hard to find.

These little wood patriotic plaques are awesome. Some will go to Etsy next Fourth of July.

Great old noise makers in red, white and blue and a couple of batons.

Lots of odds and ends.

Who saves old boxes of Chiclets?

These month glasses were wonderful. I wish I had the three missing months. Does blogland know anything about these?

Vintage Girl Scout cookie sale posters.

Vintage Halloween napkins. I have quite a few of these now. Old playing cards. I love the top row dog where he looks like he is laughing.
I saw this fairy gal in the online photos. There were two of them, but I was happy to snag one.
A risque Hula girl tie that will go to Etsy.

At one point I realized some of the boxes used to gather and store items for the sale were wonderful. I made a point of searching some out.
The cutest Christmas water decals and a ton of old jingle bells.
I bought a bag of these tiny Made in Denmark hats as they looked interesting. I thought they may have been party favors. Later I discovered they had a neat honeycomb feature.

Laundry bag More pipe cleaners and some great bump chenille. The neon pink is kind of fun.


I discovered the Kreiss Santa in a box the estate sale company had not gone through. He will head to Etsy or Ebay.

This box of stationary was unused and such a nod to history.


Last but not least this box...nutcups, etc.


The box was full of this.

The little favor cups have the cutest rim detail.

This is one of those epic sales that I will remember for a long time. So much fun.  A HUMDIGGER of a sale!

Collection Challenge #220- Vintage Metal Pie Tins

I had a comment from Kimberly asking me to show my collection of nut grinders, measuring cups or flour sifters. She stumped me on those topics, but it got me thinking that I really don't collect much kitchen stuff.  The one kitchen item I do collect, (and am barely over the number for an official collection) is tin pie plates with words.

I recently started finding these.  So far I have four.

This was my first and favorite. Happy Home.

Quality

Quality Pie Shop

Best Pies

I haven't figured out how to display these yet. I want to get some more first.  When I look on Ebay or Etsy there are really a huge variety of these out there. I hope to get lucky in estate sale land here and there.

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ___".  Kimberly stumped me with her suggestions today, but I guess that goes to show I don't collect EVERYTHING! (although I do have 220 collections of assorted things)

Happy day!

Humdinger Humdigger Estate, Phase I

A week ago Amy texted me and said she was at a terrific estate sale out in the Gorge.  It was in Stevenson, Washington which is about an hour away.  I debated driving out on Saturday for it, but Amy suggested I drive out on Sunday instead for half price day and see what was left. She said there was tons there and it may be worth my time. 

The drive to the sale itself is amazing.  The highway follows the Columbia River and I thought that even if the sale wasn't that great, it was a nice day out in the country.

I got there an hour early and was 4th in line.

The prices were not the cheapest but at half price I was able to fill my basket and then some. I did really, really well. It was one of those dream sales where there were just fun item after fun item.  I spent TWO AND HALF HOURS digging. (That is my son Ben photobombing my shot of my finds)

The woman was a crafter and there were lots of little odds and ends in her craft room. She also had lots of dolls, fabric and just interesting things.

There was some Christmas.

Crafting tidbits.

I swore off buying more pipe cleaners, but I seem to always break that promise. The bump chenille in the yellow and white twist is just crazy good.

This little top hat fellow stole my heart and will be out with my New Year's decorations.

A whole army of pipe cleaner and celluloid head figures. This one is a favorite.

A mish mash of finds.  Lots of crafting potential. Lots of little treasures.

Plates from San Francisco and one from Oregon. The little blue duck will live outside with some similar figures.

Patriotic goodies. The Flag box actually had stuff in it and when I noticed the graphics I swapped some stuff around so I could snag the box.

Old pinpacks
1950s home magazines.
Old "how to" patterns. The one for the rocket swing is especially awesome.

Old advertising hangers Fun little kits like this one to make an embellished collar.
There was a ton of fabric and linens to dig through. I found some good things.

A sweet circus quilt.

I am always a sucker for the old pillowcase sheeting.

This tutu was just too darling to pass by. The tinsel at the bottom is the old tarnished kind.

I have this same flowerpot at home in a different color.

I was on an estate sale high when I left.  It was such a good time. I was ravenous when I left the sale after all my digging and stopped for lunch at The Char Burger restaurant in Cascade Locks.  This was my view while I ate.

How could I ask for a better day?

The icing on the cake is that this was the FIRST phase of the sale. They had not even touched the attic. Those boxes were to be sorted through and that sale would be taking place the following weekend.  You know where I will be headed.  This time I will have Amy in tow. 

Phase II coming Wed.

 

 

Estate Sale Friday and Saturday...Heavy on Halloween

I did pretty well this weekend.  I hit a number of sales and found some great stuff.  I also hit ONE AMAZING sale that deserves two posts (look for that Monday and Wednesday).

I found Halloween at two different sales. At one of the sales I got a big box of misc. Halloween. Some of the stuff is a bit rough and needs repair, but I can do that.  At another sale I found a couple of plastic Rosen witch containers and a trio of paper cutouts stuffed in a bag with some modern stuff.

I am doing a skeleton themed front window this year, so the more the merrier with them!
A trio of honeycomb birds and some honeycomb fish. I was very excited to find a moth tin to add to my collection. I haven't found one in awhile!

Vintage Christmas, glitter, a filthy knee hugger and a sweet book about a goldfish.

I was lucky with Christmas corsages

The cardboard topper on this mesh stocking is the sweetest ever. A white tree and the best ever honeycomb garland in the most wonderful colors. There are three strands of it!
Vintage ribbon spools for that spun head crafting.
Celluloid figures. The little sailor boy will look darling with my other sailors at the fourth of July.

I could not pass by these necklaces made with rick rack.  I will figure out a use for them.
Aluminum Smokey the Bear ashtrays.

A darling ceramic fellow and a great crepe paper lei.  The lei is really, really great and I have never seen one like it before.

A pretty good weekend. Wait until you see the upcoming post on the super estate sale...OH MY!

happy day!

 

 

Holiday Decorating Void

It is a long stretch between the Fourth of July to Halloween and the decorations that accompany those holidays.  During those summer months I drag out the beachy themed items to decorate with. 

You have heard it on this blog more than once that I hope to have a "someday" beach house.  This "for sale" sign that accompanies the mantle display is a nod to that dream.  You met this school of fish yesterday on my collection challenge post.

Tin tray on coffee table filled with vintage flip flops, glass floats and seaside ephemera. The smallest flip flops are for tiny child's feet. They were found in the basement of an old pharmacy and are rock hard.

Love the vintage fish puzzle on the left.
An assortment of seaside tidbits. There are some vintage chenille "native" figures with their pipe cleaner palm trees. I found the shell sail boat the other day at a garage sale for 50 cents. It had rather tattered weird flags, so I added some made of vintage newspaper.

I found this little shell bird recently and could not pass it by. These are the little tidbits that I love to add to my beachy stash. How could I resist a pipe cleaner neck?

It has this tag attached and is dated 1936.

A collection of old sand-buckets. I did a challenge on them here.
I found a couple of old salt water taffy boxes this summer. They add some beach side interest.

Another friendly fish. I found the plastic flowers at Plucky Maidens and was going to use them for crafting. I think they look sort of seaweed like and I love the pink color so am using them for beachy display.

I somehow got a small collection of seashell shaped ceramic containers.I made the seashell flowers years ago after seeing some vintage crafted ones.

I picked up the big fish bowl the other day at half price at an estate sale (a whopping fifty cents).   A pair of vintage fish shaped hot water bottles swim in the bowl.

Newly found ceramic snails live under a glass dome. (I removed the dome for the photo..too much glare)
I can almost hear the sounds of the ocean...
Happy day!

 

 

Collection Challenge #219- Vintage Ceramic Fish

I have my beach decorations out for the summer and have quite the little collection of ceramic fish swimming about. Time to share...this is almost like visiting an aquarium!

First we have a pair of darling spotted fish...note their ruffly tails and fins.  Estate sale found at different times.

Next we have the elusive hollow blue finned fish.  This fish came from a family friend years ago. It was found on a scuba dive in the Marshall Islands on an old undersea boat wreck.  It is from Japan.

The common goldfish. (ha, GOLD fish!) Estate sale found.

The tiny blue angel fish.  Estate sale found.

Darling, darling pink fish.  Found at Plucky Maidens and flat on one side for wall mount or it stands on its own as well. Salt and pepper shaker fish. This variety of fish is known to travel in pairs. Estate sale found and marked Japan on the bottom.
The shy Hegstad fish.  He is also of the salt and pepper family of fish, but this fellow has lost his mate. Estate sale found.
Last but not least, the red polka dot fish.  This is another member of the salt and pepper variety of fish and this gal is also solo.  I wonder what her mate looked like? Found at a local antique shop.
A nifty little school of fish.  As a side note the first image from the Aquarium is a local tourist attraction in Seaside, Oregon where we often go to the beach.  It has been there since 1924 and was originally a salt water bath house and swimming pool called the "Seaside Baths Natatorium". In 1937 it switched over to an aquarium and has been there since. I have visited many times on our coastal visits since we go to Seaside each summer.
If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ____." What will it be next week?

Hope to have a little bit of my beach decorating up later this week.  Happy Day!

 

Estate Sale Friday and Saturday...In Full Swing

Estate sale season is in full swing here, and I probably hit 8 so far this weekend (and am going out tomorrow).  Some were better than others of course, but that is part of the hunt.

I found a trio of darling snowman stockings and a pair of 
snowman Salt and Pepper shakes that had never been used.

I did not need a huge bin of ornaments, but there were some good ones mixed in with them and they wanted to sell them all together.

This was one of my best finds of the weekend.  An entire village of cardboard holiday houses (and I found one more today digging at a hoarder house).

A tiny elf and a plastic tree...dug from the depths of a hoarder sale.

I got lots of random stuff this weekend. Campfire beads (for crafting), a lone turkey candles, clip on earrings, pipe clenaners and a ceramic seal.

My spun head magnet was working.

The frog hatchery just made me laugh.  It came with a coupon to send in for frog eggs!  I could totally see Ben doing this when he was a kid.  I thought the bowl/microscope would make a fun candy or display dish. 

A trio of plastic egg cups.

Kewpie dolls found at different sales and a couple of tin pie plates.
A couple of boxes of pink Christmas ornaments and some deer.
A sweet little holiday apron with fun fabric. A trio of fancy hats, vintage playing cards and a couple of containers (milk glass?...can't read the markings on the bottom).  I liked the colors on the containers.
Last but not least, my silliest find of the day. I did a post on my mop handle obsession a few years ago. Since that post I have collected quite a few more all in a rainbow of colors.  Today I found one that literally was a rainbow!

I have never seen one striped like this. It is shorter..perhaps for washing windows or something. 

Not a bad weekend so far for estate sale land. Headed out again tomorrow...crossing my fingers for more fun finds.

Happy Day!

Collection Challenge #218- Vintage Handmade Cup Cozy

I found some cup cozies this past weekend at an estate sale. When I went to add them to my stash, I realized how many I had and what a variety of styles and colors.

I believe these are all handmade.  They were meant to slip over the end of glass and act like a coaster. 

I think I have a bit of a fascination with things that are crocheted or knit, since I have no talent with needles.  I love the variety of patterns and colors.  I have slipped these on smaller old milk bottles.

These gussy up some jars of craft goodies in my studio.
The flower details on these are great.

This set really lends themselves to some fourth of july decorating.

They add such an old fashioned charm to a simple jar or glass.

These almost look like a cable knit sweater. A fun collection that has taken me awhile to collect. I usually find them in a set of four or so and fun to group the variety of patterns and styles together.

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

 

Estate Sale Friday and Saturday. Ups and Downs.

I did find some stuff this weekend but it was not gangbusters. Funny how it varies from one weekend to the next with good sales and mediocre.  I sure wish it was weekend after weekend of amazing sales.

This is what I did find.  One sale Friday and three on Saturday.

I found the whole box of dollhouse furniture on Friday.  I also got the vintage suitcase for $1.  The suitcase is going to be an end table in my family room.

The Friday estate sale was that of an elephant collector.

This photo is from Instagram.  For the life of me I can't figure out where I stuck this elephant. It is hard to lose and elephant.

My only holiday was this advent calendar.
A big shell planter, a tiny jug and two silly snails. It is hard to pass up a snail with a bow.

Some handmade cozies and a bunny for Easter crafting.
I always like this vintage game box for Hearts.  Perfect for Valentine display. The Valentine card with the gal in the heart patterned swim suit was too cute to pass up.

Not bad, not great.  Another weekend in estate sale land.