Magpie Ethel

Turkeyland

Getting the post in under the Thanksgiving wire.  Lots of turkey gobble here.

Gurley candles, ceramic, pinecone and paper turkeys.

Thankful for all my blogland firends.  Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. Happy Day.

Collection Challenge #232 - Vintage Thanksgiving Candles (not turkeys)

With Thanksgiving just around the corner it seems fitting to share my collection of Thanksgiving candles.  I am not including turkeys candles (which at current count number 36).

I have tiny Pilgrim ladies in gray.

I have tiny Pilgrim ladies in blue.
I have Pilgrim men.

I have a few Pilgrims in a medium size (small Pilgrim in photo for comparison).

I have one giant Pilgrim.
All of the above candles are Gurley brand.  Digging the original prices of 35 and 15 cents.  Those were the days.

I have one lone Pilgrim of a certain style. He is a Tavern candle.  When I was taking this photo I questioned if he was actually a Pilgrim (he is so faded)...but I am pretty sure he is.

This year one of my Mom's girlfriends gifted me with some Thanksgiving candles and there were two Indians in the bunch.  I NEVER run across the Indians at estate sales, so these were a welcome addition to my Thanksgiving celebration.  They are also pretty darn cute.

I also have a trio of acorn/fall candles that I mix in.

A fun little collection to honor Thanksgiving. They all live together in my china hutch.

If you have an suggestion for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ____". Something different each Tuesday.

Happy Turkey Day.

Plucky Maidens Holiday Junkfest

This past weekend I did the Plucky Maidens Holiday Junkfest.  It was the second time I have done the holiday event and this year was awesome. I had my biggest space I have ever had at 20 x 10 and had no problem filling it up.  The show ran Friday night and Saturday.  Here is my spot...heavy on photos today.

The two Santa posters on the right sold right away which I was sorta sad about as I liked them there as part of the wall.  (oh well, I did want them to sell at some point)

 (please ignore the carpet which drives me bonkers)

The nice thing about this sale is that I can combine vintage with things I make. Most of the sales I do are purely craft shows and strict on only selling things that you make. It is fun to mix up my crafted stuff with vintage.

Such a fun show.  I love meeting customers and seeing friends.  Really a terrific event.

A happy Plucky day.

Clone Me

I would love a clone of myself this time of year.  Or perhaps an elf to help with  stuff.  Either one would be find.  

I took a record number of boxes to the post office from my holiday Etsy on Monday. Thank you so much to those that support my little crafting shop.

I could use an extra hand to help me sort through inventory in my crazy living room. They would have to be a mind reader though as I have my own method for sorting what goes to which show.

On IG I posted a photo of this spot in my living room where my vintage deer are waiting for my shows.  I got more likes on that photo than any other photo I have posted. This represents lots of vintage hunting and lots of hours in my studio.

Kate will be home next week for Thanksgiving and fortunately the inventory in her room will be headed to Plucky Maidens this weekend.  

Excited to get yet another holiday event going this weekend.  I love putting it all together.  I have it in my head how I want it to look and is fun to see it come together (another reason a mind reading elf would be good).

Tis the season. Wish me luck!

Collection Challenge #231 - Vintage Holiday Aprons

I seem to be in the holiday spirit early this year with all my holiday shows, so it seemed fitting to show a collection of holiday aprons this week.  (The photos are a bit off this week.  I took them outside and we get a wicked east wind here in Portland...bitterly cold.  Photos were a challenge to say the least.  I was also going to model some, but with Kate away at college my go-to photographer is no more)

Still cute aprons though! Nothing cuter than holiday puppy dogs.

Especially when they are popping out of a stocking.

This one has a nice big pocket. The red trim through the middle is the top of the pocket that runs the whole width of the apron. I like generous pockets.

 

I love the scallop hem on the bottom of this one.  A sweet detail.

 

Another sweet detail is my most favorite trim ever...with the candy cane stripe.

A cutie with an appliqued Santa and little jingle bells on the trim.

I always have a soft spot for Santa.

Such a charming print.

This pinecone fabric is fairly sheer and reminds me of a "dressier" apron.

The fabric on this one is adorable. I also like the little pocket trimmed in rick rack.


Cute little collection.  In addition to wearing them I have also used the fabric for other projects. Amy from Into Vintage embellished this shirt for me a couple of years ago using apron cutouts.

You can read the post about it here. She did an amazing job.  I plan to wear this shirt this weekend while a vendor at Plucky Maidens.

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ___."  If you come by Plucky Maidens this weekend, tell me how cute my shirt is!

Etsy Reminder

A reminder that my holiday Etsy will go live tonight at 5:30 pm (pacific time)

As usual, I have a variety of holiday goodies.  A little of this.

and a little of that.

Just a few tidbits.  On Etsy an item is not "sold" if it is your cart.  It is only sold once it is paid for.  If you really want an item you can pay for it and then continue shopping.  If postage is overpaid with a couple of orders you will be reimbursed. (I have had some sad customers when an item disappears from a cart and another buyer ends up with it)  I also am expecting a busy night with new buyers from Instagram.

Thank you so much. Hope to see you later tonight on Etsy.

Tis the season.

Holiday Etsy Finally!

Crafting. Holiday Shows.  Vintage Hunting. Pricing.  The holiday season is never an idle one for me.  I have been crafting up some crazy cute Christmas and it will be headed to Etsy on Monday, November 17th at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time).

I do love crafting for Christmas.  Hope to see you on Monday!

One Down. All Saints Holiday Bazaar

I had my first craft show of the season last Saturday.  It went well. Really well. I met lots of blog readers and IG followers who introduced themselves.  I really like that part of my shows..meeting the people who "know" me and take the time visit.

These photos were taken quickly.  I had a two hour window to set up and was down to the last few minutes getting it just so.

This is the smallest show that I do.  It kicks me into gear to get my stuff together for rest of the upcoming events.  Lets take a little tour. (I also like to do these posts as I revisit them each year when I do a show to refresh my memory on display and what I brought etc.)

A great show!  I have this weekend show free and then the next weekend I will be feeling Plucky at the Plucky Maidens Holiday Junk Fest. 
In addition I will also have vintage holiday goodies at Monticello Antique Mall as I will be sharing a booth with Amy again this year.  Monticello's Christmas Show starts that same weekend.  

Busy, busy, busy!  Tis the season!

Collection Challenge #230 - Vintage Celluloid Dolls

I picked up a celluloid doll last weekend.  I am a sucker for these little dolls with their darling faces. I marvel that they survive as they are made of such thin material and seem so fragile. 

Here is my latest find.

When I picked her up I thought I only had a couple of similar figures at home.  Well I was wrong and I have a small handful of them. Most of them live in my curiosity cabinet.

Estate sale found and I love the little bunny ears.

This style of celluloid figure often have the arms strung on with string. The arms are often missing as is the case with this Kewpie.
Her lack of arms is made up by the set of tiny wings on the back of her neck.

This funny little fellow with the leaf was estate sale found.

His little bum on the back of the leaf is a great little detail.

Flapper girl with her original costume.  She flapped a bit too much and her arms are long gone. Great little shoe detail.

This little angel did not fare to well with time. Dented and with a crack in her head, she is an example of how fragile these figures are.

This sweet doll came with this crepe paper outfit.

I found this doll this past summer at a garage sale I happened to stop at. She was about the only vintage thing at the sale and with those big crazy eyes she begged me to save her from the table of random household stuff scattered around her. I had to oblige.

Naked as a jaybird.

But look at those eyelashes!

One of those collections that snuck up on me....collections seem to do that with me!

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ____".  These collections just keep coming.

Estate Sale Friday. Over the River Again.

I went to one sale on Friday.  It was the second phase of a sale I had been to a few weeks ago and they were finally digging out stuff in the basement, attic area and upstairs.  The first phase was super and I had been waiting for this second round. The estate sale company does a old fashion line (no list, no on-line sign up) so I knew I wanted to get there early.  The sale opened at 10 and I got there at 7:45.  I was the fifth person there.  

I suppose it was worth my wait.  There were friends in line for the sale as well so there was lots of visiting while we waited for the doors to open. (my photos are indoors today as it is pouring rain) 

The woman was a crafter and sewer. She had tons of fabric. I was happy to find bump chenille, vintage beads and wood heads.  I really like the raspberry beads for crafting and this woman had a ton.

There were three boxes of misc. Christmas to dig through. Digging was worth it.

Old gift tags with tiny spun head figures.

I completely missed this Merrie Bells box which has tiny metal bells in it. My friend Kim handed it to me when we passed in the hall. It is nice to have friends grabbing stuff for you at sales.  On my last rummage through the Christmas boxes i found the strand of glass garland in PINK. Happy dance. 
A Christmas tree stand and a Dream Pet Deer. I found the twin to this deer two weeks ago at the previous sale here. I also found some swell rick rack.

The woman had one room FULL of fabric.  I only dug a bit in there.  I did find about 4 yards of a fun Santa print.

This children's print came home with me too, but will end up on Etsy.

Lots of this and that.   

I found a whole bag of fun old cardboard die cut holiday decorations.
This particular estate sale company always has online photos.  I was intrigued by one item in one of the photos and ended up buying it. It is about 10 inches long and features little soldiers with the elephant and the fellow in the little canopy.

I had never seen anything like it before and I just thought it was fun. It has great details to it.

A longer wait over the river this time, but with rewards once again.  I do love estate sale land.