Magpie Ethel

Snippets of New Years at My House

I shared my honeycomb bell New Year garland earlier this week on my Collection Challenge.  I sure love this pop of happy color in my living/dining room area.

The top of my china hutch holds some of my favorite party horn cones.  The assortment of patterns is super fun. 

I don't think I ever have enough of these silly party horns. A big bunch of colorful fun.

My no-name mannequin boy is sporting his party hat.

I like how my little mantle niche came together this year.  I used some old alarm clocks and some vintage cardboard New Year bells and then rounded it out with some silly little touches.

I did a trade this year with my friend Doreen for these little band fellows. I like to believe they are playing a happy tune to lead us into the new year. (I am just now noticing this clock should read midnight)

This fellow was found at one of my favorite estate sales this year. I love the nod of the top hat to the New Year.  His eyelashes are amazing too.

Another top hatted fellow shares the mantle.

Thank you to all of you who visit my blog during the year.  I really appreciate the comments and the connection I have made with so many like minded folks.  Thank you for supporting my little crafting business. Wishing you all the best in 2015.  I am hoping for a bright and happy 2015 (I am not a fan of 2014). 

Happy day!

Collection Challenge #237 - Vintage Honeycomb Bells and Holiday Inspiration

I did a post on my collection of vintage bells with challenge #133.  When I was taking down my holiday decorations I really wanted to keep my white garland that hangs between my dining and living room up for a bit longer.  I decided it was the perfect spot for a little honeycomb bell "Ringing in the New Year" action.

I LOVE honeycomb bells.  I have a big bin full of them in tons of colors. Some are vintage and some aren't. I prefer the vintage ones of course.

I love the variety of sizes. These little ones are about 3 inches tall and were found in their original packaging. The largest I have are about 12 inches tall.
The bells that come with directions or information printed on them are pretty nifty.

The original price tags on them always are a bonus.

Sometimes the color of the bells is a no brainer to what holiday they should be used for.  4th of July!

My collection of honeycomb bells came in very handy with my New Years decorations.  I hung a vintage "Happy New Year" banner above the white garland that had previously held Christmas ornaments.  I then added an assortment of honeycomb bells in some of my favorite colors.

Honeycomb bells in delicious colors.

I really love the pop of color when the skies are gray and dreary outside.

I also love that I got a little more mileage out of my white garland after Christmas before I took it down.  It really is perfect.

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ____. You never know what collection will ring in each week.

Happy almost 2015!

 

Holiday Decorating. C'mon In #4

Kitchen snippets today.  The kitchen windowsill always holds a holiday scene.  This year it is my favorite Can'd Ice cans with the great snowman graphics mixed in with vintage snowman and forced paperwhites.  Amy made the wonderful garland for me a few years ago.

I have my collection of vintage metal Christmas card boxes displayed on my kitchen countertops.

Last year my snowmen lived in my dining room and this year they wandered into the kitchen nook.

I even added two more after these photos were taken. This collection keeps growing.

That concludes the holiday tour this year.  As it is the day after Christmas today I am probably in the midst of taking all my decorations down.  Hope you had a wonderful holiday and looking forward to 2015.  Happy day!

Holiday Decorating. C'mon In #3

Heading into the dining room. I never tire of the garland hanging between the two rooms. I love it on the white garland as the ornaments really pop off of it.

My china hutch really holds a ton of Santas this year. Behind the cabinet doors is my collection of Santa mugs. The top of the cabinet is a big world of Santa figures.  The largest fellow in the center was newly found this year.

A ledge above my front window holds a row of vintage bottlebrush trees and a banner that reads "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year".

I also pulled out my frame that I made with all the Santa photos with my kids. I love watching their friends come over and look at each and every photo. I did a post on it here.

A very long holiday post.  One more to come as we do a quick kitchen tour.  Merry Christmas!

Holiday Decorating. C'mon In #2

I tend to go overboard with Santa in my living room. The minute you walk in the door this is the back wall...BAM SANTA...and I still have one more that I haven't added yet.

My collection of vintage Cardboard Santas are all in one spot on top of my cabinet. My very first Christmas wreath I ever made hangs below it.I took down a print that usually hangs in this spot and swapped it out for an old mirror that I gussied up with vintage holiday.
Lots of Santa related goodies surround this mirror and line the cabinet top below it.

i have a shelf of various Santa doo-dads

My little Santa land tree is full of baskets made of vintage greeting cards.  They are filled with old bottlebrush trees.

A big light up Santa hangs over my fireplace in the little niche.

In addition to the Santas I like having lots of shiny bling.  My coffee table has a garland of old mercury beads and some vintage holiday swans (that hold votives) scattered across the top of it. The poinsettia are vintage handmade ones. 

I have one spot that I have display lots of ornament bling and sparkle. I force paperwhites in pots and they grow up through the bling.  My paperwhites got really leggy so they are tied back with tulle ribbon.

I also tuck some of my favorite ornament figures in this spot. You can see them peeking thought the paperwhites.

That rounds out the living room tour. Tomorrow we head to the dining room and kitchen.  Happy day and happy Christmas Eve.

Collection Challenge #236 - Vintage Mesh Stockings

I did a Collection Challenge on vintage Christmas stockings on challenge #135.  Since then I have collected a tiny collection of vintage net stockings. These usually came pre-filled with cheap little toys and trinkets. I like them because of their cardboard tags at the top that have such darling graphics.

Did I mention darling graphics?

Or how about darling dog graphics?

With my estate sales hunts I collected a small number of the netting stockings over time. They were in various sizes and none of them had a cardboard topper.  I have one cardboard topper that I color copied onto cardstock. I trimmed the cardboard to fit and my mom machine sewed the color copied cards onto the old net stockings.  I added a little glitter and the vintage stockings were given new life.

Sometimes I find the cardboard toppers attached to really ratty net stockings. That was the case with this gem.  I saved the topper.  The good girls and good boys graphic is adorable.

If  you made a holiday Etsy order from me this season you may recognize this topper.  I made color copies and reduced it in size. I attached the topper to cellophane envelopes and filled them with a few goodies. It was my little Cracker Jack style prize that I include in my Etsy orders that I send out.

A fun little collection today. I really don't run across these very often.  It is fun to be able to craft with these netting stockings though and give them a new twist on life.

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 Tuesday.

happy day!

New Years Gals...10, 9, 8...Etsy

I am always in a crunch to get a few spun head gals done to head to Etsy before the New Year.  These gals are ready to ring in the New Year with you.

10, 9, 8, 7...no countown to Etsy, they are there now.

Happy almost 2015!

Holiday Decorating. C'mon In.

It has been a very busy holiday season for me. With all my shows I still managed  to decorate with my usual crazy vintage inspired way. Christmas is a holiday that goes over the top at my house.

This is my front porch.  I found a couple of new Santa blowmolds this year to add to my collection. 

I have a few little fellows that live indoors. They are too fragile to weather the elements. There are also two big Santas that I plug in at night in this front window as well.

I mixed up my front window display this year as well. I have one large aluminumum tree  and two small ones (last year I had three full size ones).  I added my collection of inflatable Santas and deer to this window.  I love them looking out with the sparkle of the tree in the background.

I stuck the trees up on a table so they would be centered better in the front window.  The largest tree is about 5 foot tall.

I never tire of the sparkle of the tree with the old ornaments.  Totally a magpie sparkly and shine tree.

One of two inflatable deer peeking out from the tree.

My reindeer display got kicked up a notch this year. I found this awesome styrofoam fireplace at a local antique mall.

The deer on the side of it was the selling point.

More holiday posts to come this week.  

Come back and see more of my crazy holiday land.

Crafty Wonderland Wonderful Weekend

I had my last show of the season this past weekend.  I love the Crafty Wonderland show.  LOVE.  I had a spot front and center at the entrance and worked my magic in my 10 x 10 booth.  I start setting up Friday afternoon and finish up on Saturday morning before the crowds enter at 11.  This year there were about 18,000 people that came through the show during this two day event.  My booth was crowded and I had a blast visiting with friends, vendors and customers.  I had lots of people mention they read my blog or follow me on IG...that is always a warm fuzzy feeling.

Here we go. My booth.  VERY picture heavy post...lots of sparkle, glitter and holiday color.  Little talk.

I craft a TON for this show.  My tables are full of inventory and there is still a bit more waiting under the table to replenish on the second day.

This shelf is so perfect to display all the little putz houses that I flip.  A whole neighborhood of tiny homes with vintage deer tucked in here and there.

What a great weekend.  Playing catch up this week and getting Christmas shopping done.   Hope to get a few things listed on Etsy.  Tis the season.

Collection Challenge #235 - Vintage Boxes of Snow

Another holiday themed challenge this week. With all my shows and Christmas crafting I am always on the hunt for snow.  Preferably mica snow.  You can buy it in some crafting stores, and I do buy it there, but occasionally I will find a box of the vintage stuff.  The vintage stuff comes in a box and has waaaayyy cuter graphics than any modern snow. 

Cute box after cute box.

Here are the directions for its use.

I also have a couple of boxes of plastic snow.  Light, fluffy and clean.

Love, love the graphics on these boxes. 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 every week.

P.S. I have heard that this vintage mica snow often contains asbestos.  I don't craft with it.  I bought a box once at a flea market and got the biggest lecture from the woman selling it. I've done some googling. I'll stick to the modern stuff.