Magpie Ethel

Collection Challenge #250- Vintage Easter Dixie Cups, Part II

I did a challenge on these on #151. That was 2 years ago and this collection has grown. This is one of my favorite Easter collections and since Easter is right around the corner...it is time for an update.

Voila! The pyramid of Easter Dixie Cups.  I love these old wax coated Dixie containers.  They are pint sized and probably once held ice cream or another dairy product. These cute little cups were intended to be used as Easter baskets after a person punched holes on the side and added a handle.  I am amazed at the variety of designs.

These are all the same graphic, but in a different color scheme.

Another same graphic, different colors.

These more colorful and detailed cups are a newer find.  Look at all those kids on the hunt for eggs.

Flip side. These little ducks look thrilled to be swimming with this fellow.

How cute is this "The Bunny Hop" band?
Flip side. Bunnies dancing it up with the band.

Cows eyeballing Easter baskets.

Love this chick belting out a tune.

Another darling full color cup.

A wagon carrying Easter eggs. The wagon is pulled by a team of sturdy horses.

Truly a huge variety of a simple item.


If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ___".  Happy day and hope the Easter bunny is good to you this year.

Estate Sale Friday. I Love Those Words.

I am still on the tail end of my aunt's estate.  We have to have her apartment cleared by the end of the month so this week has been trips to Goodwill, packing up things to save and listing and selling stuff on Craigslist.  

Thank goodness on the route to my aunt's apartment there just happened to be an estate sale yesterday.  I popped in on the way home.  I found some stuff. I needed that fix.  Today, while on the way home from dropping a truckload at Goodwill, my mom and I decided to pop in.  Things had gone half price. I found more stuff.

I liked the lampshade.  I thought it would be fun to funk it up some for my someday beach house.

I was smitten with the little fish finial.

This was also the sale of scary dolls. I found two yesterday and two today for half price. I also found the enamel bowl.

I was lucky with Christmas.

A vintage pink child's iron and a sweet little rubber doll. I couldn't resist her grimy look.

The woman of the house. Her glasses were great and she almost looked like she was daring me not to buy her.One of my favorite finds was this old purse. The tag inside reads "Made in Italy for Nordstrom Best".  The chain handle, big clasp, oversize shape and fun fabric just made it to great too pass up.

So happy to have this estate sale on my route to Auntie Kathy's apartment clean out. Was certainly a much needed break...and I didn't have to go out of my way!

Happy Weekend.

 

Collection Challenge #249- Charm Bracelets

I have kept track of requests for challenges and a handful of gals have asked if I had a collection of charm bracelets (April, Janis, Lisa). I have my charm bracelet from my growing up years. The charms were mostly collected during travels during middle school.

I don't see charm bracelets often at estate sales.  As many readers know I recently lost my Auntie Kathy.  When going through her things, I found her charm bracelet.  Hers puts mine to shame in the amount of charms she has collected.

I now have two bracelets, which doesn't officially make a collection, but I think the quantity of charms tips it into that collection mode.  First up is my charm bracelet. 

We moved a ton when I was younger. My Dad worked for an international construction company and we moved about every three years. With those moves came the fun of traveling to other countries. 

From left to right. Oregon (where I live now and was a home base my growing up years).  Mickey Mouse (Disneyland and we lived in California). Pick axe for Alaska (we lived in Fairbanks as well as Anchorage).  The Parthenon (Easter vacation in Greece). Ivory turtle (arghh, I can't recall).  Sombrero (Mexico).

From right to left. Ivory elephant (we lived in South Africa). Dutch shoe (trip to Amsterdam).  Table Mountain (South Africa). New York (trip). Alaska flag.

After seeing my aunt's bracelet it really made me wish I would have worked harder to acquire more charms. I am missing some from Bora Bora, Tahiti, Swaziland, Rio De Janeiro, Singapore, Thailand and a handful of US States.

My aunt has 30 charms on her bracelet.  I like to think it shows she had a full and interesting life.  I don't know what all the charms meant to her, but she certainly had a wide variety of them.  She was a nurse overseas on a tiny island called Kwajalein for most of her career. She travelled a ton and loved Hawaii and Bali.  She scuba dove.  She retired here in Oregon a few years ago. She was 67 when she passed away.  

I love her little ivory Buddha and her delft shoes from Holland (trip).

I also like her old high school charm from Milwaukie High. She also has a charm from BYU where she went to nursing school.

A sweet tiny crate of tiny oranges reads "A crate of California sunshine".

A charm bracelet really is a little souvenir of life.  I think I need to start adding more to mine.

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 and live each day to the fullest.

 

 

 

 

Neglected

I have been on a crazy treadmill of life and have been neglecting my blog. First I had the busy times of the Christmas season and shows.  During that time my aunt (67) was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  She passed away in early February and since that time I have been working on her estate sale.  The sale is this weekend and I am more than ready to have it behind me...it really is a huge amount of work.  I already have a bunch of posts that have been swirling around in my head.  I miss sharing more than just the collection challenges and my estate sale finds that seem to have become all that I can manage lately.  Cross your fingers for the sale this weekend...I have lots of treasures to unload.

Happy Day

p.s. The shell photo?  My aunt lived overseas in the Marshall islands and scuba dove. She collected shells and she also crafted with them.  She had a closet full of bin after bin of shells. She also had shells on display. I have never seen so many shells at an estate sale in my life.

Collection Challenge #248- Vintage St Patrick's Day

Since today is St. Patty's Day I thought it may be interesting to show how a collection has grown. I did a post on St. Patty's day on #96. 

Here is my collection in 2012.

Here it is in 2015.

St. Patrick's day is not the easiest holiday to hunt down. There is just not a ton of stuff out there. 

My die cut cardboard leprechauns have grown a bit in numbers.  I was lucky this year and got an old Dennison sample catalog on Ebay.  I color copied some of the die cuts and mounted them on cardboard. The red haired gal on the right is from that book.

This cotton head couple is a favorite find.  They look like they are about to break into a jig.

This crepe paper fellow was an Ebay score. I added some clay pipes intended for St. Patty's day to help him stand.

The St. Patrick's day pins on original cards were new finds this year.  The leprechaun boy on the left was gifted by Kim K.
My most recent find was this sweet ceramic gal.  It was sitting on a kitchen window sill at an estate sale just waiting for me.

It is always fun to pull out a holiday bin each year and see what treasures have been found since the last holiday. I still have the hats in the first photo, but just didn't have them out this year.  Sometimes I mix up what I put out year to year.

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ___".  Remember to wear green today!

Collection Challenge #247- Vintage Dust Pans

Yes, you read the title correctly...dust pans.  I pick them up if they have that certain "look".  

I like them plain.  No fancy designs.  I like good colors and when they look like they have seen some good use.

My favorite are those that are smaller in scale or intended for child play.

This pink one is a favorite and I just found it the other day.

I was doubly happy to find the pink dustpan as it will replace one that I stupidly left out for the winter. Cold, damp weather and old paint are not friends. (old on the left, new on the right)

One of these days I am going to figure out some fun little display for them.  I do have a cute little family of them.

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...some stranger than others!

Estate Sale Friday. It Was Really Errand Day.

I had errands to run on Friday and the sales did not look all that great. I decided to get stuff done and was on the tail end of my errands and heading home.  Two blocks from my house I saw the sign...ESTATE SALE.

Of course I decided to take a quick detour.

It was a digger sale.  At first I only found a few things.  I then added a few more.  Once I got to the basement I had to find a big box to hold it all.  It really was a very good errand detour. The Christmas table cloth and the chenille minty throw were fun finds.

The upstairs had a gather and ask sign.  I dug through boxes of holiday...lots of stuff I did not want, but some good treasures.

A set of spun head band angels, old paper umbrellas, vintage wrapping paper and brushes that make good witch brooms for crafting.

The ball of twine will be headed to Plucky Maidens (I will be a vendor there soon), and a pair of candle hugger angels.  The flag I had to remove from the basement wall as it was stuck up with thumbtacks.  I look everywhere.

I said this was a digger sale. That means you find about anything and stuff has not been sorted through.  I was really happy to find this old tube of toothpaste.  It will live in my bathroom curiosity cabinet.

A pair of Christmas stockings and a box of old laundry soap.  I love this old box. It is huge and the graphics are great. It has a tiny bit of soap left in it.  Why it was never tossed is a mystery.
More digging in the basement.  A bubble pipe, a water sprinkler top, an old velvet jewelry box and a tiny chenille chick (with wire feet).

The workshop was full of old cans that held nails and such. I dumped one can into another so I wouldn't have to come home with old nails.

Some old wrapping paper, vintage New Year napkins (to add to my stash) and a red plastic heart box.
This tulip patterned jar was filthy and found in the basement pantry.  I had my flashlight looking at each and every shelf.  I think it is a jar, but I have not seen this shape before.  Light shade? The rubber ring behind I am calling a float ring and it will be used in my someday beach house (a better photo of it in the first shot).

I paid for all my stuff and as I was checking out I asked the woman running the sale about an awning I had seen in the basement. It was in the original box. She hadn't even seen it down there.  The box was torn and it looked like there was an awning top and metal legs. It was red and white striped.  I didn't pull it out much as it was really dirty.  She gave me a price. I decided to gamble on it and took it home.  
OH MY!  It is a great red and white striped awning. It has a valance that hangs down that is SCALLOPED with FRINGE.  I think all the legs and supports are there but have not put it together yet.  It is 8 x 16.  That is huge. Not quite sure what I will do with it yet, but it may make its debut at my garage sale this year.  How cool would that be as an attention getter?

A super fun end to my errand day.  

 

Etsy Easter Hopping

Easter is early this year and my Easter goodies are ready to head to Etsy.  

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I have been very busy.  I collected all year with this and that and it has been fun to craft for Easter.

Thursday, March 5th at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time).

Collection Challenge #246 - Vintage Night Light

I was digging around in my attic the other day and found Kate's nightlight from her childhood.

I bought this years ago at an estate sale. I think it is milk glass and I love the little pink polka dots.  I have fond memories of turning it on each night after I tucked her into bed (she is 21 now and those days are long gone).

I realized I had a few more unusual night lights so it is time to share. This little sheep was also found in estate sale land.

This little squeaky toy has been made into a light.  It gives a soft glow so I am categorizing it as a night light. I found this fellow in Austin, Texas when Amy and I did our Round Top trip a couple of years ago.

I found this fun little elephant in Bellingham, Washington at an vintage shop.

The glow at night.

A fun little collection.  I don't run across them often so this collection doesn't grow very quickly. 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.