Magpie Ethel

Estate Sale Friday. 70 Years

The sale I hit on Friday was about an hour drive from my house.  I may have not ventured that far for it but the ad said. 

Worth the DRIVE !! 70 years in this house - NOTHING WAS THROWN AWAY

I got in my car and went. It was worth it.  A bit of a digger and lots to sort through.

The sale included a house and a couple of outbuildings. There were also things under a tarp in the yard.  So many spots to dig.

Tons and tons of littles came home with me.

A trio of old candy boxes and some candy canes for crafting.

One of my most unusual find was this old tin toy baby stroller featuring Blondie and Dagwood. Dated 1949.
It is not in the best of shape, but it has pink wheels and the graphics are still clear and bright.
My friend Tom, popped these two great bunnies in my basket.  I was also excited to find an old sand bucket.
Heehaw with this old cowgirl costume. It came with the little holster and the skirt and vest set.  A cowboy hat came with it too.
I was pretty excited about finding the old Halloween horn. The plastic raised scene beside it is Little Bo Peep.

Winky Blinky ball with lenticular eyes.  
Ceramic fish and an old Dig game. The game box is in horrid condition, but I love those letters for crating.

A couple of winking Santa mugs and a great bottlebrush tree.

The skeleton will head to my Halloween both at Junk Bonanza. The floral blanket will head to the beach house.

I saw the box of sewing cards in the ad for the sale. I really wanted them as they had a sailor.  I was happy to find that card in the box.  I also scored on the MIP box of Halloween candles. I have never found one of those in the wild.

I will play around with the ears on this sweet dear so they stick out more. He will be gussied up for Christmas.

Worth the drive for sure.
Hope you found some treasures this weekend too. Happy Day!

 

 

 

 

Estate Sale Digger, Two Rounds.

I hit the second day of a digger sale on Saturday.  I couldn't go on Friday and ended up hitting it Saturday a.m.  There were still many treasures to uncover.  The house had been closed up since 1968.  The woman passed away and willed it to her friend.  The friend (who had her own home) basically just locked it up after the woman died.  It was a time capsule.

Digging was good. I found thee wood cutlery trays.  I like to use them to organize my glass garland.  I found lots of littles for crafting.

I went into the sale really hoping to find some old ribbon spools.  I found some in the pantry in the basement.  I am always hunting them down (and these were good old ones with great graphics).

The basement had tons of old tins and containers.  I brought home quite a few. I also found three corner shelves like I used to display my sand buckets at the beach house.  
The chalk box was one I don't have in my collection.
I hit the digger sale both Saturday and Sunday.  I bought all these photo corners on Sunday...I had not even seen them the day before.

I found some old beachy postcards.  Two of them are for Cannon Beach which is the town just south of Seaside.

I could not resist the scary labels on these old pesticide containers.  I am doing a Halloween Booth at Junk Bonanza this year and I may use them for part of the display.
I could not resist this great pesticide spray gun.  It is in very rusty shape, but most of the graphic on the label is still fine.   GETZUM GUN. The fellow is wearing a hat that says "General GETZUM" and he holds the pesticide sprayer in his hand aimed at a flowering weed. The expression on the weed's face is terror. "Gets every weed. One shot and they're dead!" I can't find a date on the can, but thinking 1940s or earlier.

Playing cards with darling dogs.I dug under the kitchen sink and found this old enamel container.  I also dug out two really great wire dish drainers. The whisk brooms were scattered all over the basement.

I dug through a pile of wood and found these two treasures.  The fish, I think is a woodshop project. It is dated 1942 no the back.  The plywood piece is pretty cool. This piece of plywood is from the 27th annual Elks barbecue, September 19, 1968. The menu is printed on the plywood and at the bottom it has this message " these plywood plates furnished through the courtesy of United States plywood corporation, Oregon division, Willamina, Oregon". I'm thinking the meal was served on these "plates". I love that is dated and has the menu. $1 find

The cabin scene is actually a box lid, but the graphics are amazing.  It is dated 1956 and reads "Cabin in the Woods" on the side.

His and Hers towels with matching washcloths.  They are soaking right now and hoping they come clean.I saw this purse on Saturday, and it was still there on Sunday. It came home with me.

I can dig for hours at a good sale.  This one was pretty good. Glad I got my weekend junk fix!  

Hope yours was happy.

 

 

 

 

 

Mermaid Reminder

Just a reminder that I have mermaids listing tonight at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time)

(A word of caution also. My sales are often quite crazy and things go fast.  An item is not safe in your cart and can be in multiple shopper's carts.  It is only YOURS after it is paid for.  If you end up with multiple orders I will always reimburse overpaid postage. Thank you for the mermaid love!)

Mermaid Time!

Every summer the mermaids swim to Etsy.

I love this time of year when the tides bring in these charming gals.

This year I also made a few with vintage storybook dolls.

Last year I made some with Kewpie dolls and I've done the same again this year.

Etsy.  Wednesday the 20th of July at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time)

Mermaid love.



 

Someday Beach House Update TWO

This beach house is a constant change right now, and will be for quite awhile.  So many projects and so much happy going into them. I am so enjoying hunting the right vintage item for the house to make it my own.  This is the dining room right now (above).  I added pink shutters that I had in my stash (with vintage Humpty Dumpty knobs)...they are non functional shutters...I just like the pop of pink color. I also added a old hose holder (found at Farm Chicks) that holds my vintage lei collection. I've also found a few Oregon coast souvenir plates that got displayed.  Here is a photo before those projects.  

I had some old bowling team names that I chained together and hung in the dining room. I just like the silliness of what each team was called.I found a big LAZY sign at Farm Chicks.  Lazy is anything but me, but it reminds me that the beach house is a spot I can be lazy. I've also painted every single wall in the house. I kept a gray wall in the living room and one in the family room but am painting everything white.  That is completely different than my house at home where every room is a color.  I really like the freshness of the white here and it does not seem sterile since I am using so much color with my vintage finds.  

I got my couch for the living room finally.  I fit it in MY CAR!  It is super comfy and I really like the color.  I made the pillow on the left from vintage barkcloth that an IG friend, Wrensmart sent to me.  The round pillow and the floral pillow are both from Farm Chicks.

  We did not move into the bedrooms right away at the beach house.  We set up a makeshift bedroom in the family room while we tackled removing carpet and hoping the hardwood floors would work that we believed were under the carpet.  We removed carpet from the hall and two bedrooms. The master bedroom had indoor outdoor carpet glued to the floor under the foam pad and carpet. Three layers!  Luckily the glue was water soluble, so with a glue solvent and a bunch of scraping we were able to get the floor clean and the hardwoods were not in bad shape. I don't need the floors 100% amazing at the beach house.  There were a few discolorations, but after a coat of polish (we used Rejuvenate) I was fine with the master and hall floor.  This is the floor midway through getting the glue up.
We got the master bedroom loaded in finally! It is still a work in progress, but nice to be out of the family room. I haven't figured out what to do for a headboard, and the white space was driving me crazy. These big vintage honeycomb flowers are my solution for now.


My collection of ceramic whales and dolphins found a home on this perfect shelf.

I had a roll of vintage wallpaper that was fish themed that I was determined to find a spot for. I only had a certain amount to work with.

I ended up using it at the end of the hall and painted a strip of color on either side to make it work. I like the pop of color and I LOVE the wallpaper and I ended up with about 3 inches of extra paper.  Phew.

I am doing a gallery wall of funny vintage beach and fish themed items. Quirky.  So far I have a vintage record cover, a book cover, a puzzle and a page from an origami book.  I am having a ton of fun hunting stuff down.  I think down the road both sides of this wall will be a gallery of vintage beach fun.

I also put my old swim cap display shelf to good use.  
In the other main floor bedroom we were not as lucky with the hardwoods. They had glued foam carpet pad to the floor under the carpet. We tried a gazillion things trying to get the glue and foam up.  I did not want to have the floor in this one room professionally refinished...this is a beach house after all and I am trying to stretch the budget.  In the end we sanded the floor down and painted over the hardwoods. The glue would not come up and it won.  I love the look of a painted floor and it just looks beachy.  It was the perfect solution in that room. I went with a super pale blue for the floor.  The two doors came from my sister in laws grandparents house that was going to be demolished.  The doors were from a closet and I loved the color.  They were a cheap and easy headboard and pop of color. I found the bedspread in estate sale land...groovy huh?

This light fixture was from a garage sale.  I sold an orange one similar to it at my garage sale.  Less than 24 hours later I found this one in white and a smaller version of the one I sold. I really, really like it in this room. It was meant to be.

We have had the beach house just over two months now and so much progress has been made. It really is the silliest, happiest house to decorate.  I smile the minute I walk in the door.

That is the update for now.  I've got the family room almost painted and the swim mannequin hung..but thats another post!  Stay tuned.

 

 

Distracted For The Fourth of July at My House

This is the first year in forever that I only got halfway decorated for a holiday.  I was distracted by my garage sale.  I was distracted by the beach house and the fun of decorating it and doing projects.  I was distracted.  I still got decorations up, but not what I usually do.  

I think my little sailor collection is one of my favorite patriotic decorations.  They always hang out on my coffee table.

I've got a little collection of sparklers and such.

I gathered lots of patriotic themed and red, white and blue items on these shelves.  The Abe Lincoln sketch was a new find this year  

My mantle holds music related patriotic items.

I found this nifty mirrored three level shelf this year.  I had not found a spot for it and popped it up in my niche for display.  I really like how it fits here and it may be a permanent spot for it.  More red, white and blue randomness is gathered here.

Another new find this year is this sweet little scene.  I found it at Alameda Flea Market when junking with Amy.

The top of my china hutch holds my collection of patriotic themed pieces.  A variety of framed "Pledge of Allegiance" and other patriotic items. I did a collection challenge on them here. 

Patriotic characters round out the scene.

Last year I did much better with decorating..you can see it here.  I did get my front window done so my neighbors have that to enjoy.

Hope you have a great holiday weekend.  Be safe and wear red, white and blue!