Magpie Ethel

One Last Estate Sale of 2016

I don't remember the last estate sale that I hit. The past couple of months have been a blur of crafting, holiday and shows.  There was a sale listed today that sounded promising.  I decided I needed one last fix of the year...it was not amazing, but I still found some treasures.

The woman did ceramics and I got three boards with little ceramic flowers that showed the different glazes she used.  I thought I could use them for crafting.
Four cardboard cutout squirrels.
A sweet little candy tin for my collection.
I always have to dig through the piles of games.  I am always grabbing Bingo cards for crafting.  The Scrabble Junior game has great letters for my crafting stash.

This little baby rattle fellow is a night light.  My friend Tom popped him in my basket.  It was the nicest, nicest gesture and completely made my day.  It fits right in with my collection of baby rattles.
A sweet embroidery panel with four different designs.  An elephant jumping rope...c'mon!
A pink plastic silverware tray and various holiday cookie cutters.
This Budweiser hooked rug is not my style at all, but it was a good price. It was handmade and I don't think ever used. I bought it to resell.

Not a bad day.  A good end to another year of junking and estate sales.  Happy New Year.  Hoping 2017 brings us all some crazy great treasures.

 

A Whole Lot of Vintage Holiday Here, Part Two

Part two of the holiday decorating today.  The living room was part one and sharing the rest of the craziness today. I always look forward to putting up my white garland between the living and dining rooms. It is covered in vintage glass ornaments.  After the ornaments come down, I use it for New Years and Valentines Day.

My china hutch holds a huge amount and variety of Santa figures...plus my Santa mug collection.

I don't pick up Santa mugs anymore unless they are a style I don't have.  My kids are 23 and almost 25 so it delights me to bring out the Santa photos from when they were young.  I decoupaged copies from vintage holiday cards to decorate the frame.  It holds 15 years of Santa visits.
I just found this Santa this year.  He came without the wreath. I saw a photo of him on Instagram with the wreath and realized I had it in my stash and had found it elsewhere.  Meant to be.He lives in a line of bottlebrush tree on top of a window ledge.
My banister got decorated with white garland to match that in the dining/living room.  It holds my collection of vintage foil candy containers and other vintage bling. The metal duck is the finial on the stairs.  It is an old child's bedpost.
This year I found a second plastic Christmas tree that I use to display my glass bell collection. I never find these trees so I was pretty giddy when I found one at an estate sale.  Two trees...time to find more bells!

On Instagram this year I put together my collection of Crystal Pine trees so I could do a photo in some snow that we got (a rare occurrence with snow).  I decided they had to be displayed somewhere this year, so I popped them onto my dining room table with some vintage deer Gurley candles.

My collection of Christmas list boxes live on my kitchen counter. I just found one more this year...I don't collect doubles.

A little sass on my kitchen windowsill.
I did not set out to collect vintage Salt and Pepper shakers. These were going to be crafted with. When I saw how great they are lined up...they became keepers. And of course there is snowman land in my kitchen.

Two long holiday posts!  Happy Holidays to all!  Happy Day!

 

 

 

A Whole Lot of Vintage Holiday Here, Part One

I decorate with vintage stuff for every holiday, but Christmas is the biggie here.  Over the top.  Quantity and displaying like with like.  It makes me smile every year.  Lots of photos, but I'm not a holiday minimalist!

It would not be Christmas without my Santa collection on the front porch!

A forest of four aluminum trees in my front window full of Shiny Brites.  Vintage inflatable reindeer frolic beneath.

Every year I hang an old mirror in this spot and use it as a backdrop for decorating.  My santa boot collection also lives here.Usually I display a bunch of vintage cardboard Santa store displays on top of this cabinet.  This year I mixed it up with inflatable Santas.
They became part of the Santa crazy wall.

This year my giant stuffed moose head came out.  
I gathered up a bunch of my vintage trees and displayed them on a tiered tray on my coffee table.

Hello Santa! He was a squeak toy but has petrified over the years and is rock hard.

I used my white vintage trees to display my collection of angels.  This year I added some vintage honeycomb lanterns to the mix of garland on the trees.
I always have a reindeer land.


This Rudolph is new to me this year.  His nose even lights up!
I rounded up all my bottlebrush trees and displayed them in old card boxes.  I threw in a few oddball creatures to live within the forest.


Inflatable angels.
I like that you never know what to expect at my house.  A vintage wonderland.
That concludes part one.  To be continued....

 

 

Crafty Wonderland ...Another Magical Show

This was my eighth year as a vendor at Crafty Wonderland and I love that show more and more every year.  It is super well run (thank you Cathy and Torie for this awesome event).  The crowds come and I love visiting with other vendors.  It is awesome. Awesome.

I get a 10 x 10 booth and I craft hard for this event. There are close to 20,000 that come through the doors during the three day show (Friday night early buying and then 11 - 6 both Saturday and Sunday).  I have to be prepared with lots of inventory. Picture heavy post.

We have a 7 hour window to load and set up for this show.  I have it down pretty well and can power through set up.  It sounds like a lot of time, but when you have a gazillion little things to put out....it takes forever.

I use quite a few vintage kids ironing boards for display.  I like the color, the different heights and they are an unusual display piece.  You see them scattered about my booth.

My silver display tree always looks so fun packed with my creations.  I had a good assortment of ornaments this year.

I love collecting vintage Putz houses and then flipping them.  They are often in such disrepair and it is fun to give them new life.  I call this little subdivision of homes Ethelville.

There is no cookie cutter look to Ethelville.

I have a bunch of old dish drainers that I use for display. They are great colors and add some quirk.

The forest of bottlebrush trees is always a magnet for shoppers.  I love the untraditional colors that I use.

I think Santa would approve of what came out of my workshop this year. (note his little SC belt buckle. He is an old Rempel squeak toy that has petrified over the years)

Thanks to all who came and shopped.  Thank you to everyone who has supported my Etsy business this year.  Thank you to all those blog readers and all those Instagram followers (20,000 plus right now with followers!).   It really is a fun little niche I have found.  Happy holidays to all.

 

Laurelhurst Winter Bazaar 2016

I think this was the 5th or 6th year as a vendor at Laurelhurst.  I love this show.  It is well run by parent volunteers. There is great community support with customers and it is in the most charming old fashioned school.  I look forward to this event every year. 

I have a TWO hour window to set up and was down to the absolute wire to get the booth put together.  I have so many littles to get out!  My photo taking was fast and furious before the crowds descended.  Here we go. I used white tablecloths with assorted collected vintage netting overlays.  Despite my best intentions, I got one askew.  They are still darn cute.

So many little holiday goodies.  I pack pretty much every square inch of this booth.

This little snowman putz house scene was a favorite. The house is larger than what I usually find.  It also still had the original price tag on the bottom from Meier and Frank for fifty cents.  It is a gem. There are always party birds in my booth.  Always.

If you follow me on Instagram you have seen these giant head wreaths.  I did four of them and kept one.  The wreaths were vintage and made from old plastic bags.  It was fun to finally but them to use.

I had some old burned out ice lights.  I love the texture and color and I crafted them into some of my wreaths this year.

It was a really terrific show. Thank you to everyone that came out an shopped.  It was an awesome day.
One more show to go.  Saving the biggest for last.  I have a 10 x 10 booth and I always have a magical world of vintage holiday.Tis the season!

 

 

The Craziest Two Weeks of the Year.

I am in the midst of the craziest two weeks of the year.  In addition to trying to get my house decorated, I always have shows on my calendar. On December 1st Amy (Into Vintage) and I moved into the front window at Monticello Antique Mall for the month.  We did the window together last year as well and it really is fun to do this project.  Everything is for sale and I think we outdid ourselves with vintage holiday!

My favorite thing was the 45 children's Christmas records that I collected all year with this booth in mind. The graphics on them are darling and it was fun to get them all lined up and displayed. I also like how our framed gallery of Christmas came together.  We will be restocking the booth for the month.

Two more shows to go and this is Kate's room...aka inventory central.

On the right side of the room I have inventory for the Laurelhurst Show.  I think this is the fifth year I have been a vendor and this show is a favorite.  December 4th, LAURELHURST Elementary School, 840 NE 41st St. (Portland, Oregon) 9-4. It is a wonderful show in a charming old fashioned school...really super vendors.

On the left of the room is inventory for the following weekend, December 9, 10 and 11th ... CRAFTY WONDERLAND. This is my eighth year as a vendor and is my biggest show.  Early buying is Friday night (purchase tickets for this), 5-9.  Saturday and Sunday (December 10 and 11th) the event is free and hours are from 11-6 each day.  Oregon Convention Center.  This is the granddaddy of craft shows and really is an amazing event.

I've crafted up a storm the past few months and I'm ready.  Come shop if you happen to be in the Portland, Oregon area!  Happy Holidays!