Magpie Ethel

Field Trip To Ash's House

I have met some wonderful people through Instagram and estate sale land.  One of those people is my friend Ash, who happens to live near me.  Ash is THE TOY COLLECTOR...as you can tell by her house and what she collects.  Her house just makes me giddy whenever I visit.  I am excited to share it with blogland.  You may also know her Ashtomaton on Instagram. This is a long post, but there is so much to share!

Ash is one of those people who collects and collects and loves things in multiples.  The minute you walk in her house you know this is a house like no other.  First we have the living room.  Here is the mantle.

This print over her mantle came from one of the Little Black Sambo Restaurants.

So many squeaky animal friends.

Her collection of Keane prints.Even her lamps are fun. (I caught Ash in the mirror here)

Her collection currently numbers 685 and I believe it.
Row after row of rubber faced cuties. These were made by Rushton.


The octopus and the fish are awesome.  I love how she has advertisements displayed with them.  She is still on the hunt for a whale if anyone has one swimming around!


In addition to the Rushtons and other squeaks there are dolls.
This cabinet holds a variety of dolls. Giggles, Joy, Love Me Linda and Little Miss No Name live here in this cabinet. I learned a lot about dolls on this field trip.

These Little Miss No Name dolls were only made for one year in 1965.  They creep me out a bit.  I actually googled the history on these as they were so unusual.  They were made by Hasbro and inspired by Keane.  She came with a tear too, which made her even sadder. 

These are my favorite cabinets in Ash's house.  Super fun eye candy here. If you follow Ash's instagram account sometimes you might see her wearing that bear head!

How fun are these giant polka dot friends?  The elephant is a toy box.  In addition to the giraffe, there is a kangaroo in this series...Ash is on the hunt for that still.

A closer peek inside the cabinet. Baaaaaaaaa


From the dining room we head into the kitchen.  Another spot of fun.  I remember when Ash picked up these paper charts with rules at a local estate sale.  I was just arriving as she was leaving and she played show and tell with these before I went into the sale.  She was giddy with this find and it is fun to see them up in her house.

This little shelf sits over the stove, so this is her audience while she cooks. How fun is that? Ash could not have a more perfect refrigerator to fit into her vintage loving house.  The pop of color is awesome.  Beyond the fridge in the little nook is her Disneyland collection as well as some other fun squeaks and toys.

Ash is lucky to live in an old house with lots of built ins and nooks.  This nook is filled to the brim.

A shelf of Dreamland cuties.

The top of her fridge is cuter than the top of mine.
More friends in her hallway.
No room is safe from the invasion of the toys.  Ash even has friends with her in the bathroom.  

When you live with vintage like this, it is only fitting to put all those darling old nursery containers to good use.

The fun continues upstairs of course.
There are lots of these vintage cutouts that decorate the walls in this stairwell. They are made by the Dolly Toy Company.

I love how Ash brings all those little vintage pieces together for one shelf of eye candy.  Bambi and deer land here!

Yet another built in at the top of the stairs. This one has glass doors but I had to peek inside for a closer look.

This is the vintage muff wall.  Yes, Ash really does use these.  I have seen her out and about with her hands tucked in one.
One of my favorite spots in the house is this cozy Knickerbocker bear chair.  I love how the chair is the same color as the bears that it holds.

Meow.Ash is a wonderful seamstress.  I have only ever seen her dressed in either a dress she has made or vintage.  She is very talented with that sewing machine.   This is the little room she works in.
It is no surprise that she has lots of company in her sewing room.

Last stop on the tour is the bedroom.

The animals on the lower shelves are made by Alan Jay...there really are some darling squeaks out there.

Such fun to come and play at Ash's house.  I was in for a treat when she let me do a field trip post.
Thank you Ash for letting me share your house and collections.
I think your toys are pretty happy here. 

 

Field Trip To Doreen's House

On our Alameda road trip Amy and I popped by to see my friend Doreen.  I have met Doreen once before in person and have become good friends with her from her commenting on my blog for years.  She lives in southern Oregon, so her house was on our route.  I have seen some of her fun eye candy on her IG feed (@elfhead) but seeing it in person was a treat.  A real treat. 

The minute I walked in the door my jaw fellow open.  (I think Amy's did as well)

This post is VERY HEAVY ON EYE CANDY photos.  Your sweet tooth will be aching if you make it to the end.

I could have spent a full day just poking through the cabinet above. Shelf after shelf of crazy fun stuff.

This little elf holds a bouquet of spun heads!  An elf after my own heart.
Doreen has been a Etsy customer of mine and it was fun to see my creations scattered about her house. I also saw goodies from other Etsy shops.

This holiday themed cabinet was crazy fun.

Mixed in with these mica elves are Snow White and the Seven Dwarf mica figures.

Doreen IG account is Elfhead and I think you can see why.

Besides those elves there was Christmas stuff to oggle.

ALL OF THE EYE CANDY so far was in one room.  Now we are headed into the dining room.

'

We are about to head into another room and I am thinking perhaps I should do this post as part one and two.  Nah...I think I will just make this the LONGEST post in my whole blog post history and continue the field trip tour.

This pair was a total favorite of mine.

This tiny umbrella is another vintage favorite. It has the cutest duck print ever.

Next on the field trip is the head vase bathroom.  
Lots to attract that Magpie Ethel in me with all this bling and shiny stuff.

Not the best photo, but Doreen has an amazing collection of head vases.  I don't even own one!
Amy and I chatted with Doreen for about an hour. I think I either took photos the whole time or was distracted by all the cuteness and my eyes darted around like a frog looking for a bug.

Doreen even let us peek in a couple of drawers. Spun head angel envy.

Loved, loved this field trip.
Longest post in my blogging history.  And I could have made it even longer with more eye candy.

Thank you Doreen, for sharing your house and collections...truly amazing.

 Phew!

 

 

 

 

 

Field trip To Hope's House. AKA The Queen of Paint by Numbers.

Earlier this year Amy sold some paint by numbers on Etsy. The paint by numbers were large to ship and as luck would have it the buyer turned out to be local. Amy contacted the buyer Hope, and she agreed to Amy delivering them.  When Amy delivered them, this is what she saw when Hope opened the door.

Hope is a paint by number collector.  Amy was awestruck.  Amy arranged a little field trip for me to see the collection for myself.  I am sure glad she did!

Hope buys and restores paint by numbers.  It was fascinating to hear her talk about them and I learned paint by number fact after fact.  Hope has 853 PBN (as of November). 602 hang on walls of her house and studio and 203 awaiting restoration plus 48 "extras.  

Hope has them hanging on literally every wall of her house and studio.  They are arranged by theme.  

Here are some of the PBN that are awaiting her paintbrush and restoration.

This PBN is one of the larger produced.  

  Hope saves some of the boxes and PBN kits. I, of course love them for their graphic appeal.
Hope had a bird theme going on in her bathroom.  That is where I keep my bird collection as well (except mine are ceramic).

Fun little details on some of the PBN kits. I like the center cartoon fellow who says "put on wall for all to admire".

There was a ship and seascape theme going on in an upstairs room.I had fun seeing the variety of subject matter. I had no idea on the vast multitude of themes there were.
An upstairs study has an oriental theme.  Hope's PBN are a constant hunt for her...the Japanese women were all collected separately and are a set that was produced.

This sweet little PBN made me smile.
It was hard to get shots of the magnitude of her collection. Each hall and room had them on the walls.  It wasn't overwhelming...I think I said WOW about 300 times during the tour. 

Hope was a delight to meet and a true wealth of information and history on PBN.  I will always think of Hope when I see a PBN now.  A truly fantastic collection. 


Hope also had a studio out back which she had decorated with even more PBN.  Her talents run beyond her PBN restoration and collecting.  Her studio would be a whole other post.


Thank you so much Hope for this amazing visit and tour. Thank you Amy for arranging yet another field trip for me. (and no permission slip required like in elementary school)

 

Field Trip To Gayle's House

Amy and I recently did a junking loop up into Washington. On the way home we stopped by Gayle's house. Gayle is a friend of Amy's (and an Etsy customer of mine) and Amy had visited her house before. Amy knew I would love to see Gayle's house and we got an invitation to visit.  I was tickled to be able to get a full tour.  This post is just eye candy...sweet eye candy.

This is the living room.  The colors Gayle uses are right up my alley.

 

A back little sitting room has this fun little display.

I love the little cute snippets that were sprinkled around.  A spun head bunny corsage was tucked into some vintage pots. (we were there before Easter so the Easter decorations were out)
Such fun touches like this windmill.


Now I want to collect floral tins.
Gayle's front windows had wonderful succulent gardens planted in turquoise containers. 
It was a rather dark and rainy day so some of my photos did not turn out as well as I hoped.  I think you still get a sense of the cheery scene though.


I did say there was lots of eye candy.  It is everywhere!
Gayle had decorated for Easter and it was fun to see her display. I was touched to see some of my creations included.

Seriously such a darling house. Gayle, Amy and I visited for the afternoon as well (although my eyes kept darting around looking at everything...eye contact was difficult).

Thank you Gayle for sharing your home...truly eye candy inspiration.