Magpie Ethel

Sand Between My Toes

We are headed to the beach for a little family time for the Fourth of July.

I've got some posts ready to go while I am gone.  Hope you all have a wonderful week...time for some sand between my toes and some fresh sea air!

Home Sweet Home

Rested after a week in sunny Puerto Vallarta with my family.  No sunburn.   Faced my fears and did a tour which featured zip lines and rappelling down a 75 foot waterfall. Great food and family time.

Good to be home, but now face loads of laundry, piles of mail, 268 emails to sort thru and 424 new blog post to read via google reader.

I may need another vacation when I finish it all....

One More Shop - Crown and Crumpet

You may recognize Crown and Crumpet from a article that was in Romantic Home magazine awhile ago.  This tea/gift shop had been on my must see list for awhile and I was not disappointed. This place is over the top eye candy!

It is primarity a tea room, but there are little gifts and candies to purchase as well.  We were allowed to look around and take photos...this shop is heaven! 

The details and just quirkiness of this shop is amazing.

My only regret is that we didn't sit down and have a spot of tea....next time!

   
They had one wall where they had some great built in shallow cabinets.  There was a wonderful collection of vintage spun head figures, wedding toppers, tins and just other whimscial finds. I have a wall in my house that is just begging to have this sort of cabinet built into it.

I won't be able to do a top and bottom cabinet, but I can do three lower ones.  Look at all the goodies.

 

 


I love these old doll faces they had displayed.

Or how about this magical scene?

I could have wandered around and stared at all the goodies all day. 

The seat covers are a rainbow of colors in orange, pink and  turquoise.

If I had no husband or kids, I just might go over the top in a decorating scheme like this!

I did pick up a few trinkets...a little memento of a cute little shop.

I seem to be into mushrooms.  This one is living in a plant in my living room...look at the detail on the underside.

This is definitely a city that I will be returning to soon..we still have a couple of shops that we didn't have the chance to see!

Quirky Shopping - The San Francisco Treat

When I was in San Francisco we hit four stores in particular that really were one of a kind.  The items I bought at these shops were totally whimsical and unpractical...certainly not a socks and underwear purchase.  The things that made these shops so unique were the attention to detail, not just in what they sold and how they displayed and decorated, but even how they wrapped your purchases.

Let me show my quirky find...

Store number one: Bell'occhio.(no photos allowed inside)  This shop has been featured in Martha before and other publications.  It has been on my list of shops to visit for a long time.  It has unusual items...take a look at what I bought.  Everything was carefully wrapped with care.

I needed this hot pink flocked raspberry box.  It is good sized and could hold a large grapefruit.
Bet you can't guess what is in the package?

Slowly, slowly unwrapping...such cute twine and even a little store sticker.

A pair of scissors that are divided (similar to shredding scissors). They are designed to make pom poms like the end of the package they were wrapped in. Totally cool!

I also got some braided chenille cord in pink and white that I love.  This store will definitely be on my list to visit again.

Store number Two: Castle in the Air in Berkeley (blog). 

This shop was on my "must see" list and a number of blog readers told me about it as well.  Lots of miniatures and paper and just super unusual items.

I love the children silhouette cutout! Glittery stars, hot pink mushrooms in three sizes and some Valentine paper items.

I loved this pink foil cardboard trellis paper...can't wait to craft with it.

This paper pressed cardboard trellis and bird was one of my favorite purchases.  I had never seen anything like it before. It is about 3 foot long and I am going to super high on a corner wall in my house.

Store Number Three: Tail of the Yak, also in Berkeley.  There are some great photos of it on the blog Housemartin. Again, a super unusual store...whimsical and total eye candy.

I bought a number of paper garlands in a rainbow of colors. A silly metal clicking bird and some party poppers.

I fell in love with this hat. It reminded me of a jiffy pop popcorn bag.  I am going to embellish it with a reflector flower and it will live on a hat stand in the studio.  Or perhaps, if I am in the right mood, I may wear it one day!

Hope you enjoyed the show and tell.  If you ever are in San Francisco, I would TOTALLY recommend hitting these shops.  Each night when I fell asleep I would revisit each one and go thru their little magical worlds in my head.  What fun!

One more shop to show...Crown and Crumpet coming next.

Alameda Flea Love

The reason we went to San Francisco was primarily to hit the monthly Alameda Flea Market.  We were not disappointed.  We arrived at 6:30 a.m (gates opened at 6).  It was still dark, but luckily I had a teeny key-chain flashlight with me.  I had dressed in layers as the morning was quite nippy...I even wore gloves for the first few hours. The day turned into an absolutely glorious sunshiny day.

You can see the city in the background. The rows of vendors stretched on and on.  It was truly amazing.

I usually pick up smalls, and was true to form on this trip.  I had plenty to dig thru. At one stand every thing was $1 and I spent alot of time looking thru the goodies.  The prices were fairly good and i think I dickered on everything I bought.

I got this BIG metal heart and thought it fitting to cluster my finds within it...you know a little ALAMEDA FLEA MARKET LOVE.

 

At one booth they had a bowl of unused vintage patches...names like Mabel and Edna and such.  I was thrilled to find "Ethel" among the bunch!

I was happy to find this silly bump chenille duck to use as a prototype for a little Easter crafting.

Spun heads were shouting my name from quite a few booths.

This old German rotating display rack was pretty cool.  No idea what I will do with it, but one of these days I will figure it out...will let you know when I do.

You may remember a post I did a few weeks ago about collecting green vintage tins.  I narrowed down the field to those that held mints.  Found one!  The teeny tiny type says that these mints come "in four strengths of mint - white, pink, green and yellow".

This little girl will find a sweet spot somewhere in my world. She is less than two inches tall. I'm also a sucker for things made with pipe cleaners.

A tiny herd of deer.

 
Holiday items to add to my collections or that need to have a little Magpie magic worked on them.  Mr Snowman on the top left has lost his top hat in a snowstorm..luckily for him, I have one to give him out in the studio.

I couldn't pass this bunch of honeycomb chicks by.  They also will be getting a little TLC out in the studio.

I also got this great hand painted frame. 

The glass is fairly thick and there are four holes drilled in it.  You put an image under the glass and then attach it to the wall.  I liked the whimsical nature of the children.  A day can't go wrong when you are blowing bubbles.

The five of us ended up filling two carts.  One of the women Thea, owns a shop and another gal, Lynne has a spot at Monticello antique mall so they bought larger items.  We filled up two good sized carts.

 

I think we did pretty good, altho we barely had enough room in the car.  My little nodder doll I got at the flea is also giving me a nod that we found some great stuff.

More San Francisco posts to come on some finds from some one of a kind shops that left me dazzled and in awe!

Happy Day!

My Favorite Find and a Nice Surprise

Taking a deep breath and playing catch-up after my trip to San Francisco.  I hit some shops that were truly amazing and inspiring.  The Alameda Flea Market was a trip highlight as well.  Posts will be coming...

My favorite treasure from the Alameda Flea Market was this 1930's double nodder.

I have never bought a nodder before, but this gal was just smiling at me from a booth.  She is called a double nodder, because not only does her head nod side to side, but her whole body does as well.  Every time I pass by her I give her a little jiggle.  Her original paint is in terrific shape and she is about 10 inches tall.  She made it home safely packed in my ice chest and I truly love her.

I also returned to a nice surprise in blogland.  My blog has made the list of the "10 Best Junk Collector Blogs" on Blogs.com.  I was nominated by Diane  at Kitsch 'n Stuff.  This totally made my day as I catch-up on laundry, grocery shopping and those other mundane tasks!  Thank you so much Diane...I'm grinning ear to ear! WOW!

Home

Wonderful trip to San Francisco.  Our big suburban was packed from floor to ceiling with finds from the flea market and fun shopping treasures.  Even the spot between us in the backseat was packed with suitcases.  Super long drive home, but absolutely amazing trip...posts coming soon!

(yes, I am tired in the photo...I had been up since 4:30 a.m.!)

Estate Sale and a Roadtrip

Another bleak, gray, drizzly January day in estate sale land.  I hit one and found a few things.

A good quantity of old ribbon spools for my crafting.

 A bunch of old metal containers with gift wrap tape. I do like the plaid edge on the circular containers.

A box of Bingo cards. I had not seen this design before and it looked so friendly and cheery with the exclamation point. Bingo!

I am almost embarrassed to show the next thing.  I really can't believe how many of these I have found recently...BUT there it was in the kitchen waiting for me.

 

On an entirely different note. It is road trip time for me.

On Thursday a couple of girl friends and I will be driving south to the Alameda Monthly Flea Market in the San Francisco area.  I am excited to hit a big flea market and to take a little road trip too.  None of us have ever been before so if anyone has any tips or places we must see, eat or shop - please leave me a comment!

I will be setting up some posts to publish while i am gone so my blog won't be sitting idle. Am sure I will have lots to share when I return too!  Yahoo...almost time to hit the road.

The Rose Bowl Flea and a 17 Hour Drive

One of my personal highlights of the California college/pleasure excursion was a trip to the Rose Bowl Flea Market.  I had googled tips and figured out as much as I could prior to the market...it was still a bit overwhelming.

It is a big show with tons of vendors...luckily they have them grouped somewhat according to category. I had read on a blog how to navigate the market and put that plan to action.  My kids went off on their own with orders to "stay together" - and we all had cell phones.

It was HOT.  Really hot - like 95 on the asphalt parking lot.  Luckily I had sunscreen, a hat and water.  I enjoyed just checking out the variety of vendors.

Tons of outdoor furniture.  I didn't need any nor could I have gotten it in my car.  It was a great place to people watch, altho I saw no movie stars!

This booth had tons of old linens.  Tons.  In piles.  This pile had items priced at $1 each.

You know I love old vintage plates and napkins.  This stack made me salivate, but the prices were to high for my estate sale loving blood.

Vendors ran from professional and nicely displayed to those that just unloaded a truck and set up on the ground.  Alot of the vendors didn't have things marked so you had to ask for prices...and then there was dickering on the price...it seemed like everyone was doing that.

When I finished the area with mostly antique and vintage vendors I noticed this sign at the top of a bridge indicating there was a whole other parking lot FULL of more vendors. Wow!  This lot mostly held vintage clothes vendors, so I didn't spend a ton of time there.

My daughter called me on the cell phone and said she found a BIKE she really liked. She had been bike shopping for awhile at home and wanted a cool retro style bike. There is one area of the flea market that has new items and handmade crafty items.  She found a vendor with a huge array of new bikes.

This absolutely adorable orange beach cruiser came home in our Subaru Outback station wagon...along with all our luggage, ice chest, towels etc.  We had a FULL car.

I didn't get a ton at the market. (the bike took up alot of room).  Prices weren't amazing, and the estate sale prices have truly spoiled me.  I did get these goodies.

A couple of old enamel blue buckets.  I will put a plants in them in the backyard to add some color.  The vendor had piles and piles of buckets in different colors.  They were $10 each.

Some paper goods.  Vintage stickers and some fourth of July doilies.  I did manage to find three Halloween spun heads.  I was happy.

We left the market at 1 p.m. since we still had a 17 hour drive ahead of us.  We were ready to come home. We drove seven hours and then the next day did a ten hour stretch.  We took a break on the way home to visit with my pal Kim from Camp Whimsy.

I got to see her adorable little store in Maxwell.  I met her hubby and her kids and saw the land and things that she blogs about (like the fields of sunflowers).  It was fun to see her and was a great little break from the road.  She sent me home with goodies, a bag of home-grown tomatoes and a flat of her dad's peaches.  Thank goodness we still had room in the car! Maxwell is right off the freeway if you are in that area...worth a stop!

We pulled into our driveway at 10 p.m. that night.  A long day..a great trip and just a fun time with my kids.  Glad to be home tho.

Road Trip Time

Monday will find the kids and I headed to Southern California to check out a couple of colleges for my son Ben (a senior this year).  In addition to college tours we are going to have some play time.  I am thinking Santa Monica Pier, Newport Beach, maybe Six Flags Magic Mountain (we have done Disneyland twice).  And as luck would have it the ROSE BOWL FLEA MARKET that happens once a month falls on the Sunday we will be down there!!! If ANYONE has a suggestion of must see shops, restaurants, beaches or whatever...please let me know. We are driving down from Portland, Oregon so if there is anything along the way let me know too...Thanks a ton...posts will be few and far between while we are gone!  Vacation time...just need to pack!