Magpie Ethel

Mailbox Surprise

When I went to Farm Chicks in June I met a really nice woman named Kim.  We were both standing under our umbrellas in the rain staring in through the chain link fence at all the goodies waiting for the sale to begin. We chatted...exchanged business cards...end of story.  HOWEVER we stayed in touch through our blogs.  She lives in northern California and has an adorable shop.  You can find her here at Camp Whimsy.   It has been great getting to know her.   Today I got a surprise in my mailbox from her.

It is a great old fruit label with a super duper Magpie.  Great green color to boot.  Perfect for my Magpie Ethel blog. Thank you Kim you made my day!

My Personal Summer Camp

All summer long my kids have come and gone...they have both gone to a couple of summer camps each.  This past Saturday was my turn my for own personal summer camp day.  I spent it with Sally Jean Alexander taking a "Soldering for Virgins" class.

I am sure you may have seen this book called "Pretty Little Things" by Sally Jean Alexander.  It is an awesome book full of great ideas and techniques.  BUT, taking a class with her is like diving into the pages of her book and living it.  First off, she taught the class in her studio...let me rephrase that....HER AMAZING STUDIO.  She discourages photos so you will see none here, but it is full of beautiful things all done in creams and turquoise blue colors. You walk into her studio and just smile.  My favorite thing was two huge glittered turquoise electrified snowflakes that she attached to her ceiling.  It is a magical thing.  Her studio is also one that will be featured in an upcoming new magazine  due out this fall called "Where Woman Create" by Somerset Studio. If you ever have a chance to take one of her classes it is a day of fun...I am so lucky she is local (there were woman from all over - Chicago, So. Calif, Minnesota etc).  Check out her website Sally Jean.

She make soldering look so simple.  I did okay for being a virgin.  I have a long way to go, but I enjoyed myself thoroughly.  We spent the morning assembling artwork and getting ready to solder.  We all then meandered over to an awesome restaurant called Paragon for lunch.  Back to the studio for the afternoon full of soldering.  It was a great afternoon (altho not as easy as it looks).

This is my finished piece.  We basically were focusing on technique and soldering different shapes.  We ended up with a finished bracelet at the end of the class.  I have a long way to go to perfect the smoothness of my work.  I love my bracelet tho.  I like the bird on the left with the googly eye.  He is a color copy from an old book that I have.

This was my kind of summer camp!

Estate Sale Friday

Friday.  Estate sale day.  They are predicting 104 degrees today....It never get that HOT here in Portland.  I do not like hot weather as it makes me really grouchy. (ask my hubby - no air conditioning in our house).  So today the estate sales were fast and furious as to beat the heat.  I hit two TOTAL duds and then finally - payday.

Lots of Christmas!  I hit the sale about an hour after it opened and I found one giant box of goodies under the table with tons of great stuff.  Vintage birds in original box, Christmas corsages (a bag full of 20 of them!), thread covered balls that I use for ornaments, vintage deer, old glitter, old tavern candles, a great pillowcase and a cute little sweater.  Not too shabby!  For awhile there I thought the day was going to be a dud.

A tray full of old corsages and vintage figures for package tie-ons.

Old birds and old glitter.

Love the embroidery on this old pillowcase.  I just hope I can get the stains out.

L-0-V-E these old candles.  They are still attached to the original cardboard packing material.

The estate was that of a woman who used to work for Jantzen Sportswear.  She had alot of old unworn outfits.  I love to wear vintage sweaters and got this cutie.  Fits me perfectly. (not that I will wear it in the 104 degree weather!)

This was my oddest find.  What are these two crazy little men?  They are made in the same manner as little birds or snowman that I often see.  They appear to be flying but have very weird bodies.  Anybody seen anything like these two guys?  I don't think they are handmade.

Thanks for checking in...hope your weekend is cooler than mine!

 

Reindeer Day

Way back in March (the 13th) I posted about some reindeer that I had found at an estate sale. I was thrilled with my find.  Well, yesterday I had breakfast with my good friend Pam from One Gal's Trash. She is always picking up some little treasure for me and yesterday she gave me a bunch of fun stuff, but my favorite was a pair of reindeer. It occurred to me that I had never posted about what I had done with my previous reindeer find.  So thus, today is reindeer show and tell day.

The reindeer pictured above I found at the estate sale in March. 

These are the reindeer that I worked my magic on.  Shiny, glittery vintage style magic.  Pam gave me the two really big reindeer that are on the right. L-0-V-E them!

I really like how they turned out.  I think they would look magical combined with some vintage glittery houses or old bottle-brush trees.  I also made the beaded Styrofoam tree...a no-brainer project, just a lot of hours sticking in sequin or beaded pins!

80 Degrees and Sleigh Time

It always seems a bit odd to start working on Christmas crafts during the summer.  HOWEVER, I have learned from past experience that it does not put one in the holiday mood to work 24/7 after the kids go back to school on holiday stuff. 

Thus today's project.

 I found this sorry looking balding fellow this past year. The vintage sleigh and bells were tucked away with some of my Christmas goodies. Today I gave them a little transformation.

Now this little fellow sits in a sleigh chock full of holiday goodies.  He struck me as a musical man as in the first photo he had a very sorry looking song book.  I replaced his song book with one made from old cardboard from a shiny brite box and the words to "Hark The Herald Angels" from some old sheet music.  He has a couple of old horns in his sleigh, some glittered musical notes and lots of vintage bells, ornaments and happy vintage goodies.  I even added a jaunty bit of old holly to his hat.

I think he would look totally festive sitting on someones piano for the holidays...ready to sled right in with a musical tune!

Happy Flower Day

Nothing makes me happier than a wonderful bouquet of summer flowers (especially if it contains sweet peas).  All though today my day was also made by a wonderful comment from a woman at an estate sale this morning.  I was standing out front waiting for my number to be called when a woman approached me and told me how much she loved my Magpie Ethel blog.  That simple sentence made my whole day.  So if you are reading this Paula (if I screwed up your name, please comment and give me what for...I am so bad with names!)  i enjoyed chatting with you and you said such nice things about my posts.  Hope to run into you again soon!

As an added bonus the sale wasn't too bad!  Half off on Sundays and got these goodies!

This cool vintage coat in a yummy pink and blue plaid which fits me exactly right! ($6 to boot!)

 

Some vintage Christmas (corsage, picks and balls) plus garland in original box. Floral metal wall pot holders. A great floral valance that fits my window perfectly (plus I just painted my bedroom pink so was looking for a new valance....and I don't have to sew one now!).  A very retro v-neck vest which reminded me of one I saw in a Boden catalog recently.

These are my favorite find.  Teeny tiny old angel heads...I feel some crafting coming on!  Also a couple of other great larger angels too.

Oh, Happy Day!

 

Estate Sale Friday

 Friday.  Another crazy morning of estate sale fun.  Hit 5 sales.  3 were duds.  I still did pretty good tho.

The goods. Boxes of tiny old ornaments, vintage wrapping paper, old birthday invites, glass garland in original wrapper and other fun stuff.

This silly little tiny handmade tool bench.  I love the fact that someone took the time to hand paint all the different tools on the back of it. (Sorry forgot to clean it for the photo...was rather grungy!)

A box of old wrapping paper (will the madness never end with my vintage wrapping paper obsession), pine cone bird, and this adorable box of "Cutie Coasters"

 The pair of birds on these coasters are too cute. As the box says they are "lovely - new -colorful"!

 

 

 

 

 

 

These tall oddball items are handmade candle holders made out of old ornaments and metal. A couple of them still have the old melted candles.  They have seen better days and I purchased them with the intention of cannibalizing them for the ornaments.  I got quite a few after I took them apart.

I also love old bed jackets.  This turquoise beauty had the original tags.  I actually wear these stylish garments during the evening.  I am one of those gals who puts on pajamas fairly early in the evening and I find these bed jackets less cumbersome to wear than a traditional long robe.  I now have three bed jackets to rotate through.

So...not a bad day in the estate sale world.  Hope to hit a couple more tomorrow!

Studio Tour

After all these months of blogging I have not fully shared my studio with you. There has been a photo here or there, but for the most part it has been a GIANT MESS.  I have been ashamed.  I spent the past few days clearing stuff out and organizing.  I know I have a ton of stuff...but I like organized clutter....so here it is, in all its colorful, glittery glory.

 

Here we are about to enter.  The studio is attached to my garage.  The family before us used it as a storage area.  I didn't see the potential when we first moved in...but eventually as my crafting evolved I realized the possibilities the space had and took over.

 

 

GASP! 

 

It is full....I know, I know, but full of cool, vintage stuff.

 

 

There is even a sink for when I am messy and need to clean-up. The cabinets were here too, but were stained oak.  It did have the cool turquoise countertop (I pulled up carpet and painted the concrete floor to match the counters.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I traded a Christmas wreath I made with my neighbor for the cabinet on the left.  It sat in her garage for years.  I wanted it bad and she knew it.  She finally decided to part with it and we did a trade.  The bottom drawers are file cabinet drawers.

 This is a spot that friends sit when the come to chat. It is an old crib that I just left one of the side rails off of.  The skirt on the bottom hides bins of supplies.

 

 

 

My work table. It was already painted pink when I got it from my sister in law.  I added the galvanized top.  It always has clutter on top of it.

 

 

 

I love this pink cabinet.  It was sitting in someones front yard with a big "For sale $50" sign.  I didn't waste anytime scooping it up.  It holds my collection of turquoise pottery and vintage linens.  I also have a collection of vintage floral trays that decorate the walls.  I have over 100 of them and the only bare space left is the ceiling!

Well that is about the end of my photo tour. Hope you enjoy my space as much as I do!

Estate Sale Friday

Yesterday was not an amazing day in the estate sale world.  Drizzly morning and there just didn't seem to be a classified ad that screamed "this is the one!".  I did hit a church sale.  I spent $3.75. 

One great old wire shelf that is destined for the studio.  Perhaps it will be the answer in my quest to organize, but I doubt it.

One Campfire uniform from 1969 complete with beads.

One container of glittery snow for crafts.

One creme figural container with original paint.  I believe it is an cat.  (See July 5th post for collection)  It has the original 79 cent price on the bottom.  I paid a quarter.

A Summer Party

Time to celebrate my  hubby's birthday with a family party.  Perfect sunny day and so fun to decorate the back yard for the festivities.  Lots of pinks and flowers...not really a very manly decor party, but so totally me.

Here we are peeking into the backyard about to enter through the picket fence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hubby's concrete deer even got in the act.  I would have had the deer wear an embellished hat, but Tom doesn't like me to gussy up the deer...he wants him au natural.  I'm lucky I got away with the plain party hat and festive necklace!

 The table is ready for guests.  I finally got to use my vintage pressed plastic pieces that I posted about a while ago.  Don't you just love the PINK folding metal chairs?  I found them at IKEA a few years ago.  I didn't really need folding chairs, but HEY they were PINK and I couldn't pass them by.

Everything looks better with my fun vintage pressed plastic serving pieces.

 We have alot of family parties and I always use part of my collection of fancy handled silverware.  It is all about color and whimsy for me.

I love this little table where I have the self serve drinks.  It was my grandfathers workbench table.  I asked for it after he passed away and it has been in my backyard since.  I added the metal stars and galvanized top.  It has weathered really nicely.

Thanks for checking out the party...had a great BBQ and a fun visit with family.