Magpie Ethel

Etsy Red, White and Blue March

Busy in my studio surrounded by red, white and blue patriotic fun.

I will be listing lots of holiday items on WEDNESDAY, June 6th at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time).

I have quite the patriotic assortment.


Red, White and Blue fun!

Swim Cap Entertainment

If you have read my blog for awhile, I occasionally am bravely pictured in a vintage swim cap. I collect them. I recently came across this wonderful little vintage swim cap fashion show film. Talk about some awesome caps. Take three minutes and watch the video. Punch and the swim caps with bangs...wonderful!

  

Now I want to find one of these spectacular caps!

p.s. hope this works as I have never had a video on my blog...crossing my fingers.

More Dumpster Diving and a MAGNIFICENT SAVE

In my previous post on mothball containers I mentioned a neighbor that had passed away.  John, our elderly neighbor passed away in March.  He was our neighbor for the 16 years we have lived in our house.  He was a hoarder.  He had no family whatsoever, as his wife died prior to our moving in and they had no children.  He never opened his windows or blinds.  His house smelled and his backyard was a junky mess.  He was a professor at a college nearby and was often very cantankerous.  He did have a nice side tho, and I grew to like him over the years and helped him when he had some health issues and did lots of little things for him that neighbors do.  He encouraged me to cut the dahlias from his yard in the summer.  He gave me the Home and Garden section each week from the New York Times that he had delivered.  When he passed away his house was willed to the college he taught at.  They cleared out some of his belongings but sold the house full of quite a bit of junk.  The people that bought the house are flipping it and had a trailer in the driveway as they cleared out the house. They donated old books and recycled metal, but I kept my eye on that dumpster as they cleared out the house.

Much of what went into the dumpster smelled or were old papers that he saved.  I did fish out some old tins.

And an old Christmas card box with great graphics.

It had a bonus inside with some unused Christmas cards.

I know you are wondering why I got this old beat up dustpan.

I will figure out a re purpose for it.  The gardening lady decal could not go to the local dump.

It was hard to watch them tear apart the house and remove all the vintage details.  It really was in horrible shape and they took it down to the studs.

I would have loved to have thought of something for this awesome tile in this wonderful color.

That MAGNIFICENT SAVE? I was out in our driveway and one of the kids that was helping to clear out the house hauled out some old cabinet doors from the basement.  The kitchen had been remodeled in the 1960s and the original kitchen had gone to the basement. The leaded glass cabinet doors from the kitchen had been stored down there.  The kid had one of them in his hand.  I asked if I could have it.  The kid said he had been looking forward to breaking it up...GAHHHHH!....but I could have it and there were more in the basement that he would get for me as well.  There are five doors.

They need a cleaning and a paint job, but they are in good shape and even have the original hardware.

It paid off to be a dumpster stalker.  

We are going to be redoing our main floor bathroom soon, and I hope I can reuse them somehow in the project.  If they don't work there, I am sure I can find somewhere else to use them.

My Favorite Time of Year Roadtrip

This upcoming weekend is the Farm Chicks Antique Show.  The show is something I look forward to every year and this will be the sixth year I have hit this show.  My mom and I do a mother/daughter road trip to Spokane, and shop the show, eat at Chaps, meet blogland friends and just have fun.

I drag my cart along with me to fill.  If you happen to go to the show and see this cart, I will be nearby...look for me and say HOWDY!

You will see my little blog badge attached to the cart. Hopefully the cart will be full of treasures.

Seriously my favorite weekend.  My favorite show.  I can't wait. 

If you are curious about past shows, you can hit the category on my right hand sidebar marked FARM CHICKS. 

Collection Challenge #107 - Vintage Cupcake Papers

I am drawn to vintage cupcake papers/liners.  I like them when they are all tidy in their original boxes with the wonderful graphics. The papers are plain, but the boxes make up for their simple cupcake papers inside.

Betty Brite with her giant bow tie and her crazy hair. An added bonus is the fact i love cupcakes.

I also like that cupcakes papers are often found in large quantity.  I don't feel guilty about using up some of my vintage stash with my spun head gals.  These floral papers are slightly faded with time and show some age. I love their delicate design tho.

Original box and a mini size.

Holiday cupcake papers are the easiest for me to find.  I love the design in the back right corner with the poinsettias.  This paper has been made into spun head skirts many times.

Springtime florals in faded prints.

I also collect those that are smaller in size and meant for candies and such. Some of these are older and some are new.

I never run across enough fun patterns and papers at estate sales for my crafting needs so I do resort to collecting the modern designs as well. These are for spun head skirts. I like them all tidy like this.

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of _____."

You may never look at a cupcake paper the same way again...happy day!