Monday, April 25, 2011

Dipped Chicks for Real

I received an Easter greetings email this weekend from a friend
that contained pictures of real live
"Dipped Chicks"!


Every year in time for Easter,
900 colorful baby chicks are hatched 
on a ranch in Durango, CO


They inject the eggs with food coloring,
 and when they hatch,
they are brilliant with color.


She uses, pink, purple, orange, green, red, turquoise, & yellow.


They aren't hurt by the process,
and as they grow, they return to their normal colors.


My grandmother once told me,
a man in her town of Williamsburg, PA in the 1940s would sell colored chicks for Easter .
All the kids around would have a colorful baby chick
to play with Easter morning.  
However by the end of the week
very few chicks had survived. 
Grandma had always thought it was the coloring that did them in.
My guess would be that excited children and baby chicks probably shouldn't mix.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.


Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter to All

Greetings everyone,
Let me welcome you to my first post. 
After being inspired by such blogs
I thought I would give it a try....
I've been collecting for some time and
while I don't have nearly the collections
of the previous named blogs,
I do have some cute hard to find stuff
that I'd like to share. 
I have a pretty good start on
a cookie jar collection 
but, I have several other pieces that
 I think are pretty nifty too.
Let me start with Easter.
While hunting through the isles of Walmart in 2000
I came across this adorable little bunny cookie jar....
One of the best detailed cookie jars I 've ever seen at Walmart
and not very expensive, $10.
I bought it that visit and I'm glad I did....they sold out before Easter and they never returned.
The happy little duck to the left was ordered from Radko.com
a few years later.  After I ordered that,
Radko.com stopped offering such things for Easter,
I think it was even on clearance...It is a little ceramic candy holder I stuffed it full of yellow Easter grass and put a wooden egg in it. 
The glass basket came from FTD I'm not sure when
(Christmas I think), but I've used it for Easter ever since.
I've used it to hold candy in the past and these wooden Pier1 eggs I bought on clearance a few years ago.  The striped egg cookie jar was also a Pier1 find, I liked how the colors of the stripes match the colors in the other pieces.
This is my kitchen hutch/buffet. 
I decorate it for every holiday.
My wife and I started to collect the 
Department 56 "Dipped Chicks" a little late,
Dept 56 had already discontinued the collection 
by the time we discovered it.
So most of the collection came from Ebay and
Replacements Limited on line.
This is the "Dipped Chicks" pitcher,
 it's very cute, the liquid pours out of the daisy.
 
Here we have in the back
the "Dipped Chicks" deviled egg server
made up of several chicks of all different
colors and degrees of dip.
In front was the line's salt and pepper shaker set shaped like eggs and their carton

The eggs are painted like a few of the chicks
I have Grade A salt and pepper.

Over to the left is the chick candle holder 
and the half egg candy dish.
This little salt and pepper shaker set
are by the same artist that designed "Dipped Chicks",
Barb Tourtillotte.
She called this collection "Hoppy Spring"
It is not by Dept 56, but it matches her fabric.
 
Notice the dipped chicks in the design?
Someday I want to make a table runner out of that fabric.
The carrot biscuit jar was a HomeGoods find two years ago.
this is the last of my "Dipped Chicks" collection,
an egg holder and an egg cookie jar.  
Each has a little dipped chick.
I am on a quest for the "Dipped Chicks" bread tray
replacement's limited image
pictured at Replacements Limited
but not available.
eBay image
I just missed it on Ebay too.
 
Here is a picture I found of
the talented Barb Tourtillotte

with her creations behind her 
over at fatquartershop.blogspot.com
 
This next display is on my console table
behind the couch.
Claude Hare is the furry rabbit in the back.
Saw him in the Victorian Trading Company catalog
two years ago but found him at Tuesday Morning last year
at a substantial discount.
The little glittered chicks I saw last year
on Nita's Mod Vintage Life blog
where she said she found them at Hobby Lobby. 
This year I found them at Hobby Lobby here in Vegas,
Thanks Nita!
The little ceramic "chocolate bunny"
was a Pier1 find 5 years ago.
 
This is little Elvis the teacup poodle napping on
the back of the couch.
 I'll bet he's waiting for the Easter Bunny.
The flash was a little bright, sorry Elvis.
 
This is my Annalee Easter collection,
  I just found the big bunny this year at T.J. Max,
the other bunny was a Tuesday Morning find last year, 
and the duck was from HomeGoods this year. 
It's just not a holiday without a little Annalee.

 
And finally a few more HomeGoods goodies
I found a couple of years ago.

A ceramic basket with Cadbury cream eggs peeking out
and a egg shaped candy dish with a bunny on top.
The chocolate rabbit in the back was another Pier 1
 faux chocolate piece from two years ago.
That's it for today...
Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter,
and enjoyed my first monster post.
Thanks for stopping by!

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