This Year's Front Door Urn and Thanksgiving Mantle

Here we are again almost at the end of another year. I know it seems early to say this but just watch how fast the year will go ripping by! It doesn't seem all that long ago that I was at last year's Hallowe'en and Vine show and that has come and gone already.

Here is what I have done to decorate the house for this year's Thanksgiving. Yep, Thanksgiving comes early in Canada, two weeks or so before Hallowe'en. I will be putting up some Hallowe'en decorations this next week.

I love decorating the urn by our front door. I do an autumn arrangement that does double duty for Thanksgiving and Hallowe'en. I leave it up until the middle of November and then do a winter/Christmas arrangement.

As the days go by we add any squash and pumpkins that we buy. We also take out squash to eat as well so it is always looking slightly different. I have already added two more squash since photographing this the other day.

Here is a full picture of the mantle. We don't have a lot of space to display things so it is cheek to jowl tight for everything on the mantle.

Click on the images for a closer look at the items on display.

I decided to drape an old embroidered rayon bedspread on the mantle, swag it back with some 8 inch green bullion fringe and some 2 inch bullion fringe. The corn husk garland swoops down and in behind the folds of fabric. The rest of the fabric hangs down at the back in behind the hen on the ledge.

I added an old wooden stool on the side to create more display space but also to visually add another level to link the hearth to the ledge above.

The scarecrow was made for our oldest boy's 10th? birthday, it was part of the table decoration. By his left arm just above the ceramic turkey wearing a Pilgrim hat you can see two small scarecrows that are tipped over, these were some of the place card holders that I made. The scarecrow was inspired by a scarecrow in the Rupert Children's Annuals, his name was Oddmedod.

I love Autumn, it is possibly my favourite time of the year. I love Thanksgiving as well, I suppose it sums up the season in one holiday.

My computer is telling me "Autumn", unless the context is poetic consider 'autumn' instead of 'Autumn'. I cannot help it I like Autumn with a capitol "A" I do feel very poetic about this time of year. It influences the colour and style of the Hallowe'en items that I create as well but that is another post for another day.

I picked up that large ceramic turkey 10 or more years ago for $25.00, he is a beauty.

I added the lights because it is so dark at night along the mantle. I also tuck small tea lights in behind the display to add a bit more light.

I love that large wood carving of a farmer, my parents bought it many years ago in Quebec I believe. The little pig going to market with a basket in each arm and the farmer Peter Pumpkin I felt were appropriate as well even though they are not exactly Thanksgiving.

The green pickle on the white ledge is a working party horn. The silver item beside it is an ice cream mould in the shape of a pumpkin.

I couldn't find my Thanksgiving postcards this year, they are tucked away somewhere to be discovered next year.

Check out these links to see a few of the postcards I have here, here, here, here, and here.

We don't get a lot of composition holiday items on the West Coast of BC so I collected salt and pepper shakers with a veggie theme, squirrels of any sort (I like squirrels), acorns and oak items (I like oak trees), and poultry of various sorts. It all comes together and looks very seasonal and Thanksgiving-ish.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

A Little Tour of My Brain, Part 22 - Rupert Annuals

Last April I did a blog post about some foil numbers that I picked up at Paperchase in London many years ago. You can read it here. Each letter had a British inspiration to go with it. Number seven was the Rupert Annuals. Here are some of the annuals that I have collected over the years. I didn't realize that a lot of my posts over the last couple of years have so much in common with the spirit of the Rupert Annuals, they really have been an inspiration to my work. Throughout this post I will have links to previous posts that tie in with each of the images that I have chosen.

Every year at Christmas beginning in 1936 a new annual is published. The front and back of this annual is from the 1960 edtion.

I love fireworks and I love an artists depiction of the exploding fireworks as well as his/her interpretation of the fireworks casings. Guy Fawkes Day is on the fifth of November and has made an appearance in one of the annuals. The very first "a little tour of my brain" blog post was about fireworks. This illustration is from the 1958 annual.

The covers of the annuals have characters and situations from the stories appearing in a vignette. This is the cover of the 1958 Rupert Annual.

The 1984 annual has this page of the residents of Nutwood where Rupert and his family live. We are in the 21st century but Rupert resides in the 1930's. This literary and artistic device gives way to some great mechanical inventions, almost "Kiddy Steam Punk". Besides these characters Rupert visits Father Christmas, the imps of Spring and Autumn, Jack Frost, mermaids and mermen and other creatures under the sea, as well a host of other characters from around the world on a regular basis.

The way that I think about the characters that I create has been greatly influenced by the annuals. They are from an ongoing cast and their interaction is very important to the pieces I create. I know and understand who they are and what they will do and say.

This 1976 Rupert annual shows an airship with a flying saucer styled structure hanging underneath it. Rupert is always dressed in his yellow and black trousers with a red sweater.

After each story are games, puzzles and activities. This 1972 annual has a game with pictures of leaves and their corresponding fruits or nuts that you must match.

The British picnic, this time held on tropical shores. There are two cakes, jam tarts, and fresh fruit, all to be washed down with hot tea. There are two posts about pastries for you to check out - Cakes, Cookies, and Pastries and Cakes and Pastries - Inspiration Results.

This annual is from 1975. Rupert often goes to exotic locales in his adventures. The clever device of having Rupert perpetually in the 1930's makes the locales that much more exotic. You may want to check out another post that I did in the little tour of my brain series called "Far Off Places".

The conjurer and his daughter, Tigerlily, live in a Japanese pagoda in Nutwood. This illustration is from the 1976 edition. I love stage magicians so much that I did four posts about them - Le Plus Grand Cabaret Du Monde, Magic Apparatus, and Stage Magicians, Kellar, Thurston, andStage Magicians, Assorted Posters

This cover is for the 1974 Rupert Annual. A perfectly normal winter day in Nutwood; snow on the ground, everyone making snowmen, Gregory the guinea pig on a sled flying beside Jack Frost to see His Majesty King Frost in his palace in the clouds.

Every issue has an origami design for children or their parents to fold from a square sheet of paper. The directions for this paper water lily design appeared in the 1958 edition.

The King of the Birds also lives in a castle in the clouds. Rupert has visited him in various stories. This is the 1977 cover for the Rupert Annual.

I know I have used this phrase before but I love paper crowns, party hats and noisemakers. The illustrations for this story appeared in the 1978 edition of the annual. Visit my post about party hats and noisemakers here.

The costumes for the characters are wonderful. The attention to detail is another of the characteristics that draw me to these books. The landscape in this 1978 annual and all of the annuals is realistic. The fantasy is grounded in the real world.

This illustration from the 1978 Rupert Annual shows fairground rides at a funfair. There are three posts that I did earlier this year about fairground rides and architecture - Wowie Zowie! Carters Steam Fair, Midway Rides at Centreville Amusement Park, Fairground Architecture and Midway Rides and one post about country fairs, Country Fairs, Metchosin Days, and the J-O-Lity Fair.

The endpapers of the annuals are as interesting as the rest of the book. This is from the 1976 Rupert Annual.