Happy Thanksgiving to my friends in the U.S.

Thanksgiving has come and gone in Canada. I hope that all of my American friends have as wonderful a day with family and friends as we did.

  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  

  EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY!  

Large Scale Advertising Props

The last time that we were in Switzerland visiting our son and daughter-in-law I photographed giant fibreglass display props that are used to advertise shops; here is a link to that blog post. I was on the hunt for more giant food this last August while we were visiting our son, daughter-in-law, and young grandson.

I suppose this wheel of cheese with a wedge cut out isn't exactly gigantic, the wheels of cheese are about this big. It is handmade of wood. I'd love to display it in our home; come to think of it I wouldn't mind owning any of these items.

This fibreglass ice cream cone was about 3' tall and securely attached to the outside of the building.

This fellow owned the ice cream shop, he looked quite at ease having his picture taken, or he may have been amused with me for photographing his ice cream cone prop.

 This large berry is about 24" tall. It was on the fence of a school yard in Goldach pointing in the direction of the apple orchard and berry patch.

Farther up the road was another berry urging you on to the orchard and luscious berries.

Keep going through the orchard and on to the berry patch.

Have a rest on this concrete berry stool if you need to.

Tucked in the garage, behind the car, is a gigantic berry. I don't know what it was used for; maybe it is an old homemade sales prop.

I couldn't resist this warning sign.

This may have been Rita, I don't know, it was pouring rain but I had to get a picture. It is quite a wonderful sales booth. "Erdbeeren" is the plural of strawberries but she had many other berries as well. Rita's berry stand was in a parking lot in Goldach, a couple of miles from the orchard and berry patch.

This giant cookie, I love it, was outside a bakery in Goldach.

This is the edible version that I photographed at a Migros store in St. Gallen. I never did buy one to try. I am certain that a bakery version would be much better than a prepackaged grocery store cookie.

The bakery that had the giant cookie at roadside in the parking lot had this huge loaf of bread on the shop roof.

Although these bottles are not giant props they were huge; that is a regular sized oak barrel. They were outside of a restaurant in Heiden.

A tobacconist in St. Gallen had this huge cigar in their store window.

We were heading back home to Canada and in a duty free shop in the Zurich airport was this giant camel. I had to stop and take a picture.

That is all of the items that I photographed on our last trip to Switzerland. Our next trip there I will scout out more of these giant advertising props.

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN FROM HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I picked up this book, "Comic Epitaphs From the Very Best Old Graveyards" a few years ago. It was published in 1957 by Peter Pauper Press.

 Have a Happy Hallowe'en! 

 Enjoy! 

Hallowe'en Mantle Display 2013

Here's this year's mantle display. I haven't done a done a display in the front hall entrance for a few years now, I miss doing them. Thanksgiving in Canada is mid October and I like to put up the Thanksgiving collectables so that gives me a very short time for creating a Hallowe'en display.

This is the entire display. We have a grandchild and sometimes other kids come by so I like to have the display so that I can keep an eye on it but also show them when they are interested.

I didn't put up any of the paper items this year. I decided to put out some items that haven't been out for a while. This is a portion of the collection, most of it was bought about 10 years ago, there was much more vintage around back then.

Here is the mantle; close-ups of the items are below.

Unfortunately, the two black cats beside the Jack-O-Lantern don't show up very well. This large Jack-O-Lantern was a surprise thank-you from Lori Rudolph several years ago.

The mould blown plastic pumpkin is a light shade; the inside has a clip to go over a light bulb. I have another one that is twice as big but this one is my favourite. I looked for a wooden lamp base for several years and finally found one; it goes perfectly with the soft brown orange of the lantern.

I am quite cavalier when it comes to adding items into collections; the three birds are parts of salt and pepper sets but work perfectly in the colour scheme and the overall look. My wife asked me, "Why are toucans considered Hallowe'en?" and I realized that in some of the vintage graphics there are birds that look similar to these birds. I also like them a lot!

The two comic black cats are salt and pepper shakers that I found one year, not at Hallowe'en, with other kitchen items at a thrift store. I love them!

The ceramic tree stump in the background is a vase. The witch candy container and a few other items were on display at a Sally Ann shop many years ago and were not for sale. I traded them for a large pumpkin I had made. I lucked out on that one; they wouldn't do that today. The black cat in front of her is plaster filled celluloid. The owl is an interesting item; it isn't really a Hallowe'en figure but an early tape measure. The head, feet, and wings are metal and the body is an early plastic of some sort, it's a favourite piece. A favourite piece, right, there quite a few "favourite pieces" here!

Tucked in among the vintage items are a set of four soft plastic wind-up walking figures that are about 8 years old. They are quite delightful and are some of the best designed commercial items, in Canada, that I have seen in quite a while.

A very large owl cooky jar has a vase of a black cat standing in front of a wooden barrel; not exactly Hallowe'en but it works for me. The ceramic pumpkin florist vase has a light that flashes on and off. The 3 small black items in front of the vase are a cat standing beside a vase on top of a book, each one is different. Trying to photograph them is a little difficult, sorry about that.

The large pumpkin in the back was from Starbucks several years ago. The large black cat beside the pumpkin chocolate box is an incense burner or smoker. Either incense or a lit cigarette would be placed in the back opening and the smoke would come out of his mouth. Fortunately it wasn't used so the painting is in good condition.

Candles, owls in various guises; salt and pepper shakers, a small sculpture, and ash trays, alongside cats both black and white, create this vignette.

Those two grey top hats were bought at Kresge's when my brother and I were considerably younger. The black cat is a wind-up toy.

I include figural salt and pepper shakers because they are veggie guys, some are more Hallowe'en than others. This pair is not very Hallowe'eny though is it?

In the right side of the display I used two yellow ware bowls that I picked up at Sally Ann about two years ago. I have several vintage wooden Japanese orange crates that I use for risers.

Jorge de Rojas of "HoHoHalloween" made the veggie guy, Amelia Schaefer of "Sweet B Folk Art" made the pumpkin pie and Lori Rudolph of "Retro Rudolph's" made the pumpkin teapot. A celluloid witch lantern is peeking around the corner.

Noise makers and party hats look intriguing resting on the Spanish moss. The ceramic pumpkin rests on top of a vintage fez. For some unknown reason a fez seems to fit in with Hallowe'en, I do not know why.

Here are five other links here, here, here, here, and here to previous Hallowe'en posts.

firework art

I promised in the blog post "Hallowe'en and Fireworks" that I would show images of vintage firework labels from the book "Firework Art" by Mark Fleming. Firework Art was published in 2005 but he still has a few available if you are interested.

Zandra Rhodes, a British fashion designer, was inspired by fireworks graphics and created a line of textiles for Osborne and Little in the 1980s. This image is not from the book but was an advertisement in a 1980s Architectural Digest magazine.

Enough with the talking; enjoy looking at a few of the images that I have selected from the book.

I wanted to right little bits of description under each picture from the book but resisted the urge. These are a few of my favourite images, I hope that you enjoyed them. The colours and patterns used on the labels are beautiful and inspiring.

What ones were your favourites?