Halloween 2015 Edition of Flickr Favourites

{Lighting the Jack O' Lantern ~ Paul Malon}






{Burlington Hosiery, September 1959 ~ The Bee's Knees Daily}  


{Moon & Ominous Clouds ~ Lost My Headache}



{Halloween decorations ~ Kath in the Cupboard}



{Vintage Halloween Postcard ~ Susan Criser}



{Closed factory chemistry lab detail ~ Pedro Domingos}



{2010 Halloween Honeys ~ Missy}

{Vintage Halloween Parties ~ Old Halloween}

 

{Halloween kitten ~ Marie's Shots}



{Vintage Halloween Postcard ~ Rip The Skull}

{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on its title to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}

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Oohhh, how I've eagerly come to look forward to penning the Halloween edition of Flickr Favourites each year! There are so many marvelously festive images to be had on that huge communal photo (and illustration) sharing site and this year's crop of All Hallows Eve ones is amongst my favourites highlighted in this post to date.

Halloween is always incredibly special to me - and many others the world over, too - but when it falls on Saturday, as it does this year, I can't help but adore it even more, because I'm reminded of the unbridled fun of my youth, when a Saturday Halloween meant that you could spend every moment of the day from dawn to midnight focused on the big day night itself - and without having to think about school the next day to boot!

It's been a long, long time since I was last a student, but I still get every bit as giddy about Halloween. The classroom parties of yore are a distant memory, but not the celebrations I (we) host every October 31st at our house for loved ones.

Costumes, scrumptious foods complete with more sugar than you shake an autumn leaf covered stick at all, handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, watching festive movies (camping, not scary, for me, please and thank you!) very much including my all-time favourite Halloween flick, Disney's Hocus Pocus, and listing to festive music all in a house decorated in no shortage of seasonal accoutrements, are all still the same sorts of things as back when I was little and I know that these treasured elements of Halloween will never change for me.

They are to that day as presents, turkey, and Christmas carols are to December 25th, which - wow - come to think of it, is precisely two months away. Fabulous as that season is unto itself, I'm in no hurry to get there yet. At least not until November 1st, when the Halloween decorations come down the Christmas season plans and decorating start in earnest shortly thereafter.

Nope, right here, right now, it's all about the cobwebs and scarecrows, candy apples and merriment of this fabulously festive autumn celebration. These playfully eerie elements will always, no matter if I live to be a hundred years old, bring out the kid in me and make me delight, in much as the same way as I did when I was knee high to pumpkin, over the spooky fun that All Hallows Eve!

What are you looking forward to this Halloween, my sweet dears?

Seven splendily festive vintage Halloween recipes

Well, hello there, my dears, I almost didn't see you over the mountain of pumpkin spice everything and festive treats that I've been whipping up this month! :D

I jest, of course, but only slightly. Between the stellar array of autumn produce that is grown locally in the Okanagan (the succulent, sweet pears alone are enough to make you weep with joy!), Canadian Thanksgiving on the second Monday of the month, numerous family birthdays (including both my little sister's and my maternal grandma's), our wedding anniversary on the 14th, and Halloween, there's usually more fabulous food on hand at our house in October than during December - or at least an equal quantity to that month's!

As much as I adore and love cooking + baking for all of those deeply special days, as you might guess (if you're familiar with my unending passion for October 31st), there's no day of the whole year that I enjoy creating festive food for more than Halloween and with it looming every nearer (just five more days to go - *excited squeal!!!*), I thought it was high time I shared a few new (to this blog, I mean) vintage Halloween posts that I've rounded up over the past year.

Vintage Halloween/strongly autumnal recipes (save for Thanksgiving and pumpkin pie related ones) aren't the easiest thing to come by in general, especially online. The volume that has been kindly shared by folks who upload vintage recipes from cookbooks, cookery booklets, magazines and other sources isn't exactly bursting at the seems, so when I do encounter one in my online travels at any point in the year, I always tuck it away instantly to save for when the tail end of October rolls around again next (you can find all past vintage Halloween recipes that I've shared so far anytime on my Vintage Recipes page).

This year I've been able to find seven marvelously fun Halloween themed or appropriate recipes, each of which can be modified if need, to accommodate a wide range of dietary needs. I hope that you really enjoy any of these that you try out and that you enjoy seeing all of them as much as I loved sourcing them.




Once again Crisco is at the heart of another delicious vintage recipe - this time a festively fun Halloween themed mincemeat cakes recipe from 1936. If shortening isn't your thing, as I always like to mention when it makes an appearance here, by all means feel free to swap it out for butter, margarine, or your favourite suitable cooking fat.

This page contains various other recipes, too, which are not explicitly Halloween-y, but sound like they'd make for good, stick-to-your ribs comfort food for fall and winter all the same. The pumpkin face topped cakes (which are pretty much like a basic cupcake with mincemeat included in the batter) are just adorable and I especially loved that this page dated to the 1930s, as I've not found many Halloween recipes from that decade online over the years.




No photo or date accompanies this recipe mid-century recipes for Halloween Gelatin Salad, but based on the fonts and ingredients used here, as well as the present of an apostrophe in the word "Halloween", I would place it as being from the 1930s or 40s, though it could be a touch newer than that. I've always adored Jell-O salads that included carrots and think that this would be a fun, appealing choice for Halloween, especially if you gave it a spooky festive name like "Hair and Brains Salad”, in reference to the shredded carrots and walnuts.



From the easy to replicate spider web design on the icing that tops it to the very name - Devil's Food Cake - itself, this festive and seriously delicious looking cake is an ideal choice for Halloween. Be it folks aged five to ninety-five, I've rarely encountered anyone who didn't love a slice of luxurious Devil's Food Cake, so it really is an awesome choice for a Halloween get-together (you can easily make it in cupcake form, too, if that serves your needs better - and if you're sending a youngster off to class with a dessert for a school Halloween party, it's certainly a handier and more portable way to serve Devil's Food Cake).




Though the ingredient combination at work in these adorable 1950s Halloween Sandwiches might raise a few 21st century eyebrows, don't let that deter you. Simply copy the concept and instead fill these festive little sandwiches with whatever your heart desires.

Singularly, or any combination of, Nutella, peanut butter or other nut butters, dulce de leche, orange coloured varieties of jam or marmalade, lemon curd, Biscoff spread, and apple butter all make seasonally appropriate sandwich filling sweet choices, if you want to take things in such a direction.




How fabulously cute is this Halloween themed Honey Chocolate Cake from 1942? I just love its colour palette and fun decorative touches, plus I'm sure that the use of honey here gives it a really lovely depth of flavour that suits autumn time especially well - plus, you can never go wrong with marshmallow (aka, seven minute) frosting (if you can't, or opt not to, eat eggs, be sure to check out this St. Patrick's Day recipe post of mine with a great alternative option there for seven minute frosting).




Fall and caramel truly go hand-in-hand, so this sweet tasting, elegantly pretty Burnt Sugar Cake (which is, at its heart, a caramel cake) is an ideal choice for all kinds of Halloween and autumn celebrations in general. I'd be tempted to serve pieces of it with warm cooked spiced apples or pears ladled on top for even more of a seasonal kick.




A bevy of scrumptious sounding recipes for different holidays greet you on festive recipe booklet page, but it is the darling little chocolate Halloween Cat Faces with their charming candy corn eyes that we're most after this month (though any of the others would work splendidly for All Hallows' Eve, too!).


{To learn more about a specific recipe and for larger image sizes, please click on an image or the link in the paragraph below it to be taken to its respective page.}

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Even if you usually eat very healthily and/or don't have a huge sweet tooth (two things that apply to me), come Halloween, you simply must indulge, if you celebrate this day. Any or all of the recipes above are terrific way to do just that! T

he caramel cake in particular is calling my name, especially since I know that a gluten-free version will not be hard to whip up, so I might just give that a in the coming week. Which of these seven frighteningly fantastic vintage Halloween recipes appeal to you most of all?

I hope that you're all having a fun filled, terrific week and that you're as excited as I am about Halloween's return! This is such an enjoyable, spirited time of the year and the last great hurrah, in Canada at least, before winter really and truly settles in for another several months - a point that is worth celebrating unto itself!

So go ahead and give yourself permissions to indulge this week - be it with a vintage recipe like the ones here or anything else that your heart desires. Halloween comes but once a year and deserves to be savoured with your favourites candies, treats, and vintage recipes alike!

The winner of the $75 Etsy CV store credit, I've got the flu, our 10th wedding anniversary, and other recent going ons

...And now that I've written a title that's long enough to be a post unto itself. :D

First and foremost (despite the hefty title size), this post is not going to be a particularly lengthy one (by my standards). I'm literally writing it with just one eye open only half the way to try and block out the effect that light radiating from my laptop screen is on the pulsating migraine that I have right now, brought on by a rather unpleasant flu (not that there’s any sort that I'd dub "pleasant"!) that came on in the blink of an eye on Monday and is still very much going strong four days in.

{Image source}

Thankfully, in the world of flues, this is not one of the most severe I've had, but nevertheless, it's taking its toil and putting me pretty much completely out of commission at the moment (especially since, like - without fail - all colds, flues and the like that I get, it has caused serious flare-ups with some of my medical conditions). While I'm not very pleased about that, I am grateful at least that this virus was so "kind" as to spare attacking me at the end of the month. With a bit of luck, lots of rest, and drinking gallons of liquids, I should hopefully be on my feet again come Halloween (fingers crossed!).

Okay, onto more enjoyable topics! For starters, though I was asleep with a 103F fever for nearly all of it, Tuesday was Tony and mine's 10th wedding anniversary. Over the years here, I've talked about our relationship and its beginnings (such as in this post last May) and the profound, unshakable love that we have for one another (such as here), so many of you may already know a bit about our story.

For those that do not however, in the tiniest of nutshells, we met online in March of 2004 (at the time I was living right here in Penticton and Tony was on the other side of the Atlantic ocean in Ireland), in person for the first time in June, were engaged in July, and married in a super small civil ceremony with just a few close family members in attendance in October of that same year. It was, in no uncertain terms, a whirlwind romance, but we both know in the furthest recesses of our hearts that we had found "the one" and that there was no sense in waiting years to do something we knew within weeks that we were destined to have happen (marry one another, that is).

{Image source}

We were young by modern standards when we tied the knot - I was 20, Tony was 24 - and yet both came to relationship with absolutely no shortage of life history under our respective belts. In the past decade we have lived in two countries, two (Canadian) provinces, and multiple cities. We've faced staggering adversity on many front, become pet "parents" to Stella (our darling tabby cat) and Annie (our sweet, endless energetic American Bullador), cried, laughed, celebrated, and worked incredibly hard together. Tony and I have grown up and grown incredibly close over the course these last ten years and it was with no small amount joy that we celebrated this milestone anniversary this week (which will be properly observed, festive feast and all, once I'm over the flu). I love my husband with every fiber of my being and am so grateful that we get to share our lives and our futures together, continuing to built on the life, dreams and hopes of the past decade, while keeping our eyes on tomorrow and never forgetting to savour today in the process.

In other news, last month I posted a new Chronically Vintage reader and customer survey and invited all those who completed it to leave a comment for the chance to win a $75.00 Etsy store credit. The deadline to do so wrapped up last night and this morning I'm thrilled to announce the winner (who was selected using a random number generator). Drum roll, please...

Huge and very happy congratulations to Abigail from the immensely lovely blog Sweeter Gets The Journey, you've won a $75.00 Chronically Vintage store credit which you can put towards the cost of anything in the shop. I will be contacting you by email ASAP with further details and sincerely want to thank you - and absolutely everyone who took part in this survey and giveaway (your impute is hugely appreciated and will certainly play a roll in shaping my blog and Etsy shop in the future).

{The lucky winner, Abigail, in one of my favourite photographs of her from her gorgeous, image filled blog.}

Between some health issues in the later part of the summer and our wonderful recent travels to Victoria, plus the flu (et al) this week, I am well aware that I haven't posted a new YouTube video for some time now. When I initially launched my channel, I'd - in true, overly optimistic Jessica fashion - envisioned posting there once a week on average. A few videos in and my feet were soon back on the ground again and that notion had flown out the window. That said, I adore making videos and do plan to continue posting them periodically, always (massively) welcoming your ideas for topics to cover in the process.

And last, but not least, in this "bits and bobs" sort of update post, I'm still very much on the hunt for my Halloween costume this year. Maybe it's because I usually know months in advance what I plan to go as, but this year, for the 30th All Hallows Eve of my life, my costume remains one big question mark (not literally - though that could be a fun disguise unto itself :) ). With just two weeks left until the fabulously fun and splendidly spooky night to go, I truly must - once this flu lets up a bit - get to it and come up with something interesting to wear.

{Image source}

That's it for today, sweet dears. I'm off to get some more healing shut eye. I hope that you're doing splendidly, are flu free, and are enjoying an absolutely beautiful October!

Five for Friday {October 16, 2009}

...Half a month exactly until All Hallows Eve arrives and with each day that ticks by I feel my excitement mounting. We are short on holidays in this country if you ask me, and even thought Halloween isn’t a stat (much as it should be, what child – let alone your own inner youngster – wouldn’t love having the day off?), it still counts as a holiday in my books, which is all the more reason I jump at the chance to celebrate it. This weekend is for decorating and giving thought to your costume (if you haven’t done so already), for raking massive, mountainous piles of tissue thin leaves – and should you fancy, jumping to them them. Two days to unwind in an easy chair with a good book and the fading, but still lemon curd hued, sunlight caressing your face. A time to mingle activity with serenity, and perhaps for an outing to the nearest pumpkin patch, too...

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{To house all manner of treasures, be they spooky or sweet}


{Glass cloches have been enjoying a moment for the past few years in the areas of home decor and holiday decoration, but the truth is these curvaceous, clear beauties have existed and been put to both practical and decorative use for centuries. If, like myself, you’re a cloche fan, Halloween is a particularly excellent time to place your favourite or most eerie of items under glass. Large glass cloche (also available in medium and small sizes), £19.95 (UK pounds), from Pale and Interesting.}


{To inspire the accessories portion of your wardrobe this season}


{Right around the start of September I spied this delightful, autumn hued vintage fashion shot on the pages of Tales of a Retro-Modern Housewife’s blog and instantly found myself enamoured with it. I love how amazingly the accessories this pretty blonde woman clutches look when set against a sleek and simple black sweater, and also that we get to see paisley during the 50s, for it is a pattern that is often associated much more with the following two decades. While fall is still in full swing, I wanted to share this inspiring and understatedly glamorous photo with you all. Image from Tale of a Retro-Modern Housewife.}


{To help ensure you’ve carved out room on your menu for festively shaped desserts}


{There is something undeniably old fashion looking about this beautiful, intricately carved baking pan that makes it lovely enough to display – though I bet it would hard not to keep it in constant use, just look at the immensely cute pumpkin shaped mini loaves/cupcakes/muffins it churns out! Non-stick cast iron aluminum pumpkin baking tray, $32.95 (US) from Crate and Barrel.}


{To shine a light on the beauty of a time-honoured, traditional way to see in the dark}


{There is no denying that in conjunction with my adoration for all manner of vintage related things, I have an intense passion for antiques as well. Fortunately the two are often able to cohabitate and mingle together marvelously, in both the worlds of home decor and fashion. Recently this rather wonderful antique looking silver candle holder with built-in match box, popped up in my online travels and I’ve been smitten with it ever since. As the days draw shorter and chillier, the desire to put candles to good use – especially once the sun has set – is ever-present for me and this candle holder would go a long way towards ensuring a flickering flame of light is never far away. Pewter “Go-To-Bed” candle holder, $29.95 from Victorian Trading Co..}


{To pair with accents of orange on Halloween and then wear, joyfully, any other day of the year you desire}


{A modern day seamstress created the sweeping design of this chicly elegant black dress, which reminded me instantly of something Audrey Hepburn might have worn or of the type of dresses seen in numerous fashion spreads from the mid to late fifties. A deeply timeless piece, this gently fitted, breathable knit frock features a silk screened deep turquoise band around the neckline and a femininely lovely fuller skirt. “Renaissance Dress in Black”, available in sizes XS to XL, $149.00 (US), from etsy seller a Resurrection of Romance.}


My deepest of heartfelt of thanks goes out to everyone who commented on my post this morning about my sister’s birthday. Your fantastically kind wishes mean so very much to us both!

May you all have a sublimely lovely, fun-filled autumn weekend!

Happiest Birthday wishes, little sis!

This is a week chocked full of jubilation and activity for me. On Monday we celebrated the bounty of the harvest and the blessings of life with Thanksgiving, on Wednesday my husband and I shared in the elation that came with that day being our 5th wedding anniversary, and today is my sister’s 19th birthday.

To say that my sister is dear to me would be an understatement. I love that child, who is now no longer a little girl, but a truly wonderful young woman, with every ounce, fiber and molecule of my being. From the day she was born I have treasured her in my heart and strived to be there for her with my love, guidance, and friendship every day. Both of us experienced challenging childhoods and have had to overcome a great deal in our lives, but no matter what came her way, my sister has held strong and persevered. She is a beckon of inspiration, a treasured spirit, and my perpetual angel.

Thank you for all that you are, everything that you inspire me to be, and each moment you’ve been alive, honey. You mean more to me than I can ever begin to put into mere words and I could not ask for a better or more beautiful sister.


{Flickr image source}
As you embark on this last year of your teens, and for all of time, I wish you immense serenity, scores of creativity, the ability to reach and exceed every dream you set, and a lifetime of joy.

Always and forever, I love you, my darling sister. Happiest Birthday!!!

20 frightfully awesome Halloween blogs

With less than three weeks to go until All Hallows Eve appears, I thought it would be fun to share with you a list of some of my favourite Halloween blogs. Growing up in a small town I was often the fanatical person in my class/school/Girl Guide troop/neighbourhood/etc about this autumnal holiday, a point that made me happy but also a bit self-conscious. Thus it was a huge thrill to discover years later via the internet that there are others like myself out there that think, breath, eat and sleep Halloween all year long, not just on October 31st!

Of course one doesn’t have to be obsessed with Halloween to adore it. This eerily fun holiday means many things to many different people. For some it’s a chance to dress up and take on a different persona – if only for one night, for others it’s about the treasure trove of happy childhood memories Halloween brings to mind. I have adored Halloween for as long as I can recall. Each year my decorations come out their boxes like (friendly) vampires emerging from coffins, to line my shelves and tabletops, bookcases and counters. I certainly don’t have the world’s largest collection of decorations (not by a long shot), but I do love the witches, bats, pumpkins, monsters, scarecrows and all other manner of Halloween themed items that I’ve amassed so far.

While I’d be content to keep my Halloween decorations out year round, this isn’t always feasible when you live with someone else (and when you have a precious little cat who thinks all festive decor items – regardless of the holiday – are delightful playthings that get sprinkled around the house just for her amusement), so in order to keep the Halloween spirit flowing long after the last Jack-O-Lantern candle has burned down, I turn to a slew of fantastic blogs run by fellow fans of this spirited holiday all year long.

Though not all of these blogs cover vintage related topics, it’s not uncommon to find posts with antique, vintage or retro themed Halloween images or topics. As well many of them highlight Halloween handicrafts, decorations, party and costume ideas, and recipes that could easily weave their way into a vintage themed Halloween celebration.

Join me, won’t you? As I countdown twenty of my favourite Halloween blogs by listing their names and sharing a spooky, beautiful, old school or just plain marvelous image from each respective site that caught my eye (of newt) and spoke to my adoration of this beguiling holiday.





1.) A Nostalgic Halloween




2.) AranaMuerta




3.) Cat In The Moon




4.) Creepy Cupcakes




5.) Frog on the Pumpkin




6.) Hallow E’en Witches’ Flying Machine


{*Please note, the blog header image on this site contains frontal nudity and may not be safe for work – or younger viewers. The rest of the site is “work and family safe” from what I’ve seen in the time I’ve been following it.*}


7.) Halloween Folk Art by the Holiday Queen




8.) Haunt Style




9.) Johanna Parker Design




10.) Musings from Behind the Easel




11.) Orange and Black




12.) Pumpkin Hallow




13.) Pumpkinrot




14.) The Courtesan Macabre


{*This site is technically devoted to Gothic themed fashion, but I feel that such a topic makes it a great addition to this list.*}


15.) The Gallows




16.) The Halloween Tree




17.) Through the Patch




18.) Trixie’s Treats




19.) Vintage Halloween Collector




20.) Weird Hallow




A jaunt (or flyby on your broomstick) through these wonderful sites can’t help but get any Halloween enthusiast even more in the festive mood – I know each of them is certainly helping to fuel my excitement this year!

Do you have a favourite Halloween blog or website that isn’t mentioned above? I’m “dying” to know about it if you do! :D