A great weather day for Stein’s

Hey everyone! It's time for the yearly trip to Stein's! On the day we went, the sky kept changing. Within minutes, the sky would change from sunny and bright blue to looking like it would rain. Some of those dark clouds were very dramatic and I liked the way they looked behind the pumpkins. I also liked how the bright sunniness lit up the garden area. It was like at least two different weather days in one!

I'm not sure what these pumpkins are called, but they look like giant marshmallows to me.

This photo is the background on my phone right now. I love the look of weathered wood with pumpkins.

This is one of my favorite sky pics. It looks like I caught the sky mid-change and those ghosts look like they have a spotlight on them.

Stein's had some wonderful mums out this year. And how great do they look with the pumpkins?

This picture! I love the ombre. This one was the background on my phone until I decided to change to pumpkins. I was ready for something more Halloweeny, but it was still hard for me to change from this picture!

I don't think I've ever seen such vibrant purple mums. I've seen them in dark purply pink, but nothing like this. I didn't bump up the contrast on this picture. They were seriously this intense. 

I don't think I've seen these cute little flowers before. Do any of you know what these are?

I like when all those decorative cabbages come out in fall, usually along with some small peppers.

These containers were new this year. They look similar to those kind of straw pumpkin pots, but these were made of metal.

There was a small selection of mini pumpkins and an even smaller selection of mini gourds. I tried my best to make it look like there was a full container here, but I couldn't even attempt that with the gourds! Someone must have bought up a ton of mini gourds for a display.

Yup, this is all you're going to see of the mini gourds: a close-up of two of them.

Oh, the drama! We never were rained on, by the way.

Check out those little stripes on the corn kernels. I love cameras for the help they give in seeing details like this.

These next two were new this year. Looks like a ghost cat and a ghost balancing a pumpkin on its head.

Here's one of those straw-like containers you probably remember. 

I'm sharing two photos of this next decoration because I like both pics so much. I'm not sure if they've displayed these ceramics in with flowers before, but I like it. This gives an idea of what could be done with these pumpkin towers. They're cool, but I usually look at them and wonder where they could go.

So here's a bit of the front of the store, with those dramatic clouds reflected in the windows. 

A closer look at the window displays... 

Yes, this one is also a window display. It might look like something else in this photo. How cool is that backdrop? And I love that crow. I'd like to have one of those crows! It looks like it's probably made from cardboard.

This guy greets you by the front door. He's actually pretty menacing. I've seen a lot of large props by now, so it takes something special for me to say that. There's something about the way he looms over you and slowly moves around.

He has those led light-up eyes like some of the giant skeletons you may have seen. His eyes move around and blink as he growls. This prop would be so effective in the woods at night! I'm creeping myself out just thinking about it.

Stein's has a nice gift section and a pretty sizable floral section.

Little monsters with air plants for brains. Have any of you tried growing air plants? I guess you don't really "grow" them although they have to start from somewhere. They seem easy to care for.

This cat yard decoration is made of metal. She's so adorable!

I like that garland. It's kind of Christmasy and vintage looking. This picture reminds me that I want to decorate a Halloween tree, but I haven't seen one I like yet. I'd like to find one that is bright orange.

I think this vintage cuteness was on a dishtowel. 

I like this new material the ghosts are made of. I saw some cool reindeer made from this iridescent plastic at Menards. I'm sure those reindeer would look pretty shimmering in the snow.

Of course you can't tell from this still picture, but this tree waved its limbs around like it was alive.

So there we have this year's trip to Stein's! Looking these pictures over, I'm seeing some things to be on the lookout for after Halloween. My favorite is probably that witchy black cat yard decoration. 😸

A Bright and Beautiful Day at Stein's

It's time for this year's Stein's post! What a beautiful day to take photos. The sky was a bright blue and cloudless. That blue always looks good with the orange pumpkins and decorations.  After this many years taking photos there, I know the weather conditions that look best with the displays!

Many of the ceramic pumpkins I've shared in the past were there, but there were some slight variations. 

The fence they always have up looks fitting with the Halloween decorations. 

I think this jack-o-lantern was new. He's on a stand, and my guess is that's for fire hazard reasons. Maybe you could have live flames in this more safely with it off the ground.

You might remember these ceramic jack-o-lantern pots too.

It's been so hot here that I felt lucky to photograph the pumpkins before they rotted away. They were getting near rotty as it was. I took these pics at the end of September, by the way. So it's hard to say how much longer some of these gourds lasted. It would be no problem as far as the temps being too hot right now! 

Pie pumpkins: 

Check out those stems! 

This pic was my computer wallpaper for awhile.  

Little ghost pumpkin. I think the slightly larger, fully round ones are Caspers.

There were many pretty mums as expected, but I feel like there were more colors out this year.

And some were in these pots you might remember. Every year I say I want to DIY these, but I'm not sure where I'd find the basic pots.

These flowers were new to me. They are Osteospermum. I've seen photos of Osteospermum online, but they were all light purple. This is the first time I'd seen these flowers in person and the first time I'd seen them in yellow in any way. They're called "Blue Eyed Beauty".  The very center is blue. I know at first it looks like they should be called Purple Eyed Beauty. 

They had beautiful straw flowers out! This one was my wallpaper before the yellow and orange pumpkins.

It's always fun to see the autumn floral arrangements with the decorative cabbage and peppers. These peppers look like crazy carrots or fingers to me. 

Aren't seasonal window displays fun? 

They added some new decorations this year, like this scarecrow.

So, venturing in the store here... Look who was there greeting us at the entrance! I think they named him Willy the Werewolf. 

His eyes came alive, I think in some motion sensor way. They look like maybe LED?

This is a ghost. It may be hard to tell because it has a lot of angles. It changed colors and I think it would be really pretty in the dark. 

The flasher...

Boo!

How cute are these? I like candy corn decorations so much more than the actual candy.

This towel was maybe my favorite item in the store. It reminds me of a design off a vintage candy bag. You know those little paper bags for Halloween treats?

And how great is this! Stein's had a Merry Christmas one of these out last year. Just picture it in neon red and green. These signs are pretty large and I imagine they'd look great on the side of a house or building. 

So there we have it! Another fun trip to Stein's for Halloween. My next blog post will be about all the Halloween decorations I've seen around town. I've been impressed with how DIY they've been. It's entertaining for me to see all that creativity. And it's fun to be surprised with unpredictable displays. 🦇