AMERICAN HARVEST

TRAIN OF LIGHTS

One of the gifts we gave to our kids for Christmas was tickets for the Train of Lights.  We rode the train between Sunol and the Niles District of Fremont.  It is about an hour round trip ride.  We left at dusk and returned in the quiet stillness of the night  The short trip through the Niles Canyon with fun company and pretty landscapes was a great way to end our Christmas festivities.  I hope that you enjoy these pictures of the Train of Lights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year everyone, with wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2010, Sharon.










 

LITTLE THINGS (IN CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS)

Sometimes I spend hours working a vignette or display.  Then sometimes, a small quick idea makes for a big impact.  At home, my Christmas decorating takes days, weeks.....I love decorating!  Here are some simple, little ideas that worked for me this year that took no time at all!.

 

I placed a Susan Arnot theatre on a vintage ironstone platter behind my sofa in the family room.  It sets on an antique bench.  Very simple, but worked great in this spot to pick up the soft colors of this sofa.

 

My family liked this one...a tall vintage ironstone pedestal candy dish filled with nothing more than holiday style Hershey candy kisses surrounding a glittered candle that is battery operated.  I sold these candles like crazy in the shop this year.

 

Rodger gave me this vintage music box years ago.  It looks sweet underneath three white feather trees.

I collect any and all sizes of vintage Christmas houses, whether they are German or Japanese.  These little Putz houses hang from one of my feather trees.  Because they are small, they can get lost in a grouping of larger houses, so the feather tree worked great in showing off these little charmers.

Instead of arranging my houses on a mantle this year.  I simply turned over some antique bowls in a pie safe and set the houses on and around the bowls.  Quimper pottery from France is placed in the background.  (This is just a small grouping of my houses,)

 

Wendy Addison made these three Winter gardens for me a few years ago.  I poured in German glass glitter in the "fish bowl" and then placed a battery operated tea light for atmosphere.  A friend told me that a good Christmas display is all about the lighting to set a mood.

Nicol Sayre made this beautiful paper ornament for me this year.  It is a very special gift from my friend.  I hung it to the side of an antique mirror.  Simple and special....

I found the black child's dress form in Paris a couple of years ago.  For Christmas, I took vintage garland and fashioned it into a "skirt".  A Nicol Sayre original crown is set on top.  The other dress form is new, but has an antique child's dress on it.  I then took more of the garland and made a necklace.  A Donna O'Brien crown tops it off.

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I took a platter from my Christmas dishes and simply placed fruit that Wendy Addison embellished for me.  The fruit is glittered and then crinkle wire was added.  Don't forget to take your child's creations and place in your vignettes!  Years and years ago, my son took a pinecone, stuffed it with cotton, painted the edges gold and then glittered it.  I guess, we have been into glitter for many years.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone and remember the little things that make your holiday memories so special in the years to come!

FUN TIMES IN ATLANTA

The last time we were in Atlanta we met up with our good friends, Art and Vicky.  We spent the day at the World of Coca-Cola.  If you like coca-cola memorabilia, this is the place to be.

 

"Brain Tonic" sign was just one of the fabulous old signs on exhibit.

 

 

 

One of the beautifully restored Coke machines.

 

There were lots of great old Santa and Coke advertisements.

 

Afterward, we headed over to the Varsity for some of their famous hot dogs.  What'll ya have?

 

A view from Art and Vicky's backyard.  They have a boat on the lake, it was too cold to go out for a ride!

 

So after a great day at the World of Coca-Cola and then The Varsity and a whole lot of talking between girlfriends......where did we go in Atlanta?  Can you guess from the above picture?

 

That's just CRAZY...we went to dinner at a Texas Bar-B-Que bar.  It was so fun. 

 

Here I am with Vicky and Nicole, our server, at the Texas Bar-B-Que!  You gotta love that cow hide tablecloth on the table behind us!

Atlanta sure was fun, now let's get our friends back to California so that I can visit them more than once a year!  See YA'LL later.

HOW DO YOU DECORATE FOR CHRISTMAS?

Do you have any tips for holiday decorating?  Do you have a secret way of displaying Christmas items that you'd like to share?  We started decorating at home yesterday and would like to hear of your decorating ideas!

IT'S A WORLD OF HOPE, IT'S A WORLD OF DREAMS.....

Hi everyone, this is Rodger posting today instead of Sharon.  She has no part in this one!!!!

All of you know that we love Disneyland.  While we were there this past Saturday, my worst nightmare came true.  I know that many of you LOVE the "It's a Small World" ride, but I am not a big fan of that ride.  You LOVE the sweet little dolls that sing incessantly as you slowly travel down the canal.

 

But it happened, horrors of horrors!!!  The ride broke down, yes with me in the boat next to those dolls that sing and sing and sing!!!!!  Their DARLING little faces glaring down at me as they continued to sing over and over and over...."It's a world of hope.....It's a Small World after all, It's a Small World after all, It's a Small World after all, It's a Small, Small World."

 

This is where it all happened!  These "Chuckie" like dolls singing and glaring, singing and glaring at me.  We were stuck on the ride for 40 minutes, not moving at all.  The dolls continued to sing and glare at me.  Finally, an announcement, "we are working on the ride and it should be up and running shortly"....Shortly...what does that mean, get me out of here!  After the announcement was made, I incorrectly assumed that they would turn off the music and the dolls.  NO, the music volume increased.  After awhile, a cast member told us to "just sit tight" they were still working on getting the ride up and running.  I thought I would die!  The children in the boat behind us sat there loving every one of those long dreaded 40 minutes.

 

This son thought it was funny to see me in such torturous pain and agony!!

 

This daughter-in-law never complains and yet she was getting irritated.  

This son and daughter-in-law expressed my grief and complete disbelief that we would be saved from the singing.  Finally, the music was turned off and what did we hear?  The clicking, clicking and more clicking of dolls with their sweet little faces beaming at me, scaring the life right out of me!  And believe it or not, we continued to sit there helpless in this Twilight Zone.  My ears were literally bleeding...LITERALLY.  Finally, the ride started back up, we were saved.  I made a statement...."I will NEVER go on that ride again".....well I probably will, but not for a very long, long time.  Now to get that song out of my head, what can I do?

A PROMISE

Looking out my kitchen window this morning I saw a gray sky with the threat of rain.  Then I saw the promise.  What a great gift right there in my backyard.

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM SHARON AND DISNEYLAND

PLEASE CLICK ON THE ARROW/START BUTTON AT THE LEFT TO VIEW THIS MAGICAL HOLIDAY MESSAGE!

SO CAL FIRE

The fires in Southern California have affected many people, including our family and friends.  Our son and daughter-in-law live in Brea, but their home is safe.  Jeremy is a teacher at Brea Olinda High School, which has been saved by the firefighters.  Brea Canyon High School, a continuation school, just down the street was nearly destroyed by the fire.  It will be at least three months before that school will reopen.  One of our son's students has severe asthma.  His parents stayed at their own home, but the student stayed at Jeremy's home.  We have friends whose family members have lost their home in Yorba Linda.  They are two young brothers who recently bought a condo...now destroyed.  My aunt and uncle were told to evacuate in about an hour, the winds shifted and their home was saved.  Debbee Thibault was told to get ready to be evacuated, but then told she could stay in her home.  Her brother was evacuated from his home that day.  His home was saved.
Here are four pictures from the Orange County Register showing the fire as it approached my son's school, Brea Olinda High School.  These incredible photos were taken by Andy Collins.

 

Many thanks go out to the brave and heroic firefighters for their determination in fighting this fire!

PS...Our son's car was parked at the high school on Saturday when the fires came so close.  He was able to drive it away on Sunday with no fire damage, but much smoke damage.

AT HOME WITH BLACK AND WHITE

I love untraditional Halloween themes.  Although I have many vintage 1930-1950 Halloween decorations as well.  This year I thought I'd turn "it" up a notch.  Since American Harvest is decked out in Theatre Mystique for Halloween, I changed my home decor to just black, white and gold for this year's fall decor.

I started out very simply with an old iron African Violet plant stand.  I added a Dee Faust pumpkin on top with black glittered candles below.  I also added black shiny shred under the candles.

Then I placed two child mannequins on top of an antique armoire.  The one on the left is not old, but it is decorated with antique ex-votos from Italy.  The black mannequin is very old.  I found it in Paris last year.

This beautiful antique dress form holds my Donna O'Brien crown and scepter.  The banner across the front is from Wendy Addison's Theatre of Dreams.

I think that my dress form is so pretty that I decided that it must have won a ribbon or two in a pageant.  Two great black ribbons adorn the hem line.

I adore all of my many antique candy jars.  This year I placed black and white items in them for the season.  None of the items are strictly Halloween, but they certainly do set the mood.
A pair of antique doll eyes are somewhat distorted in the candy jar.

In another candy jar you'll find a pair of antique child's high top button shoes.

This is an autograph book (again black and gold theme) dated 1885.  The calligraphy inside is amazing.

This black and gold cover of this book was a tremendous find!  The book is dated 1923.

Not everything needs to be old.  A silver beaded spider web sets off the Debbee Thibault creation.  It stands proudly next to a skull based Halloween tree. 

This silver boot was enhanced by Donna O'Brien.  The boot itself is a vintage shot glass from England.

Here is another candy jar (I have 14 in all in my living room filled with black, white and gold items).  This one is filled with gold vintage millinery.

Normally I have pale pink flowered pillows on my white furniture in the living room.  But for this time of year, I replaced the pillows with simple black pillows in a variety of shapes and textures.

Finally, I placed black silhouette bat candlesticks on my table.  I like how the sun is setting behind them.  I encourage my customers at American Harvest to "think outside the box".  My goal is to make our shop inspirational and creative.  Be passionate about your own designs for this Fall season.  Your family and friends will be amazed at how creative you are!  Let me know your design tips for this Halloween season.  After all, sharing ideas is half the fun!

THE SKY ISN'T ALWAYS BLUE

I grew up surrounded by art...

I can never remember a time in my life when our home was not filled with sketch books, brushes, easels, watercolor paper, and the smell of oil paint on canvas.

You see, my mother is a painter, a watercolorist...an artist.

As a little girl, my mom was confined to her bed with a long illness.  In those days, what was a kid to do?  There were no videos, no X-boxes, barely TV! 

Her love of drawing and art began with pencil and paper.

I remember as a child proudly showing my mom a picture I had "colored" in school.  She was always encouraging to me, but also added, "Sharon, you know the sky can be yellow or pink or gray or even purple."

"The sky isn't always blue."

This statement expanded my world of creativity and opened my thought process to "think outside the box".

I always knew my mom had a special talent.

None of my friends' moms were featured at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, gallery openings, art exhibits in New York City or one-woman-shows.  Their moms didn't have piles of blue ribbons haphazardly pinned to a bulletin board shoved in the corner of an art studio.

My mom's circle of friends included potters, abstract painters, metal sculptors, batik artists, oil painters, and other watercolorists.

Today, new friends that have come into her life, all share the same passion for art.

I am so fortunate to have a career where I continue to be surrounded by incredible art in a variety of forms.  American Harvest continues to search out new talented artists to showcase in our shop.

At American Harvest, our "family" includes paper mache artists, doll artists, jewelry sculptors, mixed media and collage artists.

Thanks Mom for opening my eyes to the world of art and for reminding me that the sky isn't limited to blue.  Happy Mother's Day!

(Please do not copy or reproduce any of the art work shown in this post.  All of my mother's paintings are copyrighted and cannot be used without her written permission.  Thank you.)