American Harvest

Our Halloween Open House on August 26th was so much fun!  We went crazy with our theme of a haunted hotel called Hotel deMise.  Don’t miss out as the Halloween fun will continue with a Fall Signing with Debbee Thibault on Saturday, September 24th 10am-5pm.  We are so fortunate to have Debbee visit our store each year.  She is one of America’s great folk artists.  She will be bringing many one-of-a-kind creations made exclusively for American Harvest!!!  Not very many stores can say that!  Here are some pictures of our recent Halloween event.  We hope that you will stop by and visit Hotel deMise at American Harvest.

All of us got into the Halloween spirit as we dressed up for Hotel deMise.

Your Hotel staff from left to right:

Nicol Sayre, April Koska, Marion Green, Sharon Mattern, Joyce Aris, Rodger Mattern and Monique Paiva-Ching.

Enter Hotel deMise….an antique Memorial plaque from France, a memorial ribbon and large spider web on a very old door.

Our center table featured lots of antique chests and suitcases filled with Nicol Sayre’s designs of witches, witches shoes, pumpkins and black cats.  Scary morphing pictures and vintage photos added intrigue to this display.  In the foreground is an antique wood violin case (coffin).  You’ll notice the clock…your time has run out!

Old doll heads were decorated with vintage flowers, feathers and other millinery items.  Placed under a large glass bowl for added spooky appeal!

Vintage Halloween costumes were featured at the Hotel deMise.  This one is complete with top, pants, wig, mask and hat.

These desert plates were a huge hit in the Ghostly Dining Room.

The Screaming Skeleton scared the pants right off of many of our customers at the Halloween Open House.  He is motion and sound activated, he bends down, pops up and SCREAMS a blood curdling scream like you’ve never heard before!  Only one left.

Nicol Sayre made a great collection of Halloween and Fall dolls for our event.  Here is a frightful ghostly delight!!!  Nicol’s original dolls are highly collectible.  I am sorry to tell you that all are sold.

The Ghostly Dining Room featured a great collection of antique poison bottles and a few new ones too.  The amber bottles went really quickly.

Ingrid Pomeroy not only designed our Halloween postcard and poster, but she made these great skeleton in coffin items.  Not pictured are her intricate Halloween greeting cards…beautifully designed with scary, yet lovely images.

Wendy Addison created these fantastic Bat boxes.  We had many of Wendy’s original creations for Halloween.

Any hotel would not be complete without room keys…..Our keys are antique skeleton keys from France and we attached them to room tags featuring a praying skeleton.  Creepy and fun at the same time!

We also featured very pretty Halloween creations by Susan Arnot.  Susan made a huge collection for us and each and every one of them was perfect!  The antique German doll head, vintage crepe paper and Susan’s creativity make this item simply breathtaking!

So, there you have just a few of the great vignettes that Sharon, Rodger and April put together.  We cannot possibly show every little detail in these pictures.  You have only one choice….you must come into American Harvest and see all of the displays for yourself.  Thank you to all of our faithful friends and customers who make each event at American Harvest so successful.  We also want to thank you for your comments and encouragement.

We look forward to seeing you at the Fall Signing with Debbee Thibault on Saturday, September 24th!

Rodger and I want to thank all of our loyal customers and friends for attending the Halloween extravaganza, Hotel de Mise.  Without your faithfulness, we would be one of those small shops that have gone out of business in the past few years.  It has been a struggle to keep our doors open during the recession, but you have been our encouragement to press forward and not look back.  This year’s Halloween open house was our most successful fall event in the 14 year history of American Harvest.

I typically come up with the majority of ideas and the theme for our events, but without the help and dedication of my friend, April, many of these ideas would not come to fruition.  April spends countless hours at home and at the store designing and making the facades we use at our events.  She works tirelessly with Rodger and I  hanging props from the ceiling, setting up displays and making certain that no little detail is overlooked.  She even furnished her truck when our van broke down during the week of setup.  We are so grateful to have April in our lives.

Ingrid Pomeroy designed our incredible postcard and poster for this event.  She always captures our theme perfectly in her designs.  Nicol Sayre has been so generous to us and our customers with her time by attending and signing all of her wonderful original dolls.  Susan Arnot created beautiful Halloween items for our event and drove for hours to deliver them to us.  Even Jan Atkins was able to make some pretty Halloween fans despite the fact that she is suffering from a badly injured shoulder.  We have been blessed to have the help of our friends, Monique, Marion and Joyce in working so hard on Friday evening during our Halloween open house.

With thanks and appreciation to everyone,

Sharon

We have been really busy finding great vintage collectibles and antiques.  It is amazing how great vintage and new items blend together when decorating your home.  We have been inspiring home decorators for over 14 years.  Daily, we are told by those visiting our shop, American Harvest, how wonderful our displays are.  We appreciate those nice compliments.  We continue to set the bar even higher, when it comes to decorating with new and old.  With Mother’s Day right around the corner, we hope that the following images bring a smile to your face, a lift to your day and inspiration to your home.  What does Mom want for Mother’s Day?  Well, we guarantee that flowers are nice, candy is sweet, but what Mom really wants….a gift from American Harvest that inspires her home decorating!

Santos stand proud in front of a large “Ave Maria” mirror.  We use lots of vintage books for risers.  These great old books complement the vintage inspired Santo and bust.  By placing objects in a glass cloche, you can make a statement that these collectibles are truly special.

This late 19th century French Wedding Cushion has a new crown that is set on top.  It is rare to find the actual bride’s headpiece that would have been made of wax flowers.  The crown looks perfect in this arrangement.  We like to use mirrors in our displays to give depth to the collection and to reflect light.

Two antique books (“City Ballads” and “Country Ballads”) set the tone for this display of city and country vintage items.  The large barn vent is newly made with vintage woods.  The city is represented with the topiary on the left and the wire cloche on the right.

Old cameras are one of my passions now.  I have brought in many vintage cameras and they have flown out the door.  I find one or two at a time at good prices and have been able to sell them at very low prices.  The sweet tags are handmade with high quality papers and ribbons.  The images are of Coco Channel and Audrey Hepburn….two women whom photographers loved to capture with their cameras.

As all of you know, Debbee Thibault is one of our finest artists in our American Harvest Family of Artists.  We carry an important collection of her outstanding creations.  This photo shows some of the pieces in her latest collection for Spring and Summer.

I have always loved to cook for my family.  My personal collection of antique spice tins has gotten so large that I decided to part with  some of them.  My favorite is the Martha Washington spice tin.

These two beautiful hand blown glass lamp shades are from the Phoenix Art Studio.  These were made in the 30′s.  We have a very good collection of them for sale.  These beautiful creations would look great in your home to replace those tired looking standard fixtures in your bathroom.  We have also used these lamp shades as backdrops for other collectibles.

These lovely bird jewelery pieces are a small sample of the fabulous jewelery we have for sale at American Harvest.  The birds definitely say “Welcome Spring”.

I did not grow up Catholic, but was always fascinated with religious icons.  Most of my friends were Catholic, as I grew up just two blocks away from the historic Mission San Jose in Fremont, CA.  These religious medals date from the 1920′s to the 1960′s.

I also have a sweet collection of Bunnykins plates, bowls and cups.  All of my pieces are from the 1930′s.  You can buy new dishes still, but look for the vintage ones.  I am selling my duplicates now.  All are in mint condition, as I am very select with this collection.  Tip of the day….Pass up dishes with chips and hairline cracks.

At American Harvest, we love all things French.  The above pillow is one of the many French-inspired decorating items we have in stock.

We sell many books about France, Paris flea markets and Provence markets.  This is a new book for us and we love it.  The book is about authors from all over the world, who were inspired by France.  Pictured on the cover is F. Scott Fitzgerald and family.  He wrote Rodger’s favorite American novel, The Great Gatsby.  Rodger’s all-time favorite novel is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.  Of course, it is set in France.

The Eiffel Tower art tag is made by one of our great AH artist.  She uses the highest quality of paper, glitter and ribbons.  We have a wonderful selection of her French inspired images in various sizes.

Here is a fantastic display of vintage-inspired ribbons.  These are all hand dyed and sell for very reasonable prices.  Call us for colors and minimum yardage.  Perfect for tying special packages and for draping with your collectibles.  Use your imagination…the possibilities are limitless.

I love old books, Bibles and prayer books.  I know that many people are ripping off old book covers, tea staining the pages and tying these “worn” books with ribbons.  I like that look too, but cannot bear the idea of destroying old things.  I buy books for the cover, the stories, the pictures and the COLOR.  COLOR??? yes, use them as risers with similar color tones found on different objects.  This really makes for outstanding vignettes of your collectibles, including Debbee Thibault collectibles.

Speaking of Debbee Thibault…..Don’t you love this outstanding Patriotic creation from her new collection?

Well, Happy Spring to all and please have a wonderful Mother’s Day with your families.