Tiny Village in a Big City

I say this over and over, and most likely I've said it on this blog a time or two, but I feel so very lucky to be able to be creative for a living.  It's something I never take lightly, and I am grateful for every single opportunity I have to create.   "Making" makes me happy. I can't explain to you why exactly, it just does. It scratches a very deep itch inside of me.

This project that I'm about to share with you brought me so much joy during its creation, I can hardly believe it was a "job".

It was a dream.

My very favorite client brought me on board again to help create arrangements and decorate the Presidential Suite at the Seattle Westin for their company Christmas party.  If you would like to see what we did last year, please visit this post.

Even though the party was small, just sixteen guests total, our ideas were big, and every available surface was adorned.

On the center of the 8ft square dining table, I created an elaborate holiday village.  It was layered and dense with many, many details.




I placed several rectangular mirrors in the center, and built the small city around them.  The houses were simple paper forms that I found at an art supply store. I painted their roofs and sprinkled them with "snow". The sides of the houses were covered in glittered paper in slivery browns, golds, taupes, and warm metallics.



The "landscaping" was a mix of tiny, fresh trees, bottle brush trees, and compact floral arrangements.   The green trees were lit with tiny lights - the bulbs were no larger than a grain of rice.




The houses were trimmed with paper wreaths, bows, and garlands.




A faux votive placed inside each house gave them warmth, and brought the silhouettes in the windows to life.



There were many tiny details for the guests to discover, like the reindeer on the roof of this little house.



The arrangements were a mix of metallic and natural elements. I used hydrangeas, ivory spray roses, berzillia berries with christmas balls and glittered pinecones.



There were lots of candles too, which brought the sparkly elements to life.



Choice provided the beautiful linens and chargers for our table.  Liza assisted us with our selections and Claire did the linen installation. There is an art to placing a table cloth and folding a napkin. I didn't know this until I saw Claire work her magic last year.



We rented acrylic "Ghost Chairs" for the table.  I love their lightness next to the density of our table.



The view from the Presidential Suite is outstanding.  Honestly, I don't think there's a better view of Downtown Seattle .   I love how our tiny tabletop town is dwarfed by our big city.



Linda, my client, has a great collection of holiday props.   We both had fun putting these pieces into place.



There were flowers and candles strewn about the room to warm the space.







You would never guess by the serenity of this photo what a mad scrabble it was to get everything moved into this space on the 47th floor, set up, and cleaned up.   Getting these tasks completed before the guests arrived for the party was a Christmas Miracle!

  

Working on this event was most definitely the highlight of my year, and perhaps the highlight of my floral/crafting career thus far. Thank you for giving me this amazing opportunity to create for you, Linda. It was a joy.