holiday decorations – tierneycreates

Thanks everyone who has voted and commented on my post, New Business Card Options (please vote for your favorite) where I ask for your input on which of three new business cards I will order.

I will reveal the decision on Monday.

Holiday Time in Seattle, WA

In my previous posts “All Aboard” the Winter Train Village and Gingerbread Village, 12/2/16, I shared photos from a recent trip to Seattle, WA to meet up with my brother and his family (who live on the East Coast but my brother had a business trip in Seattle).

To close out this series of posts, here are the rest of the interesting holiday themed decorations I encountered during my three-day weekend wandering around Seattle tourist spots with my family.

Four Points Sheraton

We stayed at the Four Points Sheraton hotel in the Queen Anne area (conveniently within walking distance of Seattle Center/Space Needle). The lobby of the hotel was wonderfully decorated:

The Space Needle

For the full “tourist” experience in Seattle, you must visit the Space Needle, which was built for the 1962 World’s Fair (google “Space Needle” and read its interesting history). We spent part of our morning on Saturday up on the Observation deck.

One of the lovely holiday themed decorations from the Space Needle:

And here is the Space Needle itself, photographed at night as viewed through strings of holiday lights throughout the Seattle Center:

It was difficult to capture in the photo, but there is a Christmas tree at the top of the Space Needle!

Walking Around Downtown Seattle

Friday night, on our way to Gameworks to play games with my nephew (and a rematching on the long standing “air-hockey-death-match” between my brother and myself), we wandered around downtown Seattle. In addition to checking out the Gingerbread Village mentioned in previous post, we enjoyed the holiday lights and decorations around downtown.

Here are a few samples to give you a little taste of the visual delights while we wandered:

The Nordstrom Flagship Store had lovely wreaths hanging from their ceilings:

The tree at Westlake Center:

The Streets of Downtown – here is the original photo I took and then the stylized photo that Google Photos (where I backup on my photo) created:

Pretty cool, huh? And, here is one more photo from the streets of downtown Seattle:

And finally, here is a scene from the interior window display at the Tiffany & Co. store in downtown Seattle’s Pacific Place (everything in miniature with a tiny signature blue Tiffany’s box and a diamond engagement ring sitting on top):

I am sure what is inside this window display costs more than I make in year…maybe in 5 years…or more!

Alright, talk to you tomorrow when I reveal my business card selection and continue with my various ramblings…

A Crafter's Life, Special Events

“All Aboard” the Winter Train Village

December 6, 2016May 24, 2017 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Snow has fallen all day in Central Oregon. What began as a dusting of snow is now a couple inches of snowfall and the temperature has fallen to the 20s (yup Fahrenheit, wish I was talking Celsius!)

I call this time of year “Falinter” or “Wintal” (Fall meets Winter). It usually begins in November (we are after all a skiing area – Mount Bachelor); so I should not complain that the “Falinter”season did not begin until December (just a couple weeks before real Winter…)

However, the snow outside reinforces my holiday mood as I continue this week’s series of posts on Holiday Decorations.

Winter Train Village at Seattle Center

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post Gingerbread Village, 12/2/16, I spent a three-day weekend in Seattle with my brother and his family. As a former Seattle resident, I got to spend 3 days being a tourist and enjoying the town through the eyes of my delightful 4-year old nephew.

We focused the weekend on kid related activities and one of those activities involved going to the Armory at the Seattle Center to see the Winter Train Village.

Each year the Seattle Center, located next to the Space Needle, has Winterfest. Here is a link with more information (which contains a short video overview of the annual Winterfest and the Winter Train in action):

Seattle Center Winterfest 2016 Link

One of the main features at Winterfest, is the Winter Train Village and here is a collection of photos (none of which do justice to the detail and adorableness of the recreation of an old fashioned town during the holidays):

The Armory at the Seattle Center was decorated a most festive manner:

We had a wonderful lunch in the food court of the Armory while we listened to children choirs perform carols.

Before leaving the Armory, I stopped at Seattle Fudge to pick up a treat to bring home to “Terry the Quilting Husband” who was at home with the dogs. I did of course accept a couple samples of the fudge from the person working at the booth to ensure it was not poisoned or anything – ha!

It was a complete test of self control for me not to break into the wrapped up fudge before I returned home on Sunday! (Terry the Quilting Husband did share a small piece with me).

A Crafter's Life, Special Events

Gingerbread Village, 12/2/16

December 5, 2016May 24, 2017 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I am feeling festive and filled with holiday spirit.

I just returned from a three-day weekend in Seattle with my brother, his wife and their four year old son (my super adorable nephew). They live on the East Coast (I am originally from NY) and my brother was in town for a business meeting on Friday and brought his family so we could all connect.

I lived in Seattle for 8 years before moving to Central Oregon, and it was to fun to return to Seattle as a tourist.

We stayed in the downtown Seattle area which was filled with endless holiday decorations. After posting on 12/1/16 about my neighbor’s awesome new holiday centerpiece in Seriously Cute Holiday Decorations, I have decided to spend this week sharing holiday season decoration related posts.

Gingerbread Village – Sheraton Hotel – Seattle

Friday evening my brother, his family and I wandered around downtown Seattle which had begin its holiday season and was filled with lights, holiday decorations and people in festive dressed filled with holiday cheer.

There was a “battle of the carolers” in progress on one of the streets we passed – the street was blocked off and various Caroling Singing groups were competing. It seemed that several holiday parties were going on as there were numerous people dressed in evening gowns and black tie wandering downtown.

We wandered upon a sign for the Gingerbread Village at the downtown Sheraton Hotel. We walked into a beautifully appointed hotel filled with people in formal attire and then some tourists like us standing on line to see the annual Gingerbread Village display.

This year’s Village was inspired by JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series and featured elaborate (I mean ELABORATE) gingerbread houses/scenes (all made from candy and confections) based on various Harry Potter books.