With WHRL’s Winter Tree Festival & Auction just a month away, I’m relieved to be ahead of the game and have my first entry finished.

This summer, I spent many hours on my porch painting these little wooden lobster buoys.

I strung the individual buoys on string to form a garland.

Two strands of buoy garland – a total of 32 buoys – grace this vintage style feather tree. (Thanks, Mom!)

I cut little lobsters from wood veneer paper using my new Cricut Maker 3 (my first project) and then stained them red. The lobsters are paired with “sea glass” ornaments – clear ornaments painted with translucent sea glass paint.

LED lights have frosted glass gems in sea glass colors glued on them.

They give the tree a pretty glow.

I used a dried starfish from Hobby Lobby for the tree topper.

The base is a galvanized pail that I covered with natural sisal rope.

The end result is a sweet, little rustic tree (looking a tad bit lopsided from the wind) that will go up for auction the first weekend in December to benefit WHRL!