The Exemplary 2024
2nd Place, Professional Original

I’ve always wanted to create an Advent tree, but didn’t want the traditional looking tree, nor have to stitch all the ornaments. Things changed when I found 24 wood buttons at a local needlepoint store, and I knew they would be perfect. I love trees and during one of my internet searches, I saw this rustic looking tree and things fell in to place.

I decided the tree needed to have rustic looking, uneven, wood blanks to create the shape, and of course, be in all green, and sit in a brown box. And, finally, what better way to top off a rustic tree, than with a copper star.

Another hobby of mine is Zentangle, which is a combination of controlled doodling and Zen. This kind of art is limitless and one of the things I like about it are the dangles that hang in a fun whimsical way. Since the areas on either side of the treetop were bare, I decided it needed some dangles inspired by the creator of Zenspirations.