Antioch's Silent Auction April 2023

 

Our CWF group at Antioch held our 2nd Silent Auction this month for a fundraiser.  Some of us decided to try our hand at crafting some things to sell. I had so much fun! I got started as I was recovering from my knee replacement in December, then continued on in those yucky weather months.  I had so much fun learning some new techniques and stepping out of my comfort zone a little! I hope we will do this again. 

Some things sold, some things didn't.  But it was a good cause and a labor of love.  Most of what didn't sell, ended up being gifted. Below are some things I made.

Wooden Shingles

 

Lisa and I went to our friend Christy's mom's estate sale.  I'm always on the lookout for a little slab of wood or 2 that I can craft with.  Well.......they had these 2 boxes of cedar shingles for $10.  For all. I cannot wait to get started! I'll start with some Christmas crafts: snowmen, Christmas trees, winter scenes with churches.  I have a million thoughts.

I know I won't be able to use them all because some are too thin and cracking. But with some gentle washing and gentle sanding to get rid of splinters, I should be able to paint on most of them. 

Hopefully, something will end up fun enough to share with Christy as a momento.

Art Lesson: Red Maple Leaf

So, I took my first art lesson with teacher, Debbie James.  I only did 3 lessons because I know it's my thing.  But I did learn some cool things like mixing colors, etc.

She asked us to choose a simple pic to try to paint.  I chose this Red Maple leaf from my photos. I'd taken this a couple of autumns ago while on a walk in WA State. The first photo shows it on Henry's back.

I thought that was pretty simple.  But she assured me I wasn't ready for all that shading of colors. She sees things I don't see. LOL.

This one is from the same walk, but it has asphalt as the background and she thought that was more do-able. 

 Instead of making a copy of my photo and using tracing paper to draw it, I freehanded it.  Mainly because I'm not patient enough to trace. I think it looks pretty kindergartenish. Debbie suggested I put more time into finishing up the asphalt.  But Laura Lee's sweet self wants me to send it to her just like it is. I bought a thrift store frame, and did the chippy paint technique on it. David put a hanger on the back and off it goes to WI.

Who knows, maybe I'll try lessons again someday.

A Checkerboard Christmas

I couldn't pass us this $1 checkerboard frame at Salvation Army.  It was speaking to me.  My mind immediately went to Christmas.

 I inserted the front of a Christmas card we rec'd last year from cousins Ron and Peggy.  I added a messy bow and Bob's your uncle. I've put it in our silent auction to be held next week on Palm Sunday at church.  But I won't be sad if there are no takers. (Sold)

Bunny Bum Door Hangers

One of the booths at Treasure Trove had these doorhanger cutouts for a few cents each.  I bought all they had which was 6 or 7. 

I painted and sealed them, added a bunny bum and a messy bow. 

 I think they'll be a fun little Easter treat for our homebound ladies.

Chippy Church

So I found a weird little board at Goodwill for $1.  It looked like half a cutting board, maybe. I tried the "chippy paint" technique and it worked better on this than on anything I've tried it on.  I painted it with black acrylic, and roughly swiped Elmer's glue on the dried paint.  I let it sit an hour or so while I worked on something else. Then when the glue was mostly dry, but still a little sticky, I painted Vintage White acrylic.  I left it overnight and this was the result.  I love it.

I thought a rustic little church painted on it would be fun. The above is my inspiration.

 And here is the almost final result. Couldn't decide whether to add a messy bow or twine or leave it as it.

I opted for some skinny jute I had on hand.  This one will be a leaner. (Sold)

Flower Caddy

 

I did some painting and napkin decoupaging to a galvanized caddy found at Haven Homes.

After adding some Dollar Tree flowers, I think it's pretty cute!

Bunny Bums Mini-Leaners

 Kathey gave me some boards from a busted barrel she had.  I saw a fun project for Easter (inspiration below) on Pinterest. I'm no artist, but I thought this looked simple enough for me. So this first one is for me to keep.  The rest will be gifted. I may try to sell one in ACC's silent auction. (2 sold in the auction. The rest were gifted)

My Bunny Bum is leaning on our mantle.

I gave them a base coat of vintage white acrylic and then mixed some of my acrylics to get shades I wanted. Then I used a green paint pen for the grass at the bottom.

The above was my inpiration and you can see they're charging $20! The thing I didn't do was use the twine. I like the look, but I think it would drive me crazy to think of there being a bow on the BACK of the bunny.  Just my quirk.

Pam will got this one.

I free-handed the bunnies with white acrylic.  Not that I had to mention that -- it's pretty obvious.

Then I added the "shadowing", I guess you'd call it, with some light gray and light brown.

After sealing them with polycrylic, they're ready to go.  Kathey chose the peach colored one above.

I just love them.  This may be a new go-to each Easter.

Lisa chose a peach bunny bum and leaned it on her bar.

Alicia chose pretty mint/seafoam kind of color.

Bunny Crafts

So I ordered a bag full of wooden bunnies, painted them, added burlap, painted the burlap, added Wanda's buttons to the tail and glued them on to random boards I'd found at thrift stores.  Of course I painted and distressed most of the boards. Some I may have over-distressed..  But I can always paint over.

 

Rag Sunflowers

Saw these cute sunflowers on a FB craft page.  I thought they'd be easy enough that even I could pull it off!  Below is the inspiration pic and written instructions.

I found a perfect bucket for them at a flea market. I glued them in and poured a bunch of DT rocks around it.  It didn't hold on that metal.  For the first time ever I tried the spray foam that I decided I'd use for my rag Christmas trees next time.  Whoa boy, that was a learning experience! I sprayed too much in there.  The next morning it had expanded waaaaay above the top of the bucket.  I was able to pull the bigges chunk of it out.  But there was tons stuck to the sides and hardened pretty good.  David had a tough little scraper that I used for probably and hour or so and got as much as I could off. Then I painted over the inside and started again. 

Though I was trying to avoid using floral blocks (because they're environmentally unfriendly), I buckled and got a couple. After placing them in there like I wanted, I sprayed about and inch or so of the foam and let it sit overnight. The next morning, the bucket was nearly half full of hardened foam. I added a little more and let it harden before covering the top with rocks. Whew!

I found another bucket and gave it a thin coat of vintage white. I may go back over it with distressing ink.

 I have a friend, Trish,  that used spray starch on hers to make the pedals not so floppy.  She said it took a LOT of starch.  They do look nice as you can see below.

So, I may try that on them next time.  But right now I'm kinda liking the floppy look. I may decide to add a 3rd flower to each of them though.....if I can get them through that hardened foam.

(Both of mine above -- SOLD -- in ACC's silent auction)