TONIGHT! June 23rd, 2010 at Akbar, from 9pm until midnight it’s CRAFTNIGHT!
Project: I think it’s Pins -n- Magnets
$2 processing fee, please
Uh… it was going to be bottlecap night, but I just switched it to SOMETHING ELSE. This happens sometimes. I think it will be pins-n-magnets, but check back in a few hours, if you want to be sure! I have to rummage through some supplies to be certain this is what we’re doing.
See you at the Craft Table!
JP Craft Captain
TONIGHT! (Wednesday, June 16th, 2010) at Akbar, from 9pm until 12am it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: Shrinky Dinks!
$2 processing fee, please
$4 Cosmos
SPECIAL AKBAR NEWS: HAPPY HOUR at Akbar every week, Tuesday – Friday 4pm – 8pm with tasty drink specials and FOOD! Sexy bartender Jeff Rasul at the helm, AND sometimes we play SPORTS on the TV… how crazy is that?)
BACK TO OUR REGULAR PROGRAMMING:
Dear Crafter, if you have not seen where I live, simply picture your friendly neighborhood gathering of craft supplies, put it in a blender, and swirl it around a few times. While it does look a bit chaotic at first glance, there is no doubt that the household is a place of creative uh… freedom.
That said, I’m not going to lie to you. I have miss-placed the toaster ovens. Are you giving me a blank stare? That might be better than piteous wails of despair, because it might mean you’ve never made a shrinky dink. If you don’t know what a shrinky dink is, you won’t have a total freak-out if I don’t find the toaster ovens, and we have to downshift to a different craft.
But if you DO know what a shrinky dink is, and you’ve made them at CraftNight before, you understand unequivocally how dire the situation is. Therefore, I implore you: use the force, send the vibes, pray that I find the hallowed shrinky dink toaster ovens.
Shrinky dinks are hands-down one of the most popular crafts I run, announcing their imminence can result in a sort of stampede that leaves everyone’s hair looking like one of those little plastic trolls that go on the end of pencils. The hard work, followed by the fascination of curling plastic and instant gratification of the fabulous end product it delivers makes Shrinky Dinks one of CraftNight’s most popular projects.
Like I said: send those thoughts toward my spelunking through the garage for the toaster ovens, I have a mostly good feeling about it, but I can use any metaphysical cosmic rays you want to send my way.
See you at the Craft Table,
JP Craft Captain
PS – LAKERZZZZ!!!!
PPS – At this moment, while I type “C’mon Spain, HIT THE NET!!!” (FIFA)
This Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 (TONIGHT) from 9pm – midnight at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: Attack of the CORK People
$2 Processing fee, please
$4 Cosmopolitans!
What does this project mean? It means there’s going to be cork. Sometimes, when all is said and done, you just have to make weird stuff out of cork, that’s what we’re here for, after all. At the end of the day, when all that stuff you have to do from sun-up to sun-down is finished, we’re here to ply your embrangled mind with some relaxing, entertaining, frivolous activity.
Yes, embrangled is a word. Spellcheck keeps trying to tell me something is terribly wrong… but “embrangle” is really and truly a legitimate word! It was first used in 1664, and I guess the word police got ahold of it, and decided to morph it into “embroil.” But I like embrangle, because it’s sort of like a blend of “embrace” and “tangle.” We need to bring this word back, because if today’s rat-race-oriented population isn’t embracing the tangle, I don’t know what we’re doing!
So now… back to corks.
Corks commonly get overlooked as “that thinger that keeps my wine from going all over the place” when actually, it takes a LOT of effort and resources to make a cork! Cork is so much more than bulletin boards, stoppers and a county in Ireland! It takes a cork tree 25 years to reach maturity, and a cork tree can only be harvested about every 5-9 years. Cork oak forests are home to one of the most endangered species in the world, the Iberian Lynx! Also, let it be known, that there is nothing, I repeat nothing that can replace the excellence of a cork handle on the end of a Koh-I-Noor No. 127 N nib holder on a calligraphy pen.
There are so many cool things to make with corks, and if you are having a mental block about it, CraftNight is here to inspire you. Come in, make a cork family, a cork space pod, a cork animal farm! Cork! It’s not just for bottles, it’s for life-enhancing creative enterprises that FLOAT. Heck, your CraftNight project could save your life if Los Angeles were to suddenly drop into the Pacific Ocean!
See you at the Craft Table!
JP Craft Captain
PS – NEW HAPPY HOUR at AKBAR! Tuesdays from 4 – 8, cheap drinks, cheap food, served up by the rather hunky Jeff Rasul (growwlllll).
This Wednesday (TONIGHT!) from 9pm – 12-ish, at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: The Amazing Technicolor Wooden Bead-In
$2 processing fee, please
$4 cosmopolitan special (Akbar is the ORIGINAL sex in the city…)
Any experienced meditator knows that the mind wanders no matter how soft or hard your meditation cushion is. Our minds are being pulled apart by billboards, bench ads, bus ads, e-mails, tweets and phone calls. With so much crazy stuff bleeping, blipping and blooping at us all the time, we sort of end up hurrying through stuff, skimming our way through all that information, trying to get the gist of everything.
Can you “get the gist” of painting a bead? If your hands are covered in paint, it’s certainly hard to text someone on your Droid.
Well good, that’s what we want! Get in here and paint some beads, dammit! Depart from the constant toot-tooting of all your appointments, Facebook IMs, blah blah blah BLAH! Turn off your device(s) get a refreshing beverage, grab some beads and welcome the time and care it takes to glean some nuance, subtlety, creativity, concentration, detail and depth that comes from concentrating on something for more than 15 minutes! Amulets, chokers, love-beads, chestplates, all manner of configuration are YOURS this evening when you decide to rescue the mind from it’s constant barking and join the bead-in!
Tune OUT, Drop IN, Turn ON!
See you at the Craft table,
JP Craft Captain
TONIGHT! • May 26th, 2010 • 9pm – 12-ish at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: CRAFT STANLEYS
$2 processing fee, please
$4 cosmo special
Flat Stanley was started in 1964, a story about a kid (Stanley Lambchop) who gets squashed by a bulletin board gets to live a FLAT existence! The coolest thing about Flat Stanley’s new 2-D physique is that he can travel around by MAIL to visit friends! Since then, classrooms around the world have used Flat Stanley as a way to connect with other schools of many countries. The project has many similarities to the Travelling gnome prank except, of course, for the Flat Stanley Project’s focus on literacy.It should be noted, the most amazing Flat Stanley EVER (in my opinion) was on US Airways Flight 1549 which landed safely in the Hudson River. He was carried to safety in the briefcase of his traveling companion.
So… since it’s CraftNight, we’re making CRAFT Stanleys, and you can make one to send to a friend, OR you can join us in sending CRAFT Stanleys to TWO AMAZING PLACES:
1.) Craft Cousin Angie in Japan!
2.) Craft Comrade Jen in Prague!
These two generous crafters across the WORLD have offered to take care of CraftNight’s Craft Stanleys and show them a good time, and document some of Stanleys’ traveling adventures! We’ll be including journals for our Craft Stanleys, documenting their activities at CraftNight before we send them off. And, of course, if you’re reading this, and you are far away, and want a CRAFT Stanley to visit you, let us know, send your address, and we’ll send you one!
See you at the Craft Table!
JP Craft Captain
PS – Keep an eye out for Akbar’s upcoming HAPPY HOUR! Starts June 1st, every Tuesday from 4 – 8pm, featuring tasty specialty drinks, delicious edibles from the Kitchen, and your host, the extremely appetizing and alluring Jeff Rasul >>>> YUM!!!
