Monthly Archives: September 2009

This Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 from 9pm til midnight(ish) at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!

Project: CANDY CRAFTS!!!

$2 Processing fee, please

Man oh man oh man oh man! You don’t want to miss THIS ONE!  We’re making candy jewelry with endless edible CANDY, how about that? First come first serve, you will be handed your VERY OWN CANDY BEAD STUDIO ($20 value, BIG thanks to Jakks Pacific Toys & Liz Hogan for hooking us up!) Each kit comes with a special tray full of amazing candy jewelry supplies. You can make rings, bracelets, necklaces… and then when you get hungry, you can EAT all of it!

I’m also hoping to make popcorn balls in honor of the 7th Annual GOTHTOBER Launch, happening at midnight! What is Gothtober? Dedicated to the fun and excitement of All Hallows Eve, Gothtober.com is the world’s only time-release art gallery/advent calendar counting down the days to October 31st: Halloween! The Gothtober launch kicks off the official start of Halloween Shenanigans, and CraftNight follows along in spirit with an INSANE month of crazy creepy deluxe Halloween crafts! We’ll be making Spooky Paper Fold-Out Hot Rods, painting haunted figurines, carving pumpkins, and there will be SQUARE DANCING at the end of the month!

For this Wednesday, however, my aim is to make your teeth hum with more candy than you can shake a stick at, we’re going to be seriously blinged-out with some sweeeeeet jewelry. Be prepared to pose for the paparazzi, I hear they love them some candy jewelry fashions…

UPCOMING EVENT: A special treat is coming up on October 30th for the west siders and early risers, there will be a 7pm CraftNight on October 30th at the Hammer Museum’s HAMMER HALLOWEEN HOE DOWN! And it’s FREE! You don’t even have to pay 2 bucks! More info later, but put this on your calendar, I’ve prepared 2 projects to choose from, find out what they are by coming in to see me at the museum!

See you at the Craft Table!

JP Craft Captain/Head Candycorn of Gothtober.com

CraftNight’s Site

Akbar’s Site

This Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 from 9-ish until midnight-ish at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!

Project: Particle Board Persons

$2 processing fee, please

It’s fall, time to dork out and buy a “Autumn Pumpkin Spice” candle and think about how it’s getting cooler in other parts of the world… but not here. In fact, this Wednesday, we’re supposed to hit triple digits with the crazy heat! That’s hardly frost upon the pumpkin, but it’s just the beginning. Happy Fierce Fall, y’all, from CraftNight!

I found these trippy cut-outs of particle board people, they are flat, they are unassuming, sort of little meditative forms, prepared to accept the unexpected. Come in and decorate yours! Perhaps you want to practice your Halloween costume designs on it, or make it resemble a cornucopia of harvest vegetables, maybe make an adorable little football uniform outfit for it, or tape cloves to it, spray it with deodorant and hang it from your rear view mirror?

You don’t have to do anything with it, really, it’s a particle board person, it merely wants to be where you are.

This is one of those “sleeper crafts” don’t let the calm facade fool you , because WHAM the night gets CRAZY with ideas, and people make wild stuff! That’s right! I said WILD STUFF, the stuff of Jungian confabulation where the rivers run glossy neon purple, the willow trees do backflips, and it all means you are TALENTED! I’m completely prepared to witness  your wonderment, even if you are underwhelmed and didn’t get enough sleep.

Waltz in here, forget the dirge of your elegant fan base, escape the papparazzi and join us for an evening of casual innovation.

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

(Thank you for all awesome contributors to my MS Ride! I made my goal and then some, thanks to your generosity! Come October 3rd and 4th, I’m gonna ride like the wind, 160-miles of TOTAL SPORTS INSPIRATION!)

CraftNight’s Site

Akbar’s Site

This Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 from 9-ish to 12-ish at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!

Project: GRAB BAG!!!

$2 Processing fee, please

If you think there are no holidays in September, you’re WRONG. As a matter of fact, September is host to a whole bunch of obscure, little-known holidays, and on the 16th of September we have: National Collect Rocks Day, National Step-Family Day, Mayflower Day, Mexican Independence Day, National Working Parents Day, and National Play-Doh Day!

It’s also International Square Dancing Month, National Blueberry Popsicle Month, National Courtesy Month and Little League month. With all these incredible options for making crafts, how do we choose ONE PROJECT?!? Creativity can be messy, complicated, difficult and downright frightening for some people, this is why CraftNight exists: to take all of that away, and get back to simply using your hands and your guts.

It’s totally easy to take something simple and make it complicated… but can you take something complicated and make it fantastically simple? That’s what I’m getting at here… it’s stealth, dude, so simple, and thus, commonly overlooked.

I’m making it easy on you: GRAB BAG. What you get is what you make, distractions cleared, perplexing obstacles eradicated, it’s just you and the BAG, you and the moment, all  you have to do is show up, and give me 2 bucks.

Y’gotta show up. It might or might not happen, you might make something great, you might make something weird, but you won’t create a thing if you don’t walk in the door, that’s the truth of makin’ stuff. Oh, I’m callin’ you, crafter, make it happen, it’s almost Fall, it’s almost Rosh Hashanah, and it’s time to do yourself a favor and come have some fun.

See you at the Craft Table, and wait… read this below:

I’ve been kicking ass with Relapsing/Remitting Multiple Sclerosis since May of 2007, I’m tough and I’m strong and I’m FIFTEEN DOLLARS from making my minimum, so please pledge me in the 2009 MS Ride which will be happening October 3rd and 4th of 2009. I know it’s hard times, send 10 bucks, heck, send 5, every little bit helps. I’ll be riding 160 miles over the course of 2 days with my Team: TOTAL SPORTS INSPIRATION (That’s Team TSI to you…).

Thanks for your support,

JP Craft Captain • TSI Team Captain

CraftNight’s Site

Akbar’s Site

This Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 from 9-ish to midnight (or so) at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!

Project: Wooden Concepts!

$2 processing fee, please!

You should know by now, there is no “sort of” jumping out of a plane if you’re going to parachute. There’s no “kind of” when you tear open the factory-sealed bag of fancy potato chips and there’s no “almost” when it comes to painting wooden concepts at CraftNight. If you’re the kind of person who spends half an hour with the dinner menu in a restaurant, or deliberates 50 times over which brand of kitchen sponge in the store is really going to do the best job, or if you have a little bit of a freak-out over what direction the toilet paper needs to flip on the roll (over or under) in the bathroom… beware of the variety offered you at CraftNight tonight. You might have a meltdown.

Wooden shapes, wooden creatures, wooden objects, some of them doubling as frames, some of them stand-alone, WHICH ONE WILL YOU CHOOSE?!? Princess, pony, snail or pirate?!? You’re going to have to COMMIT. I know it’s hard, but I promise you, whichever one you choose is the right one, really… it is. And it’s also going to be the best one. Time to take a stance, take matters into your own hands, and decide. There is great freedom in determination, feel the rush! Try it! Whoosh!

Also, here begins my invitation asking you to please pledge me in the 2009 MS Ride which will be happening October 3rd and 4th of 2009. I know it’s hard times, send 10 bucks, heck, send 5, every little bit helps. I’ve got to raise $350, as I’ve raised 100 so far, and I’ll be riding 160 miles over the course of 2 days with my Team: TOTAL SPORTS INSPIRATION (That’s Team TSI to you…).

Thanks buckets and bushels and cubits for your support!

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain • TSI Team Captain

MS Bike Rider • Kicking Ass with Relapsing/Remitting Multiple Sclerosis since May of 2007

CraftNight’s Site

Akbar’s Site

This Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 from 9-ish to 12am-ish, at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!

Project: Personal Paint-by-Numbers

$2 processing fee, please

The air smells like smoked ham, we have acquired a change in the appearance of the surface of our fine city, and other cities besides. Things are just pretty darn squirrely now, aren’t they? This week, due to the sheer incomprehensibility of recent horrific fiery events, CraftNight offers up tiny individual personal paint-by-number paintings for the treatment and cure of Crafters’ Neurasthenia.

The now ensconced cumulonimbus miasma may have your mind feeling a little muddled, which is perfectly understandable. If you are feeling lost, restless, shiftless, if you find yourself wishing that life would finally start for you, if you feel anxious about your life, positive there is something else you’re supposed to be doing, but you don’t know what it is… don’t let the crazy smoke cloud consume you, let CraftNight help.

If you can navigate through the shadowy pink patina that has settled over our neighborhood, let CraftNight gently guide you to the here and now, to a serene spot at the craft table where you can take a small step and just BE the paint for one enchanted night. Let all the crud fall away, make the simple and wise decision to give yourself the time to have some fun with no grandiose presumptions or routines. Paradise is not out of reach, it is right here.

Personal Paint-by-Numbers, of things like friendly aliens, kitties, underwater ocean scenes, are here for the taking. It’s for you, and no one else. This time, it’s personal. Personal paintings, personal time, like bendy straws and toilet paper, meant for one person at a time, personal.

See you at the Craft Table!
JP Craft Captain
CraftNight’s Site
Akbar’s Site

PS – My MOM is doing the MS Ride in a week or so, pledge her if you can, every little bit helps, she’s a powerhouse, I’m proud of you Mom! WOOO!

My amazing Mom (Chris Parr-Feldman) and my super awesome stepdad (Papa Rick) say:

Rick and I have registered for Bike MS: Waves to Wine Ride 2009 and I am asking you to join us by making a contribution to our Bike MS fundraising. We are riding with the Rotary Chain Gang and we will ride on Sunday, September 13, 2009.  It’s a 50+ mile ride starting in Rohnert Park and ending at Lake Sonoma.  Yikes! We must be crazy, but it’s for a good cause. Please think of us that day.  We appreciate it.
Last year with your help and others, Rick and I raised $3,200, and all together, the Rotary chain Gang raised $10,000! We hope you will support us again this year.

Chris Parr-Feldman and Rick Feldman

Note: If you can’t send a donation now, your Craft Captain will be bugging you in a couple weeks, because I’m doing the Southern California MS Ride in October!