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Author Archives: jp

DIY PaddleBall Game • August 8th, 2018

August 05

Wednesday, August 8th, 2018 at Akbar ’round 9ish to midnight (or later) it’s CRAFTNIGHT! 
Project: DIY PaddleBall Game
*******$4 PABST/TECATES • $5 Cocktail Special: Your ticket to Sassytown!  
*********$3 suggested donation, please!

Still at the first half of the last of the summer months, we find ourselves in August. Above average temperatures prevail! The great solar wheel turns its magnifying glass toward us ants and ROASTS us to a crisp, and we hope all goddesses presiding over agriculture will not kill off all the tomatoes. Shark Week is hiding in the month of August somewhere… but who knows when it will attack?!?

What to do with a month like August? Keep on keepin’ on, and thus, we bring you DIY paddleballs.

If you want to paddle, well, we got you one, and you can make it look like whatever you want! Comes with a ball and a string to flex those motor skills and hand-eye coordination. The paddle ball (U.S. Patent 1,529,600) was created in the 1920s and is a classic toy that captured the hearts and minds of America! The original model depicted a cowboy playing paddle ball while riding on a bucking bronco, which would be hard to manage, I’d imagine. You can paint such a scene on the back of your paddleball game, or someone’s name, or a mouse eating a snake, or a certain politician’s face, or whatever you like!

Here’s a GREAT clip from House of Wax showing some paddle ball prowess if I ever saw any:

Paddleball is a game of physical skill and dexterity, and it is a beloved toy of historical importance, so I’ll wholeheartedly agree that having one around helps add merit to one’s living quarters or place of work. Stop typing, writing, office-ing, and give the paddleball a coupla whirls and suddenly you’re reminded that being a person is just incredible, and you should make sure to do more person things, and less dumb/workie things, when possible.

It’s August, and there’s so much more of it ahead, make sure you visit us, we’ll keep the ice cubes cold.

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

Upcoming CraftNights: August 15th – Ocean Animal Sand Art, August  22nd, 29th, September 5th, 12th TBA Crafts! >>> 9pm • Wednesdays • Akbar >>> 4356 W. Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90029 >>>>>> www.craftnightlosangeles.com

 

Posted by on August 5, 2018 in Coloring Craft, Multi-Variety Craft

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Wooden Safari Stand-Ups • August 1st, 2018

July 29

Wednesday, August 1st, 2018 at Akbar ’round 9ish to midnight (or later) it’s CRAFTNIGHT! 
Project: Wooden Safari Stand-Ups 
*******$4 PABST/TECATES • $5 Cocktail Special: fun in a glass!     
*********$3 suggested donation, please!

Heyyyyy it’s the FIRST of August, ever hear of Lughnasadh? Don’t worry, I won’t make you try to pronounce it, but just so’s you know, it’s a big fat holiday marking the beginning of the harvest season! It’s Gaelic, which means, of course, that it historically involved ritual athletic contests, feasting, dance-play, and hiking up large hills and mountains. Today’s rituals include crowning a goat as king of the Puck Festival in Killorglin, County Kerry (Ireland), as well as using butter churns and brandishing old-fashioned weapons.

Now that you’ve been informed, I’ll just let you know that we’re not doing any of that to mark the first of August at CraftNight, we’re just gonna paint some cool wooden safari animals. We have alligators, lions, hippos, giraffes, elephants, snakes, zebras, rhinos, primates, and trees. They are pretty much flat shapes, but they come with a little stand that helps it sit up so that it may be smartly displayed wherever you decide to present it.

If you’re considering starting a woodland wildlife park, consider this your invitation to start your menagerie! Make no mistake, with care and consideration, this is a bona fide actual TOY that is super adorable and durable. If you don’t want to use it as a stand-up, you can glue a magnet to the back and have some fridge decor! These are also lovely enough to festoon wrapped bday gifts… since it seems like everyone and their dog was born in August, you might need more birthday trinkets to give out than usual.

In any case, it’s a longform month, 31 days to be exact, so settle in, and make sure you pencil us in for your leisure activity life-balance roster.

If you dig meteor showers with a new moon (great visability!) the Perseid Meteor Shower will be puttin’ on a show August 11th, 12th, and 13th! It’s pretty much the best of the bunch as far as meteor showers for the western hemisphere goes, so if you want to see something quite lovely, get yourself to the night sky.

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

Upcoming CraftNights: August 8th – DIY Paddleball Game, August 15th – Ocean Animal Sand Art, August  22nd, TBA Craft >>> 9pm • Wednesdays • Akbar >>> 4356 W. Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90029 >>>>>> www.craftnightlosangeles.com

 

Posted by on July 29, 2018 in Painting Craft

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Keychain Fob Magic • July 25th, 2018

July 24

Wednesday, July 25th, 2018 at Akbar ’round 9ish to midnight (or later) it’s CRAFTNIGHT! 
Project: Keychain Fob Magic 
*******$4 PABST/TECATES • $5 Cocktail Special, the wave of the future!      
*********$3 suggested donation, please!

“Where are my keys?” You said NEVER AGAIN after making a beautiful and envied keychain fob at CraftNight! This thing is a boon to anyone who misplaces their keys anywhere, because you can design it to be the most flamboyant, vivid, eye-catching keychain this side of the Rio Grande. Misplaced keys will be a thing of the past!

This is a multi-variety keychain craft involving assemblage of decorative bead combinations AND drawing/scrapping together something to put inside the lil’ picture frame thingy that comes with it. It’s a two-parter, easygoing and as complicated or as simple as you make it. Save your keys or someone else’s keys (makes a great gift) with this peppy lil’ handmade souvenir of practicality!

I know it’s summer, I know your brain is all befuddled with BBQs, beaches, and diversions that are ever so much more enticing than the administrative tasks required to keep living. Drag your addled, overheated self to our bar and give yourself a much deserved break!

This craft is a quiet, relaxing playground for your mind, fostering a cocktail-laden, air-conditioned escape hatch from the scurrying timelapse-frenzy of the urban lifestyle.

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

Upcoming CraftNights: August 1st – Wooden Safari Stand-Ups, August 8th – DIY Paddleball Game, August 15th – Ocean Animal Sand Art, August  22nd, TBA Craft >>> 9pm • Wednesdays • Akbar >>> 4356 W. Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90029 >>>>>> www.craftnightlosangeles.com

 

Posted by on July 24, 2018 in Assembly Craft, Coloring Craft, Jewelry Craft, Multi-Variety Craft

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Hot Season Pinwheel • July 18th, 2018

July 13

Wednesday, July 18th, 2018 at Akbar ’round 9ish to midnight (or later) it’s CRAFTNIGHT! 
Project: Hot Season Pinwheel
*******$4 PABST/TECATES • $5 Cocktail Special, something to talk about!      
*********$3 suggested donation, please!

The 18th is National Hot Dog Day, National Sour Candy Day, and Nelson Mandela International Day! I thought you might want to celebrate accordingly with your very own wind-powered-color-your-own hot season pinwheel! The pinwheel comes with its own colorful stick, so you can run around like a fairy godmother, granting wishes, or, if the hot weather turns everyone and everything cantankerous, you can just sweetly beat the crap out of any obstacle that stands in your way.

These are “jumbo” pinwheels: impressive, grand and ostentatious! A sweet breeze will really make this thing put on a show! I’ll have all the decorative items available at your leisure, you can deck this thing out and attend garden parties with glamorous aplomb. The temperature here in our lovely metropolis is in the high 80s, which SOME people call hot. I’ve been calling it hot… but I know that’s not actually hot, I’m being dramatic. What we’ve been experiencing lately is a dainty hot, where you can still turn on the grill or function as a normal human being. We had a little preview in early July to show us what’s truly on the menu for upcoming months.

And because I know what’s coming, let me just say to you: Guuuurl, you’re gonna need a pinwheel. Because when August and September hit Los Angeles, the other shoe drops and EVERYTHING is cancelled. You will feel like you need a forklift to spatula your body up and out into the world to get stuff done.

A decorative pinwheel will tell you where the breeze is, should the fates be courteous and send us one. It will also remind you of a time when you had the energy to make a pinwheel, evoking those cooler days, remembering that this too shall pass.

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

Upcoming CraftNights: July 25th – Keychain Fob Magic, August 1st – Wooden Safari Stand-Ups, August 8th – DIY Paddleball Game >>> 9pm • Wednesdays • Akbar >>> 4356 W. Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90029 >>>>>> www.craftnightlosangeles.com

 

Posted by on July 13, 2018 in Assembly Craft, Coloring Craft

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Calming Coloring! • July 11th, 2018

July 11

TONIGHT!!!! Wednesday, July 11th, 2018 at Akbar ’round 9ish to midnight (or later) it’s CRAFTNIGHT! 
Project: Calming Coloring  
*******$4 PABST/TECATES • $5 Cocktail Special, goodness in a glass!         
*********$3 suggested donation, please!

The challenge of the hot days in the southland have begun, and we’re here to address it with delicious drinks and a relaxing, calming coloring craft. We’re just gonna hang out and color, no big deal, nothing stressful or involved or exhausting or complicated.

Carl Jung was a big believer in coloring, he thought it was one of the keys to gaining self knowledge, and bringing subconscious thoughts to life. Coloring takes you away from the hot office, the annoying co-workers, the stuff you have to do, the things you’re not doing, it’s an escape, which is really good for the brain! 

Coloring kinda takes you back to a time when all you ever did was color. Do you remember that?

When we were kids, it’s like they’d do ANYTHING to shut us up and please god just color something and stop hanging from the rafters. As one gets older, curricular pursuits tend to lean away from the arts, and coloring sometimes falls to the wayside, but its importance is still quite relevant in our stressed out society! Relaxing in today’s day and age is pivotal!

When’s the last time you used your brain to color on paper with fine motor skills, color picking, and organizing hues into something pleasing to your eye? Focus and concentration is harder and harder to hone, distractions are everywhere! When the mind has a lil’ playground to run around in with crayons, pencils and pens, its not unlike a mini trip to the Bahamas for one’s taxed and tired gray matter.

Pick a page, have a seat, enjoy the colors!

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

COMING UP: Bet Yer Bottom BINGO JULY 15th at Akbar at 7:30PM >>> Oh Desert Heart are you ready for us? >>> Here’s MORE INFO! 

CraftNights July 18th, 25th, August 1st >>> 9pm • Wednesdays • Akbar >>> 4356 W. Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90029

 

Posted by on July 11, 2018 in Coloring Craft

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