October 27th, 2011

It must be that time of year again- the craft party season. We’ve had a slew of folks turn to the Urban Craft Center to host their creative soirées this month, and one of our recent parties was so much fun, we wanted to share it with you here… our very first Project Runway themed birthday party.  For those of you who have never seen the show Project Runway, it is an incredibly addictive reality show that puts sixteen upcoming fashion designers to the test on a weekly basis. Hosted by the fabulous Heidi Klum, and nurtured by the always thoughtful Tim Gunn, the designers all tackle a fashion-based challenge, see their creations walk down the runway, and are subjected to (sometimes ruthless, always entertaining) criticism by their esteemed panel of judges.

For the crafty birthday party version of this television program, we had twelve pre-teens in our studio space who were all given the same dress by the birthday girl, had two hours to work, access to a “Mini Mood” Fabrics counter as well as countless supplies from the Urban Craft Center, AND their very own version of a mini Tim Gunn.

The workroom at the U.C.C. was buzzing with creativity as these girls hot-glued, sewed, ironed-on, cut, and painted their dresses to their hearts content.

Their craft party hostess, “Miss M” aka radmegan, tried to channel her inner supermodel/task-master, while calling out the remaining studio time for the fiercely talented crafters. When the time was up, the girls donned their haute couture pieces and hit the make-shift runway.

Everyone had a lot of laughs as they strutted and posed through the shop.

We even set up a backdrop with Heidi’s photo on it for the girls to take individual photos after the “show” was over.

It was a high-energy, super-creative party and when it was over, 12 girls left with custom dresses and lots of fun memories. To book your own craft party at the Urban Craft Center, fill out our online private party request form, or give us a call (310.392.0139) and ask for Megan.

September 29th, 2011

December 16th, 2010

Thinking back to our Kid’s Camp over summer, I can’t wait for this time around! I’m hoping we’ll see some familiar faces from last time, and new friends too, of course! Even though the week was a sticky vortex of glitter, glue, and googly eyes, I know I speak for all of us at The UCC when I say it was one of our favorite endeavors to date. There are few things cooler than seeing kids genuinely excited about making things. It’s inspiring to have students so eager to learn what we’re teaching, and to see how their imaginations make it their own. The crafts we’ll be doing with the kids this month are some of my personal favorites, and I can’t wait to see the kids creations and learn a thing or two from them in the process. If you’d like more information about the day camp, you can download our December class schedule or simply give us a call. Happy Holidays, stay crafty!

August 5th, 2010

Kids Craft Camp came to a close a couple of weeks ago but we can’t stop talking about how much fun we had with our 13 campers every day. All of these exceptionally talented young ladies, ages 8-12, learned new skills and took their projects far beyond what we anticipated. Workshops in sewing, embroidery, zines and comics, mixed media art journaling and jewelry making kept everyone busy no matter what their skill levels were. We’ve had lots of requests for another session in August (which is just a bit too soon for us to plan), but don’t fret, we are already planning for a Winter Break craft camp with more information to come!

Congratulations ladies on all of your super crafty achievements!!

January 4th, 2010

Last month, Paige and Kelly of Bash & Yes, Please threw an Eco Bash event here in our studio. There was music, crafting, good food and drinks, even a photo booth! We just received the photos from Raya Carlisle (http://rayaphotography.com/) who documented this special night. Enjoy!

November 24th, 2009

We had a great time at the hoedown this weekend. Lots of people learned to knit and walked away with some fabulous screen printed shirts. The bands; Freaky Mountain, Justin Gordon, Foot Foot and Old Californio were amazing and the music sounded great in our space! Thank you so much to Flounce Vintage, Polly Danger and Meg and Jenn for vending into the evening. And a huge thanks to Elaine Layabout for co-hosting the event.
If you were unable to make it, we hope to see you at an event in the future. Check out the slideshow below!

October 1st, 2009

Last weekend a great group of women hosted a bridal shower in the studio for their friend, Mariah. They brought delicious food and made these beautiful mason jar centerpieces, with little needle felted birds and mushrooms adorning the branches.

June 19th, 2009

I really love hosting parties in our studio. It is a chance for a group of people to truly make this space their own and celebrate a special event or person while creating something altogether.

Gigi has participated in several classes and events at The U.C.C. Whenever she and her good friend Lola come by, we drop whatever we are doing to find out the latest on the two girls’ creative endeavors. You may be thinking that Gigi is just another 20 something learning to sew and make soap, but Gigi just celebrated her 11th birthday with us last week!

9 of Gigi’s closest friends learned our most addicting craft, needle felting.

Watch out for Gigi, you just might see her on Project Runway…2018!

A finished felted friend.