The Weekend After Thanksgiving: “Now What?”

So, there you are. For better or for worse, you’ve caught up with your extended family. You’ve eaten more turkey than a human should be capable of consuming. The parade has come and gone. What do you do now?

It’s a valid question; Of course, you could do the Black Friday thing and fight your way through the retail battlefield, but after such an involved meal, do you really want to do something so stressful? While the family is still in town, while everyone still has the time off, wouldn’t it be the perfect time to do something together?  

We think so. 

Craft Loft is running a series of workshops during the Thanksgiving long weekend that will give you the opportunity to relax, have fun, and create together. This way, you, your family, and your chosen family can come away from the day with a unique piece of art and the memories that go with it.

Here’s what we have planned:

Friday 11/29

The first class after Thanksgiving is our chunky-knit throw workshop. It’s a good thing, too: after a holiday, I love nothing more than lounging around under a big squishy blanket. Whether you’re a seasoned knitter or a complete newbie, this project is quick and easy and tons of fun! The class begins at 1:30 PM on Friday, but a bonus session will also be running on Saturday.

You know what goes perfectly with the post-holiday lazies? Scented candles! Come to Craft Loft at 3:30 PM to make two beautiful soy-wax, naturally scented candles. Each comes in a glass vessel, which can be reused once the wax is gone. You will also be able to add natural decorations such as dried flowers, just to make your candles even more special. 

Later that night (6:00 PM), you can join our Master Gardener and learn the art and history of the bonsai tree. Trees, pots, and growing media will be provided along with crucial information on how to keep your new bonsai happy and healthy.

For a lower maintenance splash of greenery, come try our moss art workshop (7:30 PM). Lush preserved moss in various shapes and colors can be added to an eight-inch picture frame to create landscapes, patterns, or abstract pictures. The final product is wall-mountable, but still has a 3 dimensional and varied texture, making it a fun accent for any space. For extra possibilities, dried leaves and flowers are available to add points of interest to your composition.

Saturday 11/30

Saturday the 30th will feature a 3:00 PM rerun of the chunky blanket workshop and two additional offerings. At 1:00 PM, Craft Loft will be hosting a workshop where participants can make a fall-themed gingerbread house. Guests are provided with a large gingerbread house, decorative candies, two ginger folk, and all the royal icing they could need. At this session, you and your friends or family will learn tips and tricks to make this gingerbread house more aesthetically pleasing and structurally sound. Who says you can’t play with your food?

If you’re looking for an evening activity, you might consider coming to our 6 PM serving-tray class. We will provide you with an acacia wood tray and show you how to work beautiful resin waves and spirals into the surface. This lovely ocean-inspired tray will be entirely food safe, so once it's done, you can use it to display cheeses, charcuterie, bread, and other snacks at your next social gathering. The workshop itself will last for only an hour, so it’s the perfect activity to add to the end of a long day. Just remember: the resulting trays will take 24 to 48 hours to properly cure, so you will need to either come back later to collect your art piece or have us ship it to you for a small fee.

Sunday 12/1

I love pressed flowers, but I don’t always know what to do with them. Well, it turns out that a pressed flower frame makes for a beautiful wall-hanging. At 1:00 PM, you can join us to arrange flawless botanical samples in cool designs and sandwich them between two layers of protective glass. The frame lets light travel through the piece, giving the leaves and flowers pride of place by letting them stand alone. The flowers for this frame come pre-pressed for your convenience. 

The mosaic workshop, like the art of mosaic itself, is more than the sum of its parts. While you work on your coasters, mirror, or plant pot, you will also learn design principles that will help you in all future crafting and decorating endeavors. The class, the last one for the weekend, kicks off at 3:00 PM.

At the end of a big holiday, sometimes there’s a bit of a let-down. After all, you’ve been spending weeks getting everything ready, and now… nothing. It’s for the best of course; not every day can be a big event. As you come back to your routines and get ready for the year’s next chapter, here’s hoping we can make that transition a bit smoother. And give you a keepsake so that this long, but oh-so-short weekend can stay with you for years to come.

For more information on these and other workshops, please check our website.

Happy crafting!