SIMI Night

BYOC

2009-05-12T01:11:00.000-07:00

Tonight is at Brenna's. Bring your own craft.
Felt monster supplies will also be made available.

Cardboard

2009-04-21T14:38:00.000-07:00

We are going to try to make cat houses out of cardboard tonight. You are welcome to join us. PLEASE NOTE: We're not starting until 8pm tonight! At Tamra's.

Huevos

2009-04-07T01:11:00.000-07:00

Bring your egg decorating skills and supplies. Some ideas for inspiration:

Leprechauns and Origami

2009-03-17T11:11:00.000-07:00

Topic for tonight: Are leprechauns real?
Hint: Yes, they are in Lake Tahoe.

Craft will be origami.
Bring money, Netflix envelopes and junk mail.

Mend Clothes Night

2009-03-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

We're mending clothes tonight. Bring any clothes in need of repair or refashion. Bring your sewing machines, needles, thread, patches, buttons, etc.

Tiger Box

2009-02-23T01:11:00.000-08:00

For the SIMI Night before Valentine's Day, Quanah made this cute little tiger box with outerspace inside of it. I crocheted a little heart and put it in there for him.

BYOC Tonight

2009-02-17T01:11:00.000-08:00

Tonight is bring your own craft so dig out that project you have been meaning to spend time on and get to work. We're meeting at Tamra's tonight from 7 to 10 pm. See you there.

Here are some pictures of how our glove animals turned out from last month:

Glove Animals

2009-01-06T01:11:00.000-08:00

SIMI Night is tonight at Tamra's. Bring your own project to work on or bring supplies for glove animals such as gloves, buttons for eyes, etc.

Holiday BYOC

2008-12-16T01:11:00.001-08:00

Bring any last minute holiday crafts you're working on to my house tonight and finish them up. I have pipe-cleaner in case anyone wants to make these snowflake ornaments and I'm going to get supplies to make these gumdrop things because those little mushrooms are so cute. If you want to listen to Christmas music or watch a Christmas movie you're going to have to bring your own because I don't have that stuff.

Review: Christmas Poo

2008-12-16T01:11:00.000-08:00

Date: December 2, 2008
Topic: Christmas Poo
Attendance: 8

Tamra's cards were perfect. More pictures here. And we did make a candlestick salad and it was beyond ridiculous.

Holiday Cards and Candlestick Salad

2008-12-01T13:44:00.000-08:00

SIMI Night tomorrow. We are going to make Holiday cards for military service members, veterans and their families. Details here. Sorry, no glitter. I suggest we make pop-up cards. Fancy ones like this and/or simpler ones like this.

Also we can use this awesome Mormon recipe to make a candlestick salad. More pictures here.

Review: Turkeys

2008-11-30T23:19:00.003-08:00

Date: November 18, 2008
Topic: Turkeys
Attendance: 7

We made turkey finger puppets and a pizza costume.

Thanksgiving Night

2008-11-17T01:11:00.000-08:00

SIMI Night will be tomorrow at Brenna's. We can work on Thanksgiving crafts like these pom pom or pinecone turkeys. Or you can work on something to submit to these contests:

Taltopia Autumn drawing contest
Instructables Thanksgiving Reuse Challenge
Instructables Take Thanksgiving to the Next Level! contest

UPDATE: We are going to watch Cannibal the Musical!

SIMI Night Canceled!

2008-11-04T14:00:00.001-08:00

There will be no SIMI Night tonight in honor of Election Day. Happy voting!

Review : Dia de los Muertos

2008-10-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

Date: October 21, 2008
Topic: Dia de los Muertos
Attendance: 8

This SIMI Night was amazing. Look at what we made. More pictures here.

El Dia de los Muertos - Oct 21st

2008-10-14T01:11:00.001-07:00

We are going to do El Dia de los Muertos crafts on October 21st at Brenna's. We are planning on making paper flowers and reverse-glass paintings. Bring any tissue paper, pipe cleaner, acrylic paint, paint brushes, frames and/or colored paper you want to use. I am baking banana bread and perhaps making guacamole.

Review: Monsters and Henry Darger

2008-10-14T01:11:00.000-07:00

Date: October 7, 2008
Topic: Monsters and Henry Darger
Attendance: 11

We made a lot of felt monsters while watching In the Realms of the Unreal and eating cookies.

More pictures here.

Monsters and Henry Darger - October 7

2008-10-07T01:11:00.000-07:00

Make felt monsters at SIMI Night tonight at Tamra's, inspired by Domo. You are welcome to bring your own craft to work on instead. I am going to bring this Henry Darger documentary for us to watch. His artwork is insane.

Review: BYOC Night 2

2008-09-23T01:11:00.000-07:00

Date: September 16, 2008
Topic: Bring Your Own Craft
Attendance: 5

Small group tonight. Tamra and I worked on labeling some LED tea lights for a No on 8 event while newest SIMI Night member Shaun worked on art school homework. He is a super talented. All of this going on with Twilight Zone episodes and Stephen Hawking's Universe playing in the background.

BYOC tonight, again

2008-09-16T01:11:00.000-07:00

SIMI Night is tonight at my house (Brenna's). It is bring-your-own-craft again. Bring a craft you would like to work on or you can help me with a special project I am working on. If you have a DVD on alternate dimensions, monsters, 11:11 or 2012, please bring so we can watch.

More Ideas

2008-09-12T01:11:00.000-07:00

Topics:

Crafts:

Review: BYOC Night

2008-09-09T01:11:00.000-07:00

Date: September 2, 2008
Topic: Bring Your Own Craft
Attendance: 8

Popular crafts included crocheting, papercrafts, anatomy flashcards, drawing and knitting. Robert brought this amazing crocheted blanket he has been working on. It makes a great stair runner.

BYOC

2008-09-02T01:11:00.000-07:00

It is bring your own craft tonight. Need some ideas? See below.

More ideas here.

Review - Inkblot Monsters

2008-08-28T01:11:00.000-07:00

Date: August 19, 2008
Topic: Inkblot Monsters
Attendance: 9

This SIMI Night started out fantastically because I had to go to Swords and Sorcery to buy calligraphy ink. Then we made some pretty awesome inkblot monster greeting cards. Additional pictures and video here.

Inkblot Monsters!

2008-08-19T01:11:00.000-07:00

We are going to make inkblot monsters tonight at my house. Video on Omar's blog here. We can send them into the Daily Monster site when we're done. We are also going to play a drawing game.

Ideas

2008-08-06T01:11:00.001-07:00

Jen sends me a lot of good SIMI Night ideas. I don't know how to file things in Gmail so instead I am going to post them here for reference.

CRAFTS:

TOPICS:

MISC LINKS:

Review - Red Vines

2008-08-06T01:11:00.000-07:00

Date: August 5, 2008
Topic: Red Vines
Attendance: 10

Here are the amazing drawings that came about from last night to enter into the Red Vines Drawing Contest. Click on pictures to enlarge.

Sweet Mike's:

Jared's:

Tamra's:

Brenna's:

Bethany's:

Robert's:

Omar's:

Melissa's:

Justin's:

All Rights Reserved. © SIMI Night.

Agenda - Red Vines

2008-08-04T01:11:00.000-07:00

Plan for tomorrow is to draw pictures to enter into the Red Vines drawing contest. Maybe we can talk about werewolves and Philippine mythical creatures. Hopefully Marko will be there.

Review - Loch Ness Monster

2008-07-22T01:11:00.000-07:00

Date: July 15, 2008
Topic: Loch Ness Monster
Attendance: 4 (+ 3 late people)

Small crowd for Nessi but productivity was high. We made 4 amazing bedazzled sock puppets and made it to Baskin Robbins for $1 scoop night.

Fuzzy picture of Tamra's puppet:

Robert's gangster puppet, complete with a pimp cup:

Puppets from left to right (by Brenna, by Bethany, by Brenna, by Robert):

The crowd:

Someone used one of the puppet pictures for an article on Current.com. I don't really get what the article is about or how it relates to sock puppets. I didn't really read it. Yay for SIMI Night publicity.

Nessi

2008-07-15T01:11:00.000-07:00

Tonight's topic is the Loch Ness Monster. Bring things you want to bedazzle and supplies to make a Nessi sock puppet (i.e. sock and 2 buttons for eyeballs). Location is my house. We might migrate to Tutu's for some Hawaiian shaved ice.

Review - Magic

2008-07-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

Date: July 1, 2008
Topic: Magic
Attendance: 14

Lots of people participated in whittling sticks and casting spells. I did some friendship bracelet making instruction.

I was the only person that knew card tricks. Shameful.

No pictures. Sorry. I have some whittled sticks at my house that people left. I will take a picture of them someday and post.

Magic

2008-06-30T01:11:00.000-07:00

Magic tomorrow at the Avocondo. Bring tricks.

Review - UFOs

2008-06-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

Date: June 17, 2008
Topic: UFOs
Attendance: 6

We made friendship bracelets, watched Flaming Lips bootlegs and The Big Lebowski and didn't really talk about UFOs. Tamra also worked on her owl and I made banana bread.

UFOs tomorrow

2008-06-16T01:11:00.000-07:00

The topic for tomorrow is UFOs. We can make plastic flying saucers out of styrofoam using this instructable Omar sent me. Bring styrofoam, acetone, eye goggles, gloves and/or anything UFO related that you have. Also, I have a remote control flying saucer we can fly.

Review - Crop Circles & Cattle Mutilation

2008-06-05T01:11:00.000-07:00

Date: June 3, 2008
Topic: Crop Circles & Cattle Mutilation
Attendance: 10

We planted seeds in pots and painted them with chalkboard paint. I still need to get chalk to label mine. Melissa made a fabulous papercraft steak. Also played Rock Band. Thanks to Jen for sending me the link to make the steak.

Review - Robots

2008-05-23T01:11:00.001-07:00

Date: May 20, 2008
Topic: Robots
Attendance: 12

First off, we had record attendance. Second, I was super impressed with people's robot-building skills because I was creatively stumped. Third, special thanks to Omar for bringing tons of supplies and tools.

Robert looking tough with a drill:

Robot by Justin:

Robot by Tamra:

Robots

2008-05-19T01:11:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we are going to make robots and discuss how most, if not all, technology is reverse-engineered alien technology. We can also talk about robots taking over the world.

I have a VHS of Robot Monster we can watch. Unfortunately it isn't in 3D.

Bring robot making supplies.

Review - Dreams

2008-05-13T01:11:00.000-07:00

Date: May 6, 2008
Topic: Dreams
Attendance: 10

I realized today that I never did a review on our dream night. This is because I have no pictures and therefore the review is going to be boring. Highlights:

Book-binding success! Special thanks to Emily for bringing supplies. Creative award goes to Robert for burning the edges of his book. Now that's crafty.
Dream-catcher success! Special thanks to Lynnette for letting me steal a few feathers out of her pillow to complete my dream-catcher so I could give it to my Mom for Mother's Day.
Cheese-eating success! Special thanks to blueberry Stilton cheese for giving everyone crazy vivid dreams. OK so it didn't really work on me but apparently Tamra and Jared have been eating bananas before bed with much success.

Green Valley Park Pictures

2008-05-02T14:54:00.001-07:00

Tamra and I went ghosthunting at Green Valley Park in Henderson, NV on Tuesday night. We had a good omen earlier in the day when we saw a UFO-shaped cloud over Vegas:

We arrived at the park prepared with dousing rods, camera, tape recorder and extra batteries. Immediately upon arrival, I began scanning for spirits:

Tamra had some trouble with the batteries in her camera even though they were full of power according to our battery meter. Obviously, the ghosts were fooling with us. Despite the battery malfunctions, she got some good shots of some ghost orbs:

Miscellaneous park pictures below:

Only In Dreams

2008-04-21T23:11:00.000-07:00

Next SIMI Night is in 2 weeks on May 6th and will be about dreams. In preparation for this night, everyone should start recording their dreams. It is easy:

Keep some paper and a writing utensil by your bed.
Go to sleep.
Dream.
Wake up.
Jot down what you remember.

I am much more technologically advanced so I:

Keep a mini tape recorder by my bed.
Go to sleep.
Dream.
Wake up.
Record what I can remember.
Hit snooze.
Listen to my recording later in the day and transcribe.

It doesn't matter which method you use, just start recording your dreams now!

Craft ideas for the night are:

And we are probably going to eat cheese.

Review - Bigfoot

2008-04-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

Date: April 15, 2008
Topic: Bigfoot
Attendance: 9

We were unable to take pictures at SIMI Night on Tuesday when we were discussing bigfoot. Coincidence? I think not.

Highlights:

Watched Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science and an episode of Destination Truth about Yeti.
Viewed pictures of a real skunk ape from Florida.
I made a bigfoot mask.
Craig stole a bigfoot sugar cookie.
Drank bigfoot.

Ideas for Bigfoot Night

2008-04-08T23:11:00.000-07:00

Next week's topic is Bigfoot. What should we do? My ideas:

Watch a good Bigfoot documentary. All I know is this one sucks.
Listen to Sasquatch Music Festival bands.
Share Bigfoot sighting stories.
Learn how to crochet socks. If someone is a crochet master, they could make these abominable baby slippers.
Ponder the existence of Bigfoot.
Make bigfoot masks.
Stage a bigfoot sighting. This would involve getting our hands on a gorilla costume or a brown sweat suit.

UPDATE: More ideas:

Make plaster of paris footprints.
Drink bigfoot beer.

Review - Astral Projection

2008-04-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

Date: April Fool's Day 2008
Topic: Astral Projection
Attendance: 9

Two personal out-of-body experiences were shared. Jodi shared her UFO sighting story. We listened to some shortwave broadcasts as well as songs with the words "soul" and "body" in them.

We made voodoo dolls and a voodoo dog for good (not evil).

Close-up of voodoo dolls:

We also made an OBE (out of body experience) merit badge to go with my ghost one:

Jared has been holding out on us with his craftiness abilities. He made an amazing spinning wheel to help decide where to eat:

Astral Projection

2008-03-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

That's right. We will be discussing astral projection at the next SIMI Night which happens to fall on April Fool's Day. I use the term out-of-body experience interchangeably with astral projection even though I am sure there is a difference. So, bring your out-of-body and/or astral projection experiences to share. I think we should talk about sleep paralysis as well.

We are hoping to have a very special guest so you should be there.

I'm still trying to figure out a craft that corresponds with the topic. Everyone is encouraged to bring their own crafts they want to work on too.

Review - Ghosts

2008-03-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

Date: March 18, 2008
Topic: Ghosts
Attendance: 7

We worked on several different craft projects while listening to ghost tunes and eating ghost toast. We also made white chocolate ghost lollipops. Then the lights were turned off, spooky sound effects turned on, candles lit and ghost stories told.

Crafting:

Ghost Toast (that's homemade bread!):

Ghost Merit Badges:

Ghost Lollipops:

Ghost Stories:

Photos by Omar.

Ghost Night Tonight - Agenda

2008-03-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

Tell ghost stories in the dark around candles with Halloween sound effect music playing. Also listen to a mix CD of songs with the word "ghost" in them.

Try to take spirit photos of ourselves. Also discuss how ghosts turn up in photos as little glowing orbs. It is my understanding that Adam Hill has some experience with this.

Possible field trip to haunted Sycamore Park and/or a graveyard to record audio of ghosts.

Make ghost toast and ghost lollipops.

Make Pacman ghost beaded safety pins. Pattern below.

March 18 Topic: Ghosts

2008-03-13T23:11:00.000-07:00

We are going to tell ghost stories - real ones. If you've seen a ghost, bring your story. If you haven't, start asking everyone you know if they've seen a ghost and if they say yes, interview them.

I thought I had a spooky sounds cassette tape we could play in the background while telling stories in the dark but I just looked at it and it is actually a cassette tape of Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys - Part 1 album.

I have ghost cookie cutters so we can make sugar cookies or we can make these ghost cookies out of Nutter Butters, frosting and chocolate chips.

Any ideas out there for a ghost craft??

Review - SHC

2008-03-05T23:11:00.000-08:00

Date: March 4, 2008
Topic: Spontaneous Human Combustion
Attendance: 7

First we drank some nutritious Diet Coke fortified with vitamins and minerals as we discussed cases and possible explanations for spontaneous human combustion including the Wick Effect, static electricity and my favorite: wearing too much perfume and a wool sweater.

Then the hobo stove making began.

Step 1: Use sharp object to mutilate can.

Step 2: Line up finished stoves in a pretty row.

Step 3: Fill can with denatured alcohol.

Step 4: Successful ignition.

Step 5: Roast marshmallow.

Step 6: Enjoy s'more.

Face it. If you weren't there, you missed out.

More pictures here.

SIMI Night Tonight - Spontaneous Combustion

2008-03-04T23:11:00.000-08:00

SIMI Night is tonight is at the Avocondo (Tamra & Jareds).

Topic is spontaneous combustion. Everyone should do as much research as possible before attending so we can discuss to maximum capacity. If someone made a PowerPoint presentation about it, they would receive a bazillion SIMI Night scene points.

Craft for tonight are these little hobo stoves made out of aluminum soda cans. We will have some cans available but if you want to bring a special can (i.e. Tab, RC cola, roll-flavor Jones soda, etc.) you should bring your own. Please note you need 2 cans to make a stove.

We will have supplies to make smores on our mini stoves.

Possible field trip to light off fireworks if people want to bring them.

Also everyone should prepare for tonight by eating lots of broccoli, beans, sugar, cheese and other things that make you fart so we can light them on fire.

Review - Scientology

2008-02-22T23:11:00.000-08:00

Date: February 19, 2008
Topic: Scientology
Attendance: 8

We built volcanoes. One was made from flour, salt, food coloring, bacon bits, small trees, paper clip people, baking soda and vinegar.

Another was made from a plaster mold and eruption tablets.

Stand back!

We also made some out of tater tots and ketchup.

Then we audited our special guest from NASA.

Shortly thereafter, he disappeared.

In conclusion, this is what we decided about Scientology:

Photos by Omar!

SIMI Night Tonight

2008-02-19T23:11:00.000-08:00

SIMI Night is tonight at the Brenna house. We are making volcanoes and watching South Park. It really can't get much better than that. I plan to make some homemade whole wheat bread and I have some lemonade, sparkling pink lemonade and Italian grapefruit soda my Mom donated for us to drink. Feel free to bring snacks and/or drinks and to show up around 7. If you need directions find a way to contact me.

UPDATE: There will be make-your-own volcanoes with tater tots and ketchup!

February 19th Agenda

2008-02-14T23:11:00.000-08:00

Let us learn more about Scientology together by:

Listening to Beck.
Watching South Park episode #137 Trapped in the Closet.
Making and setting off a model volcano with Damion's help.
Performing unsanctioned auditing with Tamra's shocking liar device.
Making a Venn diagram about the pros and cons of Scientology.
And making stuffed animal Xenus out of felt.

Do you have ideas to add to this agenda? Comment!

UFO Pictures - Provo, UT

2008-02-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

Our Dad's friend took these pictures. Her comments are in italics.

Here they are in succession...one taken right after the other...mind you, these were not on a tripod...handheld only. I just was inclined to take pics when I saw the moon right there...I've seen it that way a lot, but this night in particular, I just felt like grabbing my camera quickly before it rose higher above the mountainside.

So I immediately zoomed in on the moon right after the above one. The reflection/blur is from not having my camera on my tripod I imagine.

Then within a second I took this one too..

(I took one more immediately after this but don't have it -- explained below)

So after taking these, I just glanced at them on my camera LCD and figured they were junk due to that funny looking moon blur...but a week later I uploaded all my pics from that card onto my computer and forgot about these. A couple months later I was deleting some bad photos from my computer files and was just about to delete these (I actually did delete the one right after this before I noticed this...it looked identical to picture number two here with nothing in it but the moon.)

As I was about to delete them all, when I noticed that gold thingie...zoomed in on it and cropped it...this is what it looks like.

One second it was there and then it was gone. It is too far away in the sky to be a bug or something...and a bug wouldn't be lit up like this by how many times (a lot!) I had to zoom in on it. Something that far away (even if it were a bug, wouldn't be glowing like this). It has very interesting dimensional shapes and looks like there is some kind of fin on the backside or something. I can't figure it out! But I do recall thinking back to about a week before I took this, a number of people in the valley reported seeing what they thought was a UFO over the Provo mountains one night. Hmmmm?! Dooo dooo dooo doooo...

PS: Just for fun...this is a full moon shot I took many months later on my tripod.

What is Your Dæmon?

2008-02-11T23:11:00.000-08:00

We forgot to have everyone do The Golden Compass survey on Tuesday to compliment our discussion about reincarnation. Take the dæmon quiz and post your results here.

Is my dæmon a fox?

Review - Reincarnation

2008-02-06T23:11:00.000-08:00

Date: February 5, 2008
Topic: Reincarnation
Attendance: 10!

Most dedicated award goes to Joey L for making a webcast of his UFO testimonial because he couldn't be there. Most prepared award goes to John A for reading up on reincarnation before attending. Most determined award goes to Damion for his felt penis. Most delicious award goes to Tamra for her crepes:

Omar's penguin in progress:
Lynnette working on her mouse:
Mouse friends (blue by Lynnette/pink by Tamra):
Photos by Omar. More here.

Super/Fat/Shrove Tuesday

2008-02-05T23:11:00.001-08:00

Besides being Super Tuesday today (VOTE!), it's also Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) as well as Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday (last day before Lent). It looks like I will have to make some crepes (i don't like pancakes) for those attending SIMI night.

-Tamra

Not true.

2008-02-05T23:11:00.000-08:00

SIMI Night - Feb 5

2008-02-04T23:11:00.000-08:00

Tues, Feb 5, 2008 - SIMI Night at the Avocondo (Tamra & Jareds) 7:00 pm-ish

Please comment if you are planning on attending. Agenda is below.

Please feel free to bring snacks.

2008-01-24T23:11:00.000-08:00

Proof that there is life on Mars?

Proosed Agenda - February 5th

2008-01-23T23:11:00.000-08:00

Light Candles.

Discuss 11:11 Phenomenon. Testimonial by Jimmy. Watch excellent 11:11 video 11 times.

Discuss UFOs. Testimonial by Joey Lang. Examine UFO photos from Brenna and Tamra's Dad's not-girlfriend.

Discuss reincarnation and try to answer the question, "Do all dogs go to heaven?" Listen to "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" by Iron Maiden followed by "Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation" by Santana.

Make dog biscuits. Give some to the homeless guy in front of Super Vons for his dog Lizzy.

Make cat toys out of felt. Need to find crazy cat lady to make them for.

End.

Recommended Viewing - 11:11

2008-01-22T23:11:00.000-08:00

Words cannot explain. Just watch:

11:11 Wake Up

11:11 Sightings and Mayan Calendar ending in 2012

Recommended Viewing - USOs

2008-01-21T23:11:00.000-08:00

I still think this is one of the best documentaries about Unidentified Submerged Objects. Watch it and be amazed:

UFO Files: Deep Sea UFOs

Ideas

2008-01-16T23:11:00.001-08:00

Please share your ideas for future SIMI Nights. Here are a few Tamra and I have already brainstormed:

Discussing out-of-body experiences with special guest speaker Leslie Loder
Field trip to internationally renowned Bigfoot expert Daniel Perez's home/museum
Ghost stories around campfire and/or candles
Ouija board
Knitting scarves for cancer patients
Making cat toys
Viewing and assessment of 2 UFO pictures taken by our Dad's pseudo-girlfriend
Making felt Brad's
Discussing skinwalkers plus personal testimonial by a former New Mexico resident
UFO testimonials by Chris Woodhead, Joey Lang and Jodi including drawings Jodi made as a child
Discussing Illuminati and Freemasonry

Review - UFOs

2008-01-16T23:11:00.000-08:00

Although there were only 6 of us in attendance and paranormal discussion was slight, I think the first SIMI Night was a success. Highlights included:

Discussion of the Stephenville, Texas UFO sighting and the impending Rapture
Damion and Jen's "Nausea, Vomiting and Diarrhea" magnet
Cupcake button and magnet set for Lynette
Jared's tortilla chip magnet
My Wayne Coyne button

Special thanks to Tamra for purchasing the magnet supplies and to Stuart for letting us borrow his button making supplies.