Put away those grade-school workbooks: These are for-real stencils.

The holiday season is here and the pressure to come up with creative, original gifts can be overwhelming, especially if you’re working with a tight budget. Luckily you can create an original, homemade gift while blowing off holiday stress at Stencil 201, a crafting workshop presented by powerHouse Arena and Etsy. Spend the night learning stenciling techniques — yes, there are techniques to stenciling — under the instruction of stenciling pro Ed Roth.You can bring a T-shirt, tote bag or anything else you would like to embellish with an original DIY design and you’ve got a semi-handmade gift! The event is Nov. 28 in celebration of Roth’s new book Stencil 201, and will feature 25 original stencil designs, with drinks and stenciled cookies provided by Sumner and Company. (more…)

Wait, what do YOU use Photoshop for?

So we know you lurve that app on your 2011 smartphone that makes photos look like they were taken by your dad in 1978. But maybe when we’re Instagramming photos of Herman Cain, it’s time for a return to photo-taking basics, no? The folks at Brooklyn Creative are treating you this weekend with not one but two free photo workshops to help you get more digital photo skills besides just picking what filter to use. On Saturday from 6-9pm, it’s Photoshop for Photographers, a free first taste of the group’s four-week course on digital manipulation, where you can learn how to spice up your pics, stitch them together, give them fancy effects or just eliminate red eye. Then on Sunday from 6-9, check out the free Mastering Lightroom workshop to show you how to organize and retouch photos using the Adobe program.

Brooklyn Creative, 33 Washington St., Dumbo. Each class is limited to 15 people, and it’s first-come, first-served!

Detail of "August, 1923," by Michael Ryan Palimpset, at the Giacobetti Paul gallery.

If you’re not into rubbing elbows with Brooklyn’s indie fashion designers, you still have no excuse to stay home. Tonight (9/8), DUMBO’s BID is sponsoring one of its 1st Thursday free gallery walks on the same night as Fashion’s Night Out. Go nuts at the eight different gallery shows at 111 Front Street alone, featuring eclectic photographs, sculpture, prints, paintings, and free performances. The rest of the galleries are within a three block radius, so there’s no excuse to bow out because of uncomfortable shoes or time-inappropriate drunkenness. (more…)

If you’ve exhausted Brooklyn’s dwindling selection of used bookstores, or if the idea of combing through slightly moldy hardbacks gives you the willies, powerHouse Arena’s epic Summer Skid Sale might be your time to browse. Offering a myriad of titles for up to 90 percent off, this book bonanza is the time to stock up on some discounted fall reads and quirky coffee table oddities. The best deals seem to be in the massive selection of art and photo books, where you can snag anything from a rather normal photo collection of Obama’s presidential campaign ($8.50 from $30!) to a decidedly peculiar portrait series of suburbanites who reenact medieval battles for fun. The sale is online too, and this is the last weekend!  (more…)

This happened at last year's fest. soo that looks pretty fun

Before you know it September will be here and you’ll start to feel guilty again for lazing away the season at all those free movies or guzzling cheap beers at outdoor shows. Whatever it is about the chilled air that makes you feel like you should be doing something smart-ly with your time, here’s your chance to get a head start: the Dumbo Arts Festival is looking for volunteers to help set up and staff its three-day, 100-studio, 500-artist event Sept. 23-25. They need people between Sept. 16-22 plus during the fest itself. Activities include assisting artists with installation, guiding attendees through and between the exhibits, lending a hand at the performance stage, helping at the kids’ creation station and doing whatever those Flaming-Lips-esque balls in that picture entail.

McBrooklyn photo by MK Metz.

While you may have given up buying drinks from vending machines after one too many $4 (seriously) Dasanis from the UA Court Street theater, those eagle-eyed bloggers over at McBrooklyn have found what they say is the cheapest soda machine in Brooklyn: 50 cents for water, 65 cents for soda! Did anyone spot Marty McFly around this thing? And it’s not out in some end-of-the-line wasteland either: the machine is smack in the middle of DUMBO at the Pearl Street Triangle. So what say you Brokelynites: is this actually the cheapest soda machine in the borough? (But remember: while some people insist on paying for it, water remains free, in every borough, all the time.)

How many times do I have to tell you: Milkbones are NOT vegan!

It seems all you need to get a book deal these days is a catchy blog theme, cute pictures and a few digs at hipsters. But for those of us who use Hipster Puppies Tumblr to break up the monotony of hipster humans strolling down Bedford, DUMBO’s powerHouse Arena is hosting the finest — and furriest — Brooklyn alternative to Fashion’s Night Out to celebrate the latest blog-to-book deal. Dress Spot (or is it Iggy Pup?) in that Organic Baby Rib Dog T from American Apparel and make your way to  the Hipster Puppies Pageant on Aug. 25. The store will be packed with mini poodles on mini leopard-print leashes reading mini Bukowski in mini leggings, the free PBR will be flowing, and the best-dressed pooch will win prizes.  (more…)

This is the 22nd in our series on the venues featured in the second Brooklyn Beer Book. This week the spotlight is on reBar, the DUMBO pub with a love of reclaimed materials of all kinds.

REBAR
147 Front St., DUMBO

What it is: Not your grandfather’s “gastropub” (where, depending on the day, you might be able to get blue cheese with your hamburger). No, grandfather, this is the real deal – with apple fennel mango slaw (for the slaw enthusiasts), ostrich (for the goofy bird lovers out there), and a lovingly curated beer list to match an incredible selection of European wines. (more…)

The end is nigh. via Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.

“The End is Near!” or so says a sign taped to the outside of the Atlantic Book Shop, next to a silhouette of a man with a gun to his head. Beneath that: “30 percent off everything.” The store, once the famous 12th Street Books of Manhattan, is closing its doors at the end of this month. Tucked between Sahadi’s and Key Food on Atlantic Avenue, the store has all the hallmarks of a classic: impossibly tall shelves, claustrophobic aisles, and, to the newcomer, what seems like a secret room not visible from the front. (more…)

Movies with a View in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Photo via Eileen O'Donnell on Flickr

Nothing gets us as excited for summer as when all the free event listings start filling the inbox, and today we got news on one of the best: the nine free movies that will be shown at Brooklyn Bridge Park from July 17-Sept. 1, all of which are New York themed. Before long, thoughts of digging out your doorstep day after day will seem like ludicrous nightmares as we recline on a blanket under the humid stars, pull snacks from a picnic basket and revel in Woody Allen’s Manhattan against the beautiful backdrop of the city skyline. See the full schedule below. (more…)