Last week CO+K were at London Fashion Week and we've put together a handy little crafting guide for keeping up with the latest trends.

Animal Ears

Animal ears are all over the catwalk at the moment - floppy bunny ears, cat or mouse ears, and horns. Luckily, you don't have to fork out for the pricey Louis Vuitton versions, when you can make your own.

Check out our earns & horns tutorials >>

Gothic Glamour

Black is definitely back, so put some lacy romance in to your wardrobe with some DIY gothic couture.

Projects tagged with gothic >>

Union Jacks

Show your love for all things British with a Union Jack and be inspired by Alexander McQueen.

Turn a flag into a t-shirt >>
Make a flag pin >>

Sequins

It's the perfect time to add some sparkle to your outfits, something that Ashish demonstrated perfectly with their show. So grab a stash of sequins and start embellishing.

Projects using sequins >>

Tagged with fashion and events

Last weekend marked the first ever European roller derby tournament, Roll Britannia held at Earl's Court in West London and hosted by the mighty London Roller Girls.

The weekend was jam packed with bouts, seeing teams from across England, Scotland and Germany battling it out for first place. It was an action packed Scottish feud, as the Irn Bruisers from Glasgow took on Edinburgh's Auld Reekie Roller Girls to win third place. However, it was the London Roller Girls who stole the show, beating the Blitz Derby Dames to win first place by a massive 346 to 13.

Roller derby is an action packed, all girl sport, that's high speed and full of bruises, so support your local derby team and keep an eye out for the next bout!

You can find out more from the Roll Britannia website or the LRG website.

Tagged with events

Like being sent to a bootcamp for the 1950's pinup girl, CO+K attended two very unique and interesting workshops at Abacus Arts, near Elephant & Castle, in London last weekend.

1940's & 50's Hair & Make-Up Workshop with Ruby Rose

With 16 years experience in the health and beauty industry, Ruby Rose has styled many of today's top burlesque performers. In the first part of her class, the enigmatic Ruby taught us how to twist and curl our hair in to various 50's styles, while explaining the history behind the look of the time. It was a lot harder than it looked, but practice made perfect and by the end of the session, a sea of impressive 50's barnets had flooded the room.

The second part of the class taught us how to achieve the perfect pinup look - with liquid eyeliner, rosy cheeks and scarlet lips. Ruby also offered sound advice for buying natural products and getting the most from our makeup collections. This session offered a chance to brush up on our techniques, ask for advice and leave with stylish 50's looks.

Fascinator Making Workshop with Tricia Cox

Tricia Cox is a trained milliner and for £45, she offers workshops where you can get expert knowledge and create your own hats and fascinators. At last weekend's four hour class, we were taught how to twist, cut and manipulate feathers; work with a wide range of embellishments; use a glue gun; stitch and construct personalized fascinators.

A table was covered in the materials we needed, and the class swooned over the colorful and sparkly embellishments. Tricia was happy to spend one-on-one time with each attendee, making sure they were able to design and construct their accessories to perfection. Within a few hours, everyone had made two unique fascinators, but even more importantly, had gained the knowledge to take home and use again and again.

You can find out more about Ruby Rose on the Ruby Emporium, or book both classes on Tricia Cox's website.

Tagged with events and workshops

If you're in London this Wednesday, you might wanna check out our friends, the Craft Guerrilla's birthday celebrations:

Here's what they had to say:

"Darn it,we're one year old!" Come celebrate our first birthday on Wednesday the 18th of march at the Castle E17.

Goody bags for the first 50 people through the door! Great craft projects,guest DJ's,Vintage board games, Guilty Pleasures (bring your love to hate records and we'll play them for you) and a special "darning" class to help you through the credit crunch.This is no time for chucking things out! Bring along your holey jumpers and we'll show you how to be a master "darner"! Free entry. From 8pm until late.

For more information, dates and venue address visit our blog page:
www.eastlondoncraftguerrilla.blogspot.com

Tagged with events and london

The Stitch & Craft Show takes place in London, at the Olympia 2 in Kensington, from the 19th - 22nd of March. The show will feature lots of big names in craft and you'll be able to attend a range of creative workshops.

We've got 10 sets of tickets up for grabs for CO+K members, so if you'd like to attend, simple send Crafterella a message with your address. First come, first served!

Send Crafterella a message now >>

Good luck.

You can find out more about the Stitch & Craft Show on the website.

Tagged with competitions and events

This weekend Cut Out + Keep attended London Edge, a trade buyer show, where we had a sneak peak at the new lines from some top alternative fashion brands. Hundreds of retailers attended, but here are our top picks to look out for in 2009:

Monkee Genes
Ethical company who want you to go bananas for their organic jeans.
www.monkeegenes.com

Sweet & Co.
Fashion accessories and jewelry which look good enough to eat.
www.shopsweetandco.com

Miss Fortune
Vintage, pinup clothing for modern day guys and gals.
www.missfortune.co.uk

Girlie Pants
Clean undies for dirty girls.
www.girliepants.com

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If you're going to be in London this Wednesday and fancy a bit of alternative life drawing then you should check out Dr Sketchy's Sketch-A-Thon at Madam Jojo's.

Here's the flyer but you can also find out more on the Dr Sketchy website.

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If you're going to be in Rochester area in February, then make sure to check out Lovely Hearts 2, a charity art exhibition to raise money for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

The exhibition is open for previews throughout January and the opening is on February 1st, including "live music, chocolate and great art for a great cause". For more information and directions to the event, or to purchase one of the pieces of art online, check out the Artstream website.

Tagged with events