Wednesday 22 December 2010

Volunteers needed!

What better way is there to learn the ropes on how to organize and run craft events then by volunteering with us?
OH YES, we'd love to have you on the good ship Craft Guerrilla...and we'd captain you into the creative seas of CRAFT and successful event management! Did you know we were voted the "most influential" Craft Group on TWITTER? I think we can proclaim to know a little bit about organizing hip,fun and original EVENTS - and we're not the ones saying it!
We need guys and gals for a couple of events in 2011 so if you'd like to help (and you are welcome to advertise your creative project while you're giving us a hand) then please email us: craftguerrilla@yahoo.com

Monday 20 December 2010

Openings for 2011...

We're looking for all sorts of crafters to help out at our d.i.y. craft events.
From knitting tutors to embroidery wizards...if you can teach others and make craft packs to sell then we want to hear from you!
Also we'll be scheduling our mini workshops for the year so if you can host a 2 hour workshop please email us with your workshop proposal. We're looking for easy, fun and "pub friendly" disciplines. In the past we've had: Monster making,introduction to crochet,Dorset button making,paper flowers,needle felting,jewellery making etc.
Email us with a brief intro letter and your creative "CV" (a web site or blog which showcases your work) to: craftguerrilla@yahoo.com

Saturday 18 December 2010

Xmas Craft Emporium photos...



We managed to raise over £600 for the William Morris Gallery and had over 1,500 visitors to our event through out the two days! Thank you to all the lovely shoppers,designer makers and all that helped on the day. It was a truly magical weekend!!!

Tuesday 14 December 2010

A few of our favourite things...hand made Xmas gifts!

When I challenged myself to find a dozen hand made gifts solely on the internet I couldn't help but think there was a definite change in e commerce. With new CRAFT based sites like CraftNation.com leading the way there is truly lots of gorgeous hand made shopping out there to be done!
Last week internet sales were at their highest as many buyers hit the computer to find one off presents.
Personally as much as I like shopping the blandness of the High Street has much to blame for the way we now shop. There is a distinct lack of original buys and the fact that so many chain shops copy independent designers work just makes it even worse...well it puts me off buying from them though unfortunately the majority of shoppers have no idea this is going on.
So looking through two big craft web sites (Etsy and Folksy) I began to choose my top 12 items which I thought would make awesome X-mas gifts.
There isn't a theme...well there wasn't one when I started but it seems that ANIMALS are pretty much popping up on my hand made gift radar! Enjoy!!!


Beggars Bowl


Sweet Suzy


Sweet Suzy


Miquemoriuchi


Laura Baillie Designs


Oosie


Tibor Leather


Gemma's Little Shop (of Joy)


House of Chintz


Nadinoo



Jimbob Art


Sew You Hand Made

*Items selected by Debbie

"Most Wanted" d.i.y. craft chalange....

Christmas is definitely the season for sharing and we were asked to pass this on to our lovely craft loving people so here goes...
The VoucherCodes.co.uk - Most Wanted Christmas DIY Challenge. We want to celebrate the start of the festive season by getting crafty and spreading a little bit of DIY know-how. We are inviting craft bloggers to take part in the challenge by creating a craft tutorial that we can share with the Most Wanted audience. We want to spread the word on an affordable Christmas and what better way to do this than showing people how to make things themselves?

This is the first time we are running the Christmas DIY Challenge and would love for you to get involved. Of course we do not want you to be out of pocket from taking part in the challenge, so to cover the cost of materials, we want to give everyone who takes part £25 to stock up on the best crafty bits possible. This challenge aims to bring education and inspiration to the Most Wanted readers on Christmas DIY projects that they could undertake. We look to gather all the craft tutorials produced and give them all coverage over on Most Wanted with a big shout out and link to blogs and bloggers that produced them. To find out more including the finer details please take a peek at and read our post on Most Wanted here.

Just to let you know a little bit about us, VoucherCodes.co.uk and Most Wanted is making a real name for itself now with over 2.5 million registers users, a super successful weekly newsletter and some lovely press mentions in everything from The Guardian and Evening Standard to Closer Magazine and The Times. We have stacks of brilliant savings at top stores including discounts from Habitat and Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, Cath Kidston and The White Company. We are hoping that the challenge will raise a little awareness for Most Wanted and also how easy it is to create your own items for Christmas.

The challenge is really simple, all you have to is create a craft tutorial showing how to make something related to Christmas, be it a Christmas gift, Christmas decoration, Christmas cookies, Christmas cards etc. Document the creation process, post up templates if you have any, take a picture of the final product and remember to post it up on your blog and let us know it's there so we can share it and shout about it on Most Wanted.

Really hope you are interested in taking part! We are trying to make this a regular community challenge that really inspires people to leave the Christmas decorations, cards and presents in the shop and head home to make their own!
For further information and to participate please email: emily@vouchercodes.co.uk
or visit : www.vouchercodes.co.uk

Monday 13 December 2010

Happy holidays...


That's it folks...another year crafted and hand made into something real special! We've had so much fun and lots going on but we wouldn't change it for the world. From books deals,Weekend Christmas Craft Emporiums to the Knitting & stitching shows...wowzers it HAS been a busy year...AND already we have a few events penciled in for 2011!
Don't forget that we're taking January off...well when I say off I mean just not doing the D.I.Y. Craft Night because you know how it is...we really can't stop, we're just too darn crafty!
So guys and gals make sure to check for updates but we'll be back soon.
Hope you have a wonderful Chrimbo and all the best for the new year! Feliz Navidade, Joyeux Noel and all that jazz!

PS we'll be recruiting craft helpers in the new year so if you can master crochet or tinker with a knitting pattern email us!
craftguerrilla@yahoo.com

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Cat boy... A Christmas Sale!



Join Cat Boy aka Carl Harris at Beyca Retro on Grove Road in E17. Our fave local illustrator will be selling his prints at knock down prices. Want a cool Christmas present? Then go people, go and buy illustrations!!!

Thank you all for making it another successful event!!!

A big warm thank you to all the lovely shopper...over 1,500 visitors over the two days...that made their way to the Weekend Christmas Craft Emporium!
We're honoured that so many of you chose to come along and shop in the home of the father of the Arts & Craft movement.

Also a big thank you to all the gorgeous designer makers that chose to come to us to showcase and sell their wares. So many beautiful, quality items...truly, this year it's been the best so far!!!

Hand made shopping is so much more then "affordable" or "unusual" items...we want to redefine the value of HAND MADE. It really doesn't make sense that a HAND MADE item is sold cheaper then a mass produced one! It's a premium product, well priced and worth it's money...and most of all it's made with integrity, love and without exploitation!

This year we were sponsored by CraftNation.com. If you haven't heard of them yet... you will! Check them out because if you love hand made shopping they are starting a new way of e commerce and production!


Craft Guerrilla
managed to donate a staggering £600 plus to the gallery and that was because of all you lovely people!

Designer, shoppers, young makers and gallery visitors...Thank you for your support,we HEART you!

PS
Pictures will be added as soon as possible!

Thursday 2 December 2010

THIS WEEKEND: Christmas Craft Emporium!


This is it...get your warm woolly jumpers,over coat and snow boots on!!! The Weekend Christmas Craft Emporium is this weekend the 4th and 5th of December.
Warm your self with the glow of beautifully crafted gifts and shop til you drop in a cozy gallery. This is the perfect event to find all you need for a hand made Christmas and it's all under one roof...so no traipsing around in the snow looking for presents....OH NO!
We can help and you can help us too by buying local hand made,hand sourced, non mass produced, guilt free gifts!
Ho ho hope to see you soon.



Launch night of a new concept in entertainment.
For people who like to sing classic karaoke (nothing later than 1973) and also be entertained by some wonderful period 78rpms and live music, all wrapped up in a vintage theme.

Jazz, Blues and classic karaoke and live music from 20s, 30s, 40s, 50, 60s and early 70s

A vintage evening blend of classic Karaoke from the 50s, 60s and early 70s and live cabaret music from the 20s -- early 70s.
Evening wear dress so let your glamorous side shine!

Future events are already being planned so this is not a one off evening but will hopefully become a regular fixture on the local social scene.

Tickets can be purchased by emailing vintage@cabaraoke.co.uk