Tokyo - Day 4

A big reason for coming to Tokyo was to do the International Bazaar at the Tokyo American Club and today is traditionally the busiest (and longest) day. I got to the club at 8am ready to set up my stall which was luckily in a new and busier place.

I'm so proud of how the stall looked and love how my bags all work together. I also got to see a lot of familiar faces, old friends, return customers, as well as new customers.

The show finished at 8pm and I was ready for some food and something cold and alcoholic to drink. I still hadn't had my sushi fix so we headed to a kaiten sushi (conveyor belt sushi) place in Shibuya.

I loaded up on a massive selection of sushi all washed down with a cold beer. Yum!

Maggie Mowbray Hats

Every now and then I like to showcase a designer I adore and today I'm showcasing the beautiful designs of Maggie Mowbray, a milliner based near Edinburgh, Scotland. She designs and creates all her handmade, made-to-order pieces from her studio, following the design process through from designing, to shaping, sewing the hat and then adding any finishing touches.

All the hat and headpieces she creates are designed to enhance a woman's features: the lines, angles and shapes are all intended to work with the facial features, and custom designs can be designed to compliment a client's outfit.

In the past I've mentioned other hat designers and love the way that the hats compliment my clutch bags. You will see some of Maggie's creations below and I have matched each one to a Cheeky Leopard bag. 

This stunning red fascinator hat has an old Hollywood glamour about it.

I've matched the red hat to my red blossom kimono clutch bag.

I love a shot of purple and this cocktail hat is stunning! I love the leaf detail on the side.

It matches my purple clutch perfectly.

This beautiful rust 'percher' hat is hand formed by sculpting into shape and is finished with a felt cone and pheasant feather.

I matched this decorative rust clutch bag to the percher hat above.

This is a hat for the races and makes quite a statement! It has a hand curled peacock feather detail.

I matched the peacock hat to my emerald green handbag, made from a stunning embroidered silk from India.

Doggy bag!

Celebrate the new year with this fab little Boston Terrier coin purse (or French Bulldog if you are in Europe!). It's big enough to fit small change and is the perfect size for storing iPhone earbuds. It also matches the Boston Terrier cosmetic bag, which doubles up as a handbag organiser.

You can find them in my store here.

Silence is golden

I'm so sorry for the silence! I've just realised I haven't posted anything on my blog since I got back from Tokyo! There's a good reason for this, I've been very busy, with Cheeky Leopard and with work/design commitments. I hit the ground running when I got back from Tokyo and did another show the day after I got back! A few glasses of bubbly kept the jet lag at bay and it was a lovely event held at the home of Bernadette Douetil. I also did another event at a local school two weeks ago, and last night I attended another event, held at the Winchester Hall in St Margarets. In between this, I have been busily designing prints for Makower, as well as adding more Cheeky Leopard products to my store.

The most recent additions are these fun cosmetic bags made from cat fabrics. I love a good cat design and couldn't resist these ones that I picked up in Tokyo.

This purse is made from a vibrant pink and black cat head design.

I love the way that the cat heads create a polka dot.

This purse is made from a quirky black and white cat design. 

The red and white polka dot lining matches their bow ties!

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday to all! It's a grey and rainy day here in London town, and I'm very glad to be working from home today. The weather over the weekend was gorgeous and I had a fab time catching up with good friends, doing a spot of dancing at Abigail's Party, and had a scrumptious lunch on the terrace at the Bingham Hotel on Sunday, overlooking the river Thames. I had to share some food shots of my starter of beetroot marinated smoked salmon and my very stylish Eton Mess dessert with a scoop of strawberry sorbet on top. Lovely colours and very tasty too!

On top of doing some fab outings, I was very busy on the sewing machine and managed to run up some lovely items. These included a trio of fabulous green clutch bags, some made from Japanese obi fabrics and one made from some of the gorgeous ikat fabric I bought in Istanbul. Green clutches are often the favourites with my clients (and indeed with me!) and I'm always searching for that perfect green. You can find them in my store here.

I also added to my padded decorative hearts collection, which have proven to be very popular. Each one is made from a vintage kimono fabric and has a hand written word or phrase sewn onto it. There is also a ribbon loop, so that the heart can be hung somewhere inspirational in your home. I'm also planning to make some of them into key rings or bag charms. You can find them in my store here.

It's now countdown time to the Bags and Bubbles event that I will be holding at my home on 20th October. Something that I'm really looking forward to! After that, I will be heading to Tokyo at the beginning of November to attend the International Bazaar at the Tokyo American Club. I can't wait! It will be a fab week of selling my bags, catching up with old friends and buying new fabrics.

Happy Monday

Happy Monday! I hope a good weekend was had by all.

Mine was great! I spent Saturday afternoon as chief face painter at my niece's 6th birthday party, and came home with a lot of glitter on me and a belly full of chocolate cake!

On Sunday I did the Summer Shopping event on the beautiful terrace of my friend Bernadette. In true English fashion, the rain came to join us, but it did not deter the vendors or the shoppers and it finally cleared to be a rather lovely afternoon! We had a great selection of vendors, and the day went amazingly well. Thanks so much to everyone who came along and supported us.

My Cheeky Leopard stall came together well, despite having to cover it with plastic sheets for the first hour to protect it from the pesky rain!

I met so many lovely people who all showed an interest in my clutch bags and purses.

Bernadette Douetil was selling her amazing hand cream and moisturisers.

Pairfum were selling their home scents, but also had a beautiful range of perfumes, bottled in classic glass designs. Something you would love to have on your dressing table.

A range of Beverley Hewitt's ceramics were for sale. I loved the chilli-inspired set.

Rocco Jewellery was doing a roaring trade and everyone enjoyed a glass of bubbly as they perused the items for sale.

Even our local Conservative MP, Tania Mathias popped in to say hi!

Cheeky Leopard shelf

I was very chuffed recently to find out that Cheeky Leopard has its own shelf in Alisha's home!

Alisha is a self-confessed Cheeky Leopard addict. She recently bought a new home in the States, after living in Tokyo for several years. She writes a fab blog about her adventures and they are always interesting, whether they are in Tokyo and sampling the many wonders there or, more recently, rediscovering the wonders of home and renovating their new home!

It's obviously been quite a task, but she is the queen of organisation and is ingenious in her organising! The most recent project was her walk-in closet which she now plans to hold parties in! She has figured out a place for everything and it's all done in a very pleasing way. Imagine my surprise when I was reading her blog and discovered that there is a special shelf for all her Cheeky Leopard bags! Alisha has always been a great supporter of Cheeky Leopard and I was so chuffed to see my little gems lined up on a special shelf in her house. Thank you so much for sharing it Alisha!

You can read more about Alisha's closet here.

Summer Sale!

It's countdown time for the summer shopping extravaganza on Sunday 14th June!

I will be selling my wares at the 'Summer Shopping on the Terrace' event, held at the lovely home of Bernadette Douetil. There will be an eclectic selection of items for sale from aromatherapy gifts, ceramics and artwork, to a collection of home scents and design-led jewellery.

And of course, beautiful Cheeky Leopard bags will be on sale!

I have included some of the vendors below. Click on the links to see their products.

The event will be in Teddington from 11am to 4pm.

Please contact me for more info.

Bernadette Douetil will be selling a selection of her Douetil Holistic Aromatherapy gifts.

Design-led jewellery by Rocco Jewellery.

Annabel Jane sells oil paintings of London, alluding to the atmosphere of each location.

Each Beverley Hewitt ceramic is hand painted onto bone china.

Pairfum collection of home scents.

Patrick Douetil photography.

There will be a selection of tasty Lebanese and Moroccan dishes to sample from Samara Cuisine washed down with some lovely bubbly!

There is also the Teddington in Flower event happening on the same day, so why not combine the two events and make a day of it?!

You can find details of the gardens on the Teddington Society website here. Click on the 'list of gardens' link to find out which gardens are involved.

J'adore violet!

Anyone who's a regular to this blog or to my Etsy store will know that I'm a tad partial to the colour purple! I've had a stunning purple floral kimono sitting in my collection for a while and decided to take the plunge and cut it up - a rather upsetting experience! Luckily, I have made two lovely items out of it, both of which you can see below, and you can find them in my store here.

The kimono fabric has a lovely big flower on it.

 I decided to place it in the bottom right hand corner of this clutch bag.

This bag has a detachable chain handle so that you can use it as a clutch bag or as a handbag.

I used a hot pink kimono fabric for the lining.

This handbag is made from two different kimono fabrics and has a long woven strap, designed to be worn across the body. It can also be worn over the shoulder.

It has a hidden magnetic closure to keep the bag closed and everything safe.

Check out that hot pink lining!

Party time!

A merry time was had last night as Cheeky Leopard held it's first UK bag party! The guests were all members of my local choir and it was a lovely gathering of friends at my home in Teddington, with a little bubbly to help the proceedings along…..

I'm looking forward to having some more bag parties at my home again soon.

  This vibrant clutch is going off on a cruise!

 The bright yellow iPad cover has gone to a good home.

 The green on this handbag matched its new owners outfit very nicely.

 The pink and red kimono clutch also went to a good home.

 This handbag may be worn by the mother of the bride.

This multi colour skull tote bag will be used for carrying items to choir.