Elephant glasses case

"I love this elephant eyeglasses case I purchased. The design is adorable. I'm very pleased with it!"

This is a review I got from a happy customer recently. I love this elephant glasses case. It's made from a sweet blue, green and white cotton novelty elephant print.

I've matched the lining of the glasses case to the green colour in the elephant print, you can find it in some of the elephants bodies and in touches in their ears. Each elephant has a textured print in their body or a pretty pattern, like stars and hearts.

The elephant glasses case is fully lined to protect your glasses and is also lightly padded. It's made from 100% cotton so machine washable too.

There is also a matching elephant zipper pouch, which is perfect for using as a makeup bag or gadget pouch. The fun, bright print of these items makes them easy to find in your bag.

This makes a great gift for an elephant lover. All items are gift wrapped in pink tissue paper and can be set straight to their recipient with an optional gift message included.

You can find more elephant items in my Etsy shop here.

 

Fabric Friday

This Friday I'd like to mention some fabrics I designed many years ago! The reason I'd like to mention them is that they were the starting point to the naming of my business - Cheeky Leopard.

It was about 18 years ago, I was living in New York and working for a textile company called Fabric Traditions. Back then, we created all our designs through hand painting and this particular group was based on safari animals. With each group of designs, we created a collection that included about 5 to 8 designs that compliment each other. The main print generally tends to be an allover design and is the one that guides the rest of the designs. Each image was hand drawn in pen and ink and then the colours were painted in using goache paint.

The design above was the main design in the group and shows a variety of safari animals on a black background. I was hoping to include a leopard in this design, but a cheetah got in instead!

The bamboo design made a pretty allover and was something that was quite versatile.

The fact that it doesn't have such a strong safari theme makes it a more usable fabric.

The fabric above is a stripe design and this is where you will find the cheeky leopard that is the namesake for my business! You will see him to the right of the image, cheekily looking over his shoulder.

The banana leaves above make a nice set design.

This chequerboard design incorporates many images from the group, including a leopard print and a zebra print. Many quilters like to use this type of format to create a cheater quilt if you have little time. It means that the fabric already appears to be sewn together in squares so that you can then just use running stitch over the top to quilt it.

I liked the idea of bringing in a green colouring so applied it to an allover leaf design.

Seeing these designs has made me want to go back to hand painting. There is something so therapeutic about using a paint and brush. I will have to find a nice project to start with. Maybe painting some of my bags would be a start?!

Pink and grey treasury

My pink and grey coin purse was recently featured in a treasury on Etsy. 

Here are some of my favourite items.

You can see more coin purses here.

Elephant stationery by Fiona Designs.

Chevron dress by Heidi and Finn Studio.

Dogwood oil painting by Michele Maule.

Menagerie a Trois

I've just added this threesome of cute little animal prints to my Etsy store. They are the Lila Coin purse and the smallest size I make - perfect for small change and tiny items.

Nellie

I just added this little Florence Clasp Bag to my Etsy store. I love the simple motif on the grey ground, and decided to add a shot of colour to the inside, with a fresh, funky striped lining. Other elephant images I like are Helen Dardik's quirky "Join the Circus" print, with an elephant donning shoes and Anna Hardinge's "Little Lions" print.