5 a day

Get your 5 a day with these fun vegetable-inspired card cases! We love a novelty print here at Cheeky Leopard and I couldn't resist these home grown fabrics that I have been hunter-gathering.

This card case is made from a modern green and white fabric with a stylised design of vegetables. It has a contrasting black and white spotty lining.

Each card case can hold up to 8 credit cards.

They could also be used as a business card case or a travel card case.

This card case is made from a fun tomato fabric which is a Japanese furoshiki fabric that I bought in Tokyo. I decided to give it an orange and white spotty lining.

You can find them both in my store here.

Japanese juiciness

There's a bit of Japanese juiciness going on at Cheeky Leopard!

I've been busy making some lovely Japanese-inspired cosmetic bags. Each one uses a fabric that includes an image associated with Japan. These purses could be used for storing makeup, or as a gadget pouch for storing chargers. I use mine as a handbag organiser to store all the pesky small items that get lost in the bottom of my handbag.

This stork purse is made from furoshiki fabric. Furoshki is a wrapping cloth, used for wrapping gifts or for carrying groceries. I love the simple design of the storks and matched the red and white geometric lining to the red of the stork's legs.

This bag is made from a tenegui fabric (also a fabric used for wrapping presents etc) and depicts a simplified version of a daruma doll. The daruma doll is seen as a talisman for good luck!

I love this sumo purse! The images are fun and depict different sumo moves.

I gave it a black and white spotty lining.

I've used this blue and white stork fabric a few times and love its graphic image. I used a red and white polka dot lining that matches the red of their beaks.

Some new additions

A few weeks ago I mentioned on my blog that I had bought some fab new cotton fabrics in Tokyo.

Most of the pieces I bought are furoshiki or tenegui fabrics and each one was chosen because it had a fun element to it. The torii gates have been very popular in the past, so I was glad to find more of that, and who could resist the dancing ninjas?!

I have finally started making them up into cosmetic bags and here is an example of a few of them.

The prints are so much fun to work with and I enjoyed finding the right lining to match each fabric.

They have all been added to my store recently and you can find them here. I use mine as a cosmetic bag, but they could also be used as a handbag organiser or as a gadget pouch for chargers etc.

I love the torii gate fabric on this purse. It has an orange and white polka dot lining.

Torii gates can be found at the entrance to a shinto shrine and are often painted a bright orange colour.

 The dancing ninjas are so sweet! I decided to give them a black and white polka dot lining.

 This Fuji fabric purse is so much fun and it was given a red and white polka dot lining to match the sun peeking out from behind the cloud.

A taste of Japan

I recently mentioned my imminent trip to Tokyo, which is very exciting. I will be selling my bags at the International Bazaar at the Tokyo American Club and decided to add some coin purses to my selection. They all have a taste of Japan and are made from tenegui and furoshki fabrics, both of which I have a slight addiction to. Don't ask......

 Red fans and stylised parasols.

 Japanese hair slides and geishas.

 Samurai warriors and ninjas.

Happi coats and Japanese acoutrements.

Furoshiki wrapping

The other day I ended up kimono shopping in Jiyugaoka, a small town near where I live. The kimono shop I went to is tiny and one that I've been to a few times. I always find a gem or two there. The women who run it are lovely and always accommodating. This time they wrapped up my purchases in a beautiful furoshiki.

 My friend Rachael took a beautiful instagram photo of the wrapped items. 

Below are some of my purchases - mostly Japanese obi pieces.

Fab Furoshiki

I've just added this Florence Clasp bag to my Etsy store. I love the simple geometric print and the vibrant yellow with a shot of brown thrown in. The fabric actually comes from a furoshiki that I bought a while ago. A furoshiki is a Japanese tradition where beautiful pieces of cloth are used to wrap anything from groceries, to gifts and lunch boxes. The furoshiki can be tied in many different ways (see here for tips), and also means that the wrapping is often more appealing than the gift! One faux pas that must be avoided, however, is to not keep the furoshiki and to make sure it is given back to the owner. It seems that in many cases, the furoshiki is a family heirloom.....

I also love the modern take on a furoshiki bag. See here.