Sea life

I created this bright sea creatures print for my Spoonflower shop. It includes sea urchins, seahorses and tropical fish, as well as a cheeky crab or two, in a red and white colour palette.

This print would look great on bedding for a kid's room. It comes on a duvet cover like the one below.

The duvet cover has a sturdy zipper closure.

It also comes as a sheet set in a variety of sizes.

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Tenegui toes

When I lived in Japan I developed a bit of a tenegui addiction and I built up a rather impressive collection of them. A tenegui is a piece of cotton fabric that can be used as a tea towel, headscarf, gift wrapping fabric or used as a piece of art. In Japan, many tenegui are printed with pretty designs and they often depict images relating to the season of the moment.

My friend Michiko came over from Japan recently and stayed with me for a few days. One of the lovely gifts she gave me was this fabulous red tenegui. It depicts a woman's leg and foot with a black comb. This was seen as a very provocative image in days gone by and may well have been the leg of a male kabuki actor who portrayed women in kabuki theatre.

I love the use of negative space which is seen as just as important as the main image in Japanese design. Red is also my favourite colour! Now I just need to find the perfect place to hang it in my apartment.

Nautical nautiness

It's been a while since I've written on my blog! But I'm back and embracing the beginning of summer. I recently went on a trip to the lovely seaside town of Whitstable and it inspired me to start creating some nautical-inspired items.

Whitstable is situated on the north coast of Kent and is famous for its oysters. It also has a lovely selection of shops and cafes to meander around. The harbour was full of brightly coloured boats and we came across this friendly fisherman too!

Wherever I go, I like to do research into design ideas for new projects and I often come across some fabulous inspiration on the high street. The two items below caught my eye as I love the loose, abstract style of them both. The image on the left is a canvas bag from Seasalt and the image on the right shows bathroom items from John Lewis.

I was also interested in the designs below which I saw on candle boxes by Linea at House of Fraser. The design on the left is a loose geometric that is designed in nautical colours of red, white and blue that co-ordinate nicely with a nautical collection. The design on the right uses an abstract wave design and reminds me of many designs used in Japanese art and design.

Below you can see a few of the nautical items I now have in my store. I love a lobster print and the card case uses a fab graphic lobster design with a red and white polka dot lining. The tissue holder is made from a canvas navy blue and white anchor fabric and comes filled with tissues, ready for any summertime sniffles. The fish cometic bag and beach hut cosmetic bag are large and roomy and great for using on vacation, either for toiletries or as a case for storing chargers and gadgets.

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Something fishy

Yesterday I mentioned some fishy little sweets I'd been given. These inspired me to make some fishy items for my store, and here they are! It's a coin purse and tissue holder combo, made from a gorgeous little Japanese cotton blue and white fish and bubbles design. I decided to give it a contrasting red and white spotty lining for a flash of colour.

Can you spot the little red fish amongst the bubbles?

I decided to give it a contrasting red and white spotty lining.

You can find them both in my store here.

Jaws

I couldn't resist sharing this cute shark fabric that I just bought from Creative Quilting!

These happy fellas have a textured grey body and a big red toothy smile and will be the perfect addition to my Cheeky Leopard store.

I'm going to make them up into cosmetic bags, coin purses and card cases and will use a fab contrasting red and white polka dot fabric for the lining. Watch this space!

Happy Monday

I recently posted a 'Fabric Friday' post where I mentioned a cute little fabric with Japanese girls on. I've been busy sewing over the weekend and it's now been made up into a fab little coin purse. I've just added it to my store and you can find it here. It's the perfect size for storing small change or for keeping headphones in.

The black and white polka dot lining works perfectly!

 I also have a lovely little blue version which you can find here.

This purse has a red and white polka dot lining.

As you will see, I now have a lovely set of three little coin purses, all with cute little Japanese girls on them, in a choice of red, cream or blue backgrounds. Irresistible!

You can find them all in my store here. 

A new addition

There's a new addition to the Cheeky Leopard family! This cute little padded heart-shaped keyring, made from a red and white blossom tenegui fabric that I bought in Tokyo. It is lightly padded and has a blue ribbon loop that attaches it to the key fob.

This could be used as a keyring or as a bag charm and is perfectly charming!

You can find it in my store here.

Hello sailor!

Here's another addition to the sailor boy range! Last week I added a cute little card case made from a sailor design on a pink ground. This week I'm adding a lovely little coin purse with a red and white polka dot lining. The purse is big enough to fit small change, keys and credit cards and has a fab red and white polka dot lining. You can find it in my store here.

Blossom season

Blossom season is nearly here, which I love! To me it means that spring is well and truly on its way. When we lived in Japan, the blossom season was a rather magical event, where everyone embraced the beauty of the soft pink cherry blossoms and came out to celebrate with hanami parties, or blossom viewing parties. Hundreds of people flocked to the parks around Tokyo and spread out their picnic rugs to eat good food and enjoy the flowers. Along the Meguro river, close to where we used to live, was especially magical as the river was lit up with lanterns at night time. In true Japanese fashion, blossom season is always predicted pretty accurately and this year the Tokyo area is predicted to be starting as early as 26th March, although I've read that some buds have already been seen at the Yasukuni Shrine. I'd love to head over there and get a little fix of it!

In celebration of the coming of spring, I have made two pretty little clutch bags out of vintage blossom kimono fabrics that I collected on my last trip to Tokyo in November.

You can find both clutch bags in my shop here.

Atishoo!

We've been getting crafty here at Cheeky Leopard and now have a new addition to the Cheeky Leopard family - tissue cases! I've been playing with some fun fabric combinations and have rustled up a few cute cases to store tissues. Note the contrasting lining on each one that gives it a pop of extra colour. You can find them in my store here.

Anyone who knows Cheeky Leopard knows that we like a good cat print.

The two below are both quite quirky but sweet and are two fabrics I picked up when I was in Tokyo.

I also love a simplified animal prints in bold colours and the two below fit the description perfectly.

Nautical prints are fab and I love this navy anchor on a red and white striped ground.

Fabric Friday

Whale hello there! For some reason I can't resist a whale fabric and I recently found this fabulous blue and white piece on one of my fabric foraging sessions. I love it!

The fabric is quite thick and nicely nubby.

I like the blue and white colouring and the happy whale motif.

I'm planning on using a bright red polka dot fabric as the lining, giving it a fab fresh nautical feel.

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.

Anchors away!

I have a few card cases in my store but can't believe I haven't made one of these before now! I love the anchor fabric and it lends itself so nicely to the compact size of the Cheeky Leopard card holders. I love the contrasting navy blue and white polka dot lining as well.

You can find it on my Etsy store here.

Ahoy there!

Cheeky Leopard likes a bit of nautical naughtiness and it comes in all shapes and sizes! From jaunty anchor tote bags to maritime-inspired card cases and sailboat gift sets.

You can find them in store here.