ROXY LEAVER

Pinterest inspiration

2012-02-02T17:02:00.000Z

Source: tumblr.thinkdoer.com via David on Pinterest

Source: laughingsquid.com via Lieke on Pinterest

Source: uppercasegallery.ca via Vanessa on Pinterest

Source: notebook.printeresting.org via Vanessa on Pinterest

Source: gmillustration.tumblr.com via Roxy on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Roxy on Pinterest

This always happens, I go to do some work on my computer and somehow later find that I've spent ages on Pinterest and Tumblr. They're really dangerous, I could easily just spend hours on there looking at beautiful images. Either that or end up watching cat videos on YouTube, again easily done.

To the mountains

2012-01-18T18:52:00.000Z

This post has really been a long time coming, I've been meaning to write this post for a while but I honestly just kept putting it off. This was for many reasons; the main one was that I was spending most of my time on Charlie & the Fox, then I hadn't edited my photos from America and I had also grown tired of my blog design. Now this year will be a big fresh start for my blog, I've new ideas for posts that I will start to organise in a folder and I also have a new blog design coming along nicely that I'm very excited about.

Now back in November I spent two weeks over in America visiting my family in Colorado. It was such a lovely holiday, it was great spending time with my family and I had my first ever Thanksgiving. Which I don't know why some people were surprised, including my family, that we don't celebrate that holiday here in England. I ate pecan pie for the first time, lovely, as well as pumpkin pie, which I didn't like so much as, surprise surprise, it tasted very pumpkin like.
I really loved being so near mountains, I am obsessed with mountains, and I got a little snowboarding in my holiday too.

Something I love about being English in America is that Americans LOVE the accent. I kept getting comments like; 'Oh my god! You're British!'. Makes me smile. My little cousins were trying out their english accent impressions on me too, which they learnt from watching Harry Potter, and I tried out an American accent, it was really bad. To which my youngest cousin said, 'Which one is your real accent?'. So cute!

Anyway, we're now in 2012. Very excited about this year, I have a lot ideas and plans. I've already made a good start this year and am also making a good effort to stay organised, Evernote is saving me there as it is amazing and I've already gone over my monthly quota. I've also recently started a Tumblr blog, I really like Tumblr now. So I am hoping to do a lot with Charlie & the Fox this year and also visit more mountains.

Christmas Crafty Fox Market pics

2011-12-12T18:22:00.003Z

Yesterday I was at the second day of Crafty Fox with a table for my Charlie & the Fox things. It was running over the Saturday and Sunday on three floors, I didn't pop over on the Saturday to see what handmade things were there as I was getting ready for the next day but I heard that it was amazing and really busy.

I really enjoyed it, as always, there were lovely people there selling gorgeous things. I managed to do a little shopping myself; a lovely print from my neighbour Alice Potter and some cards from Lucy loves this. Also there was a tea room section on the second floor, where I had my table, I was very happy about that.

It did get busy and the moments where it did slow a little I went round and took photos. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a good picture of my table, I was right under a multi coloured spot light. The photos I took of the table did not come out well, at all.

This christmas market also marked the year birthday of the first ever Craft Fox Market, I was there at the first one too.

Christmas Crafty Fox Market

2011-12-06T18:53:00.001Z

So another Crafty Fox Market is coming up and this one is an extra special one, the christmas one! It's running on both days and I've got a table on the Sunday in the upstairs bar. If you're around you can check out our stuff up close where you can touch/smell/cuddle, the bear with no name may scowl at the last one, all the bags.

{The Dogstar on a map}

Denver, USA

2011-12-05T19:19:00.001Z

Last week I got back from visiting family in colorado. I stuffed my face and went down the side of a mountain (it included colliding with some in slow motion and a lot of falling over). It was so much fun and I had my first ever thanksgiving.
I tried to have a very American time. There were Reeces cups and I even attempted an American accent, which was really just me saying 'like' and 'awesome'.
These are some of my favourite photos I took in Denver, I took a lot of photos.

Falling in love rocks!

2011-11-21T04:46:00.001Z

Today I visited Boulder (Colorado) with my family and chico, the dog. The view of the mountains from the town is really pretty and I love all the old American buildings there, and Colorado for that. Usually when I visit Colorado I go straight up to the mountains but it's nice this time to visit around Denver. Oh and falling in love rocks!

Etsy treasury lovelies

2011-11-13T23:17:00.001Z

Tonight I put together a little treasury, I called it 'The way the wind blows', of some really pretty things that I've recently found on Etsy or just really love. It's got a kind of mountain and feather theme, only a little bit. I wanted mountain and feather things as I'm heading over to Colorado, on tuesday, and I like mountains. I'm going to visit my family, and while I'm there I aim to do a lot of drawing up by the prettiness that is Colorado. I will also be blogging, tweeting and stuff too. A little of the pretty places I've seen, things I've drawn and anything else I fancy :) x

Giveaway Winner!

2011-11-04T18:26:00.001Z

Using a random generator the giveaway winner is: Allison Nadeau

Congratulations! A lovely little fox bag will soon be on it's way to you. Thank you to everyone that entered. If you didn't win I will have another giveaway nearer the new year, another bag with another face will want a new home. xx

Crafty Fox Market at Spitalfields is now cancelled

2011-11-02T16:54:00.001Z

I'm very sorry to say that I won't have a stall at the Crafty Fox Market at Spitalfields this coming saturday as the event has now been cancelled due to license issue. It would have been an amazing day and so much fun, but fingers crossed that one day soon it will be back on again.

The Crafty Fox Market blog: http://craftyfoxmarket.blogspot.com/

In other news I have a new print I'm currently working on and I have lots of new products that I will add to the store this week. :)

Giveaway: Fox illustration small make up bag (CLOSED)

2011-10-28T12:02:00.000+01:00

This is a giveaway to win one fox illustration small make up bag. I'm doing this giveaway as a blog birthday/halloween treat. The competition will run from today until midnight (GMT) Thursday, 28/10/11 - 3/11/11.

--NOW CLOSED--

How to win

To enter this giveaway all you need to do is leave a comment saying what you like about Charlie & the Fox.

There are three place you can enter:
1) Leave a comment on this post.
2) Leave a comment on our Facebook page.
3) Tweet it, please include @CandF_Roxy so I can track your comment.

Leaving a comment on each of these three places is allowed, so you could really get three entries into the giveaway :)

-----------

Anyone can enter, and the winner will be chosen by a random number generator.

The lovely winner will be announced on Friday 4th November. Good luck.

Upcoming market stalls

2011-10-25T22:47:00.001+01:00

Tonight I added a new section to the banner links, which is the tab 'Upcoming markets'. As I do a few markets every so often I thought it'll be a good idea to put a list of dates/where I'll have all upcoming market stalls for Charlie & the Fox. At the moment I'm doing two markets before christmas, both are Crafty Fox Market days. The first one is at Spitalfields market on the 5th of November, I'm so excited as I've never had a table there before but I love the market. I have had a table before at The Old Truman Brewary, which is just across the road from Spitalfields and across from an amazing fish & chip shop. Then the next is at The Dogstar, Brixton, on the 11th of December.

At the moment I'm mostly sewing and drawing. I'm making lots of new things for christmas, so there will be lots of new things coming to the online stores and to the market days. Going to get back to my drawing now.

If you're curious, my last Crafty Fox Market days: Sept 2011, April 2011, Dec 2010.

Photos I like

2011-10-23T21:48:00.000+01:00

Source: butter-brass.blogspot.com via Roxy on Pinterest

Some of my favourited images from Pinterest. Hope you've had a lovely weekend.

Source: wishflowers.tumblr.com via Roxy on Pinterest

Source: None via Roxy on Pinterest

Source: makingmagique.com via Roxy on Pinterest

What some weekends are for

2011-10-17T17:35:00.001+01:00

Baking a lemon tart for the first time...then eating most of it.

A little drawing, light sewing and of course a cosy blanket.

Made it: chalkboard paint + ikea frames

2011-10-11T14:44:00.000+01:00

I've wanted the big flip clock, below, for years now and I remember that my grandma had a similar calendar to the wooden one below. In reality I would still love to have the big flip clock, it is amazing and I love the flip noise. It reminds of the giant flip boards they had in Victoria station.

One day I might get the big flip one but in the meantime I made a chalkboard clock/calendar. Which I also love because I get to cross of the days as I go, so satisfying. The frame is from Ikea and it around A4 sized, without the cardboard border insert, and the clock mechanism was a cheap Ikea clock. These frames are lovely but the only thing that annoys me is that the little metal rectangles that fold over to keep it secure are flimsy. Meaning you can't really change your artwork as the metal things will snap off. As I knew my clock would be staying put I glue gunned it in place.

It was really easy to make; painted the wooden frame insert with chalkboard paint (two coats), painted on my calendar grid with acrylic paint, made a whole for the clock mechanism and put it together, then wrote the dates on with chalk. Done.

I got the chalkboard paint especially for this and got the smallest tub I could find. Even then I had loads left over, so I then made the second thing to write 'to do' lists and then easily hide it by flipping it over. I still have loads of paint left. Need to find something else to do with it.

Source: habitat.co.uk via Roxy on Pinterest

Source: westelm.com via Roxy on Pinterest

Random thought #1

2011-10-10T18:52:00.000+01:00

I'm told that I come out with random, and sometimes weird, comments. So I thought why not write them down and illustrate them with type. I love type and trying to make it up as I go along, also drawing this all out is good practice for me to get to better grips with Illustrator and maybe even watercolours.

It says "I will check my bed for spiders because they are sneaky". Now I know I'm not the only person who does this, I accidently got caught out once but it turned out they do it too, but I check because of the amount of times I've found a rogue spider about.

Illustration and type love

2011-09-29T17:34:00.000+01:00

Source: happymundane.com via Roxy on Pinterest

Just a few illustration and type things that I love and have pinned on Pinterest.

Source: etsy.com via Roxy on Pinterest

Source: ffffound.com via Roxy on Pinterest

Source: doublemerrick.com via Roxy on Pinterest

Source: typeverything.com via Roxy on Pinterest

Floral clasp purse

2011-09-13T19:55:00.000+01:00

Last week I made this clasp purse, I made up a pattern as a test and also to use this gorgeous print fabric. So now I have new purse for myself, which I really needed. When I made the pattern I wanted to make sure it was tall enough to fit cards inside upright, my cards fit inside nicely.

In a way this is a sneak peek at one of the new products to come to my store, it will be pretty.

Crafty Fox Market pics

2011-09-06T22:19:00.000+01:00

Thursday, 1st Sept, was Crafty Fox Market at The Dogstar (Brixton). Where there were lots of handmade and vintage stalls as well as a learn to make stuff area and DJ (which I enjoyed singing and dancing to but probably just looked very silly). This was my third time at Crafty Fox, I always love being there as everyone is lovely and it's so much fun (not to mention amazing stuff being sold there). Like the last times I didn't venture too far away from my table, so there are only a few pictures and they were quickly taken but at least you can appreciate my otter looking hands in the second photo.

Late night sewing

2011-09-05T22:25:00.000+01:00

Just a few random photos of things around me where I make stuff.

Tomorrow I'll have a look at my photos from Crafty Fox Market, I'm not sure how they turned out as it was a bit dark there but I should have one of my table.

Shop things

2011-09-04T19:04:00.002+01:00

Crafty Fox Market on thursday went really well and, as always, was fun. I made a lot of new things for the market, and I've added them now to my Etsy and Folksy store, but I've got a lot more to come. I've got a lot of sewing and photo taking coming up, so there'll be more shop updates. I'll do a peek post during the week of the new lovelies.

Getting ready for Crafty Fox Market

2011-09-01T15:23:00.000+01:00

The scene as I get ready for Crafty Fox Market, today between 6pm - 10pm at The Dogstar (Brixton, London). I've got a little stall and have made lots of new things for today. {See where The Dogstar is on the map}. xx

Food: French Macaroons

2011-08-28T12:43:00.001+01:00

French macaroons are probably one of my favourite tea time treat. I've always wanted to try to make them but just put it of because I was a bit scared to try. I thought I'd mess it up, it will look weird, taste horrible, or worse, won't cook.

I've heard that they're very difficult to make and take a long time to make as well. Now I don't know if I was just lucky or the recipe I used was a really good one, but I didn't find it that hard. That probably means I didn't do it right. Though they look and taste alright to me. They did take take a long time to make, it's more the preparing of it than cooking. It's well worth it. So yummy, even Christopher Robin looks like he wants some.

I used this recipe, I didn't add any food colouring and I used a buttercream icing filling instead because I think that's what they normally use (for the buttercream; 75g butter and 50g icing sugar). The buttercream icing actually tasted a little sickly in the end because the butter I used melts as soon as it's out the fridge so it was just a bit watery, for the other half of the macaroons I also add a couple of drops of rosewater to the buttercream icing. I thought that might save it, haven't tried it yet though.

Crafty Fox Market: 1st sept

2011-08-27T12:06:00.002+01:00

{Image by Jimboart}

In exciting news; this coming thursday, on the 1st of september, I will have a little stall at Crafty Fox Market held at The Dogstar in Brixton between 6pm - 10pm. In preparation for it I'm currently in the process of making new things for it, as well as for a well needed Etsy store update. There will be a new face appearing with the rest of my illustrations, there will be a fox face in time for Crafty Fox. I like it.

If you're in London on thursday it would be lovely to see you at the market, there will lots of other lovely stalls and The Dogstar is right by the tube.

I've had a stall at Crafty Fox twice before and took photos of it; you can see my April 2011 stall and my December 2010 stall.

For a list of stall holders at this coming Crafty Fox Market and more info.

Weekend: High Rocks

2011-08-25T22:01:00.000+01:00

Last weekend I went to one of my favourite places, High Rocks in Tunbridge Wells. It's only a small area but it is so pretty there. I mainly love the carved stairs, all the engravings from hundreds of years and the trees growing on top of the rocks.

In other news I've now moved over to blogger, some people move the other way but I like blogger more now. Managed to import all my posts, except I had to edit each and every one because each post had MASSIVE spaces! All done now though. Next week I'm at Crafty Fox Market, so best get ready for it. Going to make more new things and bring in a new print! Can't wait to see his face.

I don't like your face

2011-08-16T20:08:00.000+01:00

I know at first this seems a bit harsh and maybe a bit rude, but it's not mean't that way at all. I drew this for my sister because this has become our catchphrase or joke really. I have to admit that people aren't impressed when they hear us say it to each other. We almost say it all the time as a joke because the way it came about was funny.

Years ago my sister and I were visiting family, and to my sisters annoyance we had to share a bed. I'm not easiest person to share a bed with; apparently I kick, punch, etc. Nice. Anyway at the time I was reading Agatha Christie 'Murder on the Orient Express' (a great book) and one night a chapter ended with a line from Poirot, "I do not like your face". The most amazing line I've ever read and an equally amazing way to end a chapter. With that I turned to her and repeated this line, shut my book and went to sleep. She was obviously shocked and upset, but mostly confused and being a mean sister I didn't say anything more. In the morning the first thing she said to me was "You kept hitting me in the face last night", to which I replied "I told you I don't like your face". Haha. Best moment ever.

So 'I don't like your face' has become our catchphrase to that moment, but mostly it's an ode to the best line of speech we've ever read. Poirot you crack me up.