The Creative Loves of... The Krafy Fox

Today on Creative Loves we have Katy of The Krafy Fox... Based in the English countryside Katy  lives with her soon-to-be husband and creates greeting cards, art prints and whatever else takes her fancy which she sells in her Etsy shop... She also runs a blog... Welcome Katy!

Can you tell me about your work space? My work space is our spare room which is also home to our laundry and a not very attractive futon which is on my New Year upholstery to-do list! We only moved into our new house before Christmas so at the moment most of my sketches and tools are all stacked and shoved into cupboard space until I manage to get some shelving up. My desk area has a bit of a 70s vibe to it with my pride and joy being a ridiculously heavy orange metal filing cabinet with drawers so thin they’re barely useful, but it looks pretty!

Have you always been creatively driven? I was always drawing when I was a child but it kind of drifted away as I got older. In truth, I struggled with motivation to actually do something with it. I would always think about starting up some little business but didn’t actually ever get round to it and then in 2010 I got my act together. I realised that throughout my life I was happiest when I was drawing/creating and that was when The Krafty Fox began. It’s growing slowly and it’s been the best thing I’ve ever done.

What inspires you? One word, Pinterest! I could literally spend hours on there. Whenever I get ideas it’s never when I’m in a position to do anything about it so I will usually sketch the idea down on a folded piece of paper until I can action it. My desk is littered with them.

Please tell us about your current Creative Loves...


Photography – Annie Leibovitz (always) & Brooke Fitts 

Illustration – Clare Owen & Steven Millington 


Graphic Design – Bri Emery & Lost Type Co-op 

Home / Interiors – Design Sponge 

Blogs – A Cup of Jo & Oh Happy Day 

Books – Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch & Penguin Classics 

Magazines- Vanity Fair & Empire

Shops – RE 

What is a typical work day for you? I am in the unfortunate position of having to do a normal day-to-day job which, frankly, gets in the way. When I do have the time to focus on the fun work though it usually goes like this...choose suitable music to work to (very important), catch up on any admin that is required (updating etsy store; responding to emails), sort through the mountains of notepaper for the sketch I want to work on and have a bit of a tidy up, paint a little and then finally spend an extraordinary amount of time of Photoshop.

How do you approach each project? I usually go with my freshest ideas as they’re the ones that I have the most enthusiasm for but if it’s not going to plan I’ll just put it aside and work on something else. Forcing an idea will not get great results in my experience. I use gouache paint initially and then always follow up with digital work.

What projects are you working on at the moment? I’m really keen to do more detailed cards and art prints. I want to pick up an idea I had back when this started and do a geographical series so I hope to start on that quite soon.


What has been the most interesting or exciting project you've worked on? We have just sent our wedding invitations out and it was great for us to be able to design them ourselves. The Man had a great deal of input and I loved that we sat together designing and eventually drawing little gold dots on them!




In terms of your work what couldn't you live without? My desk. Having somewhere to go to and focus on being creative is so important and I think that was a big part of why I haven’t done this until now as I’d never had that space available to me.




What do you love most about what you do? I truly just love being creative. However The Krafty Fox wants to grow is fine with me. If it ends up just being my side-line project that’s great as I’m having fun no matter what it becomes.




What do you want to do in the future? One day I want my own little shop and I already have the whole interior, window display and store sign designed in my head! I’m hoping the pop-up store idea doesn’t fade away before I get to do it.

Where are you happiest? I can be a bit of a home-bird at times so I’d have to say at home with The Man and everything I need around me.

Thanks Katy!