The Tea Cosy Story

Well it's been a long time in the making. Mum and I visited a wool shop in Shortlands called Little Woollie, London. Mum fancied getting her knitting needles out again after a long break and was inspired to look up a wool store nearby. What a lovely little shop, full of great project samples and wool, together with their own patterns. The lady serving was very helpful and friendly.

Mum was taken with a tea cosy sample in the window and I agreed to make it for her as a Mothering Sunday gift, as this event was two weeks away I felt I had plenty of time to knit it. I planned to buy the pattern and sort out wool from my stash, the lady explained the pattern was £2.00, but free with the kit for the project which was only £6.00 - great value. I decided to buy the kit so I could get straight on with the project and I loved the colours. We purchased a few other items as well and were very pleased with our shopping trip and eager to get on with our knitting.

I made a start and the pattern turned out to be easy to follow, you knit two sides then joint together to knit the top. I finished one side, and as I started the second side it became clear there would not be enough wool to finish the job. I studied the pattern and checked my work and could not see any errors, so I emailed the shop, explaining it was a gift for mother's day. They were quick to reply and promised to send more wool.

Time went by and I thought I would have enough to make the flowers for the top, while waiting for the postie to arrive. No matter how I tried the pattern did not make sense! In the end I stopped trying and planned to have another go the next day - I thought maybe I was not reading the pattern properly.

The next morning I had an email from another member of staff to say she had designed the tea cosy and just realised she had made an error in the pattern. She sent me the corrected version and I was able to make up the five flowers in no time.

A few days before Mother's Day and no sign of the wool, so another email was sent, this time the reply informed me the owner was at Ally Pally and not able to get to a post office, she apologised but she had missed the point that I needed it for mother's day. On the Monday morning I received another email to say the wool had been posted first thing and it arrived the next day, so I was able to finish the cosy off.

Mum is now the proud owner of her tea cosy at last.

Little Woollie London is well worth a visit and have some great products and designs. As well as wool they sell fabrics and they run classes too.
Thanks for looking.
Lynn x

Little Mother

Saturday was the crop at Papermaze and here is the design I created for the crop kit. The photo was taken in the garden at home when I was about 2 years old.

This is what was used to create the design:
12” x 12” Bazzill white, Peacock and Jetstream 
12” x 6” Simple Stories, Carpe Diem:
     Total Chaos
     Teal Dot, Yellow Dot
     Pink Dot, Black Dot
     Brand New Day
     Fist Bump
     Expressions Cardstock Stickers
Ribbon
Teal Divine Twine
Doilies
Buttons
Kars Wooden ornaments
Gems
Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page Set - cherish & Vintage Floral
Martha Stewart Punch Royal (Glassene) Butterfly

Xcut Spiro Circle Nesting Dies

There will be more from me on the Papermaze blog using this paper collection at the end of the month.
Thanks for looking,
Lynn x

JOFY Stamps Box & A Card

I usually store my stamps in old DVD boxes but the JOFY and a few other stamps come on lovely coloured mounts, and so it would be a shame to cut these up to fit or take them off all together.

I had some cosmetic boxes, given to me over the years and found the JOFY stamp sets fit perfectly into this purple one. (Thanks Linda for the box and the loan of the alpha stamps x). A bonus is they smell nice too!

The I set about decorating and personalising it. I measured the box and cut water colour paper to fit the sides and top of the lid.

With the Paperartsy JOFY stamps from the alphabet set (21), and several floral sets (26, 32) and the tiny bee (30) I did some stamping with the aid of some home made masks and a Versafine onyx black ink pad.

Then using Distress Ink pads, markers, water, a brush and mister, I painted - coloured the images and background. These were then trimmed and I inked around the edges with Black Soot Distressed Ink Pad. To finish off a few drops of Glossy Accents made the bee wings glisten.

Distress ink colours used:
Flower petals and buds - mustard seed, spiced marmalade, spun sugar, dried marigold and carved pumpkin
Leaves - mowed lawn, twisted citron, cracked pistachio
Letters - Evergreen bough and stormy sky
Label - Antique Linen
Background - shaded lilac, dusty concord and weathered wood

Inside lid

Now to make one for my Tim Holtz stamps!

I also made a card for my Mum for Mothering Sunday, using the same technique.

Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Ma Cherie

Please take a look on the Papermaze blog today to read about how I created this heritage layout using the beautiful Ma Cherie collection from Kaisercraft together with some chipboard pieces and stencils

The photograph shows my Grandfather as Best Man to his Brother Frank, when he married Maud in 1913. It also shows two of his sisters as bridesmaids.

Thanks for looking.

Lynn x

Fun in the Forest

Another great crop kit design by Vanessa of Papermaze last weekend. A beautiful blue shades of Tim Holtz Blueprint Sketch Distress products and papers from Bo Bunny.

My photo was taken by Alan of Andrew age 11, when they were at an Outdoor Adventure Weekend at Botley in 2003, with Erith Yacht Club. Good to make a layout for the boys.

Black, Kraft and white Bazzill cardstock
Bo Bunny - Love and Lace collection - True Love
American Crafts - Amy Tangerine Finders Keepers - Persuit & Magnify
Divine Twine - Blueberry
Dusty Attic Leaves
Hessian
Buttons
Dewdrops
Blueprint Sketch - Disterss Ink & Spray Stain
Punches - Martha Stewart Daisy Fan & Chevron
Memory Box Die - Fillipa Corner
White Pen
Doodlebug Designs Teensy Type Alpha Stickers - Beetle Black

Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Mon Amour

Pop over to Scrap, Paper Scissors, The Papermaze Blog to see some quick, last minute Valentine cards. Using just four sheets of paper from Graphic 45's Mon Amour collection, I created all these cards and a tag, with papers to spare.

Most of the Graphic 45 collections lend themselves to making cards due to the printed images and matching background patterned papers.

Take a look at the Papermaze website to view various collections.

Thanks for looking.
Lynn x

Calendar Birds

A different way to use your stencils. This is my first project for the Design Team at Papermaze.

I used this technique to make a set of tags, one for each month of the year. Please go to the Papermaze Blog to read more and see the whole set, and the cards I made with the finished tags.

Thank you for looking.
Lynn x