Thursday, 31 July 2008
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Gooooooooood morning everyone....
Firstly, I would just like to share this little tutorial with you. I was demonstrating down at Papermill in South Normanton at the weekend, and met lots of lovely ladies - and the occasional fella - who seemed to love my cards..
There was one card in particular that most people loved, so I thought I would share it here. The idea originally came from a lady called Joy - can't remember the website now to type it - but here are the instructions. I hope they help.
Double Pocket Card
- Take an A4 piece of paper and keep it patterned side up.
2. Fold the cardstock in half vertically and open, then fold horizontally and open. Cut the left horizontal fold to the center of the paper. I have put the bone folder in the cut so you can see it.
6. Now, for this section there are two ways you can do it. a)Fold the left piece of paper under the right, as shown below, or b) fold the bottom right onto the top right sections and wrap the left piece around the card to create a back panel (this is the one I showed at PM)
I hope this makes sense to you all... Happy folding!
Saturday, 26 July 2008
Yummy rubber ducky!

Okay.. I give up!
I found this piccie whilst perusing on the net this morning - it describes just how I feel this last couple of days.. to give you a clue - Jo + red hot 'orrid weather = grumpy Jo !!! Add to this the darn flies and wasps and you've got a Jo on the edge!!!
Bring on the snow.. that's all I can say!
My ideal holiday is not sitting on a beach lapping up the sun, it's sitting on a deckchair in Iceland or somewhere nice and chilly!!!
Moan over - now back to the internet.. cough cough..I mean work!
Friday, 25 July 2008
Rescue.. puppies.. everything in between!
This was taken the other day on the sofa, when Mr Scoobs was having a bit of a nap.. (mm.. as usual!). He is soooo laid back he's virtually horizontal! Isn't he just the best!??






Has it been that long????





Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Why??
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/2338970.dog_found_hanged_in_bunker/
If, like me and my fabby friend Nikki, you love dogs, especially springers, then why would you do this????
It is absolutely disgusting and I hope they catch the b*&%*£ds that did this and do the same to them!!
Rant over!
Saturday, 19 July 2008
Thank you Ladies - and gent!
Also... thank you to the lovely gentleman who said I looked pretty with my sparkly face! Now, I am the first to confess I have not been called pretty for many a year... in fact.. ever?? LOL.. Now he didn't smell of alcohol, but vodka doesn't smell does it?? It gave me and all my ladies a little chuckle !
Anyway, I am off for my coffee - caffeine shortage today! - and will hopefully be back with a few cards and tutorials over the next few days as promised.
Until then.. toodaloo!
Friday, 18 July 2008
So far... so good!
After plodding on with this idea for some time now, I have managed to locate premises to hold craft workshops in my local area of Doncaster.
If you are interested at all, please feel free to leave me a comment. The first workshop is booked in and ready to go on the 30th July.
I'm getting all excited now.. that's another one to cross of my list!
Thursday, 17 July 2008
A few new things to share...
I'm glad to say that I feel a bit more with it today - but my elbow is hurting like hell this morning. **ouch**. I don't know why, but it's the arm I smashed into the windscreen of the car in the accident, so I presume it's to do with that. It's been bugging me for days.. hey ho! Everything else is sorting itself slowly but surely. Back to normal in no time! (normal?? now what's that??)

Papermania papers, Craftime glitter flowers, butterfly and ribbon,
Papermania adhesive gems, Papermania wedding stamp,
eyelets, cropodile

Papermania Colossal card, white ink, white gel pen, prismacolour pencils, eyelet, ribbon


Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Yawn.....

All animals yawn and in humans yawning seems to be contagious. Seeing another person yawn, or even just reading about yawning can make you yawn.
You can pretty precisely define what a yawn is. The characteristics are instantly recognisable: the screwed-up eyes, the head thrown back and of course - the gaping maw.
In humans a yawn typically lasts around six to eight seconds. We do know that it is found in all vetebrates and that it develops early - even 10 week old human foetuses yawn. (it has even been suggested that fish yawn!).
It can be a way for a group to signal to itself something like "time for bed" or "we're bored, let's do something else now".
Pre-school children don't catch yawning off others. This would fit with research in child psychology which suggests that, until around the age of three or four children, aren't able to think about other people's states of mind. They don't have what many people would call empathy. One aspect of this lack may be that they don't socially mimic others like adults do, and hence don't catch yawns.
You can bet that the next time i'm around a three year old I'll be yawning at them to see if they copy me.
Supporting the connection between automatic contaigon of yawning is research published earlier this year which showed that people who are higher in empathy are more likely to catch yawns off other people.
In humans yawning can reflect our profound capacity to unconsciously and automatically be influenced by the behaviour of others. Catching other's yawns is fundamental to the social imitation that is so advanced in humans. Yawning in synchrony is more common amoung potential lovers - not as a sign of bordom, but as an expression of their mutual empathy and attraction!
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
she's so luvverly..


Monday, 14 July 2008
Praise time!
The first one - CRAFTS U LOVE
---After searching high and low for the swiss dots folder by provocraft, I eventually found it here. I ordered that (and a few extras!) on Friday, late morning.. and it arrived on Saturday! Fantastic service!
The second one - CRAFTY CREATIONS, COTTINGHAM
---The web site for this shop is being updated at the moment, so is currently offline. However, I was demonstrating at this store at the weekend.. WOW WOW WOW! What can I say?? It is such a fantastic little shop stocked to the brim with lush products!! I did buy a couple of little bits (!) that I just needed to have. Ann and Chris who own the shop are two of the most pleasant people you could ever wish to meet, and are very very happy to help on things you are stuck on too!
They also offer workshops and demonstrations, along with special open events for customers from time to time - which in this day and age with the smaller craft shop suffering! - is a brilliant idea. They are both so positive about the shop, the future and crafting in general, it was an absolute pleasure to work alongside them for a few hours!!
Because the web site is off at the moment, here are the contact details for the shop - give them a ring, tell them Jo Austin sent you, and I'm sure they'd help with whatever you want! If they haven't got it, I'm sure they'd get it!!!
UNIT 1,
177 HALLGATE,
COTTINGHAM,
EAST YORKSHIRE,
HU16 4BB
tel : 01482 843663
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Oooooh.... drastic!

Friday, 11 July 2008
At last - some cards...
We have had a fantabulous kit arrive from Docrafts for our demonstrations, I can't even begin to tell you what we got! The papers are just fantastic, the stamps are so lovely, the acetates are wonderful... and that's just the start!
Anyway, I hope if you come over to see me at my demonstrations, that I inspire you just a little bit!

This card is a copy of one in the Creativity! magasine from Docrafts. I like to copy a couple of ideas from the magasine, so that you peeps can see them in real life (although this is not actually as fuzzy as it looks!!!!)

This is another card by the lovely Jo Dumbleton. I really like her work, and this card just shows why! The stickers are the new dimensionals... they're very very pretty!

This blue card was one of my simple cards. To be honest, I'm getting fed up of the Dahlia fold now - I think it's been overdone! The original idea came from Split Coast Stampers forum months ago - go over there .. you'll be suprised by what ideas you can find there, some of which are replicated on other parts of the net, for when we have them blond - or brown - moments. lol.

This one started life as a topper with a fancy fold (come to my demo to learn how to do it!) and flowers, but I decided to put it onto a diamond type card.

Just another quickie favourite of mine.. so simple and effective - thanks Split coast again for the original idea!
Well, that's it for now.. Hopefully more soon. xxx
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Trying to catch up!
I am desperately trying to catch up on everything I need to do.. only to end up feeling sore and achey... so I'm just taking things slow but sure!
Anyway, I was perusing through my messages, only to realise I had recieved an award from Nic, one of my new bloggin' sisters (SBS 19).
Thank you so much for this.. I really appreciate it!
What I need to do now is to pass it on to seven people what inspire me.. how can I possibly choose just seven? Every person who passes my blog and leaves a comment inspire me - to visit your blogs and spend hours on the net (!), to continue my crafting, and to keep writing my blog!
So... if you're visiting my blog, feel free to take this award for your blog - you deserve it!!
Saturday, 5 July 2008
The Beauty of Arran

















That's all for now.. thank you for looking - and as you can tell, we did have such a wonderful time until the 'car' thing!