one small step!
Saturday, July 11, 2009

Update on my July Project which if you remember is getting back on the Flylady system and organizing my scraproom!

I am slowly but surely getting somewhere with all these scrap supplies! This morning I went through my paper stash and finally purged my Imagination Project and some One heart... one mind product. It's in a box sitting on my porch ready for a freecycler to collect! I've been hanging onto these for 18 months, I've used some, set aside some for my family (Mum your box is filling up) and I just cannot hang on to them anymore! The kicker came today when I found 3 stacks of paper from MAMBI, Basic Grey and Daisy Bucket and other pads of paper from more manufacturers. Then the mailman delivered a DT box of goodies and I knew I was done. Gotta get rid of the old to store the new. Plus mags won't publish projects with product from manufacturers that are no long selling their products, so I made a huge step and boxed it up and shoved it on freecycle! Better to bless someone else with the supplies than them sit in my room for another couple of years unused!


Earlier in the week we gave away a dining table on Freecyle, and I posted a few other bits and bobs today. The kitchen/dining table is one of our major hot spots and my plan for this weekend is to get it finally cleared off (been working on it all week) and then keep it clear for a week. It's a total clutter magnet though so we'll see how that goes!

I know a few of you were joining in with the scraproom organizing so how are you doing? I'm gonna go get busy for another session and see what I can purge this time!

Di

Posted byDi Hickman at 4:31 PM 1 comments Links to this post  

My fitness/health routine
Friday, July 10, 2009

I've had a few comments (here and facebook) and emails asking about how I lost my weight, how I am keeping it off, what I am doing to get my six pack and how I can help other, can I reveal my secrets? .... etc, etc. Well here's the rub people, it's no secret :)

The science part - is that pretty much that if calories out is less than calories in then that equals weight loss. It's no secret, we all know this! We just want it to be easier, but unfortunately it isn't. Despite the email spam telling us that the fatburning tablets and acacia berry drink will help, fact is that if the diet food/fads etc worked why are there so many on the market? Why is the market for diet pills/shakes/foods increasing if they work? And if there are more of them and they all worked why is the obesity rate getting higher and higher? Because fad diets aren't a long term plan.! We KNOW we should choose fruit and yogurt over cheesecake or chocolate lava cake (damn souplantation!) but we're human, we get tempted, the solution is portion control and getting back to eating healthy again afterwards! Dont' fall into the diet trap! Lose weight healthy, get a new lifestyle for your new you!

The most important things to remember are:
  • Get checked out by a doctor, especially if you have health issues! Make sure it's safe for you to embark on a lifestyle change!
  • Train smart. Start slow and build it up! Going in like a bull in a china shop will mean injury, soreness and you quitting before you get started!
  • If you aren't sure what you are doing get a trainer (goes with the above point really) BUT make sure they are qualified! Too many people calling themselves fitness and personal trainers when they don't know their glutes from their gastrocnemius.
Anyway here is what I've been doing the last 6 months:
  • My 'eating plan' basically consists of 5 meal times a day. Breakfast, post workout, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner. Ok and sometimes a "liquid refreshment" in the evening if I feel like it, lol.
  • Don't starve yourself! I eat around 1500 - 2000 calories a day, depending on how much exercise I do. Yes if I exercise more, I eat more! Also I have 3 cheat meals a week, where I don't track the calories. Those are usually my high exercise intensity days. If I go over these 3 meals I don't panic I just get back to my plan the next meal/day.
  • I use www.livestrong.com to track my calories in vs calories out (exercise) and check my macros (protein, carbs, fats) but basically the site does it all for you if you input the data! I hate math and this site does it for me so YAY :) I'm not a frantic tracker, somedays I track somedays I don't. Pretty much after a few weeks you'll know when you went crazy ;)
  • Check your portion sizes! Seriously! America has a huge portion size problem, it's so easy to get suckered in to eating the whole thing, then find out it was four portions worth of food, eeeks! I used my measuring cup set to see what a portion size of pasta/rice etc was and I was WAY off!
  • Aim to lose weight slowly! Slower it comes off, the longer it'll stay off! Aim for 1% of your body weight each week. So if you weigh 150 lbs then aim for 1lb - 1.5lbs loss a week.
  • Try to be more active in your daily life. I walk the dogs three times a day, just a mile at a time but it gets me out and about three times during the day, rather than doing a three mile walk once. I also started swimming in the pool last month. It's only a small pool and I am in there about 10-15 minutes before it bores the pants of me, but I just find swimming boring lol. But it all counts!
  • Exercise! Getting up and moving is all well and good, but you do need proper exercise sessions. 45 mins -1 hour, 3-4 times a week. I personally exercise 6 days a week, with Saturday off as my rest day (I still walk the dogs, swim etc though). I alternate cardio/weights days and do ab work every workout day.
  • Yep I lift weights! I lift heavy too. No women won't get bulky like a bodybuilder! Unless you workout with weights for 3 hours a day, take steroids, or have some excess testosterone floating around in your body women will NOT bulk up! What will happen is you'll get stronger, you'll burn FAT (yay!) and you'll see some definition due to the fat loss. THIS IS A GOOD THING! Also weights are good for bone density so you'l reduce the risk of osteoporosis. Include all major muscle groups, aim for 8-12 reps & 2-3 sets. The last 2 reps of each set should be tough, not impossible, and not enough that your form suffers. If it's too easy through rep 12 and you feel you can keep going: Increase the weights!
  • Cardio, whether you walk, cycle, run, do aerobics, swim, jog, walk the dogs, chase a ball round a pitch etc whatever your passion just do it! Warm up, 10-15 mins, 30 mins cardio, cool down, stretch. Remember too that if it gets easy it means you need to step it up a notch! If you walked 4 miles in an hour, think about increasing the duration or the intensity, either walk longer or kick it up and add some running in there!
Ab work is a whole other thing and this post is already way long, I'll cover that another day, maybe tomorrow? I also want to touch on a few other things I noticed in some emails about solutions for wobbly thighs, expanding butts etc but I need to go eat, lol!

If you have any questions email me or leave a comment, I'll try and post something or email you back :) Oh and alternatively if you live near me hire me as your personal trainer, email me! lol!

Posted byDi Hickman at 7:33 AM 3 comments Links to this post  

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My Very Own Sackboy/Girl
Thursday, July 9, 2009

Back in early February I mentioned I'd started knitting again, and that my project of choice was a Sackboy from the game "Little Big Planet"... Well I realized I never updated the blog with a pic of the finished project so I thought I'd share that today :) Now remember I haven't knitted since, oh... um... since I was about 14!!!! That's far too many years ago! So it was pretty much a beginner taking on WAY more than she could handle, first time attempting a pattern and I think it turned out OK all things considered:


There are a few things I'd do differently next time though. I'd choose a darker brown yarn for the body so that the decorative stitching could be lighter like it's meant to be. Oh and I'd also flatten the top of the head by placing some card inside or something. No matter how I push and alter the stuffing it still poofs up at the top. Sackboys have flat heads so it looks a bit off to me, however overall as my first project in *cough*13*cough* years I think I did ok?

Let me know what you think!

Di

Posted byDi Hickman at 2:09 PM 5 comments Links to this post  

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Card Sketch July #2
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Happy Humpday! That's what some people call Wednesday as it's the middle of the work week and slowly closer to the WEEKEND! Feeling so ready for the weekend again, lol! Anyway Wednesday means it's card sketch day!!! Yippee!


Remember that the digital template can be downloaded from my store at Di Hickman Designs, but only for a limited time, so grab it while you can!

This sketch came in so handy for me, as it's my Dad's birthday this month, and being in England I needed to get it mailed off to him early cos the post is notoriously bad. His Fathers day card was late despite my mailing early, and my Father in law got his fine, yet my Dads was 2 days late, which considering they were mailed the same day and live two streets away is CRAZY! Anyway I whipped up a fun card using some primary colors. Don't usually do this bright for Dad cards, but I needed a pick me up and was looking for bright, fun and funky!


"Happy Birthday" card by Di Hickman
Supplies: Paper & Cardstock: DCWV; Metal word: HOTP; Rub-on: ohom; Eyelets: Boxer; Button: Misc;


"You're one of a kind" card by Jackie Price
Supplies: Misc Scraps


"Because I love you" card by Celeste Brodnik
Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Pattern Paper, Journaling Card: Fancy Pants; Rubon: Karen Foster; Buttons: Basic Grey


"Life" card by Jan Tatomir
Supplies: Cardstock" Stampin' Up; Paper: Basic Grey; Flowers: Prima; Ribbon: American Crafts; Stamp: Catseye Press; Ink: Ranger; Buttons: Stash


"Merci Beaucoup" card by Pearl Liu
Supplies: BG Cardstock, Prima fabric blossom, K&Co Que Sera Sera Dimensional Sticker , Lily Bee French Couture pps , Jillibean Soup Kraft pp, Crafty Little Secrets Sentiment Sticker


"To Lift your heart" card by Raechelle Bellus
Supplies: cs: Bazzill; pp: Daisy Bucket, Fancy Pants Designs and My Minds Eye; ribbon; pearls: Kaiser Craft; button; rub on: Melissa Frances; DMC Floss


"Father's Card" card by Jo Willis
Supplies: generic cardstock, flocked wallpaper sample, KI Memories quote and patterned paper, gingham ribbon, pin and Papermania adhesive stars.


"Happy Birthday" card by Lizzy Davidson
Supplies: Plaid paper by paper adventures, chocolate drops and birthday greeting by craftworkcards.co.uk a bit of ink around the edges.


"You're the best" card by Linda Flinders


"Love" card by Annette Taylor
Supplies: Patterned Paper - My Mind's Eye, Stamp - Studio G, Trim - John Lewis stores, Love Brad - Scrapping Angels kit c2007, Pearls - Paper Mania


"Flowers" card by Louise Connell
Supplies: Papers, ribbon, die cuts, chipboard ~ Crate Paper Kaitlin; Label shape – Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels One



As always check in and leave me a comment if you make a card with the sketch, I love to come check them out!

Di

Posted byDi Hickman at 10:36 AM 0 comments Links to this post  

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the teacups...
Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Thought I'd share a layout today :) Haven't really done many layouts recently but I got this one published in Ready Set Create's June/July issue and it is one of my favorites in a LONG time. I really felt like the whole layout just came together pretty easily, I guess I was just feeling the creative groove at the time? Maybe it's because it's hybrid and everything seems to come together quicker for me when it's hybrid? Who knows I just know I like it :)

Supplies: Fonts: SP Wonderful Wendy; Paper, button, brads: Boxer Scrapbooks; Digital journal stamp: Di Hickman (DiALOGUE 4);

The pic is my Dad at Disneyland back in 2003. My Mum was in the photo too but I cropped her out as this was a layout about Dads. Oh and I have to say I am LOVING the turquoise polka dot paper from Boxer! Mmmmmm dots.... you know I LOVE dots :)

Back tomorrow with some cards and a sketch :)

Di

Posted byDi Hickman at 12:11 PM 0 comments Links to this post  

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Project for July
Monday, July 6, 2009


In June I did the "Make a card a day" project from my 101 in 1001 goals list. At the end of the month I wondered what I should do in July that I could check off my list, and decided on #55 - flylady for a month have a house that is simple, clean and tidy. This is going to be no easy ride! Our house is what you'd call "lived in". We're both pretty busy, we have lots of hobbies (bikes, snowboarding etc) that require gear/equipment and we both have home offices so there is no 'spare room' to stash stuff. I guess what I'm saying is that storage in our house is limited, we have too much stuff and not enough room to put it.

I'm working through the Babysteps but a big part of Flylady's beginner system is that you work on decluttering for 15 minutes a day. As I have lots of decluttering to do, I've been doing this in my office since the beginning of the month. Now I've done this whole thing before, said that I would tidy up, get part the way through they fail get side tracked or bogged down with deadlines and it never gets done... So... to hold myself accountable I am posting pics of my scraproom/office on my blog and will update at the end of the month once I get done! Yikes! Hope you are ready for this...

So first up, a pic as you open the door and walk into the room. Greeting you are some boxes of product/books, a printer, some pillows (sewing project), and a box of goodies for my Mom. At the far end are 2 rolling carts, my sewing table (yes there is a sewing machine under that crap somewhere) and an exercise ball.


(couldn't take a pic of the closet to the left cos there was too much crap in the way!)

The Scrapbook area: This corner isn't really that bad right now, despite being mid-project. The problem lies in the fact that I have supplies to add to the stash and no space to make room for it!


Computer area: Not THAT bad cos I tidied it up last Friday when I got fed up of losing things on the desk. Still needs work. Need to organize the files and the cupboard too!



So... 15 minutes a day! At the end of the month I want to get rid of some stuff, clear out and organize the closet, work on creating a sewing table again and generally be able to walk around without fear of knocking a load of stuff over!

If you don't hear from me, send chocolate!

Posted byDi Hickman at 9:34 AM 2 comments Links to this post  

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No more itching!
Friday, July 3, 2009

I dunno if I've ever mentioned it before on my blog but I suffer from eczema. I don't get it a LOT like some people do, but if I get stressed, if my body temperature is too warm or my biggest trigger the season changes, I get it. Usually in the same few places: abdomen/behind my left ear/hairline/lower back and oddly my right ankle? Sometimes it comes in other places but those are guaranteed during my flares. Oh and exercise can sometimes make it worse cos of the sweating/body heat which is a pain when you want to lose weight or love exercise like I do! Anyway it's Summer and getting air to it always seem to help me, so for the last week I've been swimming then laying in the sun for 10 mins (each side), going for a shower, then applying the aftersun or lotion. Well a week has passed and I am completely clear! No eczema!

I've never been that bothered by it personally, it is afterall something you ljust earn to live with, but I've had a patch on my lower back and my belly that just seemed to be there for AGES, and now it's gone! I'm not sure what part of the swim/sun/lotion part is working, maybe a combo of the three, but I am over the moon!

Drat I realize now that I probably just jinxed myself! lol! If I wake up covered tomorrow I only have myself to blame!

In other news we have a hectic weekend ahead. Well lots of outings for us. Potluck BBQ on Saturday & Sunday lunches, and I still need to get in my scraproom and get tidying up! Plus I have assignments to finish for Digital Artist Magazine and scrapbooking.com! Ooooh plus I need to finish a digital kit for Scrapwow/RAKScraps... Eeeek busy weekend!

Hope everyone has an awesome 4th July weekend!!!

Di

Posted byDi Hickman at 4:55 PM 0 comments Links to this post  

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