Sketch of the month - February card

I mentioned last month that I'd be doing a sketch a month and I figured I'd alternate layouts and cards so as January was a layout sketch here is this months card sketch! A digital template of the sketch is available for a limited time so grab it while you can!

I again decided to go with Boxer products and LOVE this paper by Boxer, Princess Paisley is just delicious! I really dig the pink and green color scheme. I used the sentiments words from a previous free printable blog download of mine and this card just came together so easily! All supplies except cardstock are by Boxer.

I really LOVE this paper! Check it your local scrapbook store to snag some for yourself! It's just so fun and 'springy'. Anyway February is nearly here so just posting this a few days early to give you the heads up for February's sketch!

Enjoy!

Di

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Workout Wednesday

Time for another edition of

As I mentioned last week it's a weekly round-up of my posts from my fitness blog, workoutwithdi.com so here is this weeks recap:

Fitblog - healthy hodgepodge
low energy linked to magnesium deficiency
fitblog - workout wonder
instructors get tired too
5 minute fitness
6 things to know for your first exercise class
fitblog chat

Remember to stop by the fitness blog for health & fitness updates, articles, workout tips and more! I have LOTS planned in the New Year including video's, reviews and so much more!

Di

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Crafty Inspiration

Time for another round-up of crafty inspiration from around the web

Loved this tutorial on making your own DS/DSi case. I had to showcase this purely because I LOVE the material design. So cute! Love the colors too. Full tutorial can be found on "from an igloo" blog.

Ashley Ann Photography featured this awesome printable recently which you can download from her blog. Super simple idea but so fun! Simply write down the bit of your day for the whole year! Great kids project. 

There is a tutorial on making this button headband on crafted, check it out! Super easy, super fun!

Etsy Corner
Each week I'll profile an Etsy seller, just as a heads up. Usually this is something that just caught my eye on Etsy. If you'd like to have your Etsy store featured just drop me a line either via email or link me up in the comments below.

I love bulky things like belts, definitely not the kind of person to shy away from anything with some metal on it, and this belt buckle on Etsy caught my eye recently! Steel Toe Studios (fun name!) has a great Etsy store filled with fun belt buckles like this and more. They are a little pricey but they are custom designs! Check out their Etsy store!

More inspiration from the web every Monday!


Di

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Stamping card

As a member of the Boxer design team I was pretty slack during the latter half of 2010, but vowed to make up for it in 2011. As a team we decided that we'd have potential weekly themes to create things, a challenge of sorts. This week on the Boxer blog was stamping challenge. Naturally that to me means sentiment stamps for cards.

I dug into my Boxer stash for this one for paper, rick rack, stamp and the slide mount. It's an old slide mount from discontinued Boxer stock years ago. Have I really been with Boxer that long? Sheesh! Anyway I like the card, the pop of purple is accented by a purple button on the slide mount. I figure it will do well as a guys birthday card, I struggle to make those!

Enjoy the weekend!

Di

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Review: Epson Stylus R1900

I've had my Epson Artisan 800 for a while now, a great "all-in-one" printer which scans, prints, copies, faxes and does everything except make coffee. However I'd been coveting a wide screen printer for a while but held off because I was "making do" with the 800. Work-arounds make things work right but I was Jonesing to be able to make layouts with LARGE photo's that spanned the whole 12x12 page, so when I was asked if I wanted to review one of Epson's large format printers I jumped at the chance! I relegated the all-in-one to the living room for communal printing (love the wireless feature on the Artisan 800, I can even print from my iphone using Epsons iPrint app!).

Firstly let me just say that the Epson Stylus R1900 printer is big, obviously it is going to be big, it's large because it prints large photo's. But if like me you had the Artisan 800 prior to this then you'll be pleasantly surprised to see it basically fits in the same space. This is my usual printer spot and the R1900 takes up exactly the same space! Which is good as free space is a premium in my office!

One thing that sticks out immediately about this printer when you begin to set it up is the cartridges: Epson UltraChrome Hi-Gloss 2 is a new 8-color pigment ink system that produces unparalleled glossy prints with rich, vibrant color. In the package are the usual colors cyan, magenta and yellow but then things get different with Photo Black, Matte Black, Red, and Orange.

Then comes the Gloss Optimizer! Now coming from the 800 I had no idea what this was, but apparantly it's the new thing in home printers and not to skip to the end of the review or anything but WOW this stuff ROCKS MY SOCKS off! Anyway we got our ink cartridges installed and we were ready to go!

Obviously eager to get going with the printing to see what this baby is capable of, I got some large 11.7"x16.5 photo paper, quickly arranged some photo's in photoshop and went to town to see what this printer can do.

When the photo came out I was speechless, then there was the OMG this ROCKS! Both Bob and I could NOT believe the quality of the photo. OUTSTANDING! Is it the extra colors? The photo black? The Gloss optimizer? Heck I don't know, all I know is I NEVER got photo's this good printing at home before!

I know it's stupid to take a photo of a photo (which doesn't do it justice) but really this photo is SO realistic! The detail is AMAZING! It's one of those photo's you want to touch because you aren't sure if it's real or not. The detail on the grass in the foreground and the crisp leaves of the floor, WOW! The print quality is remarkable. On close up photo's of the dogs you can see EVERY HAIR! Even those on the furniture! This is going to change the way I scrapbook FOREVER!

For a full list of the specifications on this printer you can check out the Epson site, so much information there! And if you wanted to purchase one for yourself (LOVE mine and a few of my Facebook friends have this printer and love it too) then check out the Epson Stylus R1900 on Amazon for deals or check the Epson site right now priced $349.99 (that's with the $150 mail in rebate)

The Espon 1900 printer like the Artisan 800 also prints on CDs/DVDs which I LOVE. I have used this function and it works beautifully, however I can't share details yet as I used the CD as my project in my February article for Scrapbooking.com. I will share that as soon as I can!

Also maybe not for everyone's tastes but with this printer you can print on rolls of paper using the enclosed roll attachment. I haven't had the opportunity to use this yet but I can see this is going to be FUN for fitness events and birthdays etc! Printing my own banners will be so cool!

The only downside, if I had to pick on, would be that there is no function to print from a media card. I liked that function on the Artisan and other all-in-one printers. But this printer isn't an all-in-one. When they make an all-in-one that prints in wide format I'm sure there will be more than me beating down the doors!

All in all I am amazed at the print quality of the photo's from this printer! I thought the Artisan 800 printed good photo's but this knocks the socks off those photo's! I'm sure I will have more projects to share soon using this printer and I'll update the blog accordingly as I use new functions!

Di

Disclaimer: A PR company sent me these scales for free in exchange for an honest review. As with all my reviews the opinions herein are my own honest and true opinion. The fact I got this product for free did not alter my opinion whatsoever, each review I post will reflect my opinion good or bad – I keep it real like that!

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Review: EatSmart Bathroom Scales

As a fitness professional I know I shouldn't care about my weight, I realize it is just a number and does NOT define who I am. I also know that number is not what's important because I have more muscle than the average person my height, etc etc BUT I am still a girl! Which means I DO still care about that number. I don't get upset as it goes up/down but merely use it as a measure of my healthy range, or where I am on my desired range. As such yes I own a weight scale. Recently I got the opportunity to try the EatSmart Digital Bathroom Scale and decided to to do a little review for my blog readers.

The package arrived just before Christmas so I've had two weeks to review the product, I always like to wait to do my reviews so I can give the product a thorough testing. One thing I like immediately about the product is that there was no unnecessary packaging. The outer box was only a little bigger than the product box, good news for the environment! Upon opening the box I was immediately greeted with a message!

Wow, batteries included! Novel concept! And one I wish more and more manufacturers would make!!! Especially over the holidays. Sure enough I took the package out of the box and flipped over the packing to find 4 AAA batteries :) Genius move for EatSmart, product is ready to go right out the package!

I know for some people being green is very important so thought I'd share some notes on the packaging. The product comes with an instruction booklet and wrapped with the batteries (above) in polyfoam packaging with a celophane type bag over the scales which as you can see from the green image is recyclable. I've yet to find anywhere that takes the polyfoam packaging for recycling but for overall packaging pretty well done. The cardboard outer box is recyclable too.

I was drawn to these for their minimalist design. I like clean and simple look and these are very streamlined. They look better on my bathroom floor than wooden office floor though! The blurb in the booklet tells me that the scales have:

• 4 high precision sensors allowing for consistent and accurate measurement of up to 400 lbs or 180 kgs every time;
• Graduation increments of .2 lbs. / 3ozAuto Calibrated;
• Auto Power-Off;
• Runs on 4 AAA batteries (included);
• 100% EatSmart Satisfaction Guarantee
• 12" x 13" platform
• EatSmart "Step-On" technology - No more tapping scale to turn on. Step on and get instant readings!
• Large 3.5" LCD display with blue backlight - Easy to read from any distance
• 
  

I have a few things I love about these scales, number one is the: EatSmart "Step-On" technology - No more tapping scale to turn on. Step on and get instant readings! My previous scales you had to "tap" and wait 5 seconds for them to turn on. Doesn't sound like it would be annoying but it's one step I could really do without. I love that I just step on, see the weight and DONE!

My favorite thing about these scales aside from the beautiful design and step on technology is the display! Now if you're bathroom has windows and brightly lit you may not appreciate this as much but our scales sit in our main bathroom. The en-suite has windows but the main bathroom does not. Sometimes it's pretty dark in there, especially if you choose not to switch on the light and the EatSmart Digital Scale display is BRIGHT! Perfect for our bathroom! As you can see below it read my weight at 125 over the holidays which considering I wasn't working out as much and eating a lot was a little heavier than I normally am, but probably right. It now reads a steady 122lbs.

One thing that I haven't seen anyone else mention is the ease of cleaning of the We had two sets of scales previously. Each had a surface that was textured, and honestly a pain in the butt to clean. Dust and dog hair seemed to just get moved around the surface. With the EatSmart Digital Bathroom Scale the tempered glass surface is totally flat, and easy to clean. We keep surface wipes in the bathroom cabinet and a quick swish with a towelette and clean up is DONE! Love that.

All in all I am VERY happy with these scales! Definite improvement on our previous scales and if you are looking to purchase a set of bathroom scales I can totally recommend the EatSmart Digital Bathroom Scale as a great product! You can purchase them from Amazon for $28.95 (regular price $49.99). You can also find more information on Eatsmart at their website and on Twitter and Facebook.

Disclaimer: EatSmart sent me these scales for free in exchange for an honest review. As with all my reviews the opinions herein are my own honest and true opinion. The fact I got this product for free did not alter my opinion whatsoever, each review I post will reflect my opinion good or bad - I keep it real like that!

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Crafty Inspiration

Welcome to another round-up of crafty inspiration from around the web!

First up is this cupcake pin cushion from Dollar Store crafts. I LOVE these! So for those cupcake obsessed gals (you know who you are). Fun huh? Plus they have a tutorial on making these on the cheap at dollar store crafts, check it out

Altering my own clothing is high on my achievement list this year so I loved this tutorial on instructables for at home screen printing! I'm thinking customizedworkout clothing!!! 

Noodlehead shared this great little project recently, complete with tutorial. I loved how she gave us options too for future projects! So fun! Check it out. 

As it's the New Year I am sure lots of us are on the fitness, healthy, weightloss resolution train, and I thought this was a very cool project! It's an iPod holder for the treadmill! I often use an armband but this would work too, and be a great gift idea! Full details and tutorial on Laura Bray blog

Etsy Corner
Each week I'll profile an Etsy seller, just as a heads up. Usually this is something that just caught my eye on Etsy. If you'd like to have your Etsy store featured just drop me a line either via email or link me up in the comments below

This week I wanted to highlight a papercrafter on Etsy and these notecards by zany caught my eye. Her store is full of bright colors and fun patterned paper designs. Totally retro, which I love! Check out zanys Etsy store!

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January free card printable

Time for another free card printable, this one is January and features a birthday theme. You can download it here

• To use download the file & unzip
• print onto letter size cardstock
• cut sheet in half, fold each piece in half to create 2 cards
• add patterned paper as shown
• add embellishments

I love the simplicity of printables! Perfect for quick and easy cards. I opted to ink the edges of my papers and cards but I could have simply left them clean if I wanted. Honestly I think I'm going through another inking phase right now....

Supplies: My Printable Download; Papers: Boxer; Ink: CTMH;

The second card I chose to put the paper all the way to the edges and a little wider. This left room for a small accent, so I chose some rhinestones to accent the sentiment.

Supplies: My Printable Download; Papers: Boxer; Ink: CTMH;

I love that these were quick and easy to make! In future I may just print out a few of these sheets and have them handy whilst creating other projects so I can use scraps of paper up! This design is perfect for those 1"-2" strips we get left over on some projects!

Enjoy!

Di

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Scrapbooking.com Change of Style

New article is up and available for viewing at Scrapbooking.com, my article project is below. This month I am sharing a project I made in November 2010 to use in December 2011. I know most people go from 1st Jan - 1st Jan but for this I wanted to start a little earlier on my 39th Birthday, so I could journal my thoughts through to my 40th Birthday in 2011.

My article this month is all about getting outside your "style" box and I think I did that with this project. Totally not my usual style. I realized the reason I never keep a journal long term is I have this strange desire to make it perfect. I need it all linear, all written nicely, and so it continues for a few months then the desire to journal wanes.

I am hoping that making this journal more fluid and adaptable that I lose that desire for perfection. I want to be more free flowing with my thoughts. I have enough regimented life in my fitness career I don't need the same in my crafting. I love having this free flowing design, being able to add as I go, drawing items from daily life and incorporating them into my journal.

I even included some packaging materials, which for me is a HUGE step! None of the pages are organized and I have partial pages too, which is something I never usually do. In all this project is a turning point. I love the art and design of Cathy Zeilske but also love the free flowing design of Ali Edwards, plus the messy techniques of Donna Downey. I'm hoping that by embracing the styles of all 3 I can learn to let go of my desire for perfection in crafts.

You can find my article along with many more on Scrapbooking.com

Di

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one little word 2011

In the past years my one little word has helped so much to keep me on track for the year. Previous years words have been: focus, change, adapt and balance... this year sees more of a proactive stance as my word is ACHIEVE.

As with previous years the word found me more than me searching for it. I have SO MUCH I want to do this year and being slightly ADD I get sidetracked easily so this year is the year I achieve, and stop procrastinating. 2010 brought MANY changes in my life and 2011 will see those changes blossom and grow into an even bigger and brighter career. Also there are many home, and personal goals I want to achieve this year so my word seemed to encompass a lot of things with the main priority of getting things DONE!

I have an accountability partner who has chosen this journey with me, although she is working in a different field the goal of this OLW challenge is to keep each other on track and focussed. As such I thought it would be interesting to see if I am more likely to keep up with things if I posted a monthly goals list here on the blog, then updated weekly or monthly to see how I did. So onwards to January's list

• HABIT - to-do list EVERY DAY
  
• Decide on easy facebook url for fitness page
  
• get business cards done for classes, promoting website/FB/twitter
• Supercross (8th)
• Survive first week/month back at work
• listen to the CPT lectures #2 and fill out forms
• post on fitness site 5x week
• 19th - charity donation (got one box already! Bob is on board for donating more too)
  
• buy 1 new music CD - 130bpm for step/power pump
  
• listen to the CPT lectures #3 and fill out forms
• get promo photo's done - group fitness
• sell Scrapbook supplies I don't use (sizzix stuff etc)
• sell old bra's on ebay (almost new!)
  
• get group fitness promo pack done and apply to more gyms etc
• get group fitness website done (dihickman.com)
• AFAA Yoga Workshop 22nd - get cover
• Get Boxer projects done for tradeshow and ready to mail (16 cards, 4 layouts)
  
• Do Scrapbooking.com article for February
• Do Scrapbooking.com article for March
• attend Fitness Expo in LA (30th)
• PROJECT - OVERHAUL my office! Fitness business based rather than crafts! Need space to work on routines/exercises and get video's done in here if possible!

• • Tidy desk
  • filing cabinet cleared
  • closet organized
  • tidy table
  • floor pile cleared
  • sewing table stored in closet
  • purge SB supplies (again! ruthless!!!)
  • move embellishments to shelves
  • move 1 desk out completely!!! 
  • transition stuff onto ONE desk
    
  • paint walls?
  • shorten blinds
  • Add curtains?
  • Bookcase in corner?
  • make dog beds for dogs

I figure that's a good start :)

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Workout Wednesday

Time for another edition of

Low energy linked to magnesium deficiency
Spinning playlist January
My fitness goals for 2011
Setting goals for 2011
New Year, New You!
Things to look for when joining a gym
Jane Fonda makes a comeback!
Too much choice zaps energy levels

Remember to stop by the fitness blog for health & fitness updates, articles, workout tips and more! I have LOTS planned in the New Year including video's, reviews and so much more!

Di

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Sketch of the month - January layout

Happy New Year! I had some time off in December and used that time wisely to get ahead and get craft projects done for January :) Yes I started the New Year off already ahead! I did this because I have decided to focus on FITNESS for 2011. Last year (weird saying that huh?) was all about transition for me and finding balance between fitness and crafting. Well this year the balance is gone, I've paired down my crafting responsibilities and I craft for fun and just 2 teams now. As such I am dedicating more time to those two teams rather than spreading myself thinly. 

So onto the New Year and a sketch a month. It may be 1 a month it may be more, I haven't really decided I'm just going to go with the flow! So here is the layout sketch for this month!

Naturally I made a layout with this sketch and decided to combine it with a Boxer project. Maybe that will be my "theme' each sketch? Anyways here is Nancys cute little girl Bella in a layout I made for Boxer. All products except cardstock are by Boxer and available online or in your local scrapbook store.

Wishing you all the best for the New Year! 2011 is going to be a great one, I can feel it!

Di

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Crafty Inspiration

Another round-up of crafty inspiration from around the Web!

A girl and a glue gun shares a tutorial on making this bracelet. I was especially interested in this because I have a hard time with bracelets. You see I have narrow wrists so most chains just slip right on and off without me noticing, so I tend not to wear them for fear of losing them. Now I feel like I have more options with this tutorial!

I've seen tutorials before on how to make your own lightboxes but this one  by (never home)homemaker seemed especially made for crafters. I really think these are invaluable to anyone who sells on Etsy or has a handmade business. Good photo's are essential to great sales! Check it out!

I love this fun market bag from Noodlehead! The pattern is available online, but I just love the bright colors! It's like all my shopping bags, just more fun! I just wanted to share because I love the patterns and colors :)

Regular readers will know I'm a tad geeky, I embrace my inner nerd ;) so I had to share Craft magazines video tutorial on making this firefox pendant. For those still stuck with Internet Explorer, Firefox is a great web browsing alternative, I tried it years ago and LOVED it. So much better than IE!


Etsy Corner
Each week I'll profile an Etsy seller, just as a heads up. Usually this is something that just caught my eye on Etsy. If you'd like to have your Etsy store featured just drop me a line either via email or link me up in the comments below

This week I thought I'd feature seller TrustHemp1320 on Etsy that creates items with natural products. I love natural direct from nature, no chemicals products and so this sellers items caught my eye, especially this Jade pendant on hemp necklace. Check out their store on Etsyhttp://www.etsy.com/shop/trusthemp1320?ref=seller_info for more natural jewellry.


More inspiration from the web every Monday!


Di

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