Monday Musings

Well things are back to normal this week, whatever normal is anymore! Chatting on Skype with Bob last week made me appreciate the value of the internet a whole lot more, and making the most of it in the future. That was one of the reasons for trying out the vlog post on Friday and hopefully going to be doing more of those soon :) Though hopefully next time my room will be tidier hopefully, lol! Though I think the craft table will always be a mess, sign of a creative mind right? Speaking of crafts here is a card I made over the weekend whilst tidying up. Hoping to get it up on Etsy this week when I get a spare minute.

Supplies: Papers & Stickers: Rusty Pickle; Misc Buttons & Cardstock; Boxer Scrapbook Stamp;

This morning I taught Bosu class. Have to say I am LOVING Bosu. Possibly even more than step, those that know me know I LOVE me some step so that's a HUGE thing for me to admit :) Just so many more possibilities with a Bosu. I'll be covering Grace's 5pm Bosu class on Wednesday too so double Bosu this week! Wednesday will also be a double exercise day as I teach Kickboxing in the morning... first time doing a double class the same day so that will be interesting. At least they aren't back to back (yet)!

This afternoon I'm back into the fray, and into my office closet. I have a TON of stuff I'll be donating at the end of the month. Most of this is organizing, purging, and sitting down and thinking "do I NEED all this stuff" and "is this making me happy"? If the answer is "no", then out it goes!

On a side note, I am drinking a LOT of water today and have a tickley throat. Praying it's allergies and not a cold/flu... I'm fit and healthy and haven't been sick since September but Bob did just travel by airplane and we all know those things are a haven for picking up bugs :( Allergies I can deal with, I have some lovely pink pills for that...

Happy Monday everyone!

Di

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Saturday Special

Good morning! Bob is back in the da house! Yay! Albeit after a 3 hour flight delay, but he's here. It's been so freakin' quiet here! I've not really got as much done around the house as I'd hoped but it was a CRAZY week. Taught three classes, went to a movie preview and basically spent time organizing and decluttering as well as chatting to Bob on Skype. Are you all using Skype? Man it's AWESOME! Especially for long distance chatting, like the phone but with video! Awesomesauce! Anyway yeah that 5 days just flew by!

And today it's SATURDAY! ALREADY! For the folks in England you know what Saturday is right? Yep Saturday is Tiswas day! Wow used to love that on Saturday mornings, dating myself here, lol, Phantom Flan Flinger and all, oh and the dying fly of course. Anyways here is a little creativeness for you for the weekend! Just a card using the new Boxer chipboard and flowers...

Supplies: Paper, Chipboard, flowers: Boxer; Cardstock: DCWV; Photo corner: 3L

Also remember I'll be blogging and vlogging in future! Did you see yesterdays trial run? Let me know of any topics you want me to vlog about, I'll take requests ;) I'm also going through some of our files as we have some home movies I can clip to put on youtube/facebook :) Love social media!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Di

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Operation Office Organization Underway!!!

Afternoon all! It's OOO time! That's operation office organization!!! Just taking a break for some random silliness :) If you know me IRL you'll know I don't take life too seriously, no matter the situation things are ALWAYS made better with some humor. That's my belief anyway, hence the damn laughter lines (they aren't wrinkles!) forming around my eyes :) Too much laughing :)

So after a pathetic attempt to clear out my scrapbook paper (I purged a 3" stack truly pathetic) I am onto sorting out the closet and wow the treasures you find in there! It's like Santa's grotto! Or Shreks grotto? We got these 'Shrek ears' at E3 many years ago, been in a box in the closet since, gonna see if I can get some pics of the dogs wearing these, scrapbook layout waiting to happen there I think :)

Ok since I've been using Skype all week to chat with Bob whilst he's been away at GDC in San Fransisco I've become quite fond of chatting to a webcam so I am gonna try Vlogging again. Someone hold me to this! Below is a test of different video options, let me know which format you prefer, blogger video or YouTube! First up is bloggers video embedding, test, test, 1,2...

For YouTube junkies here is the same vid on youtube. I plan on making a few more of these Vlogs addicting, and sooo much quicker than typing :)

If you want you can subscribe to my youtube channel, whatever that means :) I think it means you get email updates as soon as I upload them? Not 100% sure on that one.

I've been trying to streamline things, linking things all up to the same email account so lots of things getting done.

Also if anyone is in the Simi Valley area and wants a load of free craft supplies email me! I have a tote full of paper, stamps, punches, and general crafting stuff.

Ok back into the depths of the office closet for me!

Di

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Boxer Published Cards

Today I thought I'd share a couple of cards published in the latest edition of Ready Set Create magazine. The February/March issue is packed with seasonal ideas, design team inspiration, as well as reader layouts and projects. Check it out at readysetcreate.com

When the submissions we're being accepted I was playing bigt ime with the newest Boxer products I'd received so it was only natural that I'd be using Boxer products for my submissions for this issue. This card below features the newest papers and stamps from Boxer. Love the paisley and matching striped paper.

 

I decided to work on a St Patrick's Day card for this issue using Boxer papers too, this one features the green gingham paired with the shamrock paper. One of my "go to" designs for scraps, but I do love it. Works everything regardless of card theme!

 

More projects coming soon!

Di

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Card Sketch March

I hope everyone enjoyed last weeks sketch, and here it is as a reminder for those that missed it here it is again :)

As part of the new card sketches I'm doing a new sketch one week then a flipside sketch the week after, which is essentially the same sketch flipped, rotated, and/or mirrored. I think this shows the sketches in more versatility. So here is the first flipside sketch:

Even just changing one small embellishment placement, flipping the sketch or changing the size format can totally change the look of a card design which is why I wanted to do this in the first place. That and I get to relax a little every other week :) as I only have to create brand new sketches every two weeks instead of weekly. Anyways here is my flipside sketch for this week, no sketch girls for this week, giving them a week off too so I again have less work to do ;) 

Supplies: Papers: Stampin'Up & Rusty Pickle; label: colorbok; Misc button

Teaching kickboxing this morning, make your card kick butt!

Di

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Etsy Store - Update for Easter!

Time for an Etsy store update! I've been busy lately with some Rusty Pickle papers and miscellaneous matching embellishments. One of the lines I've been working with featured some Easter stickers so I figured it was a good time to make some Easter cards!

First up is "Easter so longer for, is gone in a day" card. This card is standard invitation size (5.5" x 4.25") folded portrait format. The papers and cardstock are all sanded and the cardstock is from core-dinations so there is a blue core in the brown cardstock (love their cardstock). Beautiful rub-ons and a suede flower from Prima.

 

Next is "Thanks Easter Bunny" card . Great for post-Easter greetings, especially for the kids to send to the Grandparents! Again this card is distressed with the sanding technique. Beautiful flourish rub-ons, and embellished with floral shaped rhinestones.

  

Perfect for kids is this "Hippity Hoppity" card. Nice and simple design with real ribbon knotted and stapled for extra sturdiness. I love the sentiment on this one! Great for Easter Egg hunts I think!!!

  

Lastly is a "Chocolate" card that could be  used for Easter for any occasion really :) Chocolate never needs an occasion or holiday, that's what I say anyway ;) This card features sanded brads, a beautiful Prima flower, rhinestone, spiral clip and ribbon. Great for a friend, children or just a 'thinking of you' card!

 

More Etsy updates soon! Don't forget to check out my Etsy store for more designs!

Di

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Monday Musings

Wow what a week, what a weekend! So much to talk about... where to start... get comfy it's gonna be a long one!!!

Fitness

I am now teaching two classes a week at Moorpark Athletic Club so come along and try it out: Monday 8.30am Bosu & Wednesday 9.30am Kickboxing :) Loving every minute of it!!! I am also sometimes there in the week covering other classes, but I'll teaching these whist Nikki is on maternity leave.

Last Wednesday I discovered I need to start paying closer attention to my calorie burn, workouts, eating and scheduling. Normally I do my class, have a protein shake, go grocery shopping, walk the dogs and then have lunch. Well last week I got such a dip in energy levels after walking the dogs - it was horrid. I actually had to go lie down. I guess I need more fuel after the kickboxing class! So I'm switching things up and taking a Clif bar for a post workout snack instead of the protein shake. It has slightly more cals, more carbs and well honestly it'll be easier to carry too! lol! I love these Clif Builders, 20g of protein (good for resistance days) and just 270 cals. Perfect for post workout! Especially for on the go :)

The regular Clif bars have 10g of protein and slightly lower cals, but I love them all, the choc brownie bar is yummy! These are pretty hardcore though, most people won't need these for a post workout snack, I guess I'm just pushing harder now. It really made me think about the workouts, eating and all that good stuff, and how I need to start paying better attention to stuff! I also need to get back to lifting heavy a couple of times a week for sure! Missing the push-ups and pull-ups! Must start doing P90X a couple of times a week, I bet Tony has missed me ;)

I'm Certified!

I passed! Everyone jump up down and celebrate! I passed my AFAA kickboxing certification exam :) I took the course back in mid February but it takes a few weeks to get your results. I was kinda quietly confident but you just never know, and as my first exam and course in the USA it's always tough that first time with nerves and getting back to learning! Anyway this means I now hold all FOUR AFAA certifications :) Quadruple threat!!! Here I am with my newest certificate:

I took this with my webcam, why did I not think of this before? This will make things so much easier!!! I still haven't figured out WHERE the darn thing stores pics on my computer but I can click the 'email to' button and just email it to myself and go from there, lol! Wow I look terrible without makeup! And red faced too! In my defense I was just out the shower after a workout lol!

We had dinner out with friends on Saturday (triple celebration of new jobs, promotion and my exam results) so we had much food, much conversation and the obligatory iPhone pics!

 

Dan, Bob, Me, Kass

  

Me post curry and beer consumption. First curry in a LOOOOONG while and it was goooood!

  

Bob not so full of curry, he ate in moderation to stay on his diet plan :)

 

 Dan and Bob having the usual iPhone photo exchange

And so that brings me to....

All by myself... (sing it Brigitte Jones style!) don't wanna be.... all by myself... anymore!!! Ha, go on you know you wanna sing it and the song will be in your head for DAYS! This week is going to be a weird one. Bob is away this week attending the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, and so I am on my own Mon-Fri. What to do with myself? Well aside from work - DECLUTTER! I plan on totally blitzing my office and hopefully some of the house too :) Enough is enough!

Wish me luck!!!

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