Kim Archer | Mindful Living

CATCHING UP

So, what's been happening here?

I am busy. But it's a good kind of busy. Lots of things going on.

The first CELEBRATE FAMILY online class ran yesterday.

*sigh* - another technical glitch with my computer freezing up and needing to be rebooted like 27 thousand times before the class could start. But we got back on track and it all ran smoothly from then on in.

Fingers crossed for tonight's class and that my computer behaves itself.

So, I ordered a new computer. I have deliberated for so long and muddled along with this one but enough is enough. So I should have it in a week. Lots of memory. Lots of power and a big flat panel LCD screen..can't wait!

Check out both galleries. I have added more Funky Fabric Stamping layouts and just started adding in the Family layouts...I am SO impressed by all the layouts. Aren't they exceptional!!!!!! BIG CLAPS to everyone who has been part of these classes! It's all your support and enthusiasm that has given my little project such momentum!!

And check this out... from Tam at the Boxx. I was thrilled (and totally shocked) to see this jump out at me in the gallery this morning. How lovely! Thank you Tam.

And finally, a quick share...

From the last Boxx newsletter

A bumper issue filled with everyone's beautiful creations!!! And Fiona's first newsletter contributions as a fully fledged Boxx DTer!! yay.

Plus a new newsletter due out ANY minute!!

So stay tuned..

Enjoy the day.

PS meant to add - layout is of my cousin Jacki's beautiful baby Abbey.

(Loving those mega sized Heidi flowers - they seem to be finding their way onto all my layouts lately!!)

GALLERY

I've finished uploading all the layouts I have received from the last two online classes.

Make sure you check them out as they are S E N S A T I O N A L !!

If you emailed me your layout and it's not in the gallery, let me know as I may have missed it or haven't received it.

THE WEDDING...

{for the family...and anyone else interested:)}

The wedding was wonderful. We just had such a fantastic time!!!

Such a stylish, gorgeous affair and a real family celebration.

Trudi looked stunning.

She was just beaming the entire day!

I didn't get a photo of the bridesmaids!!! She had five of them. All so gorgeous. Beautiful dresses and bouquets!

And such lovely girls..

She married Dave (who looks so much like Princess Mary's  Prince Frederic!!!!) at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney.

Such an impressive church.

With the longest aisle!

And packed with Japanese tourists at the back of the church who were photographing the entire ceremony and even taking video footage as well!

Which I found SO WEIRD.

It was like a pack of paparazzi photographers with light bulbs flashing everywhere as we were leaving the church!

Will make for exciting viewing when they get home and share their photos of their Sydney trip with family..ah, and here's a wedding..no idea who they are...but we photographed it anyway!!

My inside the church shots are shocking. Poor lighting and limited camera know how from me on how to take good photos indoors!

My camera copes much better outside in the daylight! Here's a few of my favourite shots!

And here's a few pics of the family outside the church!

Here's me and Ken..and yes, theres THAT dress.

I still hate it but I got over it once we left the kids behind in Newcastle and headed down the freeway on our little mini break!! I was just glad to be out!

My sister is hopeless and HATES having her photo taken.

She has always been the same!

So she wasn't getting out of a photo of the three of us...mum and I have a firm grip!

We headed to the Sheraton on the Park for drinks before the reception.

Here's my cousin Jacki enjoying her Banarama cocktail which was DELICIOUS!!!!

Fresh bananas, chocolate liqueur, Baileys and cream all blended together over ice...mmmmmmmm and $16 which we all decided was the buy of the night as a champagne was $13!!!

The reception was a cocktail party at the Australian Museum.

Great venue. Impressive views! And a jazz band for some mood music as we chatted, ate and drank!!

Here's Trudi with Kristy.

They are only a week apart in age - both just celebrating their 30th birthdays last month. And here we all are - the cousins including Brett (Trudi's brother).

Poor Brett is the only boy in our family of  girls!

And the youngest!

We were forever paying out on him as a kid - actually we still do! And it took some persuasion to even make him get into this photo!!

And finally...

I love this candid shot of Trudi and Dave as they were just about to leave the reception underneath our human archway!!!

It was late and she was exhausted.

But she was STILL SMILING!!

To the family - I know you are reading this...we had a great time.

Loved seeing everyone together for such a wonderful event.

Enjoy the honeymoon Trudi and Dave...and...

Thanks for the great dancefloor entertainment Jacki and Mattie - lovin' that Kath and Kell DAGGY DANCING!!!!

Back to reality now...it was nice to escape for a while though...

{home again}

We're home from the wedding.

We had the BEST time! Just downloading the photos and will share in a little while.

Thank you to everyone for your comments about the mobile chest of drawers I painted..to answer a couple of questions:

The green wall is in our entry BUT I am painting a feature wall in the new scrap room the same colour. It's Wattyl Bok Choy.

Janelle - the white I painted the drawers is Wattyl Astor White:)

Thanks Alison about the comments on the layout on the chest of drawers.

It was my first submission to  For Keeps since my term with the Elite Team.

Here's a closer look for those who don't buy the magazine.

The top flips up to show the full photos underneath.

And I have reached a huge milestone...55 593 views on this little blog.

So THANK YOU everyone for dropping by...

...and to those who leave comments or email me:)

{thought i would blog even though I should be in bed!}

I didn't find a dress.

So it looks like I will be wearing the original one afterall :O(

Wanted to share a couple of things and have been meaning to do so for ages.

Firstly - I have been accumulating some things for my new scrap room (no, it's not quite finished just yet - hopefully soon though).

I decided to take an old chest of drawers Ken had as a kid - sand them back, paint them antique white, attach some wheels, new handles and a new top and it became...

ta da...a new mobile work bench.

I do like to stand up to scrap and this will be great in my room and I can move it all about and wheel it out of sight when it's not in use.

Secondly.. I am booked in to teach at a few different retreats and stores about the place so I should really list them in my side bar.

Stay tuned.

NOW...I am back at Scrapabout in April. TWO classes this time.

The samples are already done and displayed at the store. A single layout class plus a mini handbag and booklet and a double layout class. Both 8.5x11 classes! Looking forward to it..

AND....if you are in Sydney next weekend...drop into Scrapabout as they are celebrating!!! IT'S THEIR FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!! Here's the details:

SCRAPABOUT AUSTRALIA

25 Castle Street, North Parramatta!

April 1-2nd. 20% off STOREWIDE

10am-5pm each day!!!

And while you are in there..make sure you check out all the great samples for up and coming classes. Leanne has put together such a great variety of teachers and so many unique and gorgeous classes!

And finally.. I am now the proud owner of this...yay (thanks Maria!! )

GOODNIGHT EVERYONE AND HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.

KIM

PS check the gallery.

I've added some layouts. Will add more tomorrow. Some have to be resized. A bit big for the blog:) And layouts from ALL the stamping classes will be posted in the one gallery..makes it easier.

{frantic friday}

Help!

I need a dress for the wedding tomorrow.

I bought one in Sydney last weekend and now I hate it.

Soooo I am making a last minute dash to the shops. Things have just been so busy this week that this is my first window of opportunity to even THINK about the wedding and what I am wearing!!

THANK YOU to all the lovely ladies who attended my second FUNKY FABRIC class last night. I suffered a bit of a technical glitch with my computer freezing at 5 mins to class time. And then my whole server went down part way through the class.

BUT everyone was so patient and forgiving *thank you* and things got back on track after that even though we were running a little late. I will start uploading the layouts I am beginning to get. All gorgeous!! And make sure you check out the gallery from wednesday as I have added a few more layouts.

***FUNKY FABRIC STAMPING CLASSROOM - is currently still password protected for last night's girls. I will be reinstating the original password again around lunchtime when I get home from the shops (hopefully with an outfit for the wedding all bought and hanging nicely in my wardrobe!!)

Happy Friday everyone.

{catching up - big time!}

What a week it's been!

Lot's of things happening.

Firstly - THANK YOU to the first group of girls who attended my online class today. What a lovely bunch of girls! They were all busy bees and I am already seeing some wonderful creations coming through. I have set up a gallery in my sidebar and will add each layout as I receive it so keep checking back here regularly.

Roz came to stay last week on her way to the Scrapneeds retreat.

Had lots of fun. Capri adopted Roz as her big sister and Roz fitted into the family very easily. We did lots of shopping,chatting and eating!!

Met some lovely girls at the retreat. I was only there for Friday and into the night for the crop. Lovely group of girls. And sounds like they all had a great weekend.

Here's the table of girls I sat with. Such friendly and welcoming ladies.

All from QLD - well except me, Mishell and Roz.

I headed home Friday night - late and the next day mum and I travelled to my cousin Jacki's house in Cronulla for a sleepover!

Mums sister, my aunty Chris joined us as well. We were all together for Trudi's hens night.

Jacki was all organised for us - with the beds made up and cute little soaps and shampoos all set out on each bed with fresh towels etc. Such a nice welcoming touch:)

And little Livvy, Jacki's daughter met me at the door with great excitement as I was sleeping in her room, in her bed and she was sleeping on the floor. So we were room mates for the night:)

We had such a lovely night.

My other cousin Kristy arrived (seen here with her sister Jacki) and then we all headed into the city.

I LOVE the city. I don't know how I would cope living there again but I do love to visit. The city at night just comes alive and it was great to be there amongst it.

We met Trudi and her friends for drinks first and sipped champagne by the Harbour before heading to a great Italian restaurant for dinner.

Here we are...unfortunately missing was my Aunty Lyn and cousin Jodi (Jacki & Kristy's mum and sister) and my own sister Debbie. Oh and Brett our only boy cousin(on mums side of the family) who of course wasn't invited to his sister's hens night.

Food was lovely. Company was fun. Jacki is CRAZY!

You never know what she will do next! And she has always been the same. Crossing the boundaries and making me laugh. 

After dinner we went walking around The Rocks.

It was crowded and all lit up and we chanced upon a display of handpainted bears! Couldn't resist a photo.

So then we went driving around the city and ended up back at Jacki's for coffee and endless chatting...

So good to catch up with the family!

And then Sunday afternoon I called into the Scrapneeds retreat - grabbed Roz (well not literally) and off we went back to Newcastle and to the airport.

By the time I got home on Sunday I was exhausted.

Happy and had a great time.

But exhausted.

{just quickly}

I'm home. Exhausted. Tired out. Had a fantastic weekend. Have to share and post photos later. Need to go to bed. Have no idea if the kids school clothes are even washed and ready!

Anyway, I digress..

I have a payment for one of the Celebrate Family classes in the name of Egan in my account and I need to find out who it is?? Whoever it was can you email me..please:O) [email protected]

Goodnight everyone and talk tomorrow...

KIMx

{another update}

Huge week this week:)

Just home from a day with Roz and some time at the Scrapneeds retreat(pics on their way:)

Off to Sydney tomorrow for my cousins' hens night and then back to pick up Roz on the way home from Sydney to take her back to Newcastle airport. Busy. Busy.

For those doing workshops:

• the classroom for the Funky Fabric Stamping workshop opened earlier this week. Once your payment is received I will forward you the web address, a username and password so you can access the class, view the sample and see the supplies list..
• the classroom for the Celebrate Family class won't open until Monday 18 March. If your payment has been received you will receive via email, the web address, a username and password.
• All classes are now booked out.

[and in VERY important news I just want to say a HUGE CONGRATS TO Fiona who opened her new online store tonight..Ribbons Galore. Check it out here!!!]

{workshops...}

I've extended the registration period until tomorrow night (Sunday) and thought I had better jump on here and give you an update on the classes

I have a few seats left in the following workshops:

FRIDAY 31 MARCH 7-9.30PM CELEBRATE FAMILY

MONDAY 27 MARCH 8-10PM FABRIC STAMPING

And the rest of the classes are all booked out. So, if theres anyone else out there interested just email me:O) [email protected]