Kim Archer | Mindful Living

SHOW AND TELL!

A show and tell post and not my work..but the work of some lovely and creative people. Firstly, I received this in my post box on Friday!

I totally LOVE this little piece of original art by none other than Kate Mason.

The detail is AMAZING. In fact the photos do not show the detail and texture and depth and luscious-ness of this piece.

And my own little Babushka Lady is sitting on my desk to keep me company!!

Thanks so much Kate!! And stay tuned because Kate will be appearing very soon on the @Home site with a very special workshop for everyone. So exciting.

My next show and tell is from a lovely lady Cee Lew who has recreated my little Homesewn finger puppets!! They have turned out so cute!! Don't you think!!!

and lastly..I was searching for, of all things, paper clips and pulled my scrap room apart (with no luck!) but stumbled upon this gorgeous thing...

This was my very first scrapped present from a scrapbooking friend. Made by the lovely Kylie Clark - we first met when we were both chosen on the very first FK Elite Team back in late 2004 along wih Maxine and Jo.

This tiny shabby chic tin is filled with such fine detail and loaded with beautiful friendship quotes. And I was just blown away when it arrived in my post box way back in 2004!! It sits in my "treasures" drawer and I still love it..it's just SO Kylie and beautifully crafted.

And I just wanted to share it online as it's just beautiful!! Thank you again Kylie:)

It's a new one...

With all the @Home|Away retreat preparations, I haven't had a chance to upload any new workshops over at the @Home site lately.

The ST girls and I have been playing with fabric and together we have created a fun NEW class all about..yep....FABRIC...And it's finally open for registration.

We've all had a hand in this one and it's been wonderful to see the lovely work the girls have produced. We have lots of different projects and step by step layouts and tips and techniques to share with you.

The class kicks off on Wednesday with our first project upload and continues for around five days..Check out more details here.

Happy birthday Margaret!

Happy birthday to my dearest friend since we were ten years old..Margaret! Not that we were TEN years old in this photo. Here we are celebrating my cousin Jacki's birthday party - with a 60's theme...Margaret appliqued that attractive flower to her skirt herself - crafty thing...and I painstakingly stuck thousands of sticky reinforcement stickers all over that black skirt.

It was a  desperate attempt to find a costume at the last minute and I had to make do with what I already had on hand!

And today!


Happy birthday Margarita!!!!

Snippets...

With all this @Home|Away  retreat talk I forgot to mention our May Snippets class is in full swing. I am really enjoying the monthly class and my little Snippets album is continuing to grow and evolve...

This month I designed the May Snippets double page layout project ..

BUT handed the reins over to Mardi who took control of our single layout project! And it's just gorg-uss! If you love Mardi's work then you won't want to miss this class!

We have lots of samples to share and fun things to try. Plus, you don't HAVE to start with January to join the Snippet's train..jump aboard at ANY time:)

It's here

Well today I was most excited to see this in my post box this morning...

The lovely Mel Goodsell approached me a while ago to contribute some projects to a new sewing magazine she was involved in and it was FUN to actually create non scrapbook stuff and to play with some fabric and felt and bits and pieces.

I knew it was due out on the stand but didn't expect a copy so soon!!! Poor Mel knew I had my copy today and she's been waiting, waiting ALL day for her postman to arrive. I scanned in some photos of the cover and some pages so she could at least see SOME of the pages and we have been emailing back and forth and then FINALLY her parcel man arrived with her copy! PHEW!!!!

So, what did I contribute?

I created three things. And my favourite thing were these little gals...

My Blossom Friends Felt Finger Puppets...

Sadly the flower puppet didn't make the cut and they only wanted the four friends instead which was funny 'cause they aren't really blossom friends without their blossom!

Here's my work in progress..

and all laid out ready for stitching..

and the finished puppets...they even made the cover - how exciting.

and here's Capri trying the puppets out..

and then onto my not so favourite project..These are my fabric pictures...they styled and photographed them ok in the book but I am still not lovin' them at all...they took ages to make and turned out a little wonky I reckon...and not at all what the vision in my head was when I started making them....

They are designed as a set of two 12x12inch in size and ready for framing...

And my final project was to design a set of hairclips - a felt pair and a set of fabric yo-yo ones. Having never made a yo-yo in my life and not even REALLy knowing what a yo-yo was, I set about googling yo-yo how-tos and ended up making these...

Here's all of the hairclips together.

So make sure you check out the magazine at your newsagency - AUSTRALIAN HOMESEWN - packed to the brim with wonderful fabric projects from Mel and a few things thrown in from me and also Fiona Carter.

An Update..

Hi everyone

I'm trying to keep all the retreat info etc on the one blog (you can find the @Home|Away weekend retreat updates on the @Home blog here) so while I will share here when I have updated the @Home blog, I probably won't add too much info here about the retreat over the coming months.

So, what's been happening? Here's a quick photo family update!

Capri spent three days at Aussie Bush Camp - her very first camp. She was beyond excited beforehand and had been counting down for months. She had a great time but said it was FREEZING cold.

I love these few photos Mum took as the bus arrived to bring them all home. That's Capri getting off the bus in the white shoes and cap..

and a big welcome hug home! I missed her big time while she was away!

We also visited my sister's farm on the weekend and got to see the brand new puppies!!! Jess, the dog, had SIX puppies. Five boys and one girl! And a teeny, tiny runt of the litter included.

You can see the BIG difference in the puppies sizes from these next two photos...this one is the runt

and the rest of the puppies are all about this size..

We also got our healthy dose of farm life by checking out the cows as well..and the two new calves..

And I reckon this cow with the black markings has such a scary face!!! Like he's wearing a mask!

We've also had the athletics carnival at Capri's school. Here's Capri with Kate, one of her best friends.

And the usual running around for footy training and after school stuff. And that's about all on the home front..

@Home | Away '09 - weekend retreat

Good morning everyone.

Just letting you know that the @Home | Away '09 retreat information is now available for viewing. Yay!

READ ALL ABOUT THE WEEKEND RETREAT - what's  involved, costs, inclusions etc HERE.
READ ALL ABOUT THE SUNSETS AT THE BAY Resort - accommodation choices, photos etc HERE.
And while you're link hopping, check out the video tour of the Resort HERE.

**Registration will open this morning over in the shop area of the @Home site, Saturday 6 June '09.**

It's official...

Big reveal happened last night on the @Home blog. SO exciting. Check it out here.

Thanks for all the lovely comments and stack of emails I have received too!! Excellent.