The Kim Archer Blog

come on over

Hey, I'm now blogging over on the Etzcetera website.

Etzcetera is a fresh, fun lifestyle website for creative people who love family life, home decorating, food, craft, ideas + pretty pictures. It's also the home of Etzcetera magazine and Etzcetera creative ebooks. Come on over and check us out.

Only seven days until kickoff!

Not long to go until we officially kick off our 2011 Handmade Christmas workshop..

Here's a few more sneak peek photos!

BOOK YOUR PLACE HERE.

Handmade Christmas 2011

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without our online Handmade Christmas workshop.

It's our MOST popular workshop and we've been running it now for years! From our humble beginnings on this very blog to now in our custom built online classroom, I know it's MY favourite class to prepare and I know the excitement ramps up amongst the Support Team girls when we start brainstorming ideas for the class.

So. I am thrilled to say, we opened registration today for the class. I know many of you have emailed me about whether we ae holding the class this year so I am pleased to say YES!!! We are so holding this workshop again this year. Yippeee.

You can read more or purchase the class here:

The Details -

• Class registration OPEN NOW.
• Class fee gives you access to the classroom, chatroom, member photo gallery to share your work and all instruction, giveaways, fun and frivolity that comes with our online workshops.
• The workshop officially kicks off 25 November and runs until 1 December 2011
• Classroom remains open until 31 January 2012
• SIX days of full on projects. This is a content rich class with lots of how-tos, ideas, inspiration and workshop guides. Multiple projects will be uploaded each day.
• You will receive an email each day so that you don't miss a thing.
• projects include: teacher's gifts, quick and easy projects for busy people, scrapbook layouts, projects for family members and friends and a load of inspiration to help make 2011 a very merry Handmade Christmas.
• In the leadup to the official launch of the class, we will have some giveaways, sneak peeks and a some fun before we begin!

BOOK YOUR PLACE TODAY.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Ahem..hello?

Anybody still out there?

It's been totally ages since I have updated my blog.

Etzcetera Magazine sorta took over my life over the past 6 months while I worked hard to get it all established and organised and with the release of Issue Three (yes, already! Time flies), I feel like I finally have some breathing space.

Soooo. I'm back.

I still have a few readers, just a few (thank you)..my stats weren't zero like I thought they would be. In fact I got a lovely surprise to see a lot of link backs to Pinterest for my 25 Days Of Christmas album I made several Christmases ago..

This image..

Which is lovely..thank you everyone!

Exciting announcement...

I do have an exiting announcement for our @Home customers..will be announcing very, very soon.

KIM

 

Happy birthday to Brandt

Brandt turned 21.

And we had a mega party at Soho on Darby! Was huge. And fun. Note to self, don't wear new platform ankle boots to an event without wearing them in first. My feet were in total agony by the end of the night!

More photos etc later but for now, here's the DVD I made for Brandt which we played after the speeches and cake cutting! It's a glimpse into the last 21 years in our family and has video footage from over the years and photos etc and I thought I would add it here for some of the family who didn't make it to the party as well as family and friends who want to watch it again...and any other readers who may be interested..

Take particular note:

• it's worth watching the whole thing just to see the "family bloopers" at the end of the video! The two old dudes are my dad and my uncle!
• Jamison did not really have a mullet haircut when he was about 6 - he's wearing one of my mums wigs, although he said he might grow a mullet after watching this DVD *joking*
• thank you to my cousins and their kids, aunties and my mum for their lover-ly rendition of happy birthday at the end of the video. Take special note of my cousin Jodi (on the left) and her very special dance moves!
• warning - really bad early 90's hair styles!
• I left out one of the most important tv shows from Brandt's childhood - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Cowabunga dude!
• In the blink of an eye, that teeny tiny baby is a grown up. It does my head in!
• I love that I had so much video footage and photos for this little DVD!

 

a little bit of a catch up

It's been a bit of a hectic time around here.

Issue 2 of Etzcetera is looming. We've had Brandt's 21st party. Visitors. School holidays. Parent/Teacher interviews. Ken's golfing trip to the Gold Coast (sore point. I was incredibly envious. Not the golfing bit. Just the holiday part!)

AND I have been redecorating over on the Etzcetera website.

I am loving the new look! It's much fresher, more vibrant, easy to navigate and it is much more workable for me in regard to my plans for Etzcetera down the track.

Blogging.

After much dithering and deliberation which is very typical of me - I do like to think everything through, process and then make a decision - I have decided to have a separate blog just for Etzcetera.

Initially I was going to keep everything here on Typepad BUT I do think it's important to build Etzcetera as a separate enterprise so I will be blogging on the Etzcetera blog linked to the Etzcetera website.

You can visit the Etzcetera blog here.

There's not all that much there yet as I didn't want to add too many posts while I was still working on the site and getting everything to function ok but now that the site is more or less revamped, its time to start blogging!!

I want to add lots of things. Crafty stories. Pinterest finds. Sneak peeks at the magazine. People. Craft. Product and project ideas. I have lots of plans.

OH I will still be blogging here though - family stuff, crafty things, @Home updates etc..I do still want to add in what's happening in our home!

I would love for you to pop on over to Etzcetera and say hello.

some family things

Week one of the school holidays is over. It's been filled with lots of social activities - movies, shopping, sleepovers, skate parks, lunches and running around.

Brandt's birthday invites went out. He turns 21 in a few days. Which is ludicrous because it feels like MY 21st was only a few years ago. Wasn't it!?

I put together a little collage of photos over the years of him and created the invite in Photoshop and had the photos processed at Big W. I was so pleased with how they printed and it certainly saved me having the hassle of having to crank them out on our home printer. I printed 80 invites for the grand total of $12. Wonderful!

The RSVPs are already rolling in and there are so many old and new friends coming and family and cousins..it will be great to catch up with them all.

While his birthday is this week, the party isn't for a few weeks yet but there will be plenty of birthday celebrating this week I am sure!

a few thank yous

My head is spinning.

The reaction to Etzcetera has been amazing. When you put yourself out there and launch something YOU really love and are totally passionate about, it doesn't always mean that other people will embrace it and love it too.

So while I THOUGHT crafty people might enjoy a crafty magazine with tutorials, stories about creative people and other tidbits, I didn't really know for sure.

But it seems you do! Which is a relief.

And it's time for a few thank yous..

Firstly a thank you to Ken who has been incredibly supportive of my decision to do this. In fact it was Ken who listened to my continual dithering about whether to do this or not and finally said to me, "Just do it!" It was Ken who covered all my @Home business expenses and things that my income usually covers, while I took time out from the @Home site to work on the magazine. And it's Ken who has proudly told everyone he meets about what I'm doing!

And thank you to my mum who has been with me every step of the way. She has read and re-read over and over, every last word written in that magazine as she worked hard as my proof reader and she has now come on board to help me look after sales, advertising and the accounts. She has always been so supportive of anything and everything I have ever done my entire life and never, ever doubted for a second that I couldn't do this!

THANK YOU to my three kids. This last fortnight before the launch has been crazy and I am sure they were totally sick of seeing me glued to the computer screen when they arrived home from school each afternoon! Thank you to Capri for helping me in the photo shoots for some of our projects and for taking my profile photos too! She did a great job! And thank you to Jamison who came on board and made and styled and prepared the recipe for the individual delicious trifles for the food section of the magazine. He was excited to be involved and I was thrilled to be able to include him! And thanks to Brandt who took the time to actually look at the magazine even though he hasn't one crafty bone in his body and to his credit, his eyes didn't glaze over and he was genuinely interested!

THANK YOU to my business coach Julie. Who said something to me that made me make that final decision to do this. She said, "This is something you really want to do and you're going to do it sooner or later so it may as well be sooner!" And I realised she was right. She kept me on track, helped me hugely with the website and helped me set goals at our meetings so I could keep going forward with the project.

Thank you to my wonderful friend Lisa who checked on me all the time, right from the start, to make sure I was eating properly, drinking my water and exercising! She made sure I was taking time out and not getting too stressed. She picked up the slack with emailing for permission for various projects nd products we used and wrote a few of the articles.

Thank you to my wonderful support network - my sister, other family members, my friends, the @Home Support Team girls, the wonderfully talented contributors, those I interviewed and who shared their stories, projects and talents with us, and our beautiful Issue One advertisers who cheered and supported this venture all the way along and believed in me that this could be a reality.

And it is a reality, thanks to our readers. And that's YOU. Thank you for the support and enthusiasm and excitement. It's been wonderful.

Here comes Issue 2.

Today's the Day

Big day.

Launching day for Issue One of Etzcetera Magazine.

 

It's been a mammoth few months and somehow I launched a magazine. Which is quite surreal to me and I am still checking that it really did happen. It was one of those projects that just felt right and evolved and took on a life of itself and all of a sudden it was all happening and no longer just this thought in my head.

It was a reality.

Usually, when a deadline is looming or I'm in the middle of a major project, I get stressed out and just want the thing finished. But this time, that didn't happen. I genuinely loved every minute of pulling this together and I've already started on Issue 2.

Oh there was one fleeting moment where it was late, my eyes were sore from staring at the computer screen and there were a couple of little issues happening and I felt fed up with the magazine but that was a teeny moment and passed quickly.

I feel excited about this new direction and have so many ideas and plans and things!

I'll be back later today with some thank yous because there are some people who really need some public thanking from me who have supported and helped me enormously over the past few months.

Popping in

I'm still here.

Two weeks 'til the launch of Etzcetera and time is flying by fast. The magazine is all consuming at the moment. I am living and breathing this project! BUT unlike anything else I have ever done, I'm enjoying the entire process. I'm not particularly stressed out or overwhelmed or wondering what on earth I am doing. I'm enjoying the whole thing!!!

Today I interviewed a lovely "mumpreneur" duo for an upcoming article. I felt very professional with my notebook, armed with my questions and my iPhone on record and during the interview I had that excited little feeling, that joyful feeling of "I love this!"

I truly enjoyed chatting face to face with the girls, listening to their stories of how they got started, their challenges, their triumphs, their motivation and their goals.

I also showed them a peek at some of the finished pages and their reactions were so heart warming. I was thrilled that they were thrilled and enthusiastic about the magazine.

Except for mum and Ken, I haven't shared any of the finished pages with anyone just yet BUT I did allow a teeny, little sneak peek in today's newsletter. If you missed it, here's the image..

Ooops, thats a small image..but you get the idea..told you it was a LITTLE sneak peek!

impromptu lunch and afternoon tea

I love spontaneous outings! Where you just make a decision to do something and jump in the car and do it! With little or no notice!!

Sunday we did just that and found ourselves at the yacht club for lunch with mum & dad. The weather was divine and we had a sunny spot where we could enjoy the marina and boats and the lovely view as we ate our lunch. And we were so spontaneous, I left home without my camera and had to make do with my iPhone!

After lunch we walked next door to Rock Salt for coffee and dessert..Here's mum and Jamison walking along - he's grown SO tall and this photo..

reminded me of this photo taken about 4 years ago..

We had a lovely marina view table at Rock Salt..

source. 

and ordered delicious desserts to share. We all marvelled at how the desserts were plated up..and did our best Masterchef impersonation as we tasted each dish!! Capri and I shared a chocolate wedge cake with milk bottle ice-cream (Rock salt's description - was really just vanilla ice-cream..)and teeny raspberry jellies with some weird looking wafer thing balanced precariously on the ice cream!

And mum and Jamison shared a meringue and honeycomb stack with a Bailey's puddle and toffee shards on top..

and Ken and my dad stuck with the coffee although did have a taste of our desserts!

and it was a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

today I am knitting

This big ball of colourful texture and my knitting needles are calling my name this weekend. I have had a little idea brewing away in my mind for a week or so and I hope to grab some time today to get started!

I hope you have a crafty kinda weekend too...

yesterday my very first Etzcetera newsletter went out

..and that made me so very happy.

The Etzcetera newsletter will come out every second Friday and will have a few crafty tidbits, a tutorial here and there, some behind the scenes Etzcetera news and the all important news of when each issue is ready for viewing. It's just a little way for me to stay in touch with all our lovely readers in between magazine issues.

I know we had a flurry of newsletter signups AFTER the first newsletter went out yesterday. And you guys will start getting the newsletter from Friday 17 June UNLESS you would like me to forward yesterday's little newsletter to you. Email me if you do want a forwarded copy.

Well it's now JUNE which means that the 1 July is looming fast which means theres SO MUCH going on behind the scenes to get Etzcetera ready to go. I'm so happy with how it's all shaping up. To see an idea go from this little seed of "can I actually do this?" to becoming a reality is well, pretty cool really.

Over this coming week I will introduce you to a couple of lovely people who have come on board regularly to write or curate lovely collections to share or create projects for Etzcetera. They're all wonderfully creative, enthusiastic people and it's been a pleasure to work with them on this first issue and to know they're sticking around for subsequent issues too.

Have a crafty weekend everyone.

a little Friday morning shop, shop, shopping

Just wanted to share with you a lovely little Etsy store called The Greatest View, run by Gail Lindner. It's a store filled with the cutest embellishments...like this

these

and the loveliest little paper banners like these...

and for a splash of colour..how about these

or these..

Find Gail's shop here or learn more about Gail and her craftiness here on her blog..

Happy shopping.

The first Eztcetera newsletter hits inboxes tomorrow (Friday!)

Thanks again for signing up to the Etzcetera Magazine mailing list. I had a little goal in my head to reach a certain number of sign ups in the first day and I doubled my expectations so that was pretty cool. And each morning I dive onto the computer and check how many more subscribers have joined us. I love seeing the numbers climb!

What is the mailing list for?

Well firstly it's for me to be able to let you know when the magazine is ready for viewing. Newsletter subscribers will be the FIRST to know before I announce it on my blog or facebook etc.

But it's also a chance for me to share a mini newsletter every fortnight that is filled with some creative and crafty things. I am planning on releasing a little Etzcetera eNews every second Friday - starting tomorrow. I aim to have some mini tutorials, crafty tidbits and behind the scenes news and photos here at Etzcetera Magazine.

Sooooo, if you haven't signed up..please come and join us...you're all most welcome. And of course you can opt out (and we would understand but be sad to see you go) any time you choose.

Our first newsletter features a quick and easy little button project!!

You can sign up for our newsletter here..

yesterday I made a paperclip

Yesterday I started working on designing a couple of ads for a few of our lovely advertisers who have booked ad space with us in Etzcetera.

And I learnt how to make a little digital paperclip from scratch in Photoshop..which I thought was so cool and so easy and so worth sharing.

You can make them any colour, thick, thin, big or little. Find the tutorial here.

Etzcetera Update

A whirlwind week.

And I thought it was time for an update.

Initially I was going to keep a separate blog just for Etzcetera news BUT I've decided that Etzcetera is an extension of what I already do. SO I've decided to keep this blog rolling along but it will now contain a mix of everything I do - all in the one place.

Some things will stay the same over here and some things will slowly change and evolve as the magazine evolves but I hope to post about

• @Home workshops, sneak peeks and Support Team news
• snippets of our family and home life.
• crafty projects or tutorials I've found online that I want to share with you
• Etzcetera Magazine news, updates, upcoming articles, behind the scenes and tidbits.
• projects I'm working on
• My Pinterest finds. I do LOVE that site and it is loaded with inspiration.
• interesting creative people I stumble across on the net or crafty friends who are doing crafty things!
• and anything else that fits within my little tag line of Craft. Lifestyle. Home. Family. You.

So, I think this blog needs a bit of a facelift and a spruce up to bring it more in line with where I'm headed with everything. If there's anything you would like to see more of on my little blog - let me know:)

I love to read your comments..just click "comments" at the bottom of this post and type in your hello.

Have a great Saturday.

and now we have a facebook page

Etzcetera Magazine now has a Facebook page. Yippppeee. Head on over and "like" us if you want to (pretty please!)

thank you everyone

Thank you.

From the bottom of my heart.

The response to my Etzcetera news has been enormous and overwhelming and I must admit I feel a bit scared now that my long held secret is now out of the bag. 'Cause now it feels really real! Which is both terrifying and thrilling at the same time!

I'll continue to add tidbits of Etzcetera news here on my @Home blog until my new one is set up..

Thanks for signing up to my Etzcetera mailing list too..the confirmation emails have been flooding into my inbox over the past 24 hours!!! Thank you my lovely @Home supporters and to our new names.

Welcome!

introducing...

It's time to tell.

For as long as I can remember I have loved to write.

Growing up, I would write long winded, tell you every last detail about my day letters to my cousin Jacki when we were in Primary School. I would write short stories - even picking up a Newcastle Herald Young Writer's Award in Year 11 for my Case of The Missing Gym Boots story (a riveting tale, let me tell you!!). I would write long stories without endings. I would write pages of teenage romance, each chapter being handed around in geography in Year 8 for my class mates to read.

And I always wanted to work for a magazine.

In my teens, I wanted to be Lisa Wilkinson - the then youngest editor of Dolly Magazine. I kept the clipping of her in Dolly when she talked about how she had gotten the job. I even made a couple of mock up magazines using photos of my family and made up stories and called my little publication The Australian's Kim - yeah, I know..pretty dorky name!

Fast forward to now.

For a couple of years I have had this idea bubbling away in the back of my head. And it just wouldn't go away. At the start of the year when I was sick and took time off work the idea started playing louder and louder in my brain. And I could no longer ignore it.

I decided to launch my own magazine.

I'm not sure when the idea became "I would like to .." to "I am going to.." But somewhere along the way this year I decided to take the plunge. And it was not without angst and worry and what ifs.

BUT it's happening. And I am THRILLED, excited, and eager to announce that my new magazine will launch 1 July 2011.

I would like to introduce to you all,

Etzcetera Magazine

....An online bi-monthly crafty lifestyle magazine.

Visit our website here. Sign up for our newsletter so you can keep up with our happenings as well as be one of the first to know when we have launched.

Tomorrow the media kit will be ready for potential advertisers and our Facebook page will be set up.

Ahhhh.

It's good to get the secret out there..

I hope you will help me spread the news.

coaching..classes..a new all consuming project

Where are all the new classes over on the @Home site? I know our regulars are wondering why there haven't been any new workshops uploaded over the past few months.

Well, I have been working on something enormously ambitious over this first part of the year which has been all consuming and taking up a mammoth amount of my time and energy.

It's a new direction that will marry nicely with what we already do @Home so the site won't be going anywhere. However, in these early stages of developing the new project, my site has been a little neglected and light on for new content - but that's only temporary for just a little while longer.

I've gone through lots of what ifs? and can I do this? and self doubt and fear and anxiety and worry and I've worked through all those doubts and processed it all and I've come out the other end excited, motivated, still a little scared but really, truly thrilled with this new endeavour and eager to share it all..

But it's not time. Not just yet. But soon.

I find it frustrating when people announce on Facebook and their blogs etc that they have a BIG secret squirrel and can't tell just yet and then you have to wait. wait. wait for ages before you hear the big news. So I apologise 'cause that's exactly what I have done!!!

BUT I wanted to make mention of the fact that the @Home site hasn't had any new classes uploaded for a little while but that we will be back on track very soon AND more importantly I wanted to acknowledge someone (besides my family) who has been pivotal in helping me work through my self doubts and take this big leap of faith with this new business venture..

Her name is Julie and she is my business coach.

I haven't ever had a business coach before so it's been quite a novelty to have someone motivating to talk to, someone to encourage and guide and advise and Julie seemed to pop into my life at just the right moment. Julie owns Sassii Coaching and has helped me to move forward with my ideas and turn them into reality.

Each session she gives me a little set of tasks to complete before the next session so that I continually move forward instead of getting stuck in the one place (which I have a tendency to do!!!) And I tell you what, there's a bit of a flurry of activity the night before my next session to make sure I have done all my homework Julie set me the week before!!! I do like to work right up to a deadline!!!!

If you head on over to Julie's site I just noticed my little testimonial is featured on the front page today - woo hoo!!

Over the next week or so I hope to start revealing what I've been up to and I thank all my lovely regulars for being so patient with me...

crazy for colour

Support Team girl and lovely friend Lisa Pate sent me this gorgeous little embellishment pack the other week from her Etsy shop Crazy For Colour!

 

Source.

And it's been sitting here begging for me to play for several weeks!! Lisa has cleverly created some mini mixed media tags loaded with colour and texture and stamping and a fun litte house and flower. Plus some other bits and pieces!

So I scrapbooked a layout..just for fun. Terrible morning lighting..but you get the idea.

LOVE the little package of goodies you gave me Lisa!! Check out Lisa's ETSY STORE here. She has stocked up on some great new things!!!!

a little tutorial

We gave my mum a magazine subscription for Mother's Day and because the notification arrived by email, we didn't have a little wrapped up present to give her on the day.

So, I spent some time on Mother's Day morning making a pretty fabric flower hanger thingy to hang in her study, by her computer, to make her smile - and it smells pretty good too.

Here's how!

supplies

• fabric scraps
• access to a sewing machine + bright red thread
• tiny buttons
• small scrap of cardstock
• a little bit of wadding or toy fill
• something to scent your flower - I used some fragrant wax chips
• length of ribbon for the "hanger".

how to

1. Choose a FIVE fabrics roughly about 12x14cm. Use all the same fabric, two types fabrics OR a different fabric for each of the five petals. 

2. Fold each piece of fabric in half WRONG sides together.

3. Head over to your sewing machine and stitch a very rough petal shape through both layers, leaving the lower edge free open. Stitch three times around your shape.

I prefer a random, shabby, uneven and imperfect flower SO I didn't make a petal template beforehand. BUT if you prefer a neater finish, by all means, create a petal shaped template on paper first to trace around for uniform shaped petals.

4. Once you have stitched your petal, use scissors to carefully snip around your stithing, leaving a narrow border.

5. Stitch all five petal shapes and snip out ready for assembly.

6. Cut TWO rough circles from fabric for your flower centre.

7. Type up a sentiment strip onto cardstock (or computer journal onto a strip of cardstock)

 

8. Machine stitch each end of your cardstock sentiment strip to your fabric centre.

9. Pin each of your petals, sandwiched between your TWO fabric circles.

10. Head back to the sewing machine and stitch all layers together ONCE, leaving a space for where your LAST petal.

11. Leave the opening where the last petal will go, open for now, so we can softly fill our flower shape with wadding.

12. Softly stuff your flower centre with some wadding/toy fill.

13. I added in a few little scented candle chips from my scented candle mishap. But you could add some lavender seeds or a cotton ball fragranced with a few drops of essential oil.

  
14. Finish off by sandwiching your last petal into place and slip a length of folded ribbon behind your petal, stitch all layers. Continue stitching, adding about three rows of messy stitching.

Trim all your threads and give yourself a BIG CLAP, gift wrap and give to someone special. Hang your little fabric flower from a drawer knob, door knob or add to a wardrobe to lightly scent your clothes.

new carpet

Sorry.

I did disappear after the carpet was installed didn't I? I had good intentions of sharing photos but I was also flat chat moving furniture back into place, rearranging rooms and painting furniture! And the days have moved past so quickly it's causing me headspins!

I did however take photos of the carpet in the rooms before all the furniture went back in and I have finally uploaded them to my computer.

I LOVE the carpet - after stressing over the colour, really, I couldn't imagine having any other carpet colour. And I am SO happy I pushed on and got all the bedrooms painted before hand as the colours all came together nicely.

It was a mammoth effort to clear each room totally!! Here's Capri's room before..

and after

and our room before..with our lovely charcoal feature wall all finished..

I was SO pleased to see that cold, hard concrete covered up..with soft, springy, beautiful carpet!!

It was VERY hard to try and photograph the carpet to show a true picture of what it really looks like. The sun was casting light on the floor and it was just hard to try and capture a decent image of the carpet...but you get the idea.

 

No after photos, when our furniture was moved back in - I hate our bedroom suite and it was a shame to have to put the side tables back in there. So I am on the look out for some quirky second hand side tables I can do up! They don't have to even match..something like this would be delightful!

 
Source.

Or this with different handles..

Source

or this

Source

Or even this - painted and distressed in aqua or antique white..

   

I'm on the look out!

mother's day 2011

With all my kids now in high school, this year was the first year in fifteen years where I didn't receive a Mother's Day Stall present :(

Oh how I missed the mug with chocolates all done up in cellophane, the cheap soap wrapped in a hankie and the rose scented candles! Capri reminded me of the time she gave me the vegetable printed tea towel - she was oh so proud and her brothers teased her something shocking for giving me a tea towel!

I miss those little gems! And that vegetable printed teatowel is still in use in the Archer kitchen!

My Mother's Day started the night before when my dad surprised me, my mum and sister with a bunch of flowers each! I don't know that dad has EVER given me flowers! So that was novel.

And my morning started with a cuppa in bed, made by Ken deliberately using a Mothers Day Stall mug from several years ago.

and lots of lovely presents..

Including slippers, Music From the Circle Girls CD, Olivia Newton John's lovely cook book LivWise, Instant Lottery tickets, Daryl Lea licorice and a cute "I love you Mum" heart from Capri who especially chose it so I would feel like I WAS getting something from the Mother's Day Stall!!

And then Brandt presented me some more flowers plus more Instant Lottery Tickets (Scratchies) and I won a combined amount of $27 and a free ticket!

We also went to my parent's place for lunch and I had a very nice Mother's Day indeed! I'll be back with photos of our new carpet (finally!) and some family photos from Mother's Day as well!

Seeya soon.

new sofas

After an INCREDIBLY long wait from the end of January until mid April our new sofas arrived a few weeks ago!!!!

When we were searching for a new sofa for our front lounge room I had NO intention of buying a green sofa. I mean we had a green feature wall and a green shag rug already so I had in my head that we would find the perfect white or cream leather lounge for this room or maybe even black.

BUT after lots of searching and a chance visit to Nick Scali I found the perfect sofa. It was a matter of walking into the store, spotting the sofas and just knowing that was what I was after.

Then came the loooong wait before delivery and too much thinking time and the doubt crept in. What was I thinking? A GREEN sofa??? Would it date quickly? Would it look too bright?

But my fears disappeared once the sofas arrived and I had a chance to arrange them around the room. Here's a not very clear but you get the idea iPhone photo.

The room doesn't look as green as I was fearing. But the green feature wall will eventually be replaced by another charcoal painted wall (I do love Namadji wall colour) and the rug will stay because I like it and there's no where for it to move to and it's too good to ditch.

Oh and the hideous flowy, drape-y cream and pale pink window fabric thingy has to GO. I would never have chosen it had we built this house and I haven't ever really liked it but have never removed it as it's held in place with brackets and screws and battens etc. SO once I get in here with my Sandy Day paint the fabric thing can be pulled down finally!!!

Verdict on the sofas: VERY comfy. Love the colour. Love the curvy ottoman on wheels that can be wheeled around and used where needed. And all family members have given the new sofas a big thumbs up!

I wish...

I wish I could show you all the pretty "after" photos of our renovations and redecorating here at our home BUT there's nothing to show just yet as everything is upside down and everywhere.

Thankfully our new carpet arrives this week so the disarray will be shortlived and I VERY much admire those who tackle major renovations and upheaval and live in chaos for an extended time!

So, here's our house right now...one big major mess!

Here's Ken ripping up the existing carpet in our bedroom. He worked long and hard on Saturday to get all the carpet ripped up, rolled up and carted off to the dump from all four bedrooms. You can't really tell in the photo but our bedroom is quite big so that in itself was a big job!

and we are now left with cold hard cement floors and everything everywhere while I got started on the painting.

Under Capri's carpet, to her surprise, we found her initials CA spray painted onto the cement. Well not literally HER initials because we didn't build this house so it was there long before we moved in..so that was funny!

And she got to work on vacuuming all the sand/dust under the carpets in her room and cleaning out her wardrobe.

And I started painting (yet again) in our bedroom. Dulux Sandy Day on the walls, Natural White gloss trim and Namadji feature wall. 

As I said NO pretty after pictures just yet BUT I am thrilled with how the charcoal Namadji feature wall looks and I am *almost* finished my painting in our room.

Oh, I do have some pretty pictures...our new sofas arrived for the front loungeroom...I will have to dig out the photos and post them next! Stay tuned.

a happy birthday to my sister

Today is my sister's birthday so I put together a little photo collage of us showcasing our wonderful fashion style over the years.

 

Happy birthday Debbie....

Meet The Support Team - Mardi Winen

------Mardi Winen------

1. What craft do you like to do curled up on the sofa in front of the tv (if any).

I always have my crochet alongside my chair, so if I'm not finshing off handstitching on a stitched project, Ill usually pick up my crochet.

In winter I love to crochet hats. But a few weeks ago I started a crochet bag - and I'm currently working on that.

2. Is there a craft you would like to try?

Like most of us crafty souls, I've tried just about everything known to mankind.
I have never really played in mixed media art though so perhaps down the track I'd love to have a play.

I'd also love to try my hand at beading. Although my previous attempts have all ended dismally as I'm not very patient with fiddly little things.

3. What's your earliest crafty memory?

I remember in my early childhood spending time with my Grandma Grace. We lived on the same farm so I had plenty of opportunity to spend my days with her.
She was very crafty and created the most beautiful fine crochet and tatting.

Grandma Grace sewed beautifully on her old tredle sewing machine...and I remember her making me little dresses from leftovers of floral fabric she had made her blouses from. I used to love to dress in matching clothing with her.

She was also very  involved with floral art and her sewing / craft room was full of wonderful and exciting things. I think my love of craft was instilled very early on and I have no doubt she would be thrilled to see me enjoying craft as muich as she did.
 
Just a little more on the topic...
I feel so very lucky to have the most gorgeous crochet table cloth crocheted by Grandma Grace. In fact the story f how I came to have that crocheted table cloth gives me a lump in my throat every time I think of it.

Grandma Grace had started and worked on the crochet cloth as a gift for my 21st birthday for many years but then very sadly, during my teens, she became unwell and she knew she was going to run out of time to finish it for me. So she contacted my other Grandma - Grandma Lorna (who was an amazing knitter but had never crocheted) and she asked if Grandma Lorna could finish it off for 'their granddaughter'. So my Grandma Lorna taught herself how to crochet and she finished it off on 'their' behalf....and gifted it to me from both of them at my 21st ..9 years later and after Grandma Grace had passed away.
 
4. Have you always been crafty?

Absolutely. I think I was born that way BUT if you asked if I liked to cook, you'd get a totally different response though...lol

5. What other crafts have you dabbled in?

I learnt to knit and crochet as a child. My Mum taught me to sew and in my teens I sewed a lot of my clothes. As my own kids grew up I continued to make clothes for them, often with appliques on the front.

I also tried pottery, and still have a few pieces which I love and I dabbled in oil painting even exhibiting at our local art exhibition a few years in a row and selling some of my paintings as well. I was obsessed with paper tole at one stage as well as cross stitch and tapestry...and almost every other craft I can think of.

6. Do you consider yourself arty or crafty or a bit of both?

I'd have to say I'm more crafty. I have dabbled in art but I have a lot more confidence in my abilities with craft than I do with art.


7. Where do you get your craftiness from? Does it run in the family or are you the only crafty person in your family?

It runs in my family. Both my Grandmas loved their craft and although my Mum can sew beautifully, she chooses not to. My gets her enjoyment from spending time in the kitchen....I certainly didnt take after her in the cooking department.

8. Finish this sentence.."I am most happy surrounded by...."

Like minded crafty people.. warmth...good coffee... yummy food....and great music.
 

9. What crafty or arty projects are you working on right now?

Right now I'm handstitching fabric owl bums shut and working on some notebook covers. I'm crocheting a shoulder bag and playing with some gorgeous papers and photos for a scrapbooking commitment.

10. Besides the Suport Team girls, who would you love to sit and chat and create with ..if you could choose three people? Ok....seeing as the Support Team girls would normally head my list, I'll have to say my Grandma Grace (who passed away when I was about 12 years old....and I miss her), Ashley Campbell of AshleyAnn photography - I'm always amazed by her photos..not posed...just capturing real moments and Jennifer Johner....love her scrapbooking style....and knack of home decorating.

Mardi's @Home gallery   
Mardi's Blog
Mardi's Dudley and Grace Etsy Store

a little easter story

Our Meet The Support Team feature will continue from tomorrow morning - we have two more team members left to share with you. In the meantime....

Easter started early here in the Archer household. Brandt was up and off to work by 6.30am after only arriving home after midnight as he had been to his friend's 21st.

The Easter Bunny had been and left a lover-ley Elegant Rabbit on my side table!! And there was an Elegant Rabbit gracing Ken's side table too!

The Easter Bunny had also been very busy out in the family room, leaving an Elegant Rabbit (obviously a popular choice)plus a Humpty Dumpty and some Smarties spelling out each kid's initial (so they knew who owned what)...all left on the coffee table.

Capri was up and about by about 7.30am. She came in to tell me that the Easter Bunny hadn't left as much for Brandt compared to her and Jamison. Huh? I was SURE the Easter Bunny had been very fair with her deliveries and so I went to investigate.

It seems a SECOND Easter Bunny had visited us late, late last night and left some extra goodies!!!

There was an extra box for each of the kids and two chocolate rabbits sitting there with an "m" and a "d" for mum and dad spelt out in Smarties!! I realised the original LARGE pile of Smarties spelling out a "B", "J" and a "C" was somewhat smaller than I remembered so it seems the second Easter Bunny utilised the Smarties on hand to create some extra initials!!!!

So it's been chocolate and croissants for breakfast here and now I am back into the painting BUT I have a helper!!!! Yay. Ken's helping me today. I hope to have our bedroom all finished very, very soon...

We have a few hours up our sleeve before we head off for an Easter Sunday BBQ at my parent's house!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE.