Merry Christmas from SERS!

We just had the SERS Christmas party for 2011 - at Cathy's place, as is traditional.

Cathy has this FABulous canvas at her place - she made it, of course. A fun afternoon with a packet of crayons, some glue, and a hair dryer!

Louise, Cathy and Nan shared a chat - Nan had a terrific anecdote about when she almost met Rudolf Nureyev!

 Michelle and Chris did Christmassy projects and had some laughs...

Thanks Cathy for hosting us!

Anne made us all pretty gift boxes with treats inside!


















We did our mostly annual Ornament Swap - Nan took home a beaded ornament by Louise.

Christmas party coming up!

As we have for the last few years, we have a Christmas party coming up. It's on 10 December at 1pm, at Cathy's place, same as last year. Ask if you need the address!

We've decided to have an ornament swap. It's something we did in past years, and it was fun!

So make an ornament (yes, MAKE) using whatever method you like. No, we're not going to fuss about it needing stamping in it - if you're in a beading mood, go for it! And seriously, if life is too stressful right now, don't let lack of an ornament stop you coming.

No idea yet what I will make, but there's days yet!

The other special thing to bring is a plate of something to share.

We like our party to be an arty party, and Cathy's house is at least half art studio (at least it is when we all arrive), so bring a project to do - I'm finishing my Christmas cards there.

And if you read this, be a love and pass the info on to any other local stampers who look like they'd enjoy an afternoon of gossip and giggles!

Oh, and that photo is my cute kids (back when they were cute).

November meeting!

November meeting, and Anne gets into the Christmas mood by creating some elegant Christmas cards...





















Gail came along with Siobhan for a little mother-daughter time...















and my snacky treat was orange and almond cupcakes. Yummo!

Big news too ... the Christmas party is on! We've set the date at 10 December, at Cathy's place. Details in the next post!

October Meeting

We just had our October meeting - fun as usual, of course. As usual, nothing special organised. Well, I did make snacks (nobody was very hungry - either it's the weather, or my special herby cream cheese sandwich filling isn't everyones favourite - well, it looked nice).

Pat had partly finished this pretty card using her old paper tole pictures - very pretty! She was adding various pretty embellishments.

Maria had decorated stickers (yes, blank stickers, the kind you print addresses on) with various paint finishes, and was using them for mosaics.

 Anne was experimenting with various ways of combining inking and embossing, and making pretty Christmas treat boxes.

Cathy was cutting up a - what, a Coke can? Why?

Ah, it's the body for an angel! Nice!

And I was decorating a plain torso that Cathy made - so far she's got underwear and some fancy additions... If you want a plaster torso to decorate. go to My Stamps - this is an original design, very smart, and highly suitable for you to add to. So there's a plug for a local creative business.

And here's those snacks I was telling you about - puzzle sandwiches, made with The Lunch Punch, a cool sandwich cutter, invented by a Melbourne mum, and sold all over the world (there's an unsolicited plug for a nice creative product).










Oh, and here's some of us.
















And finally ....


the Terror of Stamp Club ....


that makes grown women shriek ...

There was a medium sized spider in the hallway. Certain stampers wouldn't use that hallway (good thing there's two ways out of the room!).

September Meeting - we find stuff

Stamp club was yesterday - we had a super day, in the cosy room again. Oh, and I really need to learn to read the bookings sign each day when we come in. The room was booked right after us by another local group, but we are used to packing up whenever we feel like it. This time we had to hop to it and make the room nice for them. Thanks, ladies, for responding so quickly. Isn't it great to be in a club where three hours zoom by so fast!

One of the themes of the day was "cool stuff we've found".

Chris found this FAB pencil box at an op shop - it houses her collection of pencils, which she buys a few at a time.

Here's what Chris was colouring with her pencils

Cathy found some of these nifty, tiny storage boxes at a cheap shop locally.  She bought up the whole stock!

Margaret's completely gorgeous card

Margarget presented her hubby with this amazing 80th birthday card - so many popups!

And I added to my swan-headed doll!

August Meeting - Doll action all over the place

We had a meeting in August - it was a shocker of a day for me. My husband fell ill (by afternoon he was just sleeping, and so I left him in the charge of the one teenager who was still at home). Forgot to being the coffee and tea, and had to come home again for it. Had to offer stuff I'd scavenged from around the house for snacks (so instead of fresh baked goodies, we had to struggle through ... home made chocolate truffles!)

But in spite of it all, a lovely day was had. I of course forgot my

camera, so here's some photos I didn't take on the day.

My doll is

now painted (relax, its not finished yet).

And Cathy's doll is - my goodness, is that a doll? Nah. Can't be.

And here's a card I made with a pretty bird stamp set.

Next meeting, probably disaster free, will be September 24. See ya there!

June Meeting - dolls and creatures!

Just remembered it would be a nice idea to report on the June meeting! We had funas usual (but you knew that).

Here's a gorgeous doll that Cathy received in a swap. Go here to see what she sent to HER recipient. What fun! These people are organising another swap straight away, and I've signed up (no, I don't normally make dolls - I'll panic later).

I actually finished a project! The old diary I started making collages from has turned into a finished "art book", and the final binding happened at stamp club. Yay!

The snack of the day was orange macarons - flavoured with real orange juice and zest. Gluten free too (but hardly a healthy snack!).

We think Nan is contemplating making a fluffy scarf. Beverley (a founder SERS member) came along to destash a little too.

Cold Wet May meeting

It was chilly outside, but sunny inside at SERS on this wintery May day.

Ingrid combined markers and watercolouring to get some very pretty results...

Like this, see?

Nan cut out some new stamps - I lent her my special scissors for a try.

Cathy has updated her art doll templates - now there's a boy one and a girl one (handy for primary school art activities!).

I brought some stamp that I had bought on my holiday in France - some of these are made in Belgium!

The snack of the day was Paris style macarons, which I am just learning to make. For looks, I give these about four out of ten, but for taste ... well, there were no complaints, and no leftovers either.

April Stamping Hit

A beautiful autumn day in Melbourne, a Royalwedding the night before to discuss, and a room full of interesting ladies. Now that's a recipe for a nice day.

Cathy worked on a rusted Barbie doll for a swap - she's hoping the recipient appreciates its grungy character (we're sure she will). She had cut up an old skirt of hers to make doll clothing, and was stamping it with her own texture stamps - awesome! I borrowed a stamp for my own texture.

Jenny brought the results of an inchies swap, with a colour theme of black, cream and gold. Fab colour combo - let's never forget how good the neutrals can look.

More of the inchies - now this is just showing off!

What I made ... a sort of vintage nature shadow box look. And here's where I, umm, borrowed the idea from. There's that dictionary page again. Still working on the same book. If you want to use vintage pages, you sure don't have to despoil a lot of books.

Summary of Royal Wedding discussion : seriously, what was up with Princess Beatrice's hat?

Summary of other funny things: ladylike Margaret unintentionally said a super-rude word. She was explaining what happens when her electric kettle goes "Phutt". Ya had to be there!

Back again on 28 May for some end of Autumn stamping. See you there!

Ready for an April stamping hit?

SERS is meeting again on 30 April, hoping for a nice afternoon of Autumnal sunshine. Check the details page of this blog for the full address and such.

This photo is an interesting bit of personal history. We had a bit of a flood at home (roof repairs combined with heavy rain). This is what I rescued first! None of this precious loot got damaged (phew). Lost a little paper, but what you gonna do? It reminded me to USE it or LOSE it!

March meeting - it was lovely!

In the cosy little room again for March (it's quite big really, but we do fill it).

CB brought Lunch Punches, and we enjoyed pretty jam or vegemite sandwiches as our stamping snack. Cathy enjoyed vegemite and fresh bread so much she asked if we could have it every time!

Chris put a monkey on a train (nope, that's not a euphemism).

And Cathy made some pretty flowers out of ... no, I think she's working on a class, so I'll let her show you herself!

February - freebies and Lunch Punch

Just had another lovely meeting! Here's the news...

Cathy's back from Africa, full of news and photos. Here she is

with Maria.

That's a copy of "The Artful Bird" on the table. Awesome book, by the way, and by a lady whose blog has inspired my 15yo daughter to do some serious sewing lately.

And the book link I've given you takes you to Can Do Books, a Melbourne bookshop that comes highly recommended for all kinds of crafty books.

Louise demonstrates how to turn a plain frame into a terrific girl's gift in one sitting (hey Louise, did you know you match your project today?).

Margaret has used some vellum to make her own gorgeous flowers for a

card. The leaf sprigs come from the Stampin' Up bird punch, and the larger leaf is the bird's wing! Each flower petal has been touched with metallic gel pen for extra pop! Plus a full assortment of flower punches, of course.

Ingrid took home some freebies from my "free to a good home" basket. She was delighted!

CB brought her whole collection of punches for

sharing (I had a go with the little heart). Here's Margaret (L), Pat (middle) and CB (right) discussing the relative merit

s of these very satisfying papercraft tools.

Then in conversation, CB mentioned that her daughter invented the Lunch Punch. The what? It's an awesome thing - a sandwich cutter that makes cool shapes, but doesn't waste the bread (we've all tried using cookie cutters on bread, but they are not designed for the task, are they?).

I'm loving the frog one. I don't think I'm too old to use them, am I? There are a bunch of other designs.

CB says she might bring some along next month for us to buy!! Well wow! Until then, hit up the Lunch Punch web site and buy online, or ask your local cute stuff shop to get them in. This has been an unpaid endorsement from someone who's suddenly hungry for sandwiches.

This is what I was working on - turning an old diary into a - hmmm, what do you call that... let's call it an Art Book and leave it at that.

Much collage, old dictionary pages, gesso, paint and glue went into this page, and I have a series of about 10 all on the go at once. When I pronounce them all "done" I'll make them into a book and then ... I'll have a strange book.

Next meeting is March 26 - see you there!