Merry Christmas from SERS!

Cathy (on right, with Anne) invited us into her home again for the SERS Christmas party for 2012.

Cathy's home is her work space and art studio too, so it's always a pleasure to be amongst the beautiful things.

We exchanged ornaments, an almost-every-year tradition since we first did it.

That little angel was made by Michelle. Her pretty translucent wings are made from the bag inside the cereal box. We love this!

This is what Michelle took home - awwww! Made by Louise (I think).

This is what I took home - thanks Cathy, it's on my tree! Look, a picture of ME on the SERS blog, that's rare.

And here's a look at the tiniest tree - a little flower pot I was decorating with flowers - with my cool ornament hanging on it.



We had yummy food too - Cathy's Melktart (South African style Milk Tart) was a highlight. Here's a recipe. I went back for more of Anne's Swedish cookies too.

Have a terrific holiday season, everyone, and see you all back at SERS on 26 January (yes, that's Australia Day).

November meeting coming up

Our next meeting is coming! Its saturday 24 November.

This photo shows a slice of amazing Malaysian cake that my workmate brought in. Also a cool colour scheme for a card - think you could pull it off?

Christmas Party 2012

Well, I've organised the Christmas party. It was a long, hard slog, but I finally

• sent a message to Cathy
• asked if it was OK to have it at her place
• she said YES!
•  and so I've finished organising.

So here's the details:

It's on 8 December 2012, at 1pm, and the location is Cathy's place. That's a private address, of course, but I can pass it on to you privately if you don't know it. Of course any SERS-goer is welcome.

We'll bring a plate of food, anything you like to bring, don't get carried away, we don't eat that much!

We'll have an ornament swap - we've done this in the past. Make an ornament, using any crafty skills you like, and everyone will go home with something new to decorate their home. I know my tree has a number of  SERS made decorations, and I do appreciate them!

As usual, if you have no time/no energy for an ornament swap, or don't know what to make, or don't even celebrate Christmas, just relax and come and socialise anyway. We always get up to some kind of mischief at Cathy's - one year we raided her old stamp catalogues for a trip down memory lane, and another year we watched a TV show about chocolate that she had saved specially!

Some people bring gifts or cards, and that's lovely, and some don't, and that's fine. I think a gift to the hostess to say thanks for offering her home is always good manners, if you can manage it.

So, does that sound fun? See you there!

September Meeting - Oh My!

Our last meeting was a most unusual one! We had some selling going on - not the usual one or two boxes, but four TABLES laden with top quality stamps. You can learn more about THAT project on the dedicated blog http://greatsouthernstampsale.blogspot.com.au/.

I bought heaps of stamps. That should keep me busy for, oh, weeks.

Joan came along, cos SHE'S needing more stamps. She invested in the big alphabet.
















Jenny's having a good browse here...


















And I brought carrot cake!

Ellen brought some of her gorgeous samples - I bought up this stamp!

One of Ellen's amazing construction cards, using the well-known Iris stamp.

Another fab Ellen sample ... I do believe I bought that stamp too...

And then we settled in for a pretty normal meeting.













Did you see I was collecting money for Hanover (who provide services to homeless people) through selling some markers and magazines? See the results here . We ended up with $110 in the box, and I donated it all. And the gold coins I badgered you for at the door - they went to paying the rent as usual.

The Great Southern Stamp Sale

Well, I've been hinting about a great event coming up, and here's the details! SERS has been approached by no lesser stamper than Ellen Eadie, to help her sell much of her magnificent stamp collection. As you may know, she has an extensive collection of PSX stamps. I mean extensive!

I'm so excited, I've set up a special blog just for the sale, so we can share this event with lots of stampers.

The link to go to is :

http://greatsouthernstampsale.blogspot.com.au/

So be a love and pass that on to stampers you know, and any other clubs or groups that would love to be involved.

The picture here shows something I coloured in with one of my own PSX stamps. I'm going to add photos of the sale stamps shortly.

So, our September 29 meeting will be extra exciting! Yes, there will still be snacks.

July meeting

Whoa, did it again, had a meeting in July, and forgot to take any photos! Well, I had a good time as usual, so let's see what we can do about blogging with no photos of the event.

Here's a sight to make stampers jealous - I went to a local op shop the other day, and found a box of stamps! These were my picks. Two original PSX stamps - sigh!

So, that's to illustrate one of the things we like at stamp club.

Here's a chocolate Lego minifig. That's one of the treats I brought along to stamp club. I made it in the mould I recently bought at Legoland California!

So, that's to illustrate that we like good snacks at stamp club.

Here's my travel journal I filled up on on a two week trip to the US. I was happily showing it off at stamp club.

So that's to illustrate two of the things we like doing at stamp club, putting stuff in journals, and talking about holidays.

And here's some stamps I saw in the US. Didn't bring them back though, they were a bit big and not for sale.


Oh, and apart from all that, Jenny coached me in using my new Spellbinders dies, and everyone made pretty things.

I'll probably get back to reporting the day more accurately next time, but this has been fun, hasn't it?

May Meeting - where were YOU?

We knew it would be a quiet meeting - the lovely Picture to Page event was running nearby, and plenty of SERS people were exhibiting, helping or visiting. So it was no surprise when then May SERS meeting looked a bit like this...

Tee hee - I was just demonstrating how to use photography to make a meeting room look desolate.

In real life it looked like this:

See, nice people helping each other to do creative things. That's what we're about.

Jenny made this...

And I made this - that's a classic Stampington stamp I just acquired second hand.

Next meeting, I won't be there! Gasp! So if you are there, do be a love and help get things set up and packed away.

See ya in July!

April Meeting - you can't put THAT through a Big Shot!

For the April meeting, we played another rousing round of "What's in the Box?". This time I'd brought in some older stamps I could part with, and offered them for sale at pocket money prices. I went home a bit lighter, and with money in my pocket. Others got some quality stuff they were really going to enjoy, so that's all good.

Here's what I like to see, a nice busy crowd. About 13 attendees this month I think ... just right.

Remember this stamp from last month? I'd bought it at Paperific and showed it off later in the day. Well, Ingrid liked the set so much, she tracked it down and bought it too. Bunky the Art Sparrow travels on to a new owner!

Oooh, shiny ... what's this pretty thing?

Oh, I see ... flattened out soft drink tin, cut out, run through the Big Shot with an embossing folder, and then coloured with alcohol-based markers. This looks promising...

March Meeting - on a Paperific day!

Stamp Club fell on the same weekend as Paperific this month. Well, Paperific and I go way back, so I had to go and enjoy the day.

Here's how my day went - I left home nice and early. I stopped at the local scout hall, where there was a big Trash and Treasure sale (also a good thing to do). Then I scooted all the way to the Showgrounds to enjoy Paperific (arrived just before going in time too). And then, I scooped up all my new goodies, and crossed town again to get to SERS. A tad late, but nobody minded, I hope.

As a result, I had the fun of playing with all my new goodies at stamp club! This unmounted stamp from Hampton Art is one of my newies. It's a variation of an older stamp I've owned for years - the older one is called "Bunky the Art Sparrow", and he often serves as my mascot.

Cathy was rusting some pretty things - wire lizards, faces and such. This metal coating is one part of the process.

Remember I'd said I started the day at a Trash and Treasure sale? Here's something I bought - a bag of mixed toys, including MERMAID PONIES! One thing lead to another ...

... and before long we were rusting a pony! This plastic may not have been primed so well - there is a special primer for plastic - so next time we will do an even better job.


















Then Cathy got a bit giddy with the metal coating - here she is trying to rust a banana!

Oh, wait, that may have just been an accident.

Anne had brought along some prepared stamped and punched shapes, and was assembling with them. She'd packed them in a pretty tin, and the whole thing was so lovely I had to have a closer look!

Maria was constructing these cards with just punched circles - pretty!

And here's what I made with my new stamps. Yay, Bunky!

So it ended up being a small group, but as merry as ever. See ya next month!

February meeting - the hot, hot day!

The February SERS meeting took place on a super hot day - 37 degrees! People asked if we would go ahead in the heat, but I said yes.

Turned out, the meeting room at Mount St is lovely and cool on a hot day (the hallway was quite hot, but the room itself was fine). We turned on all the fans, and it was great. So, let's remember, SERS can cope with heat any time!

I knew nobody would want heavy snacks, though, so I packed delicious fruit and chilled drinks, along with the usual tea and coffee. Here's the three bottles with stamped tags - water, iced tea, and lemon lime and bitters. Yumm!
















Ingrid was doing beautiful work with a small watercolour painting she had done - a bunch of kumquats. Dare I say it, better than any stamp!















Liz Z came along - hadn't seen her in yonks! She's on the left, next to Cathy. Liz was working on a drawing, and Cathy was refurbishing an older African doll, and using it as inspiration for a new one.











Louise and Maria making things - Maria and I agreed that if you can only have one punch, you should have a couple of square ones.

And here's a distinguished visitor, Miriam Makeba, appearing in doll form. She's Cathy's entry in a doll swap, about to be sent away to a new owner.

So what WAS in the box?

 We just had the January SERS meeting, and as well as a fun afternoon of chatting and crafting, there were GOODIES to be had!

A generous benefactor had donated some back copies of magazines, good ones from Stampington (and don't we all know that publisher well!). Five boxes full, in fact. She instructed that they should be given away to willing readers. So that's what I did.

I opened the boxes and called the ladies over. There was no pushing or shoving, but everyone ended up with an armful of excellent magazines. Here's Pat flipping through a Take Ten.

And here's the whole gang in a not-at-all-posed scene, enjoying their new bounty.

Did you miss the meeting? Don't worry, there's still some stuff in the box! I'll bring it next time.

Welcome to 2012 - what's in the box?

It's a new year for SERS, and we are ready for the January meeting. Well, I am. Three teenagers at home getting a bit tired of holidays - of course I want an afternoon out!

Actually it's been a fantastic month full of swimming, bike riding, movies, creativity and food! So the batteries are all charged for another stamping hit.

And the next SERS meeting is THIS WEEKEND, 28 January 2012, at the usual location (see this - our details haven't changed).

So I ask you, WHAT is in the BOX?  I have five of these boxes at home, and the contents (thanks to a generous benefactor) are going to be up for grabs. That's right, I'm totally letting you take stuff out and take it home.

Anyway, see you at SERS, and don't forget to wear your stamping shoes!