South Eastern Rubber Stampers

Welcome to 2012 - what's in the box?

2012-01-26T13:35:00.002+11:00

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!

Merry Christmas from SERS!

2011-12-14T22:03:00.001+11:00

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!

2011-12-05T20:50:00.001+11:00

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!

2011-12-05T20:44:00.001+11:00

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

2011-10-29T18:59:00.000+11:00

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

2011-09-25T11:32:00.000+10:00

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

2011-09-05T21:52:00.007+10:00

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!

2011-07-19T18:57:00.008+10:00

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

2011-05-29T18:52:00.010+10:00

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

2011-05-03T10:49:00.008+10:00

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?

2011-04-26T19:00:00.004+10:00

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!

2011-04-06T22:26:00.008+10:00

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

2011-02-27T10:05:00.014+11:00

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!

January meeting a delight, as usual!

2011-01-31T19:34:00.007+11:00

Well, we had a super time at SERS this month. Maria entertained me with travel stories, Anne Marie made it for the first time (with angelic Mitchell in tow), and Sharon has finally lost the cast on her foot and can come again.

I entertained the troops with my Confetti Flinger Card. Yes, it's all I can think about right now, so it's all I'll be writing about. I tinkered with it, improved my technique, demonstrated the steps, and took photos. That's the sort of stuff you have to have a stamp club for! Michelle (an engineer in real life) was sitting next to me, and it was all we could do to stop from measuring the fling factor, and optimising.

I've posted my tutorial for anyone who wants to see it, and you will find it here.

Then I got out a fairly old stamp set, and made two rather different looking cards :

There's the pretty colourful one...

And there's this scruffy one. Love 'em both of course!

Forgot to take photos of people. As so often happens...

In February, SERS will have a Bring and Buy day. That means, bring along your pre-loved craft gear, anything you would like to pass on to a new owner. Label it with your name and a price, and lay it out on our sales table. See if you find a buyer. See if you can get home with your takings (you may well spend it on something else).

And apart from that, fun as usual at the 26 February meeting. See you there.

Sudden bulletin - look out for flying confetti

2011-01-26T09:37:00.003+11:00

It's stamp club time again - Saturday 29 January! Hope to see you there. Fair warning, I've been learning how to make a Confetti Flinging card, and I will be practicing. I'll demonstrate to anyone interested too. So let's make a deal to vacuum before we leave, and spend a fun afternoon flinging!

Have a preview here if you like...

Oh, and I think it goes without saying, if you find confetti flinging, and construction cards generally, to be not your cup of tea, you can do your own thing too.

And there will also be cups of tea.

January meeting is coming up - Happy 2011!

2011-01-16T09:45:00.004+11:00

Whoosh! Another year just whizzed by. We had a small but nice SERS Christmas party in December, I finally made Christmas cards, and we are all lined up for another Stamp Clubby year.

Next meeting is January 29, at the usual venue. No changes to anything this year, although I do think it's high time for a Buy and Sell day. Perhaps we'll schedule that for February?

Oh, and by the way, here's my Christmas card for the year. The message inside was "No corny greeting this year, just Peas on Earth".

November meeting is coming up!

2010-11-24T20:45:00.003+11:00

Just time to remind you that the November meeting is coming up on November 27.

It's also state election day, so don't forget that in the morning. Oh, and there's one more thing ... It's my birthday! If I can I'll bring a nice cake (that way I can have several birthday cakes). But apart from that, business as usual - we will have time to make, do, talk and chat.

Usual time, usual place. And I think I'm a bit too tired to post much more than that to tempt you, but I'm looking forward to a nice day. See ya there!

Christmas Party is on!

2010-11-02T19:56:00.004+11:00

The SERS Christmas party is on again this year. The usual time, and the date will be 11 December. The place will be Cathy's home. Contact me direct if you need to know where that is.

Bring a plate! And we will be Making and Doing in Cathy's well equipped studio, so feel free to finish Christmas cards, or just browse Cathy's amazing book/magazine/art collection.

Giving cards or gifts to each other is nice, but purely a matter of choice, and what you had time for. No stressing out allowed!

Psst ... I'd give a little appreciation to the host though! She'll be washing coffee cups all evening.

I did that collage!

2010-11-02T19:54:00.003+11:00

It's club business, sort of, so I'll post it here. Michelle challenged me to make something with her Ephemera Pack. Here it is!

Visit my personal blog to find out more.

October Meeting - rainy day, sunny people

2010-10-31T08:37:00.008+11:00

October stamp club happened on a rainy day. So rainy, once we were inside, we didn't want to leave!

Louise made a start on Christmas cards. What's a good word to use? "Celebrate" usually covers it. We discussed Hallowe'en, and what costumes she would be rewarding.

Cathy brought lemons from her tree to give away. They are Meyer lemons.

Michelle brought a box of stamped/decorated papers, that were surplus in her stash.

Anne worked on background for her Christmas cards - she wanted a blue(ish purple) background, and decided she was too mean to buy new paper, so she painted some! She demonstrated the fact that some kids' paints have SO little pigment in them, they are little more than tints. So that's why we pay the big bucks for the good stuff.

Here's what I made out of Michelle's junk box. Ingrid liked the stamped vellum, and there were two, so she took one home too.

Beverley came along with heaps of stamps to sell. She's a founder member of SERS - it's been going twelve years!

Cathy got some new punches - wings and crowns, pretty!

Here's what else Michelle is up to - making Ephemera kits to sell on Etsy. Here's a link. On the left is what SHE made with a kit. Oh yummy!

I took a kit home, natch. With any luck, later today I'll post MY results. It IS raining in Melbourne, after all.

Here's my other result of the day. A Christmas card (see, the bird has a HAT on).

This was the snack of the day - my home made fruit bread. Want to know how to make it? I already dictated the recipe to Ingrid.

Here goes:

FRUIT BREAD
3 cups bread flour
1/4 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup water

Stir all that together , get all the flour wet, and put a loose lid on it. Let it stand for at least 12 hours.

Turn out the sloppy, bubbly dough, and knead it just a little, to get it looking like proper dough. You'll probably add some flour. Then knead in :

1 bunch* sultanas
1 bunch currents
1 bunch cranberries
1 bit** cinnamon
1 bit cardamom
1 bit ground cloves (smaller bit than the other spices, it's strong).

Let that rise, and bake it, inside a casserole dish for the best results, in a hot oven for 30 minutes. Finish it off with 5 minutes with the lid off.

* nice handful
** sort of a spoonful

September 2010 Meeting

2010-10-10T19:01:00.010+11:00

Thought I'd forgotten to update the SERS blog? Hah! I just happen to be very busy and important.

We met at the end of September, on Grand Final Day. Or should I say, on ONE of the Grand Final days. Much interest in the football by some stampers, which of course is fine. And it turned out to be a juicy match, from all reports - such fun they replayed it the next week. So SERS members could go to Stamp Club AND see the final!

Lizzie made a special effort to use pastel colours. If you're a bright girl, that takes some doing, but it's good experience.

Other Maria was decorating FABULOUS Christmas books - when closed, the pages form a tree. Every page is lavishly decorated. Oh wow.

I informed Other Maria that she is Other Maria for all SERS purposes. She seemed OK with it.

Maria was doing mosaicky stuff, using colour photocopies she made ages ago of decorative paper she created herself. Nifty idea!

Jenny made her first owls, with her nifty Owl Punch. Oh, and there were blueberry muffins.

And I tried out a new stamp set - sigh, nice flowers.

August 2010 meeting

2010-09-03T10:36:00.014+10:00

Argh, forgot to take photos at stamp club again - no matter. I'm a very creative person, and I expect I shall be able to create a blog post illustrated entirely by items from around the house. You won't even notice.

Here's the blueberry (and banana and walnut) muffins we enjoyed.

There was lots of "popping candy" chocolate around - it's fun giving popping candy to people who haven't tried it!

The new Stampin' Up catalogue was there for the first time. Some people were like "wow", while others were like "meh". Very eclectic club we have.

There is an awesome owl punch in it. That's it for my shameless plugs.

Some people were using this cool owl stamp - it's from "Victoria's Secret", which of course is the range of stamps by Vicki of Paper Squared in Mornington. I'm not sure who brought it, but I'm prepared to point at either Margaret or Jenny.

That is a cool stamp. It just is.

This is an ATC I made and brought along. I used walnut ink on it. We discussed walnut ink. Apparently it's made from (wait for it) walnuts!

I showed Maria my Envelope stuff (you can read about it on my own blog). We looked at her collection of business envelopes from around the world (seriously, you think I'm weird...), and brainstormed a bit. HOW GOOD would it look if you photocopied and enlarged these patterns, then painted them?

And if you think, not very good, well that's fine too. As I say, it's a very eclectic club.

CB asked me about the Polished Stone technique, and also about resist techniques. We did some resist right there, with a pretty fern stamp she had. After all, I couldn't r...* I couldn't say no to a polite request.

I promised to be ready to show off Polished Stone next month. And I have had a practice, just look. For extra points, I did Polished Stone and resist together. Thank you.

And this is the sum total of what I actually made at stamp club myself. A start for a nice little ATC. What does it need? An owl stamp, probably.

* see, I avoided a pun. Thank you.

July Meeting - new friends!

2010-07-31T19:19:00.012+10:00

A very full and busy day at SERS today - it was fun!

Jan popped in for a look, and CB came and stayed all afternoon. She brought mini Oreos (wow!).

Maria made mosaics with this funky patterned paper. A strange coincidence, I had brought the very same stuff (which I'd prepared in the morning - here's my proof). See what it is now? Cool, huh?

Cathy was printing up a bag with her fabulous stamps and paints. Here's a link to some of her other fabric work. It's awesome!

Michelle made it (she often doesn't) and brought the news that she's back in the engineering business (and hubby is being the house dad). So that's fabulous! She has set up a Mixed Media web site (here's a link) for all lovers of getting painty to play on. It has ads and stuff, because she's an enterprising chookie hoping to make it part of the family's income stream. But you can take it from me that it comes from a lady who just wants to share the love of making things! She also has this personal blog.

Here's on of her journal pages - it's a response to a challenge by Green Pepper Press - those a fun to do! Watch out, the GPP blog has music, so don't be reading it at the office!

Louise made these pretty flowers, part of a small card she was making. She "ruined" it during the afternoon, and then carefully redeemed it.

I made this card with my new Roses stamps set - oh my, what fun!

That's a very worn out French-English dictionary page as the background. It probably needs some lace or something.

The highlight of the day for me, though, was giving Nan the new set of stamps she'd bought through me, and showing her some samples I'd downloaded from the internet onto my iPad. She browsed and browsed, then asked for another turn, and browsed some more. It was the perfect tool for the job. I think Apple needs to know what a cool craft tool the iPad is!

There were blueberry muffins. And tons of other people came too - I think we had about 15 in the room!

See you same time next month, ladies!

June Meeting - squeezing into the cozy room

2010-06-26T19:38:00.001+10:00

Goodbye Margaret! One of our long time members said farewell today - she's leaving to take up residence in sunny Queensland. We celebrated with hugs, cards, and cupcakes! Banana cakes, too - I thought it was appropriate.

We had a huge turnout - well of course we did, this was the one day of the year we have to yield the Big Room to the patchworkers who have their annual shindig. So it was crowded but we all managed to fit in.

It's school holidays now, and that leads to a bit more kid presence - we had grown-up Christie with Ingrid, polite James with Lizzie, and effervescent Siobhan with Gail. A DS and an iPad kept the younger two pretty amused.

I happily demonstrated how FAAABulous an iPad is for storing photos of artwork you've nabbed from web sites and enjoy referring to. Gail showed off a very portable photo printer - that's neat!

Here's Cathy with ... ummm ... something she made.

And Siobhan took a pretty, girly, stamp set, and made it evil...

May 2010 Meeting - almost an empty house!

2010-05-29T19:36:00.006+10:00

Well, after last month's full house, I was expecting a bouncing turnout - but with this and that, the turnout was a record low! I think we dipped to six once before, but today it was five (then two more dropped it, so briefly it was seven).

And did that bother us? Not really! I had a bucket full (literally) of swaps from a recent convention I'd been to, and did a full show and tell. And we had time to admire them properly!

And I had made some buttermilk scones, with cranberries and walnuts - yummo...

Then Nan and I amused ourselves making flowers - we'd both seen a demonstration a few weeks ago, and were dying to make more. Here's mine (and of course, I forgot the camera, so all photos were taken at home). Here's the secret to our success - punch eight scallop circles out of vellum (the lighter weight works best), brad them together, and crumple from the top layer down, then spread out.

Next month is Margaret's last time with us - they are off to their retirement destination, for fun in the sun, and just a little more craft than perhaps her husband anticipates. Yes, she has craft shop addresses. So we'd better give her a nice send off, eh?

The drop-ins were Lizzie and Maria, who'd been at the Dandenong Ranges Open Studios - a special event where lots of artists studios all have an open day at once. They were buzzed and exhausted - but Maria showed me that baby book she'd been altering - a gift for a new twin mum - and it was AWESOME!

Oh, and if I'd had more time, this is what I would have been tinkering with - a very old (1997) stamp set from Stampin' Up, which has just entered my stamping museum. Umm, I mean, collection. I stamped it up a bit between stamp club and dinner.

Maria, Nan, Ingrid and Margaret, it was lovely to have you at my table today!

April Meeting - a full house!

2010-04-24T22:12:00.003+10:00

We had a super April meeting - it was a lovely sunny day (... when we arrived, and cold and drizzly when we left, so it was definitely Melbourne). There were 16 people at the busiest - that's a full room!

Chris' friend Ingrid came for the first time, with real watercolours. Lizzie borrowed some pretty stamps from Jenny. Helen and I collaborated on our bird punches, with the result being several new goodies we weren't expecting to make. Margaret was selling off some surplus stamping stuff, and very pleased that her backlog was mostly gone. Maria was doing something amazing with an old board book (but I didn't get back for a good goggle), and Cathy had been playing with ice resin. Nan's on her feet again.

And I forgot my camera, so here's a shot from the little phone camera, just to prove what fun we were having.

There were little banana muffins. Mini muffins seem to help you stamp.

Our March 2010 meeting - with real calligraphy!

2010-04-08T21:36:00.007+10:00

Oops, left this one a bit late. I got home from Stamp Club, and dear Jeff was upgrading my computer, so I didn't manage the "update the blog immediately" like I usually do.

Cathy had just had a visit from Annette Husband of the Northern Territory, who has been making awesome things lately. She showed Cathy a pretty necklace and earrings. And gave them to her! So we got to see them first hand. Oh wow!

Anne thought we should make a card for a friend who was needing a cheerup, so she organised Jenny to make a card, and Cathy to write a beautiful message inside. Round of applause for Anne, for not just saying "somebody ought to...".

Young James got dragged along with mum Lizzie, but kept himself busy with excellent drawing, while Lizzie and Debra had fun makin' stuff.

The snacks of the day were home made olive and feta bread, and Roast Almond Picnic bars (the small ones), so we certainly ate well. And here's the bread recipe. Well, not that one, but kind of. Jim Lahey, the baker responsible for the recipe, used to be a sculptor, so he's welcome at our club in spirit!

See you again in April. It'll be a long weekend (Sunday is ANZAC Day, and Monday is the holiday). Yes, we will still be meeting as usual!

February Meeting - I got flowers!

2010-02-27T20:05:00.009+11:00

When you do a voluntary job for a long time, it's nice to get a thank you. Not that looking after SERS is a very difficult task, but I do have to arrange one day a month around being there first, and leaving last. And I bake too.

Some time, when I wasn't watching, Cathy organised a thank you for me, and it arrived today. A bouquet of flowers! And since we are a papercraft based club, they were paper flowers! And since we all do different stuff, they were all different! JUST SO AWESOME!

Here's the flower Cathy made - using a liquid "stained glass" stuff - the kind of thing kids make window decorations out of. Dip the wire frame in, the go away and don't touch it while it sets.

Then there's the one Louise made - fantasy film, wire, and ironing. She added a butterfly!

There's the one Maria made - out of map pages and supermarket catalogues! Love it.

Margaret made these Origami hydrangeas - very effective in a bunch like this.

And Chris used decorative paper to make this - the basic shape she cut was (wait for it, it's good) just ordinary circles! With snips, and lots of curling. Whoa!

There are more to show, but my camera conked out! Might take a few more photos in the light tomorrow.

Apart from that, we had a lovely meeting. Made stuff. Mucked around. Made a mess. Nan made it, and was in way better form, so that's great to hear!

First 2010 meeting - what fun!

2010-01-31T10:52:00.010+11:00

We're stampers. What do we do? We make stuff. What do we make? Mostly this stuff.

The first meeting of SERS for 2010 was just yesterday (I wasn't allowed to update the blog yesterday because SOMEONE at my place had used up most of our internet for the month).

A few of the usual suspects missing, but we had a blast anyway!

Michelle made it to SERS (young kids, busy life, you know the stuff, so it was excellent to see her out) and was working on an art journal. She had talked to a vendor at the Camberwell Market about a very old and tattered (and mildewed) pilot's manual, which surely could only be of interest to a collage artist with an aviation background. (Side note : Michelle used to build planes for a living). But he wouldn't budge from his high price, so he still owns that bit of interesting aviation ephemera. SHE has a freebie magazine from Chadstone, so there's a source of fashion photos to alter!

Jenny and Helen had just come from Little Bits, where Lesley runs a free make'n'take on SERS days. Well, it happens that it's on SERS days. So they do both, and craft out like mad on the last Saturday of the month.

Cathy brought news (I think from Suze Weinberg - hilarious blog apparently) that Zentangles are big in the US. Zentangles are, of course, doodles, but with just enough "structure" to the activity that it might just encourage the non-drawing types to pick up a reasonable quality pen and go for it. It's a commercial enterprise, so I'm just pointing you there. There was an article about it in Cloth Paper Scissors Nov-Dec 2009 issue. Which I had in my bag!

And I went nuts with cutting and pasting, using some people photocopied from an oldish German pattern magazine, together with a 1965 reprint of a 1924 French phrase book, an old dictionary, watercolour crayons, and stamps. Awesome combo! More of these on my blog. Just realised the one in the photo is unfinished!

Today's cookies were Raisin and Walnut. Here's the cookbook I used (Michelle would like it, so this link's for her).

Margaret heard from Nan during the meeting that Nan had been in hospital, and was at home, feeling poorly and bored. Here's hoping we see her next time!

Our Christmas Party for 2009

2009-12-24T15:18:00.004+11:00

The SERS Christmas Do for 2009 was just lovely! A bunch of us gathered at Cathy's place, all bringing the usual plate, and madly finishing off Christmas cards or other projects.

Anne was making Extreme Inchies (that's little decorative bits about the size of microscope slides - if you add a loop, they make excellent tree ornaments).

Cathy showed me her old catalogues from the very first one - oh my! She started her business with handcarved stamps - now that's dedication!

Louise brought asparagus rolls. Yum. And I gave Chris a loaf of bread (what else do to give the stamper who has everything?).
Next meeting is 30 January, the Saturday before school starts back (for most schools anyway). See ya there!

Next Year at SERS

2009-11-29T12:08:00.002+11:00

For the coming year, I thought about what I'd like to change about SERS. Here's the list of things I want to change :

Nothing.

Nope, the time is fine, the place is lovely, the cost suits everyone, and the level of structure is delightfully loose.

So I've paid the rent and rebooked us for the coming year. All the new dates are listed here.

Here's to another great year of making stuff and having fun.

November 2009 Meeting - the non-food events

2009-11-29T11:44:00.011+11:00

Terrific, enjoyable SERS this month.

Cathy's creative juices have been flowing, and she's been etching metal - oh wow! She showed off some of her etched items - they are wonderful to see in real life. We urged her to set up a workshop. Now that would be fun!

This was one she thought was a bit of a dud. Nice though. Her African stamps look so good etched.

How's this one? A crackle stamp, etched. Looks amazing! This is the crackle from My Stamps.

And how about this one? This stamp came from Thread Studio over in WA (I've been there, it's amazing!).

So seeing some metal etchings was a highlight.

Now look back at the photo of Cathy. She sure is making a spectacle of herself! Look closer, and you'll see what I mean!

Anne tucked into a slice of cake... and also made lovely Christmas cards.

Jenny and Helen working with the little stamp pads - what a good way to get a big range of colours!

Chris and Sharon worked on perfecting the art of fusing a stamped tissue paper image onto a candle. Very successful!

And Margaret, Pat, Margaret and Nan made gorgeous things as usual!

I was playing with punches (again), but this time with bright colours. They really cheer you up!

November 2009 Meeting - my birthday!

2009-11-29T11:35:00.006+11:00

Well, it's a sneaky way to get a birthday party, but I brought along a cake, stuck a candle in it, and announced that nobody was getting any until I'd blown out the candle. So of course, all the lovely SERS ladies sang me a beautiful song (no, not the one comparing me to a monkey, either).

Here's a picture of the cake; and the cake cut; and my slice. It was an amazing Tunnel of Fudge cake (moist and fudgy in the middle). Just amazing. I can't take any credit for it - I made it, but to an exacting recipe from a wonderful scientific cookbook Jeff and I just bought. This is the book - you may be able to get it locally - we found it at Angus & Roberston. Great Chrissie present. And this is the recipe.

So, I think that's enough about the cake. Next post will be about stamping.

Looking forward to my Birthday Meeting

2009-11-24T09:06:00.003+11:00

Stamp club is on again this weekend - we are meeting on 28 November. That's (around) my birthday, so being the person-who-makes-the-bookings, I'll declare this to be my Birthday Meeting. If Lizzie comes, it's hers too, because her birthday is exactly as far from the meeting as mine is.

What shall we do? I want to paint and punch stuff. I have a punch project in mind. Wait a minute, I might need bright coloured card for that. Better check my supplies. 'Cos I did all pastel last month. Gotta be varied, hey?

Here's a picture I took at Paperific this month. Pretty...

So come along to SERS if you can!

Looking forward to our Christmas party

2009-10-31T19:05:00.003+11:00

The mostly annual SERS Christmas party is on again (yes, we have a November meeting before that). It's at Cathy's place - contact me privately if you need to know where that is - on December 12 at 1pm. Bring a plate. That's a plate with food. To share. We always make stuff, but spend more than usual time on eating and making merry.

A Hallowe'en meeting!

2009-10-31T18:51:00.012+11:00

We had a super meeting on a hot, sticky Melbourne day. With the fan on, the community house rooms were quite pleasant and cool, so we stamped on in spite of the heat (I know, it's gonna get way hotter, but we're just getting used to it for the season).

Chris and Sharon worked out their work Christmas card - their annual commission. Any method goes, as long as it's quick and looks great. They had success!

Ann was working on her Christmas cards, using mocked up bits done by colour photocopying. That's clever! I gave her a Kim mie (that's the latest craze in swapping, didn't you know?).

Maria had bought a lip gloss just for the packaging, and she and Margaret were reverse engineering it. Nice!

Other Maria made a cool pram card - she wasn't happy with it yet, but we were most impressed.

Pat was Iris folding - I'd never seen it done before - interesting! Cathy was squeaking. Lizzie was borrowing stuff. Nan likes oval punches now. Other Margaret was making embossed Christmas cards. And I was using pastel colors exclusively, making a project that's aimed at a magazine - so we'll see if I have success.

And we were sponsored by (or rather, I'd recently scored a free sample from, and was asked to provide feedback about) Pitos, a yummy savoury crunchy snack, just right for stamping with. You can see the packet behind Lizzie. The girls emptied the plate of Pitos, in spite of the fact that a place of other tasty crackers was right next to it. So they were popular! The club is available for sponsorship of this kind any time.

September 2009 SERS meeting

2009-09-30T18:26:00.005+10:00

Argh, forgot to take photos, again! Some on-the-spot journalist I would make.

Anyway, it was a great success - we met in the "cosy room", the carpeted room that is a little smaller than our usual one. That was because our patchworking friends were having a weekend long sewing binge. Good for them!

I was lucky enough to bring my kids - they are not little any more, so it didn't seem too hard to manage. They had card games, they had Nintendos, and there are always rooms free. Well, there are USUALLY rooms free, but this time they scored a little corner of our room. Blustery and cold outside too, which added to the, umm, atmosphere.

Jenny smuggled in a radio and called out footy scores. Pat brought excellent shortbread that was snapped up in short order. Chris made cards with birds. I used my Golden paints on some truly cute stamps, making them turn out cool and arty. I thought, anyway.

Anyway, here's a recipe for shortbread, and a photo so the page doesn't look bare.

SERS August Meeting and the Stubborn Glue Pot

2009-08-30T11:12:00.023+10:00

A cold, blustery day in Melbourne, and quite a big bunch of us met for SERS.

Margaret brought in an interesting problem (and once again, that's just what craft clubs are for). She had bought a Fiskars Tool Taxi, a handy little gadget that is a bunch of small tools in a pen-sized package. One of the tools is a container of glue with a small applicator. Handy, eh? But she (and Mr Margaret at home) had been quite unable to get it open! The instructions were no help, and of course there were concerned about using brute force.

So Cathy and I had a look. Here's the culprit - the glue reservoir end. The opening instructions consist of a double ended arrow. Much debate. What does the that mean - do you twist the lid off, and if so, in what direction? Cathy says that Aquash pens unscrew the opposite way from what you'd expect, so that really could go either way. Or do you slide it to the side, and if so, which way? The container is a flattened oval in cross section, so the sliding method seemed plausible.

Tool designers, take note. If you put an arrow on something, you also have to have something that shows what the arrow means!

We fiddled with it for some time.

Then Liz arrived, and had a go with it too. Not surprisingly, the scout leader succeeded where the computer programmer and the artist failed. Click, and it opened, just like a little nail polish bottle. Probably a little dab of glue had jammed it up. So we all opened and shut it lots of times to make sure it would behave for Margaret.

She was pleased!

So that was the first big event of the day!

Anne was working on a nice idea - loosely copied from a design in a magazine. But of course she was changing the paper, the ink, the stamps and the design. That's my kind of copying!

Maria (a newbie to the club) brought a book of pop-up card ideas, and was making a super-cute one. We noted that the book gave matching ideas for the FRONTS of the cards too. That's so important!

Other Maria had brought a travel book she'd made, adapted from a simple fold she'd found in a scrapbook magazine. She'd added extra bits to it, and concealed little magnets inside to hold it closed. All decorated with her trademark mosaic style.

Chris was showing Sharon some stuff - Sharon was claiming not to have any ideas today ... the end result was a smart choo-choo train. She was using the stamp positioner to get the carriages to link up.

And Margaret was pleased with her owl card (painted with
Twinkling H2Os).

And there were chocolates too! I got a whole lot of these for a project (which has to stay secret for a few more days).

They are square, flat, wrapped chocolates, that fit nicely inside a 1 3/8 inch square punch. Now, plenty of stampers will understand the significance of that - you can build a chocolate into a card. The nice thing about these is, they are $10 a kilo from Wallie's Lollies (works out to about 6 cents a choc). You might have to get them to order them in - I did.

Oh, gosh, a rent increase!

2009-08-24T22:16:00.003+10:00

I just paid the SERS rent. It's gone up by a mighty $5 a month. Still a terrific deal - the community house really looks after us!

So this is just a warning that the money box WILL be hungry this month - at the moment it has an IOU in it!

What shall we do this month? It's cold - is that good weather for painting stuff?

July 2009 meeting, with Caraway Seed cake

2009-07-28T15:02:00.011+10:00

I forgot to take any photos at SERS this month. Duh. But here's what happened anyway.

Nan was away at a Christmas in July (oooh, sounds lovely). Cathy was sick. Gail was at Stamp Camp, Chris McL was at the craft show, and Chris G had grandchildren visiting. Those are all good reasons not to come!

Sharon is a friend, colleague and neighbour of Chris', and they usually sit together. But with Chris away, I got all the Sharony goodness. She helped me work out a better way to do they eyes of my punched Penguin cards - one fiddly step saved, that's gotta be good. She helped me work out this little fish too... I did an official demonstration of the penguin. Easy, really, when you have the oval punches from Stampin' Up. Oops, that last link is a blatant plug for my own Stampin' Up blog. If you're wanting SU stuff, support your local demo, OK? She'll look after you.

Sharon had a cool new stamp set, fresh from the USA, and made an excellent card for hubby. Wish I had a photo, you'd like it.

Pat and Margaret had been on the phone discussing a card idea. They'd each made it, without seeing the others'. Then they had their first looks at each other's cards at stamp club - yay! That's what clubs are for!

Helen and Jenny were trying all sorts of things. I quizzed Jenny about the cards she sells, 'cos I was having a go at selling cards too, at the Quilt and Craft show.

Maria was organising her amazing travel photos in a photo album. Louise brought a book, the results of a technique swap, so we all had a browse at that. Awesome!

We munched on Caraway Seed cake (my latest favourite - I have to make a small one, cos nobody else at my place likes it); and Choc Chip cookie; and some bought Lime and Coriander crackers, which must have been nice 'cos they all went before I could taste one!

And, 'cos I want to offer something nice, here's a recipe for the semi-healthy choc chip cookies I've been bringing lately. I'm still working on the Caraway seed cake recipe.

Choc Chip Cookies

2 pkts choc chips
250 grm butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups SR flour
2 ½ cups oat bran

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs. Beat until well combined. Add flour and oat bran. Once combined add choc chips until evenly mixed through. Roll into balls and flatten slightly on tray.

Cook at 160°C – 170°C until cracked in appearance, approximately 15 minutes. Place on wire rack to cool.

Paper Arts 2003 - when it was at the St Kilda Town Hall

2009-07-18T17:32:00.009+10:00

Tired of paper arts show nostalgia yet? Nope, me neither. Here's some photos from Paper Arts 2003, at St Kilda Town Hall (a venue I really enjoyed).

Here's the venue itself - see, pretty!

Here's a meeting of an altered book group - long distance friends use these shows to meet up in real life.

Second lady along would be Caroline, then Gail, then Danielle, then Stephanie. Danielle's blog is currently neglected (so sad) but has a fantastic tutorial as the last entry.

2003 was the year that Coralee and Anne set up their exciting art enterprise, Journaux. Art Journalling was the Hot Thing of 2003, and they created some amazing blank journals, and goodies to add to them. I totally loved the postage-stamp-perforated letters. Yup, they had a real perforating machine.

I even made them a sample! It was a gym journal. Curiously, the time I was keeping the journal turned out to be the time I started "fainting" during exercise. I wrote all about it. A year later, that turned out to be pretty important, when we discovered it was really a heart issue. So I referred to important "documents" when talking to the doctors. SO handy!

Here's one of their sample finished journals (not mine : don't know who made this one - it's AWESOME). Whoa, nice use of dictionary pages. I'll bet that's where I started using them!

More awesome and unique stuff from Journaux. It was a fabulous stall, ladies.

A bit more 1999 nostalgia

2009-07-03T21:25:00.008+10:00

I haven't run out of nostalgic photos yet, so you have to keep reading. Here's Lizzie Slothuber at Melbourne Papercrafts in 1999 - she was co-founder of The Rubber Gazette. She was selling esoteric stuff like stamp mounting systems (which I bought, and still use).

Here's Jill and Gale at Daisy's unmounted stamp stall. Selling unmounted stamps was a BIG DEAL at this show. BIG.

But let's not forget, I was a real stamping newbie at the time. I'd done a beginner's class with Ellen Eadie at Woodstock only a few months before, then I went to this show. WOW! This is the stall that I talked about most - Stamp-it from Perth. Those boxes are bargain boxes of Magenta stamps. The signs stuck on the boxes tell you that the stamps are priced at $3, $5 and $7. I went nuts.

Some turn of the century Stamping Nostalgia

2009-07-03T21:10:00.007+10:00

In between meetings, why not use this blog for some old photos? I was browsing around the oldest and dustiest corners of my hard disk, and found these. I think they are from Melbourne Papercrafts in 1999 - the report in the January 2000 issue of The Rubber Gazette (written by me, in my magazine debut!) seems to corroborate that.

Melbourne Papercrafts was held at the Community Centre in Mount Waverley, not far from where SERS meets now.

Here's Helen, AKA Daisy, the founder of the Stamphappy mailing list, and co-organiser of Melbourne Papercrafts (with Stacey, who is still the boss of Paperific). Helen is standing at the stamp-making machine she organised to be in the foyer for us - it would take a photo and produce a self-inking rubber stamp. Whoa, cool, eh?

This is Laurie, SERS regular in past years, and owner of small dogs.

This is Julie van Oosten, co-founder of The Rubber Gazette magazine (right), with Lea Saddington, (center) who took the magazine on in later years, and Anne Kelso (left), brilliant stamper and TRG helper.

June meeting - the one with Sesame Cookies

2009-06-27T17:27:00.015+10:00

Another lovely SERS meeting this month. Much glitter on the floor, and Louise suggested that attendees who make no attempt to stamp should be punished. Her suggestion is not taken up. We'd all be guilty some time.

First things first - here's the recipe for Sesame Cookies, aka Benne Wafers. This was the home made snack I brought this month, and they are very nice to munch on with a cuppa while doing craft.

Now, on to business : Sharon shows us a well set up table for colour-coordinated card making....

Chris (right) came and joined us for the first time. She's formerly of NSW, but now of just-down-the-road. Lizzie next to her is making Christmas cards!! That's Sharon standing up - tee hee, I got a photo of her after all!

Overheard : "Now Nan, you must join Facebook". Cathy is a big fan.

Jenny is making little glittery handbags. She'd spent the morning making things at Little Bits, and then came to us.

Chris injured herself pulling a carrot out of the garden (yes, really) and got a "Carrot Injury Commiseration Card" to cheer her up. There wasn't a stamp for that. I checked.

Cathy saw my dinosaur edge punch and suggested one of the dinosaurs could become a tortoise - she was right!

June meeting is this weekend

2009-06-24T22:17:00.004+10:00

So you'd better come along, eh?

We're having Sesame cookies (also known as Benne Wafers) to snack on, and probably something else too.

I thought we ought to have a Buy and Sell day, so bring any pre-loved papercrafts goodies you wish to part with. Label them with your name and a price, and negotiate direct with your buyers.

And let's pencil in Buy and Sell for July too - it's a nice thing to do in winter.

This month I'm playing with new punches I got from Paperific!

And our illustration today is from MPA 2002 - this is the Stamp Francisco stall, visiting from the US, with our own Coralee womanning the till.

2001 Nostalgia - Melbourne Paper Arts

2009-06-17T15:14:00.011+10:00

Here's a bunch of photos from my archives, from Melbourne Paper Arts in 2001. In honour of the fact that Paperific is on this weekend!

Gina was there with newborn Blair - that takes some effort!

Here's Julie van Oosten with Sam, sales lady extraordinaire.

The Calligraphy Society liked to wow us with beautiful handwriting ... it's not as easy as stamping!

Here's Niamh showing off Opals...

Here's Cathy of My Stamps - ooh, I think she's eating a biscuit I made. And laughing about how dodgy it looked. But she came back for more... nobody can resist home baked goodies...

That's enough for this entry, but I have more Paperific nostalgia to post!

Melbourne Paper Arts from 2001

2009-06-17T15:08:00.004+10:00

Paperific is coming up this Friday to Sunday.

Now, Paperific used to be called Melbourne Papercraft Exhibition, and before that it was Melbourne Paper Arts, and before that Melbourne Paper Crafts. I think I have that lineage right.

Anyway, at Melbourne Paper Arts in 2001, at St Kilda Town Hall, SERS had a stall!

We'd never done anything like that before (and I confess we never have since) but it was fun!

We had some members staffing the stall for a little while each, letting passers by sit down, chat, look at goodies we'd made, and do some stamping. We ended up with a lot of kids playing for a bit while Mum shopped. Since we weren't trying to do business, that was fine.

Here's Carolyn and Margaret on the stall, next to the Calligraphers and the Origami guys.

May 2009 meeting - with cookies

2009-05-30T17:32:00.012+10:00

I baked delicious choc chip cookies this morning, specially to take to stamp club. They went down well. Tee hee, folks, they were a healthy recipe, full of oat bran!

Cathy was doing calligraphy, and Louise was using reinkers to make pretty backgrounds.

Pat came for the first time, and showed Nan how to make quilled flowers.

She had made a box full of flowers!

Averil brought a box full of perfectly nice stamps that were surplus to her needs, and GAVE THEM AWAY! Woo hoo! We like to make sure someone gets something for nothing most months. I nabbed this pretty stamp, which was one of Cathy's designs from ages ago. Beautifully made, too! I watercoloured it with Inktense pencils. It would probably suit less zingy colours, but with Inktense are sunglasses-bright. So there's the next project.

Margaret is colouring a stamp she had made herself - one of many! Now that's one way to get the exact image you want...

Next month's meeting is on 27 June. That'll be a week after Paperific, which I'll certainly be at, so there will be stories to share about that! That meeting will probably be in the OTHER room (the carpeted one). Nan says she prefers that one (it's warmer), so if we all agree, I'll ask if we can take up residence there in the cold months.

Bridget at Stamp Club!

2009-05-25T13:05:00.002+10:00

Here's the very dignified Bridget, now of the ACT, at a Christmas SERS meeting in 2004. Bridget stepped in to run things when I was sick (and a bit jaded too). She stayed on for a whole year, then had to give it away because of work committments. I was able to take it back, and we've been going ever since.

It was Bridget that found our new home at Mount Street. Our old venue was getting too pricey, and we might have even had to (gasp) put the prices up! So the move was good news all round. Also the light is rather nice at Mount St.

A little more nostalgia

2009-05-25T11:23:00.004+10:00

This is a photo from SERS in 2001 - when we used to meet in Rowville. From left to right, there's Coralee (cutting up some fresh rubber, it looks like); then there's Marg; next to her is Michelle; and then there's Monica (now of Beachhouse Boulevard). See, all with a cuppa: it's nice.

We're still meeting, eight years later! Check our meeting details.

Barb's 2002 photos

2009-05-12T22:38:00.000+10:00

Well, we're all getting in on the act now - Barb has posted some photos from another meeting, where I lugged my computer in for some terribly good reason (no laptops in this family). I think I was doing a slide show after returning from a particularly wonderful holiday. Go check 'em out!

Then there's these from 2003...

And these ones from a Christmas dinner in 1999 (I had only just started going to SERS).

SERS June 2004 - Bring a Parrot

2009-05-12T12:28:00.000+10:00

We have the occasional theme day at SERS. I think the most surprisingly unsuccessful was "Bring a Parrot" day. Shanna was the ONLY one who brought a parrot.

It was a very nice Eclectus Parrot though.

We had "bring a small dog" day once too. At least, we ended up with two small dogs, and it looked like a theme to me. That was when we met at the church hall, which had a nice enclosed garden adjacent to it.

SERS Bus Trip 2002 - more nostalgia

2009-05-12T08:29:00.000+10:00

We must have been mad - someone came up with the idea of a bus trip, visiting stamping shops, and I agreed. Monika (who now runs Beachhouse Boulevard, a cool stamping shop in the western suburbs) was organising it, but had to pull out at the last minute. I think she was setting up her new shop! So I was in charge on the day. In as much as I knew what was going on.

That's Barb in the photo!

We cruised all the way to Mornington to see Stampalot (which in now Paper Squared). The drive didn't seem so long with us giggling all the way.

Where else did we go? I forget. I think Papermarc , and Papercache, were in there. Oh, I remember Dragon Papers (they are moving soon). We had spare time at a second hand bookshop, where I got a fabulous compilation of old newspaper ads. We ended up at Cathy's place (My Stamps) where she had the kettle on, and all sorts of goodies to buy.

We had a ball, it was a great way to brighten up a winter day.

Stamp Club Nostalgia - 2001

2009-05-11T07:23:00.001+10:00

Here's a photo from 2001. Ros is demonstrating paper marbling. We still have demonstrations from time to time at SERS. You never know what you will see. But the best demonstrations are the impromptu ones!

Who can we see here? Let's start from the left. The lady with glasses is barely in the photo, but I think that's Caroline. The glamourous redhead is Laurie. Then in the red cardigan we have Nan, who still comes to SERS! Behind her in the blue jumper is Jan, a founder of SERS, and one time keen retailer of stamp stuff. The lady with the Scottish accent (and the black and white jumper) is Margaret, who still comes. She sometimes designs her own stamps and has them made! Standing in the red jumper is Stacey, the organiser of Paperific (awesomest paper craft show ever to be staged in Melbourne, and the next one's coming) and was the owner of Studio Astarte, an innovative stamp business (now closed, but you'll see her stamps turn up from time to time - we all bought them!). Seated (and a bit obscured) is Cathy, who continues to run My Stamps, a fabulous stamp business. Check out her word stamps - she calligraphs them all herself. Is that a word? Then standing is Ros, who I believe is a Stampin' Up person now.

That was fun! I have more photos, so I'll do more later.

What is South Eastern Rubber Stampers?

2009-05-06T17:58:00.001+10:00

South Eastern Rubber Stampers, or SERS, are a rubber stamping group, and we meet once a month. We are located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Here's our usual meeting details:

Time : 1pm to 5pm, LAST Saturday of the month
Place : Mount Street Neighbourhood House, 6 Mount St, Glen Waverley
Cost : $5 a meeting, (sometimes waived if we have no bills to pay)
Bring : Your stamping stuff, things you have made or received recently, new papercraft goodies you want to try, things you aren't sure how to use, and most importantly, a project to work on.

Contact : If you think you'd like to know more, contact Pauline by email (go to my profile page for that!)

Interesting note - this photo is YEARS old. That tells you two things:

1: SERS has been going for years (since about 1998, I think)
2: I don't take a lot of photos at SERS!

So if you live in the area, get in touch and come along!