Category: Happy Mail

Hello, zine friends! I hope the start of your week is going well and that the weather is fine where you are.

The weather is all kinds of gorgeous here in this beautiful springtime. It’s so nice to be living in a place quiet enough to hear birdsong! I’m having a hard time focusing on getting anything done. Haha.

It’s not hard to focus enough to share the lovely mail that has come my way this week, however!

I couldn’t stop smiling the day this arrived in the mail. I remembered seeing Ashley’s zines at We Make Zines and making a mental note to check them out further. WELL, turns out I really need to write everything down, because I hadn’t gotten in touch with Ashley by the time these zines arrived in my post box. What a wonderful surprise!

Thank you so much, Ashley. I’ll be replying to your note soon. ^_^

Woohoo! All the way from the UK. This zine order has been sitting in wishlist land ever since someone told me about Holly Casio’s PCOS zine ‘Joining the Dots’. I figured I’d pop a few more things in my online trolly as well while I was at Holly’s zine shop, and this bundle of goodness arrived today!

Talk about wanting to drop everything and start reading zines. Hehe.

Completely unexpected zine mail from the US! At least, I think it’s a zine. Definitions are very flexible in this arena, and it is four unbound, single-sided pages, but you can’t miss the cut and paste visuals. ^_^ There was no note or anything inside, so it’s a very mysterious happy mail arrival. Haha.

Thank you, Jason!

Zine goodness from Queensland! Like Ashley, I swear Sober Bob is psychic because I’d seen a few photos that included these zines, and Sober Bob went and sent some to me. We’ve been talking trades and various zine event things, but these were so out of the blue and such a lovely surprise.

As always, grateful thanks to you Sober Bob.

And thank you to everyone who makes my post box and my world bubble a brighter, better place by sending me mail. It really is so lovely to open up that post box and see something inside. I’m smiling just posting about it.

That’s me for today, zine friends. Be sure to check in tomorrow. I have an extra special little something to share with you.

Until then.

Hello, zine friends! I hope you’ve had a beautiful start to the week. It’s a bit toasty around these parts, but it is spring after all.

Now you’re probably wondering how tea can be sneaky, so let’s get into this week’s beautiful zine mail!

Please don’t let my lack of skill with my camera take away from how gorgeous this card and envelope is. It’s so pretty with so much green!

Emma from Puddleside Musings was so kind to send me a card to brighten my day as well as help me relax with some tea. There was another packet of tea as well, but I may have already indulged before I took the picture… (What? I like vanilla chai. Hehe.)

This sneaky tea is sneaky because usually customs gets really cranky and sends me mean letters when people send me tea (Australia says no to tea – go figure), but these two came through! They did open the envelope, the cheeky people, but the tea managed to arrive in my post box safe and sound.

Therefore, I have dubbed them sneaky teas – but not so sneaky that they can escape me. (I’m looking at you, cinnamon tea!)

Thank you so much to Emma who sent me such lovely mail all the way from Ireland. It made my day and was relaxing as well.

That’s me for today! I have something a little different for you all tomorrow, so be sure to come back and check it out. Until then!

Hello, zine friends! Welcome to another Happy Mail Monday where I share the wonderful snail mail goodness that has come my way in the past week.

I must admit I nearly missed today because it’s a public holiday here in South Australia, so this quiet town I’m in is especially quiet. However, wonderful friends have sent wonderful mail, so how can I not be in the spirit to share?

I was pouting a bit on Twitter about moving out of Victoria mere weeks before the Tonerpalooza 2 – especially because I wanted a super cute YES pin (which I thought was a sticker but am super pleased is a pin) by @yippywhippy. Well Apples very generously volunteered to stop in and pick one up for me!

Even better, she surprised me with a zine – fresh made by her friend on the day of sending. How nice is that? A very happy little package indeed. Many, many thanks to Apples for her help – and to Avery for the zine!

Just in case anyone noticed the fuzz in the background of the picture, yes, Asimov wanted to get in on the photo session.

This isn’t zine-related mail, but I figure happy mail is happy mail, right? I want to share it all!

A friend of mine went to Japan recently, and she picked up some goodies for me! The ninja and Totoro letter sets are super cute – and of course the little fox (something says fox rather than cat, but I’m not sure) is too. The glint of gold is a bookmark from a Miyazaki film I’m not familiar with (but will now definitely search out), and the other packs are origami paper.

There is a gorgeous notebook on the right, which is so cool not only in and of itself but also because I’ve wanted to teach myself Japanese style book binding for ages. Then we have the Snoopy (squee!) pencil case! I’m not ‘into’ Charlie Brown on the whole, but I always loved Snoopy because he was always writing a novel (like me as a kid). Hehe.

Though she likely won’t see this post, thank you to my friend M for thinking of me on her wonderful holiday!

PS. There was also Pocky in the package, but… well, I love Pocky and ate them before I got to taking pictures. Oopsie.

 

That’s all the mail goodness for me this week. I am in the midst of unpacking boxes and organising my new office space, so if you have any favourite organisation tips, websites, or the like, please leave a comment! I’m feeling a little overwhelmed over here at the moment.

May your week ahead be beautiful, and the birdsong be lovely.

Hello, wonderful zine friends! I hope the start to your week is or will be as peaceful as mine was (despite the early wake up from the dogs). Internet issues rage on, and it’s always so frustrating to see things not happen simply for lack of money, but this is life. I can get online, and I have wonderful mail to share.

Happiness abounds. 🙂

Postcards! These two lovelies were sent via SendSomething. (I highly recommend checking it out. It’s not exciting for the eyes, but it’s like a catalogue of thousands of people to send mail to!) The black and white one is actually a postcard for colouring (woo!), and the other simply arrived with quotes from Broadway musicals. Mysterious and fun.

If the people from Send Something happen to check out this blog, thank you for the fun postcards.

Zippity Zinedra is well and truly in the running for colourful mail art. Check out all those stickers! And the tape is fabulous. Xyendra sent the very last bit of mail to squeeze in at 786 before the mail redirection went through, and what a lovely whopper of a stuffed envelope!

The envie was like a zinester care package. A sticker, magnets (I don’t think I’ve seen zine-related magnets before), a Toronto Zine Library pin (my collection grows!), two zines I had to keep telling myself that I would read after the unpacking (hehe)… There was also this fun little pack of bandages…

Aren’t they utterly adorable? I’m so in love! They are so, so, so cute, and even the wrapper is cute as well!

What a lovely package of zine goodness that continues to make me smile whenever I think about it. Thank you so much, Xyendra!

True Zine Marin has sent me a wonderful little pack of mini-zines, stickers and other goodness. Looking at the picture, I’m just realising how much of the envelope I covered up. Sorry about that! I love the envelopes TZM sends things in. The Stolen Sharpie Revolution sticker has a special place in my heart, and I wish I had 100 of them to send all over the place. That little book is so good! I highly recommend it.

Tangent over, True Zine Marin has been kind enough to send me some duplicates from their zine collection, and I appreciate that so much. Thank you for the lovely ray of mail sunshine!

Bloomurder sent me a copy of her Twin Peaks fanzine! Oh my gosh. What an awesome housewarming present. (Yep, that’s what I’m calling it. Hehehe.) I was so disappointed to have missed the launch (they had doughnuts <3 ) at Sticky. I even asked about the printer for the zine because it looked gorgeous. Lo and behold, I have one to admire in my very own hands! I have special plans for it to…

Thank you so much, Bloomurder!

Sober Bob snuck in with a wonderful gift in my new post box – the next up (I am assuming – not 100% on order) in the Terrible Comics. Hehe. (You may recall my review of Cashed Up Bogans.) This title makes me laugh out loud because of the ‘yeah, but no’, ‘no, but yeah’, etc Australian language quirk.

Have no idea what I’m talking about? That’s okay. Just know the grins are large, and the sarcasm runs rampant. Many thanks to Sober Bob for generously sending me more Terrible Comics.

PS. Sober Bob has a sale on pins right now if you want to check them out…

 

What a beautiful mail week. Thank you again to everyone who has sent me mail – especially in recent times. This move has been much more soul-eating for a number of reasons that I have yet to digest, and I spent more than a few sessions simply sitting in my chair and going through the lovely things people have sent. I’m not sure what image I cast here, but I do have my very dark moments, and the generosity and kindness of people has helped me through a lot.

Here’s wishing you all the absolute best for the day and the week ahead. Until next time…

Hello, zine friends! I hope you all are doing very well.

Today is my last Happy Mail Monday in my current place of residence. Not my last Monday – but more on all that good stuff in my ‘what’s happening’ post tomorrow. Today is for celebrating the awesome happy mail that has come my way!

The first bit of lovely happy mail is a set of three mini-zines from Graham all the way over in England! These were a trade set up back in International Zine Month. I’m so glad they arrived, as I was a little bit worried they’d get lost in the mail redirect. You can’t tell very well in the picture, but they even arrived in their own mini-zine-sized plastic pocket! I must get myself some of those. What a great way to add a little protection for your zines. I already love the cream-coloured paper, too. I’m eager to check them out.

Thank you, Graham!

Zines from Belgium! This gorgeous zine assortment came from Jessica Maybury who has my favourite Twitter handle ever @codenamewallaby. These zines came as yet another wonderful IZM zine swap. I really need to put out more calls to swap more often because I’m having so much fun with them.

Thank you, Jess!

Last we have a gorgeous assortment of zines that I am so excited about from the one and only Nina from Echo Publishing. Nina and I worked out a trade, and I had the opportunity to pick these five awesome zines from Nina’s awesome catalogue of zines. (Check it out! There are so many!) Of course I had to pick ‘In Movement’ for one because of my current (soon to be ending, thank goodness) moving house woes. I can’t thank Nina enough for this trade, and I look forward to another soon!

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You all know by now how much I absolutely adore mail coming my way – especially zine mail. The happy mail this week were all trades, but expecting the mail doesn’t make it any less lovely. Things have been really rough over the past week, which makes me appreciate not only all the gorgeous mail but the wonderful, supportive comments so nice, too. It’s easy to get distracted by the disco lights of my own pity party, and all this makes things feel so much better.

Thank you all!

Hello, zine friends! Welcome back to the blog.

Thank you all for bearing with me. An intense flu/flu-like thing knocked me off my feet Sunday night, and I spent Monday and Tuesday trying desperately to break the fever I had. I’m slowly getting steadier on my feet again, and the fever seems to be gone for good, so onward and upward!

(My brain is still partially melted, though, so don’t be shy about getting in contact about any emails, calls for subs, or anything else I may need reminding about.)

Before I get into the mail, I wanted to say that I hope everyone who attended ZICS Aus over the weekend had an excellent time.

Now for mail!

The first lovely bit of zine mail came from Meeni Levi all the way in Belgium! The zines actually came in a secure little plastic sleeve to protect it from the rigors of international travel. ^_^ We must protect the zines! And did you notice the title of the mini-zine? “Conversation Falafels”. Hehe! You all make it so difficult for me to get anything done because I want to check out your zines straight away!

I had to take a picture of the very, very cool wax seal Meeni put on the envelope. I’ve seen pictures and the like of seals and such, but I think this is either the first time or the first in a long time that I’ve been able to check one out up close. I think I may need to add a wax seal into my bag of happy mail goodies. This looks so cool!

Thank you, Meeni, for trading with me!

Squee! Happy mail from Brazil, and with cute cat sketches, too! And so many stamps!

You may recall Henry and Fafa Jeapelt who generously decided to give me a chance and sent me Catzine 1 and Bluez despite the fact that they are in Portuguese – a language I’m not familiar with. I am so excited to see Catzine 2 as well as a wooden bookmark and a super, super cute drawing of a cat by Fafa!

Thank you so, so much!

That is mail for today my friends. Thank you all again for bearing with me during confusing times (confusing enough with the move let alone with a sudden flu thrown in). Barring any relapse, I will be back tomorrow with a fresh new zine review for you. Big hugs!

Hello, wonderful friends! What a Happy Mail Monday it is. So many good things to share!

Because there are a lot of pictures, I’m going to tuck them behind the ‘more’ tag just so the photos don’t bog down the post. ^_^ (Seriously considering doing videos for amazing mail weeks like this one!)

Continue reading “Happy Mail Monday: Birthday Edition”

It’s Happy Mail Monday! Who said Mondays can’t be your favourite day of the week? 😉

The first envelope of zine awesomeness is from Bloomurder! She decided to celebrate International Zine Month by getting in touch and sending some zine happiness my way.

If you’re not familiar with Bloomurder/Laura, she is the zinemaker who created the Shakespeare’s Lovers zines. She is also the person I have to thank for encouraging me to go to Festival of the Photocopier 2016 aka my first ever zine fest!

And yes, my friends, that is a Strictly Ballroom fanzine! I’m so excited about that. If you don’t know the movie, check it out. It’s an Aussie classic.

Thank you Laura!

The next envelope of zine goodness we have here is from a new friend of a friend, Charlene from Canada! I love finding a little note tucked in with zines that say ‘so-and-so mentioned you’. I love the internet as much as anyone, but good ol’ word of mouth still lives and breathes – especially in the zine community.

I must admit I’m having a pretty hard time not skipping out on the rest of my work so I can dig into these. ^_^

Thank you!

Thank you to Laura and Charlene for sharing their wonderful zines and to everyone who takes the time and energy to make my world bubble a happier place.

So what’s up with the ‘Zine Petting Edition’? Well, you’ll have to check out my Instagram for that…

I’ll be back soon with International Zine Month Day 10.

It’s Happy Mail Monday when I celebrate and say thank to those who have spread a little sunshine in my postbox and my life.

My wonderful friend Billy from the States sent me a postcard update about things. He was playing with the idea of moving Down Under, but alas, he remains Up Over. I wonder how many people had a laugh like I did when they saw the alien. So cute.

Comedy is in the air with a cheeky Bush postcard from Erica D that made me laugh. Erica was giving me a heads up about her new address and reminded me that I’ll need to whip up a few ‘new address’ cards soon!

Shit’s Fucked completely surprised me with an envelope of zine goodness. They even sent me a couple of pins for my rapidly growing pin collection. I’m getting pin rich! Hehe.

Fun Fact: I first heard about Shit’s Fucked on It’s Pronounced Zine – a podcast I highly recommend.

Butts 4 life!

Many, many thanks to Billy, Erica, and Shit’s Fucked for making my post box and my life a brighter place. Nothing makes me happy like mail does, and I appreciate everything that comes my way.

That’s it for me for now. I’ll be back later with IZM Day 3!

Happy Mail!

Yesterday was one heck of a day, so today we have happy mail on Tuesday. And oh the happy mail!

Isn’t this envelope amazing?! Emma from Puddleside Musings impressed everyone who saw it with this gorgeous envelope.

The lady at the post office handed it over to me very slowly (as she stared at it), and we both admired it right there at the counter for a while. 😀 So gorgeous. I think I am going to be relaxing with some colouring tonight.

Inside the gorgeous envelope came some lovely bits and bobs – and a postcard I can colour! – out of Flow magazine. Squee! The 30-Day Notebook is a question-a-day booklet that asks about goals and dreams. Definitely welcome timing given all I want to accomplish next month!

Take a look at this! It’s a pop up page like the books you used to read in school. The quote is so working for me in so many ways, but the writer’s theme is lovely too as I try (repeatedly) to scratch out the beginning chapters of my next novel!

Thank you so, so much Emma! Your timing and the smiles you’ve given me are more well timed than I can say right now.

The Life and Times of Billy Roberts! I’m pretty sure I say this every time I get a new issue of this, but I think more people should do this! It’s the family Christmas letter without the Christmas and, well, the boring bits. I adore that Billy does this and am so sad to hear that this series is soon coming to an end. Get in contact with Billy and get your hands on them while you can!

Oooo, I have been eagerly awaiting this package for a while now! Happy mail from Fishspit! There are so many cute goodies – including Fishspits very first collab zine with Dystatic!

Fishspit once again proves that he simply cannot resist sending things in plain envelopes. Simply not done! I save all of Fishspit’s envelopes and take them out to look at sometimes.

A close up in case you were wondering what it said.

How cute is this cat keychain?! I nearly forgot to take a picture of it because I stuck it on my house keys straight away. The little bell jingles louder than you would thing. As for the little plate that says Memory… Well, I think I’ll leave that as an inside joke. 😉 So cute!

Four pins! I am slowly but surely creating a collection of pins, and look at these new additions! I love that he’s taken the art from one of his zines and made it his zine icon – and then turned that into a button! (I really need to get a button machine.)

Last but definitely not least, the next issue of Wiseblood. It still boggles my mind that Fishspit has been making zines longer than I’ve been alive. May I be the mind-boggler to some young zinemaker someday!

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Thank you with absolutely all of my heart to those who send me mail. You brighten my little world bubble more than I could ever properly express with words.

That’s all for me today. I hope everyone has had a great start to the week, and if you haven’t, that it gets better in a hurry!