Category: Happy Mail

This past week has been a very, very happy week (and some) for my post box, which made the less than great aspects of the week easier to bear.

It’s also brought to light that my mail tracking system is less than ideal. Idle Emma mentioned in passing how she tracks mail in one of her videos, and that’s really inspired me to shape up. Always room to improve!

On to the happy mail awesomeness.

Back before my dear Asimov had his medical emergency, I decided that I was finally in a good enough space to get something I’ve been after for ages… a Sticky Institute dog tag! Lo and behold, they sent it along with some zine-y goodness! <3

How cool is this? And it was only $3 AUD at their Big Cartel if you’d like to get one of your own.

Say hello to the mystery mail portion of this week’s happy mail! This Zine-O-Matic slice of absolute awesomeness arrived completely unexpectedly, and I have been dancing on sunshine since. Especially because I had no idea who’d sent it.

Zine-O-Matic is a zine subscription service that gives zines to your mailbox every month. It’s like Lootcrate for zine enthusiasts, and I absolutely adore the concept. So you can imagine the top level of fangirling I went to when I opened this envelope up.

Okay, so in the time between when I started this post and now, it’s come to light who sent this along. However, for a few days, I had the excited pleasure of having absolutely no idea who sent along this zines-and-stuff-filled envelope of delight. Made even more special by the fact that I’ve wanted to get Shit Talk and Slowquest in my hands for what feels like months now.

Squee!

This lovely is another piece of completely unexpected happy mail from Elizabeth at Tenderly Surrender. I totally felt like a toddler with something shiny when I took this out of the envelope because the aesthetics of it got me straight away. This isn’t the place to review, zines, though, so you’ll have to wait for my review to find out what I’m on about.

More zine awesomeness from the UK (now officially on my ‘places I really need to go’ list)! People who make zines like this, you have to tell me how you’re doing it. These look so amazing and clean cut! You all know I love all the zines, but I can certainly appreciate some to-the-edge printing and nice, nice paper. Wowza. And yay for mail art! I love it. I apologise for – because it is at a level I need to apologise for – not taking a picture of the art Misha did on the back of the envelope. So much fun.

Big Tight is just getting going with a site, so be sure to head over there and check it out.

Shiny! How could I not smile when seeing a shiny, reflective silver envelope in my post box? Billy certainly knows how to liven up a post box. Hahaha.

This beauty snuck in today, so I grabbed a shot outside to include in today’s post. Please excuse my fingers, but I had to hold the zine shut! Billy sends his zines bound but not folded to help save on postage (#protip), so this chunky little zine kept wanting to spring open. Woohoo! So much reading ahead.

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I am so utterly, utterly gobsmacked by the pure joy people have sent me in the post. Truly. I am so happy when I see things in the post, when I open them up, and even later on when I’m posting about them. This post has me all kinds of happy all over again, and I can’t stop smiling. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and have a beautiful week!

Today’s happy mail brought to you by…

My friend Dodgy is out of the country for a while having a holiday, and I’m crashing at his place for a few days. More on that later, though. On to happy mail!

I may have horrible response times (I haven’t forgotten you!), but I love getting letters as much as I love zines coming to my post box. This absolutely lovely letter from Chris Sitko really brightened my Monday.

Zine bundle! Zine community tip: If you love a zine and want to share it with your friends, but you don’t want to lose your copy, don’t be afraid to get in contact with the zine maker! I sent an email to Davida about getting extra copies of Meta Zine sent my way because it’s the kind of zine I want to give to my friends. And here they are!

This is technically happy mail from last week, and you might recognise it if you follow me on Instagram. I couldn’t help myself sharing it there, though, because it was so out of the blue!

Joe from Microcosm Publishing sent along his zine for the joy of it (and review, too, hehe). And he sent a sticker with it! Wooooo! I’m getting quite the collection of awesome stickers going. 😀

It’s been a wonderful week in mail, and I am feeling so lucky to know such awesome people. If you love zines and your mailbox is feeling a little lonely, shoot me your mailing address. I may not always have stamps, but when I do, I love sending out heaps of mail!

It’s all about completely unexpected mail this week!

I wouldn’t call myself a big Simpsons fan (I was never able to catch it much on TV), but I love this postcard. I love the colours, the artistic quality to it, and I love that Chris from New Jersey sent it just to say thanks for the zines I sent to him. So nice!

It got a little beat up on the way, but The Life and Times of Billy Roberts #76 made it safe and sound to Australia! Corridorgirl shared a picture of an earlier issue of this months back, and I loved the idea of a life newsletter that skips the envelope. Lo and behold, now I get to check it out!

I love such creativity and colour filling my post box. Thank you so much!

Happy mail!

You have to send mail to receive mail (is my general philosophy), so my post box has been a little quiet lately. However, I have been lucky enough to have received some awesome bits of happy mail recently.

This comes from a lovely new pen friend who discovered my profile on SendSomething. She also sent a little something for a friend of mine (Kim) who is dealing with cancer treatments at the moment. I love to see so much kindness still in the world, given how much we’re beaten over the head with how horrible humanity is.

I had no idea this was coming and have my wonderful friend, Fishspit, to thank for recommending this site to the wonderful Property Zine masterminds. I was impressed from the get go with this zine, and they sent a sticker and letter, too!

They have an open call for submissions happening right now, so be sure to check out https://www.facebook.com/propertymaterials

My absolute thanks to all mail senders! You truly make my days happy.

It’s been a big week for happy mail! I am so excited and so happy to receive such great mail from people outside Australia. I know postage stinks, so that makes it doubly heartfelt.

First up is a trade from PunkRawkDude on Tumblr.

I haven’t read the zine yet, but on glance through, I am impressed. There is some serious cut and paste goodness happening in here. Definitely check it out.

Next comes from my regular zine trade friend, Fishspit. He once again wins all things when it comes to envelope art.

There is all kinds of mail goodness happening in here. Zine, letter, tape, etc. Fishspit is awesome because, when he doesn’t have a zine of his own ready to go, he sends me zines made by his friends.

Tiny hamster! In a previous envelope, Fishspit sent me an adorable tiny (sea)green zine cat. And now he has a friend in the tiny hamster. So cute. They’re on my desk next to my tiny TARDIS.

As he so nicely put it, I’m a bit lost when it comes to music, so he’s taken it upon himself to educate me. This is the second mix tape he’s sent along for my education.

Last up comes a huge care package from none other than my sister-from-another-mister in the States, Black Wolf. She really outdid herself AND was kind enough to play courier so I could save on postage with some zines from Microcosm Publishing.

There’s not a lot out there that I love more than this moment when I start to see what goodies are in store…

Stuuuuff. Black Wolf definitely knows how to send a care package. She made this one a special birthday edition care package with some of my favourites – M&Ms! (Crispy forever.) There is a huge stack of zines as well as books courtesy of Microcosm Publishing being very generous to me as well as the John Truby book from Amazon. The little princess bags on the right are from my niece’s birthday. I can’t be there in person, but they make it so it’s like I was. <3

This pin! Oh, this pin. I cannot clearly express how much I love this pin.

As always with happy mail, I am feeling so grateful to everyone who is willing to trade with me, send me zines, send me other happy mail stuff. Postage costs are not easy to deal with, even inside Australia, so I hope you know how happy it makes me to see anything in my post box.

I told you I might need the reminder about doing a happy mail post. Haha.

Actually, things just got a little hectic, but now both Wanderer and Boggin are settled down with some medication that should see them right sooner rather than later. However, a friend is borrowing my light box, so I wasn’t going to take happy mail pictures until I at least had some halfway decent daylight.

On with it!

Woo! My first issue of Cometbus. I’ve heard/read a lot of good things about this zine, and, well, of course I had to get my hands on a copy. Someone on Instagram had checked out my zine wishlist and was happy to send one here to Oz for a trade.

Another person with spectacular handwriting, by the way. Did you all attend a workshop, or…?

Completely unexpected happy mail! This zine comes by way of the US and points to an aspect of the zine community that I haven’t really talked much about – sharing addresses. “I’m a friend of ___ who said you might want to trade.” Fantastic stuff. I love it.

I always send zines back, but the people who send me things like this don’t know that. It’s lovely to see that people are still willing to take chances on stuff like this. Plus, zines!

Many thanks to both senders for making my post box a lovely thing to open this past week.

Oh, there’s nothing like beautiful mail on a beautiful day to make me feel at peace with the world. <3

This arrival came from a group swap on Swap-Bot, which I’ve mentioned before. A group member just so happened to grant my wish of adorable mini-zines. And they’re meant to be coloured in as well! Here’s where I get so envious of those with artistic talent.

This lovely bit of mail comes all the way from Emma in Ireland, the very talented Emma of Puddle Side Musings!

I had the pleasure of sending Emma her very first zine, and she not only wrote me back but sent a gorgeous handmade notebook that I love. (No, you definitely can’t have too many notebooks!)

By the way, Emma has some of the nicest handwriting I’ve ever seen. I need to practice. 😛

I love mail. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that nearly enough this month.

Just kidding. I know I say it pretty much every other day, but it really makes me feel so awesome. It also makes me want to start making happy mail videos. ^_^

Anyway, on to the mail!

This is a lovely little birthday bundle from a friend at Swap-Bot. If you haven’t heard of the site and love mail, then definitely check it out. There are so many groups, swaps, and ways of finding new mail friends.

I knew I had some happy mail coming in from Fishspit, but I had no idea what I was in for! So much awesomeness – and my very first cassette recorded by someone else. (I am old enough to own cassettes, but no one has ever made me one before). That along with a nice long letter and… what’s that…

Isn’t he cute? He’s so tiny. A lovely little surprise to travel along with the zine goodness.

Of course, with Fishspit comes epic envelope art collages!

I will never fail to be impressed by Fishspit’s dedication to collage. I always know when something is from him. ^_^

And, just because, Green Cat is now on my desk next to my Mario 1up mushroom.

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful day. If you haven’t and would like some mail cheer, feel free to leave your mailing address in the comments. I’m doing some major destashing right now, so I have all sorts of things that I can send. ^_^ Seriously.

The title is meant to be a play on A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, but they really have nothing to do with each other…

Anyway.

This wonderful pack of zine goodness came into my life, but not so plainly as to be simply put into my post box. Take a look at the picture, and you might see why…

So about that funny thing that happened:

I wasn’t going to go to the post office, but it was already entirely possible I was sending a package too late for it to reach my friend, Wolf, in time for her birthday. (Procrastination wins again. Sigh.) I briefly thought about sending Wanderer in to send it off, but I got off my lazy backside and did it myself.

I was lucky enough to get in on a quiet time, so I walked right up to the counter. The guy greeted me warmly, as pretty much everyone there knows me now (for sending a lot of stuff overseas). He double-checked all the customs forms, asked if I wanted tracking…

When I’d walked in, I’d been absolutely set on not getting tracking for penny-pinching reasons as well as not being impressed with the service in the past. Yet, when presented with all the options, I decided to get it anyway. The options were to get tracking updates sent to my phone or my email. I made a face and said that email would be just fine.

He asked me for my email address, to which I began to reply, “The Author-”

His head shot up faster than a meerkat coming to attention. “You’re The Author?”

I blinked a little and slowly said, “Yes…”

Without another word, he literally (and yes, I know how to use that word properly) ran out to the mail room. I looked around, a million possibilities running through my head. Not any that made sense, though. I mean, I was an author, but I didn’t think they knew that. Besides, what bearing could that possibly –

He rushed back in and handed me a thick envelope with all the eagerness and glee of a child handing over an art project. “You’re The Author!”

It only took me a moment to realise that the envelope had arrived, but they hadn’t known which post box to put it in because there wasn’t one. Oops!

Oh, he was absolutely thrilled. He talked and talked about how it’d come in, how they hadn’t wanted to send it back straight away because you never know and it’d already come so far, how they had very nearly put it in the Bendigo Writer’s Club post box on the off chance it was for one of them. He was absolutely thrilled, and I couldn’t help but laugh right along with him.

“What are the chances?” I asked, chuckling as I looked at the envelope. “Not just that I’d come in but that you’d end up needing my email address.”

“I know!” He was so, so excited. He even said that those things just didn’t happen every day and how he’d have to go get a lotto ticket. Then he became even more excited about the woman who was on lunch break because he would be the one who got to tell her that they’d finally found The Author.

What a day.

I can’t stop smiling when I think about it. Here’s to things reaching their destination no matter what.

PS. This is absolutely by no means taking a shot of Jess Freedom, who sent this envelope of awesomeness.

Side note: I do usually post happy mail pictures on the day I actually receive the mail on Instagram (@seagreenzines). Sorry if you’ve already seen some or all of these pics.

I have been spoiled so much with happy mail recently. So many positive, lovely things coming in to really make my week – my birthday week! Hehehe. I feel incredibly fortunate to be a part of such a generous community. I need to lift my game so I can respond quickly.

How cool is this postcard from Tasha? I love it! It makes me want to make Zine Ninja postcards. Even better, Tasha wrote such an amazingly wonderful message on the back (I’m not comfortable sharing without express permission to do so) that made me feel so good about this site.

This isn’t zine mail, but I love to share all the mail that comes in. Courtesy of SendSomething comes this lovely envie with postcards and a cute handmade booklet with my name on it.

I wanted to make a special point with this in that, in the letter, the sender says she hopes I like the postcards but they could line the birdcage if not, and she’s just beginning making the books so she hoped I didn’t mind…

Of course I don’t mind! It made me sad to think that this lovely person who had taken the time to put this together and has sent me something with my name on it (spelled correctly IN GLITTER LETTERS) would ever think that I might lift my nose at something she’d sent me.

Whether it’s a note or a box of of zines, I absolutely adore mail. No, I don’t keep every sticker, every postcard, or even every zine. But if they don’t make my heart sing, I will only ever pass them on to someone who might enjoy them more than I do.

I really hope that no one ever, ever feels like whatever they send isn’t good enough or might not be given the respect it deserves.

Hello, zine community! Haha. I love this so much because it came from a complete stranger who got my post box not from the site but from a mutual zinemaking friend. Six degrees of separation stuff for the win. And what a fun assortment of goodies! There are some absolutely adorable itty bitty envelopes of itty bitty things that makes me want to start making mail videos. For now, pictures with my hand in them for some scale.

A very heartfelt thank you to each and every person who has sent me happiness to my post box!