Category: Happy Mail

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!

Haaaaappy mail! I’m so happy I could burst into glitter and confetti.

People in the zine community are so generous. A couple of these were trades, but it’s still wonderful and generous in my book.

This first assortment of zine goodness came from http://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/BillyDaBunny. We have an interesting little trade happening in that part of the trade is me recording audio versions of my zines…

More news on that later.

Billy even took a look at my wishlist and did some digging around. Zinesters are awesome!

This pack of happiness came from the one and only https://www.facebook.com/bloomzine/. She creates such classy zines, and it’s always a pleasure to find happy mail from her in my post box.

It’s a box of zines. An actual box of zines.

Squeeee!

The amazing LogPoes of https://yourfriendlp.wordpress.com/ was going through her zine collection and asked me if I’d like some of the zines she was happy to pass on.

Would I?

Yes, please!

So many zines! This, my friends, is how you get one of the very rare “I owe you Tim Tams for the next decade” Nyx cards.

I am near-speechless level gobsmacked that someone would send me a big ol’ box of zines like this – especially from overseas.

Thank you so much, LogPoes!

<3 <3 <3

This is one of those days where it was off from the start. Have you ever woken up with that feeling? As if you were getting out of bed when you weren’t supposed to or had already missed something important in the day.

That’s not to say the day was bad. Our power had to be shut off for part of the day due to some power line repairs, plans were changed several times, and things were confusing in general, but how can I complain about a day that contains such great happy mail?

A whole set of mini-zines came in the mail from Jessica in the US. Mini-zines! <3

Fishpit went above and beyond with this envelope of zine goodness, including the latest Wiseblood.

And, of course, Fishspit showed why he’s current champion of the envelope art.

I think this envelope is the best yet.

That’s all for me right now. I had a small surgery on Friday that put me even further behind, so thank you to everyone understanding that it’s taking me a while to get the email situation back under control. I do have a planner thingy to help keep myself all kinds of organised now, so I’ll be back better than ever when I manage to catch up.

I really want to leave yesterday’s post up a little longer because I think it’s important for people to know, but I have some happy mail to share. 🙂

Fishspit once again demonstrates that he is the kind of envelope art and has sent me a zine he made with Serena Pruess!

Quinn traded me Plaid Skirts and Converse #4 for Dear Anonymous 4.

A little bit of postal happiness for the day. <3 The next zine review will be up tomorrow!

I have been a very lucky little vegemite with the arrival of a care package from my soul-sister-from-another-mister, Dark Wolf, as well as some zine mail from a new zine friend! Check out the mail art action happening on the envelope from the new zine friend:

And a pic of the back of the envelope. Love it!

Because I took a few more pictures than usual of the zine goodness a la care package, I’m going to stick it behind a more tag…

Continue reading “Happy Mail!”

It’s that time again, and you know how much I love mail…

I am so lucky to have received such great mail. Talk about making my days happy through postal generosity.

The first is Wanderluster Zine #1 (I do love it when I can start with the very first zine in a series).

I saw these at the Festival of the Photocopier just as I realised that I’d run out of money. Boo. But I managed to snag myself a copy on the Wanderluster Etsy shop.

As you can imagine, I love zines about mail.

Next, Fishspit surprised me by sending the latest issue of his zine Wiseblood. (To check out my reviews of a couple of his zines, take a look at my Zine Review Index.)

I have to say, his mail/envelope art is probably the most unique that I’ve ever had the pleasure of receiving.

Last but definitely not least, we have a long-awaited pack of EPIC zine mail goodness from Billy da Bunny!

There is so much going on in this post goodness that I can hardly contain myself. The zine “A Good Place to Start” is one I contributed to along with zinesters around the world. This issue is about local music. I’m proud to say that I got Billy hooked on some local Australian fare.

There’s also a note from Billy, a copy of his zine “Proof I Exist”, some stickers and such, AND *drumroll*…

Zinester trading cards! Billy’s brain baby of zinester trading cards had me from the get go, and I was lucky enough to get a trading card of me in as part of the series!

And now I have them all! Mwhahahahaha.

Ahem.

Billy did have sets in his Etsy store, but you might have to get in contact if you want some as they aren’t listed at the moment.

Amazing mail week indeed! Love, love, love it. No chocolate, but the world can’t be perfect. 😉

I know I’m usually one for posting only one post a day, and Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are for reviews of zines and calls for submissions. But do I really want to wait until Monday to post all of my awesome happy mail?

Nah.

How could I wait when I’ve had such lovely arrivals at my post box recently?

I needed to make an Amazon order anyway, so I ordered this on top of everything. But if you want to go right to the source (you should if you can!), then you can find this here at Pioneer Press.

MissMuffcake put this glorious zine together, and this is my contributor copy! I haven’t contributed to a zine in ages, and I felt very special to be a part of this zine on mental illness.

Philip Dearest sent me this lovely little zine pack after we sorted out a bit of an Etsy kerfuffle. But the whole thing just goes to show that if you keep your head when something goes wrong, you might just get a better outcome than the original.

Quinn and I sorted out a trade, and I’m so excited these made it safe and sound from the States. I love it. You can check out Quinn’s work at Touch the Puppet Head.

Happy mailing!

Happy mail for yours truly! Have I mentioned in the past five minutes how much I love mail? No? Shame on me. Haha.

I had a bit of beautiful local zine mail come in this week all the way from New South Wales. With extras! I don’t need extras to be happy, but they certainly don’t hurt. Wink, wink. Haha.

How gorgeous, right? I can’t wait to dig into that zine. I was actually afraid that this had been lost to the mail demons, but I’m so glad it wasn’t! Lurve it!

No, YOU’RE sweet. Hehe.

A day I receive happy mail is always a lovely day.

This lovely package came all the way from LogPoes in Amsterdam! I’ll need to suss out a big ol’ swap because I want to know all about Amsterdam and its goodies. For now, I’m so excited about these zines! Especially the list zine. Lists! And the little badge is so cute. Very awesome stuff.

Alas, today has been all about trying to make a house move happen, but I did manage to design business cards and send off a zine, so it’s all going well.