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Don’t Call Me Cupcake’s New Cupcake

Hello, hello, hello. It still feels weird not to be posting every day. I wonder how long that feeling is going to last. Haha.

With ZineWriMo done and dusted as well as a proper internet connection now in the house, I am catching up on things that have been on my to do list for a long time. One of those things is a new cupcake for the Don’t Call Me Cupcake zine series…

What do you think? Be kind; I’m not great at drawing.

I’ve been wanting to switch out the cupcake for a long time. The current cupcake is actually a stamp, and it makes me anxious that someone is going to rock up and tell me I can’t use it or something like that. (I know. Welcome to my anxious mind.)

I finally went for it, and I think it turned out pretty well for a handdrawn cupcake. I’m very happy to have one less niggle running around in my brain, that’s for sure.

My list is three pages long, so I’d better get back to it. I hope you are well and having a zine-filled time. I will be back tomorrow with a Thursday review.

PS. If you want to weigh in on something I’m thinking about, check out this poll on Twitter.

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Happy Mail Monday – Hello December Edition

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Hello, and happy Monday, zine friends!

This especially chipper hello comes to you courtesy of the proper internet connection I finally have in my home. No more living by expensive mobile data for me! Phew. Happy, happy day.

And an especially happy day thanks to wonderful mail!

Hats off to Sober Bob big time. It is no small feat, and yet she keeps on rocking week in and week out. I absolutely love it and am thrilled to be on the $50 Minimum mailing list.

Yes, I really do love ‘slice of life’ zines. Little (or sometimes big) free zines that give us another chance to connect – as friends, strangers… Whatever it happens to be. <3

This out of the blue postcard came all the way from Las Vegas! Allysha Webber was so kind to think of me during their travels here and there. A little surprise to make the start of the week that much brighter. šŸ™‚

Woo! This arrived so quickly. I’m very impressed (and not so sad faced about postage costs – haha). I have had this on my wishlist since I first saw Alex Wrekk post about it on their Instagram. You see, witchcraft is one of a few things I want to learn more about, and this zine popped up as a perfect place to start. The financial stars aligned, and here we are. I’m very excited to start reading it.

Thank you for the lovely mail, making my little bubble in the world a little brighter. Thank you to everyone who reads and shares in my love for happy mail.

That’s me for today. I’m not really sure what’s up next. I’m a little exhausted after ZineWriMo and have a lot of catching up to do now with the proper internet connection.

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Call for Calls for Submissions: Spread the Word About Your Zine/Distro/Library!

Zine Calls for Submissions

Share your call for submissions, let people know about your distro or zine library, announce your newest zine, let people know you are crowdfunding a zine project… If you have an announcement to make that has to do with zines, do it here! Sea Green Zines wants to be your megaphone. Even better? It’s an automatic shout out on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr when you advertise here.

Big fuzzy love hearts to those who have a .jpg call for subs, but all are welcome. Get in touch by emailing theauthor[at]inkyblots.com or comment below.

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Zine Review: Insomniughhh 2

Insomniughhh 2
Ashley
https://sites.google.com/view/insomniugh

Insomniughhh 2 is a black and white quarter-sized zine about life with a circadian rhythm sleep disorder.

I reviewed Insomniughhh 1 not long ago and was very curious to see where it went from there. Where the first zine walked more of an educational zine path, issue two dives into perzine territory.

Ashley writes about the heartbreaking isolation and troubles that can come with being someone who has a different clock to the 9-5 that is meant to be ‘normal’. There’s no holding back on topics like faking normal, the quest to find medications that actually work (and continue to work), and more.

I sympathised a lot with Ashley’s ‘graveyard of pills’ having had one of my own for my own conditions up until the point I moved a few months ago. That being said, I do think a ‘Things I’ve Bought While on Ambien’ is in order if Ashley ever feels up to it.

There is a little more margin watching that needs to happen for this zine with an entire line of one page cut off the bottom. But once again, Ashley pairs text and graphics an what I think is a balanced way.

While the two zines do differ, I feel like they’re a good pair that readers would do well to pick up together. In the first, you will find more info, but the second will give you a better glimpse of the reality.

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Zine Review: Confessions

Confessions
?
notyourleo@outlook.com

Confessions is a quarter-sized zine about beauty standards and growing up Filipino with a desire to be white.

Confessions gets right into things with no introduction as such nor table of contents. While I must admit this did throw me at first, the subject matter pulled me right in just as quickly.

The zinemaker writes about growing up with girls who were ā€˜obsessed with getting their skin palerā€™ and how it was actually difficult to find cosmetic products that didnā€™t have bleachers in them. The pressure to be white didnā€™t only come from peers, however, with the zinemakerā€™s own grandmother chiming in.

They go on to write about how in the rare instances that Filipinos are in the spotlight, they are often pale with perfected looks.

To put it bluntly, this zine made me sad. But it did so in an important way. I grew up with girls complaining about wanting to be darker ā€“ a story so similar to this zine but with the opposite colours involved.

Thatā€™s why these stories are so important to share as many perspectives as possible and maybe just come to new, better conclusions.

There are bright notes to be found with the author writing ā€œi honestly think im beautifulā€ at one point. In a zine that touches on the pressure not only from media but from friends and family to be something else, I found that especially beautiful.

In regards to the contact details, I actually have the zinemakerā€™s name written down, but at no point in the zine is a name mentioned. I donā€™t know if thought was actually put into the choice ā€“ and I may be reaching with this ā€“ but it serves the subject. It gives this zine a feeling of being one story in many ā€“ highlighting the problem itself.

Confessions ends nearly as abruptly as it begins, but writing things that way is growing on me. Itā€™s as if someone has dropped a box containing a life experience in front of me and simply said, ā€œdeal with itā€ instead of wrapping it up with pretty beginning and ending ribbons.

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Happy Mail… Wednesday? You Bet It Is

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Helloooooooooo zine friends! It is Happy Mail Monday on Wednesday because sometimes life feels awful, and we get caught up in that feeling and all the ‘stuff’ and forget about what we love. But then sometimes we remember, we smile, and we get back to the being of being.

That was a really long intro, but it’s been a hell of a week, and it’s barely halfway over, so there we are. And here we go with that snail maily goodness.

It boggles my mind that there is so much talent in this one person! Hollie’s art style cheers me up when I am feeling blue, and oh, the glorious happy mail! Hollie even sent along a beautiful blue bracelet. I love it so much! Also, I do believe this is a copy of Hollie’s very first A5 sized zine. I’m looking forward to checking it out.

Due to my delay in posting, I received a double dose of Sober Bob awesomeness. Woo! I am so into Bob’s free zine $50 minimum. It’s one of those zines I’ll keep with me until the moment I’m able to sit down and read it. The one before last came with a bogan (Australian red neck – sort of) scavenger hunt that I nearly started playing today before I realised I left the list as home. (SIGH)

Sober Bob also teams up with Wolfram to make awesome stickers – and they sent me some! Love it!

These zines get a big fist bump to the sky in celebration of their arrival. They’re a trade from Izalixe Straightheart all the way over in Canada. There were address hiccups and returns to sender, but we finally made the trade! Woohoo! I’m so looking forward to reading these.

Last but not least, we have some mystery mail from New York state that, frankly, I’m surprised made it through customs. The zine is the package in it’s a zine with the sides shut by small adhesive strips, and inside there is a small… single frame of a film strip? (I know. I’m regretting not taking a pic when I had the light.) It’s in a small metal frame, so… colour me impressed that customs don’t even appear to have opened it.

Anyway, there’s no note or anything that I’ve been able to find yet, so I’m not sure who it’s from, if they want a review or… But thanks for the cool zine plus extra cool film thingy. šŸ™‚

That is the gorgeous mail for the week (and a couple days). I am so grateful to have such amazing envies of goodness in my life – especially during the times when my life feels a bit awful. Thank you to everyone who takes the time and the postage to send some sunshine my way. My best wishes to you all!

That’s me for today. Until next time…

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#ZineWriMo Day 29 – WIP Wednesday

Hello, zine friends! It’s the last WIP Wednesday of ZineWriMo 2017! I hope you were able to get your zine on today or have already accomplished your goals so you didn’t need the work day.

I am very happy to say that I have finished Don’t Call Me Cupcake 9.5!

It’s so cute to see a mini DCMC. Haha. When I was trying to write about my move, everything felt too big and messy for one zine. I put this one series of events in a mini-zine of its own to help me process it away from everything else.

I actually almost stopped at one point, the doubts closing in, but I withheld judgement until I finished it. I am so glad I did. I think it works as its own zine, its own event.

I also have all the writing, proofing, and printing done for Don’t Call Me Cupcake 9. I just have to assemble the zines. I love this part!

That’s me for today. Feel free to leave links in the comments to your works in progress.

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#ZineWriMo Day 28 – Make a Zine About Zines

Zine zines! I love zine zines! I’ve enjoyed a book or two about zines, but a zine about zines! Love, love, love.

Oh, there I go getting ahead of myself. Hello there, wonderful zine friends! We’re nearly there, aren’t we? Nearly to the end of this month and onto the final month of the year. But before I get ahead of myself yet again, I’ll get to today’s ZineWriMo task:

Make a zine about zines.

As I mentioned above, I do love a zine zine. I’ve made two so far. The mini-zine ‘What’s All This Then?’

I ended up handing this out at the Melbourne Art Book Fair earlier this year to anyone who looked thoroughly confused by all the zines (and there were plenty).

There’s also the first of what I hope will be a long-lived series, Paper Currency:

I’m so happy with the response to this zine and am looking forward to digging into making the second. If you’d like to advertise your distro/library/site/etc inside, please let me know!

Of course, if you want to learn about zines, you can start where I started quite a few years ago:

I’m fairly sure there’s a more revised version (or two) out there. I need to get a copy because I’m also fairly sure someone pinched my copy. Such is the way, eh? That’s how good this is! I highly, highly recommend it.

Oh! I nearly forgot another favourite:

This one is by Davida Gypsy Breier of Xerography Debt fame.

I’m sure I’m forgetting others I love, too, but that’s what I get for posting so late.

Alas, issues remain, and I have to delay the Happy Mail for another day. Please let me know in the comments if you made a zine zine today and/or have made one in the past. I would absolutely love to see itQ

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#ZineWriMo Days 26 & 27

Hello, zine friends, and happy start to the final week of November! And not even a full week at that. Eeesh. How the time is flying.

Today I’m combining days 26 and 27, so let’s jump right in.

Day 26: Try Something New: Make a Collage

Okay, so it’s less collage and more just ripped up pieces of paper, but it turned into a background I rather liked for one of my zine covers. (Bonus cookies if you know which one.)

I used to feel that collages just weren’t my thing, but after giving a few a go, I’m rather liking it. I do need to pick up some magazines, though. I need more inspiration.

On to today!

Set Your Zine Free

A beautiful facet of the zine community is the free zine. The zine given away or traded for the love of zine-ing. Many distros with physical shops have free sections or baskets for you to get into to your hearts’ delight.

If you’re in the Brisbane and like the look of some of the zines I’ve made so far this ZineWriMo, drop in at Copy & Destroy Zine Library. I sent a little somethin’ somethin’ for their free section earlier this month.

I wasn’t able to drop off any copies of my zines out and about today, but I was planning on dropping them at my library. Your local library can be a great place to do this without provoking your anxiety.

That’s me for today. Happy mail and ZineWriMo day 28 coming tomorrow. ^_^