Heart Handmade Holiday Zine

" Heart Handmade Holiday Zine: "It may be the ultimate cliche, but there truly IS something special about the Holidays.

And for those of us in the handmade community, this time of year brings an extra layer of excitement as we see an incredible explosion of creativity from the artists and designers in our world.


It's that sense of creativity energy that inspired me to put together the Heart Handmade Holiday Zine - which is available...

(1) as a preview (via issuu.com/hearthandmade), split up into three parts: part I, part II, part III or...


(2) download the zine in three parts: part I, part II, part III
warning: the files are kind of large, but I promise it'll be worth the wait!!

The Zine includes an inspiring collection of stories, wishes, tips, recipes and gift ideas from some of the talented people who've contributed to Heart Handmade in 2008. Plus a few of my personal favorite artists have donated print-your-own art prints and gift tags!!! Yay!!

I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had putting it together. Let's raise a Holiday toast to the Handmade Community!

Best,

PS. I'm taking off for the rest of the week!!! I'll see you back here on Monday - a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating this Thursday and Friday!!

"

Pikaland's 9 Tips to be More Creative

"
Pikaland's 9 Tips to be More Creative:


Amy Ng, Pikaland blogger and artist collaborator extraordinaire, has many a helpful article on creativity, business and life in her zine, The Good to Know Project. Amy hosted a Virtual Lab as part of our Holiday Workshops for Sellers series on Getting Out of the Box (you can find the recap here). I asked Amy to share more tips on sparking the creative process with Storque readers. Here they are...


About fueling creativity:

1. Creativity is fueled by experiences, sights, sounds and smells. Sitting still won’t bring new ideas in; experimenting and trying new things will jog your creativity.


2. I maintain a certain pattern to the day, with my morning bath signaling to me that I am starting my work with a fresh mind and spirit. After breakfast is when my day officially begins — I turn on the radio and look at my to-do list (see #3).


3. I jot down notes every night before I go to bed about what I need to accomplish the next day. This way, I’m actively placing my worries onto paper so I can go to bed not fretting about what needs to be done.


4. I have a box labeled for each different project I’m involved in, so I don’t worry about misplacing things or ideas. (This one was inspired by The Creative Habit.)


5. I also keep a different sketchbook for different topics and ideas. I have one for business, one for random sketches and another for my writing. And in these sketchbooks I sometimes allocate different sections so that my thoughts don’t get messed up too much (there isn’t a search function on them, like a computer has!).


6. I throw these sketchbooks all over the place, so when I have a thought I scribble it down quickly.


7. I try and find the pattern between things, and connect the dots between random things just for fun when I’m stuck in a rut. For instance, when I see the color yellow around me, I start to focus on finding yellow things — stuff that I didn’t notice before will show themselves to me. I’m heightening my sense of awareness because I’m narrowing my focus to one thing.


8. Doing things differently helps. I love calligraphy, but sometimes I seem to be stuck in a rut — it seems that I could only write in a certain way! So I stop, and see what others are doing, and try to analyze what I could do differently. A little more pressure on the downward stroke? Or how about adding more flourishes to that letter? It took me about a week of constant practice to free up my hand. If you’re stumped for ideas, have a look at Keri Smith’s 100 ideas to get you started.


9. Practice, practice, practice. Creativity is like a muscle that you need to flex regularly. I dread staring at a blank piece of paper, but everything begins with that first stroke. I’m a perfectionist, so I train myself to not use erasers at all when I’m drawing. And if I do make mistakes, I start on a new piece of paper — that way I let new ideas in and not just dwell on what I previously did.

Here are some books in my collection that I pick up whenever I need a boost:

1. The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp: I love this book. Twyla is a dancer and choreographer, but a lot of the things she has to say cuts across all disciplines.


2. How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum by Keri Smith: Keri reminds everyone to put on their explorer goggles and look at the world with new eyes — I did a review of her book here.


3. Living Out Loud by Keri Smith: Although the book is a little girlish for guys, I love the article she wrote about how to find what you love to do.


4. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho: This is an amazing book that I pick up and read again and again. The message is simple — you won’t find what you’re looking for until you follow through on your dreams.


5. How to be an Illustrator by Darrel Rees and Nicholas Blechman: I like how they talk to illustrators and get their feedback on running a creative business.


6. Lines & Shapes by Lena and Mav: Amazing artists and beautiful, beautiful pictures. I have volume no. 5 and I treasure it.


7. The first issue of the Good to Know project: I like keeping a copy on my bookshelf so I can read up on what my friends have to say about being creatively stuck.

 | More Posts on Creativity |

"

How To - make a Zine from one sheet of paper

from the same inspiring website as the previous post - Doodlers Anonymous - comes another interesting link. it's not something never-seen before, actually, it's a bit of a re-run hahah
(i mean, i've posted about this before, with video links included... blah, so much for original tutorials!)

A Zine from One Sheet of Paper

Many thanks to Super Duper for putting this all together. You can
download the art (with complete instructions) here »

......................................
be sure to check out that Super Duper link, and even browse around the website a little ;-) they have a category specially for ZINES!

[ ok, i'll spoil all the fun and give you the direct link http://superduper.shapesofsweetness.com/category/zines/ ]

Links: Zine libraries/archives online

first of, let's start with my latest find in the Internets:

http://zinelibrary.info/


and then move on to another cool archive website on zines:

http://punksishippies.blogspot.com/

both these websites have hundreds of zines available for download - for FREE!! 
(no shit, it really is free. well, except when they have files hosted on some servers like megaupload or rapidshare, and there you have to wait a while between downloading multiple files from their servers, unless you buy a "premier account" and stuff like that)


they are on PDF file format or plain scanned image files on zip/rar files. some zines are ony available for reading them online, but you can't have it all, can you?


either way, i'm sure it will guarantee you hours and hours of fun :-D

The Unemployment Game Show: Are You *Really* Unemployed? - From Mint.com

The Unemployment Game Show: Are You *Really* Unemployed? - From Mint.com: "

From http://Mint.com - Are you *officially* unemployed? The reported rate actually excludes millions of jobless Americans.

To learn more, visit: http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/unemployment-rate-video/

"

--- actually, this is a funny (ok, sarcastic humor though, i know!) coincidence that i found this on Google reader's postings this afternoon...

LINKS: Zines & Distros

from the idea of the blogger gadget - the links list i called "IN THE MAILBOX LATELY" - that's on the right side of my blog, i decided it was time to compile a list of the zines i've been buying outside "major" distros (i mean Microcosm), and specially linking them to their authors.
i noticed i had edited those links list and had removed some people and that's not fair because they all really deserve to be known!


ZINES @ etsy & other websites
[note: i know many of you zine-lovers are not much into the commercial side of online shops like Etsy. i'm posting links to etsy shops because that's where i'm able to buy these zines from their authors. either way, most of them mention their personal website/blog on their etsy shop, so you can always contact them for finding alternative ways of buying their zines directly from them]

Chantilly [One Shot Zine] (country: Canada)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/chantillys

Pinchdog Press (Kate Andres-Toal) [Riot Wife zine, Cultivator zine & more] (country: Canada)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/okate

Alex Wrekk [Brainscan zine & more] (country: USA)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/brainscan

Erin Partridge [Anon zine] (country: USA)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/2littlewings

Filka (E J Zyla) [Haich zine & more] (country: Australia)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/Filka

The Ephemeral Mailbox Museum (Niku Arbabi) [Polaroid-Celluloid zine & more] (country: USA)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/niku

Tiny Paper Hearts [ Epitaph for my Heart zine, Shy Like A Punched Pie zine & more] (country: Australia)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/amandapandajapanese

Ayun Halliday [The East Village Inky zine] (country: USA)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/Ayun

Missy Kulik [Kneehigh mini series zines & more mini comics] (country: USA)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/sugarcookie

Katie Haegele [The La-La Theory zine & more] (country: USA)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/thelalatheory

Eleanor Jane [Girl Photographer zine & more] (country: Wales/UK)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/eleanorjane

Lamesha [CocoaPuss zine] (country: USA)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/CocoaPuss

redguard [Absent Cause zine & more] (country: USA)

-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/redguard

Amber [Culture Slut zine, Fight Boredom zine & more] (country: Canada)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/helloamber

Maranda Elizabeth [Telegram Ma'am zine & more] (country: Canada)
-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/schoolformaps

Sandy [Marbles zine & more] (country: Australia)

-- http://sandylovesyou.com

Tom Hendricks [Musea zine & more] (country: USA)
-- http://musea.us/

Pippa [Rebel Grrl zine, 50:50 zine & more] (country: UK)

-- http://rebelgrrlzine.weebly.com

Clementine Cannibal [Licking Stars Off Ceilings zine & more] (country: Canada)

-- http://sites.google.com/site/clementinecannibal

Laura-Marie [Functionally ill zine & more] (country: USA)

-- http://dangerouscompassions.blogspot.com

Nicole Harris [Introvert zine] (country: USA)

-- http://www.myspace.com/introvertzine

Chris Mikul [Bizarrism zine] (country: Australia)

-- only known contact by email -- cathob@wr.com.au

Keith Rosson [Avow zine] (country: USA)
-- http://keithrosson.com

Cindy Crabb [Doris zine & more] (country: USA)
-- http://www.dorisdorisdoris.com

» last updated - 2010/01/01

well, these are it for now, as far as i can remember and as far as my research through etsy & paypay emails go ;-)

if you sent me your zine and i forgot to mention you here, please leave your comment on this post!!
»» also, there are many more zines i really like that i bought in bulk orders from distros. in time, hopefully i'll add them to this list too ;-))
just a short list of these zines: Doris; Ker-Bloom!; Avow; You Don't Get There From Here; anything by Corinne Mucha; Black Carrot; Rocket Queen; ...]

DISTROS @ online

Click Clack Distro [by Nicole Harris, of «Introvert» zine]
(country: USA)
-- http://www.clickclackdistro.com

Small World Buttons [by Alex Wrekk, of «Brainscan» zine]
(country: USA)
-- http://smallworldbuttons.bigcartel.com

Microcosm Publishing (country: USA)
-- http://microcosmpublishing.com

Riot Grrrrrr Distro [by Cindy Crabb, of «Doris» zine]
(country: USA)
-- http://www.dorisdorisdoris.com/zines.html

video - DIY: How to Make a Zine

i found this cool video on YouTube, by SamProof, were he demonstrates how to make a zine (small format, about 7.5 cm by 10.5 cm, that's about 2"95 by 4"13) without using glue/staples/stitching/etc, just by a special but simple folding process!

see it here:
DIY - How to Make a Zine; Paper, Scissors, Pen - Rockin!


i've tried making some mock-ups of this mini-zine style and it's fun, opens a lot of perspectives ;-)
give it a try yourself! have fun!

The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies

click here to visit:
http://www.drawger.com/?what=shows&show_id=32
(hosted by Lou Brooks)

i found this interesting museum through About.com: "How many of these rulers, plastic templates, gauges, bottles of goo, and pens have you used or still use in your art or design projects?" 
and what's also really cool about this webpage, is that you can submit your own pictures of art supplies to add up to the museum's collection ;-)