I'm finally making a post about LZP

I've been avoiding the internet a little... after a week on holiday -where I had access to the internet, but no desire to use it- being online again has been a bit of a shock to the system. I had so much to catch up on that I switched off and decided to come back to it later - knowing I needed to write some words about Little Zine Party pretty soon.

Well, it was a success I think. Perhaps a small one.

I'll kick off with the negatives, I feel there could be more of them, unfortunately. 

- I put myself under a fair bit of pressure, and freaked out at every opportunity in the days leading up.
- When we got to the venue I was a bit disorganised. I felt kind of shy and unable to make any decisions, and it took me a while to ask for more tables in the room. I know that sounds pretty pathetic.

- Not as many people showed up as I had expected. Originally I had made the event 'invite only' because I didn't want to be overwhelmed with people... I then made the invite 'open' and more people clicked attend, yet did not. I am well aware that 99.9% of the time people who click 'attending' will not attend. No biggie... yet I felt guilty for the zinesters who had travelled hours and hours to table.

- Some creeps graced us with their presence... again, due to shyness and feeling uncomfortable I kind of ignored them and hoped they'd go away... I realise now that I had every right to ask them to leave, and should have. I wanted to be open minded and thought they'd take something positive away from the party, but it was then obvious they just wanted to judge. So to Everyone who attended, and knows what I am talking about, I'm really sorry I wasn't on top of this.

Every negative has a positive, or something...

+ It was truly wonderful to finally meet all the zinesters I talk to online/write letters to. Everyone was AWESOME and I was so happy to have them there.

+ The workshop went okay (after said creeper left) I think some people went away feeling inspired to make their own zines, and that is what it's all about!

+ We all got to trade and buy some rad zines. I left with a nice o' stack which I'm still working through.

+ Really, it was just a lovely afternoon gathering. Despite the lack people streaming through, everyone actually had the time to talk to each other and have fun.

So that is all I have to say really. When I left part of me really worried that everyone would have regretted coming, I worried it was a huge flop and people were just being polite. I'm worrier, hah. I really don't know if I'll put Little Zine Party on again. I'd like to, but I think I'd need more help in organising it all and advertising it sooner. It was hard to think of it all on top of working full time and planning our holiday the following day. I also need to learn how to tell people I am uncomfortable, and know it is okay to ask people to leave if I don't feel they should be there.

In other news. Elderflower Tea #3 is available at Vampire Sushi and Marching Stars. I have about 4 copies left if anyone wants to trade. I also completed my 24hr zine 'Rain in July' - a small fanzine/scrapbook about my love for Miranda July. This won't be going to distro, but you can buy a copy from me for 50p or trade.

I plan on writing Elderflower Tea #4 soon. This one will be about our trip to Barcelona. I was very good and documented each day, so I'm looking forward to putting it together in a sort of memoir/travel zine.

Lastly...

A HUUUUUGE THANK YOU! TO EVERYONE WHO CAME TO LITTLE ZINE PARTY! It really wouldn't have happened without you! Thank you for travelling, tabling and supporting me <3

Last day of Internation Zine Month

Well, it is the last day of July, and so the last day of International Zine Month. I didn't get to celebrate in all the ways I had intended - mainly due to not finishing work until mid July - but I did celebrate nonetheless. So what did I do? I ordered zines from a different place. I read a lot of zines, mainly ones I had gotten from fight boredom distro , I completed a 24hr zine titled 'Rain in July' and wrote to a bunch of zinesters I love.

So, my 24hr zine 'Rain in July' will be coming along to Little Zine Party which is when everyone will see it! I decided to go with the theme of Miranda July - because it is July after all! I'll be open to trades after LZP, if there are any copies left.

So, Little Zine Party is just a few days away. I'm starting to feel a little anxious, worrying things will go wrong. I have been spending time making bunting to hang up in the area we are using and practising reading outloud from my zine. I feel like that will be the biggest part for me - to actually talk to a group of people, to read my words to them. I always shake and stumble over my words when I read to other people... it's one of those things I try to avoid - but right now I'm trying to challenge a bunch of stuff that makes me anxious, and this is one of them.

The Screen Printing Workshop has been cancelled - but I'm not too worried about that. Sure, it would have been great, but it's not the end of the world. The Zine Making Workshop will still go ahead - I need to go into town today to buy some supplies for that. If anyone coming along to the party has any old books or magazines they'd like cut up and share with others, then please do bring them! I want this event to have a real community feel - everyone coming together and sharing knowledge, skills and stories. That would be truly wonderful. 

The Little Zine Party badges I ordered came a few weeks ago, they are really sweet and I can't wait to give them out. I also received a bunch of weirdo manifestos from the lovely Maranda of Telegram Zine to hand out to folks too - this is really special as they came all the way from Canada - spreading the good weirdo word! 

The day after LZP I will be flying out to Barcelona with my beau - I really cannot wait for this trip. I think Elderflower Tea #4 will be all about my adventures in Barcelona, as well as LZP. I plan to take my journal every where I go on our trip, I want to document everything so I can write about the experience and memories.

That's all for now! 

Hello International Zine Month!

Well, July is here, and all us zinesters know that now is the time for celebrating all things Zine! This time last year I was going to Zine fairs and admiring other peoples Zines... now I am feeling like I'm part of all the shenanigans - Elderflower Tea #3 is finished, I'm taking part in the 24hr Zine Thing challenge, and I'm hosting Little Zine Party in August! Phew!

I'll be starting my 24hr Zine pretty soon & I cannot wait! In the meantime, Elderflower Tea #3 is now finished, and yours for just £2 (inc P+P) If you would like a copy, then email me elderflower-tea AT hotmail DOT co DOT uk & we'll talk paypal or trades! This copy will also be available from Marching Stars Distro in the very near future.

As for Little Zine Party - We'll have 4 fabulous people selling zines (including 2 distros!) A zine making workshop and a screen printing workshop (£2 donation & bring yr own swag to print on) We'll also be having a moment of quiet for the Zine reading. I really hope it'll be a wonderful afternoon with plenty to offer outside of the main Zine fairs around the UK. If you would like to come along, or even put your name down for the Zine reading, then please email me at the above address.

That is pretty much all I have to say right now. I wish you all a very happy International Zine Month! & tell me about your Zine celebrating!

Little Zine Party

Little Zine Party

When? Saturday 4th August from 12pm 
Where? Ort Cafe, 500-506 Moseley Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham B12 9AH

Join us for an intimate gathering at Ort Cafe, celebrating zines & DIY culture. There will be Zines for sale, Zine readings & workshops, including How To Make A Zine and Screenprinting with Dave of Ink Well. Please bring yr own swag to print on (tshirts, totes, etc) suggested donation: £2
Come along and learn about Zines & DIY, make friends & buy from our stalls. Ort Cafe will remain open, serving meals, drinks & cake.
♥ A Zine is a self made, self published ‘magazine’ created with heart & soul. Often photocopied and non-profit, Zines celebrate sharing stories, creating art, words, passion & imagination. Come & make yr own ♥ 

Contact: elderflower - tea @ hotmail . co . uk

Poor little abandoned Zine blog. I swear I had better intentions. I feel like anything I do have to share with you guys, ends up going into my zine. So if I wrote it all here, I'd just be repeating myself and boring you all silly. If anyone reads this place, anyhow.

So Elderflower Tea #3 is well and truly on the way. I'm hoping it'll be finish by the end of June. This issue will include my thoughts on being 'twee' and hiding from depression, cats, roller skating, pen palling & play lists. Elderflower Tea has taken more of a perzine turn in this issue, I'm moving away from all the whimsical and adding things from every day life. I've realised that is what I enjoy more when looking at zines, reading about peoples stories, adventures, happiness, struggles, love, pets and whatnot.

Also, after having one of those 'what if I organised a small zine event?' conversations with my partner, I've found myself actually doing it. Little Zine Party will be taking place at Ort Cafe, Birmingham on August 4th. I'll have a webpage and e-flyer up soon, so keep watching. What will be happening at Little Zine Party? Well, I'm hoping for an intimate gathering of zinester folks, selling zines, having a zine workshop and zine reading. There may also be a screen printing workshop too. I'm really excited about it, but also nervous that I might not pull it off. Hey ho!

In other news, after going to roller disco a few weeks a go, I went ahead and got myself a pair of roller skates! I want to go as often as I can as it is something I really want to get into. My birthday is coming up next month and I plan to go to roller disco with my friends to celebrate. This weekend I'll be going to Field Day festival -super excited- plus I get to see my brother! I went to 2 zine fairs this month, but I have little much to say about them.

All in all, life is okay, especially now the sunshine is here!

Toodles! xx

Janet Store order #2

This is the first order I made, but came second. I am so pleased with it, everything is adorable. The 48 pack of envelopes is amazing, all different & sweet designs! They are also big enough for putting zines in. I'm glad I discovered Janet Store, though I think I won't be ordering again for a long time! Now I need to write lots of letters :)

Janet Store order #1

Hello friends,

My Janet Store order came today. It's actually the second order I made, and has arrived before the first (so expect another post when that one arrives)

These are the things I ordered. The plushies are super cute. (sorry the image is the wrong way, the original is the right way, blogger won't let me change it)

These are things from the $10 grab bag. These bits I am fairly pleased with. The Hello Kitty charm looks a bit evil though... But she's dressed as a runner, and my boyfriend is a runner! 

These are also from the grab bag, or freebies, either way I'm definitely not overjoyed with having them. I think if I ever order a grab bag again, I will go with the 'Sanrio only' option. 

Overall I am happy I ordered from Janet Store. This order took about 8 days, though  it arrived before my first order. I think I would order from there again in the future - they stock things you can't always get in the UK (such as the plushies) or if you can then they are £££'s. I think I actually got more for my £ by ordering outside the UK than I would if I had ordered here. 

sunny day

I'm doing a real update, about life and stuff! I decided I should use this blog more, not just for zine promotion and thoughts. Elderflower Tea is always on my mind, I think about it a lot and wonder what to include, write about, use for decoration, what the cover should be like, etc. I'm trying to take more time with the 3rd issue, instead of thinking 'I NEED TO PUT ANOTHER ZINE OUT PRONTO!' I want to consider it, and think about what people would enjoy reading/seeing. I'm trying to document my adventures more in my personal journal as these are little starting points for my zine writing.

Lately I have been looking at Amigurumi patterns on the internet. I can already crochet, and improving my skills is part of what I want to do this year. I always look at the beautiful Amigurumi creatures other people make and think 'I can't do that, my skills aren't good enough'. Last week I took the time to read patterns and look up tutorials, and decided I could try and if it didn't work out, then I should keep trying. My first attempt at an Amigurumi cat was actually very successful and I didn't get too stressed out over it. Amigurumi is actually really simple if you have the right pattern (beginners/easy) and are able to use basic stitches, work in a circle, increase and decrease.

This is the finished cat :) I gave it to James. It took me around 3 hours to complete. I'm now working on another one for a pen friend. This one will be turquoise with a fabric heart on the tummy and fabric in the ears. I can't wait to finish it. They are so fun and easy to make, and make really sweet gifts. I think all my friends will get one of these from me at some point this year!

On Saturday I DJ-ed for the first time ever at Atta Girl ! Claire gave me a quick tutorial after we finished setting up, and I played slower/chilled out songs for the first 30mins or so as people arrived. I played bands like Portishead, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Feist, Cat Power, Beach house. I surprised myself because I picked it up pretty quick and really enjoyed it. I would have liked to have done it longer but it got to a point where my mind kept going blank and I couldn't think of what to play next, watching the seconds count down on the deck as I franticly looked through all the cds. Claire was a star and took over from me. I think next time I will go armed with a list that I can choose from to avoid the mind-blankness. I'm really glad I did it and had such a great time. I can't wait until the next club night!

Picture Claire took of me 

Today was beautifully sunny again. James and I decided to take advantage of it and go to the park in town for a little picnic.

Picnic fun supplies: My rucksack, Doris Encyclopedia, Doodles colouring book, pencil crayons, James' book.

A flask of tea & my lunch bag filled with sandwiches, fruit and carrot cake. yum yum!

Sunshine kids! 

Being in the sun made me feel so much better. I love this time of year when the days are getting longer and brighter, and everyone is pulling out of their winter blues and feeling happy. James and I talked about having a little garden party/bbq in the summer this year. I can't wait. I might even make invitations! 

I got some unexpected money this week (woohoo!) so I decided to make an order from janetstore I got a lot of letter pads, stickers, envelopes and deco tape. They were all really cheap. Even though the shipping is pricey I think I paid about the same amount as I would if I ordered from the UK. I actually got more for my money too. I'll be sure to take pictures when it all comes. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine. 

Wednesday afernoon

Finally doing something.

hohum

Hello!
I wanted to cycle into town today to get some zines printed for Marching Stars distro. It is raining hard, and I hate cycling in the rain. It's not so bad, but on a cold, windy day it is the last thing I want to do. Rain in my eyes with wind coming at me really freaks me out. It's like how it freaks me out to look up at the sky when it's snowing heavily. It looks like the sky is falling down.

So I told myself 'Okay, do some zine writing, be productive'.

It is 12.51pm and I'm still in my pj's...

I'm looking through tumblr, trying to find some inspiration for Elderflower Tea.

I've been reading my Doris Anthology on and off for weeks - Trying to savour it. I'm on #15 now, the Anti-depression guide. I'm finding it useful.

Invincible Summer Anthology 1 came at the weekend, I've been flicking through, trying not to read it. I want to wait until I have finished Doris.

I'm feeling an increasing need for adventure, a long lasting one. Day adventures are fun too, but I want more time to explore. I read about people travelling around on buses, visiting different cities, meeting people they write to, and I want to be one of those people doing that too.

Distro! Distro!

I have to tell you, whoever you are, how excited and happy I am.
My zines are now available on Vampire Sushi !!!!
Marching Stars also have Elderflower Tea #1 in stock now :)

Go buy them!

I don't know if anyone really reads this little place. My little corner of the internet. That doesn't matter so much, I'm just documenting some ideas. And if anyone does visit here... Hello! and please feel free to add any comments and thoughts.

Anyway. I'm now thinking about Elderflower Tea #3 and hope to have something out there during spring. Whilst I am really happy with the first 2 issues, I'm now thinking I want to go longer, maybe giving 24pages a try and sticking to this number in the future. Taking my time with it all.

Zine Meet up & Josie Long

It's raining hard outside and I'm sleepy.

Last Saturday a couple of us Midlands Zinesters from We Make Zines had a meet up. We met in the afternoon in a nice Cafe called Browns, which served sparkling Elderflower juice. Win. James and I were the first to arrive, we sat by a window and had some lunch whilst we waited for the others. I was getting a little nervous as I'm not great at coming out with a sentence first, when meeting people for the first time. However, when everyone else arrived it was a breeze. The table was full of glorious zines, everyone was trading and chatting about all sorts of things, mainly Zines/Fairs/Creativity/Tv and Radio. I took copies of Elderflower Tea #2 and was given copies of Larry by Lee Taylor , some mini Comics by Sammy Borras, and some adorable mini Zines and Colouring books by Hannah Robinson. All of these people are incredibly talented when it comes to Illustration.

After the meet up James and I headed back to our other home, Birmingham, to see Josie Long. I was SO excited about this. James got me tickets for Christmas and I had been looking forward to it since. Her show was incredibly inspiring. She talked a lot about Politics, Tory bastards and Activism. It made me think about how I don't always follow politics because a lot of the time it all goes over my head, I don't always know who-is-who or what is happening. Josie made it easy to follow and talked about her passion for Socialism and UK Uncut. Mostly, her message was not to believe that the future is as bleak as the government makes out, that people can make a difference and everyone can get involved.

I met Josie briefly as she was giving out her Zine to the audience. I quickly grabbed both issues of Elderflower  Tea out of my bag and gave them to her. She seemed really touched and asked my name. When she had gone I turned to James and beamed. That lady is rad.

Elderflower Tea #2 Update

I love crappy webcam photos.

Here it is! #2 of Elderflower Tea! I got to cycle into town on Lola which felt great. At the library the guy with the beard and lip piercing was helping me at the copier, he said 'You're not one of those trendy bloggers are you?' I told him no, and that this was my zine. He then said 'Are those the published things? I don't know much about them because I am cool'. I gave an awkward smile then told him I knew what to do with the copier next... 

So, what can I tell you about Elderflower Tea #2? Well, the layout and overall look is much, much cleaner. There aren't many spelling mistakes and nothing has been cut off (YAY!). In this issue I talk about what I did in 2011, and what I hope 2012 will bring. I also talk about a personal subject for the first time which is about sensitivity. I also talk about zines, my bicycle & other fluffy things. 

#2

Somehow I have managed to type up everything for Elderflower Tea #2!
I spent this afternoon banging away on my typewriter non-stop, getting stiff knees from sitting crossed legged so long & made hardly any mistakes. How did this happen?!
I'm happy, because now I can do the most fun part, put everything together and decorate, hooray! I'm not putting pressure on myself to get it put together and printed right away, I think maybe it'll be finished later next week.
I've surprised myself... I wasn't sure what to write about in this issue, then as I started doing drafts everything just came together.
The front and back cover is done, I just need to write my intro.

time for tea, my deer

happy girl, big cup of tea and the doris anthology!