I love penpals

I recently sent one of my penpals a copy of Interview Clothes and they sent this back:

Cutest!

JB

Penpalling In the Age of Internet.

We’ve got a snow day today so I’ve been watching episodes of the 9th Doctor in bed and doodling. Laaaazy. Of course this is D.C. so there is like an inch of snow.
<3 JB

p.s. the font in the banner is based off the font mentioned by Julia in this post.

Wednesday craft day.

Cut up pages from a children’s book and rubber stamped letters on bristol board.

I got a letter from Naomi of Tuff Town today! It was on the back of a map which was cool. Also they pretty much have convinced me to actually print Sassyfrass 6.

Practicing lining up letters with rubber stamps.

Cutting scales for a project I’m working on.

Also, I got the new issue of Culture Slut in the mail and this awesome pin! I’m such a good model, ha!

I’ve also been making garland-y things

Some of them are skulls. Also I was dying stained shirts different colors and my glove ripped, if you were wondering why my hand is blue.

That kid will stop at nothing to keep procrastinating! I am a very productive procrastinator. Off to fold laundry.

<3 jb

Sad empty mailbox.

If you need my address, comment with your infoz.

<3 jb

Doctor, it’s a sketchbook case.

Been too sleepy to draw. I like cutting things up though, it appeals to me.

Also, I haven’t been posting about mail or zines I get but today I got a letter from one of my favorite pen pals that was so pretty and good that I needed to take pictures of it. You know when you’re stressed out and you get mail that makes you feel better about life? Also, someone named Carly who has a radio show called Earful of Queer in Ontario made buttons of a line from Femme a Barbe and sent me some!

The button says “Tear Shit Down and Pour Glitter on the Ruins,” from F.A.B. Vol.1. Also, if there is to be a Vol. 2, I need funds, so if anyone wants to donate in exchange for art, you would be the hair hero of life. The hairo.

<3 j.b.

got a bunch of mail this week! including hella art/perzines

Got these little letters from Ocean Capewell and my fellow Girl Scout Camp counselor Squid. I like little letters because they say “I am really fucking busy but I was thinking of you and took the time to write you this little letter.” Expect some sweet little letters back.

I also received this epic letter from sves. It contains so many goodies that really it should be called a package. In addition to a letter and gorgeous original artwork by one of my favorite artists (sves, obviously), it also contained two great zines:

the everyday moment and

Armful of Too Much to Think About #1

Here is an inside page from Armful of Too Much to Think About:

the everyday moment is about roadtripping to Halifax and features a lot of sweet drawings. sves writes: “This zine is about me remembering things, about a town that I left, only to be reminded of the things while being on vacation.” The typwritten parts of the zine are a little hard to read but all is forgiven. The zine captures the almost surreal quality of leaving home, and the importance of taking risks. It’s 10 pages half-sized black & white photocopy hand-sewn with thread. Armful of Too Much to Think About is a little meatier in terms of page length and variety of content. sves writes: “The zine is a collection of stories and thoughts from the last year, as i moved out of my house and started to find communities and people that i felt comfortable in.” There are a lot of absolutely gorgeous drawings in this zine and writings on identity, love, sex, and how to make ROOT BEER CHOCOLATE CAKE which I really need to try. This zine is 20 pages half-sized black & white photocopy and stapled. To negotiate terms of getting your hands on one of these beauts, e-mail sves at artsves [at] gmail [dot] com (for now).

I also got a whole mess of zines from Chelsea Dirck, which was exciting because I forgot that I had sent her my zine!

Chelsea is a damn good artist, she has a lot of pages from these zines posted on her flickr so I would click that link I attached to her name and check them out. I don’t have time to do them justice since I really need to eat some microwaveable food and then go do massive amounts of work. But I will say that she uses the space of the zine in a way that I never thought to…each page is like a canvas and she uses negative space brilliantly. Each one is $3 or negotiated trade. More info here.

My stomach and my microwave are making a cosmic brain wave connection right now.

Hope everyone is staying warm…I live in a house shaped cube of ice.

<3 j.bee

if only there was a major in epic penpal-ing.

these are getting sent out tomorrow. i’m out of stamps so i need to get some more before i can send out more epic mail.

off to start my actual work, now that it’s 2:30 in the morning.

<3 j.bee

There are few things I love more than getting mail.

This weekend I got a mix cd from this kid I’ve been chatting with on OKCupid (hey, pen pals come from all over), and another letter from A. Sparkles, greatest pen pal ever, who has just returned from the epic beet harvest in the frozen steppes of North Dakota. Right now I’m working on sending out more issues of Sassyfrass #4, trying to work a little on my thesis, and do the massive pile of dishes in my kitchen. I also have some design work due tomorrow, so probably no new comic today. Soon, soon.

Ignore the fact that I still have massive bedhead. Although that’s actually what my hair usually looks like.

The mix’s theme was “Saudade” and included the following songs:
1. Cat Power- Rockets
2. Grouper- Heavy Water/ I’d Rather Be Sleeping
3. Crinkles- Minds Do Go
4. Department of Eagles- The Horse You Ride
5. The Castanets- Glory B
6. White Hinterland- Icarus
7. Grizzly Bear- Deep Sea Diver
8. Des Ark- If By Gay You Mean Totally Fucking Awesome, Then Yeah, I Guess It’s Pretty Gay
9. Wye Oak- For Prayer
10. Built to Spill- Life’s A Dream
11. Chad Van Gaalen- Mini TVs
12. Mount Eerie- Lost Wisdom
13. Cyann & Ben- Sweet Beliefs
14. Metallic Falcons- Airships

The mix I sent them with the same theme had these songs:
1. Ash Reiter- Elko
2. Annah- Tattered Screen Doors
3. Adele- Dayreamer
4. Karen Dalton- Are You Leaving For the Country
5. Okkervil River- Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas
6. Emily Bate- Sorry About Arkansas
7. Dillard Chandler- I Wish My Baby Was Born
8. Jeff Mangum- My DreamGirl Don’t Exist
9. The Mountain Goats- Source Decay
10. The Felice Brothers- Christmas Song
11. Jeff Buckley- Mama, You Been On My Mind
12. The Microphones- I Felt Your Shape
13. Hurray For the Riff Raff- Amelia’s Song

<3 j bee.

i like sending things through the mail.

sorry about the brief posting hiatus, i was at my parents’ house for the holiday, then i had my wisdom teeth removed and decided to go back to school the same day, so all the time that i haven’t been in class has been spent curled up in a ball crying.

bomb diggity.

<3 j.bee