Art Journaling and My first ever Kits!

So as you all may or may not know I have been going pretty strong on my Art Journal obsession this past year - I decided to take it to another level this weekend and make my very first Art Journal Kits!!

I was pretty stoked about it! It contains pieces from my personal stash and some new pieces I picked up this weekend - like the little jellyfish and sticker sheet. 

I even spent time to make a kawaii header package for it - pretty proud about it!

I was so inspired I made two other ones the next day :

A Blue Back Street Boy kit.

 This one is Yellow with Michael Jackson and Power Rangers!

Here they are all together 

I love how pretty and inspiring they look together! I can see them for sale at local stores hanging on a wall! 

I think these are one of my favorite products I've created in years because it fuels my passion for shopping and sourcing fun kawaii things - and assembling them into something someone can get inspired with and create some new with!

I have a couple other new products in the works! I am getting some fabric printed with one of my drawings for patches! I also sourced more things for the kits - including some Sailor Moon sticker / trading card packs! 

I wish I had more Kawaii friends locally - I was thinking about making a little flyer and posting around town to see if anyone would be interested in in a Kawaii Crafting Club? What do you guys think?

p.s. if you are interested in any packs they are for sale at my etsy!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Jemnifur

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Jemnifur

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Jemnifur

International Zine Month (Day 29) : Zine Collection Photo.

Day 29 : Post photo of you with your zine or zine collection.

So this has been kind of a tradition for me to pose with my zines for the photos on etsy where I sell them. It all started with Lolita Issue 1 :

I wanted to dress up like one of the girls that I had illustrated in the zine.

Lolita Issue 2 was all about panda's and I made a little panda mask to wear for this photoshoot!

Lolita Issue 4 was my Raw food issue.

Lolita Issue 5 was all about Robert Downey Jr. !

The 15 - a zine I did on 15 different topics. 

I loe you! - zine I did with different date ideas.

I haven't done a photoshoot for one of my zines since I first moved to NYC nearly 4 years ago. It's high time I get to it!

International Zine Month (Day 27) : Organize a zine event!

Day 27 : Organize a zine event! : any size! big or small!

So I had been considering this since I started this challenge. Because I have enjoyed doing these challenges every day (or every other day when I have time) and well I wanted to keep on with this - it was helping me be so much more productive than I have in a VERY long time. But I couldn't find any other challenges that I liked - most of them were exercise related - or if they were creative they were one word prompts. I liked this challenge so much because it was specific and it had you do actual things - and different things. I would get bored if it was the same thing each day ( like with drawing challenges) so I decided to try my hand at coming up with my own Monthly challenge.

So here it is! I made it with the same dimensions as the Zine Monthly challenge so you can do as I did and print it out  (link for bigger one here) and keep it in front of your desk to influence and inspire you. I added pictures of some of the things you will be doing during the month to get you excited as well! 

I hope that some of you will be following along and doing the challenges as well. I've even created my own hashtag for this event to use on instagram and such (and if you use it I will post some of the photos here!) 

Hashtag : #JemChallenge 

Feel free to share this image on other social networks as well!

I am excited for next months challenges and I put some easy self indulgent ones in there as well. Because some days I was just too tired to do the challenge but really wanted to - and if it is an easy one like 'eat watermelon' I think I can press myself to do it!

International Zine Month (Day 26) : Submit something to a compilation zine.

Day 26 : Submit something to a compilation zine.

Another thing to check off my zine check-list that I've never done! It was actually a little bit difficult to find a zine that was looking for submissions that was something I was interested in - or had knowledge in.

But thankfully Sarah over at Winged Snail mail was looking for submissions for her snail mail themed zine! I mean how could you get any more me!

I shot her an email asking if I could mail her a copy of a pamphlet I made on pen palling would work for her zine - otherwise I could create something new for her as well!

International Zine Month (Day 25) : Teach someone about zines.

Day 25 : Teach a friend or family member about zines.

I would like to think that most people who know me (friends and family included) have to in some part know about zines considering I've been blabbering on about them in one way or another for the past 6 years.

I've given explanations as best as I can to people when they ask about them - or show them one as reference.

There have been a lot of 'What are zine' books I've read, or online articles I've come across in my time as a zinester so I decided that I will just post some of those links below as examples for people to check out!

Wikipedia's definition of 'What is a zine' : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine

The popular blog Rookie's explanation on what a zine is and how to make one! 

http://www.rookiemag.com/2012/05/how-to-make-a-zine/

The Barnard Zine Library gives an explanation from a zine of what a zine is 

https://zines.barnard.edu/definition

International Zine Month (Day 24) Organize Zine Collection.

Day 24 : Organize your zine Collection.

So unfortunately I have been way too busy this week to do some of these challenges on time - and so instead of beating myself up about it - I've decided to just post what I can about each of them.

As for organizing my collection - it does need to be done, but we are moving again in about a month (not sure where yet) so organizing it before I move and have no idea where they will be going in a new place seems kind of pointless.

But I will post some zine collections and their organization for future inspiration!

And lastly here is a photo of me from a couple of years ago checking out a friend's zine collection.

International Zine Month (Day 23) Make a One Page Zine

Day 23 : Make a one Page Zine

I've made two different one page zines before. Both for specific occasions.

The first was for a superhero party that my boyfriend's bar was hosting. I decided to create my own superhero or anti-hero named "Madem Lovely Tights" and came up with a zine story about her.

The second was for a 'Grease' themed birthday party that I was going to here in NYC, I made this zine for the birthday boy.

This time around I wanted to make a mini-edition zine based off my Kiss & Tell zines. I decided to do one that was based off of pictures I've taken of myself over the years that has some idea of 'sexy' to me. 

Unfortunately I am horrible at figuring out proper print layouts when it comes to photoshop and my printer so that is why this is still not done - but I thought I would post a work in progress. 

I still want to add some translucent pages in the middle pages with an overlay of quotes from my sex blog Goldicocks so that is another thing I am working on for it as well.

International Zine Month (Day 22) : Send your zine to a zine library.

Day 22 : Send your Zine to a zine library.

As already noted in Day 21 I have most all of my zines at the Barnard Zine Library here in NYC.

So today I decided I would post about the zine mail/trades I have received since the last post.

The first is from (Day 3) Challenge : Order from a zine Distro. I chose http://www.sweetcandydistro.com and my order got lost in paypal but the owner graciously remedied the situation and let me order a couple of other zines for free to make up for it! So here is my lot from that order

The second is a zine trade from (Day 13) challenge. I traded with the amazing Sarah McNeil (https://www.etsy.com/shop/SarahMcNeil) and received these lovely goodies. She prints a lot on a risograph which I have always been interested in because it looks so beautiful!

The third was a zine trade with Jennibelle (https://www.etsy.com/shop/paperclayjunkie). Who makes amazing handmade journaling supplies as well as zines! A girl after my own heart! I was stoked when she said she would trade! Also it came in this super colorful and fun packaging! 

Snail mail is kind of an addiction to me. Receiving mail gives me such a high!