20 Years of Ponyboy Press - Giveaway!

It's been 20 years this year that I started my first zine. It was the beginning of 1994. I'd been submitting poems and prose to small journals I found listed in Poets and Writers. Some poems of mine had been accepted by a journal dedicated to Richard Brautigan and the editor and I became friends which resulted in long phone conversations late at night. He told me about zines and Factsheet Five. I picked a copy up of Factsheet Five and read all the descriptions of all kinds of zines that could be made. I'd never seen a zine like they had listed under perzines, but I began making one right away.

Despite having been a writer and a crafter most my life and despite having graduated form SFSU with a degree in Creative Writing a few years earlier, it still had never occurred to me to make my own little book. 

I suddenly knew that a zine would be a perfect place for all the little blurbs of writing I was prone to create and all the vintage photos and ephemera I'd been collecting for no particular reason. I remember that in one of my first zines I had pasted in (no scanner access yet) a little business size promotion I had picked up when still living in Ventura 10 years earlier. I'd kept it all those years. It was an amusing ad for Desi Arnaz Jr. giving a talk in town for something like Scientology. Perfect.

My first zine was called Frank, Jasper and Me and was published in Feburary 1994. I think I made 25 copies and gave it out to friends. While I was getting it ready to print I thought it'd be fun to have a name for my "press". One night at a cheezy blues club in Mountain View Marilyn Wann and I (who was also starting her zine FAT!SO?) thought up press names as she drew little logos for me.  The stick pony logo I use for Ponyboy Press still is the one she drew on a flier for me that night.

I made seven issues of Frank, Jasper and Me, which was just a personal zine with stories from real and imaginary friends and lots of vintage clip art from old magazines and my own collection. Even though I hadn't seen other personal zines, my zine looks surprisingly like a lot of other zines from that time that I later saw. Frank, Jasper and Me always had a cover image of two guys and a girl. I really still love all the covers of FJ&Me. They aren't all accessible to me right now, but next time I come across them I will post. Here is the cover of last issue. I probably made about 75 copies of this one.

 I just came across these the other day. These are reviews that were listed in Factsheet Five for the first couple of issues.

Once I moved to Portland in the summer of 2000, my zine making really ramped up. I joined the IPRC and got involved in helping to organize the Portland Zine Symposium. I started the zines Figure 8, Imaginary Life, Paper Crush and Current Resident by 2002.

These are both issue one of the zines Paper Crush and Imaginary Life - out of print. From 2002.

The first issue of Figure 8 from 2001

I started making crafts (actually I had always made them, I just started making them to sell) and sold at the local crafts shows like the Handmade Bazaar for many years.

Handmade Bazaar around 2003

A lunchbox filled with magnets from around 2007

I estimate that I've probably printed about 1000 copies of the most popular Figure 8 zine. You can find some of the Figure 8 zines in libraries all over the world. I've had zines in art exhibits, mobile libraries and referenced in books. If you're interested in the Ponyboy Press zineography, you can find it here on the ZineWiki site.

If you think this is winding up to a good-bye, it's not. I will continue making zines and crafts, because that's how I am. However, the time between each is longer and the distribution of them will be smaller.

The Giveaway:

So, what it comes down to is this: I have lots of one of a kind crafts laying around that I am ready to pass on to someone. I don't really have the time to list them on Etsy and it seems weird to just have one item like that anyway, so I decided the anniversary of Ponyboy Press is a good time to have a giveaway.

2 winners picked at random will get a pile of Ponyboy Press Projects and maybe some zines. Some may be from ten years ago. Some may be things I made and never even offered for sale. And who knows what else I will throw in!  You may get gocco printed cards, patches, pillowcases, little booklets, buttons, magnets, pocket mirrors, zines.....you never know!

To enter, please leave a comment here or on the Facebook post that mentions the giveway. Sorry, International people, but I can only ship these goods to people in the U.S. The last date to enter is September 20th.

Hope you enjoy this giveaway. Thanks for all your support over the years!

martha stewart craft paints in the garden

Summer breeze so softly blowing,

In my garden pinks are growing;

If you'll go and send the showers,

You may come and smell my flowers.

                      

                    - Old Garden Poem

A few weeks ago I was doing some potting of some flowers and I was distressed by how faded a lot of my old containers were. Some were plastic, some were that biodegradable stuff. Either way, there need some color enhancement.

Luckily, a few weeks earlier I had been to Michael's Craft Store and bought a whole bunch of the new Martha Stewart Craft Paints.  These paints are supposed to be good for glass, metal, ceramic, plastic, wood, paper and probably more. They say on the bottle they can be used for outdoor stuff. So, I grabbed some colors and began painting all my old faded pots and added some color to my terra cotta pots.

It was instant better color and it made me happy. The above pot was a taupe color. I covered it with a light pink. Here are some more that I painted. It's a bit hard to tell with the hydrandgea taking over everything, but it looks way better than it did.

Then I painted my little table that had gotten so worn out in the sun. I happened to buy the exact color. Here's what it looked like last summer:

And here is what it looks like now. Even with the pretty Geranium covering it you can see how much better it is. It basically looked brand new. It did scratch when I put something on it though. But, that is to be expected. It wasn't sealed in anyway.

Since I painted these we've had some hot days and a number of rainy days. The pots still look really good. I'm excited to use these paints for other things. There are lots of great colors. 

Hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. I'm gonna finally plant some veggies this weekend. Here are a few more pics of the potted plants.

christmas tags from family photos

I have to admit to myself that my vision is often bigger and better than my circumstance. I had a great idea of how these Holiday gift tags were gonna look, but due to my small space and lack of good lighting, these images didn't turn out like they should have.

I'm gonna share anyway, because I think it's a good idea. All you need is a color printer and some card stock matte paper (80 # is good). I used a 3" tag puncher that I just got and am pretty into, but you could trace a tag on the back of the image or just cut out in any shape you want. It's a fun idea to have the gift have an old picture of the person the present is for, but you could also use old found photographs.

I got the idea from Sweet Paul magazine. Here's what it looks like when a professional prop stylist takes the pics.

Here's how mine turned out:

You can use non-people images from Christmas past, too. These trees are old Christmas trees of my youth that I scanned from old slides. That's my sister above ripping open a KaBoom present and me in the white fur hat and muff (so necessary for Southern California winters. You never know when it'll hit 65!).

The black and white photo is a found one from my collection.

Hope these inspire you a bit.  Next week I'm gonna have some free vintage printable tags. And check out the post on The Cedar Chest on using copies of vintage cards to make your Holiday cards.

zine season has begun

July is International Zine Month. In Portland it's also usually the month before the zine symposium and for me that means time to get in gear on the newest zine.

I'm pretty behind this year and just started today. I'm working on a new issue of Paper Crush and without giving too much away, the zine will be a nice compliment to the theme of "Postmarked 2011" for this 11th annual Portland Zine Symposium.

As a fund raiser the PDX Zine Symposium is selling postcards. For $5.00 they will send you a stamped postcard that you can decorate and send back. They'll all be on display at the symposium. It's a fun way to help out with the symposium and a great way to be there even if you can't be there.

I sent mine in last week. Here it is:

I have worked on the zine today in between cleaning out the closet in my craft den/office/record library. It feels so good to get rid of a lot of stuff. It's hard for me, though, feeling like, well, I could *do something* with this. But, if I haven't in the last five years I'm betting I won't.

So, I have the next couple of days off to work on the zine and the space clearing. It's become a ritual of mine to take a couple days off in July or August for the purpose of working on a zine.

Even in the midst of it, I am surprised that it is that time again.

I have a problem with comprehending the basic fundamentals of time.

Happy Zine Month!

make your own planner cover

Just a little pop in here to point you in the direction of this really neat project from Just Something I Made blog. It was from last week, so I am a bit late. Maybe you saw it?

She took a vintage book and a day planner and a pretty decorated file folder and made this. So nice!

Detailed directions here.

little things

My life is not very exciting. But, I like it. I find beauty and comfort in everyday things, domestic pursuits, good tv shows, music, the way the bare tree branches look against the blue sky and making things.

I have not been doing too much of the latter, but like I have said before, I am percolating lots of ideas. I hope that I can do a few of them. I have a really hard time focusing lately. I blame the internet and the concept of multi-tasking, which I know is often not beneficial, but I do anyway, because there is only so much time in the day.

I am heading out to the coast for a few days. I will be in a house with a couple of friends and there will be now internet access and no TV. I am a little nervous about having some sort of internet withdrawals, but I am mostly looking forward to it. I need some time to unplug and read and watch the ocean.

Before I leave I wanted to leave a couple images for you. Just a little document of the last week:


Above is a Valentine I made for the best guy ever. I used vintage wallpaper, did a simple stitch on it to bind it and hand wrote the entries. This is the closest to a craft I have done in a while. I borrowed the idea from someone on Etsy who was selling them. I am sorry, but I can't recall where I saw it.


It is that weird time of between winter and spring around here. It is even stranger because it is pretty early this year. Our winter, unlike most of the country has been mild.

This unflattering picture of my garden box shows that in between state. Most of the box is winter, including the hanging pots down because of the high winds we had for a few weeks. But, then there are pretty little bulbs coming up and my strawberry plant is starting to come back to life.


Right now I'm listening to a British pop rock group from 1970 that I have never heard of before. The name is Barclay James Harvest and it's that mystical Brit style music from that time. I heard them on the UK show Life on Mars. Here is a nice song to sum up this entry. The refrain is: "When we are sitting on the banks of the sunshine". It will be soon.

Hope you all have a great week!

Brother Thrush - Barclay James...

valentines day is around the corner

I really like Valentines Day. I think one of the reasons I like it so much is because the focus is on cards more than gifts and handmade is encouraged.

So, now it is a week away and it is time to get started on your project/card if you haven't already. Here are some ideas to inspire you.



I'll begin with the Valentine Match Boxes I made last year. You can always make your own version. The exact size is in the original post or you can use the free download from that post.

Printables are great, especially for people who put things off.


Valentines Labels Free Printable (above) from Mer Mag
Valentines Card Printables from Valentina Design
Valentine Printable Freebie from The Black Apple
Valentines Card Printables from Three Wheels Design



Printable Valentine Wheel (above) from Martha Stewart



If you wanna put a little extra time in there are 2 awesome looking paper cut Squirrel Valentines (above) on the Little Acorn blog. The tutorials are listed on the side.

If decorating the house is something you wanna do, a Valentine banner is a fun idea. I made one last year. You can find lots of ideas on Etsy for banners.

Another fun idea would be to place Valentines all over the house, in drawers and cars. If you want some sweet vintage valentine images for that, you can find some here and on a vintage Valentines Flickr page or on this page here.

There are also some interesting Valentines projects on this Flickr group. And of course, there is always Martha.

Okay, now I need to get to my Valentines project. Have fun!

just one more christmas post, please

I know most of us are ready to let go of Christmas, including me, but I did want to get one more post in. Today I am putting away the Christmas stuff. I heard recently it is considered to be bad luck to have Christmas decorations up after 12th night, which is January 6th (some think it is the 5th). So, yeah, I am tempting fate.

A week or so ago I finally did something that I have been meaning to do for years. I took many of the saved Christmas cards I have had and cut them up to make Christmas tags. I am not really lacking in Christmas tags, but the cards are so pretty and it is a shame to just throw them away.

It was a nice little post Christmas project and it lightened up the received Christmas cards I am saving. I used decorative scissors and a hole punch.



When I went to put away the tags I realized that one of my favorite Christmas things is the box I keep my Christmas Tags in and I wanted to share it with you. I got it at an Estate sale in the Hollywood District years ago. I am guessing it originally held stationary.


I was in the attic of the old house looking at all the holiday decorations. When I opened up the box there were Christmas tags in it and also this little prescription box from Meier and Frank (a department store in Portland). How odd that they had a Pharmacy.





Inside the prescription box were these beautiful vintage gummed Christmas seals.



This year as I was going through all the Christmas tags I found one I don't remember finding before. This is not the handwriting of anyone in my family. It must have come with the box.


Every Christmas I rediscover this box and the little box inside. It is always so nice to look at them again.

using a christmas journal

I am the kind of person who makes lots of lists. I always want to buy blank books and memo pads even though I have tons of them. You know my type.

One of the things I love to do is start a journal on a theme. I have started journals for books I have read/want to read, quotes, zine topics, projects (I have many different project lists), personal writing, travel, gardening, cooking....it goes on and on. Most of these have a few entries and not much else.

My most successful and useful theme journal to date is my Christmas journal. About ten years ago my niece gave me a velvet covered blank book for Christmas. The next year I decided that this would be my Christmas Journal and titled it such and used some vintage gummed stickers to decorate it.



Every year I make a list of the people I am buying gifts for and I make a list of people I am sending Christmas cards to. Sometimes I record how much I have spent on people and sometimes I keep a record of Christmas cards I have received too. I also use the journal for any other Christmas lists including things I need to do, craft ideas for gifts, Christmas mix tapes, ideas for next Christmas and whatever else comes up.

Each year when I take it out I look through the previous years. I moved to Portland in June of 2000 and this journal starts that December. It is neat to see what I got people in the past. Most of those gifts I would have long forgotten, but I can be reminded each time I look through the journal. It is also neat to see the crafts I made or considered making.

The list of recipients has changed a bit over the years and that is interesting to see, too. It is a reminder of friendships that have faded over the years and it is interesting to see the new names that appear each year.

This Christmas journal is a nice record to have. Last year I recorded the presents I received for the first time, just so I could have that on record, too.

The memories that this journal keeps is just a secondary benefit. The best thing is that I have it all in one place and I have the last several years to look back on to help me remember the folks on my list and the ideas I have had through the year.

It is nice to realize that at least on of my many many journals has actually lived up to plans I had for it.

Easter Greetings

Here is a shot of some eggs the Mister and I dyed last week. I hope you all have a nice Easter. I usually don't really do anything for it. But, I like the eggs and candy and decorations. The Easter Bunny dropped off a basket last night filled with the best Easter candy ever - Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs and a pretty gold rabbit and even some lottery tickets! What a sweetheart.

Well, I have slept in late. I stayed up too late last night reading a pack of letters I got at a rummage sale and researching the people online. It was very interesting. More about that soon.

Today I need to work on zines, packages and laundry. But, right now, I think I will make some french toast with this Brioche bread I got and drink some Breakfast in Bombay tea with milk and sugar. Should be good. Have a great day!

rich lovely eggs

I haven't dyed Easter eggs for years. This post from Stephanie Barnes makes me want to do it. Look at these beautiful eggs that she and her family makes with all natural dyes. They use things like beets and purple cabbage. The result is such deep rich colors. I love them. Read more about it here.

little chest of drawers

I spent some time this weekend putting together this little chest of drawers from Ikea. It isn't hard, but it isn't easy either and it is't quiet. Lots of nailing, lots.

Anyway, I wanted it for my my work table in the craft den. Once it was together I set about painting it.

I just used acrylic paints that I already had, not the paint they sell at Ikea for this purpose.

I chose turquoise, which is an odd choice if you know me, but for some reason I like it in room decor and it would match my curtains. I wanted to do three colors for the drawers in different shades of green. I had to mix one to make it work, but it turned out how I imagined it, which is always nice.

I really like the combo of turquoise and avocado green. It was used a lot on the early 70's and I think it is due for a comeback.
















After the paint, I put on a light coat of Mod Podge. I chose glossy and should have chosen matte. After I did it I remembered that glossy always seems to stay a little sticky, whereas matte doesn't seem to. But, it seems okay.


Here you can see it a little with the curtains. This little chest of drawers will soon have stuff piled up on top of it, I am sure. But, for a little while I get to see it like this.

valentines banner

I decided this year that I wanted to make a flag banner for Valentines Day. Although my significant other is not that big on the day, I thought he would like the decoration of the house since we would be dining at home. Plus I can then use it other years.

A woman I work with told me a couple years ago that she decorated the house for Valentines Day every year and I was very amused. I thought it was a neat thing to do (she doesn't do it now that her kids are in college), but it did seem odd to me. It wasn't like we ignored it in my family, but we never had decorations. This year I decided that decorating might be a good way to make the day festive without spending lots of money.


I got a pendant template on some website and used it in photoshop. I used the same template and copied 2 on one page. I cut them with extra space at the top and folded them over. I then taped them and strung with small vintage white ric rac.

I got this unopened package of vintage Valentines on Etsy. I can't bear to open it. I love it all together. I am guessing eventually I will open it up, but for now I will just display it as is.


I guess the display isn't as valentiney as I imagined. I really don't own much stuff in this color scheme. Maybe the mister will bring me some flowers to add to the display.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day!

felted love letter and musings about magazines

It might be a little late to get something like this together for Valentines Day, but I had to share it with you all. The project is from LucyKate Crafts and there is a full tutorial here. I just love this and am very excited to try it sometime. A letter + felt + sewing = the perfect combination!

I saw this because I went on to the Craft Magazine site today. They just announced that they are ceasing production on Craft Magazine. I am not a huge fan of craft magazines, only because I have so many projects already on my to-do list that a magazine full of them only overloads my brain. Also, I am not a follow the instructions kind of person. However, I am sad to see it go and sad about the many many magazines that have called it quits in the last year.

It makes me sad. Magazines are one of those simple inexpensive pleasures in life. I have always loved a good magazine. As a teenager I dreamed of being an editor of Seventeen or something like that. As a twenty-something I dreamed of starting a magazine about life for renters like the short-lived Seventies magazine Apartment Living Magazine (I still think this is a good idea - tips on dealing with landlords, small spaces, simple repairs, etc).

By making zines I got a little closer to being a magazine editor and by creating graphics and content for the web site at my day job I am also doing work similar to what I dreamed of.....but still...nothing is as satisfying as a glossy colorful gorgeous magazine.

Here is hoping that that some will survive. It will be interesting to see what comes out of it. Maybe more expensive magazines with little advertising and certainly more available on websites......I think I may go subscribe to some magazines right now. I hope I pick the ones that won't quit next week!

Valentine freebie from me to you- Valentine Match Boxes

I have spent most of the day today working on my first freebie. I got the idea to this a couple weeks ago and it pretty much turned out just as I planned, which is good, since I spent all day on it.


Make some Valentines match boxes for a unique and inexpensive gift. You can get a pack of 10 boxes for a couple bucks. Look for them in the grocery store where the charcoal is or sometimes they are near the utility cords.


I have included enough for 7 match books. I printed these on 44 lb matte presentation paper. The paper doesn't need to be that thick, but that was the best quality paper I had on hand.

If you wanna make your own designs, the size you need is about 1.4375 x 2.089. You could also decorate them by hand instead of making the decorations on the computer.


You can download the free pdf from here. I hope you all like them. Happy February! Let me know if you make them. I am excited about my first freebie. Also, there are some more picture of them on Flickr.