📞 “I'm activating the phone tree!” 🧹✨
Don’t mind me, I’m just recruiting for my coven of dog-witches…
Dear friend,
Welcome to Paper Crane Feelings #4 — and the last newsletter of the year!
If you are a Snail Mail Club member who has a dog, please ask them if they want to join my dog coven. (Don’t skip over the Snail Mail Club updates if you want the details.)
I guess I should say ‘Goodbye’ to 2024 — and I rather want to add ‘Good Riddance!’ This was a pretty challenging year for me, and I’m guessing it possibly was for you, too. Sometimes it’s easy to remember the tough stuff, though, while the good things seem harder to recall. Does that also happen to you?
When I was working on my bachelor’s degree a few years ago, we had access to free counseling sessions through the school. I recall one session, after I’d been going for a little while, in which I complained that I didn’t think counseling was actually helping me accomplish anything. The counselor immediately flipped through his notebook and said, “Well, actually…” and proceeded to list quite a few issues that we’d identified and that I’d worked to resolve during my time there.
I replied sheepishly, “Oh, well, that’s pretty cool, I guess.”
Since then, I’ve made it a point to record both the good and the bad as a reference for my future self. I’ve always felt a little jealous of people who journaled, because I could never find my way into it. But I do like the feeling of untwisting my thoughts and ideas a bit with a particular week laid out visually between two planner pages, where I can both make plans and add notes about how the week has unfolded.
So rather than share my wins and losses of 2024 here, I thought I would just tell the story about that moment in counseling where I realized that sometimes my brain needs help recalling the good stuff. That is why keeping notes in my planner is one way I practice self-care and self-love.
If you also struggle to recall the good stuff, maybe there’s a method of recording your happy moments and wins that would work for you. Perhaps that involves making notes on a calendar or in a planner, writing in a journal or notes app, putting sticky notes on the wall, recording voice memos, or something else that I haven’t imagined here.
In my experience, people tend to be a little hard on themselves. I hope this suggestion could provide an opportunity to celebrate what you’ve accomplished, even if it was just a moment that you reacted in a way you were proud of or a day that you tackled a difficult task that you’ve been putting off. No win is too small!
Current Projects
Snail Mail Club updates.
FALL. With the Fall mailings, I’ve very much seen the results of the slowdowns that the Postmaster General has implemented for USPS. Everything took longer than normal, with some arriving over three weeks after I mailed them! Additionally, I’ve still only confirmed about half of the zines have arrived. If yours hasn’t arrived yet, the mail is moving very slowly and hopefully it will show up any time. But do please hit ‘reply’ on this email and let me know if you are still waiting on yours.
Two people took me up on my offer to send a digital copy of “My Anxious Rescue Dog is Basically Edward Cullen from the Cinematic Masterpiece Twilight” with a donation to their local shelter or rescue, so we’ve currently raised $35.91 for local shelters. ♥️ Another person had donated $250 to their local shelter the day before, so I don’t think it counts for the tally, but I was very happy to send them a copy of the zine. I will continue to keep the offer open, and the details are on the TWILIGHT AUTUMN page.
I almost forgot to mention the Twilight watch party! I have tried some experiments, but I haven’t yet figured out how to share the film through Discord while it’s streaming on my laptop. If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know! The film is currently available on Hulu, so the only other idea I have right now is to synchronize our watches and stream simultaneously (if you have a Hulu account), while we poke fun at… I mean view the film together over on Discord text chat.
WINTER. I am working on Winter cards now. The theme is Practical Magic and the sketch I have done so far makes me smile every time I glance over at it, which I usually consider a win. My goal is to get them in the mail by December 31st. If you’re not an SMC member and you want to receive the Winter card in your mailbox, you can sign up through Ko-fi HERE.
CALLING SMC MEMBERS! Does your dog want to join a coven?? I have an illustration idea… This wouldn’t be for the card, but I would like to put together another movie trailer that I can continue to work on after cards go in the mail. The illustration would be based on the Practical Magic movie scene in which Sally calls the other moms on the phone tree in order to gather a coven and banish an evil spirit.
I need 10 dogs to join our coven. I’m not picky about gender — as long as you are comfortable with the idea of your dog wearing a witch's hat, they are eligible. If you would like your dog to be included, please send me a photo or two of your dog’s face so I can draw them into the scene. I will let you know if I need a photo with a different angle or if I have follow-up questions. (For kitty families — I will try to figure out a future project for cats - and other critters - to be involved, too.)
What is Snail Mail Club? SMC members receive unique handmade cards four times per year that are inspired by the seasons. Additional items are included in every release such as stickers, bookmarks, and other surprises. If you aren’t already a member, you can sign up through Ko-fi HERE or find more info HERE!
New journal entries.
Bite-Sized: Workspace Chaos and Flow. I posted a photo of my workspace looking slightly less chaotic and more functional than a month ago, after solving an issue that’s bugged me for years. Also discussed wanting to go see the movie Flow in the theater, which I was able to do this past weekend. The film was incredible but was also an emotional nuclear blast for me. I may discuss it more in a future post.
Most recent photo of my workspace. Playlist: Practically Magic Songs for Winter. (Add link) I put together my seasonal playlist for Winter! Links are HERE with some notes about the theme. You can also get to the playlists from the Practically Magic Winter page.
Experimenting with watercolor paper for the playlist thumbnails.
Luna.
The Practical Magic theme is really fun for me, because I often joke to my partner, Josh, that Luna is a witch, and that does indeed mean that I am her familiar.
She is currently in toy heaven because we purchased a bag of 12 multi-colored squeaky tennis balls AND some really adorable little chonky raccoons. She has been carrying the raccoons around the house with her, which melts my heart into a soupy little puddle.
Recent Inspirations.
Watching.
Flow (Film, 2024). A totally gorgeous animated Latvian film about a cat living in a post-human world in climate crisis. Beautiful and touching, full of tenderness and generosity despite the unforgiving environment, all without a single word of dialogue.
Somebody Somewhere (Series, 2022-24). I have to mention this HBO series that wrapped up its third and final season about a week ago. I somehow got Josh to watch this with me, I think based solely on the fact it is set in Manhattan, Kansas. (He’s from Kansas.) We enjoyed this series immensely, and watching it together was a great experience for me.
This is one of those series that is deeply emotional and also hilarious, a combination that I love. Bridgett Everett and Jeff Hiller were magical in every episode. This series felt more realistic to me than most shows that have comedic elements.
Links.
Tom Gauld's Snooty Bookshop Makes Us Feel 'a Little Bit Happier' - via the Postcrossing blog. A fairly short interview with cartoonist and illustrator Tom Gauld that I enjoyed.
What could an interspecies reality look like? Lily Consuelo Saporta Tagiuri on designing interspecies spaces, why seed saving matters, and insect infestations as an opportunity for reconsidering our shared ecosystems - via the Dark Properties newsletter. This interview has lived in the back of my mind ever since October and even more since watching Flow. Dark Properties is an incredible newsletter that gives my brain so much to chew on every couple of weeks.
In conclusion.
Thank you for reading and/or subscribing to this newsletter, which is my attempt to connect with you away from social media. Hopefully I will continue to find my voice here, and I hope you will share any feedback you have if anything comes up for you.
May the final weeks of 2024 be whatever you need them to be. I know the holidays can be a hectic time, but I hope you also have time to rest and recover. And for 2025, I am wishing us all enough mental and emotional bandwidth and support systems to tackle whatever comes our way.
See you in your mailbox soon,
💖 Becky H
💚 Dear Chizuko