Happy Zine Day -- Pam Crawford

Pam Crawford has created a zine that is so colorful and full of pockets and samples that you immediately want to pick it up and thumb through it. I wasn't sure what her title meant until I read her introduction. Her zine is called The Dollar Store Zine. She explains that she lives in Presque Isle, Maine, far from any craft or fabric stores. The dollar stores are her local source for art supplies. I love that! Practical, and frugal, too.


Pam gives the timeline of how she created her zine, which is great for anyone wanting to create their own. She takes the mystery out of the creative process in her detailed descriptions of her brainstorming of ideas and her many uses of dollar store finds.

Her zine is a stack of bags that she stitched down the center. Each bag holds a finished project or items you can use in your own projects. She's typed the text and glued it on the outside of the bags.


I just have to tell you about what Pam has done with playing cards. Who can't afford a $1 deck of cards? Or who doesn't have a deck with a missing card or two? You now have a stack of up to 52 craft supplies. She gives an example of an ATC with a card base, an altered playing card, and my favorite -- a mini book. I love the mini book: how simple, but so cool. It helps that she found a deck of cards with a colorful butterfly back.


Pam groups her zine by the departments within the dollar store. The kitchen/home goods department yields paper towels, waxed paper, and freezer paper to paint, with suggestions to grab coasters, chopsticks, and paper plates for future projects.


While checking out the hardware department, Pam found a foldable wooden ruler. She's cut it into 3/4" pieces, and has made a charm for the zine owner. I can see creating a cutie pie charm bracelet for some lucky girl from your dollar store finds.


Pam has included a few how-to projects for you, with examples. This zine gives so many ideas, it could keep you busy for a month. Thank you, Pam, for a well-thought out and generous zine.


You can see a list of all the zines I received in the swap and the blog posts I'm doing about them here.
I'll be hosting my own zine swap, and you can see the details on the tab at the top of this page.