S&A MAGAZINE ISSUE 10
- S&A Magazine
- Apr 1, 2021
- 10 min read
April 2021 Issue
Issue 10 - Volume 1
Table of Contents
Editor's Letter
To The Reader,
We finished our first volume of S&A Magazine! It’s been such a long journey, so we decided to share it with you! We started working on the magazine a year ago simply because we were bored in quarantine! While on a phone call, we got the idea to try to start a magazine together. We both fell in love with the thought of being able to share our art and writing with others. So soon afterward, we got to work creating concepts for what to include in our issues, what our website would look like, and how to design our logo. For us, the summer of 2020 was filled with planning, researching, and lots of phone calls.
The process of working together with your best friend to create something that you are both passionate about seemed like an amazing and easy thing to do, but there were plenty of unexpected struggles that came along with creating the magazine. No matter who you are working with, there will always be some sort of conflict. With starting an entire magazine from scratch, there are a lot of decisions that have to be made. Sometimes we would disagree and argue over the smallest details. When one of us had a vision, it was hard to compromise. Pairing that with using a website builder that didn’t allow two people to work simultaneously, trying to draw digitally for the first time, and not being able to meet up in person made creating a website a lot more challenging than we could ever imagine. However, we worked together, talked things out, and eventually published our website on June 13th, 2020.
Publishing our website wasn’t the end though, it was just the beginning. Throughout the last ten months, we got more ideas and improved on each issue we made. It is crazy to look back on our first issue because, let’s just say, that it’s obvious that we got a lot better. Since our first issue, we added the color of the month, empowering activity, wrote more in our articles, and included significantly more photos. We can both confidently say that It feels like each issue got better and better. Our improvement from issue to issue was very noticeable, but what some of you may not have noticed is how each issue cover added on to each other to create a perfectly imperfect volume. If you go back and look at all our issue covers, you will notice that we only used one color to create each cover. The next color we would use wasn’t picked at random, but used in rainbow order. We went from pink, to orange, to yellow, to green, to teal, to blue, to indigo, to purple, to white, and finally to a full rainbow! With each new color we added, our rainbow became more vibrant.
This past year has had its ups and downs, but through it all, you supported us and made S&A Magazine possible! And for that, we both would like to say, Thank you! You may not even realize it, but your support is such a big reason that we continue to do the things we love! S&A Magazine has been a strong motivation for us to keep on drawing and writing! Helping to inspire you to be creative and kind was and will always be our number one goal. It’s hard to process the fact that people like you read through our magazine and help keep it going. Throughout this year, we both realized that S&A Magazine is something that we want to continue doing, and with your support, we would like to announce something…
We are getting our own new website!
On May 1st, we will be publishing issue 1 of volume 2 along with our new website, sandamagazine.com! We’ll make a post later with more details about our new website, so be on the lookout for that. We would once again like to thank you for reading S&A Magazine and making all of this a reality.
-Shreya and Audrey
Below are some old photos that were made last year. The drawing on the left was made before we tried drawing digitally. The drawing on the right was made on Auto Draw before we started using art apps to draw. It was one of our original logo and tagline ideas.
What's the Issue?
5 Ways You Can Support Local And Sustainable Farmers
Everyone’s heard of the phrases “Support Local Businesses” and “Shop Local”, but not many people try to do so. Farmers are the reason that we have the food we eat, so it's important to support them. When you buy from local farmers, you know where your food is coming from and who is growing it. Shopping locally is not only a great way to help farmers but it's also a great way to help your community. So here we’ve compiled a list of 5 ways that you can aid local and sustainable farmers.
Ways You Can Help
Go to your local farmer’s market.
This is the most well-known way you can help support farmers near you. The produce is almost always guaranteed to be much fresher than what you would find in your grocery store. Going to the farmer’s market is also a great way for you to directly talk to the farmers who grow your food and make connections with them.
Use localharvest.org to find local farmers
This is a great tool that you can use if you are not familiar with local places you can buy food from. (Including local farmers). It was also created by the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).
If you can’t afford to buy from a Farmer’s market, try to look for more sustainable options at the grocery store
Buying food from farms can be a bit expensive, so when you aren’t able to buy food from farmers, look for products at the grocery store you go to that have labels that say: “Locally grown,” or “Compostable or Recyclable Packaging,” or “Fair Trade Certified,” or “Rainforest Alliance Certified.”
Buy Produce that’s in season
Your food will taste better and is less likely to be shipped from somewhere far away.
Spread Awareness
Tell your family and friends about farmers near you or any other resources mentioned in this article. The more people in your community who shop local, the more fresh, sustainable produce available to others.
We hope you found something on this list to be helpful. Even if you cannot buy a lot of items locally, purchasing what you can and spreading awareness can make a big difference.
Empowering Activity
Journaling
A great way to collect your thoughts and to get motivated for the day is to journal. I found doing this activity very relaxing. It was great for me to think about things that would make my day fun and productive. I found writing down what I wanted to achieve in the day to be very motivating. It was also enjoyable for me to use a consistent color pallet to decorate my journal. Of course, you don't have to make your journal look perfect, but it is nice to add some color and doodles to make the process more enjoyable. When writing in your journal, think about things that would motivate you for the day, and write that down. For me, I wrote what I was thankful for, my goals/to-dos, and what would make my day great.
Color of The Month
The Color of the Month is Copper. I Decided to Pair it With Emerald Green and Gold.
This is one of my favorite color combinations because I really like how all the colors work well with each other. Feel free to use this color combination in outfit ideas, art, or general inspiration!
Craft
Heart Envelopes
These heart envelopes make the perfect card! They look just like little envelopes. When you open them up and unfold them, you'll find a sweet message written inside in the middle of a heart! These cards also are not very hard to make, so find a piece of paper and give these cards a try! You can send us a photo of your finished card by emailing sandazine@gmail.com!
What You'll Need
A piece of construction paper
A pencil
Scissors
A Gluestick
Step 1
Fold your paper in half and draw half of a heart with a pencil. Cut it out.
Step 2
Draw out the lines shown in the third photo. You will fold along these lines to create the envelope. Write your message in the center rectangle.
Step 3
Fold the sides of the heart.
Step 4
Fold the upper half of the heart downwards as shown in the photo.
Step 5
Fold the bottom tip of the heart downward to create the flap of the envelope. Glue the flap down to the heart. It should look like an envelope at this stage. Flip it over and write who it's for and who it's from. If you would like to, you could make a little stamp out of scrap pieces of paper like I did.
Drawing Prompt
Draw a Flower!
This month's drawing prompt is to draw a flower! I decided to draw a sunflower because they are one of my favorite flowers. Feel free to use the photos of flowers I took included below the drawing prompt as inspiration! We would love to see your finished drawing! You can send your drawing to sandazine@gmail.com and with your permission, we will feature your art on our website and in our next issue!
Sustainable Fashion
An Outfit Styled With Monsoon
Monsoon is a fashion brand that creates beautiful garments for women, children, and special occasions like weddings. They are working to make more sustainable items. When shopping on their website, look for their "S.E.W Sustainable" collection. They make their clothes by using sustainably sourced fibers and fabrics. They also work closely with craftspeople to create a beautiful, handmade look.
Main Article
How to Make Your Ideas a Reality
You can make anything with just one simple idea. Big or small, a concept that you create has the potential to be whatever you turn it into. However, it is very easy to have many ideas but never act upon them. The mindset of “easier said than done” is a very common reason that people don’t believe they can pursue their ideas or goals. So to help motivate others, we’ve created five easy steps that you can follow to make your ideas a reality.
5 Steps to Make Your Dreams a Reality
1. Come up with an idea
This step is pretty self-explanatory. In order to turn your ideas into goals, you need to come up with one first! Try to make your ideas about things that you are interested in and that would be engaging to work on. Remember to also make your ideas realistic. If you have lots of ideas, a notebook can be helpful for this step so there’s one spot where all your thoughts are.
2. Brainstorm ways that you could start working on your idea
This step could include additional planning and research for your idea. (For example, when we had the idea to create an online magazine, we looked into and tried different website builders.) Think about when you would be working towards your goal and any additional factors that could get in the way of you achieving your goal. After completing this step, you should have a relatively clear plan of how you would like to accomplish your goal.
3. Take small steps and try to follow your plan
Now it’s time to get working! With the plan you created in the previous step, start taking small steps toward your goal. Keep improving on your project as you go along. If you can, try to make more time to work on your goal.
4. Keep going despite the challenges you face - push past the struggles and move forward
It’s okay if things don’t go exactly as planned! No matter what you do, you will face some challenges along the way. While it can be hard to see it in the moment, keep encouraging yourself and remember that struggling is part of the process. If you feel like you are not facing any challenges, try to make your idea more ambitious!
5. Once you’ve worked on your idea for a while, ask yourself “is it worth it?” and “do you want to continue this?”
Congratulations, you’ve made it to the final step! After all your hard work it’s time to reflect. Does working on your project make you happy? What have you achieved? Is it worth it to continue working on your idea? You should work on your idea for a significant amount of time before asking yourself these questions. If you quit too soon, you might end up regretting your decision. A good way to know when to come to a conclusion is by determining whether or not you have completed the fourth step. If you are sure that you are ready to answer these questions, go ahead. If you answered, “No, it’s not worth it to work on my idea.” just know that although it may feel disappointing, it is okay to repeat these five steps until you eventually find something else that you enjoy.
One of our readers, Molly Huffman has followed these steps to create her website called The Wizard Times. The Wizard Times is a Harry Potter-related newspaper featuring themed content from articles to, fashion to, art. If you would like to, you can check out the Wizard Times here: bit.ly/TheWizardTimes Making your ideas time-consuming projects can feel overwhelming, but as long as you follow these steps, stay motivated, and trust the process, you will be able to achieve your goals.
Recipe
Macaroni & Cheese
One weekend I was bored and in the mood to make some delicious comfort food, so I came up with this Macaroni and Cheese Recipe that I hope you will enjoy as much as I do! With just the right amount of cheese and flavor, this recipe is sure to add a little sunshine to your day!
Total Time: 25-30 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients
8 oz macaroni elbows
1/2 cup half & half or heavy cream
1 cup grated Jarlsberg cheese (Swiss cheese works as well!)
1 cup grated Fontina cheese
Salt, to taste
Directions
Boil the macaroni elbows according to the directions on the box, stirring now and then so that the pasta doesn't stick together.
Once the pasta is cooked, use a colander to strain the water from the pasta.
Put the cooked pasta into a pan along with 3/4 of the grated cheese and salt. Stir well.
Microwave half & half or heavy cream for about 15 seconds or until the cream is lukewarm.
Pour the warm half & half or heavy cream into the pan with the pasta, cheese, and salt. Stir everything together.
Pour the macaroni & cheese into a baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 of your cheese on top of the pasta (This will create a golden brown crust on your Macaroni & Cheese)
Broil the macaroni & cheese in your oven for about 5 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Enjoy!
Thanks for reading S&A Magazine!
Questions or Comments? Email them to sandazine@gmail.com! or fill out the contact form on our website! We'd love to hear your feedback!
Thanks for sharing about your issues being in rainbow order, I like the thought and intention behind them and I'm glad you all are taking time to reflect on your progress along the way. It's all about the journey after all. ;)