{"id":17161,"date":"2019-12-13T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T13:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=17161"},"modified":"2019-12-11T10:11:20","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T18:11:20","slug":"2019-advent-calendar-even-more-tags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=17161","title":{"rendered":"2019 Advent Calendar + Even more holiday tags!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"“I wonder when this Advent Calendar tradition will end?” As K grows older, this is the question that pops into my brain every time I embark on yet another design for the holiday season. She’ll be starting high school next year and I don’t know if she’ll enjoy it quite as much.<\/p>\n

This was a fun one, my friends. The idea first came to me when I was — as per usual — shopping at Trader Joe’s. I saw the garland with the felted balls ($8.99! What a steal!), and I immediately knew that it would be part of the Advent Calendar.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And so, a couple of weeks before December 1st, I got cracking. I wanted to include little origami-type envelopes to hang from the garland, that much I knew. What to put inside of the envelopes, though?<\/p>\n

I started by doodling cat elves and I don’t know…the thought of painting 25 cat elves lost its luster instantaneously. It was just going to take too long, given my penchant for wanting to add lots and lots of details. Luckily, I repurposed them as downloadable tags here<\/a>, if you’re interested.<\/p>\n

Hmmmm….cats<\/em>, I mulled. I hit the watercolors again and just started pumping out little cat portraits and suddenly, I had it: cats in hats. In my typical let’s-totally-overdo-it style, I also planned to paint dogs in clogs, but…well, I barely finished the cats. The kitties by themselves seemed too plain, so I managed to squeeze in painting tiny wreath frames. SO FUN.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The wreaths also became stickers to secure the envelopes closed AND serve double-duty as the day of the month.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I was struck with a lightning bolt of genius that magicked itself out of nowhere: using a notcher to fold the square pieces of papers into envelopes. This way the flaps overlap nicely. In case you don’t know, a notcher is a tool for garment pattern drafting. Very handy. I was manually measuring and cutting out notches at first, so remembering that I had this tool was a big time-saver.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

The stickers, I have to say, were not<\/em> awesome. Their adhesive power was disappointingly wimpy and the textured washi envelopes started to open up as they hung from the garland. I quickly had to reinforce all the envelopes with clear packing tape. We just happened to have some printable sticker paper on hand and I hadn’t used them yet, so it was worth a try. Note to future self: don\u2019t use these stickers on anything other than flat, smooth surfaces.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It was, however, easy to print on the clear sticker paper and the yellow backing slipped right off. I really enjoy peeling sticker backings off. So, so satisfying!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I had just enough washi<\/em> paper left from a previous Advent Calendar<\/a> for the envelopes and I seriously adore the nubby surface. I punched holes in the corner for the strings that I looped and tucked in-between the felted balls of the garland. Simple.<\/p>\n

Visually, this calendar deviates from my normal neutral color palette, but I’m pleased with how it turned out. I was able to check off all of my personal requirements:<\/p>\n