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Blog | Junel of mypaperpigeon - Ilustration & Art - Tokyo

Less waste, more thoughtful - The Tiny Festive Market Opens!

How is it that we’re 3 months away from the festive season?

I hope your 2024 has been amazing so far. Mine just went by in a flash, and as a working mother, a creator, a wife, a daughter, a sister, and a friend to some, these roles have kept me busy and left me over-stimulated, and exhausted at times.

I haven’t been the most active and creative in recent years but I hope to make this little tiny festive market an annual thing to work towards to.

There are prints, postcards, wearables from t-shirts for kids to adults, and of course the star of the market, the 2025 calendar. I’ve always worked with similar mediums but for this year, I’m trying Printful to help me with wearables.

Printful? What is that?

Simply put, they will help me print a tee when you order, and help me pack it and send it out to you.

Why are you doing that?

So I don’t need to keep stock because there will always be sizes that sell better/lesser than the other (which also means I can create more!) Also, the time it takes to pack, label and ship. Although I probably profit more from doing them all myself, I reckon it is more sustainable, ecological and time-saving since that sits higher on my priority list.

This season’s tees are colourful, and fun. I wanted a tee that I could wear when I visit Singapore during the Chinese New Year period, and I didn’t particularly appreciate how in my face the HUAT-NESS of the tees are in the market. (HUAT means prosperity - a lunar new year blessing that the Chinese LOVE for good luck) So I’ve made a CNY tee with items that bring good luck in the Japanese New Year osechi (tier boxes of food), and also a subtle HUAT disguised in the mandarin orange, a tee that you can wear every day and any day.

Shop the CNY HUAT Tee here.

Also made more wearables for kids, like the Wheel on the London Bus tee, the Kuroneko School Bus tee and the Huggy Octopus tee. My son loves them and gets people talking about his tees so it’s proven to be hit within the kidiverse!

Shop the wearables here.

I’ve also made a bunch of postcards from my previous work that were pretty meaningful, like the YOU ARE ENOUGH postcard that you can write to a friend/family member who needs to hear this. It could even be your reminder on overwhelming days.

Shop the postcards here.

I wanted to go on writing about the calendar but let’s save that for the next post because no one reads anything long these days don't we?

Read about the 2025 calendar here.