New Year's Card Breakdown

Every year for the past ten, fifteen (more? I'm a terrible archivist of my own work.) years I've made a New Year's card to send out. It's a fun design project in the dead time between years. It think it's more fun than a holiday card in that the possibilities for new year's extend far beyond that of the design clichés and tropes of the other holidays. New year's is non-denominational. And it gives me a couple extra weeks to get it done.

I have few rules other than I try not to use a computer too much (I broke that last year) and try to do the oddest thing that first comes to mind. I also try to make these with as many available or inexpensive materials as possible – on the cheap. And I usually cap the number at 50 so I can make things by hand. Since we learned that the execution is more important than the idea, I wanted to break down that process.

I got a thought to do something soft and cozy but wasn't sure what. I know how to crochet in a very basic way and started playing around with patterns. I knew it needed to be flat-ish to fit in an envelope. Behold the granny square. It feels like a self-contained thing. I taught myself to do it with this video. Once you get the hang of it, it's just a repeating pattern. I would usually make two or three at a time. I kind of miss making them now. And I had also been looking at some wild 70s color palettes.

First stop was Michael's to see what color yarn they had. Sometimes you just have to make the first decision and then the rest are like dominos.

I picked four colors that I could mix and match. And that I was pretty sure I could probably, maybe, possibly find matching envelopes.

I ordered card stock and envelopes from Jam Paper and through some educated guessing and dumb luck really, the colors matched the yarn almost perfectly. The A7 envelopes are Olive Green, and the card stock is Ultra Pink. I had been eyeing these Pinback Button Stamps since last year, but they were still pre-order at the time. They have a bit of 70s flavor, so it made more sense to use them here anyway.

Finally, I had to set the type for the card and bought Great Maple. I think it's got some 70s thin/fat vibes, but it doesn't feel too gimmicky. And I love the numbers which is important since they're really the main event. Other than that, I set up the cards 2-up (designing for minimum number of cuts) on 8.5x11 and hit copy. Trimmed on my paper cutter.

Last bit was figuring out how to attach the granny squares to the cardstock. I thought about sewing, but that's pretty time intensive. I didn't really want to glue them. The simple staple came to the rescue. It was quick and they mostly just disappear into the yarn. If you want to detach your granny square after you get it, should be easy and nothing will be damaged.

I try to keep this under wraps until the recipients have a chance to receive theirs. So, if you're seeing this post, they are out in the world. Happy 2025!