December 21 - Decomex Pastel Grey

And if I should fall, will it all go away?
I've been kissed by a rose on the grey

~ Seal - A Kiss from a Rose

I feel like I've tested a number of grey at this point, and though the differences between each of the brands are fairly minor in general, I have a strong preference to which is the best grey.

Decomex Pastel Grey.

I've liked pretty much every Decomex balloon color so far, so maybe I came to the party already crushing on them already - but they hit all the marks for me.   Nicely opaque, not too shiney, not too thick, - Decomex is the Goldilocks (or maybe the baby bear) of balloons.

Looking at the chart it's also one of the closer matches to the original Qualatex Grey.

Overall impression, they are my favorite grey.  They have all my love.

Other "color day" balloons:

December 20 - Pig

"Make it simple, but significant."

~ Don Draper

𝅘𝅥𝅯 On the Fifth day of Twistmas,

𝅘𝅥𝅮 Balloon Guy made for meeeee! 𝅘𝅥𝅯

(*deep breath)

𝅘𝅥𝅮 GIANT PURPLE PIIIIIIIIG! 𝅘𝅥𝅯

𝅘𝅥𝅮 Ballerina hippo 𝅘𝅥𝅮

𝅘𝅥𝅮 Beaver stealing candy 𝅘𝅥𝅯

𝅘𝅥𝅮 Moose with lights in antlers 𝅘𝅥𝅯

𝅘𝅥𝅮 And a penguin looking Christmas-yyyyyyyy!

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All roads lead to Rome and all balloon design concepts lead to Purple Pig, which felt like a perfect time to try upsizing Patrick's Holy Snail design concept.

To be honest, I think if you upscale these - they really need to have a body.   

'Goofy pig head' is one thing ... 'decapitated goofy pig head' hits entirely differently.  Dark.

(view other pigs)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 19 - Hippo

"Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music."

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

On the fourth day of Twistmas,

Balloon Guy made for meeeeeeee!

Ballerina Hippo ..

.. Beaver stealing candy

.. Moose with lights in antlers

.. And a penguin looking Christmas-yyyyy!

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This was one of the faces that I really looked forward to in Patrick's Holy Snail designs, simply because of the ink work.  So simple and effective IMHO.  (In my hippopotamus opinion.)

(view other hippos)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 18 - Beaver

"Life is short. Smile while you still have teeth."

~ Mallory Hopkins

On the third day of Twistmas,

Balloon guy made for meeeeee:

Beaver stealing candy,

Moose with lights in antlers,

And a penguin sorta Christmas-syyyy!

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Leave it to beaver ... 

... to be the next in Patrick Van De Ven's Holy Snail Design-the-Entire-Animal-Kingdom Survival Pack.   

I needed to add arms, these worked out okay, but they're just shy from being mandibles.

(view other beaver)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 17 - Moose

"Hey Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat! (again?) Nothin' up my sleeve... PRESTO!"

~ Bullwinkle J. Moose (1959)

On the second day of Xmas, 

balloon guy made for me ...

Moose with lights in antlers,

and a penguin looking Xmas-.ss...yyy.

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I made the moose from Patrick's Holy Snail package earlier this week, but thought to try for one a little more "winkley".
(view other moose)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 16 - Penguin

"Kindness is like snow - it beautifies everything it covers."

~ Kahlil Gibran

I thought that when everyone belts out

"FIVE- ... GOLDEN riiiiiiiiiiiiiings!" it was because the gifts suddenly got exciting (or maybe because the birds had stopped).

Turns out the song is referring to "ring"-necked pheasants.

On the first day of Xmas, balloon guy gave to me,

A penguin in a ... a ... looking Xmas-y.

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This is the Patrick Van De Ven Holy Snail Penguin, or perhaps one of them - with simplicity comes versatility?  (that's good fortune cookie logic right there...)

(view other penguin)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 15 - Jojo Snowman

"Happy Birthday!"

~ Frosty the Snowman (1969)

Something disturbs me about Frosty the Snowman. 

The hat is magic.  It brings Frosty to life.  We have undeniable visual proof - as the children say, he can laugh and play just the same as you and me.

But the magician didn't make the hat - he found it.

Everyone celebrated the snowman that came to life.  Nobody looked for what had just gone still.

... and to this day, Queen Izzha of the Stonebound rules alone.

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Jojo cutie for this one, this was one of the instructions from Tobi's download - but saved for a snow day.  

(view other snowmen or jojos)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Tobi Twist: