Top 10 of 2025

I did a Top 5 of my Ai projects a few weeks ago, but always like to do a full Top 10 post of all of the projects I made through the year.  I prepped my choices for both posts at that time, and had 19 for this post!  So I managed to whittle it down to just ten, I don't do one per month, just my ten favourites in no particular order.

My undisputed favourite project of the year:

A huge thank you to everyone who takes the time to look at, like and comment on my projects - they are much appreciated.  And another huge thank you to all of the creative people and companies who design the products that I get to use - that's where it all starts.  I get an enormous amount of inspiration from those creatives, along with the many crafters that I follow, and hope to continue on creating through 2026.

Market Place Tags

In prepping my end of the year post, I realized that I hadn't posted the Christmas tags that I created to gift with the tri-fold cards that I made using the Market Place suite of products from The Greetery.  

Yes, I managed to get 18 of these little guys made!  I used the tri-fold card as my inspiration, sticking to a limited colour palette, and cut multiple pieces out at a time - it looks a little more daunting than it actually was.  Once you embrace the chaos of doing a project with a ton of tiny pieces, it goes pretty quickly.

This is the Market Place Mini die set, along with the Holiday Festoons set - that provided all of the wreaths, bows and swag details.  I made them into tags by backing them with a solid cream building, then glued another one to it like a hinge, so you can open up the house and write your Christmas greeting.  I punched holes through the top and threaded some jute twine through.

The finishing touch was to spatter some gold paint to go with the touches of gold on each tag.  Labour of love, and SO worth it!  Everyone raved about these.

Tri-fold Box Village Template card

From the moment I first saw this die set, I knew that I wanted to make this!!  This is the recently released, 6114 - Box Village Template Die from Art Impressions.  The die set actually creates a little box, that you can make a journal to sit inside, but I love using it for cards.

I used the main template to cut out three bases, trimming the tops and sides off, just leaving a 1/2" tab down one side to glue them together (I'll show you the back side so you can see what I mean).

After choosing my colour palette, I spent days mapping out what I wanted to do... this was the most time consuming part!  I gradually cut all the doors, windows, roof and extra bits - laying everything out before I assembled anything.

I dug through my craft room to see what I could use for a wreath or trees... and found the Holiday Festoons set from The Greetery for the wreaths, bows and swag, and a sectioned tree die set from Dee's Distinctively.

The alphabet dies are the 5562 - Journal Dies from Ai.  I wanted a little more glimmer, so cut pieces on each house out of some brushed gold cardstock.  After assembly, I added some chunky glitter along the roofline, trees and other spots.

The best thing is that this folds flat to fit in a standard A2 envelope.  Bonnie says she's coming out with more of these in 2026, so stay tuned!

Twinkle Tidings Tags

 My third project with the October Betterpress Society plate, 'Twinkle Tidings' was a couple of tags. 

I followed along with Erin from Spellbinders Socie-Tea tutorial, where she painted a glow effect around each bulb, and knew that my Moonbeam Shimmer paints from Crafter's Companion would work beautifully for the effect.  I used a pretty pink/purple/blue/green/gold colourway.

I used some older Studio Katia tag dies to die cut them, backing with plain white tags so that the gift giver can sign the back.  I added the word 'merry' in some metallic blue and green cardstock, and a small Lawn Fawn tag to each as well.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Karen's Top 5 of 2025 - Art Impressions Watercolours

 Hello Ai Watercolour fans!

It's one of my favourite posts of the year, when I get to review all my Ai projects painted this year, and pick my favourites.  It's also a chance to say a sincere thank you to those of you who leave such lovely comments both here, on the Ai blog, and on all of our social media posts.  I appreciate you all so much!  And a big thank you to Bonnie and everyone at Ai, who gives us these wonderful products to work with.  So here in no particular order, are Karen's Top 5:

5916 - Woodland Castle Set

5789 - Hot Air Balloon Set

5466 - WC Lighthouse Set

6105 - Fall Keepsake Set

6117 - A Cozy Christmas Set

Here's to a wonderful Painting New Year in 2026!

Classic Twinkle Tidings

My second project with the October Betterpress Society plate, Twinkle Tidings was a more classic colour combo.

I pressed the plate with a Pinkfresh Studio green ink to mimic a classic strand of Christmas lights.  I used the coordinating stencils to ink blend the other colours onto the lightbulbs.

I cut a Pinkfresh Studio frame die in matching green cardstock, and layered it a couple of times for a bit of dimension, adhering it to the base.  I cut the Merry and Bright dies (old Echo park dies) in some red glitter cardstock, layered them once and adhered them over the frame and base.

The 'and' was from a stamp set in my stash.  And that was it!  Quick and easy.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Gingerbread Martini

 I've made my last martini cards for the year!  I hadn't had a chance to use the little gingerbread man or the Santa hat yet, so I put together a couple of these in a bright & pretty colour combo.

This is the Olive Martinis set, with the Christmas Cocktails add-on, and the Betterpress Cheers Sentiments, all from Spellbinders.

I used some old patterned paper from my stash, and die cut a smaller rectangle from it that I layered over two other pieces of cardstock so that it was raised up from the base.  I used glitter cardstock for the glass, and added a few gems for some sparkle.

Halloween Martini card

This was my first project with the October Betterpress Society plate, 'Twinkle Tidings'.  It's pretty clearly a Christmas plate, but I got it in my head that I should see if I could make it a Halloween card.  I was going for 'Pretty Halloween' with my colour combo:

I used four Distress Oxide inks along with the coordinating stencils to colour the plate, then used Hickory Smoke and Black Soot to add a grungy look to the edges.

I'm using the Olive Martinis die set from Spellbinders to make a sparkly Halloween martini - cutting the glass out of black glitter cardstock, and the other bits from cardstock that coordinated with my ink colours.

And yes, I made the little olive dies into eyeballs, drawing on some pink veins with a Twintone marker.  The sentiment is from the Cheers Sentiments press plate that coordinates with the Martini dies, and was popped up on 3D foam adhesive.  A few black gems finished it off.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Unity Gretchen Girl

My sweet niece gifted me this image and sentiment!  It was the perfect thing to colour up with my Copic markers while the snow was falling outside my window.  My daughter thinks it looks like me from behind :-)  This is Gretchen Girl from Unity Stamp Co.

I pulled out my Handmade Christmas papers by Simple Stories from a few years ago, as this needed some cozy, homemade vibes to go with the image.  The image is adhered with 3D foam adhesive.

I added a little greenery and some brushed gold snowflakes.  When I decide who to give it to, I'll probably add a little glitter to the snow.

Not a Creature was Stirring

Such a sweet stamp set!  This is 'Not a Creature was Stirring' from Lawn Fawn.  I stamped quite a few of the images several months ago, then coloured and fussy cut them all out this fall.  Today I got five of these put together!  And I still have a pile of extra images to use another time.

 

Everything was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then coloured with Copic markers.

I used some old CTMH papers from my stash to create a tabletop, and stamped the sentiment with Versafine Onyx Black ink.  A little glitter was added to many of the white areas.

I've taken a couple of non-staged photos, as it proved difficult to capture how pretty the colours of this were!