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!

Snow One Like You

I won a prize on the Lunar New Year Challenge blog last year, and was able to get the sweet Snow One Like You stamp set that I'd missed out on a few years ago (the image).  I coloured a bunch of them up a few weeks ago, and got three made into cards today.

I ink blended my sky using Wild Honey, Kitsch Flamingo and Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide inks.  I added the Birch Trees dies, and cut a snowbank with the Hillside Background dies.  The sentiment is from the Snow Much Fun set - all from Lawn Fawn.

I trimmed my panel with the A2 Stitched Rectangle die, matted it with black cardstock, and glued it onto a piece of patterned paper from the 6131 Halloween S3 pack - both from Art Impressions.

Winter Sprig Christmas cards

I had stamped all of the greenery for today's five cards last year!  So all I had was a pile of pretty die cuts waiting to be used.  It feels great to pull them out and put together some cards.

 

All of the greenery is from the Winter Sprig set from Pigment Craft Co., stamped in shades of Distress Oxide ink, and cut with the coordinating dies.  The bows are from the Fit To Be Tied die set by The Greetery.  I arranged everything in a swag, and put them on a Postage Rectangle die from Spellbinders that was attached to the base with some foam adhesive.  For the first three, I used the Candy Cane stripe stencils from Pigment Craft Co. to add a little background interest.

For all of the cards, I used Foilable sentiments from Pink & Main that were run through my Minc machine with silver and gold foil - a nice little bit of sparkle.