When the holidays roll in, I love decorating with pieces that feel handmade and cozy—so this year I built a tiny paper Holiday Village you can display on a cake stand, tray, or mantel. The whole project came together with my Tombow trio: the MONO Graph Mechanical Pencil for crisp planning, Dual Brush Pens for lush, blendable color, and MONO Multi Liquid Glue for sturdy, long-lasting assembly. Simple printable house templates and a few hand-drawn evergreens turn into a cheerful scene in no time.
Supplies:
- MONO Multi Liquid Glue
- MONO Graph Mechanical Pencil
- Dual Brush Pen Art Markers
- Printable or pre cut paper houses
I started by assembling the pre-cut house pieces with Tombow MONO Multi Liquid Glue—the pen tip along the tabs for precise control and a light brushed coat on the roof panels—pressing each seam for a crisp, square finish. For the trees, I used the MONO Graph to draw one evergreen on a scrap of cardstock as a reusable template, then traced that template onto heavyweight white cardstock to get identical tree shapes every time. The pencil’s fine lead kept the lines clean, and the eraser lifted any marks after cutting.
Next came color. Using Tombow Dual Brush Pens (hello, Landscape greens!), I layered brush-tip strokes in two to three shades to create soft, feathery “needles,” then switched to the fine tip to add shadow and detail along edges. After cutting the trees, I kept each one together with a simple slotted method: I made two identical pieces, cut one from the top down to the middle and the other from the bottom up to the middle, then slid them together like a puzzle to form a 3D stand-up.
To finish it all, arrange your finished houses and 3D trees on a cake stand or mantel, sprinkle faux snow, and you’ve got a holiday décor that’s sweet, sturdy, and totally custom. Plan with MONO Graph, color with Dual Brush Pens, and lock it all in with MONO Multi XL—holiday magic, the Tombow way.
Love,
Andrea Lake.