52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge 2026 - Week 18

 

The Crafting Niche 52 Week Mini Art Card/Tag Challenge 2026:

This is a weekly challenge. I provide you with a prompt/theme each Sunday morning through out the year.  The challenge is very relaxed.  You can do as much or as little as you like.  You can create cards, tags, Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) or index cards, the choice is yours. You just go with what ever is in your head at the time.  You can stamp, get inky, use patterned papers, texture, embellish it is all down to you.

There is a dedicated private Facebook Group, with a lovely bunch of people who are already sharing their makes from previous challenges.  You can find the group by clicking this link.  I'd love you to join in.

The prompt for Week 18 is "Teddies and Toys"

For my Week 18 tag, I started by painting a white tag with shades of green, using a childs water colour paint set, so nothing fancy for the base at all. Then using Versafine Clair "Nocturne" black ink, I stamped the sentiment, train and carriages, which are part of the same stamp set from "Boys and their trains" by Personal Impressions.  I stamped the train and carriages again on white card and coloured with Posca Pens. fussy cut them and placed to one side.

Returning to the green tag itself, I used "Cobalt" Ranger Archival Ink through a Tim Holtz / Stampersanonymous stencil, I apologise I don't recall the name or of it as I've used it so often the writing has rubbed off, but the reference is THS130.

I then used another Tim Holtz / Stampersanonymous stencil, THMM178, using the lower half with the polka dots on it, with a white Texture Paste by Daler Rownay.  Once dry, I inked the edges is black and then glued the fussy cut train and carriages into position.

The 100 Day Project 2026 - Day 70

Today, is Day 70 of the 100 Day Project 2026.  This is a challenge where you spend a short time each day creating, using the mediums of your choice.  Mine is 4x4" card, using collage, stamps and stencils.

For my Day 70 I have played with shapes and lines.  I started covering a white card with "Tumbled Glass" Distress Oxide Inks.  I then lay the Funky Fossil Designs "Melting Circles" mask over the top and applied "Mowed Lawn" Distress Oxide Ink through the mask.

I then used a black fine liner pen and a gold coloured gel pen to create lines and dots around the pattern.  Finally adding a Dina Wakley collage paper swallow and a Tim Holtz "Idea-ology" word sticker saying "Cultivate Kindness".

The 100 Day Project 2026 - Day 69

Today, is Day 69 of the 100 Day Project 2026.  This is a challenge where you spend a short time each day creating, using the mediums of your choice.  Mine is 4x4" card, using collage, stamps and stencils.

For my Day 69 I used three shades of Distress Oxide ink on a water saturated background to achieve the water colour stripes in the background,  the colours I used are Mowed Lawn, Mermaid Lagoon and Salvaged Patina.

I used a heat gun to dry the card before drawing a part circle round a lid uisng a black fine liner pen.

I cut two shapes, the moth and the swallow from a Dina Wakley collage paper set and glued them into position.  then coloured the moth using a couple of pastel pencils. 

I used a gold coloured gel pen to create a polka dot background around the part circle then added a Tim Holtz "Idea-ology" word sticker saying always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder".

The 100 Day Project 2026 - Day 68

Today, is Day 68 of the 100 Day Project 2026.  This is a challenge where you spend a short time each day creating, using the mediums of your choice.  Mine is 4x4" card, using collage, stamps and stencils.

For my Day 68 I used two shades of Distress Oxide Inks for the background, using "Cracked Pistachio" for the inner area and "Mermaid Lagoon" for the outer edges.

I then stamped the circle in Versafine Clair "Nocturne" black ink.  the stamp is part of the Funky Fossil Designs stamp set called "Circularity".  Next i lay the "Ever Decreasing Circles" stencil over the prepared background and lightly rubbed a wet wipe through the gaps of the stencil.  This lifts the ink in that area and provides a bleached colour appearance.  I then set it aside to dry. Once dry, I used a black and white Posca Pen to splatter paint.

I used "Salvaged Patina" Distress Oxide Ink on a page from an old book.  I then stamped the black cirlce again on the book page using "Nocturne" again.  I then stamped a flower from the Funky Fossil stamp set called "In the meadow" using Versafine Clair "Paradise" blue ink. I fussy cut the circle and glued it over the circle on the background piece of card.  Adding some touches of black fine liner and yellow Posca Pen to the flower.

Finally, I added a swallow from a Dina Wakley collage paper set and a Tim Holtz "Idea-ology word sticker saying "Remember the now".

Lavinia Stamps "Magpies" Two for joy card

 

I've had a long over due play with my Lavinia goodies this morning, making this card.

I started by using Versafine Clair "Shady Lane" a mid green coloured ink, to stamp the Lavinia Stamps "Vine Branch" stamp.  I then used two shades of Versafine Clair inks:  Twilight and Morning Mist to stamp the Lavinia "Magpies".  I used these two colours as I didn't want a totally solid black colour.

Next, I used "Sky Blue" Ranger Archvial Ink through the Lavinoa Stamps "Waffle Stencil" (I believe it is now discontinued), fading the colour out towards two corners. I then used Derwent Inktense pencils with a paint brush to colour the branch and magpies, using a gold and a white gel pen in places too.

Finally, I added a Lavinia word sticker, saying "Out of the blue".  This phrase is part of the Lavinia "Sentiment Sticker 6" set.

The 100 Day Project 2026 - Day 67

Today, is Day 67 of the 100 Day Project 2026.  This is a challenge where you spend a short time each day creating, using the mediums of your choice.  Mine is 4x4" card, using collage, stamps and stencils.

For my Day 67, I coloured a page from an old book using three shades of Distress Oxide Inks.  the colours I used  are Tumbled Glass, Mermaid Lagoon and Blueprint Sketch.

Then I die cut a piece of 4x4" white card using a die from Funky Fossil Designs.  Sadly I didn't write the name down on the backing card, on checking the website it doesn't appear, so guessing it's now a retired die, as I have had it for a couple of years. or maybe more.

I adhered the white card overf the coloured book page and trimmed the excess from the edges. I coloured the die cut sun area using "Mustard Seed" Distress Oxide Ink and glued into position.

Using a black fine liner pen, I added a loosely drawn frame with some dots. Then glued down a fussy cut swallow from a Dina Wakley collage paper set.  Finally adding a Tim Holtz "Idea-ology" word sticker saying "Voyage".

Papertrey Ink "Home is where the heart is" card

For this card, I started with a 4x4" piece of card, creating a band of colour through the middle using three shades of Distress Oxide Inks.  The colours I used are: Mermaid Lagoon, Salvaged Patina and Cracked Pistachio.

While the ink was drying, I die cut the white trellis, which is a Gummiapan die. I used a wet glue to stick the lattice over the inked background.

Next I used Versafine Clair "Twilight" dark blue ink to stamp the sentiment on to the card and the house on to a piece of plain white card.  I used the Papertrey Ink stamp set called "Love Lives Here" for both. Onced glued into position on the card, I used a red Posca Pen to colour in the central heart.