A Crafting Niche "52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge 2026" - Week 36

 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 36 is "Postage Stamps"

Using a plain tag for the base, I rummaged through my stash of "essential bits" I have saved over the years and came across an air mail envelope fully addressed with a postage mark of July 1993 - yes, that's how long some of my stash is!!!! 

I decided this would be an ideal base for this tag.  I had to cut it about a bit to fit and to cover up the written address, so the background is a bit of a paper patchwork really, but unless you look closely, you wouldn't really know.

I used Versafine Clair "Nocturne" black ink with a blending brush to apply the ink through the Funky Fossil Designs stencil called "Ava".  then to pull all areas together, I added some small dots using "Tulip Red" Versafine Clair ink through the bottom section of a Tim Holtz / Stampers Anonymous stencil with a reference of THMM178 and left the tag at that.

Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "Alpha Florals TE32" on a star background Artist Trading Card

This is my Artist Trading Card (ATC) for the day,  For the background, I have used three shades of Ranger Archival Inks, Chrome Yellow, Sunflower and Tiger Lily, through the Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "Cluster SS42 Stencil".

I then used the small start stamp from the Tracy Evans "A Promise Of Tomorrow TE63" stamp set with Versafine Clair "Summertime" orange ink stamped over the stencilled background.

Next, I used Versafine Clair "Acorn" a rich brown coloured ink to stamp the flowers, which are part of the Tracy Evans "Alpha Florals TE32" stamp set.

I added a word sticker saying "memory" and edged it in gold gel pen, I added highlights to the flowers with the same gold gel pen and edged the ATC in Versafine Clair "Acorn" brown ink.

Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "The Wonder Of Nature TE14" pencil worked card

For this card, I used Versafine Clair "Nocturne" black ink to stamp the flower from the Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "The Wonder Of Nature TE14" stamp set and a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp from their "Tiny Words" stamp set.

I used a 2B pencil and a paper stub to shade and highlight areas of the stamped flower, adding some white pastel pencil detail to it and tiny dots of white gel pen to the middle of the flower.

Get Inky Card Challenge - September 26 - Colours

There is a new group on Facebook called "Get Inky Card Challenge" which I was invited to join.  The first challenge is for September and is "colours" using a specific colour palette, shown below.

I think my photo has made the background look a bit brighter than it is in real life

I started with a white card and used lots of different shades of Distress Oxide Inks, adding, drying then adding another layer. I have no idea what order I iused them or which I used for the squirrel, so I will detail all the shades used here:
Rusty Hinge

Tea Dye

Crackling Campfire

Barn Door

Carved Pumpkin

Ripe Persimmon

Wild Honey

Mustard Seed

Crushed Olive

Mowed Lawn

Peacock Feathers 

Chipped Sapphire

The stamps I used are all by Funky Fossil Designs.  The squirrel is part of the "Grateful Heart" stamp set and stamped in Versafine Clair "Acorn" brown ink, with added black Posca Pen, pastel pencils,white gel pen detail and dots of "Copper Pearl" Liquid Pearls,

I stamped the trees, part of the Funky Fossil "Badger Trails" stamp set in Versafine Clair "Shady Lane" green ink, fussy cutting them and glued into position with dots of "Avocado" Liquid Pearls.

In the foreground, I used the Funky Fossil "Circle Cascade" stamp with Versafine Clair "Nocturne" black ink.  Adding a white dot of Posca pen to the middle of each swirl.

Finally, I added some shadows using a black fine liner pen and some dots of colour for flowers.

Tracy Evans Boutique Designs ""Good Things Take Time TE60" Flower Card

For this card, I used the flower from the Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "Good Things Take Time TE60" stamp set, stamped in Versafine Clair "Nocturne" black ink. I then painted the flower heads with Pebeo Drawing Gum to mask them from getting ink on them.

I then worked on the background, using the Tracy Evans "Circular ST6 Stencil" with "Sky Blue" Ranger Archival ink, colouring in three different sized circles. I then used the same ink with the Tracy Evans "Flurry SS43 Stencil" to add dots across the surface.

Next, I used "Shadow Gray" Ranger Archival Ink through the Tracy Evans "Distressed Background SS31 stencil" to create the diamonds. I deliberately left a relatively open space to the middle right of the flower so that I can add a sentiment at a later date.

I rubbed off the drawing gum then added shados to the flowers and to the diamonds to provide a more 3D look.  Finally, adding colour to the flowers by using a paint brush to apply Derwent Inktense pencils.

Tracy Evans Boutique Dsigns "Good Things Take Time TE60

 

This is my Artist Trading Card (ATC) for the day. For the background, I used "Sky Blue" and "Tiger Lily" Ranger Archival Ink through one of the apertures in the Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "Circular ST6 Stencil".  I used the same size to draw a circle using a black fine liner pen.

Round the edge of the circle on the left hand side, I stamped text which is part of the Tracy Evans "Good Things Take Time TE60" stamp set, using Versafine Clair "Arctic" light blue ink. Ithen stamped the word "Lily" and the flower, part of the same stamp set. stamped in Versafine Clair "Nocturne" black ink.  I stamped the flower again on white card, fussy cut it and glued it into position.  Then added a touch of colour using "Scattered Straw" Distress Oxide Ink.

Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "Special Delivery TE64" Heat Embossed Artist Trading Card

A clean and simple design on my Artist Trading Card (ATC) for the day,  Starting with white card, I used a blending brush to apply three shades of Distress Oxide Inks.  Starting with Shaded Lilac in the bottom right corner, then Wilted Violet as the mid colour and then the darker colour of Villainous Potion.

I used Wow! Clear Embossing Ink pad tio stamp the flowers, which is part of the Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "Special Delivery TE64" stamp set.  I then coated the stamped image with Wow! Opaque Bright White embossing powder and heat set.

I added some tiny specks of white Posca pen near the embossing, finally adding a word sticker saying "hope".