Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "Poinsettia TE20" Artist Trading Card

This is my Artist Trading Card for the day.  On a plain white card I covered 3/4 of it with "Prickly Pear" Ranger Archival Ink.  I then lay the Tracy Evans "Flurry TE20" stencil over the top and applied a white texture paste through the stenci.  Sadly as I lifted the stencil away, I managed to drop it on to the surface, so the "flurry flakes" are far more textural than they should have been!

On a plain white card, using Versafine Clair "Strawberry" red ink, I stamped the word and painsettia flower, which are part of the Tracy Evans "Poinsettia TE20" stamp set. I coloured it using a paint brush to apply "Festive Berries" Distress Oxide Ink.  I also used a yellow Posca Pen too.  I fussy cut the flowers and applied to the card, then cut and glued the word into position.

Funky Fossil Designs "Leaves and Flowers" Card

 

For this card, I have used a white texture paste through the Funky Fossil Designs stencil called "Leaves & flowers" on kraft card. Once dry, I cut to size and topped with a fern, cut using a Funky Fossil Die.  Finally adding a pop of colour using an orange Posca Pen.

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.

52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge 2025 - Week 39

The Crafting Niche 52 Week Mini Art Card/Tag Challenge 2025:

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 39 "Buttons, Buckles and Sliders"

For my Week 39 Tag, I used white texture paste through the Tim Holtz / Stampers Anonymous THS032 - Flourish Layering Stencil and set aside to dry.

I had some embellishments left over from a wedding project in my stash so used a coule of gem set and pearl buttons and a gem set ribbon slider. Typing and printing a sentiment saying "To have and tol hold" on the computer, finally adding some sticky flat back pearls to some of the flourishes.

Tim Holtz Paper Doll on wax resist background

A little background to this tag.  About two years ago, I had some Distress Oxide Inks (Antique Linen, Brushoed Corduroy, Vintage Photo and Specikled Egg), on my glass mat, so instead of wasting them, I decided to put them on a tag, but before I did that, I ran a Brusho wax resist crayon over the surface in a very rough cross hatch pattern.  I added the inks and the crayon did it's job, by exposing the crayon.  Once the tag was dry, I put it away for another day and forgot about it.

I had a bit of a tidying / tweak session to my craft cupboard this afternoon and came across the long forgotten tag, so decided to do something with it.  I added some more Distrss Oxide Inks to it.  This time, Forest Moss and Ground Espresso.

I splattered Aqua Green and Black Posca Pens across the surface of the tag.  Once dry I then used Versafine Clair "Twilight" dark blue ink to stamp the lines on the tag.  The stamp is part of a Tim Holtz / Stampers Anonymous stamp and stencil set with a reference of THMM114.  While the ink was out, I also stamped the leaves which are part of a Marianne Designs "Silhouette Art - CS1181" stamp set.  I then fussy cut the foliage and stuck it into position on the tag.

Using the stencil from the same stamp and stencil set mentioned above, I applied texture paste through some of the holes.  The white texture paste took on some of the colour from the oxide inks below which made it look less stark.

Finally, I added a Tim Holtz Paper doll figure and a word sticker from the Tim Holtz Clipping Stickers set.

Happy Birthday Card (Stencilled background) Card

This background has been in my "Ditch or Do" box for at least a year, as I was trying out a texture pastes.  Today I decided to use it for a birthday card.

Sadly, I didn't write on the back of it what I used, so this is a bit of guess work regarding the inks.  For the colour, I used "Twisted Citron" and "Mowed Lawn" Distress Oxide Inks through the Funky Fossil Designs "Micro Dots" stencil.  I then used a metallic silver texture paste through the Funky Fossil Designs "Between the cracks stencil".  This ended up quite raised, maybe I should have used a little less, but it's called "texture paste" for a reason !

I used "Monarch Orange" Ranger Archival ink through areas of the Funky Fossil Designs "Brick Wall 2" stencil.  Then I used wet glue to add the die cut "Happy Birthday" sentiment.  After mounting the piece on black card and then on to a white card blank, I added some dots of black "Ranger Enamel Accents", to add a bit more texture to the card.

Lavinia Stamps Textured Seascape Card

Last Friday, the lovely Amanda Branston did a demo of using texture paste with the new Lavinia Stamps Dinkles.  I was impressed, so decided to have a go myself. 

I lay a Sweet Poppy aperture circle stencil over my piece of card, then lay the Lavinia Stamps "Honeycomb Stencil" over the top, securing it with a piece of low tack tape.  I then applied Tim Holtz/Ranger Matte Distress Texture Paste with a palette knife.  I then used my heat gun to dry it. 

Once I was happy the paste was set, I repositioned the circular Sweet Poppy metal stencil and then spritzed the inner area of the circle with water. I then tapped small amounts of three shades of Lavinia Stamps "Dinkles" on to the spritzed surface, using Deep Yellow, Lime Divine and Sea Blue shades.  I gave an added spritz of water t ensure the powder dispersed then used my Tim Holtz hand held air puffer (I can't remember the proper name for it, but it's in the photo above), to blow the surplus water off the textureed area onto the white card. I continued to rotate the card so that the ink was blown outwards all the way round. I used a heat gun to dry off the area.

At this stage, I really wasn't sure what I was going to do with this textured circle, then I thought of a fishing net and that gave me the idea of a seascape.

I stamped a selection of Lavinia Stamps ocean stamps (Shoal of fish, Fish Set, Seaweed 2, Seaweed and Urchins) in Versafine Clair inks. I coloured them with Derwent Inktense pencils and then fussy cut and stuck the images on to the textured card.

Finally, I added some touches of silver glitter gel pen and then mounted the card on to a dark mauve piece of cardstock and then on to a card blank.

Funky Fossil - Taches and Micro Dots Birthday Card

I created this card using two Funky Fossil Design stencils.  The lower one is the "Micro Dots stencil", where I have used "Wild Honey" Distress Oxide inks.  I then used That's Crafty "Black Texture Paste through the "Taches Stencil".  

I used a Personal Impressions stamp for the sentiment, from their "Double Sayings" set, stamped in Versafine Clair "Nocturne" black ink.

Pop Art Style Card using "Abstract Beauty" from Funky Fossil Designs

Funky Fossil Designs have started to sell "black texture paste", so I thought i"d better try it out.  I have to say I was really impressed with how it applied through my stencil and it was easy to wash off the stencil and hands afterwards.

I used the paste through the Funky Fossil "Sunray Stencil".  I then used their "Abstract Beauty" stamp set to stamp the image of the face on to white card.  I cut around the image and applied it over a piece of black card and then adhered it to the card base over the stencilled image.

When Crafting Goes Wrong!

Generally, when my crafting goes wrong I can salvage a piece by covering areas or just re-working it. Sadly this was not the case with this.  

Having created a Brusho background in the shades I wanted, I waited for it to fully dry, I taped a stencil into place and applied the texture paste through the stencil.  I let it sit for a few minutes before I lifted the stencil.  Unfortunately, the paste spread and blurred in the middle of this master piece, also now that the paste is dry, the white has picked up some of the base colour.  

I guess, it doesn't matter how much crafting you do, you are always on a learning curve.  I now know I need to perfect this technique and consign this piece to the bin :(  Maybe now is a good time for a coffee!