52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge 2026 - Week 2

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 2 is "Acetate"

For my tag, I decide to use white acrylic paint, applied with a make up sponge, through the Funky Fossil Designs "Snow Storm" Stencil on a sheet of clear acetate cut to tag size which I secured with ribbon, over the top of the dark blue tag.

For the tag below the acetate, I started with a plain white tag, covering it in three shades of Distress Oxide Inks.  The colours I used are Blueprint Sketch, Prize Ribbon and Chipped Sapphire at the top of the tag.  I used a heat gun to ensure it was fully dry before stamping on it.

I used Versafine Clair "Nocturne" black ink to stamp the Crafty Individuals CI-495 Perching Wagtail cling stamp.  I usd the same ink to edge the tag and then a gold coloured gel pen to add highlights to some of the foliage.  I also added a touch of pastel pencil to the bird.

Catherine Rains "Collage Breakthrough" Lesson 1 and 2

I am not in my normal crafting mode, so decided to do something a little different - collage.  On-line I saw an ad for a free collage course, do decided to sign up.  It's run by Catheriine Rains and is called "Collage Breakthrough".  It's a step by step course on how papers work together, whether they're quiet or patterned.  Catherine also guides on how to create your patterned papers.

Lesson one was using two papers one patterned and one quiet.

Lesson two was using  three pieces of collage paper, in each grid there were to be two quiet and one patterned or one quiet and two patterned.

I found it surprising how long I deliberated on the positions and sizes of the papers.  

Funky Fossil Designs "Take 3 Challenge - January 2026

My entry for the Funky Fossil Designs January "Take 3" challenge (Purple, Stitching & Love).

I've used Distress Oxide Inks for the background colour. I've used: Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberrym Wilted Violet, Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire. Using Versafine Clair "Fantasia" ink through the Funky Fossil "Scandi Sunburst" stencil.

I've then used Versafine Clair "Twilight" dark blue ink to stamp the hearts which is the Funky Fossil "Heartfelt" stamp, heat embossed using Wow! Clear Embossing Powder.

I've used the Funky Fossil "Rub Ons" for the stitches and the one of the Funky Fossil word stickers from their "Sentimental Sticker Stack".

52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge 2026 - Week 1

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 1 is "Highlight of 2025"

For me, 2025 was a mixed bag.  We lived for seven months in our touring caravan before moving into our new home, that was hard to do but we absolutely love our new home.  Our son got married in May.  We had a fantastic weekend in a chateau in the Dordogne, France for the wedding, so I have chosen that for my tag.

There was lots of lovely stationery for the wedding, the invites, information sheets, timetable of events, thank you notes and lots more.  They've been sitting on my desk, being moved from one area to another so I decided to make them into a tag.  I added extra colour using two shades of Distress Oxide inks:  Rustic Wilderness and Iced Spruce,  I smooshed some of the cards through the ink to give a more uniform colour.

I then added some Cosmic Shimmer gold gilding flakes to areas and used a gold coloured gel pen for extra detail too.

52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge 2025 Tag Book Cover and Round Up

As the last tag for the 2025 A Crafting Niche "52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge" has been completed.  I have now made a front and back cover for my tag book. I've used a three inch book ring to keep all my tags together.  This allows me to flip through the tags with relative ease. 

For the cover of my tag book, I have covered a tag in blue card.  My box of Christmas ribbons was out, so I used a length of glittery turquoise coloured metal edged ribbon through the length of the tag, securing with double sided tape.

I had some silver curling ribbon, so I glued a length of that over the top of the glittery ribbon.  I then mounted the tag on to a turquoise piece of card, trimming it to size.

Next on a piece of turquoise coloured card, I stamped the numbers using the Lavinia Stamps "Numbers" stamp set with Versafine Clair 'Twilight" dark blue ink.  I then used a Spellbinders circle die to cut the numbers to shape and glued into position.

Here is a photo of all of my 2025 tags together.

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The Crafting Niche "52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge will be continuing for 2026.  The first prompt will be on Sunday 4th January 2026 at 7:30 am on the Facebook Group.  Here's the link.

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

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 52 is "Celebrate"

For the base colour of this tag I used Blue Print Sketch and Wilted Violet Distress Oxide Inks.  I then used Versafine Clair Medieval Blue and Morning Mist to stamp the background text, using  Visible Image "Distressed Christmas" stamp set.

I used a Wow! Clear Slow Drying Embossing Pad to stamp the bursts, then coated them with Wow! Silver super fine embossing powder and heat set.  The bursts are part of the Visible Image "Rays of Light" stamp set.

In the middle of the fireworks I added Lavinia Stamps "Moon Dust" silver glitter.  I then added word stickers and finally dots of "Lightning: Liquid Pearls.

52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge 2025 - Week 51

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 51 is "Anything Goes"

I started this with plaing white card, coating the top half with various shades of dark blue Distress Oxide Inks.  The colours that I used are:  Prize Ribbon, Blueprint Sketch and Chipped Sapphire.  In the top left had side I used Versafine Clair "Nocturne" black ink to stamp the owl, which is part of the Lavinia Stamps "Brodwin and Maylin" stamp set.

On a separate, white piece of card, using Versafine Clair "Blue Belle" ink, I multi stamped the Lavinia Stamps "Hill Border - thin lines" stamp.  Using Versafine Clair "Nocturne" black ink I stamped the two Lavinia Stamps "Woodland Cottages". I fussy cut the stamped images, coloured the houses with three shades of Distress Oxide Inks (Iced Spruce, Broken China and Festive Berries).  I coloured the "Hill Borders" with different shades of blue Distress Oxide Inks.  The colours I used are:  Unchartered Mariner, Prize Ribbon, Blue Print Sketch, Chipped Sapphire and Stormy Sky.

Returning to the tag, I stamped the Lavinia Stamps "Small Pixy Houses" on the top hill using Versafine Clair "Morning Mist" grey ink.  I added a touch of yellow Posca Pen, which I then blotted to the windows, this meant the colour was less vibrant and more the look I was after.

Using Cosmic Shimmer "Acrylic Glue", I arranged the hills and houses how I wanted them and stuck them down on to the tag.

Finally, I added some snowfall to the scene, by using a fan shaped paint brush with Dr Ph. Martin's white bleed proof paint.