Funky Fossil Designs "Mechanical Hello" Card

I needed to make a birthday card for my brother, so decided to use a background I had in my stash.  It comprises of various Distress Oxide Inks and then a further Distress Oxide ink applied through the Funky Fossil Designs "Mechanical" stencil.  On the left hand side I had used three shades of Wow! Embossing Powders and heat set.  Sadly the sparkle doesn't show too much in the still photo

I then used the Funky Fossil Designs "Hello Die" with two shades of green cardstock to cut the word out. I layered them with the darker one in the background so that it works as a shadow.  Mounting the card in the same coloured cardstock for continuity.

Catherine Rains "Collage Breakthough" - Lesson 3

Today, I have watched the Day 3 video by Catherine Rains "Breakthrough Collage" course nd made my two four inch collages.  I've used the off cut of papers used from the previous two lessons.  The brief was to leave open space round the edge of the collage.

Also, Cat tells us how we can make our own embellishments uing paints on tissue paper.

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.