Monday 5 September 2016

Back from down under and tag-a-day round two.

Hi everyone and thanks for dropping in. As mentioned yesterday, I am finally back from Australia where I spent most of July and August with my little grand children. After winter there, it's back into nearly Autumn here in the northern hemisphere, but I had the most amazing time both with family and meeting some craft friends too. More about that at the end of this post.
Sorry for the terrible picture, but they just never stood still lol...

Towards the end of August Spring is on the way....


Today will see the start of a new challenge I have set myself, namely to create a tag a day for 10 days in a row....
Here's number 1.
It's happened to me before, when back after a long time of no crafting, I find that my mojo is still left behind where ever I have been. Some years back I found that one good remedy is to do just a little project every day. So here we go, just a little tag, created on a small tag shaped piece of balsa wood. I got 10 of these ages ago and found them in my stash, no idea anymore where they came from or who made them, sorry.
I started by colouring some texture paste (Finnabair Sand Paste) with a little Decoart fluid acrylic in burnt umber. An idea I got from Brenda, who just did an amazing project for our latest A Vintage Journey challenge.
Next colour was added with various brown and blue toned paints by both Decoart and Golden.

More colour and toning down was achieved with the help of some Decoart Antiquing creams.
And finally the tag was embellished with some Calico Craftparts, altered with the help of paints and embossing powder and some flowers.

While in Australia, I spent one wonderful day meeting up with some crafty friends, we had such a great day, exchanged gifts and had the most amazing time!
Here they are, 4 wonderful Ozzy ladies, from left to right: Margaret, Heather, Helen, and Adriana.
Thank you girls for the most amazing day!!

Well, that's it for now. Tomorrow I will share tag number two and some more photos of our crafty get together. Thanks for your visit today and have a great week!

28 comments:

ike said...

Fabulous photos. I am glad you are back safe and had a marvelous time. :-)
Super cool tag - I just love the texture.

Hugz
IKE xx

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brenda said...

Your tag today is just beautiful Astrid and thank for sharing your special photos.

B x

chrissie said...

Such a happy post Avril with your very beautiful grand children and happy set of crafters that you met. Last but not least the amazing Tag Number 1 for your very own challenge. Can't wait to see more

Love Chrissie xx

Annie said...

Stunning photos of your beautiful grand-daughters Astrid xx super picture of the crafty friends you met up with too x what a great idea to challenge yourself to make a tag a day to get that Mojo back, perhaps I will try that too as my mojo is also awol and I seem to find something else that needs to be done.
Your tag is brilliant -love the texture and antiquing xxx

Hope we can catch up with a crafty get together soon

Hugs Annie xx

Meggymay said...

Lovely photos of the family and your friends. What a lovely day you must of had seeing fellow crafters on your holiday. The tag looks fabulous, looking forward to seeing the others.
Yvonne xx

Patty O'Malley said...

Sounds like a wonderful mixture of family and friends on your vacation. I'm a tag person, so your tag challenge appeals to me! This tag is awesome!

Marisa Job said...

Your granddaughters are adorable! My daughter had another baby girl a month ago, I love being a grandma. So glad you had a wonderful time with family and friends in Australia.
Your tag is beautiful as always! Hugs!

Lys said...

Welcome back Astrid, it seems you had beautiful times there with your family and friends. Great idea to create one tag a day, inspiration is not so far!

Mrs.B said...

Welcome back Astrid, sounds as if you've had a fabulous time and your grandchildren as so adorable. Beautiful tag, full of gorgeous textures, and a great idea to just play with no agenda attached.
Avril xx

Adriana B said...

Welcome back to the blogging world, your grandchildren are adorable :) So glad to have met you in person, hopefully we will do it again soon, love your tags, so much textures and awesome for you to create one each day - enjoy!. big hugs XX

froebelsternchen said...

Welcome back dear Astrid!
I missed you! Happy to hear you had such a good time down under!
A fabulous first tag today.. a super idea to make 10 different tags on wood! I am looking forward to see all your ideas! The first one is just wonderful !
oxo Susi
oxx Susi

Brenda Brown said...

How wonderful to see you back and making your exquisite art, thanks for the shout out and I'm so glad my frame helped you on your way a bit. Love the photo of your granddaughters, they are growing so quickly and it must have been wonderful to spend so much time with them, they really are gorgeous girls. Have fun getting back into the crafty mode, huge hugs xxx

Maryann Laursen said...

Sooo great to have you back here and see your awesome work again. Wonderful pics of your sweet granddaughters and crafty friends. It really is an awesome feeling to meet up with friends, you´ve known online for a very long time, don´t you think? I´ve been so lucky myself to meet with quite a few over the years and it´s just as special every time. I loved your tag here and is looking forward to see the next ones too as they gets done. Maybe I should try that too, as my mojo has definitely been long gone for the last months here too. Have a great week ahead now sweet friend and hopefully lots of great fun.

Redanne said...

The girls are just adorable Astrid! Such a good idea to create a tag a day and your first one is gorgeous, I love all the wonderful texture you created. How lovely to meet up with crafty friends on the other side of the world too! I recently met up with a lovely friend from California - crafty friends are just the best! Hugs, Anne xx

Paper Creations by Shirley said...

Your granddaughters are gorgeous, so adorable, you must love being with them and sad to leave. Your tag is also gorgeous and meeting up with a happy group of blog friends is so much fun. Cheers xx

Margaret Mifsud said...

So glad you made it back home safe and sound Astrid!! Your grandies are such gorgeous girls .. bet you were sad to leave them behind. Your tag is stunning but that's no surprise. Must say, even though I wish you could have stayed in Oz, it is nice to have you back and creating .. simply love your art. The colours and textures on this tag are just amazing .. so glad that you shared the steps .. thank you. We had such a great time on our day out and it was truly wonderful to meet you in person. Hope we will get the opportunity to do it again some day. Enjoy the rest of the week Astrid .. big hugs xx

Paper Profusion said...

Your granddaughters look gorgeous Astrid - looks like they have inherited your appreciation of colour and beauty anyway. Thanks for sharing your super tag and its lovely to see you back. Nicola x

Unknown said...

Oh your babies are sooooo Precious Astrid - just beautiful... Wow. So glad you were able to be with them for so long and make great memories. What fun to see them and the great pictures of the artsy gals too!!! Your tag is SUPER but the photos made me smile big!!! Xj.

Mona Pendleton said...

Beautiful photos Astrid! Such little sweethearts and what a great photo of you and your artsy friends :) That's awesome! Your tag is outstanding! Love all the texture and pretty color palette!

pearshapedcrafting said...

Super family photos! Great that you met up with crafty friends! Chrisx

Words and Pictures said...

How adorable your granddaughters are - I think it's so funny they won't stand still long enough for a photo, though the one of them arranging the flowers is enchanting.

Love your personal tag challenge - a great way to get back into the swing of things after so long away from the craft table - and this one is another delight, full of texture, depth and detail. I love the shot of the background after you'd added the first layer of paint - amazing lights and darks.
Alison x

experiments in paper said...

Welcome home, and what a great way to get back into things!! Your little munchkins are gorgeous - so glad you got to spend a good amount of time down under with them! Love this tag, and am off to see the second....living vicariously at the moment, so thank you for the wonderful inspiration and eye candy!! xxx Lynn

Jackie PN said...

So wonderful to have you back creating-lovely tag!

Those grand babies are just too beautiful Astrid!! Looks like you had a most wonderful time with your family and friends-thanks for sharing! xo

sarascloset said...

This blog post is what it's all about! Your grand girls are just adorable, and I know you hated to say goodbye for now. But you were blessed to spend 2 glorious months with them. I was also warmed to see the photo of your crafty friends...lucky you and lucky them to spend even one day together! From the looks of it, it was FUN!

Your idea to create a tag a day for 10 days is brilliant, and something I should try, as my mojo is all but gone. This tag is gorgeous, and it's hard to believe you left your creative mojo on vacation! It's back with a vengence! I love the texture and the metallic look on this...is it just my eyes? thank you for sharing so much inspiration on your blog! Hugs!

sarascloset said...

This blog post is what it's all about! Your grand girls are just adorable, and I know you hated to say goodbye for now. But you were blessed to spend 2 glorious months with them. I was also warmed to see the photo of your crafty friends...lucky you and lucky them to spend even one day together! From the looks of it, it was FUN!

Your idea to create a tag a day for 10 days is brilliant, and something I should try, as my mojo is all but gone. This tag is gorgeous, and it's hard to believe you left your creative mojo on vacation! It's back with a vengence! I love the texture and the metallic look on this...is it just my eyes? thank you for sharing so much inspiration on your blog! Hugs!

Jennie Atkinson said...

Welcome back Astrid and so lovely to hear about your wonderful time in Australia. Your grand daughters are just adorable and the photographs are so natural. Loving your tag too! such gorgeous textures, but the blues are stunning. It is such a great idea to create in this way - I found the same having been away for two months on the boat and wish I had done the same instead diving straight in and struggling !! Hope you are having a lovely weekend x

Jenny Marples said...

Totally delicious tag Astrid! Tons of texture, dreamy colours and the perfect little pops of colour with your embellishments xx

A Pink said...

Another fabulous tag! Astrid deep in texture and gorgeous colour tones . Love it !
Your granddaughters are adorable - so cute . I bet they love having Grandma around to spoil them - precious times .
xx

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