Trip to Maui and a Sandcastle Gift Box

My family and I just returned from a 10-day vacation to Maui. We wanted to take our family on a special trip to celebrate Jensyn’s graduation and make memories together before she heads off to college (and her life’s journey) next fall. We had such a great time!

Of course I took a gazillion photos! I’ll spare you the L-O-N-G post by putting them all here individually, but if you’re curious about some of the highlights of our trip you can see them in the slideshow below. I was so amazed by the colors and textures of Hawaii and came home feeling inspired and in the mood to create, create, create! So that is what I plan on doing in the coming week … scrapbooking my little heart out amidst the loads and loads of laundry I’ll be doing. Ha!

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Today is the official first day of Summer and in the spirit of things, I have a beachy project up on the Echo Park Paper Blog today!

I had so much fun creating this sandcastle box using my Silhouette Cameo and cut files from SVG Cuts. The sandcastle box is from the Wet N Wild SVG Kit found here. I cut the base of the sandcastle using Carta Bella Kraft Designer Cardstock.

After assembling the castle, I added decorative patterned paper panels for more color. I am in LOVE with the yellow papers of this collection. How cute are those lemons and then the paper with the handwritten words on the body of the castle?!

Next, I embellished it with the Summer Party Ephemera Die Cuts, Element Stickers, Chipboard Accents, Decorative Brads, and Enamel Dots.

The roof of the sandcastle lifts off to reveal lots of yummy saltwater taffy. Mmmm!

I love to create a coordinating notecard to go with my gift boxes when I can. Use it to wish the recipient the BEST summer ever!

SUPPLIES: Echo Park Summer Party Collection: Flip Flops Paper, Kite Flying Paper, Vacation Time Paper, Swimming Fish Paper, Celebrate Summer Paper, Element Stickers, Chipboard Accents, Decorative Brads, Enamel Dots, Ephemera Pack, Carta Bella Paper Kraft Designer Cardstock

I’ll be back to share another project soon. Have a great week!