~Summer Swap: Altered Book Box & Tags

Over on the Cricut Circle Message Board, we are just wrapping up a 2 month partner swap where our task was to create an altered book box and 5 tags using a summer theme of our partner's choice.  My partner was Susan and she pretty much gave me free rein to make whatever I wanted.  So I mixed a little of everything in.  There's some beach and some sea and tons of different textures.  I had a blast with this because I got to use paper and ink and paints and fabric and all kinds of little odds and ends as you'll see.
I actually created 6 double sided tags and put a ring through them all making a little tag album, plus I made 1 extra oddball to hold some extra charms I had that went with the theme.  I also included some fabric flowers as a little extra gift. 

And I was so excited to mail it that I forgot to take pictures of  some of the items, so Susan gave me permission to use the ones she posted on the MB.  Here's the stuff I created for her.

The front of the box had a sea floor made of blue stone with fish netting and shells and critters attached.  there was also the requisite message in the bottle  The sun was made from gold flecked tulle with an amber gem in the center.

The back was a little whimsical in that this die cut is from Fun in the Sun and fit perfectly on my background paper.

The spine was make with a brushed velvet type of fabric scrap and I scalloped the edges with a metal die.  Palm trees from Summer Love were added on top.

The inside front cover came from G45 By the Sea and I added some jute ribbon around the edges.  The inside of the book is my pink flamingo, also from Summer Lover, standing in the sand which was made from, what else?  Sandpaper.  80 grit I believe.  I had some fun here with some paint & clear tar gel and wink of stella.  I added a few shells here as well.

The tags were ALOT of fun to make, but I'm glad I was only required to do 5.  I actually did 6, and I made them two sides because I just had so much cool stuff I wanted to use!

Here are the fronts before they were bound.

And here are the backs.

Here they are assembled with the ring & ribbons and the little charm I made to attach.  All of the following pics courtesy of Susan.

And finally the front and back of the extra tag I made to hold the extra charms I did not use on the project.    I'm sure Susan can find a use for them.  I used chalkboard paint on one side.  That stuff is AWESOME!
And a little Timmy Distress Ink on the back.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

~Ok - who stole my summer?

Seriously!  If you know where it is, please bring it back!

I've also noticed there hasn't been much activity here since July.  I have been crafty, I've just not taken the time to post anything on my blog.  There have been a bunch of challenges on the Cricut message board that I've participated in.  Some are weekend challenges with different themes and then there is a running pig vs. teddy bear challenge (don't ask) for our new Circle cart - Charmed.

So without further adieu, here is the first of the weekend challenges. The challenge was to do a project (card, layout, décor) that used the sun somewhere in it.  I made the following card.

The background card with the soak up the sun phrase is one of those Project Life type cards.  This batch was made by Recollections (I think).   The sunbathing beauty was cut at 2.5" inches from Fun in the Sun light and I used actual sandpaper for the sand.  I added a little bit of washi tape just because.  I'll put this in my card stash and send it to someone who is "blue" over the winter.   Thanks for stopping by!