Secret Santa Stamp

This year my Secret Stamp Santa is Brandy.  She carved this cute penguin stamp.  I'll look for a place to hide it this winter :)

I mentioned before about getting a tree for my letterboxing ornaments.  I dug around in the basement and found one.  It had shot gun shell lights on it but the Princess stole them.  This tree has ornaments from 2 years of participating in the swap.  I am signed up for next year and already have an idea I want to try.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year <3

Socks & Stamps

This year I am participating in some sock & stamp swaps.  I was a stay at home mom for 13 years and now I am working at a day care.  They sent out a flyer about a sock swap.  It said to buy a pair of Christmas socks and fill it with things that make you happy.  I got some chocolate Kisses, Burt's Bees goodies, a Star Wars spatula, and carved a stamp.


I am also in a sock swap on AQ.  After making a sock full of fun stuff for work I couldn't just send a pair of socks.  I sent Christmas socks, Kisses, another Burt's Bees, and I carved a stamp.  My sock buddy made me socks!  She also made an ear warmer and a fancy candy cane holder. 


This is my 6th year to be in the AQ Secret Santa stamp swap.  After looking at all the colorful Christmas socks I had to send some in this swap too.  I send Christmas socks, Kisses, LTCs, and a stamp.  I am still waiting on my stamp from my Secret Santa and I'll post about it when it arrives.

Christmas Ornament Swap Part 2

Here are the ornaments I got from the Christmas ornament swap, hosted by Moose on the Loose.  They all look great!  I think I am going to buy a small pre-lit tree to put my boxing ornaments on <3

Christmas Art LTCs

Distress Inks & Water

I like Distress Inks and trying new things so I bought a few Distress Oxides.  It took me a few tries to figure them out, but in the end I really like the look they give.

I used both Distress Ink and Oxides for this card.  It is called, "Primitive Creche" for Gypsy Fiddler's "Christmas/Holiday Art" LTC swap.

Distress Oxides & Water

I started off rubbing the inks on my craft mat, spraying them with water, smearing the card stock card thru, and let it dry.

Now for the Oxides.  I rubbed them on my craft mat, sprayed with water, smeared/daubed the card in the ink, and dry it with your drier.  Then you take the card and tap/rub it in a different area of the Oxides and dry it.  You may have to do this 2-3 times.  The drying is one thing I never do with the Distress Inks; I just let them sit.

Christmas Art: Primitive Creche

Once the cards were to a point that I liked, I sprinkled some water on them, let them set for a few seconds and patted with a paper towel to remove extra water.

I stamped my stamp, embossed it, and I rounded the corners with a punch.  I am really happy with how they turned out :)

Christmas Ornament Swap

Daper Snowman

I am back in the Christmas Ornament swap, hosted by Moose on the Loose.  I participated a few years ago and really liked it.

I carved my stamp and made the main part of my ornament over the summer.  I left the ribbon for later.  Next thing I knew the deadline was upon me.  I burned my finger prints off, hot gluing the ribbons on.  I think they look pretty good :)

Autumn Craft & Swap

This is my card for aMAZEing adventure frogs, "Autumn Craft & Swap" tracker.  It is called, "Blessed."

The paper was part of the prize that Lil Ewok won at the Ohio event.  Carving words scares me but I enjoyed making this stamp.

This card is pretty plain but I wanted to show off what I think is a shaving cream background.  The stamp image is embossed.  I have been doing a lot of embossing here lately :)

Painted Rock Postal

Painted Rock Postal: Shark Attack 

I am participating in Book Hoarder's Painted Rock Postal Ring.  Mine is called, "Shark Attack."  We were not required to make matching rocks but I had too.  I plan on putting it near the BOTM.  I probably made my stamp too big but I am excited and looking forward to seeing the others in the ring :)

O'Bannon Woods

About 4 weeks ago we went camping at O'Bannon Woods in south central Indiana.  We had never been here before and were looking to try something different.  I started this blog post a few weeks ago but something happened and it did not save :(  So, here we go again...



The park is a little farther than our usual haunts and we set up in the dark.  On Saturday, we walked down to the nature center, hay press, and village.  It is small but nice.  There are no letterboxes in this park!  We planted two boxes on the path on the way down.  So far, no finders. 

Saturday afternoon, we went over to Corydon.  This is Indiana's first capitol.  We did a walking tour and saw the sights.  There was a cool glass blowing shop,  old capital building, got ice cream, went to the Constitution Elm, and stepped inside the first pub that President William Henry Harrison owned for a while. 

At the park, 3 of us climbed the fire tower.  We found a geocache nearby and talked to a family exploring the area on horseback.

On Sunday, we went and found an old iron bridge that was no longer in use.  We hiked a trail around a wetland and got chiggers :(  The wetland trail was nice but at the end it disappears and we walked thru a clearing of tall grass.  We had our first experience with Beech Blight Aphids.  Which are really scary if you don't know what they are.

The caves in the area close after Labor Day and we missed out on those :(

The weather was great.  We found 0 boxes and planted 2.  I wish I would have taken some to plant in Corydon. 

Lil Ewok kept calling the place Abandoned Woods instead of O'Bannon Woods :D

Perfect Day in Ky

Madisonville

Yesterday my boxing buddy and I went on a boxing adventure in Kentucky.  We found all 17 boxes that we looked for <3

We found a box in Hanson and Madisonville.  Then we got a 7 box series in a small rural cemetery in Dawson Springs.  I think got poison ivy here.  Thankfully it is just a small line on my arm.

Next we got another set of 7 in a Hopkinsville cemetery.  We had lunch at Arby's while we were in the big city ;)

My boxing buddy, G-MA, said there was another box that we needed to get.  I pulled up Hopkinsville on my phone and didn't see anything.  So she pulled it up on her phone.  The box she was talking about was a box that I planted.  She was with me the first time I planted it.  It went missing and the next time we went to Hopkinsville I replaced it.  She was with me both times I planted it but for some reason she never stamped it.  So we stopped and she got it.  Technically I got 17 and she got 18.

Dawson Springs

The last box of the day was in Fearsville, Ky.  The clue was a rhyme and vague.  G-MA and I are both bad at this kind of thing and almost didn't go for it.  But it was still early and we gave it a try.  It was easier to find than we thought it would be.  G-MA was hoping there would be a sign in Fearsville so we could take a pic but the place was so small that there was no sign.

It was really hot but we found all the boxes we went for and a hitchhiker.  When we stopped to find my box we discovered that 2 other boxers from SW Indiana were also in the area on the same day.  Funny coincidence :)

Quiet, Soothing LTCs

Quiet, Soothing Moments:
Happy Camper

I am participating in Gypsy Fiddler (aka musicpals) "Quiet, Soothing Moments" LTC swap.  As you can see I picked a camping image for my card.  I am really happy with how they turned out even though the carve got mixed reviews around the house.  I posted a pic on Facebook and my friends liked it.  I always plant a box Mother's Day weekend when we are camping.  I may use this as my box for next year.

Happy Solar Eclipse Day!

Lil Ewok (in black) and his Kindergarten class

I live in southwest Indiana and we were supposed to be 99% totality for the solar eclipse today.  I originally planned on going down to Hopkinsville, Ky to watch the eclipse with some other letterboxers.  But about a month out, they were talking about all the crowds/traffic and we decided to stay home.

Daddy's Favorite Princess (red w/ hands on head)
and 3rd grade class

Boxing Turtle in 7th grade

I went and watched at my kids school.  We had a few thin clouds but we had a great view.  I was disappointed with the point of "totality".  I thought being 99% it would be darker, we would be able to see stars, the corona, etc.   When looking away, it seemed like a big cloud covered the sun.  The street lights came on and the crickets/cicada were buzzing.  My 2 older boys were disappointed too :(

On Sunday, I planted a box for the eclipse.  Two other boxers have planted boxes within an hour of me while they were traveling to see the event too :)

I have already started looking at the maps for the solar eclipse 2024 and it looks like we will be in totality then.  Wow!  I guess all the crazies will come to us  ;)

Summer Craft & Swap

This is my card for the "Summer Craft & Swap" hosted by aMAZEing adventure frog.  My card is called, "Ship in a Bottle."  I carved this stamp for Blackvelvetrav's pirate event.  But I liked the stamp so much I had to make some LTCs with it.

I got the background paper at the Ohio prairie event.  You may recall that Lil Ewok won a door prize at that event.  He got a plastic pail & shovel, stickers, background papers, and LTC sleeves.  These are some of the background papers that he got :)

The fish in the background are store bought cling stamps.  They are embossed with glitter embossing powder.  The old fishing net is gauze that I stained with alcohol inks.  I stamped, colored, cut out the bottles, and attached them with 3D glue dots.  I love how they turned out :)

Back to School & Smores

My kids went back to school this week.  This year all of my kids are in school!

Bantha Rider is a sophomore.  He texted on the first day that he couldn't get his locker open.

Boxing Turtle is in 7th grade.  He says that he likes it.

Daddy's Favorite Princess is in 3rd grade.  She thought she wouldn't like her teacher but now she thinks the teacher is nice.

Lil Ewok is in Kindergarten and is having a rough go at it.  He says school is too long, he doesn't have enough time to eat lunch, some people are not nice, he misses me, he doesn't have enough home time, etc.  He was crying when I dropped him off this morning because I wouldn't walk him to his room. Hopefully he will be better on Monday.

Yesterday was National S'mores Day!  As a Girl Scout and an avid camper I had to plant a box to celebrate.  I also carved a s'more stamp for my local GS council to give away at an upcoming event.  So I carved two s'mores for the delicious holiday :)

National S'mores Day

New Signature Stamp

Old - Sometime in 2011

New - 8/2017

I have been thinking about carving a new signature stamp and finally did it.  I liked my old sig stamp but it was warped and not stamping well.  I also wanted a stamp that was one color.

My first hand carved sig stamp was 2 holly leaves and 4 heart berries for my 4 kids.  The stamp was all one piece and a pain to color.  I quickly cut the hearts out and stamped them separate.  The heart was pretty small and there were a few times on the trail that I thought I had lost it.

For a few weeks I have playing around with new stamps ideas.  I wanted to stick with the holly but couldn't find anything that really jumped out at me.  It took me forever to get Word to make the text go all the way around the snowman.  I figured it out but I hope I remember the trick if I ever need it again.

I started carving it yesterday and finished this morning.  The BOTM was planted last night and I got to try my new stamp out today.  It's not perfect but I like it :)

Owls and Circles

With a cherry on top

I am participating in jlsd0218's "Owls in the Night" LTC swap.  I love owls, joined the swap quickly, and carved my stamp.  But I had issues putting my card together.

I have some scrapbook paper that is white frosting with sprinkles but not enough for the whole set of cards.  So went to all the crafts stores in town looking for more but could not find any :(

Then I was stuck on what to do.  I ended up picking some pretty scrapbook paper for the background and coloring the owl in colors that matched.  I wanted the cherry to shine so I added some Mod Podge Dimensional Magic to it.

I wasn't very happy with my cards and I made just enough for the swap.

Meh Emoji Hitchhiker

I joined The Woodshed's "Circle Twinchie" swap with just over a week before the start date.  I had an idea and had to do it.

My card is pretty simple.  I carved the Meh emoji, stamped it on yellow paper, and embossed it.  I made a few extras for quisps and then turned it into a hitchhiker.  I think it is pretty cute :)

2017 Vacation

USS Alabama

We just got back from vacation :)  We spent a week in Pensacola Beach, Florida with my husbands family.  My sister-in-law paid for the house and we just had to get down there and chip in on food.

On the way we stopped at the USS Alabama & USS Drum.  I have been on a battleship before but I really enjoyed the submarine.  The kids enjoyed the both.  We have an LST 325 back home but it is so plain compared to these ships.

Family Time

Then we met my husbands family in Florida.  The house we stayed in was great!  It had everything we needed, it was close to the beach, and within walking distance to some shops.    The beach was beautiful.  My husband had been to Florida as a kid but this was me and the kids first time.

Found it!

While we were there we found 3 letterboxes.  We also found 5 while going back and forth in Alabama.  Woo hoo!

While at Pensacola Beach we spent 2 days playing at the beach with sand toys, boogie boards, and a paddle board.  The 2 older boys and I walked down to the peer and did some souvenir shopping.  A few days later I had to take the little 2 back so they could get something.

Lighthouse Fun 

We also visited Fort Pickens/Gulf Islands National Seashore.  I was able to get two passport stamps here.  We took a guided tour of the fort and right when the tour ended the Blue Angels started to practice.  It was a very pleasant surprise :)

The next day we went to see the Pensacola Lighthouse.  This was a major pain :/ The Blue Angels were practicing that day too and afterward they were doing autographs.  The lighthouse is on the Navy base and we had to sit in the car for an hour waiting to get on the base.  I guess everyone and their brother was trying to see the Blue Angels.  We did finally make it to the lighthouse.  Lil Ewok was just barley tall enough to go inside.  We were able to find a letterbox in this area and get a passport stamp.

Kids on the beach

We had a great time in Florida.  The weather was nice.  The family all got along.  I hope we are able to do something like this again sometime.

On the way back to Indiana we stopped in Huntsville, Al.  We found a few letterboxes, had dinner, and checked in our hotel rooms.  The next morning we went to the US Space and Rocket Center.  The kids enjoyed walking around all the rockets and the interactive activities.

Kids in space

Even though we were only gone a week, we were excited to get back home.  Lil Ewok kept asking if we were back in America.  We kept telling him that we left Indiana but we never left America.  He is 5 and he didn't get it :D

My 1000th Find!

Yes, my one thousandth letterbox!  Yesterday, my boxing buddy and I went down to Bowling Green, Ky.  I needed 11 boxes for 1000 and I printed off 13 clues.

Soap box race track near a letterbox

The ride down was nice but we started our boxing expedition with issues.  The first box we were looking for was planted in February, was last found in May, and we couldn't find it :(  I shot the owners an AQ email asking for a hint and they responded.  We were already down the road so we decided to try again on the way out of town.  If you remember my last blog post about Bowling Green, you may remember that while we were boxing that day two boxes were planted while we were there.  This was one of those boxes.

Beautiful water area in a cemetery

We did well on most of our finds.  One of the boxes was under a light skirt at a local library.  The area where the box was was fenced off because of construction.  The workers were on lunch when we came and we asked them if we could get the box.  They said yes, when we returned the box I gave them a muggle card.  They seemed interested in our "scavenger hunt".

One of the boxes we looked for was gone.  The tree that it was planted in was cut down.  I had a box in a nearby cemetery and we checked it while we were close.  The tree was covered in vines and I couldn't find it.  But other boxers had so I left it as active.  We also planted a new box in the same cemetery across the street.

We kept boxing.  My 1000th find was the second box in a 2 box series where the stamps were carved by Kirbert.  I have sent my gauges off to Kirbert to be sharpened a few times so I was excited to find some of his stamps.

My 1000th find!!

Once we had tried all the clues I took, we went to the first one we missed.  The planters checked on the box on their lunch break and left an item on the rock we were supposed to look under.  There were so many rocks in the area I think we would have never found it without their help.

We found 12 boxes and I now have 1001 finds.  We left two hitchhikers and found none.  On our way back we drove thru a patch of rain and saw a bright double rainbow :) We had lunch in Bowling Green and stopped in Owensboro on the way home for dinner & dessert.  Our next trip will be to Owensboro to get two boxes there.

Girl Scout Postal Ring

I am participating in jlsd0218's Girl Scout postal ring.  I carved this stamp a few years ago when someone was looking for over sized LTCs based on books for a poster she was making for a contest at her local library.  One of the books on the list was about Juliette Low, the founder of Girl Scouts, and I carved the stamp and made a mini poster.  I don't remember how many I made and apparently I didn't save one for myself.  I have looked in all my LTC binders and can't find one.  

After that, I decided that I would plant the stamp as a hybrid at my local GS office.  But another boxer beat me to it.  She emailed me to say that she was going to put it inside and asked if I wanted to add a stamp.  I told her no because the GS office had such limited hours.  So, I put my stamp away and the other boxer never planted one at the GS office either.  Not sure what happened there.

But I dusted off my old stamp, made a logbook, a matching postal hitchhiker, and sent them off in this new ring.  Hopefully Juliette will return home safe and maybe I can find a good place for her in the wild :)

Shipwrecked Prairie Event

Event Selfie 

This weekend we went back to Greenville, Oh to the Shipwrecked on the Prairie event.  The whole family went this year!  We got up at 4 am and drove 4.5 hours to Greenville.  We checked in and hit the trails.

Last time we went the trails had standing water and the mosquitoes were horrible :(  But this year was awesome!  It started off warm but in the afternoon some clouds rolled in and there was a nice breeze.  We boxed outside until lunch.  Then came in to eat and stamps some indoor boxes.  Lil Ewok won a door prize.

Group pic with beautiful wildflowers

After lunch we went back outside.  The blacksmith was in his shop and the boys hung out with him while the princess and I found the last series of boxes.  When we were done we went back inside to get a few table top boxes and pack up our stuff.

The Greenville Union Cemetery is the Crown Hill of Greenville ;)  We boxed here two years ago and I was surprised at how many boxes had been planted since we were there last.  I wanted to plant a box there but didn't because there were already so many.

When we were done at the cemetery we headed to a local pizza joint that had a box.  They were in the process of remodeling and were only doing carry out and delivery.  We got the box and had to look for a different place for dinner.  We got supper and started heading south to Richmond, In where we would stay the night.  We stopped in New Paris along the way and planted our box that we planned on planting in Greenville.

Crown Hill Selfie 

Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast at the hotel, packed up, and went to Crown Hill Cemetery in Indy to box some more.

My husband and I rarely box together and anytime he is around he drives.  But I drove the whole trip so my husband navigated and read the clues.  He about drove me crazy.  He would not let me touch the clues!  We missed a box in Crown Hill because he overlooked the clue.  Next time, he drives.  I guess next time I go to Indy I will have to box somewhere other than Crown Hill.

We had a great weekend.  My AQ logbook says I got 107 boxes.  I need 12 more to get 1,000!  We took some HH from the hostel but only found one on the trail and it was one we already had found.  We left a few fleas for others to find :)

Something New LTC

Something New: Just Keep Swimming!

I eagerly signed up for greenmountainhiker's "Something New" swap.  I have participated in these "try a new technique" swaps before and really enjoyed them.  I also had a technique on my Pinterest board that I have been itching to try.   My card is called, "Just Keep Swimming."

HERE is the blog post with detailed instructions and photos on the background of this card.  I cut my cards to size, sprayed some green & blue ink on my craft mat, and rubbed the cards thru it.

Lot's of supplies

When the cards are dry you stick an adhesive sheet to it.  I had never heard of this before and tried Avery lables & different tapes.  They didn't work and I ordered the sheets online.  While I waited for the sheets to arrive I played around with my Gelatos.  I bought them about a year ago and never used them.  They were fun to play with.  

Once you have the adhesive sheet, stick it to your paper in random spots.  Then dump embossing powder on, shake off excess, heat set, rub your cards thru darker inks on your craft mat, and wipe extra ink off your cards.  Tada!  Now you can decorate how you want :)

I really like the looks of this background but it has 2 down falls.  Can you get these adhesive sheets in the store?  If not, that is bad.  I like being able to run out and get stuff when I need it and not wait on shipping.

And number 2 is, I felt like I got a ton of adhesive on my fingers and craft mat.  It is kinda a pain to work with.  I ended up with a dozen finished cards but I probably made 20.  I would mess up on something somewhere and pitch the bad cards.

So, it is cool but I am not sure if it is for me.  I got 2 packages of the adhesive so I will try it again.

Playing with Gelatos

I want to tell just a bit about the Gelato cards.  For the one on the left I put a lot of color on the card and rubbed it around with one of those make up sponges.  For the middle card, I rubbed some color at the top of the card, sprayed it with water, and propped it up so the ink would run down.  I really like this one.

As you can see, I started off with the "Under the Sea" text.  I went to JoAnn's to look for some small shell stamps and found a few big sets.  They were on sale and I bought 3 of them (don't tell my husband).  The "Just Keep Swimming" was with one of the sets I got.

Country Songs LTC

Country Songs: Rockin' Years

I am participating in TAP's "Country Songs" LTC swap.  My card is called "Rockin' Years", by Dolly Parton & Ricky Van Shelton.

I carved up two matching rocking chairs and added the name of the song.  I played around with carving different rocking chairs.  I was thinking a fancy one for a woman and a simple one for a man.  But I decided that was too much work ;)

I found some scrapbook paper that looks like floral paint/wallpaper that is peeling off wood.  I thought it was pretty and went well with old rocking chairs.  I stamped my stamp on vellum with purple ink.  The background paper has some purple flowers; they are small and I probably should have used green, but purple is my favorite.

I sent the stamp off as a donation to the Homerdoodle in the Country event.  I also sent the car from my Route 66/Cadillac Ranch  LTC as a cootie. I called it My Church for the Maren Morris song :)

PAL Day 2017

Wednesday was the 12th Annual International Plant A Letterbox Day.  I went out on Saturday and planted a series of 3 boxes at the Eagle's Bluff Overlook and Park in Cannelton, Ind.

There is an old letterbox there.  It was planted in 2007 and I have looked for it at least 3 times before and never found it.  Other people found it but I could not.  I decided that before I planted my boxes I would look for this old one again.

Like the times before, I walk the trail that the clue says to walk.  Just like all the times before I count out 100 steps and I end up at a tall rotten stump on the right.  The clue is vague but says to look in the tree on the right.  I search the stump again and don't find anything.  We go back to a tree with a hole (80 steps?) and find a geocache like the last time we looked.

All the other times we looked we went ahead just a bit looking around a few other trees but turned around a went back.  This time we decided to continue on.  After a while we come to a tree on the left with a big hole.  The kids say I should check it out and there was the box.  We started looking for the box in 2011 and after 4 tries finally found it.

When we were done stamping we counted from the tree to the end of the path and it was about 100 steps.  So it appears that every time we looked for this box we were walking the path in the wrong direction.  You don't start at the trail head with the signs, you go up a grass hill to end of the trail that you can't even see from the paved path.  

We checked out the overlook when we were done with the old box and then headed off to a different trail to plant our new series.  The park is about an hour from where we live and I bet it will take a while for anyone to find our boxes.  But it was a nice day, we finally found the old box, and we had fun exploring the park.