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.