Christmas Cookies LTC

Holiday Cookie Exchange II:
Christmas Monster Cookie

I am in Sheep Thrills LTC swap, "Holiday Cookie Exchange II".  My recipe is for Christmas Monster Cookies and we make them every year.

I typed my recipe, printed them on regular paper, and cut them to size.  I stamped my stamps on card stock, attached them with a tape runner, but added the Christmas cookie washi tape to spruce them up.

I carved the stamps for a traditional series in 2015 and retired earlier this year (2018).  A few years ago someone started sending out LTCs of ingredients.  Once you got all the ingredients you were supposed to guess what it was and the winner got a prize.  Something happened and the person stopped sending out the cards.  I thought it was a great idea and planted a traditional series like it.

For my series I made 12 stamps.  There were 8 ingredients, a timer, the thing you were making, something to wash it down, and a friend to share with.  The recipe was for chocolate chip cookies and I planted the series on National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day.

A few months ago I got reports that some of the stamps were missing.  When I went to retire the boxes I could only find half of them.  I was surprised at how much some of the woods had grown since I was last there.  I would like to go back this winter and look for some of them again.

HERE is the recipe for the cookies.  I print recipes off Pinterest and put them in a binder.  When I went looking for this one I discovered that I had printed it off twice, oops.  I hope the people receiving the recipe enjoy the Christmas Monster Cookies as much as I do :)

2018 Secret Santa Stamps

Secret Santa Stamp by christmaspickle

My Secret Santa Stamp arrived earlier this week.  It was carved by christmaspickle.  I thought it was cool that I was put with another Christmas person.

They sent this "InSight MARS" stamp.  A card included says, "This carve is in honor of NASA's recent Mars exploration mission: Insight.  This is a modification of the mission logo."

My Secret Santa Stamp to Celcilia57

I sent my stamp on to Cecilia57.  In the interview part of her profile page on Atlas Quest, she says that when she grew up she wanted to be a Marine Biologist and her favorite animal is a sea otter.  I was very nervous about carving the bubbles on the otter stamp but they turned out pretty well.

This is my 7th year to participate in the Secret Santa stamp swap.  Last year I planted my stamp on New Years Day and as long as the weather is decent, I plan to do that again this time.  Merry Christmas :)

Dandelion LTCs

Bleeding Tissue Paper on Watercolor Paper

 This is my card for AdventurousAcorn's "Silly Holidays 2019" LTC swap.  I joined and went to see if there were an silly holidays on my birthday.  My birthday is April 5th and according to www.holidayinsights.com that day is "Go for Broke Day", "National Dandelion Day", and "National Walk to Work Day" (first Friday in April).

As you can see, I picked National Dandelion Day.  I thought it would be fun to plant this as a traditional box on my birthday. 

This is the second time that I have used this background technique but you won't see the first blog post until the end of the year.  I did it a little different this go round.  I cut the cards to size, cut bleeding tissue paper in one inch squares, "paint" water on the card, lay the bleeding tissue paper down, and put some more water on top. 

Silly Holidays 2019: National Dandelion Day

 Let the cards dry for 15-20 minutes, peel the tissue paper away, and let the cards dry completely.  I punched the corners, stamp my stamp, mounted to yellow textured scrapbook paper, and added some text. 

I'm happy with how the cards turned out.  I mention in my future blog post about this background that you can not use plain tissue paper.  I tried it and it just barley left some color on the paper.  I really like this technique; it is fun and easy to do. 

Christmas Ornaments 2018 Part 2

I recently got my Letterboxing Christmas Ornaments and I love them.  People are so creative! 

One person burned all the participants signature stamp on a wood slice.  At first I thought it was just a coincidence that the ornament had the same snowman as my sig stamp.  But in the clue for the ornament they put a pic of all the ones they made. 

Parody LTC

Parody: (Weight's Goin) Up Down, Up Down

This is my card for ebda's "Parody" tracker, it is called, "(Weight's Goin) Up Down, Up Down."

I like the Morgan Wallen/Florida Georgia Line song, Up Down.  A few months ago, I heard a radio DJ talking about a parody of the song.  As soon as I got home I looked for it on YouTube.  The song is (Weight's Goin) Up Down, Up Down by Cledus T Judd and I loved it.  I can't tell you how many times I have watched the video.

I carved the stamps, stamped them, colored them with colored pencils, cut them out, glued down the tea, and attached the chicken and donuts with foam squares.  My card looked better in my head.  I should have used a different color on the chicken but I was too lazy to stamp new ones.  I also should have made a border for the cards.  Oh well.

Christmas Ornaments 2018

"Cozy Flannel Wreath" 

I'm participating in Moose on the Loose's 9th Annual Christmas Ornament swap.  This is my 3rd year do it.  The past two years the main focus of my ornament was the stamp but not this year.  I made these wreathes with plastic shower curtain hooks, flannel fabric, and ribbon.  They were quick and easy :)

National Take a Hike Day

Happy National Take a Hike Day!  I planted a box to celebrate last month when we camped at Spring Mill State Park, but just listed it today.  I have 2 boxes at the park and was able to look for 3 more while we were there.

I carved my stamp and liked it so much I had to make a set of cards.  These are about the same as the last time I used Distress Oxides but I did change it up a little bit.

This time around I rubbed the oxides on my craft mat, sprayed them with water,  I rubbed my card thru one color, dried it, rubbed thru another color, dried the card, etc.  It definitely took longer this way but I was able to get white spots on the card that I would not have gotten had I rubbed the card thru all the colors at once. 

I stamped my stamp and embossed it with brown embossing powder, punched the corners, and glued it to brown scrapbook paper.  Because these were just for fun, I only made ten cards.  I am very happy with how they turned out :)

Autumn LTC Swap

I have joined aMAZEing adventure frog's "Autumn Craft & Swap".  My card is called, "Hello Fall".  I like these swaps because they have no theme.  But I usually make something to go with the season of the swap.

It took me a while to make these cards.  I carved both the stamps right away.  Initially I was going to stamp the leaf on brown paper, cut it out, and glue it to fall scrapbook paper.  I didn't like the look of that.  I decided to do a resist technique with my Distress Inks.

I stamped the leaf stamp on white paper and embossed it with white embossing powder.  Then I rubbed the ink on my craft mat and then rubbed the ink on the cards using small pieces of felt.  My husband saw me working on these cards and he asked if he could make one.  I showed him what I do and left the room.  The card in bottom middle, is the one he made.  He was quite proud of himself.

For some reason, I really wanted to work some burlap into this card.  I bought a roll of burlap at Michael's and it had a slick backing on it.  Maybe to keep it from fraying when used on craft projects?  I had issues getting the burlap to stay attached to the card.  I hope it stays :)
 

Camping at Spring Mill

Kids playing stilts in the village

This weekend my family and I camped at Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, Indiana.  It is hard to believe that we haven't been here in 5 years!

We came up Friday night stopping to get supper on the way.  Spring Mill is about 2 hours from home.  We set up in the dark and it was cold.  We made a small fire knowing that we needed to save the wood for meals on Saturday and Sunday.

Selfie with hubby

Saturday morning we got up, ate breakfast, and headed down to the pioneer village.  I was surprised to see that most of the buildings were open and there were a few reenactors so late in the year.  We spent a few hours exploring the village.

When we were done at the village we went back to the campground for lunch.  We were just having sandwiches because we needed to get out and look for letterboxes.

Boxing 

We have 2 boxes in the park and someone marked both of them as missing.  We checked on them this weekend and they were both right where they were supped to be.  We did update the clues and included pictures to help future finders get the boxes.

We looked for 3 boxes too.  The first one was in a pouch and the logbook was completely soaked.  We struggled to find the second one because there were so many rocks that looked the same.  But we did find it.  The last box was in a stump near a shelter house.  I believe that the stump was almost entirely rotted away and we could not find the box.  The previous boxer could not find it either. 

Stressful paddle boat ride

Don't tell, but we planted a box while we were there but I won't post the clues until next month. 

Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast, and started to tear down our camp.  It sprinkled on and off and at times there were really bad wind gusts blowing our stuff everywhere.  

We took our time breaking camp and had lunch at the campground.  When we were letterboxing on Saturday, we noticed that they now rent paddle boats, canoes, row boats, etc.  On our way out of the park we stopped and rented some boats.  Bantha Rider and Boxing Turtle took a canoe and the rest of us were in a paddle boat.  It was really hard getting around with the large gusts of wind.  

When we were done with the boat ride, we left the park and started looking for ice cream. 

For the weekend, we looked for 3 letterboxes and found 2.  Did maintenance on 2 of our boxes and planted another.  On the way home from the park I got some ideas for other boxes.  Maybe I can plant up this way for the next PAL Day. 

Embossing Powder Test

Some of my kids were out of school on Friday for Parent/Teacher Conferences, two of my kids had dentist appointments, and I took the day off.  One of the many things I did was tested my embossing powders.  I like embossing my cards and I guess I have a problem because I just keep buying embossing powder.

I started off testing white.  I have 3 brands of white embossing powder- Zing, Ranger, and Reflections.  You can't see it in this picture but the Reflections bottle has a note on it that it is "Better than Zing".  Why didn't throw the Zing away when I made this discovery?  Why did I buy another white when I knew I had one that I liked?  I like both Ranger and Reflections and if I had to choose between the two I would pick Ranger.  It just seems to fill in better.

The next test was clear embossing power and you can see I have 4 of these-Hampton Art, Ranger, Reflections, and Zing.  Hampton Art was the first embossing powder I ever purchased.  I was not 100% happy with any of my clear embossing powders but maybe the problem is the ink pad I used?  The ink was Brilliance Graphite Black Pigment Ink.  I can't pick a favorite of this group. 

The last set of tests was black.  Again, I have 3 brands-Zing, Ranger, and  Recollections.  These all were about the same.  I would say Recollections was my least favorite in this group. 

I probably should have ran the test with a stamp that had finer lines.  I think that would have made a big difference.  At one time I bought an anti-static powder bag.  You rub it across the card before you start embossing and it helps the powder to only stick where you put the ink.  But I can't find it. 

Based on this test I have no favorite brand of embossing powder.  Hopefully I can stop buying it when I see it on sale :)

Day trip to St Louis

My kids Fall Break was Friday, yesterday, and today.  For over a year I have been talking about taking my kids to the City Museum in St Louis.  The last time we went Lil Ewok was just a month old and he is now 6.  My oldest is 16 and I thought if we don't do it soon, the big kids will be to big.  Even though my high school age Girl Scout troop went and loved it.

I asked for yesterday off at work and a week ago I started doing my homework on what boxes I wanted to get in St Louis.  There is a Harry Potter series in a library that I though the kids would enjoy.  I get online to check their hours and discover they will be closed Columbus Day (the day we planned on going).  I checked the City Museum and due to their Winter Hours they would be closed too.  I checked on the Magic House and Grants Farm and they were all going to be closed.

I decided we would just letterbox and go in the arch.  The last time we went in the arch, the princess was a baby.  The kids would have been 6, 3, and a few months old.  I printed off clues for rest areas boxes there and back, Forest Park, and some graffiti ones near the arch.

As we are driving over the princess says she wants to go to an art museum.  I tell her there is a sculpture park with a few boxes and she got real excited.  I didn't have printed clues so we used my phone.  I prefer printed clues.

We got two rest area boxes on the way and went to Laumeier Sculpture Park.   The kids enjoyed goofing off here.  We looked for 3 boxes and found 2.  We left and ate lunch nearby.  I tried to talk the kids into going back after lunch to get 2 more but they didn't want to go.  It was pretty hot and the place was big.  As we were leaving we stopped in the office and discussed some of the sculptures from the clues that we didn't look for and I think we could have found the boxes easier after talking to the woman. Oh well.

Our tickets for the arch were at 4:50 pm.  We were the last trip up for the day.  As we get close to the arch I can tell that we are way to early for our tour.  We decide to look for the graffiti boxes near the painted flood wall.  The boxes were a little tricky to find but the kids enjoyed the graffiti wall.

When we were finished we went back to the arch and took a million pictures.  We were really tired from all the walking at the sculpture park and the high temps.  We didn't really pay attention to the stuff in the museum.  We got some goodies in the gift shop and sat down for a few minutes until our boarding time.  The kids loved it!  When we were done we went back to the bottom, the littles played in the fountain, we took more pictures, and headed back to the car.

Bantha Rider is in the process of getting his drivers license and drove us to St Louis and back.  He didn't like the stress of driving in the big city and all the signs we need to look for.

On the way home we stopped for ice cream and got another rest area box in the dark.  The sculpture park is so big, I wish I would have brought a box to plant.  An idea for next time.  We found 7 of the 8 boxes we looked for and left a hitchhiker.

Boxing in Illinois

2018 is the year of Illinois Bicentennial.  TeachJR posted an event asking people to celebrate by planting boxes.  I decided that I would do 3 and a bonus *spoilers*.  I carve my stamps, make the logbook, get the boxes together, and plant.  One week later I get a message that 2 of the boxes were missing.  I think this person is crazy, they have to be there.  So I drive an hour back to the park just to check and they were missing.

What do you do?  Retire? Re-carve? I decided to re-carve and add a box to the bunch.  I left 2 boxes on the trail, re-carved, returned to plant, and guess what happened?  One of the first boxes was gone!  I think the park is cursed!  What is with people?  Do they have nothing better to do in rural southern Illinois?  I'm not going back.  I'm done.  Get them while you can because I will not re-carve those.

Last box of the day selfie :)

Did I mention that G-MA and I drove over there today.  I picked her up about 1:30 and we drove an hour to the park.  I grab my bag of boxes and we take off to the trail.  As we walk up to the trail head a family is exiting the woods.  They mention that the mosquitoes are bad and we will need bug spray.

G-MA has some in her bag and we start spraying.  As we are standing there we are attacked by them!  It was worse than yesterday!  G-MA says she is not going.  I run off to plant the boxes that I have re-carved and discover that one of the others is missing :(  Unless someone else plants a few boxes in that park, I will not be back.  It has been nothing but trouble. >:(

My original boxes planted in Ill

When we are done, we head to Grayville.  There were 5 boxes that I needed and 6 that G-MA needed to find.  We start at a cemetery that has 2 new boxes.  We struggle with the planters description of the tree.  We even text someone for help.  I looked in one tree and G-MA looked in another.  We decided to switch and she looks in my tree and I look in her tree and we each find the box the other person was looking for!  It's a good thing we box together :)

We had no problems finding the rest and had an enjoyable ride back home.  For the weekend, we found 29 boxes and left a few hitchhikers.

Fourth trip to Scales Lake

Trail Selfie

Yesterday, G-MA, Daddy's Favorite Princess, and I went back to Scales Lake.  If you don't recall, it was the location of the 2018 GLG.  This was our 4th trip back to the park and we now have all the official boxes planted for the event.  I think there are a few other boxes planted by people who attended the event that we have not gotten.

G-MA and I drove separate to the park and arrived a little before 9 am.  We knew that the first trail we were walking would be long.  I parked my van at the end of the trail and G-MA drove us to the start of the trail.  The weather was beautiful and cool.  We debated if we should wear jackets or not.  We were looking for a Star Wars series and found all of the boxes but one.  There was a bonus, which was nice since we could not find a box.  We also found a geocache close to one of the boxes.  We looked for 16 and found 16.

After the Star Wars series we left for lunch.  We went to a local diner that had a letterbox outside but we had already found it.  Then we went back to the park and tried to figure out where to park the second car for an easy exit of the trails.  We ended up walking in and back out.

Cool fungi 

This time we searched for the Famous in Indiana series.  The temp had risen and the mosquitoes were out in full force.  We struggled to find many of the boxes.  Landmarks had changed in the short period of time and the wording of the clues was often an issue.  The stamp in the first box was missing and there was another box that we could not find.  We ended up with 8 out of 10 in this series.

While we were there I planted a box at a cemetery just outside the park.  This would have been my campsite stamp if I would have been able to camp.  But I was just too busy the weekend of the GLG and it was miserably hot.  After all the boxing we stopped to get ice cream to celebrate G-MAs 10th AQversary and her recent birthday.

Summer LTC Swap

I have been so busy that I have not participated in many LTC swaps lately.  But I had some free time and joined aMAZEing adventure frog's Summer Craft & Swap.  I looked on my Pinterest board, watched a YouTube video, and ordered some supplies on Amazon.  When my new stuff arrived I was too busy to work on the cards :P

Here is the video where I got the idea for these cards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=YUwssE2rHTk.

My cards are called, "Camp Hair Don't Care."  I think it would take a while to master this technique but I enjoyed making my cards. Playing around with the "puffer" was stress releaving :)

I'll go ahead a walk you through what I did.  I cut Watercolor paper to size and taped it in a plastic box.  You sprinkle very small amounts of Ken Oliver Color Burst powder onto the paper.  Then you spray the card with water and puff with the puffer.

On many of the cards I used too much water.  Looking at the cards a day later, I probably could have used less powder too.

The next day, I carved my stamp and embossed the text.  I originally planned to emboss with black but thought some of the areas were too dark for black.  In the video, she uses white.  I punched 2 of the corners and mounted the card to black scrapbook paper.

I am very happy with how the cards turned out.  As with anything I ended up throwing a few away.  I wasn't madly in love with all the cards but I don't love all the cards when I do an alcohol ink background either.  This background technique probably works best on bigger paper.

Returning to Scales Lake

Box planted by someone attending the GLG

G-MA and I went back to Scales Lake today, the location of the GLG.  We still had 30 boxes we needed to get from the event.  There were also about 12 boxes in the area, planted by boxers who attended the event.

We got some of the boxes on the way to the park and started the, "Teddy Bear Trail."  We had heard that this was the most strenuous trail in the park.  It was tough.  There were 2-3 places where I had to pull G-MA up the hills.  They probably should not have planted on this trail.

After finishing this trail we went back to town for lunch.  We grabbed a few more boxes on the way.  While stopped for lunch we discussed our plan of attack.  We went back to the park for 3 more boxes that were planted by folks who attend the event.  By now it is 3pm and my kids are texting me about what to do for supper.

G-MA and I decide to leave the park.  We get a few more boxes as we leave town.  I ended up with 16 boxes today.  Our plan is to come back again right when the park opens.  We will get an early start and tackle the longest trail first.  Then we can leave for lunch, cool off, and start again.  We have 25 boxes to go.  I think I may take one with me to plant just for fun :)

Great Lakes Gathering 2018

Our First GLG 

I totally forgot to make a blog post for the Great Lakes Gathering (GLG).  Daddy's Favorite Princess, G-MA and I rode to the event together.  I just got a new van so I drove.  It was at Scales Lake, Boonville, Ind on Saturday, June 30th.

The day of the GLG was the hottest day of the year.  It was miserable and it looked like a lot of boxers stayed inside and stamped table tops.  My boxing buddy, G-MA, doesn't like table tops.  We checked in, dropped off our food, left behind my table tops, and hit the road.

We started off looking for the petting zoo series; we struggled with where the trail even started.  The series was entitled, "Around the Barn" but the boxes where no where near the barn/petting zoo.  We finally find the correct trail and realize that G-MA left her boxing bag at the event pavilion.  So, we go back, grab her bag, and get going again.  We ended up walking the petting zoo trail with two other boxers and it was nice to spend time with them.

When we were finished with that series we went back for lunch.  The place was a ghost town. We stamped a few table tops and went out again.  There was a trail that left from the shelter house called, "Fairies and Gnomes, Oh my!"  I enjoyed the stamps but we struggled finding some of the boxes.  We ended up going back and finding them later that day.

After that we went back to the pavilion again to restock our water, rest, and stamp a few table tops.  The hosts had planted a series of drive by boxes in the park.  It was very nice to have these boxes on such a hot day.  This series was called, "Aloha! From Indiana" and we found two of the stamps I donated.

We are locals living about 40 minutes west of Scales Lake.  Daddy's Favorite Princess was supposed to be at a birthday party at 6 and G-MA and I were very tired.  We went back to the pavilion to pick up our leftover food, gather table tops we brought, and say good bye.  At the shelter I was ambushed!  I had one boxer say she would not leave without exchanging with me.   I felt like a celebrity with all the boxers asking to exchange with me :)

I think we found 34 traditional boxes and only took 1 picture.   The birthday party that the Princess went to was a pool party.  I was very happy to sit in the corner and cool off.  I had a head ache the rest of the evening.

Campcation 2018

Ft Boonesborogh SP, KY

Yesterday my family and I returned from our 2018 summer vacation.  We are calling it a campcation because we camped almost every night.  It was an exhausting trip but we got to see a lot of great stuff.

We are from Indiana and we went down thru Kentucky toward the Cumberland Gap.  We were not going to make it by dark so we camped at Ft Boonesborogh SP in Ky.  We found our first LB of the trip here.  After checking out the fort we continued south.

Cumberland Gap Pinnacle Overlook

We arrived at the Cumberland Gap National Park around lunch time.  We checked out the northern visitor center and found a picnic area near a creek.  We ate lunch, played in the creek for a little bit and headed to the pinnacle overlook.  The overlook is a spot where you can look down and see the tunnel going thru the mountain.  We hiked around here for a while and then went to set up camp.

Pigeon Forge LB

We hung out in the campground for a while, went to town to eat dinner, and went to a nearby state park to look for a letterbox.  The state park had a nice playground and some old cabins so we stayed there for a while before going back to the camp site.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, tore down camp, and drove to an Iron Furnace.  Then we hiked up to the Gap Cave.  This cave is just a hole in the cliff but the kids enjoyed playing there.  The hike up was a little rough.

Dollywood, TN

Then we went down to Pigeon Forge.  We stopped at the Great Smokey Mountain Knife Works for a little bit and set up camp at a KOA campground.  After we set up, we went to the Smokey Mountains National Park Sugarlands visitor center to get maps and whatnot.  Then we had dinner and went back to the campground to swim.

In the morning, we got up and went to Dollywood.  We got there 45 minutes before they opened so we left and found a LB.  It took us a bit to find it but my husband said we shouldn't give up so easily.  After stamping in we went back to Dollywood and spent the day there until 7pm.  When we were tired and hungry we went back to the campground to eat and swim again.

Newfound Gap TN & NC

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, tore down camp, and heading off to explore Smokey Mountain National Park.  We stopped at Newfound Gap and hiked to Clingmans Dome.  The lookout at the top was closed but we came all that way so we walked to the top anyway.  The walk down was beautiful with clouds rolling in.

Clingmans Dome

Then we pulled off and had lunch in a lookout/
parking area.  We continued south and saw a sign for a mill.  It wasn't on the map but looked close to the parking lot and we stopped to check it out.  It had a real short trail and was a nice place to stretch your legs.  When we were done we went on to the Oconaluftee visitor center.  There was a historic farm and a creek trail so we stayed here a while.

We stopped again for dinner and stayed the night at a campground in North Carolina.

One of the main points of the trip was to eat at Chef and the Farmer in Kinston, NC.  We watch a show on PBS called, A Chef's Life.  We love the show and talked about going last year on vacation but it was to far away.  We made it this year.  The chef, Vivian Howard, was not there the night we ate there but her husband was hanging around.  We left with full bellies, t shirts, and an autographed cookbook.  We also planted a letterbox in a nearby park.

The place we stayed at, the night we were in Kinston was just barley a campground.  It was a field with a shower house.  The kids were worried something might happen to us here and were happy that we only stayed one night.

Hotel in GA 

That morning we got up and consulted the old atlas and Google.  We discovered that going the long way back was just 45 min longer and would add 2 new states to box in.  Instead of driving back straight across NC we went thru SC and Georgia.

It took us a while to get out of rural NC.  When we got to a big rest area there were supposed to be 3 LB.  I looked for all 3 and only found 1.  When we stopped for the night in SC we were at a state park.  It had 2 boxes but we could only find 1.  The state parks in SC all have stamps and we were able to snag that too.  The woman at the park office fussed at me for putting it in my National Park stamp book but it's my book and I can stamp what I want in it ;)

Ruby Falls, TN

We drove thru Georgia without many stops.  The rest area that we had lunch at didn't have any boxes :(  But we did find one before leaving the state.  My husband was getting pretty tired and we stayed the night in a hotel.  The younger kids swam again.

We got up in the morning, enjoyed a hot breakfast, and went to Chattanooga.  In Chattanooga we went to Ruby Falls and Rock City.  Rock City has a Fairy Tale "cave" that is actually a building.  As we got to the end of the "cave" we discovered that it was raining cats and dogs.  We were at the end of the trail so we made a run for the gift shop.  We got some post cards, rock candy, etc and ran again to the ticket booth.  My husband was nice enough to pull the van around and we didn't get completely soaked.

See Rock City, TN

Next, we went to Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park.  The place was a lot like Gettysburg.  It had many markers of where different states were stationed and signs detailing the battles there.  It was getting late and with the rain, we didn't spend a lot of time here.

We continued north stopping for dinner and camping at Old Stone Fort SP in Tn.  My kids learned that we were just a few hours from home and tore down camp in record time.  They were tired of camping and ready to go home.  We didn't look for any of the boxes there.

Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Park, GA

We had a great but tiring 9 days.  We only planted 1 box and found 8.  We added 4 new states that we boxed in: VA, NC, SC, & GA.  We left 1 HH and the only ones we found were in a HHH.  The rules of the HHH were to leave 3 in the box.  There were only 3 left and we didn't have any to trade.

Today we are doing laundry and unloading and tomorrow we will go to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Ind.

GLG Stamp Donations

I am looking forward to the Great Lakes Gathering later this month.  I have never been to one before.  Indiana is hosting this year and it will be about 40 minutes east of me.

I volunteered to carve 5 stamps.  There is a petting zoo at the park and they asked for petting zoo stamps.  One time we were letterboxing at the park and we stopped to play on a playground.  While we were there the donkey just wondered around the playground eating grass.  I had to carve the donkey and I know they have peacocks there too.

I am working on a new event box to take with me.  I need to make our camping reservations and we will be good to go :)

PAL Day 2018

Last week was the 13th annual, international Plant a Letterbox (PAL) Day.  I planted one box this year.  I wanted to test out my new Staedtler gauge so I designed a stamp with text.  Between the new gauge and horrible allergies the stamp didn't turn out very well.

E is for Everyone

Another local boxer planted 5 boxes on PAL Day.  We have a new slogan in town, "E is for Everyone."  E = Evansville.  I got one Saturday morning, one Sunday afternoon, and the last 3 on Tuesday.  The stamps are all E's and they are magnetic.  The kids found some of the new boxes with me and really enjoyed the new stamps.

E is for Everyone

New Carving Tools

This week a got a new carving tool.  It is called Staedtler gouge and they are no longer made.  But Stampeaz was able to get some.  All the great carvers use this tool.

I was surprised at how different it is than a Speedball gouge.  The Staedtler carves narrower and deeper than the Speedball.  It is going to take some getting used to.

I ordered some modified gouges from someone a few years ago.  I wasn't happy with how they carved and I sent them to another boxer to be sharpened.  They carved just like the Staedtler.

 This unicorn is my first stamp with the Staedtler.  The face is carved only with the Staedtler 1V.  I went around the body with this tool but mainly used the Speedball 2V to clean it out faster.  I guess I need to try some more detailed images to really put it to the test.