Autumn Abundance & Halloween 2014 LTCs

Autumn Abundance: Colorful Tree

Today I am gonna squeeze two LTCs into one blog post :)  

This is my third year participating in Housepitality Hostess's autumn LTC swap and this is the third of my cards using my plain tree for different seasons.

For the background I tore pages from a book and stamped my tree trunk on them.  I took some Tim Holtz Distressed Ink and rubbed it around the edge with a small piece of felt.  I cut up fall colored papers with my Bind it All and used them as leaves.  I just glued them on with school glue.  I glued the whole thing to brown paper.  I got to looking at it and decided that it needed another stamp.  So, I carved up the leaf and stamped it orange on the cards.  I think this is my favorite of these season cards.

(Spring: http://wchristmas6.blogspot.com/2014/06/flowering-trees-ltc.html)

(Summer: http://wchristmas6.blogspot.com/2014/08/mixed-media-tree.html)

Halloween 2014: Spooky Spider

I am also in the Halloween 2014 tracker and the cards are due just a few days apart.

I got the idea for this card on Pinterest.  I took some mixed media paper and Mod Podged strips of black tissue paper on it.  When it was dry, I wrapped the white yarn around the card to look like a spider web.

I glued that to the light grey background.  I carved up the spider and the fly stamps and stamped them on light grey paper too.  I embossed the spiders eyes with red glittery embossing powder.  I attached the fly with a small glue dot and the spider was attached with a 3D glue dot.  These turned out ok, but I got sick of making them pretty fast.

First Postal Ring

I am kicking off 2014 with my very first postal ring.  It is supposed to start in a few days and I am so excited :)

Busy with books

I have been very busy the past few weeks making books. I am participating in a Bind it All tracker. You have to make a dozen books of any kind. The only requirement is that they must have one hand carved stamp image on it.

I signed up and started looking online for ideas. I found a cute little apron recipe book and decided I would make it. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some supplies. But then I went to Jo Ann's, found something I liked better there, and had to return my Hobby Lobby stuff.

I printed, cut out my template, and got to work. I had to make 12 books and they each have 7 pages. That means I had to cut out 84 aprons plus pockets. Of course I ran out of paper and had to go back and buy another book. It took me a few weeks to cut and construct my books.

Next, came decorating them. My mom has a Cricut and I was hoping that she would be able to cut out some shapes for me. But she didn't have the cartridge that I needed. She called around to her friends but they didn't have it either.  

I started looking for baking stickers to go with the colors of the recipe book. We found some, bought all that they had, and put the stickers on the pages. After a few days I noticed that some of the stickers were peeling off. So I had to find another way to decorate my books. I sat down and pulled off all the peeling stickers :(

I was back at Jo Ann's looking at other stuff and discovered that the paper I used and everything that went with it was on clearance. I bought some of those stickers, flowers, tape, and some punches to make my own flowers. I am really happy with how they are coming along.

I posted this pic on my Facebook page and I had a few friends who are interested in buying some. I am going back and making more while I still have all my supplies out. Maybe I'll make one or two for my Etsy store. 

Reflecting on 2013

Lil Ewok and I at my 300th find

2013 was a good boxing year for me.  I didn't reach my goal of finding my 400th box but I am ok with that. There are two boxes within 10 minutes of my house that I could easily run out and get but I am trying to show the planter that I have standers.

Nashville, Tn

In 2013, I went to my first out of state events.  In August, the whole family went to an event in Nashville, Tn.  We had fun meeting new people and finding boxes.  It was interesting to see how other people do things.  Then in November, my boxing buddy and I went to an event in St Louis, Mo.  We enjoyed going over before the event and boxing.

GS Camp

I taught Letterboxing at two events.  I had about a dozen people show up at a class at the library.  Then I helped 85 Brownie Girl Scouts earn their Letterboxing Badge at Day Camp.

I love making LTCs!  In 2013 I made 35 and "found" 554.  I also hosted my first LTC swap.  It was a Christmas swap and I quickly added a few more that are due in 2014.  I have 2 Kids Only trackers and a Life is good one.

In 2013, I stuck my foot in the door of the postal world.  I have gotten 9 postal singles and I am thinking about joining a ring.  I am also pondering sending out a postal single.

Over all my find count was down from last year.  We have less boxers now and that means less people planting for me :(  In 2012 I found 154 traditional boxes and in 2013 I found 148.  I planted quite a bit more in 2013 than 2012.  In 2012 I planted 26 traditional boxes and in 2013 I planted 39.  I am about ready for my first plant of the new year.

Another new thing in 2013 was my Etsy store.  My husband had been bugging me about selling stamps so I gave in and started a shop.  I had 3 sales in 2013!  I thought for sure that it would so nowhere.    I have some new logbooks coming out soon.

I have no letterboxing goals for 2014 but I am excited to see what will come.  My noxer husband often bugs me about wasting gas while letterboxing.  I have promised to cut back and there isn't much for me to look for anyway.  I am thinking about making a quilt.  I recently joined a Facebook group where everyone made a mystery quilt and it looks like so much fun.  This has also got me to thinking about barn quilt squares.  There is a whole trail in a county near me and I want to check them out.  And maybe plant a box or two ;)

Peddling my Wares

My husband has been bugging me for a while that I need to find a way to sell my stamps and logbooks.  So I gave in started an Etsy shop.  I am starting off slow.  Right now I have a few logbooks and a pre-made letterbox for Brownie Girl Scouts.

I am not sure how I will go about selling stamps.  I think if people need a stamp they will just go to the store and buy one.  I will probably hold off on those until the spring.

Pre-made letterbox
(Lock & Lock, logbook, stamp, and pouch)

Now that I decided to do this I can only find time to make logbooks once the kids are in bed :(  In November, I plan to add some cross stitch Christmas ornaments.  My shop will have letterboxing stuff and some misc crafts.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Christmas6Creations

It's Cookie Time

It's Girl Scout Cookie Time! That means my house is full of cookies for my troop booth sales.  We have had two booth sales so far and we still have a lot of cookies to sell.

This summer I am going to help local Brownies earn their Letterboxing badge at Day Camp.  With all the empty cookie boxes around I started making cookie box log books.  We will use them to plant the letterboxes to earn the Brownie badge.

Valentines Logbooks

I got a Bid it All for Christmas and I am loving it!  Someone posted that they needed raffle items for a Valentines themed event so I contacted them about my love for my new BIA.  They said that logbooks would be good and I made these three.  I will probably never buy notebooks ever again :)

First BIA Logbook

I got a Bind it All for Christmas!  I was so busy yesterday that I was not able to play with it.  Then the kitchen table was full of the kids presents from the grandmas on Christmas Eve that I had to put everything away.

I made one book this morning and I only messed up a little bit.  I made the covers bigger than the pages and I ended up with one more hole on the covers than I had on the pages.  So I had to cut new pages but that wasn't a big deal.  I will probably reuse the smaller ones later.

Thank you obnoxious, I mean, noxer hubby :P