Two events in one day

Spring Mini Meet

On Saturday I participated in two letterbox events in one day.

The first one was at our local nature preserve.  They were having a "Big Adventure Day" with several outdoor activities to try.  There was letterboxing/geocaching, archery, knots, orienteering, bird watching, how to fly fish, etc.

The geocacher is a Girl Scout friend of mine and asked if I would teach about letterboxing.  I was free and happy to do so.  The only problem was the weather.  It basically rained all day and the attendance was very low :(  I taught only a handful of people about letterboxing but I had a good time hanging out with my GS/geocacher friend.

In the evening we had a event at a local Chinese restaurant.  We had 17 people sign up but we were missing 5.  Technically, my husband and boys came to eat and then left.  I was looking forward to talking to some new people who have just started boxing but they didn't show up.

In the picture, front row L-R, me (christmas6), Daddy's Favorite Princess, & Carry On Grandma.  Back row L-R, Green Peeper, G-MA, & mojudy.  I am always surprised when the ladies from St Louis come over.  I wish I could go over there more often.

hello! LTC

I originally made this card for the "Alternative Stamps" tracker.  You were supposed to make a stamp out of nontraditional items.  I made a bird stencil out of cardstock and stamped the inside of it with a pencil eraser.  I liked how it looked so I used the pencil eraser for the grass too.  The orange legs were drawn with a marker.  I have had the store bought alphabet stamps for a while and thought they were the perfect size for this card.  And you know that I am currently on a text paper kick.

Here is the problem, the host was hosting many swaps and I think they got over whelmed.  I was in another one of their trackers and waited more than 2 months to get my cards back.  I was so mad that I decided that I would drop from all their trackers, even the ones where I had completed the cards.

I decided that I would send the cards away to "Marjorie's Potpourri."  But then someone pointed out that Jiffy had several swaps that my cards might go with.  I checked them out and sent them off for a swap called "Long on Top."  I did check with Jiffy first since my cards don't have a hand carved stamp and the number rule of LTCs is they must have at least one hand carved stamp image.

So, I am disappointed that I won't get to see the other "Alternative Stamps" but I feel it was for the best :)

Camping at Scales Lake

Fishing with the Smith's

This weekend we camped with some friends at Scales Lake in Boonville, In.  The weather was just beautiful and everyone had a great time.  The kids road their bikes, played on the playground, made a fort, walked trails, etc.  We all went fishing, hiking, and visited the petting zoo several times.

The kids found this hut and added on to it.

We had fun but I never got to just sit around the campsite and chill out.  Our friends have kids the same ages as our 3 older kids and Lil Ewok was often left behind.  So guess who had to walk with him to find the other kids?  Me.  I don't think I every walked so much on a camping trip.  I told the kids we are never camping here again.  There is just too much to do and too many places that I have to take the baby.

While we were here we looked for one box that is listed as active but has been attempted a few times.  We could not find it.  There are supposed to be other boxes here but they are listed as unknown and one is retired so we didn't try them.

We planted our LB near this dirt bike trail.

We did plant a box of our own while we were there.  The stamp we planted was our Curious George stamp that we sent away last year to the Animals at the Zoo event.  I thought this park would be a fun place for a curious monkey to live ;)

April Box of the Month

When we planted our April box we stopped to help a turtle cross the road but when we picked up our April box it was missing.

I looked all over the area for it but it was nowhere to be found.  And whoever took it, took my bonus box too :(

April was a bad month for BOTM.  One box is stuck with the postal service and another box was muggled.

So, when the May box arrives I will be looking for a new hiding spot.  And I plan to leave a note at the old hiding spot to see if I can get the box back.  That probably sounds silly but I feel really bad loosing someones box :'(

Think Spring LTCs

Up in the sky butterfly by DFP

Daddy's Favorite Princess and I are participating in my "Think Spring" LTC tracker.

For DFP's cards she carved her butterfly stamp and stamped it to some paper that she found.  The paper kinda fades from blue to green.  Then she colored the image.  The stamp was supposed to have antenna but that was to hard for her so she drew them.  I have borrowed this stamp for a Gelli Plate LTC tracker due in August.

For my card I used my Gelli Plate for the background.  I put two different shades of green paint on the plate and rolled them out with the brayer roller.  I scraped some of the paint away with a fancy comb.  And then I took a toilet paper tube, dipped the end in yellow paint, and put that on the plate too.  I placed my darker green paper on and rubbed it.  I think they turned out pretty good but they are all different.

Tulips by christmas6

The stamp is embossed and then colored with Sharpies.  This is not at all what I had originally imaged for my card.  I was going to do some sewing on this card.  But I love playing with the Gelli Plate :)

Eagle Slough Maintenance

Me & Lil Ewok soaking up some sun 

Today was a beautiful day so Lil Ewok and I went to the Eagle Slough to check on one of our boxes.  This area had just been under water and I was concerned that the box had been washed away.  I thought the area might be muddy so we wore our rubber boots.  The main trail was high and dry.

We looked for our box and it was missing :(  It was clear that someone or something had been digging at the base of the tree (and the one next to it) where the box was hidden.  So, I am not sure if it survived the flood or not.  The scratching appeared to be fresh or at least post-flood.

Very muddy wetlands 

Normally a missing box is not a huge deal.  I retire or recarve and move on.  But I got this stamp thru the GAQLBE (Great Atlas Quest LetterBox Exchange).  So I really feel bad about it being gone.  I am going to recarve a similar image a hide it in a different spot at the Eagle Slough.  There are no other boxes here and I think there should be one.

While we were there we explored the wetland area which was very muddy!  Lil Ewok was determined to follow the big red arrow and I am glad we wore our boots for that part.  We also looked for a geocache and couldn't find it but found 3 Munzee's.

Raccoon footprint?  

I really like Munzee.  Now, I know what you are thinking, "This woman can't find a geocache the size of a shoe box but she is having fun finding QR codes the size of a quarter?"  Let me explain, there are only so many places they can stick those buggers!  And I feel like my phone is the problem when geocaching but Munzee is GPS based too so maybe the problem is the caching app?  I don't know.  Munzee is additive.

Goose or crane footprint?

For more info about the Eagle Slough...
http://wchristmas6.blogspot.com/2014/06/exploring-planting-at-eagle-slough.html

Box of the Month (Jan-March)

The Princess & Lil Ewok helping to pull the Feb box

Hi guys.  Sorry I haven't been posting lately-boxing has been slow :(  So I thought I would talk about my box of the month.

In January, the local box I planted had 4 finders!  We had a mild January and I was surprised by how many folks came by.

Our February was very cold and snowy.  My kids missed 4 days of school and had 3-4 two hour delay days.  This box only had 2 finders (not counting my kids).  The box that I sent out didn't have any finders in February.  I am in SW Indiana and I am sending to Michigan. I think it is safe to say if it is cold and snowy here, it is worse there.

Trail in March

In March, the trail that I am planting on has been very wet.  Once again this box only had 2 finders (not counting my kids).  One of the finders was someone passing through.  It was the only box they got while in town.  Technically this box may have had 2 more finders.  There are 2 stamps without names and dates on them.  I am not sure if someone new found the box or if kids were messing around.  Hopefully things will dry up soon and the box will be easier to get to.

When I pulled the March box today I noticed some yarn bombing at the park so I stopped to take some pics.  I have heard folks talk about yarn bombing but had never seen it in person.  It was very pretty.  While I was out I got 2 Munzee's.  With letterboxing being so slow we are looking for other games to play.  I probably won't do this a lot but thought I would check it out.

Yarn Bomb at Wesselman Woods