Keep Calm and Craft On

This is my card for aMAZEing adventure frogs "Summer Craft & Swap 2019."  I have been participating in these swaps for a while now.  The princess was in the mood to make cards so I signed her up first and I joined a little later.  I like these swaps because they have no theme.

I found the stamp image and tried to think of a fun way to make the card colorful and crafty.  I really like the bleeding tissue paper and this is my third time to use it.  I cut my cards to size, stamped them with a text stamp, got the cards wet, and laid down the tissue paper.  I let them sit for a little while and peeled the tissue paper off.  They sat over night to dry completely.

Then I stamped the stamp and embossed it with a black glittery embossing powder.  I punched two of the corners and attached the solid background paper.  I have a box of paper that I cut and didn't use on cards.  Sometimes I cut too much and sometimes I wanted the card to go in a different direction.  I decided that I would use up some of the already cut paper.  I ended up with many different color backgrounds.

Summer Craft & Swap: Keep Calm

I thought the cards needed something else and I added some sequins to the cards.  I also considered adding ribbon but decided that would be too much.  I'm very happy with how my cards turned out.



The Princess's card is called, "Yummy Lemonade."  She carved all of the stamp herself (I usually do the outside).  I cut the paper and she assembled them.  I teased her that she was copping my sweet tea shaker card.

Summer Craft & Swap: Yummy Lemonade

Boxing in Ohio

Prairie Props

This weekend we had a great time boxing in Ohio.  We went to Greenville for the 4th time and attended the Big Top on the Prairie event.  The event started at 9am (an hour earlier than last time) so Boxing Turtle, Daddy's Favorite Princess, and I got up at 3am.  The kids slept most of the way while I drove in the dark and rain.  We stopped once to potty and get breakfast.

We actually arrived at the event about 15 minutes early but there were a lot of other people already there.  We checked in and hit the trails.  They were calling for rain and we wanted to get boxes before it hit.

Boxing in the rain

It was a circus themed event and the the trails were for the three rings of the circus.  We did the first two rings.  The first one had a lot of mosquitoes but I don't think it was as bad as the Story Time on the Prairie year.  I'm pretty sure it was much worse that year!

After the first two rings of the circus we headed inside for lunch.  We were early so we stamped some of the inside boxes.  One of them, they had taken a box if wooden circus toys (kinda like a kids puzzle) and made stamps of the toys.  It was such a fun idea.  They also had people dressed up and walking around with stamps.  But we were focused on other stuff and didn't realize that you had to talk to them before noon to get the stamps.

Greenville Cemetery

After lunch was the raffle.  We didn't want to miss the raffle but wanted to get the last ring of the circus outside before the rain hit.  We left Boxing Turtle inside and the Princess and I went outside.  We probably got 5 boxes before it started to sprinkle.  We got them as fast as we could and went back inside where they were still calling names for the raffle.  The Princess won a fancy hair clip.

At this point we were finished with all of the official boxes for the event and started doing some exchanges.  Because of the rain, the room was pretty crowded.  Boxing Turtle was getting bored so we left to look for boxes in town.  We planted a box in the city park and found some in a local cemetery & GyspyLadybugs house.  We also stopped at a local ice cream place and looked for a box but could not find it.  Another boxer pulled up while we were looking so we all looked together.

Wet Spring Grove boxing

We headed south to Dayton where we would be staying the night.  We checked into the hotel, got dinner at the Cracker Barrel, and went to a nearby cemetery to look for 3 boxes.  We got the first one, struggling a bit because we are not used to using a compass.  We went to get the second one and it started pouring down rain.  We stopped and went back to the hotel.  We showered, logged finds, and watched some tv.

Spring Grove Cemetery

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, checked out, and went back to the nearby cemetery.  The found the second box were were looking for the night before and went looking for the third box.  They had a tornado recently in Dayton and the far corner of the cemetery had damage.  We believe the stone we were looking for had been knocked over on the box.

After that, we got a box on the way out of town by Safari Man and fill up with gas.  Next stop, Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.  I was very excited to box here.  I had heard so many good things about it and there were so many boxes to find.  We planned on spending a lot of time here and printed off 50 clues.  But it did not go well.  It rained, I got frustrated, and the kids were grumpy.  We only found 4 of the first 10 we looked for.

Spring Grove Cemetery

Then it stopped raining and our boxing got better.  We ending up finding 15 of 26 and 3 Hitchhikers.  Of course we had to plant a box here too. We also saw many animals while boxing-a fox, 4 turkeys, a baby skunk, chipmunks, squirrels, ducks, geese, and a hawk.  My original plan was to stay until 4 so that we were not getting home real late.  But at the end we got on a roll and stayed until almost 6.

Our grand total for the weekend (drum roll please) was 131 traditional boxes, 5 Hitchhikers, and some exchanges & table tops!  I took a quick look at my stats for 2019, I have 221 finds.  My next highest year was 2015 with 225 boxes.  Unless all my local boxers fall off the face of the earth, this year will be my highest finds yet <3

PAL Day 2019

Indiana Military Museum, Vincennes, In

This year is the 14th Annual International Plant a Letterbox (PAL) Day.  PAL was May 25th but Lil Ewok, Daddy's Favorite Princess and I, went out May 18th and planted 7 boxes.  We went camping in the area back in October and thought some of the cities that we went thru on the way home needed letterboxes.

We started off in Vincennes, which is about an hour north of us.  We planted our box in a cemetery near the Indiana Military Museum.  We have not been to this museum but my husband keeps talking about it.  My husband works in Vincennes a lot.

Inside the birdhouse paradise, Loogootee, In

Then we headed east to Washington.  They have a huge park and we panted a box there.  This one may not last very long.  The park was very nice and busy and I just have a feeling that it will be found.  They were having an event the day were there but there were no people in the area that he hid our box.

The next box we planted was in a cemetery right on the highway near Montgomery.  This is Amish country and this was an Amish themed box.  We have eaten at a few of these Amish restaurant and they are very good.

Outside the birdhouse paradise

We discovered the next location when looking at geocaches in the area.  The place is called Birdhouse Paradise in Loogootee.  He has 6,000+ hand painted birdhouses.  His property also has painted rocks, statues, painted trees, bridges, steps, etc.  He says that people come from all over to see his birdhouses; school groups, geocachers, tour buses, etc.  Everyone who stops by gets a free birdhouse.

Fire tower at Martin State Forest

When we left the Birdhouse Paradise we went for lunch at Bo Mac's in Shoals.  We had stopped here in October and thought it needed a box.  We hid a small box in fence and enjoyed some burgers.  Bo Mac's doesn't have a restroom, we used the one at the gas station next door and got some snacks for the road.

We like climbing fire towers and we knew there was one at Martin State Forest just down the road.  It was a short walk from the car to the tower.  We planted the box at the base but had to climb the tower.  Lil Ewok only made it half way but the princess and I went to the top.  I think this fire tower is taller than the ones we have closer to home.  We enjoyed the climb, the view, and the breeze at the top.

Jug Rock, Shoals, In

Because we stopped for lunch we missed one of the placed we wanted to plant at.  We went back and planted a box at Jug Rock in Shoals.  This is an interesting rock formation that the kids liked trying to climb.  We should have did this box first because our legs were so shaky from climbing the fire tower I wasn't sure if I was going to make it.

On PAL Day itself I planted a box in a Little Free Pantry/Blessing Box.  There are no Little Free Libraries on my side of town but I drive by the Blessing Box every day.  I hope to stop by regularly and leave some canned goods.

We had a great time planting our PAL Day boxes.  The weather was beautiful and kids were pretty good.  Unfortunately, my leg muscles ached for 3 days after climbing the fire tower. I also got a small patch of poison ivy on my leg.  My 8 boxes were the only boxes planted in Indiana for PAL Day :(  There was a total of 106 letterboxes planted on PAL Day, which is the worst PAL Day count ever. 

Aliens & Woodstock

We are not alone...: Abduction

 This is my card for Gypsy Fiddler's "We are not alone..." LTC swap.  My card is called, "Abduction."  I wanted to make a stamp of a Bigfoot and spaceship but I liked this image better.  I stamped the stamp in yellow ink and embossed with glow in the dark embossing powder.  I sent the stamp off to a space themed event.

Snoopy's Sidekick:
Whistling Woodstock

This next card is for Jiffy's "Snoopy's Sidekick" LTC swap.  My card is called, "Whistling Woodstock."  I stamped my stamp on watercolor paper and colored it with Distress Inks and a water brush pen.  I was torn on weather to use music paper on the background or tie dye.  I didn't have enough tie dye paper to do all the cards but found some while I was at the craft store.  I also sent this stamp off to a Woodstock Anniversary event. 

New/Underused Product Part 2

Linden Leaf is hosting some different LTC swaps this year.  She posted them last year giving us plenty of time to learn, play, and work on our cards.  For the swap you are supposed to pick a new or underused product and use that in different ways to make four sets of cards.  I picked the Gelli Plate.  I had 2 Gelli Plates and I have used them a few times but I thought I was not using it to its fullest.  I liked the bigger of the 2 plates best, so I donated the smaller one to work.

The swap was posted in September with the due date in May.  I took advantage of a Saturday in November with nothing going on and made my cards for the first two swaps.  I found this technique in Pinterest and here is the YouTube video if you want to watch. 

I tried this technique and could not get it to work.  I tried text from 3 magazines (recipes, calendars, articles, etc) and when that didn't work, I rummaged in the attic and found an old college text book.  I tried it multiple times and only got a small area of text one of the times.  I don't know what the issue was but I would like to try again in the future.

Plan B- layers in one step.  This is more like what I would traditionally do with a Gelli Plate but you do it all at once.  Normally, I would put down some paint with a design and pull a print.  Then put down a different color paint with a fancy design and pull a print on top of the first, etc.   

This technique is very easy.  You basically roll some paint on the plate then you can stamp stamps/texture plates with or without paint on them.  You can transfer paint and designs from one area to another with stamps/texture plates.

One of the things I enjoyed most was making my own texture things.  I made a hot glue stamp, wadded up a plastic grocery bag, and tore an outside layer off corrugated cardboard. 

Like my last card, you let the paint dry and cover it with a very thin layer of transparent/fluid acrylic paint.  Then you pull your print.  Ta da!   This go round I pulled my prints on card stock and text paper.

When the paint was dry I cut my cards to size and stamped my stamp directly to the paper.  Like I said in my last post, I wanted a glossy finish.  So, I covered the card with glossy Mod Podge.  Once that was dry, I glued it to the black background.  Here is the YouTube video of this technique, if you want to watch a pro.

New/Underused Product: Gelli Prints-
One print, many layers

My Gelli Plate is 8x10 and one of the things I love is the white/blank edge left from the paper being larger than the plate.  I try really hard to cut the prints in a way to use as much of that edge as possible.  I don't know why I like it so much.  You think my OCD would be the opposite.  

Anyway, I'm really happy with this set of cards.  I just got my cards back from the first of these swaps (today is 3/14).  I really enjoyed all the cards and reading/learning about different techniques.  I'm really glad I joined these swaps <3

Here is the first New/Underused card I made:

https://wchristmas6.blogspot.com/2019/02/newunderused-product-part-1.html

Quilt Block Twinchies

These are my cards for Beetles "Quilt Block Twinches" LTC swap.  Twinchies are 2x2 inches.  For this swap you were supposed to send 2 sets of quilt blocks.  The red one is Flying Geese and the purple one is Log Cabin.

My original idea was to use a gelli print background and then emboss the stamp.  But I didn't have the color embossing powders that I wanted.  When I went to order embossing powders online I found these Ranger Mixed Media Powders. 

Quilt Block Twinches: Flying Geese & Log Cabin

The powders arrived and I thought they didn't go with the gelli background I made.  So, I set that aside, went thru my scrapbook paper, and found these back and white ones I thought went well with the fancy powder.  Has anyone tried these powders?  They have regular colored powder AND gold, silver, black, and big chunks of clear mixed in.  I love the smooth feel of it but not sure it would match a lot of what I make. 

Walk in the Park Event

Lily pad selfie before stamping the lily pad box

We had a great time at the Inaugural Walk in the Park event.  This is supposed to be an annual event at different state parks around Indiana.  G-MA picked up me and Daddy's Favorite Princess at 7 am and we made the 2 hour drive north to Shakamak State Park.

It had been a long time since I had been here.  The first part of the morning was wet but the trails were beautiful.  There were dogwood trees blooming everywhere along with wildflowers.  We also saw a few areas with lily pads.

Beautiful Park

We checked in at the cabin, dropped off our food & table tops, and hit the road.  Since it was sprinkling, we did the series of drive by boxes first.  We still had a little bit of time before lunch and stopped and grabbed 2 boxes of one series.

We went to the cabin for lunch and stamped a few table top boxes.  G-MA doesn't like this type of boxing so we didn't stay long.

Walk in the Park Event

There was one set of boxes on a paved path and we went after those next.  They were really cute camping themed stamps.  Some of the right/lefts were wrong but we still found all the boxes.  After that we went back to the car and took off on a trail in another direction.  It had some super cute alien stamps.  We even found a stamp planted in 2007!

At this point G-MA was pretty tired so we went back to the cabin.  We stamped some more table tops, exchanged, talked, and packed up our stuff.  On the way out I planted a box for Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you!).  We also stopped at a cemetery where I got a box from 2010 that G-MA already had.  We ate at Arby's on the way home and I took a nice warm shower after logging all my finds.

Silly camp store sign :) 

The event was great!  We ended up with 35 traditional boxes.  I heard that some people couldn't find one here or there but we found every box that we looked for.  We left some hitchhikers on the trail and took some new ones from a hostile.  I had a postal waiting for me in my mailbox when I got home :)