Spring Luau

Yesterday was the Spring Luau in Napa. I've spent so much time planing, carving and planting that it seems odd that it's over. There were over twenty boxes on the trail (some that I still need to go out and get!), 14 and under boxes that were a hit with the kids, HIPS boxes (that people are really getting good at hiding!) and about 60 people. Only one person ended up in the pool, and it wasn't Carole! :) I tried to get everyone in a picture, and looking through them I failed to get Blackmagic, The Olde Oak, Camp Fire Girl, and Grinch (I caught Grumpy). I know Deniserows snapped a few of me, we'll see if they turn up anytime soon. :)

I had a great time meeting and talking to everyone yesterday, and I hope that everyone had as much fun as I did!

The photos I took are too big to load up on AQ, so here are my photos from the day:

Ginine from Blue Rose Gang, The Monkeys and Pink Chablis chatting and getting ready to exchange. Rumors are that Pink Chablis got a cootie for the first time, so beware!

Getting down to business of stamping and chatting, YosemiteMJD and 2hearts are 1.

Tallgirl, Lisascenic, Public Hand, Butterfly Sal and multiple HIPS.

Butterfly Sal, 2hearts are one, Winged Gypsy Grumpy and art Trekker (in the corner)

Puppychups, Momskie and Old Blue relaxing by the pool

Lisascenic and Mathhead

Doublesaj and Carole of Da Kool Kats

The Gazebo

Lost Sailor, Special, Smile, Teacher Lady and Neon Mermaid

ElizabethB, DJ Ortho and Sailing Ron

The Long dogs and Sarah of Dubbie Dots

Adios, Dbare, Sailing Ron and Wendy

Ginine of Blue Rose Gang, and Teacher lady


Elizabeth and DJ Ortho taking a break

Public Hand, explaining something important (possibly letter boxing lineage) Dbare and The Monkeys.


Mamabear23cubs, Gary of Da Kool Kats and JJ.

Public Hand and the littlest Dubbie Dot, Patrick. Muchachos in the background

Thank you all for the great day, and I look forward to seeing you all again soon!

Flower in the Park: Tulip

Clue fomat inspired by the book Zoom by Istvan Banyai.



Enjoy!

Queen for a Day

My first video clue- hopefully one day I will get it on the blog... Tonight it's not happening though.

Think Calistoga...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5zSu97cG6c

New Sig Stamp!

This weekend I carved a new signature stamp! I love my original image, one of my artistic friends drew it for me and I wanted to keep it, but I wanted to add my name and get a cleaner image than the one that I had. Behold the new stamp:


The photo is poor because my camera broke last week, so all I have right now is my cell phone (which is hard for a photo junkie like myself).

I'm happy with how it turned out, it looks more like the picture that was drawn for me than the filled in bunny. I think I'm finally getting the hang of letters- though I'm sure as I practice it will get better.

Planning a Luau

In November the idea was brought up to host a Napa event. I went with a luau, it would be easy to carve themed stamps and as this is my first event so I wanted to keep it simple.

I still have about 2 months till the event. I encouraged others to carve to get different styles and ideas, and people have been wonderful! I have four boxes people sent me that waiting to be planted, and more on the way. I finished carving my first stamp for the event, and got a guest book. I'm afraid I'll miss meeting someone and exchanging. :) There are people adding table top and HIPS event boxes, and every time I get a notice my excitement grows and grows.

With the change of venue I had to set a limit. There is no way we could get fifty people to sign up for a little event in Napa. Well I was half right, the list is up to fifty three, and there are at least two others that told me they were coming and never RSVP'd.

Two months are going to fly by, and the Spring Luau will be here in no time. I hope that I have time to get all the other stamps I have planned done and that it turns out better than expected. :)

Planting Day!

Maple and I have been talking about doing a Children's book series for months, and we finally picked a day to go planting. The last time we went letterboxing we made a stop and got some more boxes, as well and spray paint. I had been using duct tape, but I thought I'd try out the spray paint as a time saver, and so see it it helped the seal of the boxes.

Of course spray painting boxes take some thinking ahead, so this is what I was up to a few days before we went planting:

What fun this was! So much quicker than tape too!

I had most of my stamps carved, since we had been planning this since the summer but I had to get everything else done...

I tend to spread out..

Of course Maple was all ready to go and I had to finish everything, but we worked together and in no time we were ready to plant! Well sort of...

I had the great idea to go pick up two stamps that at one time or another I heard were missing, or people found it hard to find. So we went hiking in the fog to go check on them/ pick them up. turned out one was missing. well not so much missing as fell to a point in the knot hole we couldn't get to. One day when that tree dies and it decomposing someone is going to get a surprise! The one that we did snag got replanted in an easier area elsewhere in town and got a slightly new name.

We had fun checking out little neighborhood parks we didn't know so well, and spreading our favorite characters around town. Maple had a great idea to plant Pinkalious and her cupcake near a bakery down town. After we planted both stamps, and were at the last park of the day I realized that Corduroy was in a bigger box than I remember putting him in. Oh no! When I put the name of the stamps on the bottom of the boxes I switched them! So now Corduroy is by the cupcake and Pink is in a park. We had a good laugh about that, and I think they will stay that way.

As it always goes with Maple and I we have bigger plans than we can do- so we both still have one stamp already made up and ready to plant and I have the second of a set to carve so I can plant those two. I am amazed at how quickly people have come up to get the new boxes, and I look forward to extending out unofficial series into the quieter areas of American Canyon and possibly further upvalley.

Catch Up/ Wrap Up

Time to come out of hiding, Bella thinks otherwise.

So the plan to keep up with letterboxing and writing didn't quite happen, life did. Now for a quick catch up so I can start fresh with the new adventures:
August brought the start of a new school year, new preps and a rush of other work related issues. I also picked the worst possible time to move. Ahh! On the plus side I received my second teaching credential!
September was hard. It started better than it ended. That is all for now.
October I started to get back into the letterboxing groove. I went to my second event and meet some more wonderful boxers. I got NV Pnk Chabls involved in boxing.

November I turned 30 (gasp!). I came home one day from letterboxing and there was a stray cat on my doorstep.Miss Luna (Yes, she only has one eye.)

She was super hungry, so I gave her some food. It took awhile to name her, but Luna seems to fit. She is now fitting right in with the bunnies and I.
I went to the Case of the Missing Holiday, and had a blast dragging NV Pnk Chabls, Maple and Qbert around. They had a blast, even when I got a little intense. :)Team Techo Cowboys

December finally! So far I have been out letterboxing a few times. It helps that I'm on winter break and don't have to worry about grading or doing any other paperwork. I'm almost all unpacked and settled in, so my hope for 2011 is that I can keep updates current.A awesome gift from my Santa Baby!!

Basil plans on working out in 2011 (kinda like a LTC I made...)