So I’ve wanted to start Letterboxing for a while now. Heidi, from My Paper Crane, one of my favorite blogs, talked about it several times. The moment I saw her blog and pictures about it I knew it was something that I wanted to start with Noby. Wikipedia explains letterboxing as “ an outdoor hobby that combines elements of orienteering, art, and puzzle solving. Letterboxers hide small, weatherproof boxes in publicly-accessible places (like parks) and distribute clues to finding the box in printed catalogs, on one of several web sites, or by word of mouth. Individual letterboxes usually contain a notebook and a rubber stamp. Finders make an imprint of the letterbox’s stamp, either on their personal notebook or on a postcard, and leave an impression of their personal stamp on the letterbox’s “visitors’ book” or “logbook” — as proof of having found the box and letting subsequent letterboxers see who have visited. Many letterboxers keep careful track of their “find count”.”
So the more research I did on it, the more I wanted to start. Months ago I went to the store and got a journal, an ink pad, and looked for a stamp for our family. We needed something cool. The more I thought about it the more I wanted the Ashihara crest. The symbol on the watering bucket in Japan. Back then I also looked into getting our crest made into a stamp but never actually ordered it. So today I started looking up clues for the areas we are going to be in NH. I found TONS of clues!! I was also checking the lists of items needed to get started. The more I read the more I realized that it’s much “cooler” to have a homemade stamp, then a store bought one. People seem to be more excited about them. So off to the craft store to see if I could make a stamp for the weekend.
The Ashihara crest…
First Ichiro printed the image out for me…
Next I ironed the image onto the rubber piece in the kit…
A little paper got stuck…
Next you use the little tool in the kit and scrape away all the pink…
add a little ink…
press, press, press…
Not to bad, if I do say so myself!
If you read my blog and have letterboxed before, please leave me a comment so I know and can bug you will all my questions…
