Frog's Winter Wonderland Letterboxing Event

This year I decided to expand the participant numbers but that also meant I needed more space in my smallish home. The kids -- Christmas Puppy and BoxReaper-- decided to host the main area in the basement this year. That meant serious decluttering, organizing and cleaning. Once the area was ready, the kids and I made a winter tree from recycled bulletin board paper from my sister Kathy's school. Poo Slinger's again provided lights, his time white and the Dollar Tree provided the white plastic sheets. My mom and I collected 2-liter bottles to paint and decorate with holiday images. I found fairy lights with fake corks (housing for batteries) to use. Also from the holiday supplies, I hung snowflakes to complete the festive Winter Wonderland where all of Woodshed's Santa stamps would be available. My annual events are becoming a family recycling/repurposing project. (A rare appearance of BoxReaper hiding in his jacket in the corner.)

*Click on images to zoom in. 

One of my favorite projects was completed with the help of letterboxing friends at a small craft gathering. Leah, aka Christmas Puppy, and I focused our weekend on painting traced images of the Misfit Toys. It didn't take long for other crafters to join in the fun and we were able to get all of the cutouts ready. A big thank you to Sailfish, ChillE, Cookiecutter, Gypsy Ladybug and Jabber for their help with painting.

Again needing every bit of space, we decided to put the Misfits on display in my backyard. On the back of each was a clue (riddle) written in invisible ink. Black lights, aka special equipment, was provided to anyone who was willing to brave the cold weather. Fortunately though, the winter storm that could have made travel to and through St. Louis impossible, came and went in time for the event. Lights led the way from my back gate on the alley. My new neighbors have about five parking spots behind their house and allowed us to use them. By using the back and side gates, boxers were guided  into the house through the basement Winter Wonderland. 

One of the first projects I worked on for the event was making my own collection of locked boxes. After collecting wooden boxes wherever I could find them, including the alley dumpster, I selected images, painted with coordinating colors, and mod podged the boxes. Then I secured hardware to each, and looked for the best prices to purchase a set of combination locks. During the event each box secured a carved Santa carved by The Woodshed for those that could break the clue.

The kids and I revisited our plans for my house frequently to assign or reassign collections or series of stamps. During early planning, we stamped all the stamps on cardstock and cut apart to sort them into themed areas to help us determine what each room should become. We finally settled on: Winter Wonderland, Mrs. Claus' Kitchen, Island of Misfits, Ski Slopes (stairs,) Santa's Toy Shop, Christmas Home, Journey to Bethlehem, and a tub of snow.

With Gypsy Fiddler's collection of gingerbread people, I created a clue inspired by cooking. A fun trip with sisters and my mom to Kimmswick, MO, yielded an adorable set of canisters which were perfect for housing a couple ginger folk.

A toy shop is only complete if it has tools. I found this awesome set of tools on Amazon for an incredibly reasonable price. These became my toyshop props for implementing GREEK STEGANOGRAPHY or CHIPS (clues hidden in plain sight.) 

Clever blueprint if I can say so myself.

 A more traditional clue, but still tricky because participants had to have both pieces to solve the clue, and I certainly didn't put the two near one another in the toy shop. In fact, all the clues in the toy shop were hidden in plain sight, well, cleverly disguised and hidden among toyshop crafting supplies.

This saw blade clue was especially fun since I had recently received a Cricut as a gift for helping my nephew.

Not just paint cans, read the labels closely! (clue on back of label.)

Another cardboard cutout. For the Cousin Eddie stamp, all you have to do is reach into the bucket of sewage  (chocolate pudding) to find the stamp. Knowing participants would want to wash their hands after this one, I finally set-up a simple utility sink with drain. Bought the sink two years ago!

This is only one of the clues that I have a pict from the Christmas Home room.  A cleverly crafted version of Deck the Halls, written by Gypsy Ladybug, Christmas Puppy and myself, provided clues to stamps' locations. One stamp, once found, was locked in a birdcage, and the Santa clock, which hung on the wall discretely, had the combination. 

Of course, my tub has become an annual tradition. What will Frog do with her tub this year? With the help of Poo Slingers, the tub was filled with shredded paper. I was happy with three bags, but BoxReaper added another two bags to make sure the tub was full. Five small stamps provided by Rebiccola were tossed deep within the shreds, and of course I made the pouches of white felt! I'm still finding shreds of paper in my house.

I always appreciate all the yummy food and boxes that participants bring for everyone to enjoy.

There is always some boxes that tickle me more than others. This is one of my favorites. Santa stuck in the chimney. Found these adorable Santa trousers, which was a tote bag, at a craft store and used a magnet to hold them in the laundry shoot.

Well, I need to work on taking more picts during events. If you have any you would be willing to share send them to me and I'll add them to the blog. Hope you enjoyed a peak into Frog's Winter Wonderland.

Letterboxing in a Bathtub & More Crazy Antics

Five years ago I began hosting letterboxing events at my home. While planning, I decided to decorate the bathtub and that quickly morphed into creating a letterbox stage. Now, I often hear from boxers, "What are you planning for you tub this year?" Since it is now an annual thing, I decided to gather photos of each. If you have any photos, I'd love to add them.

aMAZEing Holiday Lockboxes - Dec. 2015 -
Twelve Swans a Swimming

Winterfest - Feb. 2016 - Frosty's Friends

Sadly, one of his friends melted. 

(image re-created)

St. Louis ICE - Jan. 2017 - The Polar Plunge

NOel Escape - Jan. 2018 - The Frog Pond

(image recreated)

 Myths, Monsters & Mayhem - Jan. 2019 -
Greek Warship & The Kracken

 Frog's Winter Wonderland - Jan. 2020 - Poor Ralphie!

  Frog's Winter Wonderland - Jan. 2020 - Shitter's Full

And not just bathtubs... Cousin Eddie has a gift for you. 

(stamp at bottom of the bucket filled with sewage (chocolate pudding)

Myths, Monsters & Mayhem 2019 letterboxing Event

Our Greek Underworld

Originally I had planned to host my annual post-holiday party with holiday themed stamps; however, my nephew BoxReaper was studying Ancient Greece, so we decided on that instead. He and his sister Christmas Puppy and I brainstormed a list of Greek topics to pursue on the AQ Stamp Exchange. Offers of recycled stamps to newly carved poured in.

Next, we brainstormed how we would design my house. At some point in the planning process, we decided to turn the basement into a Greek Underworld! The kids were great at coming up with ideas for props, but I needed to figure out ways to involve clues with their ideas.  I explored ideas for Ancient Greek decor on Pinterest and shared these with the kids for their "approval." With their parents' permission, we gathered at my house for a crafting weekend.

One of our first projects was Greek vases. Christmas Puppy's (Leah) handmade vase. Made with paper mache, cardboard, balloon and acrylic paints.

While we crafted vases, Noah crafted a Greek warship from foam and hot glue that could hold the weight of the stamp. We tested it in the turtle pool in backyard. The sail mast is made from a chopstick.

On the day of the event, Noah's warship set sail in the bathtub. I found a squishy octopus or Kracken on Amazon and surprised Noah with that. The warship stamp was an event stamp, but for those that were not afraid of the Kracken, there was a clue on its underbelly! A side note: the bathtub has become a main attraction for my annual events.


With the help of their mom Poo Slingers and her Halloween supplies, we made Charon the ferryman. He was positioned at the back door to guide people across the River Styx to the Underworld. Raven accepted my invitation to carve a jaw-dropping stamp of Charon which was used as our event stamp.

 

Noah was the master architect of the Underworld.   We began building the Underworld a few weeks before the event. This required decluttering the basement and vacuuming which was my responsibility. The kids and I planned and implemented the "river" with blue plastic table cloths from Dollar Tree and blue lights from Poo Slingers' holiday decor stockpile.

BoxReaper was so happy with the Underworld that he was willing to pose and even smile. Shown here crossing the River Styx.

Interestingly, during preparations for the Greek event, Noah came up with an idea for his new trail name-- BoxReaper-- and ideas for the image. I designed a stamp for him based on his ideas, and we shared the work of carving.

As our research for ideas continued, I learned about Greek Steganography which  'is defined as the hiding of information by embedding messages within other seemingly harmless messages, graphics or sounds." In this pict, the secret message was tattooed on the messenger's head. His hair grew back and then he was sent to deliver the message. This idea opened up limitless ideas for cluing. I began looking for ways to hide the letterbox clues in plain sight (CHIPS.) Once found, and if needed, deciphered, the boxer would be led to a stamp hidden somewhere in my house or yard. 

One of our first ideas for a CHIPS  was to create Greek shields from dollar store platters.  This shield was made with a gold platter, black buttons, cardstock, distressing ink and a gold disk I found in a junk box. We embossed the disk with an outline of Pegasus and lastly, a cipher of Greek lettering was planned and written on the shield. Without closer examination, it looks just like Greek decor. The shields were put on display in plain sight!

Some of the clues were more obvious: Pegaus, Pandora's Jar which was crafted by Kudichan, the Cyclops which was crafted by BoxReaper, the Golden Apples, and the Parthenon built by BoxReaper for a social studies project which is truly where all this Greek stuff began. Even though many of the clues were easier to find, that didn't make breaking the cipher or riddle any less difficult.

Clues shown here:  Themis' coins, the Minotaur's maze, Hercules' club, another Greek vase. Greek helmet and sword.

Achilles sandal with a Scytale cipher.

Trojan Horse made by BoxReaper from a kit found on Amazon. Not just a prop. Like the Ancient Greeks, this horse also holds a secret.

Satyr wine anyone? Looks suspicious.

Greek Olympian Discus or a CHIPS?

Pandora's Jar handcrafted by Kudichan led boxers on a search throughout the house for all the awful things that had been released, from anxiety to insomnia and more.

The clues waiting for the event.

Boxers breaking clues. Altogether there were at least 33 carvers represented, 70+/- clued stamps, and 15 event boxes.

White Dollar Tree table covers, plastic ivy and white lights made the house feel ancient and festive.  The goddess Nike, posing here, offered boxers a challenge, either Athenian (intellectual) or Spartan (physical,) to earn her stamp.

There were many more CHIPS to explore while waiting for a turn to visit our Underworld. Once in the Underworld, boxers searched high and low for eleven micro stamps of Greek architecture carved by Maude. 

 Buffet table of yummy Greek and American foods. 

 

Thank you to all the Carvers and Crafters:

Kudichan

Christmas Puppy
BoxReaper
The V’s
4Js
Topcollector
Fantastic Mrs. Fox
GypsyFiddler
Fiddleheads
MissAdventure
BBStacker
Linden Leaf
Acorns4U
The Pakrat
Lucky Duck
amazeing adventure frog
 Team Awesome Pants
 Blacksheep 1-2
The Woodshed
Twofreetimers
WiseWanderer
Wavesandwaterfalls
Angelwinks
Redbird
Intrinsically Knotted
Greenmountainhiker
Trishee
GypsyLadybug
BaliWho
Dancing Pecan
 Kiss’n Karin
Maude 
Raven
PumpkinSeedsLenore