One Hobby, leads to another... Part Deux.

So, amidst my busy and hectic life, I've been spending my spare moments outside with Bender Oak the Dog.  So that I don't feel like I'm just wasting the day, I've taken up the hobbies of Geocaching and Letterboxing.

I've really started to fall in love with Letterboxing, because it's a combination of the things I love.  Walking around in or near nature/interesting places, and crafts!

Most letterboxers carve their "Signature Stamp".  A stamp that identifies them and is used when you visit different letter boxes.

After my first letterbox, I was amazed at all the other personalized stamps I saw.

I wanted to do my own, but I wasn't really sure how.  Also, I've never carved or drawn anything before.

Luckily, Atlasquest (a North American Letterboxing community) has a Stamp Carving 101 tutorial posted on their site.  This Tutorial is a great start for any beginner, and there's even safe instructions for Kids!

Check out their Tutorial HERE (click the link).

Well, I didn't have all the supplies normally recommended, so I had to improvise.

I bought a couple of packs of erasers from our local Dollar store.  I bought plain Pink Erasers, and I also bought some higher end White Erasers.

I knew I wanted an Earthy logo that encompassed both Me and Bender Oak while out on the trails.  But I can't draw.  I did a search on the internet for some Royalty Free Clip Art, and found a picture of an Oak Leaf.

  

I managed to doodle a little Paw Print inside the Leaf.

I didn't have a Lino-Cutter, so I used the CheapGeek's Kobalt cutting kit.  It's an inexpensive, and very sharp kit picked up from Lowe's.

   

After tracing the Leaf onto the Eraser, and some quiet carving and cutting, I came up with this:

It looked kinda funky, so I tried stamping it out.

I'm pretty proud of myself right now.  It's a cute little oak leaf, and my inexperience carving helped create a very unique and rustic stamp!

Now off to make my mark on some Letterboxes!  Let's get stomping through the woods and stamping through some pages, Lol.

Thanks for reading guys!