A Thank You Gift For Pixie Dust Gal

No Letterboxer is an island and when it comes to events it is an absolute must to have additional Letterboxers helping and contributing to the cause. Although there is usually one insane leader of the pack an event without a planning committee is usually just too much for one person to handle. This year I stepped outside the Letterboxing community and asked a special friend to co-host the event with me. Ginger (Birds-on-a-Wire) has been an amazing co-host over the years but it was finally time for her to enjoy a local event without being half the driving force. Although I couldn’t let a carver of her caliper slip away without one request. Thankfully Ginger provided a beautiful event stamp for our day in Wonderland.

My co-host this year was Kelly and she was a Noxer (non-boxer) until September 2012. Not only did Kelly jump Down the Rabbit Hole with excitement and enthusiasm but even when she hit the hard ground at the bottom she still stood up and smiled. Kelly experienced first hand the learning curve of actual Letterboxing but also had to learn how to plant and had to get her head around what an event is without having ever attended one. Even when you attend an event as a seasoned Letterboxer they can be confusing, overwhelming and crazy. One of Kelly’s natural gifts is being a born hostess. So even without the nuts and bolts of Letterboxing knowledge I had a seasoned party and event planner on my side. In the areas that I am weak she is very strong so two Kelly’s are definitely better than one. She allowed me to focus on carvings, stamp contributions, logbooks, clues and boxing concepts while she put together a party in the background. She sent me ideas that needed to be executed and I just followed her lead with what we needed to acquire knowing without a shadow of a doubt that she had the master scheme under control. When we finally came together with each component I was amazed at what 2 Kelly’s could accomplish.

I wanted to make Kelly a special memento from the event and I came up with the idea of shadow boxes. Kelly and I had a lot of fun costuming for the event and the pictures turned out to be the perfect starting point for the shadow boxes. I added elements that were used at the event including papers, tea tabs, raffle tickets and decorative tags that had been on the tea pots. The tags actually match the characters that we dressed up like in the morning and afternoon. I also tossed in a couple of keys. Considering how many projects I was working on at the same time I made these I was pleased with the end result.  Kelly made the event planning so much fun and I already miss our daily (hourly) idea texts and weekly coffee meetings.  I guess that means it's time to start planning an event for 2013.  Let's just hope that Kelly is still answering her phone when I call.  Is that a fluttering of Fairy wings I hear in the distance...