Pinhead Traveler

MooHaaHaaHaaa! Halloween approaches and Pinhead craves souls...or at least fabulous pins for his collection. Laminate a geocoin into the proper orifice and stuff this prickly guy in a box somewhere. Follow the exploits of Pinhead #1. and get yours here.

Polymer Clay Geocoin

Go big or go home. Polymer clay geocoins are well documented here and here. My short attention span version is as follows: I rolled Super Sculpey between two paint sticks and cut circles with a 3” diameter peanut butter lid. Then I raided our Stampin’ Up stash and made my name with an alphanumeric punch set (taped together). Next was fifteen minutes in the oven at 275° followed by Testors copper enamel paint. Voila!

Tricachelon

We have some great puzzle caches in my neck of the woods, but not too many physical challenges. Meet the Tricachelon. To complete it you will bike 20K, navagate the local lake, and climb a tree high enough to feel it sway in the wind. Grab the logo and create your own race of tricacheletes where you live. I printed up a batch of the logo in reverse on iron-on paper and left them in the final for survivors to proudly wear. Now imagine the possibility of a decachelon!

Pirate Public Announcement

Avast ye scurvy dogs! Try yelling that at random. You'll find it is often quite appropriate. Submitted for your perusal: one flier to promote geocaching in your hometown.

Code Crane

This crane kicks harder than the Karate Kid, but it isn't swag. It's a three-dimensional puzzle you're welcome to use for your next mystery cache. Folded properly, the surfaces of the crane may be used to decode coordinates. Here's an example and here's the pdf.

Bottle Cap Coins

Start slammin' cold ones this summer cuz bottle caps are the raw ingredient for this round of homebrew geocoins. Throw some bling-bling glitter and custom logos in the bottom of a bottle cap, then fill it with two cc's of epoxy, and cha-ching! instant personalized geocoin. Photos, bugs, sprinkles, candy, and wire are the sorts of mixed media that can be cast into the epoxy. Try googling "bottle cap art" to get more ideas and have fun collecting those caps. Extra tip: You can probably pick up a free 6CC syringe at your local pharmacy if you don't look like a heroin addict (sorry ma).

Bottle Cap: $0.03
Epoxy: $0.06
Mixed Media: $0.01
TOTAL: $0.10

Grocery List

This isn't swag. It's a puzzle sheet you're welcome to use for the next "unknown cache" you hide. This combines two of my favorite things, food and geocaching, without breaking the no edibles in a cache rule. While wandering the aisles, complete the grocery list to find the final coordinates. Here's a link to the first cache using the list: Food Glorious Food.
Here's a blank list just for you.

Project A.P.E. - Collector's Card

What do apes and Jeeps have in common? Geocaching of course. Here's a card to commemorate an all-too-rare promotional event from way back in '01. Show us some love again corporate America; it's been too long! I want Indy Caches, and Cracker Jack Micros, and Survivor Challenge Coins, and Lance Armstrong Endurace Caches, and anything more than apes and Jeeps. Here's the front. Here's the back.
View the complete collection here.

Micro Gift Card

Spankin'-new micros make great swag. Here's a card to drop along with them so that credit goes where credit is due.
The front: http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/microsheetFRONT2.pdf
The back: http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/microsheetBACK.pdf

1st Geocoin - Collector's Card

Geocoins are more elusive than custom swag 'round these parts. Just to rub salt in that wound, here is a collector's card commemorating the first coin. Thanks to Moun10Bike for giving this card a big thumbs up.
Front: http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/1stcoinFRONT.jpg
Back: http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/1stcoinBACK.pdf
View the complete collection here.

1st Geocache - Collector's Card

Dave Ulmer got the ball rolling eight years ago this month. Celebrate by running naked through the streets, then settle down and print up a sheet of these cards. See that geocaching logo on the plaque? The folks at Groundspeak would like you to know,"The Geocaching.com logo is a Registered Trademark of Groundspeak. Used with permission." Here's the front of the card (get 4x6 prints at your local photo-hut): http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/1stcacheFRONT.jpg
Here's the back to print on your own (preferably with lasers not runny ink): http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/1stcacheBACK.pdf .
Do you have a suggestion for another card? Check the list on this site and then drop me a note if you have something to add.
View the complete collection here.

Rattlesnake Eggs

Clean shorts - they'll be in short supply after this swag. Put on your MacGyver hat and get aquainted with the lost art of paperclip folding. I'll show you how to turn a rubberband, a washer, and a paperclip into a favorite childhood prank . Download the detailed blueprints here: http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/rattlesnake.pdf

Paperclip: $0.01
Washer$0.01
Rubber Band: $0.01
Envelope: $0.01
Total: $0.04
(new undies not included)

Lincoln Travel Buddy

Lincoln slept here! Honor your next cache with a visit from the sixteenth president of the United States. Laminate a geocoin into the template and in short order there could be a trackable global army of sleepy Lincolns. Give a cache a chance to be the next Lincoln Bedroom. Download the 1.4M pdf here: http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/lincolnSLEPT.pdf

Geocoin: $4.00

Laminate: $0.20

TOTAL: $4.20

Geocache Collectors' Card

"I'll trade you a 2008 Crystal Lake for a 1952 Mickey Mantle." This idea started here: http://www.fredraab.com/cachecards/index.htm
I used the format of a baseball card including plenty of stats and the same dimensions so that the card will fit in collectors' protective sleeves. Two front images fit on a standard 4x6 print from your local photo shop and the backs are laser printed on colored paper. Glue the two together, put the finished card in a sleeve, tape it shut to resist water, and viola. Potential topics: caches, local landmarks, local history, famous geocachers...
View the complete collection here.

Card: $0.06

Sleeve: $0.10

TOTAL: $0.16

Code Wheel

Overkill...what's that? You never know when you might need to translate from Morse Code to semaphore to sign language to ASCII to ROT13 and back again. Just in case, this is the only code wheel you'll need. Trouble cutting circles? For templates the larger circle is a 26 oz Campbell soup can and the smaller is an 11 oz'er. Download the 2M pdf here and UNIR SHA: http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/codewheel.pdf

Paper fastener: $0.01

Lamination: $0.25

TOTAL: $0.26

Inkjet Magnets

What better way to start your morning than staring at a GPS receiver? Capture the thrill of a find or just frame a goofy kid with a magnetic picture frame compliments of your injet printer. Be sure to laminate the front of the magnet after printing to ensure years of enjoyment.
Click here for the 2M pdf template (sorry Magellaneers): http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/GPSmagnet.pdf

Magnet: $0.25
Laminate: $0.12
TOTAL: $0.37

Where's George

Here's a trackable swag item with space for your John Hancock. Where's George is a tracking site for dollar bills that is copasetic with geocaching. Read the rules here: http://www.wheresgeorge.com/wrapper.php?page=top10bills_dgc
No need to write/deface the actual money with this design, just fold the template around the money and put it in a snack bag ziplock for waterproofing. Get the 2M pdf template here:
http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/wheresgeorge.pdf

cost: :$1

Buttons

Here is a series of 1" buttons made with The Amazing Button Maker from NSI International. I keep a set pinned to my geocaching bag. A professional button machine will run you a couple hunred dollars, but I bet you would be willing to swallow your pride and use a purple crafting toy for the amazing low price of $15. Bonus: remove the pin from the back and glue on a magnet to share your love of geocaching with your refrigerator.

Button Maching; $15
Button Refills: $20
Cost per button: $0.35

Book Crossing

Don't be greedy, share your favorite book with a stranger. Most of my swag creations cost pennies or dimes, but I'm willing to make an exception for literature. You might be able to find copies of your favorites at used book stores. The going rate seems to be half-price paperbacks and quarter-price hardcovers. That's about the same cost as a commercial geocoin but this trackable item has the potential to be much more rewarding. If you're onboard, here's a way to make cache books even more affordable. Go to http://www.paperbackswap.com/ and trade books you don't want for the ones you do. Now all you pay is about two bucks for media mail and there are nearly two million books available. Click here for a 2.4M pdf of custom book tracking tags: http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/BOOKCROSSCUSTOM.pdf

Used book: $2.50

Geocaching License

Whoa! Buddy, you got a license for that? This license rocks because it allows you to authorize yourself. Put a blank copy of it in a small ziplock with two sheets of unused laminating film and turn it loose in your local cache. Download the 2.7M pdf here: http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/geolicense.pdf

Laminating film: $0.05

Homebrew Geocaching Coins

Nothing says "treasure" like a gold coin, but a real Spanish doubloon will set you back several grand. Here's a personalized gold coin for 17 cents. Your local coin store will sell 10-12 unsorted foreign coins for a dollar. Pick out the big gold and copper coins with extra credit for two tone currency, odd edges, and center holes. Now take your pirate's stash home and make every coin collector groan by removing the tarnish with silver polish. They clean up real nice. Place the shiny coins in half dollar coin mounts and glue them shut with superglue. Now print heads and tails images that fit the mounts and glue them on (use a mount with the plastic removed as a template for cutting out the circles). Finally, make your freshly minted cache coin water-resistant by puting it in a crafter's mini-ziplock. Click here for a 1.5M pdf design: http://renzotobias.googlepages.com/cachecoin.pdf

Foreign Coin: $0.10

Coin Mount: $0.07

TOAL: $0.17

Seeing a child's face light up when they find a gold coin: Priceless.

LOGO

You need a logo. All your custom swag becomes a signature item when you drop your logo on it. I created this one for myself and incorporate it into most designs. I also printed it at 1/4" so that I can make my own "Made in China" stickers with a standard hole punch. Essentially, this is a maker's mark small enough to fit on any product.