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.