A Detour into Crafts

I have to be honest.  I haven't cooked or baked much lately.  90 degree + temperatures and 100 degree + heat indices are generally not conducive to cooking, let alone baking.  But stay tuned!  There will be more cooking and baking this weekend.  Why does it always seem like I have a major baking project on one of the hottest days of the summer?  Hopefully this will be the end of the ridiculous heat.

I did make some rhubarb sauce this morning . . . but I don't think I had a full 3 cups of rhubarb, so, well, it kind of turned out more like rhubarb jelly by the time enough water boiled off.  Oops!

So what have I been doing these last few weeks (besides studying three days a week for my comps and having many adventures, that is!), you ask?

NES and I have been in the world of crafts!

I have always been a crafter at heart.  I was that 13 year old girl who went to the rubber stamping parties with all the middle-aged ladies.  And I loved them.

Thus, the current climate, with the advent of Pinterest and popularity of DIY, has been perfect for me.

NES probably wouldn't label himself a crafter, but he has always loved origami.  He even made the hearts for our wedding favors!  He's also interested in the current "steampunk-ifying" trend.  So he has projects, too!

His recent project was an origami vase filled with origami flowers for our anniversary!  Isn't it cool??

I'm sure it would have been funny to watch us work on our individual projects.  Both were for our anniversary, and we sat in our three room apartment working in different rooms and trying to avoid going into the other person's lair.  It must have looked pretty silly.

My project(s) were scrapbooks!  I love scrapbooking, but I just never had the time in high school or undergrad.  I don't know why I didn't just do it during the summers, like I do now.  Actually, I do.  My summers were busier back then, for one, and I think I was trying to do too much.  I've come to realize that one scrapbook project a year is about all I can handle.  And all my wallet can handle.  They are expensive!

I started the tradition of making NES a scrapbook when we had been dating for a year.  I caught up to our wedding in that book, and now I'm (hopefully!) starting a tradition of making them for our wedding anniversaries!

I think that this one came out really well.  I found really fun paper with lots of dots, stripes, zig-zags and patterns in really bright and fun colors.  That was my inspiration.

Then came the fun part!  Picking pictures and events to include!

All of our trips made it in.

I also included pages for all the weddings we went to this year.  I thought that'd be a fun way to remember them.

And many hours later, voila, a scrapbook of our first year!

But this year, there were two to make!  And I managed to get them both done!

We had originally intended to buy a fancy album from our wedding photographer for our first anniversary.  When the time came, we weren't sure.  So, I went ahead and secretly decided to make a scrapbook instead.  I'm glad I did.  It is so much more personal.

I got to pick out exactly the pictures I wanted, and arrange them exactly how I wanted.

This one was pretty different from the other scrapbooks I've made.  I usually include lots of various mementos and, well, anything that will stick to a page.  I've put in two ornaments in past projects.

This one was more of an embellished photo album.

But I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I think this right page is my favorite:

I used a mixture of stickers and rubber stamp letters for the words.  I found the rubber stamps on sale for 10 cents!  I'm kicking myself now for not buying more when I had the chance!

And now to find something else to break my scrapbook addiction!  It really is addicting . . .