Exploding Happiness.

So I’ve been pretty busy lately, what with stupid assignments and classes and presentations. Honestly, it’s like the professors have no life. Anyway, despite being totally swamped with work, I managed to do one thing for myself. It might not mean a whole lot to some people (read, my mom and my sister), but for me, it was a massive accomplishment, one tiny step directed towards my future, and Hugs & Crafts.

Yep, that is the name #riseofthelazies and I have chosen for our future crafty endeavors. ^_^

Okay, back to what I did.

I made a Harry Potter themed Exploding Box. YES I DID! Of course, I went through a whole lot of tutorials at first. Finally found the best one at http://www.acherryontop.com/articles/Exploding-Box-Tutorial-3828 (don’t you just adore the name?). It was for a friend, who happens to be this absolutely over the top Harry Potter fan – he has the chapter names of all the seven books memorized! – as well as being one of the few admirers of my creative explosions.

Time for the big reveal, folks. I really can’t wait any more than I already have.

So I made the structure first, and then since it was white and I was aiming for a more ‘old paper’ look, i proceeded to dip it into tea (black, no milk, heheheh). And then I wanted to make it less Muggle-ish, so I burnt the edges of the structure AND the Harry Potter pages (the Prisoner of Azkaban). If you’re curious, and/or feeling murderous because I actually ruined my book for this card, then rest assured that I did not. It was a really old, disintegrating copy that the man at this old bookshop fobbed me off with. Guess what, it had pages torn and/or missing in the middle. So it was pretty much useless anyway.

 

Oh yes, the Exploding Box explodes into a Quidditch scene. I know I’m being presumptuous and going gaga over my own creation, but, really, how can I not? See adorable little Snitch? And the tiny little broomstick. It’s no Nimbus 2000, but precious all the same. And the goal post loopy thingys. Really, but I do have some nice older-brothers-y cousins. I merely asked them for some flexible wire, and the three of them raided their storage room, found an old electrical wire, stripped it with this tool and a knife, and lo and behold! it copper wires galore! All I had to do was mention that I needed to twist them into loops, and the next thing I knew, the three of them were making little loops out of the wires, and literally 4 minutes later,  I had 6 loops in my hands. 🙂

And if you’re wondering whether the friend loved it or not, he did ❤ What’s more, the other three friends were green with envy. And I sat there, pretty much bouncing on my chair with excitement :p

Anyway. The point is that this is what I want to do. Now and (hopefully) forever. Because it makes people happy. And that makes me happier. Making little things that make people smile, at least that very minute that they see, right in front of their very eyes, the unquantifiable love I feel for them. That minute that they realize that yes, I would actually spend a ridiculous amount of time on creating something so supremely frivolous, just to put a smile on their face, to make their day just that little bit better.

So here I am, raising my (invisible) glass to Hugs & Crafts, and #riseofthelazies, who feels exactly the same way as me.

*clink*