Librarian Crafts

Tomorrow I leave for a fun filled vacation week with my closest friends from college.  We are meeting from near and far in Door County Wisconsin (a dream come true really- beautiful scenery and delicious baked goods featuring cherries).  We've been doing a yearly get away on the cheap since we left college and I love it- we basically rent a cheap cabin/house, make our own food, relax, and, obviously, imbibe in crazy drink combos.  Having been away from undergrad for a few years, I find it interesting to see the friends I hold on to, the friends I make an effort to see.  Partly, I think it has something to do with goals and interests- this main group of friends is career focused.  We are all single currently- I know we all want to get married some day but I think we enjoy what we've got now.  I still see some of my married friends but aren't as close to them. 

Anyways, life altering changes aside, I am currently up to my ears in laundry so I have no cute librarian outfits to post.  I will post vacation pictures when I am back though (I'm trying to figure out how I can do that through my new android- as my friend said, "you are a librarian: you should be up on the latest technology."  Uhhh. Maybe. I'm a bit old school.).

Before that, I thought I would get to a post I have been meaning to do for a while: adorable and cheap paper lanterns.  I can't claim the idea as my own.  My friend (who is coincidentally, unmarried also, but has an adorable little daughter.) had these beauties strung up in her apartment and as soon as I saw it, I had to make it my own.  As a librarian however, I do have to properly cite my sources!

The tutorial on how to make the origami boxes for the lights can be found here: Party Paper Lanterns

My result (I have only close-ups so I need to take a far away picture one of these days!):

Close-ups:

I do have to say that this is cheap, easy, and relaxing.  I got the white string lights at Target around Christmas for a few dollars.  This specific oragami paper hails from Michaels (a lot of the paper is from the pack I link to, but I also bought another pack not featured online that had more of the colors shown in the tutorial).  Cute lights under $10.  I also loved making the boxes while I listened to NPR or This American Life in the fall.  A very soothing weekend activity.