And then the Sheep...

Little Tomato wanted to paint today too... so while she painted, I did another painting today!

* Yes, I do acknowledge I'm a nerd... 

Ostrich

I'm coming down with a cold and it is in the negative digits outside, so I decided to do a little mini painting while cloistered inside today.

I found an adorable series of "Zoo Portraits" on Pinterest by Yago Partal... and then fell down the rabbit hole onto the website, which is fabulous: https://www.zooportraits.com

I adored the Ostrich and decided to practice my painting skills on painting an ostrich in the hat & sweater.

I'll probably fiddle with the sweater & shirt at some point, but it was a fun exercise for a frigid day inside.

Happy New Year!

Painting in Progress

I'm diving into painting, and starting with acrylics.

I have no idea what I'm doing.

I've watched a YouTube video on the basics, and read a couple of articles that provide tips.

It is definitely a self-guided crash course in painting. But at least I'm having some fun doing it. 😋

'Girl with  a Glue Gun' in progress...

Taking a Stab at Something New...

I get antsy when I haven't been creative. It is an itch that just festers when I haven't gotten my creative outlet filled. This last month has been busy with holiday festivities, making treats, decorating for the holidays, and a cleaning/ organizing binge.. but I haven't MADE anything for a while.

And I'm getting itchy.

I've never been shy to try new media. I've delved into books, blogs, Pinterest, and YouTube videos and taught myself to sew, knit and crochet. While I obtained a foundation of basic art classes in school, I somehow completely missed painting classes. And now I'm itching to paint.

My mother is a painter. She paints every Saturday and has made several paintings which we have framed in our home. When she asked what I wanted for Christmas this year, I asked for painting supplies. I'm going to dive in. 😁

I have this picture in my head of a painting that I want for my craft room, which is really just the extra bedroom in our house. It's walls are lined with mismatched dressers and wire shelving, buckling and brimming with books and craft supplies piled high in cardboard boxes. Glue guns, dowels, paint... yarn, fabric, and spools of thread. It isn't pretty, by any stretch of the word. It certainly isn't a Pinterest-worthy space. Nonetheless, it is where I get crafty and it needs some wall art, dammit! 😋

SO. Today I bought a cheap canvas from Hobby Lobby and sketched an outline. After the holiday weekend, I'll throw on some YouTube tutorials and take a whack at painting! Wish me luck... 😳

'Girl with a Glue Gun' in progress...

Framing a Rabbit

I bought this brass bunny hook ages ago. Easily two years or more. I adore bunnies and originally planned to put it in Little Tomato's room. When that idea went by the wayside, I couldn't bear to return it.

So it sat on a counter.

Then in a drawer.

Then on the counter again.

It migrated rooms for years, and was never hung. I knew that if I gave it enough time, the right place would present itself.

A month ago, I shifted a couple of things on my mudroom chalkboard wall to make room for Ewegenia (my sheep bust, get it EWEgenia?... but I digress...) and I finally found the perfect place for the bunny to be framed, front and center.

Bunny hanging with her buddy, EWEgenia.
Ewegenia is accessorizing a hand-knit wool crimson cowl this season. 

I have officially screwed holes into the gypsum and given the bunny a permanent home.

See... as I have gotten older, I have realized that to make a house feel like a home, we need to invest in things that we love. 

We are constantly inundated with advertisements and TV series that show us the latest trends. Our society is about collecting things, and disposing of them with the seasons. Disposable cups, clothing that wears thin and unravels in a season, and furniture that 'bottoms out' and falls apart in the lifespan of a goldfish. Buying 'on trend' is an expensive, vicious cycle of buying new.

In the past few years I have thinned out these things. I still sometimes forget my reusable bags and cups when I leave the house. I still catch myself walking out of Target with something ridiculous more often than I would like to admit. It is a process and takes time to break bad habits, but it helps to remind myself that if I don't love it, I don't need it.

My favorite things in my home are the ones that hold meaning. The apple bushel painting and vintage schoolhouse desk that were in my grandparent's home, the wood carvings that my grandfather carved, the paintings that my mother painted, the obnoxiously large dining room table that the whole family can fit around - these are the things that make my house a home.

And so... when I do come across something that I love, even if I don't know quite where it belongs yet, it may just find itself sitting on my counter... or in my drawer, or my Pinterest boards.

For sometimes two years or more.

Holiday Deliveries... Puppy Chow!

The holidays are always a whirlwind, but it seems Christmas is sneaking up on me faster than usual this year. Perhaps it is the unseasonably warm and windy winter this year?

Anyhow, our house is finally looking like a house again, after the Harry Potter parties of 2017 took over our home. We have Christmas decorations in full swing, presents wrapped and under the tree, and I have just completed my holiday client gift deliveries.

I am a holiday baker. I don't know where I get the impulse, I am a terrible cook, but I do enjoy baking. This year I combined efforts with some colleagues and we made a few varieties of puppy chow... or do you call it muddy buddies? It is astounding how many varieties of puppy chow are out there. I have tried several varieties, though my favorite is a dark chocolate twist on the original (substitute dark chocolate chips for the semi-sweet variety).

The recipes we made this year were Holiday Classic (adding red & green M&Ms to the mix for a pop of color), Chocolate Churro, & Cake Batter. They were all fantastic, but I have to admit that the Cake Batter is sinfully good.

 I have included the recipe links below:

Holiday Original

Cake Batter

Chocolate Churro

We made the deliveries dressed as SnowLadies! I found some great holiday hat headbands on Amazon, bought a yard of red fleece and made a few quick (no sew) red matching scarves, and bought felt adhesive circles for buttons. We all wore white sweaters & black pants to complete the ensemble. It was a great time delivering treats together. 😊

In other news... I'm trying to get back into the groove of knitting. I have a 'Weasley' sweater in-progress for Little Tomato. The initial idea was to have it done by Christmas. That is VERY unlikely. I am not nearly motivated enough to meet that goal. I've decided that I'm not a fan of knitting sweaters. My knitting is usually hats, scarves, cowls, and stuffed animals. And since I've seen the hack of just doing a duplicate stitch over an existing sweater for the letter... I'm kicking myself for putting all this effort into just knitting the SWEATER. Ah well.

What are your holiday projects?

Horcrux Hunt Escape Room Part 7: Hogsmeade, Peverell Ring

As noted in the overview post, our horcrux hunt party had (3) locations with (2) horcruxes per location. This allowed for the large number of guests to be broken down into smaller groups and rotate between locations.

Each group was given a clipboard with blank paper to take notes, and a blacklight flashlight.

For the party overview, see THIS post.

The Hogshead portion of the party was in our basement. It consisted of Honeydukes, the Owl Post, the Forbidden Forest, and our bar was the Three Broomsticks. The basement contained the Peverell Ring & Nagini horcruxes.

... and it, arguably, held the two most difficult challenges.

Peverell Ring: Math Challenge

The Peverell ring first made an appearance in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The ring was seen in Dumbledore's pensive, owned by Morvolo Riddle, a descendent of Salazar Slytherin. The ring had the Deathly Hallows symbol carved into the stone. 

We later learn, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, that the symbols of the Deathly Hallows was central to the 'Tale of the Three Brothers' in Tales of Beedle the Bard. 

In the 'Tale of the Three Brothers,' the Deathly Hallows symbol's central line symbolizes the Elder Wand, the circle symbolizes the resurrection stone, and the triangle symbolizes the invisibility cloak. Each of the brothers in the fable acquired their gift from Death himself, and the story was rumored to be a story of three real brothers, the Peverell brothers (the Peverell Ring stone was the fabled Resurrection stone).

We tied our Peverell Ring hunt to the Deathly Hallows and the 'Tale of the Three Brothers.'

The key to this particular horcrux hunt was the Three Broomsticks sign...

Horcrux Hunt Escape Room Part 6: Hogsmeade, Nagini

As noted in the overview post, our horcrux hunt party had (3) locations with (2) horcruxes per location. This allowed for the large number of guests to be broken down into smaller groups and rotate between locations.

Each group was given a clipboard with blank paper to take notes, and a blacklight flashlight.

For the party overview, see THIS post.

The Hogshead portion of the party was in our basement. It consisted of Honeydukes, the Owl Post, the Forbidden Forest, and our bar was the Three Broomsticks. The basement contained the Peverell Ring & Nagini horcruxes.

... and it, arguably, held the two most difficult challenges.

Nagini: Dates Matter Challenge

Nagini was Lord Voldemort's pet snake. Though we weren't given the backstory of how or when he became a horcrux, the books did include several cameos of Nagini throughout the storyline.

Our hunt for Nagini started with a Little Hangelton newsletter which announced the death of Frank Bryce, the groundskeeper of the Riddle house. Voldemort commanded Nagini attack Frank Bryce in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Horcrux Hunt Escape Room Part 5: Hogwarts, Tom Riddle's Diary

As noted in the overview post, our horcrux hunt party had (3) locations with (2) horcruxes per location. This allowed for the large number of guests to be broken down into smaller groups and rotate between locations.

Each group was given a clipboard with blank paper to take notes, and a blacklight flashlight.

For the party overview, see THIS post.

The Hogwarts portion of the party was our living room (Gryffindor Common Room) and dining room (Great Hall). It contained the Ravenclaw Diadem & Tom Riddle's Diary horcruxes.

Tom Riddle's Diary: Enigma Challenge

The story of Tom Riddle's diary is primarily told in book 2, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

[Spoiler Alert if you haven't read book 2]

In Chamber of Secrets, Harry learns that the Slytherin founder of Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin, created a hidden chamber in the school:

"Reliable historical sources tell us this much. But these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."

Harry found the hidden entrance to the Chamber of Secrets in Moaning Myrtle's girl's bathroom. The 'horror within' was a Basilisk, a giant snake. Slytherin had an affinity with snakes, as he was a Parseltongue, a wizard who could communicate with snakes. We later learn that the powerful venom of the basilisk is one of the few magical substances powerful enough to destroy a horcrux. Harry used a fang from the defeated basilisk to destroy the Riddle diary.

Horcrux Hunt Escape Room Part 4: Hogwarts, Ravenclaw Diadem

As noted in the overview post, our horcrux hunt party had (3) locations with (2) horcruxes per location. This allowed for the large number of guests to be broken down into smaller groups and rotate between locations.

Each group was given a clipboard with blank paper to take notes, and a blacklight flashlight.

For the party overview, see THIS post.

The Hogwarts portion of the party was our living room (Gryffindor Common Room) and dining room (Great Hall). It contained the Ravenclaw Diadem & Tom Riddle's Diary horcruxes.

Ravenclaw Diadem: Logic Puzzle Challenge

Very little was known of the Ravenclaw diadem in Harry Potter. Harry assumed he was looking for a relic that was related to Ravenclaw, and in the end, he obtained its whereabouts from Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter (the Grey Lady, the Ravenclaw ghost). 

This did not give us much of a story to follow for our hunt, so I played heavily on the Ravenclaw theme, 'Wit Beyond Measure.'

The Diadem hunt began with a logic puzzle that I designed:

Last week, one student in each of the four Hogwarts houses was reprimanded by a Hogwarts professor for an infraction and had house points deducted. There are 5 clues to help you solve the puzzle. Wit beyond measure will unlock the horcrux!

Can you work out the name of the student, the infraction, the professor who deducted points and how many points?

Hint: House points are the key you need!

This piece was openly displayed with a logic puzzle worksheet.

Horcrux Hunt Escape Room Part 3: Diagon Alley, Slytherin Locket

As noted in the overview post, our horcrux hunt party had (3) locations with (2) horcruxes per location. This allowed for the large number of guests to be broken down into smaller groups and rotate between locations.

Each group was given a clipboard with blank paper to take notes, and a blacklight flashlight.

For the party overview, see THIS post.

The Diagon Alley portion of the party contained the Slytherin Locket & the Hufflepuff Cup horcruxes.

Slytherin Locket: Decoy Locket Challenge

We are introduced to the Slytherin Locket in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. If you aren't brushed up on your Harry Potter, I have included a brief outline below.

[Spoiler alert if you haven't read the books...]

• Professor Dumbledore used the Pensive to introduce Harry to the Gaunt family, the descendants of Salazar Slytherin, who inherited the family locket.
• Tom Riddle's mother, Merope Gaunt, sold the locket to Borgin & Burkes, where Hepzibah Smith later purchased it.
• Tom Riddle later killed Hepzibah for both the locket and the cup, and made them both into horcruxes when he became Lord Voldemort.
• Dumbledore eventually found where the locket was hidden, in a seaside cave where Tom had tormented his fellow orphanage children when he was on a field trip under Mrs, Cole's charge. He took Harry with him to help find the locket, with the intent to destroy the horcrux.
• Dumbledore was subsequently killed, and Harry learned that the locket they found in the cave was a decoy - someone with the initials R.A.B. had stolen the real horcrux locket and replaced it with a fake. 
• Harry later found the real locket was acquired by Delores Umbridge.

SO... Our hunt began with a Ministry of Magic Incident Report from Bob Ogden who was dispatched to the Gaunt home. The report referenced the Slytherin Locket, which led the group to understand that they were looking for the Locket horcrux.

Horcrux Hunt Escape Room Part 2: Diagon Alley, Hufflepuff Cup

As noted in the overview post, our horcrux hunt party had (3) locations with (2) horcruxes per location. This allowed for the large number of guests to be broken down into smaller groups and rotate between locations.

Each group was given a clipboard with blank paper to take notes, and a blacklight flashlight.

For the party overview, see THIS post.

The Diagon Alley portion of the party contained the Locket & the Hufflepuff Cup horcruxes.

Hufflepuff Cup: Gemino Challenge

In Harry Potter, the Hufflepuff Cup was found in a Gringotts vault. The vault had the Gemino Curse applied to it, causing its contents to be constantly replicated. With this in mind, we had our first step of the hunt for the Cup to be a 'Gemino Curse' applied to its locks. 

Horcrux Hunt Escape Room Part 1: Overview & Menu

After Little Tomato's Harry Potter party this summer we had several friends 'subtly' mention that they would love to see the party decorations in person. Husband and I decided to plan an adult party around Halloween in the Harry Potter theme. As the party activities at Little Tomato's party were all very 'child oriented' we started brainstorming ways to make the party more adult. Being the giant puzzle nerds that we are, we settled on creating an Escape Room in the Harry Potter theme.

Horcrux Hunt Party

The overall party theme was a hunt for horcruxes. Harry Potter has a total of (7) horcruxes, counting Harry. Our party hunt was for the (6) horcruxes that weren't Harry. 

Our guest list was just under 30 guests, so we set up three separate 'locations' and hid (2) horcruxes in each location. This allowed us to split up the party into three manageable groups to not overwhelm any one area.

We also felt that it was important that each horcrux would be solved differently. If all six horcruxes were solved in the same formulaic method, the party would get dully repetitive. Each horcrux had its own theme and we tried to tie it to the story as much as possible.

The Horcruxes were a laminated picture of the horcrux, as it allowed more flexibility on where they could be hidden and we could have three copies for each of our three groups to collect. Horcrux design found HERE.

I will be following up with separate posts that breakout the Horcrux Hunt details per room. Once the posts are up, I will hyperlink the associated section in this post as well... stay tuned for the Escape Room details!

Horcrux Hunt - Escape Room Style Party: 8 Days and Counting!

Party planning is officially DONE. All 6 horcruxes are hidden and I have cataloged every step of every process to solve the hunt. Phew!

Tonight we are having Husband's cousin and a couple of her friends over for a 'beta test' to determine how much time each room will take and if there are any bugs to work out.

A couple extra sneak peek photos...

Crookshanks prowling in Diagon Alley shops. 

The Felix Felicis advertisement was found HERE.

Dark Arts Cabinet Detail

Ollivander's Wand Shop is little changed from Little Tomato's party. We have added a locked box and a fun little fist-shaped pencil cup that I found. 

Ollivander's Wand Shop

A school trunk in the Gryffindor Common Room @ Hogwarts.

Horcrux Hunt - Escape Room Style Party: 11 Days and Counting...

This is definitely my most time consuming party I have every planned... Though we had a LOT of party decorations and props designed for Little Tomato's party, we are certainly going over the top for this one. Our kitchen and dining room tables have been overflowing with craft supplies and projects in progress, but we are checking them off one by one in the last days before the party.

I thought I'd post a few sneak peek pictures, but the full party details will be posted after the party. Since it is an 'escape room style' party, we don't want to give any clues before the guests arrive!

Three Broomsticks Sign

This one has been a work in progress for a while. Apparently insulation foam reacts to spray paint and essentially  'melts'... I tried to save time and spray the sign black (when I've previously used primer + acrylic craft paints). Bad call. 

So... I had to acrylic paint OVER the spray paint, but the sign was definitely bumpy and degraded in areas. I made lemonade out of lemons and added layers of brown 'antique wax' to accentuate the degradation and give it an aged 'rusty' look. It worked out in the end, but it certainly added extra time to getting it done.

Owl Post

Another 'location' in the party is an Owl Post. We have set a table with several packages and letters that are addressed to various students & teachers at Hogwarts, as well as a name or two in Hogsmeade. 

The cabinet behind the table has some open 'box' storage shelves, where there are owls in waiting for their delivery assignments. 

We tucked feathers in a few packages and had a few loose about the table. Owl messaging can get a little messy!

All of the packages are empty cardboard boxes that we had laying around. I am a giant fan of kraft paper. It is an inexpensive material and is like a little black dress, it goes with everything. I bought a 48"W roll almost 4 years ago and it is still going strong. Kraft paper + twine and a few red wax seals to make it pop = Owl Post! 

More later...

Piñata Costume

Last week, Husband and I went to a fundraiser with a ' fiesta' theme. Costumes were encouraged.

I wanted to dress in something fun and different, and saw some really cute piñata costumes on Pinterest. The only thing I didn't like about the costume tutorials I saw online was the fact that they were all made using crepe (or tissue) paper. I didn't want any areas to wear thin from sitting down, and with our rainy weather recently, I definitely didn't want it to start disintegrating on me.

I decided to instead use felt fabric. And being the neurotic crafter that I am, I didn't want to glue the costume together, but chose to sew it together instead. It took a lot longer than anticipated. It was around 50 layers of felt individually sewn into the dress.

Materials:

12" each color x 6 colors of felt.
Thread.
Dress - I used an old jersey maternity dress that I had in the back of my closet.
Scissors.
Sewing machine.

Directions:

Cut the felt into strips. I made my strips approximately 2-1/2" wide (the felt colors I bought at Hobby Lobby weren't perfectly 12", so I couldn't make it a 3" strip).

'Fringe' the individual strips. Just eyeball the cuts to be evenly spaced and cut around halfway up the strips.

Start with the bottom strip, pin it to the dress, and sew it to to the dress. As my dress was jersey and I wanted to maintain some stretch, I used a widely spaced stitch - not quite a basting stitch, but close.

Subsequent strips are spaced to overlap the lower strip by about half. Pin, stitch, repeat.

Once I got to the neckline, I had some leftover pink strips and decided to add a little fringy detail. I sewed two strips together make a pink fringe and pinned and sewed it around the neck.

I took the leftover scraps and hot glued them to a dowel and added a Christmas bow to the top as the piñata stick.

Finally, I took a couple of disposable plastic cups and glued scraps to them. I cut some holes into them and laced them through a headband to make piñata ears.

Katniss Cowl

My Halloween project a few years ago was a Katniss Cowl. I loved the unique look of the cowl, and scoured the internet for an accurate pattern to make it. This week my pictures had popped up in my Facebook feed.

Most of the patterns deviated too much from the original design for my taste. I finally found a design that I liked... but it was more a tutorial than a pattern. Essentially, the design involved a crochet neckline and fishtail braids grafted together. The tutorial can be found here.

The key to giving it the final fitted look is to wear the cowl as you pin the individual braids onto the work-in-progress. I experimented with the number of strands per braid for the correct thickness of each row as well.

The down side to the fishtail braided cowl is that to give the braids the proper thickness, this beast is THICK. It can definitely get warm wearing it.

Horcrux Hunt - Escape Room Style Party: Weekend Progress

This weekend I chipped away at a few more party projects. I am always super productive during football season. 😋

The Three Broomsticks sign is progressing, with the sign cut out. Priming and painting are next!

In addition to the sign, I've been working on a lot of digital files. While I have found lots of great content at the RPF, many props and paper goods need to be made specifically for the party. Photos will be posted post-party, to not give away any hints in advance to the attendees. 😉

Finally, I purchased an Enigma 37 from Creative Crafthouse 'for the party'... Okay, for fun. Because it is awesome. His shop has some fantastic wooden puzzles, games and toys, I highly recommend checking it out.  But here is the Enigma 37 machine below. 

And if you're curious how it works, he made a short YouTube video of how to use it, HERE.

Horcrux Hunt - Escape Room Style Party... Planning in Progress... !

After the "Very Harry Birthday" this summer, we had several of our adult friends request that we invite *them* over to have Harry fun. Husband and I discussed throwing an adult-only Harry party, and how we could give it an adult 'slant' - I wasn't sure how many adults would be on board with a piñata and potions class. 😋

We have decided to throw a 'Horcrux Hunt' Halloween party. Planning is underway, crafting an escape-room-style party- full of puzzles, blacklight hidden clues, and codes to break. We have been filling our evenings with crafting and planning, on top of the back-to-school schedule! ... SO... I'll be posting the periodic process sneak-peek photos, but full details won't be given until after the party!

Current project: Three Broomsticks Sign! 

We are making the downstairs bar into the Three Broomsticks for the party. I have sketched out the sign design onto a piece of foam, and will be cutting it out this weekend. I purchased a new foam cutting tool, so I'm excited to put it to use. No more Xacto blade cutting and jagged edges to even out! Painting and lettering to follow...

A Monster in Paris Party

Little Tomato became enamored by the French film "A Monster in Paris" before her eighth birthday. We initially intended the birthday party to be an outdoor movie, but it doesn't get dark early enough during the summer for an outdoor movie for kids that age.

Plan B was to set up the outdoor screen on the deck, where it could be dark enough to see the screen... but the stagnant heat of the week lead us to Plan C: Inside. 

If you haven't seen this movie with your kids, it is a fantastic film. It is a 3D-animated film set in Paris. The movie has been dubbed in English, and it was done very well with the originalVanessa Paradis singing and voicing her role in the English dub as well. It is set in 1910 Paris and a loosely interpreted Phantom of the Opera story. The music is spectacular. 

We held our movie night indoors, setting up the outdoor screen in the dining room, which *just* fit. We set up an inflatable pool and lined it with cushions and sheets for the girls to use as seating. It also had the added benefit of corralling rogue popcorn and sticky candy inside an easily wipeable container. 

This was the simplest party I've planned. With the movie, we set up a small table of candy and drinks and had the popcorn machine fired up. 

The movie has a few scenes with giant sunflowers, so we had Whisk & Measure make these fantastic sunflower cupcakes in place of a cake, which were easier to eat in a the pool than slices of cake. 😋

Finally, we made bracelets with Eiffel Tower charms for the girls as a memento of the movie that they could take home in a drawstring "Paris" bag. Little Tomato had a lot of fun choosing the colors (pink & purple) and making them for her friends. 

A Country Fair Party

When Little Tomato started Kindergarten, we told her she could choose her own party theme for her birthday. This was the first year that she had classmates and transitioned from having a family party (with a couple of friends) to a 'friend party.'

I was really intrigued to hear what she would pick. I was fully expecting a trademarked (read: Disney) theme, but she REALLY surprised me when she told us that she wanted a Country Fair party.  Now... we live on a farm near Husband's family. Little Tomato has grown up taking combine rides with Papa in the fields, visiting the neighbor's baby calves, and riding Uncle Bob's horses. But she goes to school by Husband's office, which is 25 miles away in the city. So while she is a country girl at heart, all of her classmates have very little experience with a farm, which made it even more fun for the kids.

Country Fair Invitations:

 The invitation was wrapped with tickets to give it a little pizzaz.

A Beauty & The Beast "Be Our Guest" Tea Party

Beauty and the Beast was my favorite Disney movie when I was little. The book nerd in me connected with Belle, and I loved the music.

When we finally took Little Tomato to Disney, she was enamored with Belle. She asked for a Beauty and the Beast birthday party and so I put together a fun Belle themed tea party for the girls. 

The invitation was printed onto parchment paper and made into a scroll. This was hand delivered to each of the girls. It was rolled up and the ribbon was tied into a bow. I kept a copy to display at the party.

It reads, "Ma chere Mademoiselle, it is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you to Be Our Guest for Little Tomato's Birthday Tea Party."

The Very Harry Details: Miscellaneous Projects

This is the final post for our Very Harry Birthday party. To see the complete party:

"Part 5: Honeydukes" can be found HERE.
"Part 4: Class Lessons & the Troll in the Dungeon" can be found HERE.
"Part 3: Great Hall Sorting Ceremony" can be found HERE
"Part 2: Diagon Alley" can be found HERE.
"Part 1: Invitations & the Entry to Platform 9-3/4" can be found HERE.

In addition to the Platform 9-3/4 brick wall, Bertie Botts display, signage, scarves, and wands, we did several other little miscellaneous craft projects throughout the year for our party. I have round them all up into this single post. 

Potion Bottles

Throughout the year, we solicited friends for any empty unique bottles and received several old liquor, perfume & bath bottles. I found a lot of great free printable labels online and printed out several on regular printer paper. 

We used matte Mod Podge to affix the labels to the bottles, and coated the whole bottle with the Mod Podge to give it a more cloudy, old & dirty look. This was a particular favorite project for Husband and Little Tomato.

Each bottle was filled with miscellaneous items, based on the label's ingredient. The box below holds the ingredients we used for our Growth Potion for our Potions Class. 

We made decorative potion bottles with labels and then included little jars & vials with the actual active ingredients the kids would use. 

As an example of bottle filler, we used the following:

Leech Juice: orange food coloring in water

Troll Bogeys: green slime  (white glue + liquid starch + green food coloring)

Bone Powder: confectioner's sugar

Warewolf Hair: We have dogs. So... I literally just grabbed a clump of hair from our vacuum cleaner canister. Yes, it is totally disgusting, but as the bottle is sealed and a dark brown glass, it looks quite authentic and no one is the wiser (you know, except that I just confessed what is in it...)

Dragon Blood: red food coloring in water

Course Books & Potion Class Experiment

For the Course Book I purchased the Standard Book of Spells PDF download from Geeks & Dragons on Etsy for the spell portion. I created my own Magical Drafts & Potions book, and made a cover to combine the two books into a single course book for the girls to take home. I printed the pages onto parchment paper, two pages to a sheet and printed front & back. I then assembled the books with electrical tape & clear duct tape to bind the edge. I wasn't about to hand-bind 13 books and I don't like how pages turn when using staples... I have some mild OCD tendencies... 😋

The front cover had an area to write in their names, which they were very eager to fill in and claim it as their own.

For the potion experiment that we performed during the party, I created a separate page, which we handed out to the girls as they walked into class. I assumed that the tables would get sticky and gross,  and didn't want their books to get ruined. It was a good call. 

The potions in the course book are completely fictional, with no actual ingredient 'key'. The Growth Potion we did in the class was an actual science experiment, and so each ingredient was either an active (ex. vinegar = leech juice) or inactive & fun (ex. clippings from faux fur fabric = wolf hair) ingredient.

Monster Book of Monsters

For this project, I purchased a 'scrap' of faux fur fabric from the craft store end-of-bolt bin. It was actually quite a good size for a scrap. I found a 'fake book box' in a clearance bin - the kind that is made of a decorative rigid cardboard-y material made to look like a book, but actually a box. They are typically used as decorations or maybe photo storage...? From there, I bought a bag of doll/craft eyes and set to work. 

Honestly, this was one of the faster projects I completed, which was finished in the length of a movie. I hot glued the fur fabric to the box, leaving a nice long excess fabric overhang. Then I stuffed some fiberfill into the top to give the 'face' some dimension, and hot glued around this lump to keep it's shape, so it wouldn't settle and flatten. I hot glued the eyes to the face, and trimmed up the overhang into the 'finger-y' face features. I used some oven-bake clay that we got for Christmas to mold the gums & teeth and then glued them to the face.

 Bowtruckle

This was also oven bake clay. I used some floral wire to give the tiny frame some structure. Due to the long & thin structure of the bowtruckle, it was a nightmare to get the clay to not break or expose the wire. And getting it to hold a strong enough shape to lay down to bake in the oven was also a challenge. It turned out well enough. Once it was baked, I hot-glued some leaves to the head, and then lightly ran the hot glue gun down the body to give it some bark-like texture. 

Gringotts Gold Bags

I purchased some inexpensive burlap mini drawstring bags and used iron-on transfer paper to apply the Gringotts logo and filled them with plastic 'gold' coins. These bags were stuffed into the troll piñata, so each of the kids received a bag of gold when the troll was defeated. The bags of coins were returned to me at the end of the party when they 'purchased' their Honeydukes candy.

Diagon Alley Books 

For the books that were featured in Diagon Alley, I found the free downloads of the book covers on the RPF and Mod Podged them onto old books that a friend had donated to the cause.  The Gilderoy Lockhart photo was found online and printed onto cardstock and I threw it into a frame for the party. 

The feather quills that are shown below next to the course books were made with a white feather that is duct taped to a cheap ballpoint pen (with white duct tape). 

It is amazing how many projects we completed over the course of 10 months! Little Tomato is already excited to 'move on to book 2' and work on additional crafts. We already have baby mandrakes underway.... 

With all of these decorations on hand, I see many future parties in store. The great thing about the Harry Potter theme is that it will also make for great Halloween fun. 😊

Harry Signage Roundup

To see the complete party:

"Part 5: Honeydukes" can be found HERE.
"Part 4: Class Lessons & the Troll in the Dungeon" can be found HERE.
"Part 3: Great Hall Sorting Ceremony" can be found HERE
"Part 2: Diagon Alley" can be found HERE.
"Part 1: Invitations & the Entry to Platform 9-3/4" can be found HERE.

Most of the party signage was made on insulation foam. The only signage made in wood was the exterior signpost signage. Insulation foam is easier to cut, more cost effective, and more lightweight for the size. Different methods were used on each, so I'm including some process photos and details for several of the signs below...

How to Make A Bertie Botts Display

We have made it a point in recent years to make our family Christmas gifts more 'experiences' than things. So for Christmas last year we bought tickets to spend a weekend at Universal Studios in January.

At this point in the calendar, we had several of the Harry Potter crafts for the Very Harry Birthday underway. We had made wands, signs, potion bottles, and were midway into scarves.

I knew that I wanted to do something more visually fun for our "Honeydukes" than glass jars sitting on a table, so I made the large Honeydukes sign... but I still felt that it wasn't quite "there" yet.

When we walked into Honeydukes at the Wizarding World in January and I saw the Bertie Botts display shelf, I knew THAT was what I wanted to do.

The Cupboard Under the Stairs Tour

We live in the Midwest, which is 'tornado alley' in the United States. Thus, most houses have basements. We finished part of our basement this past year, and took the opportunity to install carpet into the storage area under our stairs to make a reading nook for Little Tomato.

Now... if your child is a Harry Potter fan and you're making a reading nook under the stairs, it *needs* to be a Cupboard Under the Stairs!

The photo quality is not great. I was lazy and used my phone to take photos, and this is a basement cupboard under the stairs... so the light quality isn't optimal either.