Friday, June 29, 2012

A Wizarding party (Decorations part 1)

Welcome to platform 9 3/4,  pass through the brick wall and come join us at the party....


How about a game of wizarding chess?



Or a stop at the Transfiguration booth?



Admire some art through the halls as you make your way....







Be sure to grab some caldron cakes in the 
Great Hall where the dessert feast is in full swing















I hope you didn't forget your Galleons, as we pass Honeydukes candy shoppe..









and don't forget to buy a wand from Ollivander...





(Up next: Gryffindor common room and Potions Class)









Details:
Platform 9 3/4 sign found (here)
"brick wall" borrowed from friend (Chelsea)
wall art printables found (here) (here)
house crest images (here)
cupcake toppers (here)
food labels by me
BEST butterbeer recipe (here)
"cauldron cakes" recipe (here)
paper straws and bakers twine (Zurchers)
moss (Dollar Tree)
jute, for wrapping the bolltes (Hobby Lobby) 
honeydukes candy labels by me 
(but using image here, as well)
chocolate frog box printable (here)
chocolate frog mold (Orson Gygi)
ton-tongue toffee recipe (here)
cockroach cluster recipe (here)
wands by me, using tutorial (here)
random decorations (old books, vases,candle stick holders, 
bottles etc...hobby lobby, D.I., borrowed or previously owned)
most of my glassware ("honeydukes" and "great hall") was purchased from Wal-mart
with the exception of my big cake stand (I made), and two vases holding candy (previously owned)

I sent off all my printables to Office Max to be printed.  In the case of the House Crests, I just had them blow it up to fit an 8.5 x 11 paper.  They weren't exactly crystal clear, but they weren't too blurry either.  















A Wizarding Party (Decorations part 2)


For the rest of the tour.....we welcome you to the Gryffindor common room.  Make yourself comfy. 











...and the final stop on our tour, Potions class.  













Up next...(in a little while :)..) Party Fun.






Details:
Gryffindor banner printable (here)
candles (Hobby Lobby)
moss (Dollar Tree)
random decorations (birdcage, owls books, wand etc...) borrowed
Gryffindor crest printable (here)
Sorting hat (borrowed from my friend Chelsea who made it)
potion label printables (here)
random jars (some borrowed, some vases, some D.I., and the rest; my stash of glass bottles.  I keep all glass bottles from food and store them for future use ie; salsa, pickles, syrup etc...and they looked great)
potions class label (I made)
spider magnets, little skulls, and cockroaches in jar (also borrowed from Chelsea) 
dry ice (Harmons)
Cauldrons (mine, Halloween decoration)
Wizarding World of Harry Potter map printable (here)

Potions I did:
First off, I just used the labels I printed off for the actual potion jars.  All other bottles were empty but I threw dirt on them to give them a dusty old look.  

I looked up all the potions to do them as close to their descriptions, in the book, as possible.   Here's what I came up with and what they are described as:

Bezoar:
"A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a
            goat and it will save you from most poisons"
I used river rocks

Draught of Living Death:
"is an extremely powerful sleeping
draught, sending the drinker into a death-like slumber"
"the potion should resemble a smooth black currant
colored liquid at the halfway stage; it should then turn
a light shade of lilac, then clear as water."
I used water 

Skele-Gro:
"is a dreadful-tasting potion which causes
vanished or otherwise lost bones to regrow in a notably
slow and painful process.  The potion comes in a large
bottle and smokes as it is dispensed."
I used water with white food coloring
(the food coloring kept settling at the bottom of the jar
so  anytime I wanted a picture I had to stir it, I would use milk next time)

Pepperup Potion:
 "is a potion which cures the common cold.
It has the side-effect of causing steam to come out of
the drinker's ears for several hours after it is imbibed"
There was no description of appearance.
I used water with red food coloring and peppermint oil with dry ice


Bubotober Pus:
 "is the liquid found in the swellings
of the magical Bubotuber plant.  It is very valuable
for it's acne-ridding qualities.  It is a thick, yellowish-green
liquid and smells strongly of petrol."
I used Bag Balm (a type of "jelly" for diaper rashes)
with a TEENY bit of green food coloring

Amortentia:
"is the most powerful love potion in the entire world.
 It causes a powerful infatuation or obsession in the drinker.
It has a distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen, and steam
rises from it in characteristic spirals."
I magic bullet'ed water, flour, and shimmer paste I have.
Then I sprinkled fine glitter on top.


Wartcap Powder:
"is a pulverized substance which causes the skin of
 a person who touches it to form a thick hard crust."
No description was given for appearance.
I used baby powder


Essence of Dittany:
"It must be quite rare, because Hermonie
was only able to obtain a small bottle of it for her,
Harry, and Ron's travels.  It is described as a brown liquid"
I used soy sauce.


Veritaserum:
"it is a powerful truth serum.  It is clear, colourless,
and odorless and is almost indistinguishable from water."
I used honey mixed with water to thin
(apparently I missed the whole "it's clear" part....:)


Felix Felicis:
"Liquid Luck" "this potion has a shining
gold appearance, resembling molten gold."
I used Lime "sauce" you add to soda
to spice it up (not sure what it's called..)


Flesh Eating Slug Repellent:
"was a pesticide to rid of flesh eating slugs"
 I didn't find any description of appearance.
I used some Scott's Turf Builder pellets
we had in the garage.

Wolfsbane Potion:
"is an innovative and complex potion that relieves,
but does not cure, the symptoms of lycanthropy.
The completed potion exudes a faint blue smoke."
I used water blue food coloring and dry ice


The potion bottles were a mix of great D.I. finds, vases and my stash of glass bottles I don't throw out :)
All quotes either come directly from the books or Harry Potter Wiki.  














Tuesday, June 26, 2012

A surprise....

Last night I went up stairs to go to bed.  I saw something out of the corner of my eye and it kind of freaked me out.  I did the "double take" and saw that, yes, I did in fact see a human body part.  Thankfully, said human body part was still attached to a living body...just sticking out of the door.  Cute little Sophie was dead asleep and I had to wake her up to get her arm back in her room :) 



Sunday, June 24, 2012

Dad's birthday

Now it's my Dad's turn!  We have a lot of birthday's in a row.  Starting in June and ending in July.  5 birthday's in 4 weeks!  Pretty crazy.  My Mom wanted to do a music theme (obviously) so she went in the direction of "Billboards Top 100".   We found some fun ideas online, and came up with a few of our own.  We woke up early this morning to decorate since he didn't go to bed in time for us to do it last night.  

A record banner in the classic Billboard colors. 
(It was H.E.A.V.Y.   We had to stack tiles on top of the ribbon to hold it up!  Then we covered the tiles with black paper to not stand out!!!)  




Cute record cake stands.



Three tier starting with black (representing a standar vinyl) then gold, and then platinum.



We found a bunch of fun records at the D.I. that had significant meaning and my Mom had them in different stacks all around the house for him to peruse through.




and we made this cute banner out of record sleeves.



I took A LOT of pictures of him opening his presents.  It was quite fun.  The girls were having a blast and probably driving my Dad nutso...

Throwing tissue paper at him,


"Tying" him up


Dressing him

Peek-a-boo


More tying

Pulling,

Untying, dressing,

Throwing paper,



My Mom bought this awesome shirt for him while they were at Universal Studios.  It was his favorite by far.  He tried it on...and it felt a little tight...



Come to find out that my Mom accidentally got him a L, in kids!  Not adults...pretty sweet muscle shirt though :)

We had a yummy dinner, using records as chargers. 


And an even yummier dessert.
(nice photo bomb Mom)




My Dad likes smores, so I made him my famous smores bites.  (And by "my" I mean TomKat.)



But his all time favorite by far, is German Chocolate. 
I found this recipe on line a while ago and pinned it especially for my Dad.  Now was the perfect time. My Mom made them and they were to-die-for.  Apparently my Dad wants only this recipe from now on. (found it HERE.)




(nice photo bomb Kels and Guy)




This is a great expression of what our family's "Happy Birthday" sounds like.  It's epic.




The sugar got to Dave and Eric a little bit...


And my Dad too....what is he doing you might ask...who knows??  Who ever knows???



Happy Birthday Daddy-O, sure do love you!