DIY Harry Potter Ornament Series Part 4: Winged Key, Quill, Sorting Hat, Nagini, Scabbers, Sir Cadogan

Hello once again!

If you've been keeping up with the craftin', we're on part 4 of my DIY Harry Potter Ornament series! See parts 1, 2, and 3 here!

These five ornaments took me around an hour or so to make. It was very enjoyable too because they involve painting, which is always my favorite way to transform a piece into something more recognizable. Now, onto the fun stuff!

First, The Winged Silver Key from HP&SS that Harry had to catch to advance in capturing the Sorcerer's Stone.

Next, a Quill used by Hogwarts students.

As you can see, this one is hardly a craft as it's mostly done for you. But quick and easy is always a plus in my book!

The Sorting Hat we all know and love!

1. Gather a black witches hat (this felt one was $1 in the doll section at JoAnne's) and brown paints.

2. Cut a wavy, worn edge onto the brim.

3. Glue over the tip of the hat to make it worn and floppy.

4. Using hot glue, "draw" on your highlight lines where the eyes, mouth, and creases would be.

5. Paint entire hat dark brown.

6. Paint in shadows with black paint and highlights with light brown.

7. Attach hook and hang!

Nagini, Voldemort's beloved horcrux.

Again, very simple. Just painting her black designs on.

Scabbers, the untrustworthy fat rat secretkeeper. 

Much like Nagini, just paint with as much detail as you like!

And finally, Sir Cadogan in one of his paintings!

Five more ornaments down, still like thirty to go and only 38 days till Christmas! Keep an eye out for more DIY ornaments coming soon!

DIY Harry Potter Ornament Series Part 3: Harry's Glasses, Wizard Money, Ravenclaw Diadem, Goblet of Fire, Triwizard Cup, Extendable Ear

Well, look at that. It's November! I am so sorry for my month long hiatus. I can't even say I know where the time went. At least we gained an hour this weekend, so yay sleep! Okay, down to business people because brace yourselves...

****This is going to be a LONG post****

This series contains 6 ornaments: Harry's glasses, Wizard Money, Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, The Goblet of Fire, The Triwizard Cup, and an Extendable Ear.

I'll also show you how I spent my Halloween weekend!

First up, Harry's Glasses

Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem

Wizard Money

I am aware of the $ sign and lack of insignia of the real wizard coins, however, from a distance, the colors look very similar and I get the intended purpose of wizarding money. : ) 

Triwizard Cup

Extendable Ear

Goblet of Fire

To be honest, I didn't take pictures of the hot mess process because it was really trial and error. If you want to recreate it, I used the largest plastic funnel from a 3 pk funnel set from Dollar tree for the goblet, some leftover craft foam for the stone base and fire, and brown/gray/white/black/blue paint.

DISCLAIMER: I am no artist. I'm also broke. These ornaments are of my own creation and opinion and can be rudimentary, purposely inaccurate, or works of art. Point is, I'm making them for me so use your own creativity when making your own!

Now, if you'd like to know where I spent my weekend, I'll tell you. The First Annual Harry Potter CONjuration Convention! It was a three day convention in Atlanta covering all beloved series from Harry Potter to Doctor Who to Supernatural. There were musicians, improv/magic shows, vendors, celebrity guests, and many wonderful panels about everything magic! I highly recommend going next year! Visit their website and Facebook to find out more!

My cosplay as a Deatheater :)

Stepping in as Sirius Black

Look guys, I'm on a Chocolate Frog card! One of my finest achievements! ;)

Taking a magic carpet ride

Do you recognize this lovely lady? It's none other than young Lily Potter! Miss Ellie Darcy-Alden did two Q&A panels this weekend and was kind enough to sign autographs and take pictures. She's very grounded, sweet, and funny! This picture was taken in the vendor's bazaar area.

Maybe you recognize this man, too? He's Mr. Ken Spivey of The Ken Spivey Band! He did performances and ran several of the panels at CONjuration, including one about the science in Doctor Who versus the magic in Harry Potter! Incredibly knowledgable and funny man who will be seen next at Atomacon 2014! Check him out here!

Ok, so I PROMISE it won't be as long for my next post! Feel free to leave comments on what you think of these ornaments or CONjuration! 

See the first two parts of the series here and here!

DIY Harry Potter Ornaments Series: Acceptance Letter, Hogwarts Express, Ron's Howler

As you may have noticed in a recent post of mine, I've become preoccupied with making preparations for the holidays! Are you the person who slams their hands over their ears when Christmas songs trickle onto the radio mid-November?! Look no further, this post is not for you (unless you're willing to un-grinch yourself for some Harry Potter)! I'm a carol singing, Christmas in July celebrating, present planning, deck the hall-er who may or may not have a Christmas countdown app on her phone as we speak......

So! Here's to looking ahead just as the crispness of fall begins to cool off this hot Georgia heat. In case I haven't mentioned it before, I am obsessed with Harry Potter. Go ahead, ask me anything. I'm in Ravenclaw House, a proud Pottermore member, and have seriously considered enrolling at Hogwarts. (It's a real thing, look it up!) For the holidays I want to make a Harry Potter tree with all the DIY ornaments I can think of to adequately capture my admiration. I'll be chronicling how I make each of these DIY ornaments so that you can make them too! I'll try to do a couple each time because my list of ornament ideas is at about 54. Ha. Ha. Forgive me if some of these end up being a little rudimentary, I'm only striving to live up to my expectations which, with the time and budget crunch, may be a smidge low, ya dig? Here we go.

Harry's Hogwarts Acceptance Letter

This was super easy. When I went to WWoHP (see my trip here!), I received a parcel post with my itinerary inside. It's just a plain Potteresque envelope that I thought would work well as Harry's official acceptance letter. I simply addressed as it is in the book and voila! Easy as that! Seeing as not everyone went to WWoHP, make your own by folding a sheet of paper into an envelope. You can print a tan colored pattern onto printer paper or Hobby Lobby has parchment paper for 79 cents.

 

The (Wooden) Hogwarts Express
A rudimentary representation at best but it still makes me smile. I picked this wooden train up at the Dollar Tree. I used a gold paint marker to write on the name, number, and small details to make it look somewhat like its real life counterpart. It was already red and black!

 

Ron's Howler
One of my favorite parts of Chamber of Secrets is when Ron gets his howler. I'm sorry for the lack of instruction because I was really just winging it here. But my lack of expertise means you can totally replicate it! I just cut up a red piece of construction paper until it had the shape I wanted and taped it in place. I wrote out the howler contents on printer paper and used a scrap of red ribbon for the tongue. Teeth are printer paper.

 

As you can see, a four year old could make these. But that's the beauty of the books as well, they reach an astounding range of ages, young and old. If you want to add a little magic to your holidays with literally no budget, time, effort, or skill, these ornaments will be the easiest way to DIY it!