Harry Potter Archives - Candidly Crafted https://candidlycrafted.com/category/harry-potter/ Mon, 14 Aug 2023 21:02:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.3 https://i0.wp.com/candidlycrafted.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/cropped-Moon-and-stars-baby-shower-28-scaled-2.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Harry Potter Archives - Candidly Crafted https://candidlycrafted.com/category/harry-potter/ 32 32 193633281 Knitted Harry Potter Inspired House Scarf https://candidlycrafted.com/knitted-harry-potter-inspired-house-scarves/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=knitted-harry-potter-inspired-house-scarves https://candidlycrafted.com/knitted-harry-potter-inspired-house-scarves/#comments Sat, 26 Oct 2019 15:28:54 +0000 http://candidlycrafted.com/?p=1054 Harry Potter Inspired House Scarf Tutorial Looking for a project to work on while binge-watching all of your favorite Halloween movies? This. Is. It! Grab your favorite movie, light your favorite autumn candle, pour yourself some hot apple cider and let’s begin! I’ll be focusing on Gryffindor colors below but the pattern remains the same for every house. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. What you’ll need Circular needle size US 6 3 balls of burgundy yarn by Loops & Threads Impeccable 1 ball of gold yarn by Loops & Threads Impeccable Steel yarn needle Scissors Pattern Cast on 61 loops Knit 30 rows in your primary color (ex. burgundy) Knit 3 rows in your secondary color (ex. gold) Knit 6 rows in your primary color Knit 3 rows in your secondary color Repeat this pattern until you’ve reached the desired length. Helpful videos Casting on Joining in the round Changing color Basic bind off Several years ago, a group of friends and I decided to take a trip to the magical realm of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Since our trip wasn’t until after Christmas, I decided to make everyone a Harry Potter themed scarf of their house choosing as a Christmas gift. Before this endeavor, I had only knit a scarf once in high school, so I’m no pro! If you’re new to knitting as well, I highly recommend watching the videos I listed above. These taught me everything I needed to know in order to make the scarves. They’re also great to watch if you need a refresher. The Loops & Threads Impeccable yarn is amazing! They have the perfect colors for every house. They’re machine washable, the color doesn’t bleed and I swear they get softer with each wash! When you begin your scarf, make sure to leave about 12 in. of extra yarn at the beginning. Once you’re finished with the scarf you’ll go back and sew this through the end to close it. Below are some in-progress photos of a Gryffindor scarf. It may look a bit chaotic on the inside but it will look seamless on the outside. When I transition colors, I leave about four inches of the color I just ended on before I cut. I then tie the new color on at the base of the color I just ended. Once the row is complete, go back to the two colors of string, pull in any slack that may have occurred and double knot it. By doing a jogless stitch when transitioning colors, you’ll have a nearly perfect transition. In the photo below, you can see that a column of gold yarn only has two rows instead of three. This is where you carried up a loop to make it blend into the next row. If you don’t know how to do a jogless stitch, I recommend watching the “changing color” video linked above. When you’re done with your scarf, measure out 12 in. of extra yarn before cutting it off from the ball. Lie your scarf on the floor and line up all of the areas where you did the jogless stitch. With your steel yarn needle, take your extra yarn and sew the ends of the scarf together. Next, cut pieces of yarn 4 in. long. With these pieces, take your steel yarn needle, and starting at one end, weave them through the bottom of the scarf one at a time and tie them. This was the old way I was doing it and boy did it take forever! Thankfully, you learn as you go. Instead of threading on one little piece of yarn at a time, cut one long piece and thread it onto your needle. Sew it through the edge of the scarf and cut the yarn, leaving enough on either side to tie. Continue this process until you’ve added all of the tassels. Once you’ve done this across the entire edge, you can go over them with scissors and cut them down to the length you want. I went pretty short to mimic Harry Potter’s scarf from the movies. Repeat on the other end of the scarf. For an added touch of authenticity, you can add an iron on patch of your household! I hope this Harry Potter scarf brings some magic to your day! For other Harry Potter related crafts, click here!

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Harry Potter Inspired House Scarf Tutorial

Looking for a project to work on while binge-watching all of your favorite Halloween movies? This. Is. It! Grab your favorite movie, light your favorite autumn candle, pour yourself some hot apple cider and let’s begin! I’ll be focusing on Gryffindor colors below but the pattern remains the same for every house.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.

What you’ll need

Circular needle size US 6

3 balls of burgundy yarn by Loops & Threads Impeccable

1 ball of gold yarn by Loops & Threads Impeccable

Steel yarn needle

Scissors

Pattern

Cast on 61 loops

Knit 30 rows in your primary color (ex. burgundy)

Knit 3 rows in your secondary color (ex. gold)

Knit 6 rows in your primary color

Knit 3 rows in your secondary color

Repeat this pattern until you’ve reached the desired length.

Helpful videos

Casting on

Joining in the round

Changing color

Basic bind off

Several years ago, a group of friends and I decided to take a trip to the magical realm of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Since our trip wasn’t until after Christmas, I decided to make everyone a Harry Potter themed scarf of their house choosing as a Christmas gift. Before this endeavor, I had only knit a scarf once in high school, so I’m no pro! If you’re new to knitting as well, I highly recommend watching the videos I listed above. These taught me everything I needed to know in order to make the scarves. They’re also great to watch if you need a refresher.

The Loops & Threads Impeccable yarn is amazing! They have the perfect colors for every house. They’re machine washable, the color doesn’t bleed and I swear they get softer with each wash!

When you begin your scarf, make sure to leave about 12 in. of extra yarn at the beginning. Once you’re finished with the scarf you’ll go back and sew this through the end to close it. Below are some in-progress photos of a Gryffindor scarf. It may look a bit chaotic on the inside but it will look seamless on the outside. When I transition colors, I leave about four inches of the color I just ended on before I cut. I then tie the new color on at the base of the color I just ended. Once the row is complete, go back to the two colors of string, pull in any slack that may have occurred and double knot it.

Harry Potter scarf in progress

By doing a jogless stitch when transitioning colors, you’ll have a nearly perfect transition. In the photo below, you can see that a column of gold yarn only has two rows instead of three. This is where you carried up a loop to make it blend into the next row. If you don’t know how to do a jogless stitch, I recommend watching the “changing color” video linked above.

Harry Potter scarf in progress

When you’re done with your scarf, measure out 12 in. of extra yarn before cutting it off from the ball. Lie your scarf on the floor and line up all of the areas where you did the jogless stitch. With your steel yarn needle, take your extra yarn and sew the ends of the scarf together. Next, cut pieces of yarn 4 in. long. With these pieces, take your steel yarn needle, and starting at one end, weave them through the bottom of the scarf one at a time and tie them. This was the old way I was doing it and boy did it take forever! Thankfully, you learn as you go. Instead of threading on one little piece of yarn at a time, cut one long piece and thread it onto your needle. Sew it through the edge of the scarf and cut the yarn, leaving enough on either side to tie. Continue this process until you’ve added all of the tassels. Once you’ve done this across the entire edge, you can go over them with scissors and cut them down to the length you want. I went pretty short to mimic Harry Potter’s scarf from the movies. Repeat on the other end of the scarf.

Harry Potter scarf

For an added touch of authenticity, you can add an iron on patch of your household!

I hope this Harry Potter scarf brings some magic to your day! For other Harry Potter related crafts, click here!

People modeling the Harry Potter scarfs

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Harry Potter Chocolate Frog Boxes https://candidlycrafted.com/harry-potter-chocolate-frog-boxes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=harry-potter-chocolate-frog-boxes https://candidlycrafted.com/harry-potter-chocolate-frog-boxes/#respond Thu, 24 Oct 2019 04:10:59 +0000 http://candidlycrafted.com/?p=985 No Harry Potter party can be complete without chocolate frog boxes! These may take some patients to make but they are well worth it in the end! This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. This is the perfect craft to do while binge-watching Harry Potter movies. The movies are quick to get you in the spirit, plus they’ll distract you from how long this will take! For the cards, I turned to Google and printed the best images I found. The backs aren’t in English but they fit the boxes perfectly so I was happy with them. If you’d like to use the images I found then you can download the three pages here: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3. There are many others out there, just make sure they’ll fit in your chocolate frog boxes before you print and cut them all out. I used an x-acto knife and a ruler to cut them out to give them a clean line. You can of course use scissors if you prefer. Supplies Card stock paper Scissors X-acto knife Cutting mat Clear packing tape Tacky glue Ruler Match up the professor card with their description. Add a little glue on the back of the front card, match the edges up as best as you can with their description and glue them together. Trim the edges if you see any sides that are longer. Take packing tape and put strips on both the front and the back to create a laminated effect. Once everything is in place, trim off the excess tape. If you have a laminator, put it to use! I don’t have one so this is my hack to achieve the effect. Time to make the boxes! I found these printables from A Tale of Two Stories on Etsy. For only $5 you’ll get the design for not only the chocolate frog boxes but also for Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, Fizzing Whizbees, Exploding Bon Bons, and Cockroach Clusters! I just checked the site to make sure this is still up and they are! They’ve also added another printable package for $8 that includes all of these candy boxes plus invitations, candy labels and a Honeydukes sign! Even though I already have the candy box PDF’s I’m temped to purchase their new package. Once the boxes are cut out, begin to fold and glue. I found that the bottom was slightly too big and wouldn’t hold the top down if I followed the printout exactly so I overlapped a few edges more than you would originally in order for the top to fit snuggly. Use your first box as your tester to get the sizing right. You may need to pull it apart and refold a few times before you find what works best. I used the Scotch tacky glue for the corners. It dries very quickly so you don’t have to sit there all night holding the edges together. I used double sided tape for the flaps just so that I wouldn’t create too much of a mess with the glue. Be careful, this is ink on paper without any kind of finish so if you touch the design with gluey fingers, it’ll smear. For the chocolate frogs, I used this plastic mold. Melt chocolate chips, fill the mold and put it in the fridge until they’re solid. When you fill the mold, go slowly and make sure the chocolate fills every part of it, especially the eyes. If you just pour the chocolate in, it tends to not get into every eye and wart. The only thing left to do is to set up the boxes and enjoy the reactions of all when they see which wizarding card they get! For more Harry Potter party decorations, see my full post here. To learn how to make the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans boxes, click here.

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No Harry Potter party can be complete without chocolate frog boxes! These may take some patients to make but they are well worth it in the end!

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.

This is the perfect craft to do while binge-watching Harry Potter movies. The movies are quick to get you in the spirit, plus they’ll distract you from how long this will take!

For the cards, I turned to Google and printed the best images I found. The backs aren’t in English but they fit the boxes perfectly so I was happy with them. If you’d like to use the images I found then you can download the three pages here: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3. There are many others out there, just make sure they’ll fit in your chocolate frog boxes before you print and cut them all out.

I used an x-acto knife and a ruler to cut them out to give them a clean line. You can of course use scissors if you prefer.

Supplies

  • Card stock paper
  • Scissors
  • X-acto knife
  • Cutting mat
  • Clear packing tape
  • Tacky glue
  • Ruler

Match up the professor card with their description. Add a little glue on the back of the front card, match the edges up as best as you can with their description and glue them together. Trim the edges if you see any sides that are longer. Take packing tape and put strips on both the front and the back to create a laminated effect. Once everything is in place, trim off the excess tape. If you have a laminator, put it to use! I don’t have one so this is my hack to achieve the effect.

Time to make the boxes! I found these printables from A Tale of Two Stories on Etsy. For only $5 you’ll get the design for not only the chocolate frog boxes but also for Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, Fizzing Whizbees, Exploding Bon Bons, and Cockroach Clusters! I just checked the site to make sure this is still up and they are! They’ve also added another printable package for $8 that includes all of these candy boxes plus invitations, candy labels and a Honeydukes sign! Even though I already have the candy box PDF’s I’m temped to purchase their new package.

Once the boxes are cut out, begin to fold and glue. I found that the bottom was slightly too big and wouldn’t hold the top down if I followed the printout exactly so I overlapped a few edges more than you would originally in order for the top to fit snuggly. Use your first box as your tester to get the sizing right. You may need to pull it apart and refold a few times before you find what works best. I used the Scotch tacky glue for the corners. It dries very quickly so you don’t have to sit there all night holding the edges together. I used double sided tape for the flaps just so that I wouldn’t create too much of a mess with the glue. Be careful, this is ink on paper without any kind of finish so if you touch the design with gluey fingers, it’ll smear.

For the chocolate frogs, I used this plastic mold. Melt chocolate chips, fill the mold and put it in the fridge until they’re solid. When you fill the mold, go slowly and make sure the chocolate fills every part of it, especially the eyes. If you just pour the chocolate in, it tends to not get into every eye and wart.

The only thing left to do is to set up the boxes and enjoy the reactions of all when they see which wizarding card they get! For more Harry Potter party decorations, see my full post here.

To learn how to make the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans boxes, click here.

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Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans Boxes https://candidlycrafted.com/bertie-botts-every-flavour-beans-boxes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bertie-botts-every-flavour-beans-boxes https://candidlycrafted.com/bertie-botts-every-flavour-beans-boxes/#respond Tue, 22 Oct 2019 01:36:18 +0000 http://candidlycrafted.com/?p=1004 Learn how to create Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans boxes that will have your guests thinking you traveled to Hogsmeade to get them. Bertie Bott’s Beans Boxes Tutorial Crafters, start your Harry Potter movie marathon and grab a glass of wine, this is gonna take a while. I found these printables from A Tale of Two Stories on Etsy. For only $5, you’ll get the design for not only the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans Boxes but also for Chocolate Frogs, Fizzing Whizbees, Exploding Bon Bons, and Cockroach Clusters! I just checked the site to make sure this is still available and it is! They’ve also added another printable package for $8 that includes all of these candy boxes plus invitations, candy labels and a Honeydukes sign! Even though I already have the candy box PDF’s I’m very temped to purchase their new package. Supplies Card stock paper Scissors X-acto knife Cutting mat Double sided tape Tacky glue Ruler I used scissors to cut most of the access paper away but then brought out an x-acto knife to cut into the tight corners. Use a ruler to slice against to get those crisp lines. Side note, make sure you keep track of your x-acto blades. If you happen to drop one in your carpet without noticing you could end up in the ER getting a stitch in your foot at 11 p.m. I know this from experience because a friend told me. I’ve seen some tutorials of this box where the crafter will cut the windows out and then stick a plastic bag of jelly beans inside. This is a great solution and will save you a ton of time! Since I’m an over achiever though, I added clear plastic to the windows so that I could fill the whole box with jelly beans, giving it a more authentic look. To do this, take a clear plastic bag and cut pieces a little larger than each window, this is so that you will have enough excess plastic to secure it down. Put a layer of double sided tape along each edge of the window and secure the plastic in place. Fold the box and use tacky glue along the side and bottom to hold it together. To give the bottom of the box extra support so the beans don’t fall out, I cut a square of poster board and glued it to the bottom. Once the glue is dry, fill the boxes with jelly beans and enjoy! For more Harry Potter crafts, check out my full post here Harry Potter Birthday Party.

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Learn how to create Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans boxes that will have your guests thinking you traveled to Hogsmeade to get them.

Bertie Bott’s Beans Boxes Tutorial

Crafters, start your Harry Potter movie marathon and grab a glass of wine, this is gonna take a while.

I found these printables from A Tale of Two Stories on Etsy. For only $5, you’ll get the design for not only the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans Boxes but also for Chocolate Frogs, Fizzing Whizbees, Exploding Bon Bons, and Cockroach Clusters! I just checked the site to make sure this is still available and it is! They’ve also added another printable package for $8 that includes all of these candy boxes plus invitations, candy labels and a Honeydukes sign! Even though I already have the candy box PDF’s I’m very temped to purchase their new package.

Supplies

  • Card stock paper
  • Scissors
  • X-acto knife
  • Cutting mat
  • Double sided tape
  • Tacky glue
  • Ruler

I used scissors to cut most of the access paper away but then brought out an x-acto knife to cut into the tight corners. Use a ruler to slice against to get those crisp lines.

Side note, make sure you keep track of your x-acto blades. If you happen to drop one in your carpet without noticing you could end up in the ER getting a stitch in your foot at 11 p.m. I know this from experience because a friend told me.

I’ve seen some tutorials of this box where the crafter will cut the windows out and then stick a plastic bag of jelly beans inside. This is a great solution and will save you a ton of time! Since I’m an over achiever though, I added clear plastic to the windows so that I could fill the whole box with jelly beans, giving it a more authentic look. To do this, take a clear plastic bag and cut pieces a little larger than each window, this is so that you will have enough excess plastic to secure it down. Put a layer of double sided tape along each edge of the window and secure the plastic in place. Fold the box and use tacky glue along the side and bottom to hold it together. To give the bottom of the box extra support so the beans don’t fall out, I cut a square of poster board and glued it to the bottom.

Once the glue is dry, fill the boxes with jelly beans and enjoy! For more Harry Potter crafts, check out my full post here Harry Potter Birthday Party.

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Harry Potter Wands https://candidlycrafted.com/harry-potter-wands/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=harry-potter-wands https://candidlycrafted.com/harry-potter-wands/#respond Fri, 04 Oct 2019 01:43:49 +0000 http://candidlycrafted.com/?p=750 DIY Harry Potter Wand Tutorial Harry Potter wands are without a doubt one of the most popular elements from the wizarding world. They’re easy to make and are perfect for any Harry Potter party gift bag! Make sure to stock up on that hot glue because you’re going to be using a lot of it! The best part about this DIY is that you have complete creative freedom. You can base your designs off of your favorite Harry Potter characters wand or come up with a unique design that best fits your personality. Supplies Chop sticks Glue gun and glue sticks Paint Brushes Clear sealer spray Beads (if you want to add some texture) Tin container Start your design by layering hot glue on a chopstick. If you want to add more texture, you can incorporate beads or other small trinkets. For the wand pictured below, I stuck fake pearls on as I swirled hot glue up the wand. After they were on I went back over them on either side with more hot glue to make sure they were secure. For the wand below, I covered the whole chop stick in a thick layer of hot glue. I then went over it with just the hot tip of the glue gun to melt away the glue and create the design I wanted. The sky’s the limit for this project! For more wand design ideas, I recommend this YouTube video. They show you exactly how they decorate wands (which look amazing!), and have other videos on Harry Potter DIY crafts as well. After the wands were designed, I put them in a disposable tray where I painted them and let them dry. For the finishing touch, I went over all of them with a dark brown paint. I had purchased a black and dark orange paint to use as well but I was happy with the dark brown and decided to stick with it for all of them. Next, I went over pieces of the wand with a metalic paint to make these  details stand out. After painting them I sprayed them with a clear sealer. Once they were dry, I laid them out in an old suite case for display. Check out some of my other Harry Potter crafts! Click here to see an entire party set up with links on how I did each craft.

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DIY Harry Potter Wand Tutorial

Harry Potter wands are without a doubt one of the most popular elements from the wizarding world. They’re easy to make and are perfect for any Harry Potter party gift bag!

Make sure to stock up on that hot glue because you’re going to be using a lot of it! The best part about this DIY is that you have complete creative freedom. You can base your designs off of your favorite Harry Potter characters wand or come up with a unique design that best fits your personality.

Supplies

  • Chop sticks
  • Glue gun and glue sticks
  • Paint
  • Brushes
  • Clear sealer spray
  • Beads (if you want to add some texture)
  • Tin container

Start your design by layering hot glue on a chopstick. If you want to add more texture, you can incorporate beads or other small trinkets. For the wand pictured below, I stuck fake pearls on as I swirled hot glue up the wand. After they were on I went back over them on either side with more hot glue to make sure they were secure.

For the wand below, I covered the whole chop stick in a thick layer of hot glue. I then went over it with just the hot tip of the glue gun to melt away the glue and create the design I wanted. The sky’s the limit for this project! For more wand design ideas, I recommend this YouTube video. They show you exactly how they decorate wands (which look amazing!), and have other videos on Harry Potter DIY crafts as well.

After the wands were designed, I put them in a disposable tray where I painted them and let them dry.

For the finishing touch, I went over all of them with a dark brown paint. I had purchased a black and dark orange paint to use as well but I was happy with the dark brown and decided to stick with it for all of them. Next, I went over pieces of the wand with a metalic paint to make these  details stand out. After painting them I sprayed them with a clear sealer. Once they were dry, I laid them out in an old suite case for display.

Check out some of my other Harry Potter crafts! Click here to see an entire party set up with links on how I did each craft.

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Dragon Eggs DIY https://candidlycrafted.com/dragon-eggs-diy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dragon-eggs-diy https://candidlycrafted.com/dragon-eggs-diy/#respond Sun, 29 Sep 2019 20:20:27 +0000 http://candidlycrafted.com/?p=669 Looking for a way to reuse your plastic eggs from Easter? With some hot glue and paint, you can create dragon eggs that even Hagrid would be proud of! Supplies Plastic eggs Glue gun and glue sticks Paint Paint brush Sand paper Of all the Harry Potter crafts I’ve made, this was definitely the easiest! These dragon egg decorations are a great decoration addition for Harry Potter-themed parties. They can also be used for other events such as medieval parties. For the eggs, I used plastic Easter eggs that were collecting dust in one of my many craft bins. To start, sandpaper down the line where the two halves meet. Next, take your hot glue gun and draw small U’s around the egg, starting at the top and working your way down while connecting the next set of U’s to the ones above. I chose to paint my eggs with some metallic colors to make them pop along side all of my other Harry Potter decorations. For display, I filled a box with moss and set them on top.

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Looking for a way to reuse your plastic eggs from Easter? With some hot glue and paint, you can create dragon eggs that even Hagrid would be proud of!

Supplies

  • Plastic eggs
  • Glue gun and glue sticks
  • Paint
  • Paint brush
  • Sand paper

Of all the Harry Potter crafts I’ve made, this was definitely the easiest! These dragon egg decorations are a great decoration addition for Harry Potter-themed parties. They can also be used for other events such as medieval parties. For the eggs, I used plastic Easter eggs that were collecting dust in one of my many craft bins. To start, sandpaper down the line where the two halves meet.

Gather supplies for the dragon eggs. You will need plastic eggs, hot glue gun, and sandpaper.

Next, take your hot glue gun and draw small U’s around the egg, starting at the top and working your way down while connecting the next set of U’s to the ones above. I chose to paint my eggs with some metallic colors to make them pop along side all of my other Harry Potter decorations.

Preparing the plastic eggs to be turned into dragon eggs

For display, I filled a box with moss and set them on top.

Dragon Eggs

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Harry Potter Birthday Party https://candidlycrafted.com/harry-potter-birthday-party/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=harry-potter-birthday-party https://candidlycrafted.com/harry-potter-birthday-party/#respond Wed, 31 Oct 2018 21:58:57 +0000 http://candidlycrafted.com/?p=824 How to Throw a Truly Magical Harry Potter Birthday Party A few years ago, I was hired to put together a Harry Potter birthday party. My mind quickly exploded with ideas! There’s something about the magical world that I love bringing to life. Whether you’re looking to go all out and decorate every room in your house, or put together a simple Harry Potter themed dessert table, I hope you find some inspiration from this post to get you started! This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Harry Potter Fireplace Letters Letters flying out of a fireplace is a true Harry Potter staple and one that must be incorporated if your home has one. To give the letters a flying effect, I taped them to jewelry cord and then taped one end inside the fireplace and the other end to the ceiling. For an added touch of magic, I added fairy lights on several strands with the battery box taped inside the fireplace. Click here if you’d like to see how I made the letters. Since this was a sleepover Harry Potter birthday party, I was asked to create a Gryffindor dormitory for the girls to stay in. With a sliding door to put the Fat Lady on, their office was the perfect room to set up as a dorm. Don’t forget the password! The Gryffindor dorm room was one of my favorite spaces to put together. Gryffindor Dormitory The entrance rug is actually a tapestry throw blanket. This would also look great on the wall if you’re able to hang it. The material to make the Maurraders Map tie blanket came from JOANN Fabrics. Empty boxes wrapped in brown and white craft paper and tied with string are some easy and cheap filler decorations. I found some images of the Daily Prophet online and printed them for another fun detail. Visit your local craft stores during the fall and you’ll be sure to find some great potion bottles! Don’t forget the sorting hat! What’s a dorm room without posters!? Target and Walmart usually have at least one Harry Potter poster in their collection, if they don’t have any this season though, Amazon is always an easy search away. You can purchase the house crest poster here. One of my favorite things I put together were the goodie bags. I loved how they turned out! They fit in perfectly with the room and gave the kids a chance to take a bit of the magic home with them. Click here if you’d like to learn how they were made. I decided to take my own spin on the floating keys. I knew I wanted to do more than just hang keys from the ceiling. After some time walking the isles of JOANN’s, this is what my brain came up with. Click here if you’d like to learn how it was made. Every space has a chance for some magic to be added to it! I took full advantage of this large bookshelf, adding some wizarding touches to every area. Ideas to add to your shelves: lanterns, wand boxes, owls, candles, tea lights, old looking books, pages from The Daily Prophet, house scarf (click here for a tutorial on how to make your own), a snitch, a remembrall, chess board, vases with colored marbles to show house points, gold coins, dragon eggs. Those are most of the things that I added. See what else you can come up with! Honeydukes Dessert Table I LOVED how the Honeydukes table turned out! A crazy assortment of candy, guaranteed to get kids bouncing off all the walls! The Every Flavor Bean boxes and chocolate frog boxes were all hand made. Check out the tutorials I have linked on how to make your own. Next, grab some apothecary jars to fill with an assortment of candy. The ones shown were found at Michaels. With styrofoam balls, I created a display of lollipops. I found that Dollar Tree had a great selection of fun candy. Ferrero Rocher balls make the perfect Snitch themed candy with some printed out wings taped on. Harry Potter Bathroom Don’t forget about the bathroom! This is an easy room to add a few simple nods towards Harry Potter, such as the Chamber of Secrets message on the mirror and a photo of Moaning Myrtle on the toilet. Snape’s Potions Class One of my favorite parts of the night, potions class! I ran through three different “potions” with the party. Two of which they got to take home. To turn this outdoor patio into a classroom, I covered one of the walls in plastic sheets of fake stone, hung floating candles, set up a table in the back of potion bottles and creepy things, and set up a potion making station at everyone’s seat. Click here if you’d like to learn how to make the floating candles. Quidditch Pitch A Harry Potter party just wouldn’t be complete without Quidditch! If you’re looking to add a set to your yard, click here to see how I put mine together. This is a great way to get the kids outdoors to run off all of that sugar! The Golden Snitch Cake The golden snitch cake was the perfect finale to such a magical day! If you haven’t worked with fondant before don’t sweat it! It was my first time working with it too. Click here to find out how it was made.

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How to Throw a Truly Magical Harry Potter Birthday Party

A few years ago, I was hired to put together a Harry Potter birthday party. My mind quickly exploded with ideas!

There’s something about the magical world that I love bringing to life.

Whether you’re looking to go all out and decorate every room in your house, or put together a simple Harry Potter themed dessert table, I hope you find some inspiration from this post to get you started!

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.

Harry Potter Fireplace Letters

Letters flying out of a fireplace is a true Harry Potter staple and one that must be incorporated if your home has one.

To give the letters a flying effect, I taped them to jewelry cord and then taped one end inside the fireplace and the other end to the ceiling.

For an added touch of magic, I added fairy lights on several strands with the battery box taped inside the fireplace.

Click here if you’d like to see how I made the letters.

Since this was a sleepover Harry Potter birthday party, I was asked to create a Gryffindor dormitory for the girls to stay in. With a sliding door to put the Fat Lady on, their office was the perfect room to set up as a dorm. Don’t forget the password!

The Gryffindor dorm room was one of my favorite spaces to put together.

Gryffindor Dormitory

The entrance rug is actually a tapestry throw blanket. This would also look great on the wall if you’re able to hang it.

The material to make the Maurraders Map tie blanket came from JOANN Fabrics.

Empty boxes wrapped in brown and white craft paper and tied with string are some easy and cheap filler decorations.

I found some images of the Daily Prophet online and printed them for another fun detail.

Visit your local craft stores during the fall and you’ll be sure to find some great potion bottles!

Don’t forget the sorting hat!

What’s a dorm room without posters!? Target and Walmart usually have at least one Harry Potter poster in their collection, if they don’t have any this season though, Amazon is always an easy search away. You can purchase the house crest poster here.

One of my favorite things I put together were the goodie bags. I loved how they turned out! They fit in perfectly with the room and gave the kids a chance to take a bit of the magic home with them. Click here if you’d like to learn how they were made.

I decided to take my own spin on the floating keys. I knew I wanted to do more than just hang keys from the ceiling. After some time walking the isles of JOANN’s, this is what my brain came up with. Click here if you’d like to learn how it was made.

Every space has a chance for some magic to be added to it! I took full advantage of this large bookshelf, adding some wizarding touches to every area.

Ideas to add to your shelves: lanterns, wand boxes, owls, candles, tea lights, old looking books, pages from The Daily Prophet, house scarf (click here for a tutorial on how to make your own), a snitch, a remembrall, chess board, vases with colored marbles to show house points, gold coins, dragon eggs. Those are most of the things that I added. See what else you can come up with!

Honeydukes Dessert Table

I LOVED how the Honeydukes table turned out! A crazy assortment of candy, guaranteed to get kids bouncing off all the walls! The Every Flavor Bean boxes and chocolate frog boxes were all hand made. Check out the tutorials I have linked on how to make your own.

Next, grab some apothecary jars to fill with an assortment of candy. The ones shown were found at Michaels.

With styrofoam balls, I created a display of lollipops. I found that Dollar Tree had a great selection of fun candy.

Ferrero Rocher balls make the perfect Snitch themed candy with some printed out wings taped on.

Harry Potter Bathroom

Don’t forget about the bathroom! This is an easy room to add a few simple nods towards Harry Potter, such as the Chamber of Secrets message on the mirror and a photo of Moaning Myrtle on the toilet.

Snape’s Potions Class

One of my favorite parts of the night, potions class! I ran through three different “potions” with the party. Two of which they got to take home.

To turn this outdoor patio into a classroom, I covered one of the walls in plastic sheets of fake stone, hung floating candles, set up a table in the back of potion bottles and creepy things, and set up a potion making station at everyone’s seat.

Click here if you’d like to learn how to make the floating candles.

Quidditch Pitch

A Harry Potter party just wouldn’t be complete without Quidditch! If you’re looking to add a set to your yard, click here to see how I put mine together.

This is a great way to get the kids outdoors to run off all of that sugar!

The Golden Snitch Cake

The golden snitch cake was the perfect finale to such a magical day! If you haven’t worked with fondant before don’t sweat it! It was my first time working with it too. Click here to find out how it was made.

The post Harry Potter Birthday Party appeared first on Candidly Crafted.

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Snitch Cake https://candidlycrafted.com/snitch-cake/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=snitch-cake https://candidlycrafted.com/snitch-cake/#respond Tue, 30 Oct 2018 02:58:58 +0000 http://candidlycrafted.com/?p=781 This cake was definitely a challenge since I’d never worked with fondant before, but how could you have a Harry Potter party without a snitch!?   Story Time I would like to thank the patron saint of baking, coffee and everyone who crossed their fingers! Without all of that this cake would not have turned out as amazing as it did. If this is your first time making a Snitch cake (like it was mine), I highly recommend watching Ashlee Prisbrey’s YouTube video. It’s almost three hours long but you can skip around to the parts where you need help. I find her voice relaxing which helps when you’re staring at a ball of fondant thinking, “What have I gotten myself into!?” She breaks down all of the steps for the wings and gives great tips along the way. I varied from her method several ways such as using a box cake and gold spray instead of powdered gold. The next time I make something like this I want to try her suggestion of putting a layer of cheesecake in the center. That sounds amazing! The wafer paper and stem wires are can be found on Amazon. Wafer paper is a little tricky to work with so be patient if this is your first time working with it. I found this out quickly when my first set of wings completely fell apart because I put too much water on them. Visual Learners Once the cake has completely cooled, slice a small piece off the bottom of one of the cakes, spread on a little ganache and stick it to a small cake base. The ganache will help to keep it in place. Spread a layer of ganache in the center and stick the two halves together. Continue to cover the entire ball. Creating the wings Like I said in the instructions, I don’t think I would be able to explain this step properly without causing a lot of confusion. Basically, cut out two even “wing” shapes. Lay a wire stem down along the longest side, giving enough room at the top to fold the wafer paper over it. Slightly wet the wafer paper above the stem and fold it over. You might not be able to tell in the photo but there were a few areas where mine tore. To fix this I cut small pieces of wafer paper, wet them and stuck them over the holes. Spray the front and back of the wings  and let them dry overnight. Once they’ve dried cut slits down the entirety of the wings. If you’re going to be moving the cake then make sure you keep the wings in a safe place where they won’t get hurt since wafter paper is pretty fragile. Since I didn’t lay mine down they ended up looking a little beaten up. If this happens to you then just say the Snitch was damaged in the game when it was caught. Easy save. Working with the fondant Roll out a large piece of fondant and lay it over the cake. Smooth it down while gently pulling, getting rid of any creases. Remove any excess at the bottom. Trace the design of the Snitch into the cake with a toothpick. This will help you make sure everything is lined up when you put the detail work on. Roll out strands of fondant. Based on the design you pick you’ll be able to see how many long and short strands you’ll need. Place these over the lines you traced in the fondant. Cover the whole cake in gold spray and place in the fridge until ready to eat.   It does take a good amount of time and patience but I think it was all worth it in the end. Good luck!!

The post Snitch Cake appeared first on Candidly Crafted.

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Harry Potter Snitch Cake

This cake was definitely a challenge since I’d never worked with fondant before, but how could you have a Harry Potter party without a snitch!?

 

Print

Snitch Cake

Ingredients

Cake

  • 1 Box Betty Crocker™ Super Moist™ Favorites Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
  • 1 Wilton® 3-D Sports Ball Pan Set
  • 1 Box Wilton® Decorator Preferred™ Fondant, Yellow Vanilla
  • 1 Cardboard cake circle

Chocolate Ganache

  • 4 oz Semi-sweet chocolate
  • 1/2 cup Heavy whipping cream

Wings

  • 1 Sheet Wafter paper
  • 2 Stem wires
  • 2 Bottles Wilton® Color Mist® Shimmering Food Color Spray

Instructions

Cake

  • Follow instructions on the box. Once everything is mixed together, divide it evenly between the two spheres and bake as instructed.
  • Spraying non-stick cooking spray into the spheres before you pour the batter in helps them slide right out once they're done!

Chocolate Ganache

  • Break up the semi-sweet chocolate and set aside in a bowl.
  • Pour the heavy whipping cream into a pan and place over medium heat until it begins to simmer.
  • Once it's simmering remove it from the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Let sit for 2-3 minutes. Whisk together until smooth and well combined.
  • Set aside until cool. I put it in the fridge until it was a thicker consistency.

Wings

  • I feel like I would be absolutely terrible at explaining this step so instead of butchering this I'm going to tell you to watch Ashlee's video. She talks about the wings at the beginning from 8:40 - 17:50.
  • If you use the gold spray, make sure you make these the night before so they have enough time to dry. If you're transferring the cake then leave the wings off and place them on a flat surface so they don't get smashed along the way.

Assembly

  • Once the cake has completely cooled, slice a small piece off the bottom of one of the spheres, add ganache and stick it to a small cake circle to keep it in place. Spread a layer of ganache in the center and stick the two halves together. Continue to cover the entire ball.
  • Roll out a large piece of fondant and lay it over the cake. Smooth it down while gently pulling, getting rid of any creases. Remove any excess at the bottom.
  • Trace the design of the Snitch into the cake with a toothpick. This will help you make sure everything is lined up when you put the detail work on.
  • Roll out strands of fondant. Based on the design you pick you'll be able to see how many long and short ones you'll need. Place these over the lines you traced in the fondant.
  • Spray the whole cake in gold spray and place in the fridge until ready to eat.
  • Add the wings as a final touch once this is ready to be set out.

Story Time

I would like to thank the patron saint of baking, coffee and everyone who crossed their fingers! Without all of that this cake would not have turned out as amazing as it did. If this is your first time making a Snitch cake (like it was mine), I highly recommend watching Ashlee Prisbrey’s YouTube video. It’s almost three hours long but you can skip around to the parts where you need help. I find her voice relaxing which helps when you’re staring at a ball of fondant thinking, “What have I gotten myself into!?” She breaks down all of the steps for the wings and gives great tips along the way. I varied from her method several ways such as using a box cake and gold spray instead of powdered gold. The next time I make something like this I want to try her suggestion of putting a layer of cheesecake in the center. That sounds amazing!

The wafer paper and stem wires are can be found on Amazon. Wafer paper is a little tricky to work with so be patient if this is your first time working with it. I found this out quickly when my first set of wings completely fell apart because I put too much water on them.

Visual Learners

Once the cake has completely cooled, slice a small piece off the bottom of one of the cakes, spread on a little ganache and stick it to a small cake base. The ganache will help to keep it in place. Spread a layer of ganache in the center and stick the two halves together. Continue to cover the entire ball.

Preparing the cake
The cake is now formed into a sphere Creating the wings

Like I said in the instructions, I don’t think I would be able to explain this step properly without causing a lot of confusion. Basically, cut out two even “wing” shapes. Lay a wire stem down along the longest side, giving enough room at the top to fold the wafer paper over it. Slightly wet the wafer paper above the stem and fold it over. You might not be able to tell in the photo but there were a few areas where mine tore. To fix this I cut small pieces of wafer paper, wet them and stuck them over the holes. Spray the front and back of the wings  and let them dry overnight. Once they’ve dried cut slits down the entirety of the wings. If you’re going to be moving the cake then make sure you keep the wings in a safe place where they won’t get hurt since wafter paper is pretty fragile. Since I didn’t lay mine down they ended up looking a little beaten up. If this happens to you then just say the Snitch was damaged in the game when it was caught. Easy save.

The paper is being cut for wings of the snitch
The wings of the snitch are being prepared

The wings of the snitch are painted gold

Working with the fondant

Roll out a large piece of fondant and lay it over the cake. Smooth it down while gently pulling, getting rid of any creases. Remove any excess at the bottom. Trace the design of the Snitch into the cake with a toothpick. This will help you make sure everything is lined up when you put the detail work on. Roll out strands of fondant. Based on the design you pick you’ll be able to see how many long and short strands you’ll need. Place these over the lines you traced in the fondant. Cover the whole cake in gold spray and place in the fridge until ready to eat.

Yellow fondant rolled flat
Yellow fondant placed over the cake that is in the shape of a sphere
More fondant is rolled and placed onto the cake to form the different groves a snitch has.

 

It does take a good amount of time and patience but I think it was all worth it in the end. Good luck!!

Harry Potter yellow snitch cake

Harry Potter yellow snitch cake

Harry Potter yellow snitch cake

Harry Potter yellow snitch cake

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Hogwarts Letters https://candidlycrafted.com/hogwarts-letters/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hogwarts-letters https://candidlycrafted.com/hogwarts-letters/#respond Sat, 27 Oct 2018 01:02:21 +0000 http://candidlycrafted.com/?p=752 Supplies Envelopes Coffee Cookie tray Green pen Red wax or candle Wax stamper Clear cord Tape Mini lights (optional) To give the letters an aged look I soaked them in coffee. I left them in for only ten minutes, making sure the entire envelope was saturated. If you want to experiment with leaving them in longer, go for it. I’m not sure if that will result in a darker color or not but I found that ten minutes gave me the look I wanted. Be careful when you take them out. Since they’ve been soaking, the glue no longer holds the flaps down and the envelope will come undone if you aren’t careful. If this happens just fold it back together and let it dry. If they’re still lose after they’ve dried then run a glue stick over the flaps and press them down. I experimented with drying them three different ways: 1. air drying, 2. the oven, and 3. a hairdryer. Personally, I liked the results of air drying the best. When I used the oven I set the temp at 250 degrees and only placed them in for several minutes. If you do this approach please be careful and keep your eye on them. I was surprised how much they puffed up from drying this way. Using a hair dryer puffed them up even more! Air drying doesn’t mean they’ll come out completely flat but it was the closest I came to it. Since this approach takes the longest time, plan on leaving them out for at least a day. Once they’re completely dry you can put a heavy book over them to flatten them more if desired. If you have good penmanship then all you need for the written part are envelops and a green pen. I myself am a perfectionist and wanted them to look exactly like the letters from movie. To achieve this I printed out an envelope sized image of the envelope used in the movie, traced over the writing in a black pen to make it darker and then placed it on a glass table with a light underneath. The light can either be a lamp, flashlight or the flashlight app from your phone. Place the light under the glass table so it’s shining up at you underneath your print out. Then place the envelope over top of it. Press down on the envelope so you can see the writing from the print out and trace the lettering in green ink. For the wax seal, I bought a thin red candle and held it over each envelope to let a few drops drip onto the back. I’ve read other crafting blogs where clay was used instead. I tried that method first but found the clay didn’t stick very well. Fun fact, if you want to be book accurate, the wax on Harry Potter’s letters was actually purple. For some reason the movie changed it to be red which is now how it’s always represented. To make it look like they were coming out of the fireplace I taped long strands of clear cord from the fireplace to the ceiling. I placed the strands at varying distances away from the fireplace on the ceiling so they weren’t all lined up evenly. Next, take a small piece of tape and attach the cord to the back of the envelope. For an added touch of magic I ran a strand of mini lights up and down two of the strands.

The post Hogwarts Letters appeared first on Candidly Crafted.

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Supplies
  • Envelopes
  • Coffee
  • Cookie tray
  • Green pen
  • Red wax or candle
  • Wax stamper
  • Clear cord
  • Tape
  • Mini lights (optional)

To give the letters an aged look I soaked them in coffee. I left them in for only ten minutes, making sure the entire envelope was saturated. If you want to experiment with leaving them in longer, go for it. I’m not sure if that will result in a darker color or not but I found that ten minutes gave me the look I wanted. Be careful when you take them out. Since they’ve been soaking, the glue no longer holds the flaps down and the envelope will come undone if you aren’t careful. If this happens just fold it back together and let it dry. If they’re still lose after they’ve dried then run a glue stick over the flaps and press them down.

I experimented with drying them three different ways: 1. air drying, 2. the oven, and 3. a hairdryer. Personally, I liked the results of air drying the best. When I used the oven I set the temp at 250 degrees and only placed them in for several minutes. If you do this approach please be careful and keep your eye on them. I was surprised how much they puffed up from drying this way. Using a hair dryer puffed them up even more! Air drying doesn’t mean they’ll come out completely flat but it was the closest I came to it. Since this approach takes the longest time, plan on leaving them out for at least a day. Once they’re completely dry you can put a heavy book over them to flatten them more if desired.

If you have good penmanship then all you need for the written part are envelops and a green pen. I myself am a perfectionist and wanted them to look exactly like the letters from movie. To achieve this I printed out an envelope sized image of the envelope used in the movie, traced over the writing in a black pen to make it darker and then placed it on a glass table with a light underneath. The light can either be a lamp, flashlight or the flashlight app from your phone. Place the light under the glass table so it’s shining up at you underneath your print out. Then place the envelope over top of it. Press down on the envelope so you can see the writing from the print out and trace the lettering in green ink.

For the wax seal, I bought a thin red candle and held it over each envelope to let a few drops drip onto the back. I’ve read other crafting blogs where clay was used instead. I tried that method first but found the clay didn’t stick very well. Fun fact, if you want to be book accurate, the wax on Harry Potter’s letters was actually purple. For some reason the movie changed it to be red which is now how it’s always represented.

To make it look like they were coming out of the fireplace I taped long strands of clear cord from the fireplace to the ceiling. I placed the strands at varying distances away from the fireplace on the ceiling so they weren’t all lined up evenly. Next, take a small piece of tape and attach the cord to the back of the envelope. For an added touch of magic I ran a strand of mini lights up and down two of the strands.

The post Hogwarts Letters appeared first on Candidly Crafted.

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Key Mobile https://candidlycrafted.com/key-mobile/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=key-mobile https://candidlycrafted.com/key-mobile/#respond Wed, 24 Oct 2018 01:38:50 +0000 http://candidlycrafted.com/?p=700 Supplies 14 in. wood embroidery hoop 10 in. wood embroidery hoop Fabric strips Fabric glue Double sided tape Clear cord Keys Transparent paper Cricut (optional) Scissors Clear Command hooks (for hanging) A lot of my decorations are things that I’ve seen on Pinterest, Google, Etsy, you name it. Every now and then though I’ll come up with something unique. This is one of those pieces. I of course wanted to incorporate the floating keys into a decoration but I wanted to add a little something extra to them rather than just hang them from the ceiling. For a birthday party I was asked to decorate I was given the challenge of creating a Gryffindor common room. It’s not difficult to work their colors into the blankets and pillows but I wanted there to also be a statement piece. I was gathering the material to make a Marauders Map tie blanket at JOANN when I found these long strips of red and yellow fabric in the discount bin. From there my mind went spinning! What I ended up with was some type of cloth draped key mobile. And I love it! I have a few updates in mind I’ll make when I have the time. One would be to add fabric to fill in-between the strips so it doesn’t look so bare. The other thing would be to add another hoop between the 14 in. and 10 in. so that the keys hang down lower. Almost giving the center a chandelier look. With the 14 in. hoop I alternated between red and yellow strips. I first placed a layer of double sided tape along the outer edge of the hoop to hold down the fabric as I wrapped it around. Make sure that you wrap all of your fabric in the same direction so that when it comes time to hang it up there aren’t some pieces showing the wrong side. You can tell it’s the wrong side because the color will look dull. I stuck one end of the fabric on the hoop, wrapped it around the hoop once and when it came back to the outer edge I put a small line of fabric glue down and pressed the strip over it. Press down on the fabric and wipe away any excess glue that comes out. I glued four strips at a time and then let them dry before doing more.  Once the large hoop was finished I moved onto the 10 in. hoop. At first I alternated by wrapping both red and yellow fabric strips around it but I wasn’t a fan of how it looked. I ended up wrapping the whole thing in orangish gold strips that came in the yellow pack.   While the hoops dried I got to work on the keys, which I found at Spirit Halloween. I found the wing design through a simple Google search. I uploaded the JPEG into my Cricut Design Space and removed the white space around the wing so that only the wing pattern remained. From that the Cricut was able to look at the design and draw out the wings. I had it draw out three different sizes so I could see what size would work best. I ended up using two sizes, the small and the medium. I duplicated each size in the design space as many times as needed and then had the Cricut draw out the wings on the clear paper. If you don’t have a Cricut but like the idea of having the wings on clear paper you can always print out the wings and trace them by hand. I take full advantage of my Cricut and use it whenever possible. Before I glued the wings onto the keys I first tied a piece of clear cord onto them. As I mentioned in my floating candles post, this cord doesn’t keep a knot very well. After you tie it around the key, place a drop of hot glue on it to keep it from becoming undone. You’ll later hide this by gluing the wing over it. Cut the cord at different lengths so that the keys aren’t all hanging on the same plane. To attach the two hoops I measured out four strands of clear cord, tying one end to the 14 in. hoop and the other to the 10 in. hoop evenly spacing them apart. Next I tied the keys all around the 10 in. hoop. Remember, put a small drop of hot glue on each knot to make sure it stays. I didn’t have a problem with any of them coming undone from this method but when I add onto this decoration I’ll try a different kind of cord. Hanging it up was a bit tricky. What worked in the end were clear Command hooks. Not saying this is the best way to hang this up but it never fell and hit a kid so I consider that a win! I used six hooks and evenly spaced them apart. I stuck three down on one side first, placed the hoop within the hooks and then hooked the hoop with the other three and stuck them to the ceiling. This made sure that the hoop was resting tightly in all the hooks to keep it from slipping out. To make the strips stick to the ceiling I used a few rolled pieces of blue painters tape. It just so happened that this was the perfect size to put around this small ceiling vent. When the air kicked on it looked like the keys were moving around which gave it an extra magical touch.

The post Key Mobile appeared first on Candidly Crafted.

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Supplies

  • 14 in. wood embroidery hoop
  • 10 in. wood embroidery hoop
  • Fabric strips
  • Fabric glue
  • Double sided tape
  • Clear cord
  • Keys
  • Transparent paper
  • Cricut (optional)
  • Scissors
  • Clear Command hooks (for hanging)

A lot of my decorations are things that I’ve seen on Pinterest, Google, Etsy, you name it. Every now and then though I’ll come up with something unique. This is one of those pieces. I of course wanted to incorporate the floating keys into a decoration but I wanted to add a little something extra to them rather than just hang them from the ceiling. For a birthday party I was asked to decorate I was given the challenge of creating a Gryffindor common room. It’s not difficult to work their colors into the blankets and pillows but I wanted there to also be a statement piece. I was gathering the material to make a Marauders Map tie blanket at JOANN when I found these long strips of red and yellow fabric in the discount bin. From there my mind went spinning!

What I ended up with was some type of cloth draped key mobile. And I love it! I have a few updates in mind I’ll make when I have the time. One would be to add fabric to fill in-between the strips so it doesn’t look so bare. The other thing would be to add another hoop between the 14 in. and 10 in. so that the keys hang down lower. Almost giving the center a chandelier look.

With the 14 in. hoop I alternated between red and yellow strips. I first placed a layer of double sided tape along the outer edge of the hoop to hold down the fabric as I wrapped it around. Make sure that you wrap all of your fabric in the same direction so that when it comes time to hang it up there aren’t some pieces showing the wrong side. You can tell it’s the wrong side because the color will look dull. I stuck one end of the fabric on the hoop, wrapped it around the hoop once and when it came back to the outer edge I put a small line of fabric glue down and pressed the strip over it. Press down on the fabric and wipe away any excess glue that comes out. I glued four strips at a time and then let them dry before doing more. 

Once the large hoop was finished I moved onto the 10 in. hoop. At first I alternated by wrapping both red and yellow fabric strips around it but I wasn’t a fan of how it looked. I ended up wrapping the whole thing in orangish gold strips that came in the yellow pack.

 

While the hoops dried I got to work on the keys, which I found at Spirit Halloween. I found the wing design through a simple Google search. I uploaded the JPEG into my Cricut Design Space and removed the white space around the wing so that only the wing pattern remained. From that the Cricut was able to look at the design and draw out the wings. I had it draw out three different sizes so I could see what size would work best.

I ended up using two sizes, the small and the medium. I duplicated each size in the design space as many times as needed and then had the Cricut draw out the wings on the clear paper. If you don’t have a Cricut but like the idea of having the wings on clear paper you can always print out the wings and trace them by hand. I take full advantage of my Cricut and use it whenever possible. Before I glued the wings onto the keys I first tied a piece of clear cord onto them. As I mentioned in my floating candles post, this cord doesn’t keep a knot very well. After you tie it around the key, place a drop of hot glue on it to keep it from becoming undone. You’ll later hide this by gluing the wing over it. Cut the cord at different lengths so that the keys aren’t all hanging on the same plane.

To attach the two hoops I measured out four strands of clear cord, tying one end to the 14 in. hoop and the other to the 10 in. hoop evenly spacing them apart. Next I tied the keys all around the 10 in. hoop. Remember, put a small drop of hot glue on each knot to make sure it stays. I didn’t have a problem with any of them coming undone from this method but when I add onto this decoration I’ll try a different kind of cord.

Hanging it up was a bit tricky. What worked in the end were clear Command hooks. Not saying this is the best way to hang this up but it never fell and hit a kid so I consider that a win! I used six hooks and evenly spaced them apart. I stuck three down on one side first, placed the hoop within the hooks and then hooked the hoop with the other three and stuck them to the ceiling. This made sure that the hoop was resting tightly in all the hooks to keep it from slipping out. To make the strips stick to the ceiling I used a few rolled pieces of blue painters tape. It just so happened that this was the perfect size to put around this small ceiling vent. When the air kicked on it looked like the keys were moving around which gave it an extra magical touch.

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Harry Potter DIY Floating Candles https://candidlycrafted.com/floating-candles/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=floating-candles https://candidlycrafted.com/floating-candles/#respond Tue, 23 Oct 2018 01:36:41 +0000 http://candidlycrafted.com/?p=690 Floating Candles Tutorial If you know this is a decoration you’ll be making, then start saving your paper towel roles and toilet paper roles a few months in advance. Like anything now a days, I’m sure you can also buy cardboard roles on Amazon. (I was curious and just checked. The answer is yes, you can!) The clear cord I found at Michaels near their jewelry section. I’ve read other DIY posts where fishing line was used. I feel like I live at Michaels sometimes so it was only natural that jewelry making cord was the first type of clear cord I thought of. The next time I make these I’ll try the fishing line. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Supplies Paper towel/toilet paper roles Glue gun and glue sticks White paint Paint brush Clear jewelry cord Tea lights Scissors Pliers Start by cutting the tubes into varying lengths. I always cut a small dip in the center rather than a straight line across. I felt it gave it a little more of an authentic look. To give it a softer edge I traced the cut top in hot glue first. From there I added 2-3 layers of hot glue lines that I ran down the sides to give the wax dripping effect. Layering the lengths gives the appearing that the “candle” had been lit at different times. I typically made one long length that went about 3/4 of the way down, the second one I ran half way down the first layer, and the last I kept relatively short and closer to the top. Make sure you stock up on the hot glue, you’ll be using a lot of it! I’ve seen other crafters use some heavy duty glue guns which probably would have been the smart thing for me to invest in. I bought this mini one years ago and had left over glue sticks from past projects so I didn’t feel the need to buy a new one. I’ll probably put it on the Christmas list this year. Next step is painting! Spray paint would probably be the quickest way to go. Since I don’t have the room to do that I used white craft paint. I applied two layers on the outside and one layer on the inside. By the time the painting came I was at the end of my patience rope and as I tried to rush through it I think I got just as much paint on my kitchen counter and floor as I did on the tubes. Yes I did have newspaper down, I’m just that talented. Once everything is dry, take out a tea light and measure how far into the tube you’ll need to put it so that only the flame is showing. When you have an idea of where it needs to sit you’re going to use a large needle to poke two holes through the tube, one on either end. With the layers of glue it was a bit difficult to poke it through. I found that pliers were helpful with guiding the needle in and out. Next thread your cord through. Make the lengths of your cord varying sizes as well so that the candles float at different levels. The one downside to the jewelry cord is that it isn’t very keen on holding knots. What I ended up doing was tying a knot at the top and added a drop of hot glue over it to make sure it didn’t come undone. I used regular clear scotch tape to stick them to the ceiling. If you want to be certain that floating candles won’t fall on your guests, you can also secure them to the ceiling with a push pin.

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Floating Candles Tutorial

If you know this is a decoration you’ll be making, then start saving your paper towel roles and toilet paper roles a few months in advance. Like anything now a days, I’m sure you can also buy cardboard roles on Amazon. (I was curious and just checked. The answer is yes, you can!) The clear cord I found at Michaels near their jewelry section. I’ve read other DIY posts where fishing line was used. I feel like I live at Michaels sometimes so it was only natural that jewelry making cord was the first type of clear cord I thought of. The next time I make these I’ll try the fishing line.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.

Supplies

  • Paper towel/toilet paper roles
  • Glue gun and glue sticks
  • White paint
  • Paint brush
  • Clear jewelry cord
  • Tea lights
  • Scissors
  • Pliers

Start by cutting the tubes into varying lengths. I always cut a small dip in the center rather than a straight line across. I felt it gave it a little more of an authentic look. To give it a softer edge I traced the cut top in hot glue first. From there I added 2-3 layers of hot glue lines that I ran down the sides to give the wax dripping effect. Layering the lengths gives the appearing that the “candle” had been lit at different times. I typically made one long length that went about 3/4 of the way down, the second one I ran half way down the first layer, and the last I kept relatively short and closer to the top. Make sure you stock up on the hot glue, you’ll be using a lot of it! I’ve seen other crafters use some heavy duty glue guns which probably would have been the smart thing for me to invest in. I bought this mini one years ago and had left over glue sticks from past projects so I didn’t feel the need to buy a new one. I’ll probably put it on the Christmas list this year.

Next step is painting! Spray paint would probably be the quickest way to go. Since I don’t have the room to do that I used white craft paint. I applied two layers on the outside and one layer on the inside. By the time the painting came I was at the end of my patience rope and as I tried to rush through it I think I got just as much paint on my kitchen counter and floor as I did on the tubes. Yes I did have newspaper down, I’m just that talented.

Once everything is dry, take out a tea light and measure how far into the tube you’ll need to put it so that only the flame is showing. When you have an idea of where it needs to sit you’re going to use a large needle to poke two holes through the tube, one on either end. With the layers of glue it was a bit difficult to poke it through. I found that pliers were helpful with guiding the needle in and out. Next thread your cord through. Make the lengths of your cord varying sizes as well so that the candles float at different levels. The one downside to the jewelry cord is that it isn’t very keen on holding knots. What I ended up doing was tying a knot at the top and added a drop of hot glue over it to make sure it didn’t come undone.

I used regular clear scotch tape to stick them to the ceiling. If you want to be certain that floating candles won’t fall on your guests, you can also secure them to the ceiling with a push pin.

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