DIY Harry Potter Series – Weasley Wands

We can all agree that we love the Weasleys. From Molly’s motherly nature, to the havoc the twins cause, to Arthur’s strange muggle fascination and to brothers Bill and Charlie whom we don’t hear much about, everything about them is wonderful and magical. And their home… Oh I just love the location clock in the kitchen and the self-washing dishes.

Today’s post is dedicated to the Weasleys; a collection of their wands that you can give out at HP themed parties in case someone forgets theirs, or just keep for yourself and wear different Halloween costumes to match 🙂

What you need:

1. 8 chopsticks
2. A few sheets of A4 paper
3. Acrylic Paints – Black, Barn Red, Golden Brown, Espresso,
   • Metallics: Bronze, Silver Grey, Brass, Dark Gold
4. Hot Glue
5. Toothpicks

What you do:

Firstly, look up images of all 9 wands for each member of the family – Arthur, Molly, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred & George, Ron and Ginny (9 in all). The basics of wand making can be learnt in one of my earlier posts which I used for some of the wands (Link: DIY Wand)

1. I started off with Arthur, Molly, Percy and Ginny wands because they are the easiest and quickest. You will need 4 chopsticks and 4 sheets of paper. Wrap the sheets around the sticks as in the DIY mentioned above.
2. Once that is ready, use the hot glue to create the same swirls for Arthur / Percy and lines for Molly and Ginny (use the template as a reference).If you make a mistake, you can always peel off the glue once it dries and start again. The Ginny one was a little more intricate; see image below for a clearer idea.
   

   
3. Paint Arthur, Molly and Percy wands gold. Use the Bronze to accent the lines lightly for a more shaded look.
   

   

   
4. Paint the Ginny wand black and use silver grey for the accents.                                           
5. I used chopsticks without the paper for the remaining coz I ran out of paper 😦 For Bill’s wand, paint the stick espresso and dry. Use the glue to make a dome shaped structure with swirls and indents on the top of the wand, as per the template and dry. Paint it espresso, dry and add a light coat of silver grey.
6. For Charlie’s wand (which is basically Ron’s 1st wand that broke), paint the stick golden brown and let dry. Add one thin line on top and 2 thin lines 2.5 inches from the top and dry. Paint the lines with the espresso.
7. Fred’s is a little trickier. His wand has rows of  notches and protrusions. Use the hot glue to create a dot and use the toothpick to spread out the dot to create thin lines. After the line dries, cut the swirl near the tip and bend it upward (like a rose thorn). Do this for 9-10 rows and let dry.
8. Add 3 more little thorns below the last row in a staggered fashion (see image for further clarification). Paint everything espresso and dry.
9. For George’s, cover the top 4 inches of the stick with paper and glue to together to form a dome shaped cover. Use hot glue to add thick swirls right below the paper, as in the template, and let dry. Add thinner swirls below the thick ones and dry. Paint the entire wand gold. Paint the thick swirls with the red and the thin ones black. Let dry.
10. Use a thin brush to paint zigzag lines in red on the paper covered section and let dry.
11. Ron’s wand, his new one, is similar to Bill’s. Use the glue gun to create the design as in the template and paint the entire thing espresso. Cover the top dome shape in a light coat of silver grey.

I painted the names of the wand holders on the side at the bottom, so I wouldn’t get confused. Place the wands in a jar to hand out. You can do the same for Death-eaters, Dumbledore’s Army, Triwizard contestants etc. Have fun 🙂

Liebster Award

Got another nomination for the Liebster award by beautybyalibra. Thank you so much. Do check her out…. She does makeup and other kinds of reviews as well as other fun stuff 🙂

Rules for this award:

1. Acknowledge the blogger who nominated you.
2. Answer 11 questions from the blogger who nominated you.
3. Nominate 11 blogs.
4. Give them 11 questions to answer.

My 11 nominations:

I am going to nominate a few of the newer bloggers that have followed me to get to know them a little better 🙂

1. winterfellcrypts
2. Amal
3. hopelessblogweb
4. theartteacher
5. thechallenge2017
6. tomatotalks
7. sleeplongdreamdeep
8. baddadcartoons101
9. thoughtsofacuriousgirlblog
10. silversiren4blog
11. lifeofwildhumans

My 11 questions to them:

• What inspired you to start blogging?
• The one thing you have learnt from blogging.
• Share something silly and different you did growing up, compared to other children.
• The one memory that you remember from your childhood.
• What is your favorite season and why?
• If you received money to start your own business, what type of business would it be and why?
• Name one interestingly new / unique food you’ve eaten.
• If you had to start your career from scratch, would you choose your current path or something different?
• What type of exotic animal would you consider adopting, if you could?
• Share 2-3 funny quirks of yours.
• Some of your favorite hobbies.

My questions were:

1. If you could describe yourself as a color, what color would it be and why? I want to say blue: has a very calming, serene feel to it but I’m mostly a mix of reds and oranges: bright, spontaneous and def the opposite of calm 😛
2. What’s your favorite song at the moment? Game of Thrones theme song. It just sticks in my head and I keep humming it all day.
3. What’s your biggest tip for new bloggers? Participate actively in daily prompts, community pool and first friday forums. Helps increase traffic to your blog.
4. Favorite flavor of ice cream? – Always chocolate
5. Favorite book at the moment? – Archie comics. I need something light hearted and silly after a long work day.
6. What’s your dream job and why? – Some thing involving DIY crafting but I have no idea what exactly.
7. If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would you choose? – Can’t really think of anyone
8. What do you like most about blogging? – The freedom to express myself, share my ideas and the fact that I feel light hearted after doing so.
9. What is your spirit animal? – Hmm… Maybe chinchilla or some type of rodent.
10. Three things that make you happy? –  Sleep, chocolate and dancing
11. Current favorite TV show? – Right now it’s a toss up between Game of Thrones and Big Bang Theory.

 

Felines and Lollipops

Apparently cats like lollipops. Who knew?? Should try this with my chinchilla 😛

via Daily Prompt: Lollipop

Minion Pop Up Birthday Box

With the recent release of Despicable Me 3 and a friend who loves the minions (not gonna lie… I love them too… they’re so cute :D), I decided to make a pop up minion card for my friend’s birthday. I got several ideas from Pinterest that I sort of adapted, adjusted and changed a bit.

Materials:

• Cardstock – Dark blue, light blue, yellow, grey, white, black ( I got these at Michaels for 29 cents each)
• Pencil / ruler / Scissors
• Elmer’s Glue
• Double sided tape
• Black Sharpie

Procedure:

1. Use the dark blue cardstock to measure out 10cm squares on the entire paper. It should look something like this (cut out the excess paper).                                                     
2. Cut out the center square and the ones touching it all around to form a plus sign.          
3. Fold the squares inward along the lines to form the base of the box.
4. Use the yellow cardstock to make the lid of the box. Measure a 16cm square and cut it out. Make a mark on each side of the square at the 2cm mark and 12 cm mark and join all the lines together.
   

   
5. Cut along the red lines (shown in the second image above).
6. Fold along the pencil lines on all 4 sides. Glue the cut strip over the rest of the fold with glue.
7. Do this on all 4 sides till you get a box shape. Make sure the lid fits well on top of the base. Your box is now ready.
   

   

   
8. Next we create the insides of the box. You will need to cut out 3 yellow squares of 8cm each.
9. Use the light blue cardstock to draw the minion’s clothes ( I used this image as reference; link Minion).
10. Cut out one big grey circle (roughly the size of a quarter) and one slightly smaller white circle to make the eye. Glue the white over the grey circle.
11. Cut out two 1cm strips from the black paper. Stick one strip to the center of one of the yellow squares using tape or glue. Attach the eye to the center of the strip. Use a sharpie to draw an eyeball and a mouth. 
12. Glue the blue outfit to the base of the square. Add the extra details to the outfit from the same image as in step 9.
13. Attach the other black strip to your 2nd yellow square, closer to the top edge. Cut out 2 more eyes as in step 10 and draw 2 eyeballs facing the left side. Attach the eyes to the center of the black strip. Use the sharpie to draw a sideways smile.
14. Cut out 3 more yellow squares, about 7-8 cm. Add a black strip to each of them, close to the top end as in step 13. You will need to make 5 more eyes as in step 10.
15. To 2 of the squares, attach 2 eyeballs each. Stick the last eye to the third square.
16. On one of the squares with 2 eyes, use the sharpie to draw a round, filled-in circle, for the mouth forming an O (I made my eye balls look up but you can always have them looking straight ahead).
17. On the remaining 2 squares, draw a curve for a smiling mouth.
    

    
18. Stick the minion squares from steps 11-13 on the top and right inner flap of your box.
19. Cut out some balloons and stars on white, yellow and blue paper. Stick the stars on the base of your box ( on the inside). Bend the base of the balloon (0.5 inch) and stick that with the rest of the balloon sticking up.                                                                       
20. I printed some minions from google and cut them out. Cut out a few strips of the dark blue paper and bend the ends slightly. Stick the strips of the dark blue paper on the base. Stick the minions to the strips.
    

    

    
21. Stick the 3 smaller yellow squares from steps 16-17 on the inner left flap.
22. I cut out another yellow square (10cm) and wrote out ‘happy birthday’ on a white circular piece. This, I stuck to the inner bottom flap.                             
23. I printed out a few minion images from google and cut them out for the outside of the box. I stuck one image on each side and a pair of minion eyes to the top of the box.
    

    

    

    

    

Crops in Space

NASA recently released details on the fifth crop, cabbage, grown in the international space station.

After spending nearly a month tending to the International Space Station’s first crop of Chinese cabbage, astronaut Peggy Whitson harvested the leafy greens on Feb. 17, 2017. While the space station crew will get to eat some of the cabbage, the rest is being saved for study back at Kennedy Space Center.

This is the fifth crop grown aboard the station, and the first Chinese cabbage. Exciting news indeed 😀

via Daily Prompt: Edible

Savor the success, creators.

It must be such an accomplishment to have your creation considered the most expensive in the world. That’s definitely true for the creators of the following items that made it to the world’s top 5 list.

Diamond fruit cake: This was created by a Japanese chef and sold for 1.65 million dollars. It took six months to visualize and design, and one more month after to finish producing it. It contains 223 real diamonds.                                                                                           

$75 million cake: This was made by a British based designer and was purchased by an unnamed buyer in the UAE. It was a six-foot long depiction of a runway fashion show, with a weight of nearly 1,000 pounds.

Nightingale dress of Kuala Lumpur: The top in a list of 5 most expensive dresses, this dress costs $30 million. It is made of taffeta, satin, chiffon and silk and encrusted with a 70-carat pear shaped diamond along with 751 Swarovski crystals.                                                    

DKNY Golden Delicious Million Dollar Perfume: A $1 Million perfume, the bottle is made of 14-carat yellow and white gold and is encrusted with 2,909 precious stones which are collected from different countries around the world – brilliant white diamonds, golden yellow sapphires, 4 rose cut diamonds, 15 brilliant vivid pink diamonds, oval cut ruby, pear-shaped rose cut diamond, turquoise Paraiba tourmaline which was brought from Brazil and a flawless vivid yellow canary diamond.                                     

Harry Winston Ruby Slippers: These $3 million shoes were inspired by Dorothy’s shoes from Wizard of Oz. It had 4600 pieces of rubies and 50 carat worth of diamonds and was made to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the classic movie.

via Daily Prompt: Savor

Naughty li’l pandas

When I see Bumble, I think bees (pretty much everyone does) or pandas. The way they sway around and move awkwardly, it’s super cute. Here’s some cuteness for you 😀

via Daily Prompt: Bumble

Bright color for boring, bland beige

Childhood coloring talent channeled..

Created a colorful collage to hang on my very boring beige wall. Love how it almost sparkles when the sun hits it.

via Photo Challenge: Collage

Game of Thrones: Dragon Eggs

The most memorable part of Season 1 for me were when Daenerys sees her eggs for the first time and after, when they hatch. I tried to make my own Khaleesi eggs and they turned out pretty decent, although I did get impatient with the last one.

What you need:

1. 3 wooden eggs (Link: Michaels Egg)
2. Stiff card stock paper (preferably light colored)
3. Spray paint – Dark Basil Green, Maroon, Light Ivory
4. Mod Podge – Matte
5. Hot glue – Lots of it
6. Pencil and X-Acto knife / Scissors
7. White granulated sand (Link: Michaels Sand Granules / White)
8. Paint palette

What you do:

1. Cut the card stock paper into little scaly pieces of different sizes (like a curved triangle_. You will have to make a lot for 3 eggs; this can be very time consuming and annoying, honestly (but you’ll be so relieved when you’re finally done).
2. Clean and dry your eggs. Use a pencil to draw lines as strips around the egg as a base for sticking your scales.
3. Start by sticking the first scale at the bottom. Use hot glue across the middle of the scale and firmly stick it on. Keep doing this all around the circle.
4. For the circle right above, offset the first scale in between the bottom two, and stick the top of the scale. Keep doing this all around until you reach the top of the egg. Make sure you use the fatter scales at the bottom and the thinner ones as you get to the top. Do this for all 3 eggs.
5. Use the spray paint to color the eggs green, red and white. You will have to use 3-4 coats. Let it dry for 24 hrs.
6. Add some sand in 3 cups of the palette and spray paint each color into each cup. Mix uniformly to get green, red and white sand.
7. Add some matte mod podge to the base of the egg and add the corresponding colored sand to the bottom of the egg to give it an old, buried, fossilized look. You can haphazardly also coat a few scales. Repeat this for all eggs and let dry.
   

   

   

   

   You can place them in a box lined with fake grass to complete the look. As you can see, I got a little impatient with the white egg so the scales aren’t evenly stuck on :(.

Flamenco inspired canvas art

I went to my first flamenco show 2 months ago and it was amazing. The crazy amazing energy these dancers had all night was incredible. They moved as if their feet didn’t touch the floor… It was awesome 😀

Here are some pictures from the event.

 

Anyway, I got inspired to create some form of art with flamenco in mind and after a combination of searching google for inspiration and random doodling, I came up with these.

3 canvases, painted bright yellow, drawn with pencil and painted over using black and red acrylic paints. I added some gemstone stickers and other accessories. It was a lot of fun and now my walls look so cheerful and bright 🙂

Here’s a pdf file of the images, if you would like to add your own spin to it. It’s not very clear but it will work just the same. Click on the link and save it on your computer: Template