Harry Potter Invitations

As many of my blog readers know, Carma and I are hosting a Harry Potter marathon in a couple of weeks. We just finished up the invitations last night. We had a lot of fun coming up with the idea for the invites. We wanted them to look like parchment with a wax seal on the back.

Carma making invitations

While Carma kept herself busy printing, measuring, and cutting out the invitations, I worked on making the wax seals. I carved a stamp to use as the seal design. It took a few tries before I got down how much wax to use for each seal. We used wax seal sticks that you put in a hot glue gun.  When I switched from the red to the gold colored wax, the gold ones ended up with a swirl of red in them. I really like how it made them look.

Hogwarts Wax Seals

We got all the invites folded and used adhesive dots to attach the seals.

Sorry that the photos are a little hard to see. We have horrible lighting in our house. I tried using the flash on my camera, but everything came out so shiny that it was hard to tell what the photo was of.  I just now saw the typo at the end of the invitation. It says to RSVP by owl post of muggle telephone. Should say or muggle telephone. Oops! I guess it's a little late now since we've sealed them all.

Invitation Text

When we finished, we had a nice pile of invitations. Carma and I made ones for ourselves just because they looked really cool and we wanted one to keep.

The finished invitations

We addressed each invite like Harry's Hogwarts letter, listing their name, address, and the cupboard under the stairs.

We've had so much fun making everything for this event. I know that everyone who comes is going to have a great time! I will be glad when this is over, though. We've been putting this together for the last eight months now, and it will be nice to relax. I might go a little stir crazy at home for a while afterwords because every night I come home and work on Harry Potter stuff. What will I do with my time when this is over?

Making Progress: Week Nine

I've been making the logbooks for all those who attend the Harry Potter Marathon that Carma and I are hosting in a few weeks. The following photos show a few of the steps it takes to put the books together.
First, I had to create my own paper for the covers because I couldn't find any Harry Potter paper that I liked. I used wordle.net to create it. Once I find the link, I will add it on here so it can be used by any who want it. Once I had the paper made, I had to cut it down to the right size, slightly bigger than the chipboard.

Chipboard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then had to cut the chipboard to the correct size, glue my paper to it, and fold over and glue the edges. Next I had to put an inside cover on. I just used some green paper that looked good with the colors on the outside cover.

Finished Covers

The next step was to make the pages. I cut white card stock (8 1/2 x 11) into 1/4 sheets. I put 25 of these sheets with each set of covers. I then had to punch the holes in the covers and all of the pages. Carma has some nifty tools that make this really easy. I cut some binding down to the right size and bound everything together. I made 14 of these logbooks, plus a couple of larger ones for Carma and I.

The Finished Product

Having these logbooks done brings me one step closer to being ready for our marathon! I'm really excited for this event!

Magnatisim: Week Eight

Do you ever stop to think about how the front of your fridge might look to others? Does how you arrange your magnets say something about your personality? Do you even have magnets on your fridge? While I don't know if how the front of your fridge looks can tell you anything about a certain person's personality, I find it interesting to look at what people put on their fridge. Our fridge in our home, pictured at right, has magnets from places we've visited, photos we've taken, phone numbers, recipes, etc. If you look on the very right side towards the middle of the fridge you will even see a small first aid kit.
Our fridge has a little bit of every thing on it. I have seen fridges that are covered in photos of loved ones, hold the family schedule on a magnetic calender, or are completely naked. I would love to find out what this says about us. Ours may look like we are messy people, but I actually like to have things very organized. That's not to say that our house doesn't need a good cleaning, we have 3 dogs and a cat after all, and animal hair and dog toys can be found all throughout the house. Living in the mountains also means that the house tends to get very dusty very fast.
I'm interested in knowing what your take on "Magnet Personality" is. Does it mean anything? What does your fridge look like? Just some odd questions for you to ponder.

Recent Events: Week Seven

Last Saturday I went to my youngest nephew's first birthday party. Grayson is such a cute little guy and had a lot of fun with his "smash cake".

He was a little hesitant about the cake at first. This didn't last very long as you will soon see in the pictures that follow this one.

 

He decided the cake was really fun. It was a bonus that everyone was laughing and taking photos of him. The next picture is one I like to call "Chocolate Covered Lover" because it looks like he is blowing a kiss.

Clean up time was not as much fun for him as cake eating time, but he was a very messy boy.

He has gotten to be such a good walker, and enjoyed having people all over to walk to.

With Grandma Kathe

With Aunt Cathi

All in all it was a fun day, though I did get a sunburn.

                                                             

Ground Level Photos: Week Six

Sometimes I get in such a hurry to take pictures that I just snap them from where I'm standing and don't stop to think if maybe there is a better angle. I try to make a point of getting down lower to take pictures more.

Lilies that Carma and I planted last Saturday. They didn't last very long due to the fact that the dogs decided they were good to eat. All we have left of them is the stems.






Tali and Suri weren't quite sure what I was doing laying on the ground with my camera and decided they needed to investigate.

Tali

Suri

Look, Mom! I'm crawling!

Grayson and Blew on Easter

Blew handled that curious lil guy like a pro. He liked grabbing her fur and ears.

Sometimes it's hard to take photos of kids and animals from the ground. They like to walk right up to you to see what it is your doing. I try to catch them unaware, but don't succeed very often.

Three Things In Common: Week Five

Do you know what these three images have in common? Take a good look, and if you think you know the answer, post it in a comment below.

Stamps that I carved

I'm interested to see who can guess what the images have in common!

Wild Animals: Week Four

I am very fortunate to live in an area that buzzes with wildlife. This time of year the deer and the elk are out. The Canadian Geese are all up and down the highway with the little goslings starting to hatch. Osprey are plentiful as well along the highway. The marmots have started sunbathing along the road, though they tend to sunbath ON the road sometimes and end up, let's just say, not as alive as they used to be. If I'm lucky, I may catch sight of a bald eagle. Then there are the wild animals that you wish you didn't see on a daily basis, such as the numerous vultures that have started populating the area. I'm always thankful to have such a beautiful drive to and from work.

Yellow Finch

I've always enjoyed taking pictures of wildlife. Sometimes you have to take a lot of pictures to get a good one. This photo was taken in Island Park on Joyce's back porch. I sat out there for at least an hour, probably longer, taking pictures of the birds. The color on this finch was so vibrant.

It's also great to have a sister who lives so close to Yellowstone National Park. We go at least once a year, usually more, and have seen many wild animals as a result. This photo of

Black Bear

this black bear was taken from quite a distance. I've been fortunate to see a good number of black bears in the park over the years.

Whether it's something as simple as taking a photo of some ducks in the creek behind our house, or chancing upon a moose on a hike, the wild animals around us give such pleasure.