Polyjuice Potion

I've mentioned before I'm kind of a nerd.

I think this post may provide proof of my nerdiness. 

I love the Harry Potter books.   

No seriously… LOVE them.  

Don't you worry, I've got my tickets for this weekend!  I can't wait. 

So it turns out it's also genetic, because my siblings are huge fans themselves.  

I'm sure we could argue for days about who is the bigger fan, who actually loves the books more and ultimately no one would be crowned king or queen of Harry Potter nerdiness because we are all extremely stubborn so no one would surrender the glory of that title.  

And that was a huge run on sentence.  

Anyway…

So back in November we got together for a party.  It was in celebration of the upcoming Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows part 1.  (Although the movies in no way replace the book, how could they?  We do enjoy the movies).  Naturally I saw it as another chance to decorate something, and I set up a potions table. 

Complete with a potions book!

These photo's don't include the food.  Everyone brought potluck Harry Potter style (treacle tarts, pumpkin pasties etc…)  And we set it up around the decor.  I was busy stuffing my face and attempting to destroy my siblings in a game of "Harry Potter Scene It."  I couldn't be bothered with photos;).

Now I hope you are all forgiving.   Sometimes I spend so much time making sure something visually looks right that I totally mess up.  For example… I SPELLED INGREDIENTS WRONG.  Honestly!    Even better... it's large text and very noticeable.  Unfortunately I'm not a witch, so I can't just wave my wand and say Reparo.  So "ingredents" will stay.  Oh well.
(Shhhh... don't tell, but I goofed somewhere else too. I don't know where my brain was at when I was making it). 

I did some research for this one.  Piecing together what I could from both the book and the movie to get the polyjuice potion as correct as possible.  With the exception of the word ingredients… gggrrrrrrrr… I think I'm pretty spot on.  I purchased a medical book from the thrift store.  After roughing it up (getting it wet, taking sand paper to the edges and just beating the snot out of it), I ran black and brown ink pads over the edges.  Then I added a little yellow and brown paint to a cup of water and painted with it all over the edges.  I created and printed out the polyjuice potion recipe and glued it into the book.  For the final touch I splashed a bit of that yellow/brown water onto it as well.  I wanted it to look like a little of the potion from the caldron had splattered on it.   I didn't forget the outside either.  I painted it and titled it Most Potente Potions.  

It will make a fun addition to my halloween decor.

I labeled a bunch of thrift store find bottles with Harry Potter potions and ingredients.  I also grabbed a couple of extra old looking books at the thrift store and gave them titles of books from Harry Potter.  Then I added a bunch of my halloween stuff and there you have it!

I think the half blood prince would be proud! 

Just incase you're wanting to create your own... here are the fonts I used.

VTKS Black Label (normal)

Ligeia

Cardinal

"That might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff is the stuff I remember the most." -Russell

Yesterday I was driving to the store and a house caught my eye.  It was quite far away from where I was but VERY noticeable.  

Bright COLOR everywhere… with awesome aqua trim.  

I thought… I need to check that out.  But continued on my way and forgot about it.  Then later that night we were sitting around doing nothing important (so naturally I was perusing Facebook) and a post from the Herriman city page seemed to explain what the mystery aqua trim house was.  My thought was... 

"No way!"  

So I grabbed the keys and forced my family in the car.  They knew nothing… only we were going to go see something cool.  And I was mentally crossing my fingers that it would be cool, because I hadn't actually seen it.  

As we drove down the street towards the mystery house my husband stated…. "Wow, that's a colorful house."  I replied "Now imagine thousands of balloons floating above it." He then exclaimed what I had earlier thought  "No way!"  

and we pulled up to see this….

Yep, its a full functioning exact replica of the house from UP.  And it's about the cutest thing ever!  A few other cars loaded with kids were also stopping in front of it.  Everyones mouth agape.  We got out of the car and peeked in the windows.  It even has the hose in front and the fireplace mantle with the painting from the movie above it.  So darling!

There was a nice lady out with her camera getting ready to take some photo's.  We apologized for being in the way and she said she'd be happy to snap our photo.  I thought she'd just use our camera phone, but she was nice enough to use her fancy camera and emailed us the photo's.  So all credit of these photo's go to the sweet lady with the camera.  Her name is Jenetta Roberts and here is her webpage!  www.jeanettarobertsphotography.com

Thanks Jenetta!  It was lovely to meet you!

(I do apologize for the messiness of my family in the photo's… we were not camera ready.  In fact Momo has dinner on his face and sometimes I rebel against showering and make-up…and yesterday was one of those days.  I'm just amazed we had shoes on).

So would you buy this house???  I kinda think I would.  Especially if I was a grandma… how much fun for the grandkids,  every trip to Grandpa and Grandma's would be magic, snipe hunting would be a must and I'd totally get a cane for J and attach tennis balls to the feet!

And P.S. 

I just discovered who the builder of this home is.  They have a blog with more pics!   Check them out here….

Bangerter Homes

June Bugs

I over did it… as usual just because I can do something… doesn't mean I have time to!  This is a tough concept for me, because really who wouldn't want to do everything?!  But the last few months of spring kicked my trash.  So I took care of the things I promised I'd do, and then once school was out I've spent my time playing with my kids.

Pure silly bliss!!!   

I've also be slaving away in the yard.   Last summer I completely neglected it.  So this summer I've been paying for my lack of weeding.  However it has been fabulous!  

There is something magical about blossoms, earth and fresh air!   

We released a bag of 2000 lady bugs into the garden a couple nights ago.  To be honest I gave into my kids relentless "please…please….PLEASE" as they goggled at the bag of bugs on the counter at the nursery.  I'm so glad I submitted to their begging, in fact I'm thinking it may be a nice independence weekend tradition.  Ride liked the idea of it but once one of those red polka dotted beauties crawled onto her little hand she flipped!  But Momo and Scooter were in crawling critter heaven.

  Little blushing lady bugs…. EVERYWHERE!  

After we had a dessert of frosted patriotic sugar cookies on the porch and then went through a bag of those charcoal growing and glowing snake fireworks, my kids love those messy things.

...to all of you fabulous followers, and also to all the lady bugs in my garden!

P.S.  Stay tuned, I'm back playing in my studio too!!!