Monday, April 30, 2012

Harry Potter Potions and Ingredients Decorations for a Party - Post #3

Good Monday Morning everyone!

Today I am going to take a moment to go over some detailed props I made for my son's Harry Potter Birthday party. The Potions Class was one of my detailed labors of love.


This is my Herb Shelf in my Potions Cabinet for our Potions class. There are a lot of items pulled right out of the yard and placed in jars, leaves, un-ripened fruit (it's early spring here), grass, flowers, etc. One jar is labeled "Floobber Worm Parts" and I took hot glue and squeezed it into a large jar of cold water once a "worm" was created I took it out and did it over and over again. I have tissue paper cut into scales of dragons. Be creative! The other ingredients I purchased at a garage sale ... here is how the bargaining went.
 
"Excuse me, I have an odd questions... Can I purchase this Dusty Potpourri from inside this beautiful bowl you want $3 for?" - I said to the lady...
"Um.... (baffled look on her face) Sure how about $1" - the seller replied.
I said to her "How about $0.50?"

And the deal was made! This potpourri was full of seed pods and wood chips in many shapes, sizes and species. I also searched high and low for different bottles and jars and at thrift stores and such... out here they were still so expensive. I searched for them here at garage sales and that is where I found the best deals. I was lucky some realtors in our community hosted a huge garage sale day with a map and all... I hit upwards of 30 yard sales this past weekend and found numerous deals and still walked away from a few.
Here is my cabinet prior to the swap meet bizarre today our church put on where I found a box of glass baby bottles. They were perfect! We drug this lawyer cabinet from the Hubby's office.
 See that very tall apothecary jar on the top... that was a garage sale find for $1! And it even came with a "ambiance" layer of dust and grease for free, how did they know I would appreciate that for my party? LOL! (and yes, I didn't clean it...yet... I am waiting till after the party)

 The above photo is of some of my sea life potions and ingredients. The baby shark in the jar in the back is my son's souvenir from Hawaii from my Hubby a few years ago. The sea horses in the mason jar are from the $1 Store in a large pack of sea live toys. The Coral (all of them) I got for $1 at a yard sale... SCORE! That stuff is expensive (and I will add it to my bathroom after this anyway.) Off to look at some labels and more details...
 I adhered...all of these with... um... dare I say it? Hot glue! (not Helmar) I know FOR SHAME!!!
 But really, a few of these are borrowed... I would like to donate or resell some of the others after the party...
 and Helmar... well their glue is just too good to waste a small bottle on when I am just going to try to tear off the labels after the party anyway... If I used Helmar, I would not be able to remove them.
 Hot Glue on glass is easy to remove once it is cooled a bit. It pops right off!
 I guess that is the sign of a good Helmar Glue... to know what glue is right for the job. LOL!

The last potion bottle I want to share with you is this beauty... I love it so much because it was such a great deal and all I had to do was put a label on it... it was filled this way and the symbol on the front was perfect! This was a total of $0.25 at a garage sale... a whole 1/2 off their asking price. Hehe!


I fallowed this ladies tutorial HERE on how to cover the tops of the jars with coffee filters... only I don't drink coffee and the filters are in my craft room for use with glitter. I stained mine with a bit of water, soy sauce and a squirt of an oil based dark walnut scratch repair liquid. (I had it on hand) I love how the oils and water don't mix... when you go to soak anything in there the oils at the top swirl around and take the the paper in different patters.

I found a ton of free printable all over the internet so I would have to design up my own.
Here are some on Flicker.
Free printables HERE.
More HERE,
I also liked these ones HERE.
Here is my favorite Polly Juice Potion one and a few more on the same sheet.
I got several like my Gillyweed from these... HERE.

Leave a comment below about what you liked or are looking forward to see in the video... I will try to answer your questions in the video or show you what you wanted to see.

PS - For more posts about this party please see the links below:
Eats and Treats:
The Three Broomsticks - Butterbeer, Polly Juice Punch and more
Honeydukes Candy Display - 24 different candies
Owlery Cupcake Tower 
The Golden Snitch Cake  

Fun and Fancy:
Prisoner of Askaban Wanted Poster Photo Booth
DIY Olivander's Wands DIY

Party Decor and More:
Potions Cabinet Details DIY
Video of Helmar DIY projects for Harry Potter Party

Invitations and Printables:
Owl Post - Hogwarts Acceptance Letter Invitations mailed Owl Post 
Publications - DAILY PROPHET and the QUIBBER props 
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