12 Tags of Christmas - 2023

On the first tag of a tags I made a Christmas tree, with a few gifts and a golden star.

On the second day of Tags I folded lots of circles, and put them all together with joy.

On the third day of tags I lit a candle bright, with a Merry Christmas ribbon sentiment. 

On the fourth day of tags Santa came to say, "a Merry Christmas" with a wink to you.

On the fifth day of tags the weather called for snow, and we wore our stocking caps and cozy mittens.

On the sixth day of tags Santa can to visit us with his fuzzy beard and pom pom red hat.

On the seventh day of tags Mrs. Santa followed suit, with her sweet embroidered apron, glasses and cute bun.

On the eighth day of tags a little penguin waddled in with a polka dot hat and plaid scarf.

On the ninth day of tags I wore a reindeer sweater, the ugliest of sweaters you've ever seen.

On the tenth day of tags Frosty sang a song to me, with a plaid scarf to help him keep warm (but not melt!).

On the eleventh day of tags the cold weather made me shiver, and wear a snuggly stocking hat for warmth.

On the twelfth (and last) day of tags, a tag is what we get, with a ho ho ho and gift from me to you!

Always a fun challenge to participate in, but how many new tags can we make each year! We'll see!

Here's wishing lots of Christmas joy to all of you.

Happy, Happy Christmas to you all!

Sunny's Box of Fun

 Since big brother recently received cool boxes of fun stuff, it was only fitting to make little brother his own box of fun. This little 4-year-old loves little things and containers. He loves taking marbles and pouring them into another container, and then another, and then the dump truck, and back into a container. So I made this box over in his favorite themes.
Obviously, he loves Bluey, Gabby, Mickey Mouse, Molang and the like. So, I tried to use a few on his box.

I made small boxes, mostly 2.5"x2.5" and decorated in different themes.

Then filled them with small trinkets related to each theme.

They all fit into the box for lots of fun. Sorry, Mommy, that you may inadvertently step on something small and pointed. But, I think you've had lots of practice with things like this.

Merry Christmas, Sunny!

 

Harry Potter Box (Addendum) Pt 2

 Related to my last post, Harry Potter Book Box, I decorated another box (addendum), adding more printables, many of which would not fit in the original book box. I didn't make this box, just added the overlays and binding.

The binding was done similar to that of the original book box. I used kraft-tex paper with gold htv for the design.

The box I used was a shirt box with a magnet fastener on the front flap. I scuffed up the shiny finished and added the digi cardstock to it, as well as some gold paint at the folds.

I added many printables obtained from Wizardry Workshop. Many of these printables were free. There are some reserved for Patreon, which I gladly joined because I wanted to support his amazing HP memorabilia. Thanks, Danny!

Inside view of the box. You can tell I just about filled it up.

If you saw the original post you would have seen a letter of acceptance to Hogwart's. For this box I made another letter and left it blank. Also made it a little smaller. He can write his own letters and use his sealing wax as the closure.

Speaking of sealing wax, I had gifted him a sealing stamp of the Hogwart's emblem. To go along with this newer box I bought him a set of sealing stamps with the four houses emblems, a 9-3/4 stamp and a DA (Dumbledor's Army). There is a brown fabric cover on the little box, so I used htv and pressed on the Hogwart's emblem on the front.

This next one is the OWL (Ordinary Wizarding Levels) study guide and the test. You can see Ron studying the study guide in the dining hall in one movie. In another you can see them taking the wizarding text, all folded open.

Next we have a menu to the Leaky Cauldron. Danny mentioned that the pricing was all correct as of the time he visited the Leaky Cauldron at Harry Potter World in Florida (probably a few years ago by now). And, added some house emblem stickers.

Next, a map of Diagon Alley, printed on 11"x17" paper.

And the Programme for the 422nd Quidditch World Cup, along with three tickets.

Here is a printed Maruauder's Map, made at 11"x17". These can also be printed on 8.5"x11", as well as even larger tiled sheets and glued together. There are also lots of inserts you can make and glue into the map, including stair cases and foot prints.

Next we have a couple of more books, one on astronomy and one on chiromancy.

Next we have two howlers. The first is Ron's, which he receives from his mom after he took the family car to get he and Harry back to Hogswarts. It came to him while in the dining hall. The second one was sent to Harry when he returned back to the Dursley's home after he and Dudley were attacked by dementors.  I didn't realize that howlers can come in many different versions. I'd like to see others, if they exist.

Then there's the Daily Prophet newspaper. Printed on 11"x17", then put two together for a full spread of 22"x17".

And, lastly, the Quibbler magazine.

Along with all of the printables, I made some flying keys. My grandson has a secret room under the stairs in their home. It is a place he can go to read. It has a little book shelf, a bean bag/pillow area, and is such a cute little unfinished area. You'd never know it was there if you opened the hall closet. There's no indication of what lies behind. I also made some floating candles. I set these all up on Christmas Eve, after the kids were in bed.

I think that may cover it. This was great fun...a bit obsessive on my part, but so worth it.

May the Force Be With You...Oops, wrong movie franchise!

...Always

Harry Potter Book Box

This will be a longer post. I made this project for my grandboy's 9th birthday. He's really into Harry Potter, now reading the 6th book. 

I saw the pattern for this on Miss Mandee's blog. She provides a multitude of cut files and great projects for free. When I saw this one I knew I had to make it. I was a little overwhelmed with the extent of the instructions. I had previously found a shadow box frame that I really liked from Birds Designs, Picture Perfect Collection. So, I decided I'd just make the entire project on my own, using a couple lovely graphics of Miss Mandee's on the lids of the boxes.

I'll go through some of the steps I took to make it. I was using two of the box frames, which are 1"x1" sides. However, I wanted one to be 1.5" edge for a deeper box. So, I altered the pattern to be that size. I also wanted this to be stronger than just cardstock, so I lined all of the cardstock with chipboard.

I also wanted the door of the boxes to have magnets to hold them closed. I made a bridge in the bottom box to have two separate compartments, and an overlay for the top of each frame. Magnets are embedded under that overlay and between the two layers of the lids.

For the lid, I wanted to use images of Miss Mandee's, which are beautiful. I also wanted to use my foil quill in silver for the back lid. I first cut the cuttable part of the lid on white cardstock and removed the center (the lid). I then cut only the lid from the dark blue cardstock. I put the blue lid onto the mat inside the outer portion of the white cardstock so that my cutter could read the registration marks. I then did just the draw part (the image) using the foil quill, which transferred the metallic silver onto the dark blue cardstock. It turned out beautifully.

Removed the inside.

Then placed the blue lid inside the cut out on the white. This way, the cutter could read the registration marks for placement of the image.

And, here's how it looks:

Since there are two layers of the dark blue door/lid, I glued the left edge of one along the top of the box frame and the other down the side of it. and, before gluing the two tops together I inserted the second magnet in between. The other magnet was inserted into the actual frame. Once all of the magnets were inserted and the lids glued on, I put the overlay to cover up any raw edges.

I used the top section for a sealing wax set. I made a matching box with it's own magnet closure to put the wax chips in. I made a window with acetate so you could see inside. 

 

Next I made second box with a 1"x1" edge. I was able to do a regular print-2-cut, since the background was parchment and the registration marks were easily viewed by the cutter. This one was one large section.  Again I used Miss Mandee's artwork on the lid. I designed the artwork on the inside of the box and the overlay.

Inside this parchment box I put a birthday Hogwarts' acceptance letter, personalized for my grandboy. I also made a little Gringotts' money holder, as we gave him the cash to buy his wand when he goes to Universal Studios this week. I also inserted a book mark, and a mini Book of Spells. The Book of Spells came from Wizardry Workshop (Danny). What an amazing site he has. He gives away tons of free DIY printables. 

The Book of Spells

Hogsmeade coupons and Night bus tickets.

I'll be adding more printables; just didn't have time to get them printed before his birthday.

Next the binding of the book box has a drawer on the bottom of the back side. In it I put some HP pencils and a mini Dumbledor wand/ink pen. All of this was made with heavy chipboard.

The covers were made with chipboard and printed cardstock using digi paper purchased on Etsy. I also purchased the book border images and placed multiple borders together to fit across the 12" cardstock (it took two). I also printed all of the parchment patterned cardstock. The bottom/back cover was one solid piece. The front one was in two pieces with a little space between for a hinge. I used some book binding tape to support the area of the fold.

I made a hinge with magnets to hold the book closed. Two layers of cardstock, with some Tyvek between to make it stronger. I used brads to secure it to the chipboard before gluing the box frames in.

The lower section in the dark blue box had night bus tickets, coupons and a Hogwart's ID (personal info has been deleted), as well as a time-turner keychain. I'll be making more printables to add to it.

Lastly, I made the binding from Kraft Tex. This is an untearable thick paper product. It's pretty stiff, so I went to YouTube to see if you could wash it and soften it up. And, I could, so that helped immensely. I crumpled the Kraft Tex up as much as I could, over and over again. Once it was sufficiently crumpled, I washed it. It made it so much more pliable. I then ironed it. I used a test piece to see if I could use the foil quill on it, but it was a fail (it could have easily been user error). So, I cut out the binding art with gold htv, then pressed it onto the Kraft Tex. It worked wonderfully.

A few add-ons:
I made some Gringotts checks and receipts, as well as some Platform 9-3/4's tickets and some Hogwarts Express stickers.

And here is a Hogwarts diploma. I left the name blank for this post, but of course his has his name on it.

And, it was finally done. I spent a lot of sleepless nights just thinking about each step. I think that was the most exhausting part. But, I'm pleased with the outcome, as was my grandboy. 

He (well, and his mom) got 1st place for best hand/homemade costume. This was my daughter's first time sewing anything, ever. She did a fabulous job on it.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy!