Welcome Muggles, Part II

Welcome! Welcome to my Harry Potter Shrine! (Yeah... I'm cool like that. He he. Hey- please just let me indulge in my Harry Potter nerdiness, okay?) You may remember my shrine from last year... well, it's out of control this year. Halloween is the perfect time of the year to indulge in a bit of Harry Potter goodness. I'm not one to leave this collection out all year, but I do love it at Halloween time. I guess it's my version of "grown up" Halloween decor... not too scary, too gory, or too juvenile. Yeah, yeah... I know these decorations are based off of a book series written for children, but it's such a wonderful, imaginative world.

This shrine is situated near the entry of my house. I've got a lot going on here, so how about a little tour? (Warning: Lots of photos and hyperlinks for your viewing pleasure.)

J.K. Rowling's books are so descriptive, imaginative, and amazing that it wasn't difficult to gather ideas and inspiration. In the above photo is the Sorting Hat that is introduced in the first novel when the children are being sorted into their houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The sorting hat in the book speaks, and so does this one! If you come by to visit me in October, you can count on being sorted as soon as you walk in the door.

These are some of my favorite props... The Marauder's Map, Hermione's wand, and Harry's iconic spectacles. I have to admit, I got goosebumps the first time I opened the Marauder's Map. It's folded, and opens up just like the one in the film... minus the magic. (Bummer!) I would have tinkled my panties if there were footprints on it that appeared and moved, like the "real" map. The wand is hand carved mahogany. Isn't it beautiful? I purchased it from a "wand shop" at the Renaissance Faire that I went to recently. The wand vendor was fun... he really played up the part and presented the wand just as spectacularly as Ollivander himself would have...well, almost.

Here, we have Hagrid's lantern, Professor Dumbledore's phoenix named Fawkes (a fabulous gift from my fellow Potter-lovin' friend Lisa), and a beautiful gold foiled ticket for the Hogwarts Express... departing at Platform 9-3/4, of course!

Here, we have a ticket for the Knight Bus. Hmmmm... I guess I need a shrunken head to go with this, like the one hanging near the driver of the bus. Maybe next year...

This is the flying winged key with the broken wing, as written about in the first book. Actually, I've changed this to a silver key since this photo was taken. It's actually supposed to be a silver key with bright blue wings. (That's if you're die-hard-into-details. I'm sure I don't have all the details perfect, so please go easy on me.) Anyway...I was so excited to find skeleton keys at Michael's. All I had to do was create a pattern for the wings, trace them onto vellum paper, cut them out, fold them, and glue them to the key. How's that for a tutorial?

This is just another gratuitous shot of the flying keys over my dining room table, because... well, I just can't get over myself. He he. I really, really love how these turned out.

These lovely spectacles are Luna Lovegood's "spectrespecs"...they allegedly allow her to see wrackspurts.

... and this is Luna! She's one of my favorite characters in the books. She's sort of a kindred spirit. She's also the best dressed character, in my humble opinion. She knows how to accessorize, that's for sure. She created her own dirigible plum (radish) earrings and her butterbeer cork necklace. (She claims that her butterbeer cork necklace repels nargles.) I love her quirkiness!

And last, but not least... you can see Hedwig (Harry's owl) in his cage and Harry's "beginner broom". (Better view of the broom in photo #2.) It looks just like the one in the first film, when the first year students are learning how to fly their brooms for the first time. According to the lady I bought it from, this broom came from England. Hmmm... could it be? Oh, and no-- I didn't buy it in a back alley or an old, spooky pub. I bought it at a vintage fair a couple of years ago.

Oh, and how could I forget my favorite? Hagrid felt that it was only proper that he was included in the photo. Dang, that's a cute dog.

Well, thank you for touring my Harry Potter Shrine. I hope you enjoyed it! I'm looking forward to having a few close friends over this weekend. After all-- having gone to all the effort to display all these Harry Potter Halloween decorations, I might as well celebrate the magic!

Hugs,

PS: I'm partying with Tatertots & Jello, Fairly Fabulous Blog!, The Girl Creative, Get Your Craft On