Harry Potter and the painted t-shirt

I realize this blog is on the verge of becoming exclusively about our Harry Potter obsession. I'm sorry about that. I swear I'll fix that soon, just not today.

 We leave for our surprise vacation  to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in ONE DAY.  I'm so freaking excited.

Remember, we're going in honor of our twins turning 9 and 3/4.  Through Pinterest, I found this awesome 9 and 3/4 shirt.  I decided to follow her lead and make one of my own (well, two, since they were for twins).  I, however, cannot leave well enough alone.

So I ran with that idea and decided to make a HP charm necklace shirt complete with 9 and 3/4 painted on the side.

I admit I did a somewhat sloppy job.  The red "beads" are dots of red paint, but the paint was too watery and they bled a bit.  The blue chain is painted using a straw as a stamp.  I love the way it turned out.  

Can you identify all the charms?  

I was particularlly interested in whether or not people had any clue what the blue shape next to Luna's glasses was.  

Any guesses?  

Spoiler alert

Take a guess.

Okay, if you're here, I assume either you guessed or you gave up.  It's Merlin's Pants.  Yes, I realize "Pants" refers to underwear, but I left that up to my kids and they decided they didn't want a pair of underwear on their shirt.  So American pants it is.  

Let me identify them all for you.

Gold "Chain":
That is, of course, the symbol of the Deathly Hallows.  It's also traced in glow-in-the-dark paint so it will, (duh) glow in the dark.

Hanging from the long blue "chain"
You'll find an owl.  I used iron-on fabric patches that you can find at most grocery stores.  This particular one was purchased at a Shop Rite 25 years ago, but, hey, it worked.  I sewed buttons and felt on for eyes.  There was a felt beak, but it fell off in the wash, so I'm just going to paint one on.

Towards the right, you'll see an F and G from the same iron-on patch.  Those are, of course, for Fred and George, or Gred and Forge.  My twins refer to themselves as Fred and George.  At camp, some of their friends didn't know their real names.  They knew them only as Fred and George.

 Red charm necklace

Starting from the upper left is an orange sock.  It's a sock for Dobby.  It's orange because Ron loves the Chudley Cannons and orange is their color.  

Next is a crown because "Weasley is our king."  

Next to that is a pair of glasses and a lighting bolt for Harry.  

Next comes a time turner.  I was inspired by this one on etsy.  I drew it with paint marker on iron on fabric transfer paper (It's not transfer paper where you have to print backwards and iron it on to fabric.  It's actual fabric treated on the back with iron-on webbing.  You're supposed to print directly on it and then iron it on.  I don't know if they still make this stuff.  It's from my stash and it's really old)  and then used some fabric paint and added glitter.  I then ironed it all on when it was done.  It was the only way I could think of to contain the glitter to a specific area and not get it all over the shirt.  I originally painted a light bulb there for Hermione, the "Brightest witch" of her age, but I didn't like the way it looked.  So I ironed the time turner over that.  

The next one says 62442 which not only spells "Magic" on the telephone, but is also the code used to access the Ministry of Magic from the guest entrance.  I used the same technique with iron-on fabric and wrote the numbers with marker.  

Next to that is an HP for "Harry Potter."  

After that you'll see Trevor, Neville's toad.  It's actually a frog charm that broke off of one of my daughters' necklaces.  I sewed it on through the ring and added a bit of stitch glue for added security.  

Then we have Merlin's pants.  I cut the shape out from the same patch used for the owl.  These are covering up a snitch I tried to paint, but which came out looking awful.  

Next are Luna's spectrespecs.  You might recognize those because I've crafted with them in the past.  I did these freehand using just the tip of the handle of the paintbrush.  

You'll see a lightning bolt next for Harry's scar.  

On the far upper right is a black cauldron.


Yellow "chain" in the center:

On the far left is a spider both for Aragog and for Ron's fear of them.

Center is a winged key from the challenge in the Sorcer's Stone.  That's another one I did freehand using inspiration from the Graphics Fairy and the tip of my paint brush handle.

Could you tell that was the sorting hat?  I added that to cover one of the warped wings from the snitch.  I think it turned out okay, but I'm not certain if everyone can identify it as such.

And, of course, there's the 9 and 3/4 painted on the side.

I want to add an F and G to the back of the shirts (I have another HP-themed t-shirt not shown here), but I haven't yet.

I should get on that, shouldn't I?  I'm running out of time.  

On Valentine's Day

When I was in high school, I wore black and protested the stupid made up commercialized holiday that is Valentine's Day.  When my husband and I started dating, we found we shared the same view of the day, so we never celebrated.

Once we had kids, though, my attitude changed.  I found myself longing for the school parties, the hand-made valentines covered in glitter and glue, the heart-shaped cookies.  The more I thought about it, the more those were all very much NOT what the day had come to symbolize for so many (expensive dinner and flowers or jewelry to flaunt in front of everyone else.  I saw someone share a photo of roses today with the note, "I have a good husband."  Um...what?  "Sit!  Stay!  Buy roses!  Good, boy.  Good husband.").  I can get behind a celebration that's about friendship and love.

We do tend to give the kids little trinkets, but that's not all the day's about.  Yes, one year, the big girls got giraffe rain boots they wanted, but another year, they got book marks I made out of cardboard, ribbons and stickers.  This year, they all got recorders I bought for 50 cents.

They decorated and sent cards to their grandparents and some friends.  Last year, we went to a party with one of our homeschool groups (and we all had a blast!  That was probably the most fun I've had on Valentine's Day as an adult).  Everyone gave and received tons of cards, we all shared awesome snacks, and we had a blast playing and chatting.

This year, I see more people than ever venting about Valentine's Day (or "Single Awareness Day").  Oh how I understand!  I am not at all a fan of what the day has come to symbolize.  But, hey, the day is what you make of it.  Cover it in glitter and top it off with heart-shaped cookies and you might just find you enjoy the day.