Spell Book

Tutorial

Home-Made Harry potter spell book prop

There is a great spell book prop floating around pinterest that I fell in love with.  So, during our last girl’s night I thought, 

“oh yes, this is happening”

craftgawker.com

   But when I went to the website that has the book, there was no instruction.  It had a description of the book, a couple of pictures and the websites that the creator found the digital art to create the pages for the book in photo shop.  So, i did the best I could, but my creation was a far cry from the beautiful picture that I was trying to copy.

Booooooooo!

  i was frustrated, I wanted to find a full tutorial along with a print out that i could just click on and print.  i didn’t want to spend the day trying to put together pages in photo shop.  anyway, I'm lucky enough to have an incredibly artistic husband who took pity on me and agreed to help me create my pages, from scratch, hand drawn!  With his help, this is what i ended up with...

RIGHT?!

So, for those of you that love the way this turned out and that don't want to spend hours hunting and searching on the computer and putting together something in photo shop, you've come to the right place.  

You will need:

• a hard cover book you don't mind ruining.  Mine was about 6 inches wide and 9 inches long and those are the dimensions for the jpeg files you can print from the bottom of this post.
• two sheets of scrap book paper.  my hubby chose out the decorative kind with cool scrolls for effect and i loved it.  be creative, do what you like, but make sure you choose something that has a tan or sepia toned background.
• Black spray paint
• sand paper or scissors.  anything you can use to rough up the edges of your book and give it that "been-around-since-dumbledore-was-born" look.
• acrylic and/or water color paint.  the acrylic colors my man used to paint the edges of the pages was burnt sienna.  we also used russet and Bambi brown for added effect, including the cup ring at the top right corner of the right page.
• spray adhesive or your choice of adhesive to attach the finished pages to the book.  i had some spray adhesive around which is quick and easy to use, but you could also use scrap book adhesive or tape.  I would avoid any wet glue like rubber cement or Elmer's, it will wrinkle your pages.
• 12 inch black ribbon
• hot glue and gun

Start by preparing the book.  Remember, this is a prop, it's not meant to be picked up and handled and flipped threw.  so open the book to the middle and just know, that's where it's going to stay for the rest of it's book life. :)  Spray paint the outside cover and inside cover black (ironically, the book i used was actually called paint it black).  

Next distress the edges of the book's pages using scissors, sandpaper, or what ever you want.  you can use water colors, it gets the book good and wet and makes it easy to distress but then you have to wait for it to dry.  after it dried i used a pencil to roll the corners.  Then i ended up using the acrylic paint to finish it off.  I felt like the acrylic gave a fuller color and looked prettier than the water colors.

admit it, this is way easy and fun so far, right?

Now, let's get the pages ready.  we saved you the trouble of re-inventing the wheel.  my totally muscly and artistic husband generously allowed me to create a pdf file that you can purchase in our etsy store for only $5.00!  Click here to purchase the 9"x6" drawings and here to purchase the 12"x9" drawings.  they are an instant download that you can then print out on the paper of your choice.  I recommend using something that has color to help with the aged appearance.  turbo easy!

Now, grab out your burnt sienna paint again and use paint brushes and brush the edges to look distressed.  i don't recommend actually distressing these pages or painting over them, be gentle.  they are too pretty to hurt!  this is how ours looked when they were done.

You have to admit, that looks way, way better than my first try.  I bet yours looks just as great.

K, the rest is simple.  Spray the back of the pages with the spray adhesive and place them directly onto the pages in the book.  do a bit more curing of the corners.  use hot glue to glue the end of the ribbon onto the back spine of the book for the book mark.  stick it in a cool table easel or lay flat with creepy junk around it and you, my friend, have created an amazing addition to your Halloween decor that is a true original.

Don't have the time to make a book of your own?  Click here to visit our shop on Etsy and place your order for your very own spell book!

happy haunting!

<3, Sharla

How cool is this?  We had a follower send us her completed spell book, and it turned out awesome! Love the ribbon, what a good idea.  Send us a pic of yours, we'd love to add it to the collection!  Thanks, Michele!

Cookie

Monsters

So, Halloween is upon us, and it just so happens to be my favorite holiday.  So, keep checking in with us, you are sure to find many ideas for halloween decor, treats and ideas.

Cookie Monsters

As for today, it’s a simple one, but it’s fun (and delicious).  Here’s what you’ll need:

2 cups milk chocolate chips

1 package oreo cookies (I like double stuff)

1 package candy eye balls (I got mine from Orso Gygi, 50 for $1.99, but i have also seen them at Target in their Halloween treat section)

Sprinkles

Parchment Paper

Before you start, get all of your supplies out and ready.  Chocolate can be tricky, so you don’t want to heat it and then let it sit cooling while you get your things out.  Lay out your parchment paper, cookies, eyes and sprinkles so it’s all at arms reach.

In a microwave safe bowl, heat your chocolate chips in 30 second intervals, stirring in between each 30 seconds.  When they are mostly smooth just stir until all the chocolate is melted.  You want to be careful with chocolate.  Heating it too much can ruin it and also make it too runny for dipping.

The rest is simple.  Work in groups of 10 cookies at a time.  With washed hands dip one oreo at a time completely in the chocolate.  Pull out the cookie and Let the chocolate run off and give the edge of the cookie a little scrape to remove all of the excess chocolate.  Lay it on the paper.  If you leave an empty spot where your finger was, just get a little chocolate on your finder and tap it in the empty area in a straight up and down motion.  The chocolate will cover the area and leave a pretty little design on top.

Once you’ve done one set of 10 take a moment and place the eyes on and give it a sprinkle.  Be creative, have fun, let the kid-o's help out.  Let cool completely and scare up some holiday fun!

<3, Sharla