Harry Potter Celebration

This past week has been all about the bit Harry Potter Celebration! I was part of a winning team for a contest Scholastic held to commemorate 15 years since Harry Potter was first published. (Read about my excitement here!)

Erin and I have been working really hard to put this thing together. Tuesday was the big day and to our amazement everything came together perfectly. It was so much work and I was exhausted by the end of the day, however we both agreed that it was worth it and it made us love our jobs!

Now for your enjoyment, here is what we did throughout the entire celebration.

In an effort to hype it up I made a bulletin board display. I used some white oak tag and made a giant ticket to the Hogwarts Express. I drew the designs on the ticket with a brown sharpie and used my trusty silhouette machine to cut out the letters. To announce the program I made a proclamation board listing the program information. Above these items it says "Get Your Ticket to Hogwarts"

The display also features some of the contests we have going on, Book cover design contest and the Horcrux Hunt.

I came across the Horcrux Hunt on pinterest. It reminded me of our Where's Waldo contest that was quite a hit. I also thought it was a genius idea and tied into the series quite well. If you are in the midst of reading Harry Potter and not familiar with Horcruxes this may help. (Warning potential spoilers) So I printed out pictures of each of the notorious artifacts that became horcruxes and I hid them around the room. I made some entry forms and sent the kids on a scavenger hunt. Its a lot of fun to watch kids walk around the room trying to find them while I tease them with hints.

As a part of the 15 year anniversary Scholastic has re-issued the books with new cover art. I thought kids would also want to put their own spin on cover art. We made up a blank template and let kids make their own covers. Each submission is going into a raffle to win a copy of the book.

They had to enter via Platform 9 3/4

So we had the promotional stuff done, we needed to figure out the specifics of the program. Luckily our winning essay had it all mapped out but we just needed to iron out the details. Since we wanted to keep a maximum amount of kids entertained at the same time, we decided that we would 'sort' them into houses upon check in. Margaret was really awesome doing this job because she made lots of funny little jokes just like the real sorting hat! Then the kids stayed with their houses and then were sent to a station and they were able to mingle throughout the program. The stations we came up with were:

Honeydukes (food fun time)
Olivander's
Divination
Hogwarts a History
Quidditch
Movie Magic

Honeydukes was all about the food. A program with this much activity, needed sugar! The kids were given butterbeer, cupcakes, gummy frogs and Erin worked really hard making some fizzing whizbees. To add some fun to it we also divided up some of the Bertie Bots Every Flavor beans and kids did a blind taste test and had to figure out what flavor they were eating. I was told soap was very popular.

In the background, you can see some of the book covers the kids designed!

Olivander's is the place where every Hogwarts student gets their wand. I thought it appropriate to name our own wand craft station after the shop. This wants were really simple to make. Kids were given a chop stick and covered it in duct tape. Air dry clay was also available so kids could add some embellishments to their wands. We also used a tiny bit of glitter to make it more magical.

For the divination station the kids made fortune tellers to predict the future! These are the same fortune teller you probably made in middle school to try to figure out which classmates had crushes on each other.

Hogwarts a History was the station that I was in charge of. It was all about Harry Potter trivia. Most of the questions were from my ol' noggin, but when I wasn't sure what to ask I used the book of Harry Potter Trifles, Trivia and Particularities. I stumped the kids a few times, but most of them were experts!

I have tons of PVC pipe in my garage so I put it to good use. I made a hoop and the kids got to play a little quidditch, the favorite sport of wizards everywhere. I brought in my broom and kids had to 'ride' it while hurling a ball at the hoop. It took quite a beating.

Over the summer a motion picture museum did a few programs. When they noticed our advertisements for the celebration, they offered their services. They brought a green screen, and kids got to pretend they were flying around in a quidditch match. I had a lot of fun with this myself.

While kids were mingling from station to station, the room was decorated to the max! We hung starry gossamer and hung stars from the ceiling. We also found some pretty cool posters hung those around to (thanks internet!) To add more ambiance, we decorated each table with some potion bottles. (here's a tutorial)

There also some great photo opps, I made a frame modeled after Sirius Black's notorious wanted poster. Kids were able to make to stick there own faces in it! That was a fun hit, because a lot of staff members made use of it. We were also lucky to borrow some other items for great photo opportunities. A few years back, the local high school had a Potter themed prom (I was so jealous!) so we were able to borrow some of the pieces to decorate the building.

Towards the end of the program, all of the kids took their name tags and put them into a cauldron and we drew some prizes. On their way out, each kid was given a copy of the book.

It was so amazingly fun and I'm still excited that we were one of the 15 libraries chosen. I couldn't have done it with out Erin and all of the other staff there to help. Seeing all of those happy faces and the kids just as excited as me makes me so happy that this is my job. Harry Potter has a very special place in my heart, not just because its awesome fantasy nerdness. When the books came out, I wasn't the greatest student and I hated to read. After goofing on someone for reading it, they replied, don't knock it until you try it. I did and I have been reading every since. Those books made reading magical.

Wood Painted Sign - tutorial

As you know I love my silhouette machine ! Lately I'm really into making stencils on contact paper. Aside from making a ton of wall art, I'm also making some welcome signs. I've used this same technique for two recent Iron Craft challenges, I made a sign with my last name (for the door) and made a French style one that says 'Bienvinue' They come out looking great and here is how you can make your own!

Materials & Tools

• Contact paper 
• Paint or spray paint (two different colors) 
• Silhouette Machine 
• If you don't have one, you can always pick up stick on letters (follow negative stencil instructions) 
• Another option is to trace the letters on the back of contact paper and cut them out
• Wood shape 

Instructions

• Plan out your sign. What do you want it to say? What colors do you want to use? What color do you want the letters to be? What colors do you want the background to be? 
• When making a stencil on the Silhouette Machine you can either use the negative or positive of the stencil. 
• I have two separate instructions for both. Sometimes you can save both stencils and make two signs. 

Making the Stencil

• Measure the size of your wood shape
• Cut a peice of contact paper that same size
• Adjust the size in the silhouette software to make sure your design will fit
• Type of and format your design 
• Lay down contact paper (pattern sign up!) 
• For the settings: 
• Speed - 8 
• Thickness - 3 
• Blade - 4 

Negative Stencil 

• Firgure out your colors. Contrasting colors work best! 
• Paint the wood shape the color of your letters. (paint the entire shape) 
• Once dry, stick your design to painted block. Once it is perfectly on there and the air bubbles are all pushed out.
• Take some more of the letters color and out line the design (this just makes it look nice and crisp when finished) 
• Paint over the stencil with the background color and let it dry.
• Peel off all the pieces to reveal your design 
• Enjoy your beautiful masterpiece! 

Positive Stencil 

• Figure out your colors. Keep in my these instructions are reversed from the previous instructions
• Paint the wood shape the background color, let dry 
• Stick stencil onto the wood shape. Press out all of the air bubbles as best you can. 
• Paint over the stencil. Use the color you want for the letters, let dry. 
• Peel off the stencil to reveal you lovely design! 

Life thus far....

Summer is starting to wind down. I'm kind of half sad and half excited. I'm ready for a new season and for things to be less hectic at work. I'm also excited because Tim and I decided that we are going to have another Halloween party this year. Whoo-hoo! In the mean time I have been entertaining my self with various projects and fun things... here is what I have been up to.

our rendezvous point

The Accomplice 
I had heard about this through some librarian friends and it sounded pretty neat. When I came across a groupon for it, I surprised Tim and we got tickets. After my ticket's were purchased I received a phone call from a mysterious person with a very thick New Yorker accent. I was instructed to meet at the South Street Seaport and there I would be contacted by someone. Sure enough the next day I went to the exact spot and a mysterious character approached us asking if we got a message. We were joined by another group of people and the mysterious character gave us an important set of instructions and we were off for a day of adventure.
The Accomplice is part theatre, interactive mystery and city adventure. We were given instructions and clues and together we had to figure it out. The real fun of it was trying to figure out who was in on it and who was just an innocent by stander. I'm not going to give too much away (because spoilers!) but the day involved buy a frog, walking through China town, and trying to locate nefarious characters. It was so much fun! Tim and I both want to do it again with some of our friends. If you every find yourself in NYC then check it out!

Library programs...
The past few weeks at work have been devoted to programing! I am working really hard on all of the Harry Potter stuff because the big program is almost a week away! I made this pretty awesome bulletin board display to promote it. I also featured some contests including a Book Design contest and Horcrux hunt. I'll be posting details about it soon!
I also did a program for the other British thing that I'm ridiculously obsessed with, Doctor Who. You can check out all the details about that adventure here.

My life hasn't been all solving mysteries in the city and work. I got in some r & r when I had a beach day with me and some lady friends. It was nice to just be lazy for an afternoon. I was so relaxed that I forgot to reapply sunscreen and now I'm nursing a pretty painful sunburn!

Doctor Who - Library Life

In the Spring time while we were still planning programs for the summer, the teen librarian asked if I would be interested in holding a Doctor Who program. I nearly fell off the reference desk with excitement. I partnered up with another librarian and whovian, Monica and together we made a pretty awesome program. Here is what we did....

We couldn't have a proper Who program with out a TARDIS. We had a ton of PVC pipe in my garage so I had Timbo cut it up to my specifications. He did it because I am klutzy and not to be trusted with power tools.  After all the pieces were cut I took it to the library then began assembly! I wrapped it with blue butcher paper and used my silhouette machine to cut out most of the details.

Other than the TARDIS we had different stations for the kids to take part in while roaming around the room. This included bow-ties, making t-shirts, putting the Doctor's in order and a snack of 'Fish finger's' and custard. Afterward we tested their knowledge in Who trivia.

For the bow-ties, we used felt and ribbon. We assembled them using the glue gun. I have some pretty gnarly burns from helping them, however they all did a good job. I gave them each a safety pin so they can wear it. One kid passed up the bow-tie because he said he already has too many Whovian bow-ties.

The t-shirts did not go over so well. This was mainly because only one kid listened to our reminder phone call warning about brining a shirt. I showed them how to make the t-shirts at home. For the stencils I cut out some Who themed shapes.

With a program like this, these kids are going to need food. I didn't want to do something lame like pretzels. It had to be Who-themed! I came across this recipe for 'Fish fingers' and custard. The 'finger fingers' were actually cookies and the custard was vanilla pudding. Monica is quite an accomplished baking so she handled that. They came out pretty awesome and they tasted really good with the pudding.

I wasn't sure how the kids were going to do putting the Doctors in order. Most of the kids are Who newbs and are familiar with 9 and on. However they surprised me and with some team work they got it! This idea Monica got from this Teen Librarian Tool Box.

After all the bow-ties were made, the fingers fingers were eaten and the doctors were put in order, it was time for trivia. Monica and I had been working really hard to come up with some good questions. I think we did pretty good because we stumped some of the most die hard kids! One of my favorite stumping questions was: What do the Doctor Who actors, Freema Agyeman, Karren Gillian and Peter Capaldi all have in common? Answer: they were all in Doctor Who episodes before being cast as main characters.

Monica and I weren't the only ones dressed up. We invited kids to come in Cosplay. A few looked great, while the others opted for Doctor Who t-shirts. 

This program was so much fun and based on the reaction we most certainly are going to do it again in November for the 50th anniversary. I'm grateful for the help from Monica, the kids that came and the fact that I get to do things like this for a living.

Mini Canvas Art - Craft Night

This past monday night was another fantastic evening of coffee and crafts at Crazy Beans. As always it was a fun night with my regular crew and craft night newbies.

This time around we made mini wall art! It was a fun craft in miniature. Some of my crafty crew liked painting on the blank canvas. Some of the best pictures of the night included a city scape (with Bat signal!) and a beach scene. One of the newbies was really creative and used a straw to blow on the paint to create some interesting texture. I was particularly proud of my friend Joe. He's not a very crafty person compares being artistic to household chores. However he stuck it out and painted a beautiful masterpiece.

Some of the folks who attended, were having some trouble with inspiration. To help those guys I had printed out some stencils for them to use. There were some wonderful results from this technique. Including some fantastic mustaches.





If you want to make your own mini wall art here is how....

Materials & Tools

• Mini canvas
• Paint 
• Brushes 
• Paper towels (incase you make a mess) 
• Tape or stencils (optional) 

Instructions 

• Gather your supplies 
• Think of a design 
• Get painting! 
• If you are using stencils
• Paint a base coat, let dry for a few minutes 
• Place stencils on the canvas 
• Paint your second coat in a contrasting color 

Tips 

• Glue a magnet to the back of it and BOOM - instant fridge magnet! 

Harry Potter Contest - Library Life

Something really really cool happened a few weeks ago. I was sent an email let me know that Scholastic was holding a contest in celebration of Harry Potter's 15th anniversary. We had to write an essay about a Harry Potter event our library would hold and what we would do to celebrate. I sent it to the head of teens and we collaborated and submitted our ideas. A few weeks later, to my complete surprise, the head of teens came up to me saying that we won! I was flabbergasted, our little library out of 15 in the entire country!

So now we have a few weeks to plan our epic program. I have been busy at work making some pretty awesome stuff for it. I just wanted to give you a little preview.... 

                             

The rest of the library crew and I are making more fun exciting things and I'll be updating you on what is to come! 

# 12 & Your regularly scheduled blog....

A very important announcement.....

We were going crazy with anticipation, hence derp faces

Today was an absolutley gorgeous day and instead of enjoying the outdoors with the rest of our friends, Caitie and I stayed inside and awaited the big news... who is going to be the next Doctor?! They announced the new guy... Peter Capaldi. Cait and I both had a similar reaction, "meh." Its mostly because we are in bummer mode that this just means its real that Matt Smith is leaving. I think in the end it will still be amazing with Moffat at the helm.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blog....

I took the month of July off from the blog-o-sphere, now that my life is getting back normal and routines are readjusting. Speaking of routines, I'm going to be introducing some new things on the blog this Fall. Along with the regular tutorials and crafty happenings I plan adding a few things into the mix. Here is what you can expect...

From blogging and etsy I found a lot of really cool people out there doing amazing things. Q & A will feature a new person and we'll talk about what there doing, what makes them tick and what we can expect from them in the future. If you yourself run a blog/shop or anything else and would like to be featured on Q&A send me an email! 

Have you ever discovered something that you think is the most amazing thing and it makes you so happy that you feel like you have to tell the entire world about it? I'm not sure why, but it happens to me pretty often, so what better way to profess my love of something then on the blog-o-sphere! The best things will range from favorite apps, movies, snacks, etsy shops...pretty much anything I am currently obsessing over. Is there something that you are obsessing over? Do you think I should check it out? Then email me! 

I often find myself on buzzfeed killing time reading compiled lists about 90s nostalgia or the most adorable corgi mix breads. Needless to say, I've fallen in love with making lists. So I decided I'd share that love here on the blog! You can expect to find lists of a variety of topics, from my favorite craft tools, to my favorite sci-fi baddies. The possibilities are endless! Any suggestions or things you would like to see on a list? Shoot me an email!