Atlanta Comic Con! #fangirl #HarryPotter #MatthewLewis #LordoftheRings #SeanAstin #Disney

So I'm off to the World Congress Center to check out the new Atlanta Comic Con.  Follow me on instagram to see more up to date photos and impressions during the weekend.  I'll post an update next week on all that I've seen.  In the mean time, I'm off to fan girl over some of the guests and check out some of the panels.

Themed shelves #HarryPotter #BeautyandtheBeast #StudioGhibli

Am I the only one that does this?

Harry Potter

Beauty & the Beast

Studio Ghibli

Awesome finds from BooksAMillion #HarryPotter #WW

Found these recently at Books A Million.  My kids tell me the soda is very good (it was a bit sweet for me).  The chocolate frogs don't actually jump away, but do have a cool collector's card inside.  The other is a mystery key chain.  My kids laughed at me when I brought these home and settled in to watch HP with my goodies.

Maker Monday creating a glowing wand

My simple list of tools.  I found the mini party lights at a retailer online.  The dowel I found at Wal-Mart.  It's the same width as the lights.  I used my dremel tool and my hot glue gun.  From there, it's how you want to decorate the wand.  Whether that's paint or other materials is up to you.

I first used the dremel with a sanding/filing bit to open up a hole just wide enough and deep enough for the loop part of the light.  (Trial and error to get the right depth.)

Once it's big enough, I used hot glue to seat the light into the end of the dowel.

I checked to make sure it would light properly.

I used some scrap material to give it texture which I painted black.  I then got "fancy" and used some scrap leather to wrap the handle section.

Ta Da!  A light up wand.  Took me about 2 hours total to do.

Wand Making with paper and paint #maker #crafting #HarryPotterinspired

My daughter and I tried this craft at Conjuration Con last year.  It was so simple I wanted to share it.  I didn't find a video of it and I really don't like my voice recording, so a series of photos is hopefully enough.  Basic supplies are paper (I used printer paper), paint, glue gun, regular glue and sand.  You can do it without the sand, but I think it adds a nice weight to the finished product.

Start by rolling your piece of paper.  I like fairly narrow wands, so I tend to roll it tightly.  If you want something fatter, that's up to you.  Once you get to the end of the rolling, put elmer's glue to hold the roll together.

Close the narrow end with hot glue.  Fill with sand through the wider end. I used floral sand.  You can use play sand or even clean kitty litter if you'd prefer.

Close the larger end with hot glue as well.  You can either snip off extra paper or fold the extra to help close the end.

From there you get crafty with the hot glue.  They created vines and such at Conjuration.  I created neat ends on my sample wand.  Then just wide enough for my hand to fit, I made a second band.  I did a wrap up one wand and a sample vine on the other.  You can't see the details as clearly here.

Paint.  Colors and designs are up to you and your creativity.  The green on the one wand is all hot glue.  The bronze on the other is all hot glue.

Finished products.  I put the two wands we made at Conjuration beside the two new ones.  The paint wasn't quite dry when we left the con that day, so there are flaws in the ones on the left.  Personally, I don't want my wand to be perfect, just fun.  I have an idea that I want to try when I get the chance.  When I do, I'll show you how it came out and what to do if you want to copy it.