Pygmy Puffs (inspired by the Harry Potter Series)

These two cutie fur puffs are Henrietta and her beau Barney. This adorable little couple was discovered recently when they woke me in the night tickling my nose... funny I know. I think Henry (my ginger cat) had a good laugh too as he did nothing to stop them, just sat watching from the foot of the bed before he curled up and went back to sleep.

Despite being woken in the night, these friendly little fur balls are a very welcome addition to my growing family of magical creatures. Just look at their precious little faces. They look so much like Ginny's pet pygmy puff Arnold with their tiny little noses and big shiny eyes, and they are the perfect size to sit upon your shoulder.

They also have the cutest little feet that are almost hidden in their big puffs of fur. The fur balls are actually 8cm fur keyrings that I purchased online, I just removed the keychain part so that I was left with just a couple of fur balls. I brought pink and purple of cause, to match the colours of the pygmy puffs sold at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

The body parts, that is the four feet and the head pieces, were also purchased online. These pieces are actually 3D printed plastic pieces that are painted and pieced together to create these little critters. Initially I used acrylic paint on these plastic pieces as suggested by the seller, however I noticed that the paint could easily be scratched off so I instead decided to use nail polish. To see how these were put together visit HERE.

These pygmy puffs were designed in the likeness of those seen in the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie, not just in looks but also in their size. The fur balls and 3D printed pieces were purchased separately, the 3D pieces purchased from ebay HERE, however the same seller also offers kits that include a fur ball if that is preferred. Such a simple craft with such a lovely result.

Harry Potter Wand Wallpapers set5 - Members of the Order

These are the newest Harry Potter themed wand wallpapers. All were members of the Order of the Phoenix, a secret group formed to fight against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Sirius was an Animagus and Harry's godfather. Lupin was a lycanthrope and Harry's Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor in Harry's third year at Hogwarts. Lastly we have Tonks, Lupins wife, who was a Metamorphmagus and who, along with her husband, named Harry as the godfather of her son Teddy.

These are the wallpapers of Sirius 'Padfoot' Black, Remus 'Moony' Lupin and Nymphadora 'Dora' Tonks. To download click on the picture of the wallpaper you want and "Save Image As" to save to your computer or alternatively you can select "Set As Desktop Background". Please let me know if your having any problems with these. Hope you enjoy.

View all the wallpapers in the Harry Potter Wand Wallpaper Collection HERE.

More Garden Gnomes (inspired by the Harry Potter Series)

These little garden gnomes were a surprise find; not that finding more gnomes in my garden was such a surprise after discovering Warrick, but finding blue garden gnomes was. That is until I entered my garden shed and discovered a massive spill of paint, and just guess what colour paint! There was splashes and splotches of blue everywhere and in amongst the mess, covering the floor and leading out onto the grass were the smallest of blue footprints.

As adorable as these little gnomes are, there just isn't enough space for all of us here under the one roof, or one garden, as I dare not let their little blue behinds inside the house. So they are soon to be off to new homes where they can be tossed and thrown about until their blue heart's are content. I have decided to send them of in pairs as I'm sure they would be lonely being sent away alone and of course it will be up to their new families to name them.

The scroll they are holding is for their new family, muggles they are but very open minded about magic and magical creatures. It contains a little information about wizarding garden gnomes and also has some suggestions for a gnome toss game. The tutorial for sewing these gnomes also comes with a great set of instruction for a points based gnome toss game which is a lot more detailed then I have included here.

For those who are interest here is a copy of the scroll I created to go with these gnomes (below). The scrolls were printed on a creamy yellowish thin card, then tied up with blue string. To print a copy of your own click on the picture below and "Save Image As" to save to your computer, then print at your own convenience. I thought it would be fun to have these gnomes come from Weasley's Wizard Wheezers, since they are known to sell other magical creatures such as pygmy puffs.

For these gnomes I used a couple of old pairs of jeans, and although garden gnomes, even magical ones, are not traditionally blue I just love how these adorable little magical creatures turned out. I'm positive they would look great in any colour and in a variety of materials, however I used jeans because they are a hardy material and because it's what I had on-hand. Their grumpy little faces are so cute and they are the perfect size and weight for tossing about as I'm sure these will be, often.

These wizarding garden gnomes make an ideal gift, as two lucky young boys will soon discover, a birthday present with a twist. Lovingly hand-sewn and filled with a bean bag pouch they will provide endless fun being tossed about. This is such a unique and gorgeous pattern that I could not help but make more of these little gnomes to share with those I love. To make your own garden gnomes to toss about as the Weasley's did de-gnoming The Borrow, visit Tiffany Hinnen (aka. Mieljolie) at her etsy store HERE.

Harry Potter Wand Wallpapers set4 - Hogwarts Professors

These next Harry Potter themed wand wallpapers are a set of professors that were the most attentive and influential to Harry during his years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I have included Hagrid here as although he starts out the series as simply the gamekeeper and Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts, he later is promoted to Professor teaching Care of Magical Creatures in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

These are the wallpapers for Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape and of course Rubeus Hagrid. I do love Hagrid's pink umbrella. To download click on the picture of the wallpaper you want and "Save Image As" to save to your computer or alternatively you can select "Set As Desktop Background". Please let me know if your having any problems with these. Hope you enjoy.

View all the wallpapers in the Harry Potter Wand Wallpaper Collection HERE.

Demiguise (inspired by the Harry Potter Series)

This charming little fellow just showed up one day seemingly out of nowhere, he is such a quiet little thing I almost didn't see him. Actually it took me a moment to realise that in fact I hadn't seen him, but then there he was, a Demiguise, curled up comfortably on the couch beside me. I didn't make a sound, I didn't want to startle him, but he disappeared soon enough regardless. I never expected to see him again but to my surprise he kept turning up, my quiet little companion, and now he seems to have decided to stay.

This may not accurately resemble the Demiguise as introduced by Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but he is just how I imagined this peaceful little creature would look when I decided to create one of these magical beings. After all he is described in Harry Potter's school book as resembling an ape. With his long arms and big black eyes I knew when I saw him that this would be the pattern to use to bring him to life, and at just under 7 inches tall he is the perfect size to sit contently amongst my growing number of magical creatures.

A few alterations where needed on this pattern to bring this Demiguse to life, most notably are the changes made to the face pattern and the addition of his whiskers. He just wouldn't look quite right without the whiskers, although I did have a lot of trouble turning these small pieces. The other change was the addition of his tail, a much more simple process thankfully. Together with the silver fabric used I am more then pleased at how this little creature turned out.

The changes made to this pattern were not just the face shape, whiskers and tail, I also moved the position of his feet so he would be standing instead of sitting. I then hand-sewed the outline for his foot pads rather then appliqué because I like how simple and cute his little feet looked this way, and also if he's constantly standing on his feet I didn't want the appliqué to scuff-up as that would have been hand-sewn like the rest of him.

Completely hand-sewn, finished with blanket stitched eyes, french knot nose and backstitched mouth this magical creature was created using Choly Knight's Bigfoot Plush Sewing Pattern, with a few alterations as mentioned above. Choly has a lot of great patterns, some of them FREE, available on her blog Sew Desu Ne?, however this particular Bigfoot pattern is available on her etsy store HERE if your interested.

Harry Potter Wand Wallpapers set3 - Triwizard Champions

For this next set of Harry Potter themed wand wallpapers I have created the champions of the Triwizard Tournament. These are the three champions who were chosen to represent their schools, Harry's wallpaper has already been made available in set1. These wallpapers are size 1366x768, but if other sizes are wanted I can make them, just let me know.

Here are the wallpapers for Cedric Diggroy the Hogwarts champion, Fleur Delacour the champion representing the Beaubatons Academy and Viktor Krum the Durmstrang Institute champion. To download click on the picture of the wallpaper you want and "Save Image As" to save to your computer or alternatively you can select "Set As Desktop Background". Please let me know if your having any problems with these. Hope you enjoy.

View all the wallpapers in the Harry Potter Wand Wallpaper Collection HERE.

Garden Gnome (inspired by the Harry Potter Series)

This grumpy little cutie is Warrick, a garden gnome who I recently discovered living in a gnomehole in my backyard. However I think the recent heatwave must have gotten to him as I have found him indoors more and more often, much to the annoyance of Henry (my ginger cat). I think he likes tormenting poor Henry, I also believe he loves being tossed and thrown about. Despite his indignant cries and constant complaining I'm sure I've heard him giggling as he was flying through the air, he also seems to give up easily enough when being chased if he thinks he'll be thrown about once caught.

This is not your typical father christmas looking garden gnome seen as statues in the gardens of muggles, this is a gnome found only in the gardens of witch's or wizard's as described in the Harry Potter series. Beautifully designed I could not resist this little creature and fun he brings, created to hold a bean bag pouch, this garden gnome was made to be tossed and thrown about and at 10 inches tall he is the perfect size for just that.

The tutorial for this unique pattern goes into great detail from the materials and tools needed to the techniques and tip used in construction. Although suede cloth, or any non woven fabric, is advised I used materials I had on hand, which in this case was an old pair of jeans. I also found the tips throughout very helpful and the step by step pictures informative, especially when putting together his little toes which are just adorable.

The pattern comes together beautifully despite my one deviation from the patterns instruction. The tutorial provides a number of options for affixing the pattern to your fabric but as I hand sew everything I found it easier to cut out the pattern, ignoring the seam allowance, and trace the pattern directly to the wrong side of the material using a water soluble fabric pen. Then I could comfortably hand sew my pieces together.

There are a few option in the tutorial to give the gnomes their own personalities which is a brilliant idea, their faces can be made with or without mouths, that is if your worried about them biting, or their eyebrows can be adjusted to make different grumpy, angry or cheeky faces. The eyes are also optional, especially considering these gnomes are very tossable, and the squinty look they have without them is gorgeous.

Just as the Weasley's de-gnomed the garden at The Burrow here is an opportunity to de-gnome your own garden, or at least play at de-gnoming with the Gnome Toss Game that is included with this pattern. I am in the process of making more of these adorably grumpy gnomes as it's not much fun with just one. The creator of this unique magical creature is Tiffany Hinnen (aka. Mieljolie) and her work can be found on her blog All Things Crafty. The pattern for this Garden Gnome was purchased from her etsy store HERE if your interested in making a couple of these yourself, however if your not much of a sewer she also sells them ready made.