Harmless Potions...

 

 

I admit it. I'm a Harry Potter fan and so is Handsome. Now, before anyone gets worked up about HP being occult, know that I'm a Christian and nothing evil turns my head. Harry Potter is a book series. It's a long story. The series got millions of kids to read BIG books (and more than a few adults including Handsome and me to see what the excitement was all about). That's a good thing, when most kids only want to stare at a cell phone or computer screen for hours on end. That being said...

This was a fun project I've been seeing on Instagram a lot. You take a few components and create a fun end product to display. You'll notice it's not the bottle I shared yesterday. There's a reason for that. The bottle I showed you yesterday was turned into part of a Birthday gift for Granddaughter #1 and I'm going to wait until she has it to show it to you...juuust in case someone comes snooping around here.

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A post shared by Donna Liljegren (@brynwoodneedleworks)

My linked video (click above) shows what happens to the contents when you shake the bottle. The liquid magically swirls around inside. How did I do this? I filled the bottle with a combination of rubbing alcohol, food coloring, and mica powder. Once the bottle was filled I got to play with the exterior. 

I printed the label (which was partially editable), glued the top so it was permanently sealed, added the wax and charms and it was done! The contents of Polyjuice Potion (according to the Harry Potter books) is a mixture of bicorn horn, boomslang skin, and lacewing fly. The charm closest to the label is to signify the lacewing fly. The rest? You'll have to imagine it inside the bottle. 

The other charm is a symbol that recurs frequently throughout the books, so I added it to the neck of the bottle. Potterheads will immediately recognize if from the books and movies.

This bottle was created for a young woman who plays in the percussion section with Handsome He asked that I make it for her, as she's also a big Potter fan. So, what do you think? The one for the Birthday girl is not Potter themed, and I can't wait to share it with you very soon!

I'm on my way to Craft Day this morning. Belle will be receiving her dragon brooch, and I'll only craft for part of the morning. I have to leave early to pick up my order from the garlic farm south of Fond du Lac before I come home. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need a nap when I get back to the farmhouse. I'll share what we make on Monday. I hope you have a great weekend!

Now For Something Completely Different...

 

 

I'll be making a gift today, and these are some of the main "ingredients". I've been thinking about doing this for a while, so I located a few YouTube tutorials, got the supplies I didn't have yesterday, and will do the assembly today.

 

Are you curious? I sure hope so. Tomorrow you'll see my completed project, and probably a little video to show you some of the details. Hope you'll come back to check it out!

 

Gluten-Free?...

 

I'd planned to do a little gardening and then perhaps a bit of needlework yesterday, but when Grandson has a plan, Grandma jumps. It all began with a text and then FaceTime, as Grandson wanted to try his hand at a little gluten-free baking for his Mom, who has Crohn's. We're all looking for foods to make her life easier, and this young man is always looking out for our daughter-in-law. I told him that, with the exception of gf bread flour, I thought I had everything we needed.

We he got here, we decided to try baguettes. The flour he brought was gf all purpose flour, so our first order of business was to make it "bread flour". A little online research revealed that the addition of baking powder would do the trick. 

When we followed the recipe from King Arthur Baking for gluten-free baguettes, the water created a soupy mess. Definitely needed more flour. Then we learned about xanthum gum...which I didn't have. In retrospect, it really needed that to hold the final ingredients together. I consider myself an accomplished adequate baker by now, but I admit, this whole gluten-free business had me more than a bit frustrated. Things tasted good enough, but the texture left me unimpressed.

Then, Grandson thought we should try gf tortillas, having just tasted my regulars ones from dinner the night before. After lots of trial and error trying to roll them out (unsuccessfully), I decided to try rolling them between two layers of parchment paper. That worked well as long as we were careful peeling the dough off the paper.

He took the results home around 4:30 pm for his mom to try. (She loved everything, but mostly our efforts on her behalf.) I cleaned up the kitchen and then had a concert last night for Handsome, so I got changed and left for the park around 6:30.

Needless to say, I didn't get to anything else yesterday, but went to sleep last night with a smile on my face. There's nothing better than a "good tired" after a day spent with our eldest grandchild. It was a good day, indeed.