Hi everyone.
Ooh, sorry, that my voice is going to be a
little bit off in this video.
I’ve been getting over a cold and then yesterday
I was finally feeling better, and then I went
out to a bar to watch Drag Race and it was
very loud.
There was a lot of screaming.
So I’m just like back at square one again.
But anyway, as they would say in Harry Potter,
Happy Christmas.
So I have had this idea since last Christmas
that I wanted to do an entire Harry Potter
Christmas tree.
I had so many ideas, it was a very ambitious
project, but I finally managed to finish it
and today I’m going to show you how to make
approximately one million Harry Potter ornaments
and make your entire tree super magical.
This is going to be a long one, so grab a
chocolate frog and a butterbeer and settle
in.
Let’s get started.
You’ll need a printer for these first few
ornaments, and all of these print-outs will
be available as a PDF down in the description.
You’ll want to print all of them out onto
cardstock.
So you can see that with the Quibbler, we’ll
actually be able to open it up and have real
pages inside.
So carefully cut out all of the pages.
Then, we’re going to score the center, and
I found that the best way to do it is to place
one page right side up and the other upside
down and score all the way down.
That way, one has a mountain fold and one
has a valley fold, and they fit together perfectly.
Use a gluestick to glue them together.
Place your pages together like a book and
use a thumbtack to poke three holes in the
spine.
Then thread a needle and sew them together
in a figure 8 pattern, tying the ends together.
If the cardstock is thick enough that the
ends aren’t quite even anymore, just trim
it down.
To finish it off and make it into an ornament,
cut some string and tie a loop.
Then glue the ends to the spine of the magazine
and trim the excess.
And that’s how you make this adorable Quibbler
ornament that you can actually open up and
read.
In the PDF, I’ll have a few different Quibbler
covers so you can actually make a bunch of
these to put all over your tree.
Next we’re going to make a Cheeri-owls box,
which is the cereal that they eat in the Harry
Potter movies.
Just print it out and cut it out, leaving
a bunch of tabs.
Score along all of the fold lines.
And bend it into a box and use a paintbrush
to glue it all together.
Glue on a hanger and you have got an adorable
mini box of Cheeri-owls that is a serious
deep dive for hardcore Harry Potter fans.
This next one is so easy, we’re making the
Hogwarts Express sign.
Just cut it out and then glue it onto a piece
of museum board or any cardboard that you
have.
To make it look more finished, color the edges
of the ornament with a yellow marker so it
looks like the print goes all the way around
the edge.
Add some string, and I told you - it is so
easy to make, but it looks so cute on your
tree.
This Quidditch World Cup poster is similar
- just cut it out and glue it onto museum
board.
But this time instead of coloring the edges,
I decided to make it a little more festive
by gluing on gold string all the way around.
And, how cute is that?
It literally only takes like five minutes
to make.
And you can do this with literally any design
that you want - I also made a bunch of Daily
Prophet covers the exact same way, and they
ended up being some of my favorite ornaments
on the entire tree.
Moving on, you know that I could not make
a Harry Potter tree without a tiny Marauder’s
Map.
I actually scanned this from a Marauder’s
Map that came in a book about the Harry Potter
movies, which I’m going to link right down
below.
I also printed mine double sided with the
back texture much larger than the front, which
meant I didn’t have to worry about them
lining up exactly.
So, to make it into an ornament, you’re
just going to cut out the entire map.
And then you can score your fold lines or
just start folding to make an accordion on
each side.
To make it look nice to display as an ornament,
flip it over and glue the bottom folds together.
Add another dot of glue onto the front, and
you can see how now it stays open and will
look really nice on your tree.
Just glue a loop of string to the back, and
I definitely think Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot,
and Prongs would approve of this.
Ok, you guys knew it was coming, we’re making
miniature books.
I have done mini books that actually open
in the past, but I don’t really have time
for that in this video, so instead I’m going
to show you a quick way to make fake books.
Just cut out the front cover and score the
spine.
Then cut pages from a thick chipboard, until
they stack up to the height that you need
for the book.
Glue them together to get a solid block.
And then very carefully, with a very sharp
blade, trim the edges so that they’re even.
Glue that inside the book cover, add a hanger
and then you’re done.
How adorable is that?
It’s so easy that you can make an entire
Hogwarts library including Lockhart’s books,
Advanced Potion Making, The Tales of Beedle
the Bard, and Rita Skeeter’s book with the
iconic green pages.
For some of these, I actually used stiff felt
to make the inside pages because I ran out
of chipboard, and I also started gluing the
hanger inside the spine.
This is such a flexible craft though, you
could make it for any book that you want,
even the Harry Potter books themselves.
So now it’s time to move on to the Fat Lady
Portrait.
Once again, cut her out and glue her to a
piece of museum board.
But this time leave a bit of a border when
you cut out the museum board.
Then, trace the negative from your print-out
and cut a picture frame that will fit over
the Fat Lady.
To make it look more fancy schmancy, cut down
a thin dowel or skewer.
Glue those pieces to the sides of the frame.
And then add hot glue to the rest of the frame
and use a skewer to add random designs as
it’s drying.
Spray paint the whole thing gold, and you
can see that it actually gives a pretty good
effect and it looks like a real picture frame.
Just glue that onto the portrait, and you
have got this adorable miniature Fat Lady.
This next one is a little less labor-intensive.
I found these mini picture frames in the jewelry
department of Michaels.
Just remove the pictures that came with them,
and then print out mini portraits of various
paintings from the books.
Cut those out, put them into the frames, and
add the jump ring back on.
And then if you want to make more work for
yourself, take them out of the frames, spray
paint the frames gold, and then put them back
in.
And now we have got an entire Hogwarts portrait
gallery that would look so good on the tree
or even, like in a dollhouse.
A lot of these crafts are actually the right
scale for American Girls dolls, so if you
have a doll or you know someone that has one,
you can reuse a bunch of these projects once
Christmas is over.
But we’re not done yet.
We definitely need to get some house pride
on this tree.
Print out the banners from the PDF and cut
out each one.
Cut down a wooden skewer to be a little longer
than the banner.
And sand down the edges on a piece of sandpaper.
Then you could paint this, but I’m just
going to use a black marker to color it in.
Grab another marker to color the sides of
the banner.
And then glue the dowel onto the back.
Cut a fairly long piece of black cord and
tie a small loop in the middle.
Then glue the cord to the top corners of the
banner.
Add another dot of glue to the back of the
knot.
And then add glue to the end of the dowel
and wrap the string around it, cutting off
the excess.
Repeat that on the other side.
Trim the loop from the top of the ornament,
and you’re done.
These mini banners are adorable and they’re
really quick to make, so you can make a ton
of them to hang up all over your tree.
Ok, we’re done with the printing for now.
Let’s move on to more 3D crafting.
First up is the flying Ford Anglia, or in
my case the flying Ford Mustang, because it
turns out American craft stores don’t sell
mini toy Ford Anglias.
I don’t know why not.
But anyway, as long as you have a toy car
that’s about the right shape, just paint
the top white and the sides sky blue.
You might have to do a few coats of paint
to get full coverage.
Once it’s totally dry, print out a tiny
picture of Harry and Ron and slide that into
the front windshield, using a piece of tape
to get it to stay in place.
Add a hanger and I think this is so cute.
Next year I definitely have to make a mini
Whomping Willow to hang next to it.
Next we’re going all the way back to Book
1 to make a flying key.
This is so easy, just cut a piece of tracing
paper in the shape of wings and glue those
onto an old-timey looking key.
It might be a better effect with a ton of
them clustered together, but I only had one
key, so moving on.
The next ornament is a Remembrall.
Start with a round clear ornament, red spray
paint, and fiber fill, or you could use leftover
faux spiderwebs from Halloween like I’m
doing.
Spray paint the ball of fluff and once it’s
totally dry, break it up into smaller pieces
and stuff it into the ornament.
Cut a piece of gold washi tape to go around
the outside.
And for one final touch, I painted the ornament
hanger to also be gold.
Now all you have to do is remember what it
is you’ve forgotten.
Maybe you forgot that it’s time to fight
a dragon during the Triwizard Tournament.
I found these little toy dragons at the craft
store, and they’re not totally Harry Potter
accurate, but they reminded me of the little
model dragons that they each pick before the
task in the fourth book.
So to make them more festive, I painted each
one with gold gilding paint.
I added the eyes back on with a black marker
and glued a loop of string to the back of
each one.
And how pretty are these?
It is amazing what one coat of gold gilding
paint can do.
Ok, this next one is a little more involved,
but I really wanted to make Harry’s school
trunk.
Grab some styrofoam, cut it down to size,
and sand the edges to get a piece that’s
about the right shape for a school trunk.
Then cut a piece of brown paper and glue it
all the way around.
Trace the ends onto the same paper, cut those
out, and glue them to the ends of the styrofoam.
Then cut two wide strips of brown paper and
four thin strips of tan paper.
Make the seams a little more neat by gluing
on the brown strips and then add the tan strips
to really make it look like a trunk.
Use a marker to draw lines for where the trunk
opens.
And then use a gold sharpie to add the initials,
the clasp, and the hinges.
To finish it off, I found these little bird
cages and little owls in the miniatures section
at Michaels.
I also found this larger birdcage in the jewelry
section.
To make Hedwig, paint one of the owls white.
Then glue the cage to the top of the trunk,
glue Hedwig inside the cage, and glue the
cage closed.
Add some twine to hang it up, and to make
it extra festive, I also tied on a red bow.
This is so cute, and you probably already
have a lot of the stuff that you need to make
it.
I also made this one, where I used the smaller
bird cage which I spray painted, and I had
a little Lego owl that I glued inside.
And of course I used my own initials because
clearly I’m going to Hogwarts too.
Alright, now that we’re at Hogwarts, it’s
time for Quidditch practice, and we’re going
to make a quaffle out of a styrofoam ball.
Use a shot glass to make four circle impressions
around the ball, and then carve out each of
those circles.
I found it easiest to loosen the top layer
with a craft knife and then use my fingernail
to dig out the rest of it.
It’s a little hard to see on camera, but
hopefully you can see the Quaffle taking shape.
Now to give it a surface that we’ll be able
to paint, we’re just going to paper mache
on top.
Cut tissue paper down into small pieces and
then mix Mod Podge with a bit of water.
Put down a layer of that mixture, and then
a piece of tissue paper, and then add more
of it on top.
And repeat that all the way around the ball,
trying to add two or three layers of tissue
paper all around.
Once it’s dry, sand it down to smooth down
the surface.
Then I mixed red and brown paint for the first
layer.
But when I did the second layer of paint,
I only used red, since I thought that it would
look brighter on the tree.
Once that’s dry, use a marker to add the
stitching.
And then to hang it up, you can just stick
in a little screw-in eye hook and add some
string.
And that is all it takes to make this adorable
mini quaffle ornament.
I feel like the Golden Snitch always gets
all of the glory, and it totally does on this
tree as well, but it’s also really easy
to make a quaffle.
Speaking of the Golden Snitch, you’ve probably
been waiting for the giant one that is going
on top of the tree.
The body of it is actually made out of another
styrofoam ball.
Use a skewer or a pencil to carve out the
bottom so it’ll fit on top of a tree.
And then paper mache around the entire thing
just like we did with the Quaffle.
Once that’s dry, sand down the surface.
And don’t forget to open up the hole on
the bottom again.
Then paint it with gold gilding paint.
I’ve used this in a few of these projects,
so I’ll put a link to it right down below
- it gives the most beautiful gold shine in
just one coat of paint.
Pro tip though, if you’re not familiar with
this type of paint, you will need to wash
out your paintbrush in nail polish remover
when you’re done, not just water.
But back to the snitch, once it’s dry, draw
your wing shape on posterboard or any heavy
cardstock.
Obviously trace it to make two of them.
And then use a gold Sharpie to draw the details
onto the wings.
Make sure that you leave a little tab on the
ends of the wings so that you can glue them
to the sides of the snitch.
And that’s it.
Just put it on the top of your tree and it’s
lightweight enough that it won’t come toppling
down, but it’s big enough to be a real showstopper.
And finally, as the finishing touch to bring
the entire tree together, I’m using wide
ribbon to make house color garlands.
Just cut a piece of each color that fits around
the section of the tree that it’ll go on.
And then I first tried gluing on thinner ribbon
to make the stripes, but you can see that
when the glue dried, it actually soaked through
the ribbon and it didn’t look very nice.
So instead, I grabbed some yellow tape and
that worked perfectly, plus it was a lot quicker
than gluing on the ribbon.
I put stripes on both sides of my garland
just to make it look a little more finished,
but you really only have to do the front.
Trim any excess tape, and then you’re done.
So just repeat that for each house, using
black tape for Hufflepuff and silver for Ravenclaw
and Slytherin.
So ok, besides all of this crafting, I also
gathered up basically all of the other Harry
Potter stuff that I have around my apartment
to turn into ornaments.
We have got Chocolate Frog Cards, the Triwizard
Egg that I showed you how to make this past
Easter, this mini potion bottle key chain
that I got from Hot Topic a million years
ago, my Perler Bead radish earrings, my Perler
Bead Golden Snitches, this Lego hippogriff
that I also got forever ago and doesn’t
really make sense since the person is blonde
but he’s wearing a Gryffindor tie?
I’m not really sure about that.
I also grabbed this time turner that I got
at the theme park, which actually just makes
a beautiful ornament on its own even if you’re
not doing an entire themed tree.
I’ve also got a Hogwarts Express ticket
key chain also from the theme park, a Deathly
Hallows necklace, and this mini scene of Harry
and Voldemort dueling, which I also bought
forever ago.
And I also grabbed these little cauldrons
that I had from Halloween and I filled them
with small pieces of tinsel, which looks like
magical sparks shooting out of your potion.
And of course, I grabbed the ornaments that
I made in a video two years ago - the mini
Hogwarts letters, the little Quidditch players,
and the Quibbler ornament.
I’ll have that video linked down right below
if you want the DIYs for those.
So ok, it is finally time to put the entire
tree together.
Obviously the garlands have to go up first,
and it’s just a whole lot of adjusting them
and then stepping back to make sure they’re
even and repeating that like eight hundred
times.
And then I just hung up all of the other ornaments,
and the Harry Potter tree is finally complete.
I tried to arrange the ornaments sort of by
color, and I included a few regular round
ornaments to fill out any empty spots.
There is just so much detail on this tree
and so many things to look at, and I am so
happy with how it all came out.
Under the tree I also stacked up all of my
different editions of the Harry Potter books
as well as some larger props that I have,
like a hippogriff plushie and house ties and
Quidditch goggles.
Basically I gathered every single Harry Potter
thing that I own and I threw it all onto this
tree.
So this is probably the most ambitious project
and video I’ve ever taken on, and I’m
gonna be honest, I’m not even really done
yet.
I still have so many more ideas, so maybe
look out for a Part 2 of this video next Christmas,
because there are so many more things I still
want to make.
So before I go, I just want to give a shout
out to the tree itself.
It was sent to me by Treetopia, which is a
company that makes beautiful Christmas trees.
I have wanted a white tree forever, and so
when they sent it to me last year I was so
excited and this is my second year using it,
and I could not be happier with it.
They were also super generous this year and
sent me a second tree to keep at my parents’
house to replace our old tree from the 80s
that was like, falling apart and so annoying
to put together.
So I actually made this video for Instagram
showing how I put that tree together in literally
13 minutes.
So I’m going to link to that tree right
down below as well as their website and social
links, if guys are interested in getting one.
Ok, that was a lot, that’s going to be it
from me.
I’ll be back in 2019 with more DIY videos
and let’s be honest, probably more Harry
Potter crafts.
Let me know in a comment right down below
which was your favorite ornament, and if you’re
watching all the way to the end, I want you
to include Happy Christmas somewhere in your
comment and then I’ll know that you are
a trooper and sat through this entire very
very long video.
So I hope you all have a magical holiday and
I’ll see you all next year.
