DIY Hedwig for the Harry Potter Fan!

Listen, I'm obsessed.

Not-even-a-Harry-Potter-fan myself, I wasn't sure I could pull this one off. But the creative playground called my name loud and clear! I wanted the magic and the hype and the allure of what a group of avid 7 year olds INSISTED was the BEST THING EVER. And after all the brainstorming and all the Harry Potter Learning and all of the GOSH-THIS-PREP-IS-SO-DARN-PRETTY, I knew these owls would become one of my favourite art projects ever.

Harry Potter Fan or not!

Prep involved a nature walk for some good-looking sticks, multiple episodes of Survivor (recaps) and two household children begging if they could make one too ;) It's always just as wild as you imagine it!

I don't have an exact template for you (sorry, I tend to wing it until I think it looks cute!), but you can see there is:

• a body with steak-knife, pierced ears (this is to string a wire through so the owls can hang later on, if the artist so chooses!)

• two wings

• two legs - 3 twigs each and hot glued onto the body like their life depended on it

• giant googly eyes glued onto gold craft foam

The process went something like this:

1. Paint some snowy owl feathers onto your owl. Some artists painted their entire owl white, others did spontaneous strokes! The artist always knows best.

2. Prepare the eyes. White muffin cups were provided for extra eye-popping fun, but some felt the giant googlies surrounded by gold did the trick just fine ;) Glue eyes in place.

3. Stick noses were offered, however some artists preferred oval gems! If using sticks, I whipped out the cordless glue gun to make sure no Hedwigs went home nose-less.

4. Time to embellish! Materials available to make these the prettiest owls you've ever seen: gold and silver sequins, silver glitter paper, clear gems, grey/beige/white felt pieces, and white feathers. All adhered onto the cardboard canvas with white glue!

5. Gold wire and a variety of clear/silver/gold beads were offered for artists who wished to hang their Hedwigs up at home.

6. Ta-da! You now have a new best friend who also delivers messages for you (ah-hem, Harry Potter facts I learned in my party prep).

I told you it was epic, right?

In addition to these sweet things, we also whipped up some dinosaur eggs and collaborated on The Care of Magical Creatures...

I guess I'm a Harry Potter fan now ;)

As always, a big thank you to this beautiful family for including me in their birthday celebrations! My life is so much more colourful because of these happy gatherings <3