Cabin Con 2014 - A Harry Potter Story.

To be completely honest with you, I've tried to write this post 3-4 times. I haven't been able to find the right words to really show you, the reader, how much this particular weekend meant to me (and I'm sure my friends as well). There is a sense of relief in knowing that there are a thousand unspoken words in a picture and because of that, I took as many pictures as I could in hopes that they will tell a better story than I ever could with words. 

A bit of backstory:

I am fortunate enough to say that I have a group of 9 people that I call my friends. We all share many things in common. We may love the same songs and we may like the same shows, but the one core thing that started and cemented our friendship was our love for Harry Potter. As corny as it sounds, these books (even if we didn't know it at the time) taught us all a magnitude of life lessons. For me, they were a huge influence in my life for a innumerable amount of reasons and that rings true for the rest of the group as well. These books taught the reader the meaning of true friendship and the importance of surrounding yourself with the people you love--even if its just for a short while. 

My friend Megan K. (SO MANY MEGANS!) came up with the brilliant idea to have a get together with all of us so that we made sure, even if we lived all over the State or Country (which we do!), that we remained in contact. Many ideas were thrown around and my best friend, Manda, even offered to host it at her cabin--perfect! That idea snowballed into what we now call: Cabin Con (think mini Comic Con)--a Harry Potter inspired Con to call our own. No long lines, no over priced food and free to do what we wanted, when we wanted and we had a damn good time.

This is the story of Cabin Con 2014.

"There is always room for a story that can transport people to another place"-J.K. Rowling

First things first: I love crafting and I love Harry Potter and I wanted to try to make this as rememberable as possible. If you put the those things together, what you will get is Megan O'Neil crafting, scouring the internet and thrift store shopping for 2 1/2 months straight. It was worth it. Without the help of my amazing friends, this wouldn't have all come together--thank you again! 

This is the result:

We transformed the main dining area into "The Great Hall". This is the Con's official banner. Look closely and you can see Deathly Hallows Symbols in honor of the 7th anniversary happening the day following the weekend of the Con.

Every House was represented in the Great Hall, aside from Slytherin--NOT because we don't like Slytherin (we do!) but sadly, because there wasn't a single Slytherin in the group!

The banners were blank card stock by Paper Studio. You can purchase them at any big craft store. Designs were made by using Prismacolor pencils. Each house has their signature colors and the letter design is based off of the Harry Potter movie font, as well as hand drawn--Gryffindor drawn by Brock :)

Gryffindor, where the brave dwell at heart.

Hufflepuff, where they are just and loyal-- those patient Hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil.

Ravenclaw- Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.

Hogwarts wouldn't be complete without the Great Hall. This is where most of the crafting comes in. I spent many a night researching online for patterns and ideas. It was probably the best part of putting this whole thing together. 

The Great Hall during the day:

We covered the dining table with a black table cloth (purchased at a party store) and put cardboard boxes or random risers underneath to give the table depth.

I purchased silver platers, serving dishes, goblets and candlesticks at assorted thrift stores and estate sales. I already had a stash of candles around the house and lucky for me, my owl obsession from a few years back came in handy for the table settings!

The Chocolate Frog, Ollivander's Wand, Sorcerer's Stone and Weasley Wizard Wheezes box were Cabin Con party favors. Each Con attendee got all 4 to take home with them!

What's Inside?

The Chocolate Frog box actually has a chocolate frog inside! I was able to find the frog mold on Amazon, along with the jewelry box for the wands, which I painted with gold acrylic paint and used mod podge to glue the Ollivander's label on. The "wand" is a chocolate covered pretzel baton with sprinkles. You can find the labels here: Chocolate Frog Printable, Ollivander's Label

The Sorcerer's Stone (Or Philosopher's) is a stone from the backyard, painted red, wrapped in leftover parchment from another craft, wrapped in twine and finished with a card stock tag written in calligraphy pen. You're able to find all of these at any big craft store.

The Weasley Wizard Wheezes box is a paper box, hand painted with acrylic paint (all bright colors) and have Fever Fudge and Puking Pastilles inside.The Weasley emblem was hand drawn on each with a metallic marker. There are tons of great recipes online to make the Fever Fudge and Puking Pastilles, but if you're like me and want to save time--improvise! I used Jameson Irish Whiskey Fudge and Taffy that I got during my trip to Ireland. It's not a taste that everyone likes, so I thought it was perfect since they aren't supposed to taste great anyway!

I wanted to give the table the feel of what it would be like on a typical day in The Great Hall. The Daily Prophet and Quibbler I'm sure would make an appearance, along with wands (maybe not the Elder wand, but I digress) and treats from the Hogwarts kitchen and Honeydukes. (Daily Prophet and Quibbler images are from HP graphic art book)

On the left you'll see my own variation of a recipe I found called "Weasley is Our King" cupcakes. French vanilla cake, buttercream frosting with Red and Gold edible glitter for the Gryffindor colors. Quibblers are from HP Graphic Art book.

This was probably the hardest craft to make--The Golden Egg from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was part of the 2nd task in the Triwizard Tournament. I purchased the paper egg from a craft store, hand painted it with gold acrylic and drew on the egg's designs. The hardest part was getting the top completed--it's made with hot glue and we all know how hot glue just does whatever the heck it wants ;)

One of the best parts about this Con was the FOOD! We had some leftover White Chocolate from making the Pretzel wands, so we made White Chocolate Covered Strawberries--don't they look delicious?

Some were dipped in silver sprinkles, gold sprinkles, tri-colored sprinkles and pecans.

All con (party) favors were placed in piles on the table for everyone to take home. Daily Prophet is from HP Graphic Art Book.

While I loved how the Great Hall looked during the day, if you can forgive the cheese--it looked magical at night.

The Great Hall at night:

The Great Hall with candles lit. Can you spot the Hogwarts acceptance letters? What about the Quibblers?

Megan K. made Pumpkin Pasties for the Con!

More of the serving dishes, purchased at numerous thrift shops.

On the left: My own variation of Golden Snitch Truffles (which were SO GOOD) and on the right are Pumpkin Pasties. I wish I wasn't allergic to cinnamon because I heard the Pumpkin Pasties were absolutely incredible! You can get the recipe for the Golden Snitch Truffles: Here.

Another view of the party favors

One of the biggest hits of the weekend--the Marauder's Map. I've posted pictures of the inside below!

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.

Another view...

Uh oh...

We kept snacks on the table throughout the whole weekend so everyone could "graze" throughout the day and into the night.

Another view of the Golden Egg.

Quibblers!

The Great Hall was such a fun thing to put together that I decided to do a few more crafts for the party.

Professor Slughorn's Potion Kit:

All bottles were purchased at a craft store and labels were printed from here: Potion Labels. I made each potion with different products I had in my house and used those to determine what they would look like.

Kit includes: Gillyweed, Felix Felicis, Amortentia, Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, Dandelion Root, Essence of Dittany, Mandrake Root, Bubotuber Pus, Wolfsbane Potion, Phoenix Tears, Flesh-eating Slug Repellent, Draught of Living Death, Veritaserum, Pepper-up Potion, Floo Powder and Skele-Gro.

Skele-gro, which is one of my favorites, was made in what looks like an old brandy/whiskey container that I picked up at Goodwill. I used Water for the base, dyed it with food coloring and added gold glitter for a shimmer effect. I then used hot glue to wrap twine around the neck to give it a vintage-y look.

A close-up of the whole set. In front you'll see Gillyweed, Felix Felicis (made with hand soap and fine gold glitter), and Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. The P.I.D.P is a bottle that was originally streaked with gold, but I painted it black, and glued twine around the neck. I actually made the powder for this even though you can't see it--I really wish you could as it was my favorite one to look at. I used baking soda, mixed with black paint, and green, gold and black glitter. It was so pretty!

Gillyweed: I used canola oil, mixed with a drop of green food coloring and some crab-grass outside to give it texture.

From left to right: Mandrake Root (made with wood chips from the backyard), Bubotuber Pus (made with hand soap and yellow and green food coloring), Pepperup Potion (made with cream colored hand soap, actual ground up peppercorns, chunky gold glitter and fine black glitter),  Floo Powder (description mentioned later), Amortentia-the Love Potion (made with cream colored hand soap, dyed pink with food coloring and I used chunky silver, pink, red and black glitter that settled to the bottom for a gradient effect).

Floo Powder- I used old parchment paper for the label, a sharpie pen for the writing and mod podge to glue it all on. Baking soda, green food coloring and black and green glitter make up the potion inside.

Polyjuice Potion brewing recipe from Advanced Potion Making. Polyjuice Potion Recipe

Another view.

Draught of Living Death. This was the potion that Harry brewed to receive Felix Felicis, which we all know, is what made movie Harry turn into the sassy Harry we all know and love in the book. Thank you, Draught of Living Death, for snowballing that one. This was made using corn syrup, a dash of water, and black acrylic paint. I love the effect it ended up having--it looks like a lava lamp when you turn it upside down! I finished the bottle by gluing twine around the neck.

On the left: Dandelion Root--made with baking soda and LOTS of yellow food coloring.

Back row starting left to right: Flesh-eating slug repellent: made with cream colored hand soap and green and blue food coloring. Draught of Living Death, Veritaserum (water mixed with canola oil), Pepperup Potion. Middle Row: Dandelion Root, Wolfsbane Potion (made with corn syrup, teal and black glitter), Mandrake Root, Bubotuber Pus, Front Row: Essence of Dittany (made with water, blue food coloring and bronze glitter).

Up-close of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder

James and Lily making an appearance (oh, the feels!)

The set.

Bottle Top Appreciation.

Honeydukes:

I decided to make a Honeydukes station! A few friends chipped in to make this look awesome. Thanks to Michelle! and to Megan K, she made us Butterbeer (even an un-spiced kind for me!) and Pumpkin Juice to go with it. Everyone got to take home a bag overflowing with candy--woo!

Our little Honey Dukes Station, complete with a Hogshead Inn cup from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

We all were convinced that we would all get diabetes by the end of this con due to all of the candy and cake we had, so we named a candy after our theory. Introducing: Beetus Balls. Look at your Honeydukes shop for the new candy!

The Marauder's Map

This was a great find. It's a bit tricky to fold but absolutely worth it once you've figured it out. You can find the print-out here: Marauder's Map

Up-close.

The view of the first layer.

Side View

Opening the second fold.

Inside Howarts!

Quidditch Pitch and the Womping Willow

Passage to Hogsmeade!

I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good!

Weasley & Weasley or Weasley Wizard Wheezes

My friends Sarah and Brock had planned to cosplay as the Weasley twins (RIP Fred) a while back and had several props for their outfits! We decided to make a Weasley Wizard Wheezes station, as well as a Room of Requirement/ Common Room Board. You can find the artwork here: Hogwarts Map, Hogwarts Library Card, Gringotts Deposit Slip, Platform 9 3/4 Ticket, Quidditch World Cup poster is from HP Graphic Art Book.

On the right: Weasley & Weasley briefcase, magical mustache and a Weasley Shiving Snackbox.

Weasley & Weasley Advertisements 

Up-close of the Skiving Snackbox: Canary Cremes, Fever Fudge, Puking Pastilles and Fainting Fancies.

Another view of the props!

Price List for Weasley Wizard Wheezes

A little add on to the station--mini Gringotts! Complete with galleons (lets pretend we don't see the american currency, guys) and Gringotts deposit slips. The deposit slips went home with the Con attendees as well.

This was the Room of Requirement Board--a complete map of Hogwarts and its grounds. A flyer for the 2014 Quidditch World Cup and Gilderoy Lockhart's autograph!

Middle Left: "Get a move on or all the good ones will've gone" a note from Fred to Ron about asking someone to the Yule Ball. Middle: New generation of D.A. Bottom Left: Sign up sheet for Dumbledore's Army, Right: Gringotts Deposit slip, lost library card belonging to Hermione Granger and a Platform 9 3/4 ticket.

Dumbledore's Army

I can proudly say that I hand made this list. I looked up their signatures online and wrote them as best as I could--my favorite, by far, is Luna's :)

I thought as a sweet little sentiment to our group, that we should all sign it at the end of the Con and I love how it turned out. I'll probably end up framing it.

Dumbledore's Army sign up sheet

Up-close look.

All of the D.A.

Throughout the weekend we spent time playing Harry Potter trivia games (winner's got a golden snitch and a Hogwarts Castle inside a snow globe), swimming out in the lake and spent time on the boat. The weather for the weekend was sunny everyday, so towards the end we were all pretty sun-drunk. Here is a picture of us relaxing while we wait for the upcoming presentation that Megan K. and Bailey set up for us.

So much tired.

Towards the end of the night, Megan K. and Bailey gave a presentation on the occurrence of the number 7 throughout the entire Harry Potter series. It was brilliantly thought out and well put together--they even dressed in their house robes :D

Megan K. going through slides on a projector and speaking about the significance of the number 7 throughout all of the Harry Potter series.

On the left: Bailey and on the right: Megan K. Thanks for such an awesome presentation and discussion!

The "Final Presentation".

At the end of the presentation, Megan K. announced that there was one more presentation left. I looked up and saw that she was holding armfuls of presents and cards--it was my birthday that following Monday (which happened to be the 7th anniversary of the Deathly Hallows release) and they all surprised me with gifts! 

One of which was THIS: 

ACCIO MY FEELS.

I may have cried. Judge away.

Break out the kleenex.

This was easily one of the best weekends of my life. Towards the end of it, I couldn't think of anything else but of how a book brought so many of favorite people together. How incredible is that? "It's real for us" makes more sense than it ever has.

Mischief Managed.

-Megan.