Muggles in Diagon Alley + Free ‘Platform 9 3/4’ Printable!

A few weeks ago, Chris and I went on a road trip through Williamsburg, Savannah, and Orlando! Each stop was a blast, but let’s be real — I was the most excited about going to Diagon Alley.

I have precisely zero shame talking about the Harry Potter conventions I’ve attended. In the summers of 2010 and 2011, I met up with friends in Orlando and we talked about Harry Potter for four days straight. We wore wizard’s robes and carried wands around Universal’s Islands of Adventure in July. We all watched the final installment of the film franchise together the night before it premiered.

Infinitus 2010

LeakyCon 2011

I mistakenly thought I was a Ravenclaw then. I’m wiser now.

But a few months after LeakyCon in 2011, Chris and I got engaged and later married, and now, five years into our marriage, we’ve bought a house and have full-time jobs at the university where we met — so my memories of those summers in “Hogsmeade” seemed like a summation of my childhood.

Except not really! Chris grew up reading Harry Potter too; it’s one of the shared interests that sparked our friendship. Numerous copies of Harry Potter books in various editions fill our shelves. When it came time to plan a trip to celebrate our fifth anniversary, it seemed an easy (though admittedly expensive) decision to visit Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

You guys. They nailed every detail in these parks. I thought Hogsmeade was magical when I visited with friends in 2010 and 2011. But walking into Diagon Alley with my husband back in May, soaking up all the details and the grand scale — that was perfect!

Hogwarts Castle

Leaky Cauldron

Gringotts

Diagon Alley

There are so many more photos (by both me and Chris) of the other stops on our road trip on Instagram at #chrashleyroadwarriors!

So here comes the free printable! I’d been meaning to make a Platform 9 3/4 printable for our new house since before we even moved in… but coming back from our trip, filled with warm fuzzies remembering the magic of growing up reading those books — that was just the motivation I needed to whip up this simple, low-key print!

And I want to share the printable with you! I ended up making a black and white version as well as the slightly more colorful one pictured. When you download the file, you can choose between a 5×7 size or the full size, which can be trimmed down to 8×10 or use as the 8.5×11 pictured.

Click the image below to download the printable of your choice!

Wanting to fill your home with more Harry Potter goodness? Here are two other gorgeous free Harry Potter-centric printables that I’ve been eyeing for our home, too!

1. Happiness Can Be Found Even in the Darkest of Times – Lightbulb printable by Simple Everyday Mom
2. I Solemnly Swear that I am Up to No Good – Watercolor printable by How to Nest for Less

If you’re a little more ambitious, you could try making a Book Page Wreath! I have full instructions with photos at that link!

Thankful for What I Have: November Decluttering Challenge

I love our home.

I love the skylight and the floral wallpaper in the kitchen. I love the little window in the bathroom that makes it feel bigger. I love our tall dining table that fits perfectly in its spot. I love the way the afternoon sun pours into the bedroom through the windows.

What I don’t love is the clutter.

We Davidsons have problem spots: closets, cabinets, drawers, bookshelves. There’s hidden clutter in every room. It causes me anxiety when I know I need to find something cute to decorate for fall that’s buried in our entryway closet; I get frustrated when I can’t find a food item in our pantry and end up buying a replacement. Our clutter drains our time, money, and personal energy.

I’m over it. I’m going to show my clutter who’s boss this November.

To celebrate Thanksgiving, I am embarking on a decluttering challenge with the theme of thankfulness. In springtime, Ann Marie Heasley of White House Black Shutters does 40 Bags in 40 Days, a “decrapifying” challenge wherein participants remove a bag (typically a grocery bag, but overachievers can do a trash bag) of clutter from their homes each day of Lent. I have loved participating in 40 Bags in 40 Days, but I can’t wait until February – the clutter has got to go now. In the month of November, I’ll be using the hashtag #thankfulfordecluttering on social media while I purge the junk from our problem spots.

Want to join me?

Later this week, I will share my personal plan to declutter my home and be Thankful for What I Have. To get started, I’ve created a calendar to help me keep track of each area that needs to be decluttered this month! If you would like to use it, you can download it at the link below!

Click here to download the free November Decluttering Challenge calendar!

Need some ideas for areas in your life that need to be decluttered? Ann Marie has a pair of helpful lists that helped me get started! See Areas to Declutter and Non-Stuff Things to Organize to get going.

If you want to come along for the ride, follow me on Instagram or Twitter and use the hashtag #thankfulfordecluttering! I’m already so excited for a cleaner, tidier home and happier us.

DIY Book Page Wreath for Bibliophiles

Well hey, friends!

This was a super busy weekend as I wrapped up the summer and my first course for my master’s degree! My brain was pretty tired after writing and proofreading my final project, which means it was time for a mindless but super rewarding décor craft. Are you ready for this thing?

GUYS. I have been eyeballing these book page wreaths since my friend Jaime made TWO: one for a baby shower (made with the pages of Little Women), and another for her home (made with a hymnal). Jaime has a lovely and sweet blog called Hatcher Homemade that you have to check out! After seeing her book page wreaths, I decided I had to have one.

As a former English major, I wanted to use a book that was meaningful to me. If you know anything about me at all, it’s probably that I love Harry Potter. I grew up reading those books; they epitomize my childhood. I’ve been to two Potter conventions and have a whole friend group – arguably my most enduring friendships – who I met due to our mutual love for the series.

Needless to say, I figured Harry Potter would be a good choice for this wreath.

Between Chris and me, we have multiple copies of the complete series of Harry Potter, but there was no chance I was going to tear up one of those. Instead, I got my hands on a used, slightly battered copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. That installment is pretty significant to me because it was the first book I really anticipated. I faked sick the weekend it was being released so I wouldn’t have to go on a family camping trip; I knew if I stayed with my grandma, she’d take me when the morning came to get my brand-spanking-new copy. I toted it around summer camp that July, prideful because it was easily the fattest book I had ever read. I read and re-read it; it never gets old.

I hesitate to call this a wreath for bibliophiles because I know some would argue that, if I loved books, why would I destroy one? But let’s be real: Harry Potter books aren’t exactly an endangered species. I will admire my wreath forever.

In lieu of posting my own tutorial, since I basically synthesized directions from Restoration Beauty and Makely School for Girls, I decided to just share some pictures of the process of this lovely DIY! If you have any questions about my specific process, you can feel free to ask them in the comments.

Let’s dive right in!

If you want to make a Book Page Wreath like mine, you need:

• Book
• Wreath form (I used a 16″ one)
• X-ACTO knife
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Mascara tube or similarly-shaped implement
• Ribbon
• Optional: acrylic paint and Q-tips for applying

I read in Restoration Beauty’s tutorial, which Jaime linked to in her blog post, that she painted the edges of her pages in order to give them an aged look. Well, she didn’t provide any instructions for this step, so I found directions on Makely Home School for Girls’s tutorial. Instead of using a paper towel, however, I used Q-tips to apply. I didn’t paint the whole book; I just estimated how many pages I would need for my wreath. (I ended up using pages 1-200, which means I needed 100 pages total. I’m happily hoarding reserving the remaining book for later projects.)

Then, I got to slicin’.

Okay, it was really lovely to skim these pages and remember what it was like to read them for the first time as an eleven-year-old.

My favorite tip from Restoration Beauty’s tutorial was to use a mascara tube to form the ruffles and keep your fingertips from burning off with the hot glue!

At this point, Chris came by to see my progress and paid some mild compliment about it looking nice. It wasn’t until later, when he got home and he saw the finished product on the wall and said, “Well that looks like a wreath!” that I learned he was worried about whether or not the project would actually turn out. Haha!

Alright. Are you ready for this? Because I was honestly not prepared for how gorgeous my Book Page Wreath would look on the wall above our bed.

And that’s all I have for you! This is a really not-too-complicated wreath to make for your home. It took me a few hours, though my progress was kind of slow because I kept stopping to take pictures. And these wreaths are even more beautiful when you pick a book that is significant to you and your family!

If you were to make a Book Page Wreath, which book would you use?