Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - A Short Review with A Few Spoilers

I'm gonna start by admitting that I'm not an objective judge when it comes to anything Harry Potter related because I'm such a huge fan but still, I had some "What???" moments when I was reading this book. I got my copy on the day of the release, July 31. It's only over 300 pages and it's in a script format so it's really not that long to read. I finished reading in about three hours. I don't really know how to be technical like real critics when making a review, I usually would just say if I like the book or not, or if you should stay away from it because it's horrible. Having been able to finish this book in one sitting, I think it's safe to say that, for me, it is unputdownable.

I missed J.K. Rowling's writing style though the essence is still there and the Wizarding world never disappoints. The script format was at first confusing, what's with the lines describing someone entering and exiting the stage or the stage rotating and changing into a different scene, but it's fine since most HP readers are familiar with the places mentioned in the book already, it's just easy to imagine them.

It's a fantastic book for me but if I'm gonna rank all seven HP books and this one, this is gonna be in the last place. Maybe I just really miss the style where the whole story happens in a span of a school year and like I said, there where a few questionable moments here.

Now, there would be a few spoilers here so if you haven't read it yet and you hate spoilers, you may stop reading. I had my "Huh?" and "What???" reactions to these...

-- Maybe it's just me but I really need to have a talk with the sorting hat because I think Albus and Scorpius don't belong in Slytherin, they should be Gryffindors or Scorpius could also be in Ravenclaw. 

-- Potterheads who have better memory than I have and are more into HP than I am, please correct me if I'm wrong but from what I know James and Lily Potter's house in Godric's Hollow in 1981 was under the Fidelius Charm so it should be invisible to people, wizards and Muggles alike, who haven't been told the secret. Voldemort was able to see the house because Wormtail, the secret-keeper, told him the secret. But in this book Albus and Scorpius, who went back in time, were able to see the house and its residents, they even took Harry's blanket and did some potion tricks on it. Even the members of the rescue party who went after the boys were able to observe what's happening in the house. I don't think it has something to do with them being from the future. Maybe it was an oversight, I don't know. 

-- Polyjuice potion takes a while to make and when Albus suggested that they make a polyjuice potion to impersonate Voldemort nobody reacted that they don't have enough time, and both geeky Scorpius and Hermione were there, Ron just pointed out that they didn't have a piece of Voldemort to put into the potion. It's just so not Hermione-like to pass up at the chance to give that correction or information. And they also did a very poor job transforming Harry into Voldemort, Harry as Voldemort only lasted a few minutes. Is that how it is with human transformations? The younger Hermione did a better job transforming Ron into a new person when they needed to rob the Lestrange's vault  by changing parts of his face. It wasn't mentioned but maybe that's not how they did it with Harry, transforming parts of him to look like Voldemort's. 

-- Also, why was Snape alive in that other world where Harry died because Neville was killed and he wasn't able to kill Nagini. There was still a Battle of Hogwarts, only the good side didn't win. So Harry died early and Voldemort did't see the need to kill Snape for him to be the true master of the Elder Wand? Hmmm.... That can't be right.

Okay,  I'm not going to be overly critical anymore because the fact is I enjoyed the book though it's far from being flawless. It's just natural I guess to be asking these questions. 

Overall, I liked the book. Although it was quite a short piece, it was able to give the readers the idea with what's going on with the life of our beloved wizards and witches after the last book. No regrets making sure that I got a copy on the first day of the release and spending money on this. It's just unfortunate that it's impossible for me to see the play as it would cost me a fortune just to go there. Maybe they'll make it into a movie in the future? Fingers crossed. 

I didn't expect much because I know that J.K. Rowling is just a part of the team behind this and didn't write the whole thing so I was prepared for the changes. I still enjoyed it and was very happy to explore the magical world of Harry Potter from a new book once again.

I Love Growing Beaded Wire Trees - Trying My Hand at Running a Small Business

I'm on a short break from my little business right now so I'm free to take a few minutes to make a blog post. I have no new projects to share since I've been so busy these past few months, I'm just gonna show you what kept me from blogging and making new craft projects lately.

Tadaa...! Beaded wire trees wedding souvenirs. Well, they're not just for weddings, of course, I had a few clients who bought my creations for their friends, graduation party giveaways, and to resell.

Graduation party giveaways for Clau.

Souvenirs for Carl and Car's wedding. The bride wanted assorted colors for the trees so the blue motif was just shown on the boxes and tags.

For Jheron and April, trees of assorted colors, as well, and bigger potted ones for their principal sponsors. 

John and Shey's trees followed their silver and pink wedding motif. They said that the pink trees are for the female guests and the silver ones are for their male guests.

Bryan and Cheryl's wedding theme was Cherry Blossoms and I had this color mix made specially for them. 

A few pieces for one of my nicest clients, Cyndy. Simple gifts for some of her friends and she also already booked me to make her souvenirs for her wedding next year, cool eh?

Another option for the packaging, sinamay and abaca bags which Mervin and Florem chose for their souvenirs. They also wanted assorted colors for their trees and just had their motif tiffany green on the tags and ribbons. The big potted trees are for their principal sponsors.

Gian and Karlene's theme was rustic but they wanted my beaded wire trees for their giveaways so we just incorporated the theme on the packaging.

John and Jamie's souvenirs followed their blue motif.

I've noticed that a lot of couples have blue as their wedding motif. Maybe it's something that both the groom and the bride could agree on. I guess pink, coral, or purple motifs are usually the brides request.

I honestly didn't expect to have a lot of orders right away since I'm just starting up that's why I was so happy that a few days after I posted an advertisement on a Facebook community page for wedding suppliers, I already got a few clients. According to them, my trees are unique for party favors and some even said that it's their first time to see these cute little gems. I was so thrilled. I know that bead trees are not new but making them in this style, size, and base is my own idea. They also loved the boxes that come with the trees, also my own design, yay! 

Now, that's another blog post idea, my personalized gift box. I had trouble finding a template for the box because I was looking for one that would fit a letter size card stock and would make a 4x3.5x4 (inches) box. For the common template design to make up a box that size, I would need a bigger sized card stock so I had to make my own template. Okay, so I guess that would be my next project to share.

Well, here I am, a few months and hundreds of bead trees after, taking a well deserved break, haha. My husband asked me to turn down orders for the first two weeks of August so I could relax for a while and I happily agreed with him. 

Well, till next time. Bye for now!

Summer Hat, Flower Headband, and Slippers - Crochet Projects for My Little One

This is my first and probably also my last blog entry for this month. I've been very busy with my little business, mini beaded wire trees, that took off a few weeks ago and in addition to that, it's summertime here in the Philippines which means swimming... beach fun and pool party! So yeah, I don't have much finished projects other than those for my little business and a few crocheted items I made for my daughter, Jordana.

As mentioned, it's summer here and we've been to a few trips to enjoy the sun better. For our beach trip, I made Jordana this sun hat from this YouTube tutorial.

Another project I made is this ruffled flower headband. I find this ruffled flower really nice, I made this with the help of this tutorial. The rose in the center is also from YouTube, check out this video for this no roll rose.

She loves her new headband!

And this is the pair of slippers I made to match her pretty headband. Here's the video tutorial that helped me on this one. I made an additional sole for each piece and glued it to the slippers to make them thicker. I put dots of hot glue on the bottom of the sole of the slippers to make them anti-slip. They don't look perfect but my daughter still loves them, yay!

Well, now I'm off to work on another project. Thanks for visiting!

Mini Beaded Wire Trees as Wedding Souvenirs, Party Favors

I was in the mood for making wire trees last week and I was able to make a few big ones and a lot of small ones. I would be giving away the small ones to my college friends as tokens on our reunion next month. I realized how cute these mini trees are and they would really be great party favors. Just add a customized tag, and voila, you have a unique wedding souvenir or a debut giveaway, another option is to put the trees in acetate boxes complete with ribbons and tags.

To make the tree's branches and leaves, I've shared the process here and the making of clay base here. 

This time, I used this DAS white air dry clay. Easy to work with and it has a nice finish when it's already dry.

This is how it looks like after drying.

Just a few finishing touches needed here.

I added some pebbles using hot glue.

I put in a generous amount of white glue to secure the pebbles better and so I could add and scatter some beads here and there to give the effect of fallen leaves on the ground.

The white glue dried clear and the pebbles and beads are perfectly visible. I sealed and coated the base, including the bottom, with Mod Podge. And to add a little sparkle, I added a thin coat of Mod Podge Sparkle. I let it dry and it's...

...done!

With bead colors to match your motif and a personalized "Thank you!" tag, you have yourself a nice party favor. I love this black and white one because it's our wedding motif.

Pretty, eh? I've made a few different tags just to see how they would look. The trees are 3 to 4 inches tall, their heights vary because of the differences in the design and form of the branches but they all have the same number of leaves and branches, and same lengths of wire used.

I will make more of these, as samples, when I get the time and let's see if I can get some people to make my creations part of their lovely events. Fingers crossed.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Thanks for dropping by!