Our Harry Potter Tree 2015

I didn't make too many changes to the Potter tree this year, but who could pass up the chance to post more pictures of this sparkliness??

We added my Wizard chess set to the room on a tray John built from scratch. It's not quite done yet - I plan to add some gold flourishes to the sides - so I'll post another picture when it is.

I upgraded our Hedwig tree topper by giving her outstretched wings. The idea hit me when I found these $5 angel wings at JoAnn's last Halloween:

The wings came with elastic straps for a toddler to wear. I just cut those off, cut the wings apart (they were joined together with Styrofoam) and then poked heavy wire through in a C shape to attach them to the owl body:

I like how much bigger they make her!

We also added a few more little owls. We're always on the lookout for nice feathered owl ornaments now:

Unfortunately Hedwig tends to get lost in the white ceiling in photos, but at least you can see her better IRL.

Another small upgrade: I repainted the floating candles so the aging would show up better:

Before and after.

Now some pretty tree close-ups:

I nixed the flying keys this year, but still have plenty of snitches, broomsticks, parchment scrolls, potions bottles, and one-offs like Luna's glasses, the Marauder's Map, a chocolate frog box, and a mini Monster Book of Monsters.

And thanks to some of you awesome readers, I have new goodies this year! The little Harry & Ron sweaters are redonkulously squee-worthy, then there's the floating Howler ornament, a Hogwarts crest, and other pretty paper bits:

You guys are totally outclassing me here, I want you to know that.

 Here's Ron's sweater:

 

My only new contribution was the little cauldrons, stuffed with wisps of sparkly cotton "smoke."

Next year I hope to make the parchment scrolls with floating quills a lot bigger and longer, so they extend down the whole length of the tree, like ribbon garland:

Aaand one final up-tree shot:

I hope you guys liked the eye candy, since my annual Christmas House Tour is coming up next! (AKA, the one time a year our house is SUPER clean and sparkly, which only happens for these pictures, and which only lasts about 30 minutes before explosive crafting and/or CATS and/or aimless snacking happens to mess it all up again.)