Countdown to Halloween Day #6: Harry Potter Inspired treats for Halloween

 I said this with my Monster book tutorial and I will say it again, Harry Potter is huge at our house.  I love it because the treats that the wizarding world enjoy are truly magical!   So here are a few treats that we are making to share with family and friends this month.

I found this tutorial on Pinterest that teaches you how to make Sorting Hat caramels.  It is a video tutorial so it's nice to watch and work at the same time.  I was very pleased with my first attempt at making them.

The picture here is one of mine.  I think they are adorableas cupcake decoration or even just by themselves.   Here is a list of ingredients needed to make Sorting Hat Caramels.

-1 bag of Brach's Milk Maid Caramels.   Each hat uses 2 caramels.

-tooth pick or small skewer

-rolling pin

-wax paper





My other favorite treat to make is Chocolate  Frogs.

Equipment:
Microwave
Wooden spatula
1-2 Plastic Frog Molds   ( I purchased a frog candy mold from Amazon.com.  The mold I purchased makes 8 frogs at a time.)
Microwave safe mixing bowl

Ingredients:
One 12 oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips or a 12 oz. package of white chocolate chips
rice krispie cereal

We melted the chocolate in the microwave.  Check and stirring every 15-30 seconds until smooth and melted.




I used cooking spray to coat the molds.   Then we spooned melted chocolate into the molds.    I gently tapped the molding tray on the counter to remove any air  bubbles.

After the molds were filled.  We placed them in the refrigerator to cool.  Once they were completely cooled, we popped them out of the mold.


We made another batch using the white chocolate chips and some fruity pebbles cereal for some extra color.  We played around with the texture on these.  We tried crushing the cereal and sprinkled it in the molds.  Then we did more, where we crushed the cereal and add it to the melted chocolate. 



The final result was a plate of chocolate frogs that any wizard would be happy to snack on.

Hope you enjoy these fun Halloween treats.  

Thrift Find- Harry Potter Mountain Troll

A couple of years ago, I  started collecting the Mattel Harry Potter figures.  The figure line is characters from the first 2 movies.    I picked up the first couple at the flea market and have slowly added more.  

I picked the Mountain Troll up for $1 at one of the local Goodwill stores.    The lady who rang me up, had that look of disgust like, "why are you buying this ugly thing?"   I got the standard question, "What is this ugly thing?"  

The Mountain Troll is one of the deluxe creatures from the 2001 toy line.  There is a little damage to one hand, but its not really noticeable.    I really love all the detail and texture that this figure has.  The entire line was really well made.

I really love this series and can't wait to find a Fluffy the 3 headed dog to add to my collection.

Flea Market Find- Harry Potter, Disney lunchbox, and the batmobile

I thought I would share a few of my recent flea market finds.  I picked these up 2 weekends ago at a flea market up in NC.

The first is a vintage 1976  Disney World metal lunch box.  It is in well used condition.  But I just absolutely fell in love with it.  I should take some more pictures of it. The back has this great graphic of the Country Bears.  The sides depict different rides and dattractions at Disney World.   I paid $8 for it.  I think it will make a great display/storage piece.

The next item I picked up was the  Wizard's Sweets Harry Potter doll.  It is from 2001.  I didn't really start collecting anything Harry Potter related until about 2 years ago.  I picked up a Hagrid and a few other action figure from the first movie at the flea market.    I paid $2 for this Harry.  I love it because he comes with a chocolate frog package and a little frog bracelet that sadly no longer smells like chocolate.   I would love to find the matching Hermione doll.

Lastly, is the Batmobile!   I picked this up at Walmart.  I love Batman and yes, this chick does dig the car.   I recently started picking up the Hot Wheels that are from movies and tv.   I also have the A-Team van and Ecto 1.   I am currently looking for the other versions of the Batmobile and Kitt from Knight Rider.

Admiral Ackbar, The Highlander, and some vintage toys

This is a re-post from October 2012 from my family blog.

This past Saturday, my family and I took a little road trip to Knoxville, TN to attend the Fanboy Expo.   This year the sci-fi convention had some really great celebrity guest in attendance.  For us, we were most excited to meet Adrian Paul from The Highlander tv series and Tim Rose, puppeteer and Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

My husband really loved The Highlander tv series so meeting "Duncan MacLeod" was exciting to him.   I do have to say that I love Adrian Paul's accent.  Listening to him talk during is Q&A session was great.   He was funny and genuinely seemed to enjoy meeting his fans.

I know my husband had wished that he could have spoken with him longer.  DH has always loved The Highlander.   As a gift one year, I bought my husband all 6  seasons on DVD.   We had this epic Highlander marathon one weekend.   That of course was before we had children and our TV got hijacked by Nickelodeon.

We took a short break after meeting Adrian Paul.  His line was the longest of the day for our family.  The kids were ready for a change of pace.    The venue for the event was held at a park, which was great! The kids were able to get outside and run around for a little bit.  After a bite of lunch, they were happy again.

For me, the highlight of our time there, was meeting Tim Rose.   Since, my Star Wars costume is Admiral Ackbar, it was a true pleasure to meet the man who actually portrayed the character. As a puppeteer he has worked on some of my favorite movies.  Return of the Jedi, Howard the Duck (cheesy but awesome), and Dark Crystal.   I went total nerd and brought my costume for 2 reasons.  1.) To get a picture with Mr. Rose and 2.) to enter the costume contest.    I mean, how often do you have to opportunity to meet the actors?

I really wished that I had the opportunity to speak with him a little bit longer.  I would have loved to have learned more from him about being Ackbar.

I am proud to say that I did win  for best costume in the "Best Sci-Fi" category.   I won an autographed poster.  It was signed by a graphic novel artist.  I am totally finding some place to display it.  As far as I am concerned, it is a trophy of sorts.

We did meet several other Star Wars actors.  My husband added their signatures to one of our multi signed pieces.

Of course, you can't go to a con without hitting the vendors area.   I only picked up a few items to add to my assorted toy collections.  My first purchase came in the way of Mr. Staypuft.   I have been fighting starting a Ghostbusters toy collection.  But, I just love that movie so much!  I never had any of the toys as a kid.  So I gave in and got the beloved marshmallow.  He really is in excellent condition.  The color is still white, no yellowing and no marks.

I need 2 more Ghostbuster figures, Slimer, and maybe an Ecto1 for my collection to be complete.

My second purchase was a bag of assorted Harry Potter action figures from the first 2 movies.   I paid $15 for the bag, which was reasonable for the 15 figures it contained.    I finally got a Ron Weasley in Hogwarts robes!  Which to me, made the bag.   I also picked up a Griphook figure and 3 of the Slime Chamber figures (2 Harrys and a Malfoy).   Some of the figures are extras or upgrades to the ones I already own.   I also was able to upgrade my large Hagrid figure by adding his pink umbrella accessory to him.  Now, if I can locate a baby Norbert, he will be complete.

I really love the mini Quiddich Harry and Hagrid figures.  I have been researching  more information on the "mini" figures.   My HP figure short list is growing.  I am now on the look out for a Ginny Weasley mini figure.