According to the Harry Potter Lexicon, over Albus Dumbledore’s lifetime, he discovered twelve uses of Dragon’s Blood – one being an oven cleaner. Who knew? What I love about this potion, is that it is simple to make and the finished potion with the dragon embellishment, wax and suede cording looks awesome. Ingredients I used: Large Glass BottleLight Corn SyrupRed and Blue Food Coloring (I like using the gel ones – they are super pigmented!)Bowl for mixingPiping Bag (for easier transfer into the bottle)Dragon CharmJute Twine, Chain or Suede CordingHot Black or Red Glue (I recommend using glue, I ended up using sealing wax in mine)Dragon CharmPotion Label Instead of using a chain to embellish the bottle like C&CC did, I opted for this pewter colored suede cording. I liked the look of it a little better for mine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6-f-yPzAR8 Like I mentioned in the ingredients list, I didn’t have black or red glue, so I used actual sealing wax on mine, and let’s just say, I kind of regret it. I only had enough for ¾ of the top of the bottle. Also, sealing wax works great on paper, but trying to get a dragon embellishment to set right was a little challenging. So next time, I would definitely use hot glue. Next week we will add a companion potion to the Dragon’s Blood…stay tuned!

Pixie dust is collected from fairies and can be used in many different potions. They can be found in gardens and the woodlands. Ingredients I used: Glass BottleGlitter (I used various shades of greens, golds and teal)Glue Pen (I like the EK Tools Zig Glue Pen)Ribbon or greens for embellishmentJute TwineFunnelBowl (for mixing glitter)Potion Label https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl-i5sYKwJs C&CC’s is Tinker Bell inspired, as you can see by the label. I love the design of it! The extra glitter on the label makes it seem very magical! I didn’t have green or gold ribbon, so I used some leftover silk greens I had from the Gillyweed potion. It looked nice and earthy, so I thought it would be a nice embellishment for the Pixie Dust. I love how all the different glitters are blended like this. Have you made this potion? Let me know in the comments down below!

Demiguise Hair comes from a rare magical creature, the demiguise. The demiguise is described as a peaceful, herbivore who can make itself invisible. They are hard to see, and a witch or wizard has to undergo special training to capture them. Their fur can be used in making invisibility cloaks as well as invisibility potions. Ingredients I used: Wide Mouth Cylinder JarWhite Craft FurHot GlueCooking SkewerJute TwineSandpaper (to age the bottle)Potion Label https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifKFLq7GuE8 I really took my time to fold over the fur, glue it together and let it dry before gluing it to the cork so that the seam and underside of the fur wouldn’t be visible. And this is what it looks like in the back: Next week we will create a potion that is not from the Harry Potter series but is super magical. Can you guess what it will be?

Last week I made Phoenix Feathers and as promised, this week we have Phoenix Tears. I really enjoyed making this one, especially the embellishing that is done on the bottle. Phoenix tears have incredible healing powers. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Fawkes, Dumbledore’s phoenix, saves Harry by dropping his tears into Harry’s wound from the basilisk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5FPE7Uj1iU Ingredients I used: Tear Drop Glass BottleRubber CorkRubbing AlcoholFunnelGold Metallic Acrylic PaintJute TwineGold WireRed Glass BeadsNeedlenose Pliers (to manipulate the gold wire)Potion Label The reason why you want to use a rubber cork with this one is because the potion is alcohol based. When alcohol soaks cork material, it can be used as a fire starter. So whenever you make an alcohol based potion, use a rubber cork instead of a regular one. I couldn’t find a smaller tear drop bottle like C&CC used, but Michael’s had a bunch of the larger tear drop bottles, like I used for the Gillyweed potion, so I used that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lttQlsNup5k And here is the final product! See how shimmery the gold metallic paint is here? I love the swirling effect. Over time the paint does settle, so you will want to give it a good shake every now and again. Here are the Phoenix Feathers and Tears together:

Phoenix feathers shed from phoenixes are used in wandmaking. It is one of the rarest cores and is capable of the greatest range of magic. A phoenix feather is the core of Harry Potter’s wand. And like Ollivander says, “The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter. It’s not always clear why. But I think it is clear that we can expect great things from you.” Wands with a phoenix feather core are very picky when choosing it’s owner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5whe9XtdQgw I didn’t have a fancy bottle on hand to use, so I chose a cylinder shaped one from Michael’s. Ingredients that I used: Glass BottleRed, Yellow and Orange FeathersHot GlueGold Paint PenDeathly Hallows Wax Seal StampCooking SkewerJute TwinePotion Label https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCkWPxB00ws Here’s my finished Phoenix Feathers: Next week I will be making Phoenix Tears, which will be a great companion to the feathers. Stay tuned!

I’ve always wanted to make a Drink Me potion ever since I saw Alice in Wonderland. This potion allows the person who consumes it to shrink down in size while in Wonderland. C&CC did a tutorial on this using styling gel for the liquid. It looks fantastic in the bottle, but for mine, I wanted to use something that would make the liquid look kind of flat and watery. I opted for light corn syrup for this because I thought the texture of it would be perfect for a flat, unassuming liquid in the bottle. Ingredients that I used: Small Glass BottleLight Corn SyrupBlue Food ColoringPiping Bag (for easier transfer into the bottle)White YarnPotion Label A tiny amount of food coloring goes a long way. I mixed the blue food coloring little by little into the light corn syrup in a paper bowl. Once I was happy with the color, I scooped it into a disposable piping bag and squeezed it into the bottle. It is much easier to do it this way than trying to mix it inside the glass bottle (I’ve learned that the hard way!). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbtCDfIHPlM I love the how blue the color is. And I think the corn syrup holds the light blue color well, rather than have just used water for that flatter look I wanted. This one was super easy to make. If you make this and have children, it might be a good idea to glue the cork shut so the bottle can’t be opened. Have you made this potion? If so, what did you use for the liquid?

Fairy wings are used in many potions, including the Beautification Potion. But don’t worry – taking the wings from the fairies do not hurt them! They just get a little annoyed by the process. In C&CC’s tutorial below, she shows how to make fairy wings using both transparency paper and the organic version, which I chose. This version uses maple seedlings as the wings. I remember as a kid, we always had these fall onto our driveway. We called them helicopters. Unfortunately, I no longer live in an area where there is an abundance of maple trees, so I ended up ordering them from Etsy. You’d be surprised at how many different kind of maple seeds there are in beautiful colors! I purchased mine from here. Ingredients that I used: Small Glass BottleMaple SeedsJute TwinePotion Label https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UyHg3Pys-s I did go through the process of cutting the seeds off like she does in the tutorial. But her seeds where larger than mine, and at times I found it tricky to trim them off properly. And it took me a very long time to do it to make sure I didn’t cut too much off or accidentally rip the wings in the process. These were pretty fragile. In the end, though, I was super happy with the result! And here you can see the dimension of the colors in the wings. Have you made this potion for your collection? If so, what kind did you make?

Well, hello there and welcome to October! As the kids would say, “it’s been a minute” since I’ve posted on Self-Care Sunday. I’m excited to be back with a whole new self-care series. Years ago, before I moved away from home for the second time (this time for my husband’s job), my brother and I had made some props of potions – mostly Harry Potter inspired. I ended up leaving them with him because I didn’t want to risk them breaking on a cross country move. So, with Halloween around the corner, I had this idea to re-create some of the potions we made and add some new ones. I love being crafty and it truly nourishes my soul. I thought I would share my versions of these potions with you over the coming months. I will be posting once a week, and let’s just say, there will be many new Self-Care Sunday posts because once I started making them, I’ve just kept adding new ones! Almost all of the potions that you will see are my take on potions created by Cooking and Craft Chick. She is incredibly creative and offers the best tutorials I have ever seen on YouTube. In each post, I will add her video for reference, so you can follow along if you’re feeling crafty, too. If you like this series, please go check her out and subscribe to her channel – she is amazing! On to our first potion for the series…Gillyweed! This potion allows a witch or wizard to grow gills on their neck and webbing between their toes and fingers so they can breathe underwater and navigate easily. Ingredients that I used: Glass BottleGreen Dish SoapSilk Greens (I got mine from Michael’s)Cooking SkewerJute TwinePotion Label Speaking of potion labels, C&CC (Cooking and Craft Chick) is kind enough to link all of the labels she has created in the description of her videos. If you use them, please don’t sell them or anything you make with them on it. They are for personal use only. I print the designs out on shipping labels (Avery 8165). You can get them here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KkoL4nQoRg I opted out of adding moss to the bottle, but I like how it looks with the different seaweedy looking greens. Here’s my finished Gillyweed: Did you try to make this potion? Have you made any others? I would love to know in the comments!