Enchanting and Magical Harry Potter Fonts

Harry P//Wizards Magic//Lumos//A Charming Font//Windsong//Blackadder//Magik//Aquiline//Hogwarts 

Wizard//Ruritania//Ink in the Meat//Magic School//

I have been getting a lot of emails and comments about my Harry Potter projects, like the Hogwarts Acceptance Letter and the Harry Potter Spell Book. So, I thought I would make a post about the fonts I used and some other fonts that could be used.

Here I used two different fonts. The section that says Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Headmaster: Abus Dumbledore is using Lumos in all caps. The section underneath is using Magik, which I found through Muggle.net which has even more fonts to check out.

For the bulk of the acceptance letter I used Magik, but Professor McGonagall's signature I used Windsong.

For the envelope to the acceptance letter I used Hogwarts Wizard accept for the word under. For that I used Aquiline. Now please note, you are probably making this a personalized letter so the second line should pertain to the person receiving the gift. For my daughters I wrote "The room behind the grey door", using behind as the accented word.

Now for the spell book. This one was fun for me because of my love of fonts. I am seriously all over the map with this one.

Here I used Aquiline, but as I was rounding up all my fonts, I found this Aquiline Two, that might work even better.

For the word "Spells" I used Ruritanina, but realistically you could use any font. That was half the fun for me at least. Looking for fonts is like shopping for me. 

Okay, so you don't know how to download fonts or even use them, here is some help with how to do that.

Homemade Taco Seasoning and Some 'Splainin'

Okay, I have a little bit of explaining to do since I kind of dropped off the face of the earth... 

Firstly, I'll apologize. Even though I know my posts don't change lives or anything, I still consider a lot of you guys my friends and I didn't mean to just take off.

Mostly, I was just overwhelmed. I had a lot of things to take care of on my own. We had just made a big move and I could go on with a list of things but I really just needed a break. 

I think I am finally back on a path to normalcy. My husband is finally home after being gone more than a year. We are completely moved in and organized in our new home. The kids are involved in activities and are adjusted to our new life in Hawaii. 

Hopefully that is enough 'splainin'! On to some homemade taco seasoning!! 

I love this recipe. It's super easy and way better than the store bought stuff. Plus, it is really fun to photograph!

Look at all that spicy goodness.

Easy Taco Seasoning adapted from Spend with Pennies
Ingredients
2 tablespoon Chili Powder
1 tablespoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
1 teaspoon Oregano
2 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoon Pepper
Couple pinches of cayenne pepper (optional)

Instructions
1. Mix all ingredients together.Store in an airtight container. Store for up to 6 months in a cool dry place
To Use:
For tacos add 2 Tablespoons (or to taste) to 1 pound of cooked ground meat
add 1/4 cup water and simmer 5 minutes

Creepy Halloween Decor: Spider Sacs

I flippin' love Halloween. I revert back to giddy, child-like behavior when Halloween is around the corner. Scary movies, jack-o-lanterns, and candy. Of course the candy.

I even like super creepy decor, but this year is the first I have given myself a bit of the heebie-jeebies with our decorating. In come DIY Spider Egg Sacs. I got this idea from the lovely Martha Stewart website a couple years ago.

So glad I decided to actually make them. I love them! They were cheap and simple to make and they really freak people out.

Yes, the mother spider is on the door. She's one bad mamma jamma. 

Like I said, these were beyond simple to make, my eleven year old daughters did the bulk of the work.

What you'll need
White Tights
Plastic Spiders of various sizes
Baseballs
Hot Glue Gun

Firstly, I cut the legs off a couple pairs of tights. Then I wrapped a baseball in batting (you could easily use a sock if you don't have batting) and pushed it into the toe. I tried to use tennis balls the first try, but they didn't have enough weight to pull the tights down and five them that truly creepy look. Baseballs were perfect.

After that, I let my daughters hot glue the spiders onto the tights, err, egg sacs. I used big plastic spiders and the little spiders are actually confetti. Once it was all glued on, I tied a knot on the end and hung 'em up with those command strip hooks. Voila! Creeptastic decor!

Whatcha think? Do they make your skin crawl? I think that is what I love most about them. Other people's reaction to them.

Eyeing Etsy: Foxes and A Giveaway!

1. Silver Fox Necklace 2. Fox Print Tote 3. Fox Applique Wallet 4. Personalized Fox Stationary 5. Fox Stamped Pillow

So excited to be hosting another giveaway this week! This week's lovely giveaway contributor is Yee Von from Whimsy Whimsical and in honor of the fox she is giving away Hello, Thank You Fox Personalized Notecards. Aren't they absolutely gorgeous? 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway will run until October 17th and the winner will be announced October 18th.

Last week's Eyeing Etsy Giveaway winner is Carlisa!

Eyeing Etsy: Men, Man, Manly and A Giveaway

1. Chocolate Stout Soap 2. What's Manlier Than A Ron Swanson Mug 3. Shaving Set 4. Vintage Tool Box 5. Leather iPad Case

I am really excited for my first Eyeing Etsy giveaway! But I am even more excited to share the Etsy store that will be participating. The Real Ale Soap Company and their beautiful ale soaps. They are all natural and hand made with no artificial coloring. And the packaging is recyclable too.

Plus, they are gorgeous. I want to just lather up with it. These would make a perfect gift or you could be a little indulgent and use it for yourself. So go ahead and enter this giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


The contest will end October 10th and I'll announce the winner on the 11th.

Where My Goals At?

It has been FOR. EV. ER. since I have done a goals check in. But I am giving myself some leeway with all driving across the country, flying over an ocean, and squatting at two separate residences. It's been a couple hectic months around here. I am kind of excited to see where I stand.

1. Increase emergency fund to $13,000.00 

This goal has lotsa splainin' to do. Bear with me.

Okay, so some of you may not know this about me, but I used to have a blog called Debt Free by Thirty where I chronicled my journey to get out $15,000 worth of consumer debt. I gave myself a year and a half to accomplish this, and with a lot of hard work and encouragement from the personal finance blogging community, I got rid of that debt within a year. YAY!

All right, with that little explanation, I might as well share with you that personal finance is near and dear to my heart and I 100% believe about living within your means and preparing for the future. But I also believe in enjoying life in the moment too. It's all about balance, which I have finally realized is the key.

So as for goal numero uno, I have completely smashed up this goal and then some. When I made this list in November of last year, I had no idea we would be moving to Hawaii. Wasn't even on my radar. So I didn't think that we would have to sell our house. 

Before the sell of our house I was actually I only a couple hundred dollars away from our 2012 goal. But with the profits from the sell we are now sitting on a fully completed and ultimate goal emergency fund of $25,000+. We even started another account for our future house fund that will probably be part of next year's goal list.

With ALL that said, this goal is officially complete. 

2.  Save $3000 for a geek-tastic vacation to the Wizarding world of Harry Potter

This is done and done!

3. Complete Q&A A Day Book
Such a fun little book I got for Christmas last year. This was going so well, until the move and I still haven't found it. Dang it, if I didn't forget to take this with me in the move. Not sure if I will try to complete it when I find it back or just leave it blank. It could always be a reminder of our move I suppose.

As for our furniture and household goods journey, they had a longer trip then we did. From Pennsylvania they headed south to Florida. From there they got put on a shipping crate where it went all the way to the tip of South America, near Patagonia (My dream destination BTW. Is it weird that I am jealous of my furniture?) Then back up to Hawaii.

4. Save $4000 in a Roth IRA
This goal is right on track to be completed at the end of the year.

5. Run 5 miles a week
I started off really great with this one, but in May I gave myself a stress fracture and hadn't run up until last month. Even though I have missed quite a bit of the year because of injury and moving, I am still really proud of myself on this one. And since we live where the weather is pretty cooperative I see myself continuing to run throughout the end of the year.

6. Watch ten classic films I have never seen
This goal I thought would be the one I finished the fastest. Not true. I have only watched two classics so far, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I need to get on this!!

7. Read 30 books
I am way behind on this one as well. I have only read eight books which is somewhat of a travesty. This goal  will probably not even be attainable at this point, BUT I am still going to read as much as I can before the end of the year. You can see my reading list here.

8. Make 24 handwritten letters to family and friends
This is going really well and I have enjoyed this immensely. When I made this goal I also had no idea my husband was going to be gone for an entire year and then some. So it has worked out with him getting the bulk of my handwritten letters, but it's been nice getting in touch with family and friends too.

9. Research and save for an awesome camera
Done and done. I found my Nikon D3000 with an additional lens for $450 on Craigslist.

10. Make a thousand origami cranes
I have about 500 of these made. So, again, I am a bit behind. This might actually have to bleed into 2013. We'll see how the rest of the year plans out. I am definitely going to complete this project, it's just a matter of when.

11. Go to a concert
Man, the more I think about moving to Hawaii has really put a damper on a lot of my goals. Not a ton of concerts headed out thisaway, but instead of a concert I am going to see Cirque Du Soleil's Quidam this week. I am actually uber excited to see this. Love the Cirque!

12. Start a treat yo self fund!
Inspired by Parks and Recreation (Yay, it's back on TV) Treat Yo Self 2011. So I have been treating myself. We bought a new bedroom set and new living room furniture. Consider me treated out for 2012. Although mimosas and fine leather goods don't sound too bad either.

Okay, so this year is almost 50/50 but I still got some time to work on it. Not that I am making any excuses or anything, but I was homeless for two months this year and we made a pretty big move. I am still pretty proud of myself in my goals department.

A Little Update

Hey guys! I have been a little MIA this week and I will probably be until the end of September. If I was a rock star blogger I would have foreseen this gap in content and set up some guest posts, but that time has gone and past. Sorry!

The reason for my short reprieve is that this upcoming week will be our moving in week and I will be without internet for a while. Boo, hiss.

Any who, I do have some exciting stuff lined up for October when I return. So I will see you in my favorite month of October, because Halloween is seriously my favorite and we go all out. See you soon!

Pinkapotamus Under 300 Blog Hop #19

Thank you so much to Amie at Pinkapotamus for letting me co-host this week's blog hop and for the lovely feature. I am too excited.

Hosted by Me, Amie @ Pinkapotamus

Amanda @ City Girl Gone Coastal

and

Lelanie @ To Sew With Love
 

Hello Paper Moon 

Hey there! I'm Niki, and I am the proud creator of Hello Paper Moon. Hello Paper Moon is where I share my efforts to live a less consuming and more creative life. Besides being a blogger, I am a stay-at-home mother of three, a deployed sailor's wife, self-proclaimed super geek, and amateur foodie.

On my blog I love to share my projects and recipes. Lots of the projects I make are very nerd related. Like the letter from Hogwarts my children received or the Butterbeer we just had to make after going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter earlier this year 

Like I said, I am an amateur  foodie and still learning along the way. And I fortunately like to take photos of my food. This used to be a point of contention at our house, but now we all know mom needs to take a photo before we eat dinner/lunch/dessert. I try to keep things healthy like my Asian inspired salad, but lots of times we have to make things a bit more chocolaty like with some chocolate pavlova. It was seriously delicious.

We recently found out that our family is being stationed in Oahu, Hawaii. Don't hate me please!

But none the less, I threw the kids a Bon Voyage party that was an outdoor movie event and a few days later the kids and I started our one week road trip across the country before we got on the plane to Hawaii. It was a blast and maybe after some time I would totally do it again.

So that is Hello Paper Moon in a nutshell (Help! I am in a nutshell. How did I get into this nutshell?) Sorry, I couldn't help the Austin Powers reference. Thank you so much to Amie for inviting me to share my place in the blog in world and thank you for reading and hopefully checking me out.

Remember to follow your hosts and cohost!  Let us know you are following along and we will return the favor!  Now, link up your homepage, grab a button and make some new friends!

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A Trip to the Lighthouse

This week's trip brought us to the Makapu'u Lighthouse. It's a bit of a hike. My calves were burning but the view is one hundred percent worth it. After the hike we ate at a food truck. I had a fish taco and some serious garlic fries. And then it was beach time. I can't complain, life has been too good lately.