As if I don’t have enough on my to do list, I have decided to redecorate my house. 🙂 I have been looking around at my house lately, and I’ve realized that it’s not personal enough. I mean, a house has to reflect your own personal interests etc. Besides the 20 ft. dollhouse in the basement, my house was looking pretty generic.

Okay, so I’m an adult. (sorta) I shouldn’t have Lord of the Rings posters on my walls. I don’t have a Harry Potter wand, and I don’t have an exact replica of a sonic screwdriver. However, just because I am an adult doesn’t mean that I’m not a fangirl, right? I can have a sonic screwdriver if I want it!! 

But then I looked around at my house again. A sonic screwdriver, a blue Tardis, a giant Harry Potter poster, these things were NOT going to go nicely with the rest of my decor. Unless I planned on getting rid of everything else entirely, and focus solely on only one part of who I was, then I was going to have to figure something else out. I can like Harry Potter, and still love Pier 1 pillows, right? So I decided to get creative.

At first, I was just going to go buy some fan merch, put it off in a corner somewhere, and be done with it, but part of who I am enjoys clever things, unique things, and above all, pretty things. So what could I do? My husband had already made it very clear that I was not permitted to turn the house into a Harry Potter house anyway, not that I wanted to, but I felt like he should have a say since it’s his house too, and he already puts up with my 20 ft. dollhouse. LOL!

He also made it very clear that I was not to go spending piles of money redecorating. So being the clever and crafty girl that I am, I set about to repurpose. My goal: Turn things that you already own into something else. LOL!

First I went to Pinterest, because that’s where all the good ideas are. There I searched up DIY, Handmade everything. Then I went over to Etsy, because that’s where all the handmade goodness is. What I found first were vinyl decals which are great for turning anything generic into instant fan merch.

Got a set of blank candles? Slap a couple of Sherlock decals on them.

Boring, but pretty clock? Peter Pan decals make it whimsical and fun.

Here’s a picture of my new Sherlock fireplace decal too. 🙂

Next was the art. The art above my fireplace which I made specifically to cover up the ugly TV hole is still one of my favourites. It reflects who I am as a writer/storyteller.

So I added some wings to the key as a nod to Harry Potter. I used this tutorial here.

I also added an Alice in Wonderland Drink Me label to the tiny vial charm on the capital S in the word Story.

Continuing in the theme of Alice in Wonderland, I placed an original copy of the book on the mantle as well. Then I painted a giant Mad Hatter.

This was inspired by an image I found on Pinterest. It is not my original idea. I am not an artist by any means whatsoever. I just see things that I like, things that inspire me, and then I kind of wing it by freehand to create something I love. I already had the huge blank canvas.

The next piece of art that I repurposed was a cabinet door from an old entertainment stand that we used to make our dollhouse condo. I originally had some abstract flower decals on there, but I just removed them for this project. I searched up The Tale of Three Brothers from Harry Potter until I found something I liked.

Again, not an artist. I just freehand drew the image onto the glass, and painted it all black. I think it turned out pretty nice. 🙂

I had this nice large painting that I didn’t want to get rid of. It seemed to fit nicely exactly where it was. So I decided that I would paint some Gallifreyan symbols on it. I found the phrase, ‘Bow ties are cool’ in Gallifreyan online, (not a for real language) and freehanded it directly onto the painting. Then I painted the quote on there and added a tiny little blue bow tie in the corner.

My front entryway also had a large piece of art that I didn’t like, but I didn’t want to throw out.

I really wanted a giant Tardis somehow, I just didn’t want something too obvious. I found this abstract image online, and decided it was perfect.

I just freehanded it once again, and painted right over the original artwork. I originally had a Welcome sign above it that I simply painted into a ‘Hello Sweetie’ sign instead, a nod to River Song. 🙂 

I also had this random girl hanging in my living room. It was nice and I liked it, but again, it was random and generic. I decided that I would just paint the Serenity symbol on her necklace and she could be a Firefly fangirl like me. I also added the quote at the very top. 🙂

By this point, the Little Miss really wanted to get in on the fandom merchandise DIY mission. She absolutely adores the book series Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger. She decided that she wanted to make some bottled starlight. I already had some tiny bottles, and some glitter, so I just let her go to it. They are actually pretty darn cute.

Next, we wanted to make dragon eggs. I had found some plastic eggs at the thrift shop recently. Using this tutorial HERE, we managed to make some pretty cool designs.

I put them in a fancy bowl right next to my front door.

Little Miss kept a few to display in her own room, and she also gave a couple to one of her BFF’s at school.

In my main bathroom, I added a tiny Tardis to my framed print of ‘The Wave”. I just printed one off, and glued it on there with a glue stick. 🙂 I also made Kaylee’s umbrella out of card stock, and stuck it in a window box I had.

Onto the clay work. My artworks were lovely, don’t get me wrong, but I really wanted some sculpty things. I looked online but most everything was either too expensive, or not what I wanted. I didn’t want toys. I wasn’t going to get a toy or a Christmas ornament and stick it on my shelf. Although I do have some Funko pop figures.

So I set to work. First I wanted an Adipose to sit on my mantle. Here he is. 🙂

I just love him. I think he is so funny and much cuter than any of the ones that I found online. I made the tower of teacups too. 🙂 

Next, I really wanted the blue caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. Well, that was a pickle. Everything that I found online wasn’t what I wanted at all. So I fashioned this little guy out of model magic air dry clay. Then I gave him a toadstool to sit on, and a little hookah made of brass findings.

I LOVE HIM!! And he is one of a kind. 🙂

My daughter loves Keeper of the Lost Cities as I mentioned. So I decided that I should make her something out of clay too. It’s kind of difficult making something from a book because there is nothing really to compare it too. She really wanted an Iggy.  Half bat, half ring tailed lemur? I looked him up online, but most of the images are cartoon drawn.

 

Hmmmm. So this is what I came up with. I know. Iggy is flat on his back, but that’s okay I think.

SHE LOVES HIM!!

We also managed to find a heavy Black Swan ornament. Don’t ask me where it came from. I have no idea. I just looked at it one day, and said, “Hey? Isn’t there a Black Swan reference in your Keeper books?”

Then she grabbed it with a look like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, and screeched, ‘MINE!!!’ LOL. 😛 

So we are all about the DIY fan merch these days, and the great thing is we aren’t even done. We have lots of other things that we want to do still, but that’s the fun of DIY. It’s pretty much a free for all, and it’s more fun than just hitting a button on Amazon, and waiting by the mailbox. 🙂

Here is an overall view. Half fangirl, half Pier 1 junkie. Geekchic I think it’s called. 🙂 

Yes, that is a time turner hanging on my vase. 🙂 

I hope that I’ve inspired you some. Which fandoms are you in? Do you enjoy making your own merch? 

Leave a comment below! 

❤ ❤ ❤

 

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