The Ballroom club has the occasional ball, about 2 a semester, and this winter we had a Harry Potter themed ball!

This particular post has two parts. I was put in charge of the Christmas tree, somehow, and this is my story. Also, I want to talk about my dress, which I got at Goodwill for $3 and altered (and made matching jewelry)

First, the decorations, which were a project, let me tell you.

As a Harry Potter themed ball, we needed the house banners (of course)

Gryffindor!

Hufflepuff! (this one was Lauren’s baby)

Ravenclaw! (I’m considering collaborating with Lauren to make one just for me, because it’s so cool! And I’m a dork )

Last but certainly not least, Slytherin!

PROCESS PHOTOS

Lauren was the mastermind behind the banners, with help from the rest of us. Here’s Peter doing some final touches with marker on the day of.

And of course, there was my baby, the tree. She was made entirely out of cardboard and tape, recycled cardboard which got recycled after we were done with it. Here’s a before photo…

And here’s the after…

The snowflakes were Peter’s idea. Isn’t she beautiful? Literally cardboard, tape, and some paint, and recycled paper for the snowflakes. I love being eco-friendly! Save a tree, make trees out of recycled materials!

This is Mel, who taught the Waltz lesson as Professor McGonagall, standing next to our completed display on the stage.

I was really happy with the way the decorations turned out, even if they did take forever.

Of course, there’s a second part to discuss- my dress!

Here’s a before photo of the dress right after I got it from Goodwill (I had shortened the straps a bit to help it fit before I took the picture though)

Forgive the fuzziness please, I was just so excited to get to work on it!

There was a big thing of tulle under the skirt, making the dress a triangle shape, and totally not danceable, so I cut that out right away. I also decided it needed to be shorter (hemming with just a needle and thread is difficult… but I managed and any mistakes weren’t too noticeable) and more sparkley. Thankfully the bodice part fit me to a T so there were no problems there!

After photos, front and back.

What you’re seeing there around my neck is the jewelry I made to go with the gown, with the same beads I used to add more sparkleys where the dress was already embellished with beadwork.

Also, one obligatory artsy photo (which is also a celebration of the fact that I finally figured out how to make the multi-strand twist work!)

I would have made earrings but I ran out of time because school can’t seem to get the earrings they put in when they pierced my ears out. I’m really wary of losing the pieces so I haven’t really tried. I think I’ll go back to the place this Christmas and just see if they can’t get them out for me or teach me how to do it.

ANYWAY. If you have any questions about how I did any of this stuff, I’d be happy to do a follow up post discuss it further. You all should be looking for my next post after Christmas- Christmas presents and finals are now my main focus, and I can’t very well post about Christmas presents before I’ve given them now can I?