Handmade Harry Potter Monopoly Part 1

We are totally Harry Potter Fans in my family. And we are not such big fans of Monopoly. But when I came across this AMAZING Harry Potter Monopoly on Pinterest, I knew that I had to make my own version...and since Erin had her birthday recently several months ago, and I owed her a handmade present, and it was Christmas time, I thought it was perfect to make one as her present. Yay for her!

I decided that I wanted a Hogwarts Edition too, though I didn't have the ability or effort to make it as amazing as the inspiration.

I found a monopoly game at a thrift store that I used as my base and then started plotting...a lot. I think figuring out how to do this and make it work, and look good, took way more thought than actual labor. But it did pay off. 

For the cash, I decided that House Points would be fun, so instead of money, you use house points to buy properties. I thought about making new money, but only briefly. I figured the ones that came with the board were fine...because I didn't think of a fun idea...but as I'm typing this, I just had a great idea using my Cameo. Oh well.

For the Community Chest & Chance Cards, I made "The Daily Prophet" and "The Quibbler" Cards. I made 20 of each because I had so much fun coming up with different cards. :) I printed them on blank business cards so I didn't have to cut them out.

Houses and Hotels became Tents & Castles. These are my least favorite part, but I couldn't think of any other way to do them. Of course, once I shipped it, I found a different board game that had castles and cottages. Oh well. :)

The game pieces were little charms or trinkets that I found in different stores.

Each of the properties are an aspect of Hogwarts:

Go: The Entrance Hall (Collect 200 House Points as you pass)

Railroads: Each of the House Common Rooms--Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, & Gryffindor

Utilities: Argus Filch and House-Elves

Jail: Detention

Free Parking: Room of Requirement

Park Place & Boardwalk: The Great Hall & Dumbledore's Office, respectively

Taxes & Fees: School Fees & Broom Tax
Other Properties: [Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom, Staff Room], [Whomping Willow, The Owlery, Hagrid's Hut], [Charm's Classroom, Transfiguration Classroom, Potions Dungeon], [Trophy Room, Hospital Wing, Library], [Greenhouses, Armory, Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom], [Clock Tower, North Tower, Astronomy Tower], [Black Lake, Quidditch Pitch, and The Forbidden Forest].

To make the board, I cut four pieces of "antique parchment" looking paper down to a hair over 9.5"x9.5". I then took those papers and misted them with a brown mist to give them some texture and character. Then I started measuring and drawing in the spaces. This, by far, took the longest, especially since I kept messing up. It's a good thing I had anticipated for that and had extra paper.  Once the lines were inked in, I carefully attached them in their appropriate spot using my favorite tape runner.

For the text and spaces on the board, I wanted a very clean look. I didn't want it to be handwritten, if at all possible, but I wanted it to look like it was printed directly onto the paper. It wasn't really possible to run the paper through the printer (I didn't want to have to figure out the spacing...too much work)...then it hit me. Clear Labels! (I'm a HUGE fan!) So I typed all the spaces out and used a "harry potter font" called "Lumos." Awesome! For the colored portion of the spaces, I didn't want to color them in, so I printed out colored boxes that were the right size on the clear labels. It was perfect.

I found little pictures to illustrate some of the spaces and printed those out on the clear labels too. The House Common Rooms have the corresponding House Crest.

I was so excited after all the labels were put on. It totally looks like a real monopoly board! :)

For the center, I got real creative. Because this is a "Hogwarts Edition" I wanted to use the school crest and the Monopoly logo.  I found an image online and put it into my Silhouette Program. I then did some nifty things to it and traced a "cut outline" on the image, using the "Print & Cut" feature. I printed it with a regular printer then stuck the cardstock onto the cutting mat in just the right spot, and my Cameo, cut it out almost perfectly! YAY!! I inked the edges and attached them to the board.

 Yes, that is splats of brown ink, not blood. :)

  

So that is the top of the board and the cards. I'll post the box and the back of the board, along with the other parts tomorrow.